This Is the Way the World Goes Boom (redletalis x Loki Odinson)

redletalis · Jun 18, 2016

Reborn opened the case and gazed down at the sniper rifle. It was the best thing for this sort of job, all sleek and elegant and quiet. It was also perfect for use in the USA. Reborn wasn't usually one to operate in the Americas, but the money was good and, most importantly, the challenge itself was too tempting to give up on. He reached for the parts and started assembling it quickly and with sure movements.

Narrowing his eyes Reborn frowned and put in the clip into the sniper rifle, pumping it once and making sure that everything was ready. He got to his feet and walked over to one of the windows. The glass was broken and mostly gone, a few jagged pieces left. Reborn removed those carefully and threw them onto the part of the floor where there were other shards of glass, and then he brought the rifle up and sighted through the scope.

Down below the streets were full of people, people that were walking to and fro, caught up in their own lives and not really caring about anyone else. Streetlamps were already lit and the neon signs that dotted the scene were shining brighter and brighter the darker it got. The evening was warm, light and bright and it would have been perfect for relaxing and reading, but a job was a job.

He panned the rifle slowly, gazing through the scope. The target was reportedly at a fancy restaurant tonight, on a date but if this was a pleasure-date or a business-date was unclear. Reborn found the restaurant through the scope. There were a couple of people "just hanging about" right outside and on the opposite side of the street. It screamed of goons and guards, and Reborn rolled his eyes. Subtlety was something his target hadn't heard of before obviously.

He didn't have to wait long. Ten minutes later the door opened and revealed the target and the man he was with - a business-date then - and Reborn took aim, focusing on his breathing and on counting his heartbeat. His finger teased the trigger. The target was getting into a shiny black car with the business-date. They weren't in the open anymore, but that was okay. Making quick calculations as the car pulled away from the curb, Reborn waited until they were on the road properly, heading straight towards his building, counted his heartbeats and between two beats he fired off three shots. He had aimed right above the line where the front window met with the metal of the car. The driver and the goon riding shotgun were shot through the head, dead in a second as the bullets passed through them and straight into the men sitting behind them. The third bullet had been fired at the middle just in case there was someone sitting there as well.

As the car swung and created utter chaos down on the streets, Reborn pulled back and started taking the rifle apart and packing it away. He needed to get out of here. Shells picked up, rifle packed securely away in a case that looked no different from a a million other business brief cases on the streets, Reborn left the room and the building. He joined the throng of people fleeing the scene of the shooting, blending in and disappearing in the throng.

He took a bus and a cab to the other side of the city before he finally reached the car. He put the briefcase in the back and got into the driver's seat. Starting the car, Reborn calmly joined the rest of the cars on the street, stopping at red lights and patiently making his way across the city and out of it. He was on the highway and it was fully dark by the time his cell phone rang.

Reborn picked it up at once. "Vongola Nono. To what do I owe the pleasure of hearing from you?"

"The Vendice are requesting a meeting of all families. Hosted at the Giglio Nero mansion in one week." The Vongola leader replied in Italian. "They requested you as well as a number of outside sources."

Reborn snorted. Right. The Vendice 'requested' his foot. No one denied the Vendice anything, and if they were calling for a meeting then there was something seriously wrong going on. There was no need to pull anyone's pigtails by denying the Vendice, in the end Reborn would have gone to the meeting either way and he was far too curious to actually stay out of it. And if it got him out of the US and underground for a while, well, that was just a mere bonus.

"I'll be there," he said. "So the rumours about an unprecedented amount of dons dropping like flies are true." It was a statement.

"Yes, and we are all worried. I'll see you in one week, Reborn, and thank you for a job well done. My contacts just informed me about Garcia's death. Your regular fee is already transferred to your account." The Nono hung up.

Reborn dropped the cell in the seat next to his and focused on driving. Things were happening and it could be either very good or very bad. Well, he was going to have fun either way with the chaos generated in the wake of all of this.

Loki Odinson · Jun 19, 2016

Amaya stared at the screen before her, fingers flying over the keyboard even as she clamped the wireless phone between her ear and shoulder. Her day at the office had just begun and it was already looking down. There had been a drug ring bust in Saratov, and the following shoot-out between the police and the criminals had resulted in the death of a registered Japanese citizen. Her Russian counterpart, Vasilisa Malinovsky, had contacted her for information regarding the Japanese citizen who was a confirmed member of the Underground. According to regulations, she was to exchange the man's information for the autopsy and full report of the case, hence her current state of steadily working through the Police database for those files. " - and what do you know? He actually asked me out! Can you believe it, Lin, I am simply overjoyed!" Amaya smiled a little at her friend's excitement. While both had only met face to face once, they kept up with each other through video calls, phone calls or messengers. Vasilisa could be quite hyperactive whenever she got excited and had the tendency to talk a mile a minute - sometimes Amaya had to take a minute to decipher her thick accent coating the English pronunciation in order to understand what the Russian was on about - but she was fun to chat with all the same. "Congratulations, Vas. But are you sure about him? From what you've told me, he sounded like a right prick to you when you first started. I just want to make sure you don't end up with a broken heart again." She replied with a genuine fondness tinged with worry. "Oh, don't worry Lin. He's not like my ex. Nothing like him at all, I'm certain as can be." "If you say so." Amaya sighed, then clicked her tongue in satisfaction as she finally found what she had been looking for. "I've got it. Transferring it to you now. How are the files on your side coming along?" "Give me five minutes and I'll have it to you." She hummed in acknowledgement, only for someone to knock on her office door. She didn't look up but called for the person to enter. "Uh...Inspector?" A clean-shaven youth spoke hesitantly, hovering at the doorway, a tablet in his hand. Amaya glanced up, sweeping scrutinising eyes over him. He looked and acted like a typical greenhorn, fresh-faced and bright-eyed even in his nervousness. A finger lifted in a silent signal to hold for a moment. "Sorry, Vas. Something came up. So send the files over to me as soon as possible and I will get back to you when I can." "Sure thing Lin. Catch ya later hun." "Is it urgent?" Amaya asked, standing from her high-backed office chair and shrugging on her coat. She needed to get out of the office for a cup of coffee anyway. "The Superintendent requested your presence as soon as possible. Something about Code 446...?" He handed the tablet over. The Inspector frowned. Code 446 pertained to high-profile members of Japan's Underground. The International Security Division she is a part of was tasked with scoping out and listing as many Mafia Dons, Yakuza and Triad Bosses as they could. All gathered information were then uploaded into the database, available for the other nations' own International Security to access. The Upper Echelons of the Police and to a lesser extent, the government, were rather well-informed about the on-goings of the Underground, just as much as they were of the Police activities. Nothing between law enforcement and organised criminals were truly secret these days. And that was what made the recent killings of Dons and Bosses all the more puzzling. There wasn't any set pattern, nationality, gender, syndicate, or whatnots to figure out the mastermind's plans behind this. Minor or major, new or old, these leaders were simply being eliminated one by one, and it seemed as though the Underground were just as clueless as the Law Enforcement. Now, what number does that made this? Tenth? Fifteenth? She dismissed the young cadet with a wave, making her way swiftly to her Chief's office even as she watched the video - obtained from the airport surveillance - play. It showed the sleek private jet of the Yamana-guchi touch down smoothly, coming to a gentle halt before the stairs lowered. The unmistakably tall, muscular figure of the Boss, Yamana Itou emerged for only a second before the entire plane was engulfed in bright orange flames. It was instantaneous and left no time for anyone to react. "Swift and silent, just like all the other kills." The Chief commented as soon as she closed the door behind her. "It's becoming a problem, especially when footages like this is aired on the internet. We may know them as criminal Bosses, but the public sees some like Yamana as a very successful businessman. Some of our allied countries have gathered a small team to investigate this matter because whoever this mastermind is...any organisation or individual who is able to catch the Underground off guard is a threat to Security." 

"And I guess you want me on that team, Chief?" Amata asked drily even as she knew what the answer would be. She huffed as the relatively old policeman rose an eyebrow. "Fine, fine. Just as long as I can call on my squad at any time. I have a feeling I might be in way over my head."

redletalis · Jun 19, 2016

Any gathering of mafia families was noteworthy. There was no way that they would ever manage to keep it secret that the Russian mob or the South-American drug cartels or the yakuza or the Triads showed up several families strong. Every police agency in the world would notice it and keep an eye at the gathering, and they would all be very nervous becaus even if several of the families here hated each other to the death they were obviously willing to put that aside for the meeting. Put that together with the rumours of several unaffiliated experts of various fields - Reborn being one of them - also joining in the meeting and either the police forces of the world would mount a major raid during the meeting, jumping on the opportunity to try to wipe out as many mafia families as possible while they were gathered in one place. Or the police forces of the world would be sos cared that they shook and shivered and started to fortify themselves and their countries just in case.

No matter what it would be funny as hell, Reborn chuckled to himself. He stood in the corner of the large, well, it was once a ballroom but had now been transformed into an enormous sitting room. Tables and comfortable chairs were placed all over, grouped together to give the various families a sort of 'headquarter' while in the room, and they were slowly filling up one by one. Reborn stood in the corner of the room, halfway hidden behind a curtain and keeping half his attention on the outside and half on the inside of the room. Hardly anyone noticed him at first, and the jump they did when they did notice him was more than enough to keep Reborn entertained for hours on end.

Luce stood at the front of the room, at what could have been considered a small stage of cleared floor space. She was almost glowing in her white dress and hat, smiling gently at everyone in the room and hands resting lightly on her protruding stomach. Her Sky Flames weren't visible, but they helped to keep the entire room calmer. As did the various Rain Guardians from various families placed all around the room. They weren't doing a lot, but just enough to keep twitchy trigger fingers from twitching too much.

Everyone had been gathered for hours on end by the time the Vindice showed up out of nowhere like normal. They were creepy as all hell as usual, and Reborn was glad that he was both mostly hidden and also standing close to an exit. He really disliked being near the Vindice, it always felt like someone was walking over his grave whenever they showed up and Reborn hated it. Sent shivers down his spine.

"Welcome everyone, and thank you for coming." Luce's voice carried throughout the room and everyone went quiet. "I know that this isn't easy for any of us and I'm glad that you're willing to put aside your greviances with each other and any turf wars in order to at least listen."

"Not like we could say no with the Vindice." Someone grumbled and several others nodded.

Luce smiled again. "They do provide just the right initiative to work together, don't they? But I think that this meeting will be good for us all. The Vindice told me that we will finally gain answers to all the questions that have plagued us in the past six months and the many deaths of various mafia leaders from across the globe. And with that I leave the floor to Mr Bermuda von Beckenschtein."

As she sat down the child-like Vindice guard stepped forwards and started talking.

Loki Odinson · Jun 19, 2016

Making her way as swiftly as she could off the plane, Amaya thanked the gods that she was seated near the front. The image of the private jet blowing up was still fresh in her mind. The flight from Kyoto to Taiwan took a little over three hours and according to her adjusted watch, it was currently 12:23pm. The Chief had shoved a plane ticket in her hands and sent her packing almost immediately after her verbal acceptance. It had been around eight in the morning. She was half a day earlier than the requested dateline, seeing as others would be traveling from Europe and America, but that simply meant she had time to get acquainted with those who were present. A black car was already waiting for her outside the arrival hall and she slid into the backseat swiftly, the only luggage she carried with her being her small carrier bag and a small suitcase. Amaya and the others would be provided with their necessities, and would be setting up shop in the allocated safe house, which negated the need to bring more than two spare sets of clothes and her laptop. Amaya stared out the window as the car sped along, making its way into the heart of Tainan, where the safe house was located. One reason for choosing to meet in Taiwan was that this country is neutral ground, in the sense that there most of its Underground was controlled by three major opposing factions. This situation made it easier for the Taiwanese police force as they had no need worry about all the power shifting to one side, or two parties ganging up on another to annihilate them. Sure, there were always clashes, most hidden, some not, but it rarely degenerated into a full-out gang war. Thus, it would be the perfect base of operation. The various Inspectors and officers would be able to concentrate wholly on their case. Her phone vibrated as airplane mode was disabled and she glanced down at the screen, an eyebrow shooting up instantly at the messages. 'HQ reported mass gathering of Dons and Bosses in Italy' read the topmost text, followed by a couple of 'why's and 'details'. At the very end, the icon of an attached file showed. She skimmed through it, noting that it was mostly speculation and suggestions on the path of action to take. Well, this was an event they had to keep an eye on. If the culprit behind the killings got wind of this, they would be able to take out a lot of big fish in one fell sweep. 'Hold your actions, no need to waste resources for this one. Let's observe first. Something might happen and if we are lucky, it will take care of the problem for us.' The car slowed, and Amaya tucked her phone away. Looks like they had arrived at their destination. It took a shorter time than she had initially thought. The safe house was a new one, the outside similar to the average office buildings around the area. The Inspector swept a glance over the area and the civilians minding their own business. Grabbing her bag and suitcase, she started for the automatic tinted slide doors that was the main entrance. Well, let's see who my team would consist of. She hoped they would make a cohesive group. Nothing killed a field officer faster than a dysfunctional team, after all.

redletalis · Jun 19, 2016

"This is the situation so far." Bermuda went straight on to the heart of the matter and didn't pull any punches at all. "From the Vindice archives we have learned this: nigh on seventy years ago during the last stages of the second World War and the development of the nuclear weapons the mafia of the time decided that they wanted in on it. Not surprising. When the bombs fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki the mafia realised just how mad an idea that was, and all the nuclear weapons they had they gathered at a secret bunker location and sealed away. Each leader of a family was given a single number of the code and coordinates in order to find it."

"I can't believe that something like that would simply lay untouched for years on end without anyone knowing about it or stumbling across it." Sergey said. He was the leader of one of the Russian crime families, he was as big as a bear and he fearlessly met the Vindice's eyes after having interupted the lecture. "This smells of bad stuff to me."

Bermuda nodded. "You're right. We're mafia, someone would have always gone for it and the Vindice should have known the location even back then. My predecessors were there, I should have been told the number that the Vindice were to guard when I took over. But I wasn't. The old heads of families should have passed the number on to you new ones generation after generation, but I doubt any one of you know a single digit."

There was mumbling in the room as everyone looked at everyone and tried to remember any sort of special number they might have been told. It didn't help that a lot of new leaders came to their position by violence rather than being handpicked, and seventy years was a long time for things to change. There were families that existed now that hadn't existed then, or families that existed then but that had been wiped out for various reasons in the interim years.

"The people who have been killed so far in this slew of attacks were all the heads of families that could trace their roots back to that one moment, or even further back than that." Bermuda raised his voice slightly to be heard. "Someone is trying to gather the numbers needed for the coordinates and the activation codes, and they don't want us to follow in their footsteps."

"How could we? If the numbers weren't passed on, then there is no use in any of this." A Chinese Triad leader said. Reborn's eyes flickered to Fon, the bodyguard, who nodded back at him, a pleasant smile on his face.

"Maybe not, but we are mafia." Bermuda stood taller. "We do not follow rules. If even half of the family leaders in those days wrote down the numbers and this new threat managed to find them either by interrogating people or searching through the old headquarters and homes, then we are all in very big trouble. With today's technology and a few numbers it should be easy to extrapolate the most likely location of the cache of nuclear weapons. Is that something that you would be willing to simply bet on not happening?"

Of course no one would want to bet for something like that. Reborn huffed where he stood. The shit was really about to hit the fan, huh?

"What about the forgetfulness?" Sergey spoke up again. "Rumours about a cache would have spread. Mafia gossips like old crones."

Black-clad and hooded, Viper stepped forwards onto the stage. "I've been hired by the Vindice to examine this phenomenon the second they became aware of it, and Mist Flames were used over a number of years and across the entire globe to make this happen. We were made to forget. By whom I don't know."

Loki Odinson · Jun 19, 2016

There were regular office workers milling around the lobby of the building, talking quietly into phones while awaiting the lifts, talking with their colleagues over lunch at the small cafe within or simply exchanging files and papers as they walked. Any random civilian who wandered into this place would see exactly what this building proclaimed itself to be. A law firm which had a wide range of employees. But Amaya knew better. Some of the people who were stationed here may hold a degree in law, but each and every one of them were connected to the Law Enforcement in some way, local or international. She made her way towards the desk on the far right, where a single receptionist desk was and flashed her badge at the woman manning it. The receptionist glanced her over, before nodding and gesturing towards the elevator which had opened and awaited her entry. Nodding in thanks to the woman, Amaya stepped in, eyes drawn to the small black semi-spherical camera at the far corner as the doors sliding shut behind her. She had no doubt anyone currently residing in the base of operations would already be alerted to her coming. With a small jerk the lift descended automatically, stopping gently after half a minute. Amaya exited quietly, only to be near-tackled to the ground by a larger female. "Lin!!" Vasilisa's happy shriek pierced her ears, making her wince. "I was hoping they would send you and they did! Yes!" "Urgh...Vas...air..." Amaya gasped as the bear-hug tightened for a moment longer before the blonde Russian quickly released her with a cheerful apology. For someone who rarely went out on the field, Vasilisa was amazingly strong. Maybe she worked out in the gym daily? She picked up her luggage and smiled at her friend. "It's good to see you too, Vas. Now, how about showing me where to put my things before we meet the others?" "Sure thing! Come on, I reserved a room right next to mine with your name on it, literally. Because who else would your Chief send? You are probably the only Inspector within your division who have interacted with a few of the other nations' counterparts and of course, you don't have to worry about language barriers." Vasilisa ended with a grin as the two made their way deeper into the base. So far, Amaya was able to keep track of the direction they were taking, seeing as there were not many twists and turns. "Well, it pays to be good at languages." Amaya replied a tad defensively as she felt her cheeks heat up. It was probably the one area where things came naturally to her. The Russian laughed but decided to drop it. "Anyway...so far, only three guys have turned up." "Anyone we know?" "Yes, all three of them, actually. Louis Campion, Jacob Dawson and Maximillian Pangeal." Relief trickled into her at the familiar names. "At least we are lucky in the aspect of teammates and their speciality. Now if the others were newbies, I wouldn't have much cause for worry. the other positions are minor and thus, less likely to endanger anyone should they screw up." "They wouldn't send greenhorns, right? I mean, this task force is going to be immersed in some pretty heavy stuff that requires experienced people." Vasilisa halted outside a door which had 'LIN' written in bold letters taped to the surface. It was ripped off and the door pushed open. Amaya shrugged, flicking the light on and inspecting the interior. There was a single bed next to the left wall, with a desk and office chair at the opposite end. She placed her suitcase and bag at the foot of the bed, deciding that there would be no need for her to use her laptop now that Vasilisa the expert hacker was here. "We do now know the thoughts of everyone." She said as they stepped out of the room and headed back to the main area. "There might be an idiotic Superintendent out there who might think this is the perfect opportunity to train a cadet up, who knows? Speaking from experience, there's always that one person you dearly wish to strangle but cannot." Vasilisa laughed loudly at the statement, flipping her long ponytail over her shoulder. "Superiors and ranks can be a real pain sometimes. You know, sometimes I think maybe I should have joined the Mafiya instead. At least in the Russian Underground, one can shoot an annoying higher-ranking person without needing to worry about being court-martialed for one's actions if they are reasonable." Amaya cocked her head to the side, but did not comment. Her mind was distracted at the sight of an opaque door constructed of thick bulletproof glass. A green widespread laser emitted from the sensor at the top, sweeping over the women twice before turning blue in recognition. Amaya moved past the door as it slid open, lifting her hand in a wave as the three men currently residing in seats scattered around a round table glanced up from their devices.

redletalis · Jun 20, 2016

That announcement certainly had the entire room in an uproar, and people were jumping up from their seats, Guardians were pulling closer to their Skies and guards were reaching for weapons. Somewhere in the crowd several Flames flickered to life, and the Rain Guardians around the edge of the room activated their own Flame's tranquility in an attempt to calm people down before it came to blows and a civil war broke out. The cacophony was so loud that a gunshot could have gone off and no one would have actually heard it or known where it came from.

Reborn didn't join in on the chaos. He watched it almost absentmindedly as he tried the process the information. It sounded like a bad harlequin novel, or a B-rate spy movie. That the mafia had tried to get in on the nuclear arms race he could easily believe. That they had gained brains enough not to use the weapons was plausible too. But who the hell had the power to make everyone in the world forget about something so big?

"We can only hope that the old heads of the families involved wrote down their numbers before they also forgot or were killed." Fon said as he sidled up to Reborn, leaning against the wall next to him. Fon's voice was mild and calm as he spoke. "Or maybe we should hope that they didn't and that whoever is killing off today's generations hasn't been able to find anything?"

"Hmm." Reborn pulled out a pack of rarely needed cigarettes and pulled out one before offering it to Fon, and putting it away again when the Chinese man declined. Producing a lighter and lighting the cigarette, Reborn took a deep drag of it and let the smoke out slowly. "Knowing mafia I'm banking on the old leaders having written every single thing down somewhere and then hidden it all away in a very Indiana Jones like manner. Which means that whoever the poor schmucks are that have to retrieve the information before the other side, they have one hell of a job in front of them."

"Everyone calm down!" Bermuda's voice echoed throughout the room and the two Vindice guards with him floated off amongst the crowd to make sure that the order was followed. "We don't have the time for you to argue right now, so shut up!"

Loki Odinson · Jun 21, 2016

"Ah, the ladies have returned." Louis Campion said with a grin, his English containing the barest hint of French lilt that curled his words in that particular way all Frenchmen and women were famous for. In his early thirties, Louis spotted short, thick light brown hair that stuck out haphazardly at all angles and a jolly attitude. "So, who else are we waiting for? Or is this all of us?" "Honestly, I have no idea who else is coming. Chief only told me about a few nations coming together to form a task force this morning. I barely had the time to clarify what exactly this team would be expected to accomplish before I was shoved out the door and onto a plane." Amaya replied with a one-shoulder shrug, settling into the nearest unoccupied chair with Vasilisa on her left. "All I know thus far is we are to investigate the murders of the various Underground Dons and Bosses. Two high-profile Bosses dead within a week is simply...disconcerting. If anyone of you have leads or theories of some sort, I would dearly love to hear them. My division is currently trying to find clues on the latest Yakuza Boss' demise on our soil but they have nothing so far. Any other trails the Forensics Division were able to get all led to a dead end." "Nothing on my side, I'm afraid." Vasilisa said, propping her elbows on the table and resting her chin on her open palms. "Both Mafiya Pakhan that were eliminated...all evidence pointed to them taking each other out, except we were also able to confirm that Pakhan Ivanslav was bedridden during that time. He wouldn't have been able to lift a gun and fire three times, just as Pakhan Slovalski wouldn't have been able to make it past the guards unescorted into the middle of the mansion where the old man was located. He brought no guards, no Guardians, not a single member of his Bratva. Even if we know that it's murder, without concrete evidence, we cannot claim so." "Part of the reason I came as soon as I could is because of this." Maximillian Pangeal held up the tablet in his hand, allowing all present to see the blotched and disfigured face of a dead man cuffed to a chair in an interrogation room. He flicked a finger across the screen, changing the picture to show a tattooed scorpion above his heart. "We managed to capture him at the crime scene. He wasn't the one who carried out the execution, but more of a backup. That was all we were able to get before he fried his own brain." "How the hell was he able to fry his brain?!" Louis exclaimed incredulously. "Didn't you search him for suicide capsules or something? That's standard procedure." "Excuse me, Campion, but who is the interrogation specialist here? I'm pretty sure it's not you." Pangeal snapped at him. "To answer your innate question, we did search him thoroughly for trackers, capsules and the like before bringing him back to base. Else we would have simply performed the interrogation in the goddamn van. We weren't able to find anything until Storm Flames activated. Further autopsy revealed that he had a small chip implanted between the two cerebral hemispheres. The phrase he said before the activation was "Graviora Manent", which is most likely the activation phrase." "'Greater danger awaits'. That could very well be the motto of this mysterious killer organization." Jacob Dawson, the oldest member present, eventually spoke quietly. "However, we currently do have more important things to worry about, namely, the gathering of Underground Bosses and Dons in Italy, foreign and local alike. The Italian police have apparently also sported representatives of other independent factions like the thieves, mercenaries and hitmen. It is unsettling them." "Obviously. If they had chosen to gather in Japan, the Federal Police would already be on the move and fortifying defenses before the day's up." Amaya scoffed, knowing full well that even the military would be on stand-by. "But they have been cooped up and quiet for now. I was also thinking, it the organisation was to discover their meeting place and blow it up, well, it'll save us a lot of trouble monitoring the Bosses and Dons' activities." "If only we are so lucky." Maximillian waved a hand dismissively, his lips curling in distaste. "Those of the Underground are like cockroaches. They don't go down easily." Louis drummed his fingers on the edge of the table with a small smile. "Who wants to bet that they are having a meeting about this mysterious killer?" It was then the white light above the table flashed blue and one of the screens to displayed before them flickered on. There were another two person taking the lift down.

redletalis · Jun 23, 2016

The meeting went on for ages with Bermuda and the Vindice keeping control. They had to hash out exactly what to do and how to handle the situation, and it took time to make up agreements between the various families that would get them all to work together at least as long as this situation lasted. Everyone tried to angle it to make their own family come out on top, everyone tried to stop each other from doing just that, and it all went around in circles until Reborn's head started aching.

"Shut up!" Bermuda's Flames roared to life and people finally settled down. "This is what we are going to do and you better do it or I'll throw you all into the Vendicare!"

"I wonder how long that threat will keep people in line." Fon smiled and looked like a freaky mix between a fox and the cat that ate the canary.

"Since none of you can work together like proper mafiosi," Bermuda continued, "I'm going to pick the person who will be our figurehead on this. All of you will help out, mark my words, but we need one to lead us. We can't have someone affiliated with any family, but we need someone who can still command respect. Most importantly we need someone who actually has a brain and makes a habit of using it."

Reborn was getting a really bad feeling about this and was considering jumping out of the window in order to escape, but it was too late. Two Vindice guards showed up out of nowhere on each side of him, and everyone turned to look at him when Bermuda transported himself from the front of the room to the back. There was a big grin on his face, and Reborn felt like he was being watched by a wolf. Or a velociraptor. Perhaps a dragon.

"I put the world's best hitman in charge of this circus." Bermuda said so loudly that no one could pretend to not have heard it.

Reborn glared, but he knew it was useless.

Well, shit. It had really hit the fan, and unfortunately it hit Reborn's fan.

Loki Odinson · Jun 24, 2016

No one said a thing as until the doors slid close behind the two new arrivals, a male and a female. Both took the nearest available seat without fanfare. Amaya scrutinised the two unknown closely, immediately dismissing them as new recruits due to their bearing and seeming unfazed by the loaded stares directed towards them. Well, it looks like both of them were new faces to the International Security circle - or at least, someone who was not the regular representative of each nation's Division. "Good afternoon." The severe-looking Asian woman whom Amaya pegged as someone in her late-forties started, meeting the gaze of each occupant. "My name is Mei Chen, representative of the Taiwan International Security Division. Rupert Cotter - " She nodded towards the man she came in with. "- and I were the ones who suggested putting this task force together. I shall be overlooking the main objectives and members who are all present right now. This team is relatively small, but you are all experts in your chosen field. Of course, additional help will be freely provided by the Taiwanese Police Force should it be necessary. But I feel it prudent to remind you all that we are to operate covertly, ladies and gentlemen." "As stated, Mei will be in charge of holding the base down and providing us with backup whenever needed." Rupert Cotter picked up immediately where Mei left off, his American accent betraying his heritage. "I am a field agent and medic, hence, I will be taking on field operations with...Inspector Lin Dai, I believe?" "That's right." Amaya merely inclined her head, not seeing the need to say more. She didn't particularly like the idea of working with an unknown partner, but she could hardly object right now. Besides the American, no one else had enough experience to pull off harder missions to qualify being her partner. It looks she would have to figure things out on the fly. "All right. This is everyone, yeah?" Vasilisa tapped her fingers on the table top, clearly impatient. "So...can we get down to our main objective? Or if we don't have one yet, let's take things one step at a time. This task force was created in order to track down whoever it is that's killing off the Underground Bosses, but so far, no one other than Maximillian have actual, concrete evidence on the suspects. We don't know how to proceed or where to start, even." "Indeed, Vasilisa. Our objective is to find the culprit behind this mass killing and hopefully, uncover the reasons behind it as well. There's nothing more frustrating than an unidentifiable cause of crime." Mei connected her notebook to a cable next to her and gestured to the picture of a man with caramel eyes and shoulder-length brown hair that was projected on the screen before them. "This is the last member of the task force, Ulesse Natanaele. Unfortunately, due to the sudden gathering in Italy, he cannot make it here." A finger was raised as Mei's gaze settled on Amaya. "However, his placement is also another advantage for us, as well as a few unconfirmed leads the Italian Federal Police have managed to gather. The best place to start this investigation would be the homeland of the oldest criminal Families. Lin, seeing as you are our resident linguist, you will head to Italy and meet up with him as soon as possible. Rupert will head there a day later as backup. You are to start investigating any plausible leads and begin from there. It will be slow going, but that is the best place we can start so far. Any questions?" Amaya leaned forward in her seat, placing her elbows on the table and lacing her fingers under her chin as she sighed aloud. "No questions. Although I am more afraid we will be wasting precious time chasing dud leads." Well, no one could refute that observation. Everyone knew it was a risk they had to take, especially with cases like this, which was on a larger scale than they had ever encountered before. But...first times and all that, right?

redletalis · Jun 29, 2016

No one dared protest that announcement and the rest of the meeting was given over to making up agreements on how to hold back trigger-happy gangsters for however long it took for Reborn to solve their problem. Reborn spent about five minutes feeling sorry for himself and silently cursing Bermuda, but then he took a deep breath and dove into the fray, ready to battle it out with everyone about what he personally expected of them when he showed up in their territory or simply requested help. It took far longer than should be legal, really, and the sun was high up in the sky by the time everyone had reached something of a workable agreement on all points.

"I have prepared rooms for everyone and their Guardians." Luce spoke up from the front, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed despite having been awake as long as everyone else had and being pregnant on top of that. "Please make use of them. Some of my men are waiting outside this room and they will lead you to them. It will unfortunately be a little bit cramped but I hope everyone will manage."

Of course everyone would accept and of course everyone would manage. Luce was not someone anyone wanted to upset. She was probably up there with the Vindice. It kind of rankled really, Reborn thought as he grabbed several bottles of alcohol from Luce's cellars, he would have thought that he as the best hitman in the world would have been really high on the list of people not to piss off, but apparently not.

Gamma led him to the room assigned to him - notably furthest away from everyone else, Luce knew him too damn well - and Reborn promptly took off his jacket and his vest. His weapons were placed on the bed except for a switchblade that he kept to play with while he drank, and then he gleefully jumped into the bottle and didn't climb out for the rest of that day and well into the following night. He kept on playing with the switchblade as he drank, throwing it up and down and playing 'put the tail on the pink elephant flying up under the ceiling' for most of the time until sleep and exhaustion finally caught up with him and he was dead to the world.

Sleeping on the window seat was rather uncomfortable and paranoid inducing. There was no room for him to stretch out and his back was going to kill him to the treatment if someone else or his head didn't do it first when morning came, but at the time Reborn didn't care shit about it and had instead happily accepted the unconsciousness when it came. He didn't want to think anymore that night and he hadn't, which meant that he had accomplished his goal. Damn, he really was the best damn bastard out there, wasn't he?

Loki Odinson · Jul 4, 2016

"I thought Mei said that I was to make contact with Ulesse first and you would follow a day after." Amaya hissed lowly as Rupert slipped into the seat beside her, a slight scowl on her face. "The last I checked, it has not been a day yet, so what are you doing here?" The man merely rolled his eyes a little and huffed at her chide. "Relax, doll. It was a last minute decision. Your lady friend did not feel comfortable allowing you to roam Italy without backup. Not during this uncertain time, anyways. Her concern resonated with the others and they urged Mei to allow me to stick with you. So...here I am." Well, that was...unexpected. She felt comforted by the fact Vasilisa viewed her as such a close friend that she was willing to kick up a fuss, but on the other hand, Amaya felt slightly insulted that they thought she needed backup for just one day. Granted, Italy was rather dangerous now, what with all the mafia and various experts of their field gathered in one place. Namely Rome. Precisely where the Italian policeman had arranged for them to meet. The door was finally closed, routine inspection of all exits, luggage and safety procedures done, the plane finally started to move. Amaya cast one more subtle glance around the interior of the relatively small plane. There were maybe around a hundred passengers on board, and not all the seats were filled. No one seemed to be paying attention to them, with her seat being near the tail of the plane. But that did not mean she was about to let loose and relax for the duration of the flight. "All right. Sorry about that. I'm just a little jumpy about working with a totally new partner." Amaya murmured, keeping her lips from moving all that much even as her finger brushed over the breast pocket of her coat containing the deactivated earpiece. "Bad experiences tend to put me off." Rupert inclined his head slightly, his lips curved into a sympathetic smile. "Perfectly understandable. Rest assured that I am fairly competent, if I may say so myself. Of course, the success of our task depends on our partners too." This time, it was her turn to roll her eyes at his pointed look. Instead of gracing him with a reply, however, she merely pulled out a plain looking file disguised as a hard-backed book to flick through. "Mhm, well, hopefully the first couple of days will be relatively unexciting. But of course, things never go my way, so be prepared." "I'm always prepared, doll." Rupert answered with a scoff. "However, I'm just the backup. The one who is initiating contact would be you." "Don't call me doll." Amaya murmured absently, rather focussed on absorbing the provided information. "I'll be fine. As long as you are capable of pulling me out. I'm a trouble magnet. Or so I've been told." Her partner muttered under his breath, too low for her to catch. The rest of the flight until the landing at Rome's Fiumicino airport was filled with silence between them, one too busy reading while the other simply slept.

redletalis · Jul 5, 2016

The knocking startled him from his sleep and honed instincts grabbed for a weapon as his body twisted around to attack.... only for Reborn to find himself falling gracelessly to the carpeted floor. His head hurt like all hell, his body hurt like all hell and the god damn light was far too bright. Couldn't someone turn off the sun a wee bit? Or give Reborn a pair of sunglasses? Anything? Please?

"Fuck off!" he called back and groaned at the ringing in his head. He had no idea who was on the other side of the door, but they better get the hell away before he shot them. As soon as he could get his guns, that is, and for the moment Reborn couldn't even make his little finger twitch. This might take some time.

"No can do, my friend." Fon said as he entered the room, lips twitching in amusement at Reborn's predicament. "Bermuda said, and I quote, 'to get your ass into gear'." He looked up at the ceiling and the knife still embedded into it. "Who did you metaphysically kill this time around?"

Reborn nearly whimpered at what was to him a far too loud voice. He almost feared for his eardrums and hearing, and damn it all to hell, he liked his hearing thank you very much. The only thing he could do to stop Fon's voice echoing in his head was to slowly and with great exertion cover his ears and pray for relief from the pain and from the harpies that had decided his head was perfect for a marching band.

"It was the pink elephant." He admitted finally. Reborn had no intention of moving from his position on the floor. Not until the world stopped heaving to and fro like a ship in a storm. He didn't care if he seemed pathetic. He damn well deserved this because.... because... because he couldn't quite remember. But he had a feeling that that was a good thing.

"Ah, the bane of us all. Now get up, refresh yourself and get down to breakfast. You have an important mission ahead of you."

Reborn groaned. "I was trying to forget about that, you bastard."

Fon chuckled. "If you don't come down soon, then I'm sending Sergey up to drag you down. As loudly as he can." He almost chirped it as he left the room, leaving a moaning Reborn to lay on the floor for another couple of minutes before he gave in with a curse and got to his feet. He was really going to kill Fon one day, and he was going to relish in it. Removal of organs in an alphabetical order perhaps. Or just use a rusty spoon. Whatever was at hand. Yeah.

Loki Odinson · Jul 5, 2016

The Romoli Hotel was as inconspicuous as they said, which was a good thing, seeing as the last thing a pair of cops wanted to do was draw attention. It helped that the outside of the place looked fancier than normal, which would make any observers think twice about pegging its occupants as members of the law enforcement. Because no serious task force would set up shop in an expensive location. It is no big secret that the budgets of every national police force were rather tight, after all. One can't afford to pay hundred of dollars a night for such a place just to perform an investigation. Amaya stayed in the background, content to allow Rupert to play the part of foreign tourist and flirt with the receptionist while she scouted the place out silently. Their room was located right next to the fire escape on the fourth floor, giving them a nice view of the Colosseum and the city beyond, with multiple quick exits should they be compromised. All in all, it was a satisfactory arrangement. A quick shower, change of clothes and securing the miniature earpiece in her left ear, making sure her hair covered it properly, Amaya stepped into the bedroom just in time to see Rupert's notebook screen flicker off. "Who was that?" She asked as she shrugged on her coat. "Oh, just Mei checking in." He waved dismissively, glancing over his shoulder and giving her a quick once-over. "Getting ready so soon? You have at least an hour before the appointed time, and the cafe isn't all that far from here." "There's something called sightseeing, you know." Amaya answered drily, double-checking the straps on her shoulder holster and making sure the hidden blades in her boots' sole were still functional. She might not need those, but better safe than sorry, right? "Anyway, I'll be in contact." Twenty minutes later, she was seated in a cozy little cafe sipping a strong cup of cappucino, observing the various patrons that entered and exited the establishment behind opaque shades. It was around nine in the morning and the breakfast rush was nearing its end. All who lingered were tourists, non-office workers and parents with their kids. Glancing down at her watch, she did not even twitch as the chair directly opposite her was abruptly filled. Setting her cup down on the surface, Amaya waited until Ulesse's heavy breathing slowed before flashing him a welcoming smile. "You are half an hour early. Did something unprecedented occur?" From the information she got on their Italian member of the task force, his English was a little rough around the edges, and holding a conversation with different languages tended to throw her off. Best to stick to the man's native tongue. 

Ulesse was a heavy-set man, his moustache wobbling slightly as he dabbed his forehead with a handkerchief. His curly hazel hair was wind-ruffled and unruly, contrasting sharply with his neat business attire. "Yes, actually. And I am rather glad that you decided to come earlier too. When I said the Italian police had several leads, well...it's far from the truth now." Amaya hummed in acknowledgement, not all that surprised about this turn of events anymore. "I sense a 'but' despite this bad news." "Yes, we still have a single lead that has not crumbled beneath our feet, but we were ordered not to interfere. That's where you come in. If the Italian police were found to be involved, things will get messy for us, so the best solution is to have you go instead. Now, the information we have on hand is rather vague. Beneath the Colosseum is a network of catacombs. Sounds ridiculous, but we know where the entrance is - or at least, one of the entrances - at the cost of our undercover spy. The higher-ups have ruled it as an inevitable killing that occurred during a shootout as no alarms have been raised, but, you know...further progress down this path cannot be made by us. A shitstorm might just break out if we poke any deeper, and with the new arrivals in Italy? You can say the Italian police are treating everything like its made out of glass." Ulesse grimaced in disgust. 

Amaya's eyes narrowed slightly behind the shades. The reasoning behind not wanting to get involved was flaky at best, and Ulesse didn't seem inclined to share what exactly happened that lead to the undercover police's death. Frankly, she didn't want to dive headfirst into an unclear situation, but this was their one and only lead. Who knew when another might surface? Wasting time and not making any progress grated on her nerves, so there was really only one option for her to take. "Very well. I shall investigate this. Just make sure my corpse is returned to my family should the situation go FUBAR."

redletalis · Jul 5, 2016

By the time Reborn had finished getting ready for the day and had followed the din to the dining area, Fon had already moved into the kitchen proper, ducking and weaving through the chaos as if it was totally normal. Which it was. He was walking from counter to counter, gathering bread and plates and eggs and whatnots in order to make breakfast. Once he turned around and gave a roundhouse kick to some unfortunate mafioso that came flying, blasted off his feet by a minor explosion, and another time he planted her fist in the face of a guy who was idiotic enough to try to use Fon as his personal human shield.

Luce sat in the middle of all the chaos, her guardians creating an area of calm around her as she ate breakfast for two, and she looked up the second Reborn entered the room. She waved cheerfully. "Over here! Please come and join me, Reborn!"

As usual it was not really a request, and Reborn didn't even bother to sigh as he made his way through the chaos - creating some more on his way just because he could - and sat down opposite her at the table. In front of his seat was a plate full of his preferred breakfast foods, and Reborn wasn't even surprised. He didn't even bother to worry about poisons and instead he simply dug in. It was only after he had downed two cups of espresso and his brain was finally getting out of the drunk-caveman-impersonation it had been doing for the past eight hours or so, that Luce finally said something.

"Did you get it out of your system?" she smiled kindly.

"Most of it." Reborn admitted. "Your liquor is very good at that. I think I'm ready to face this without suffering a mental breakdown." Because a cache of atomic bombs in the hands of whoever was killing the dons was mental-breakdown-worthy even to the best hitman in the entire world.

"Good." Luce nodded and finished her breakfast. "Bermuda showed up again."

He sipped his third espresso. He was going to need all the energy he could get. "Fon said so."

"Bermuda admitted that even the Vindice are having trouble finding information, but they did manage to extrapolate a likely location from a number of sources. They want you to start your investigations in Rome." She patted her large stomach as she slowly got to her feet with Gamma's help.

"And what do you say about that?" Reborn raised an eyebrow. He was more liable to trust Luce's instincts than Vindice information.

"I think it's a good idea." Luce smiled once again. "Bermuda made a good choice in picking you for this, Reborn. There are things to finish."

He blinked at her. "Pardon?"

"This is your responsibility, but don't be afraid of making strange allies." Luce left the room, the chaos parting before her like the Red Sea.

Reborn was left staring after her, espresso halfway to his mouth, before he sighed and shook his head. She was as cryptic as ever. He finished breakfast and his espresso, checked that he had all his weapons and his cell phone, and headed outside. Gamma stood next to a sleek black car and held out the keys to him and then left before Reborn could say anything. Rolling his eyes at the mysteriousness that the Giglio Nero thrived on, Reborn got in and started the car.

It was time for the hunt to begin.

Loki Odinson · Jul 6, 2016

Grumbling under her breath, Amaya trailed behind the slow-moving tourist group, mentally urging the tour guide to either walk and talk at the same time, or just shut up and quit halting every five steps. What was initially thought to be a brilliant idea was now coming back to bite her none too gently in the rear. While she fitted into the tour group seamlessly with her tan coat, heeled boots and dainty little handbag and phone in hand madly snapping away at every wild gesture from the guide, she was not cut out for snail-crawling pace. She really should have chosen to tag along with the second group. Sure, there was lesser people to lose herself within, but at least she would have gotten to the southern edge of the Colosseum faster. For that was where this mysterious entrance laid. It would take a few moments of precious time to search for the hidden door, then the dreaded sneaky entry into an unknown and unmapped hostile territory would eat up even more time. Amaya did not wish to be caught in the middle of a night rush or something similar and forced to spend an entire night or more underground. That meant she would have to be quick-snap about this, and the start of her investigation was already looking down. Snapping a few more pictures of the locations of the cameras, she sent them to Rupert, who then constantly updated the map of the Colosseum, its blind spots and possible places a few entrances might be. One perk of having a competent field partner, she supposed. Now, if only her earpiece would stop transmitting every breath and sigh made by Rupert, she would be a relatively happy little Inspector. Finally, after thirty brief stops and explanations, they reached the southern end. As soon as the guide's back was turned, Amaya slipped away from the group. "All right. I've sent the latest map of the southern end to your phone, together with the three top possible locations." Rupert's voice floated through the earpiece. Her phone's screen lit up, and she took a couple of glances between the real scene before her eyes and the sent image. "Make my life all that much harder, why don't you?" She muttered. All three locations were rather out in the open, and she would look like an insane person or an idiot if anyone saw her peering with great fascination at a piece of ancient wall. "Do you ever stop complaining, Lin?" "On the field? Rarely. Complaining is an outlet for me." Amaya replied without the slightest hesitation, then sighed and strolled leisurely over to the first location. "Be prepared to bail me out should I attract undue attention. I don't think my career can take me being labelled an "insane wall-loving lady" or something similar." Her partner snorted in amusement. "Well, at least it's not school holiday season or something. There's considerably less people around these parts today. You'll be fine. Maybe." Amaya allowed a brief grin to touch her lips. Sweeping her gaze quickly over the general area, she ran her fingers lightly over the solid wall, feeling and looking for a mechanism, a crack or something besides the natural roughness and bumps on the surface. The first location yielded nothing, as did the second and third. "So much for that. Where next?" "The fourth one is located to the right of the arch you are standing under. All the way at the very end. It should be either embedded into the wall behind it, or in the very arch itself." Amaya followed his direction, shooting smiles and polite nods at people along the way, snapping a few more photos and slowing down to pretend-admire some of the scenery. The arch itself was solid, but the back wall... Her grin returned. Bingo.

redletalis · Jul 9, 2016

Rome was as beautiful and as historic as ever. Filled with tourists and civilians in the thousands and none of them actually knew what was going on around them. The police might be the only ones to actually suspect that the reigning mafia family in Rome had gone suspiciously quiet, but that did make Reborn's job a little bit easier. Since the reigning family was holding back, it meant that the people he spotted doing shady business most likely belonged to the enemy.

Reborn stood in the shaodws of the Imperial Forums and watched as three people walked along on the other side of the structure. He thought he recognised the dark skinned woman, a hitman from Africa if his information was correct. Not the best out there, but good enough. The two men she was with were unknown to him. They looked like just another trio of tourists, but Reborn easily spotted the tell-tale bulges in their clothing, and he was banking on all three carrying pistols of some sort along with one or more smaller knives.

They were also talking quietly(once again lip-reading proved to be an excellent skill) about the old catacombs underneath the city, and Reborn knew - and had called in and verified it - that the reigning mafia family didn't use the catacombs for anything right now. It was only logical that the enemy picked up on that and decided to hide underneath the very noses of the mafia.

Thing was, he couldn't just walk up to them and say "here I am, put me in chains, will you?". Even the village idiot would find that suspicious especially if it came from the Number One Hitman in the World, and really, the person who had staged all the deaths and probably also the Mist Flame-caused forgetfulness was unlikely to hire complete and utter goons. That would be just setting yourself up for failure, and this person didn't seem like they were planning on anything but winning the race.

Reborn had to figure out another plan to get inside their headquarters.

So he did what he was best at: pure, simple, destructive and very attention-grabbing chaos.

He followed them from a distance through the streets, sometimes moving ahead of them and taking up a position in a coffeeshop, and other times simply hiding away in alleyways until the trio had reached a small, empty piazza. Reborn watched them pass the mouth of the tiny alley he had hidden away in, and stepped out behind them, silent as a stalking cat as he walked up behind the target. A few feet away he pointed his gun at the left man's head and fired. It echoed in the silence. Blood splattered the cobblestones.

The woman and the remaining man jumped sky-high, whirling around as they pulled out they own weapons and pointed them at Reborn.

"Chaos." He smirked at them. This was going to be fun.

Loki Odinson · Jul 11, 2016

She had opted to hang around the spot and linger, just like most of the other tourists were doing. Although their backs were mostly facing the wall with the hidden door, she decided to wait, feeling around for the mechanism that will trigger the entrance's opening. There was a small latch at the very corner of the wall, placed carefully and precisely in the middle of the groove so as to seem like a chipped area at a passing glance. No one would take the time to study a chipped section carefully unless they knew what they were looking for. Slowly, the various people departed, giving her the perfect window of time to disappear down this secret path. Wriggling her finger underneath the small hook-like lever, Amaya was glad the hinge was so well-oiled and taken care of that it did not make a single squeak. Even the telltale rumble of rock against rock as the wall slid downwards was absent. It displayed both excellent construction and perfect detailing for this to be achieved. As soon as she stepped through, the wall slid back up, sealing her within with no way back. It seemed she was forced to continue onwards until another exit is found. "I'm in." Amaya kept her voice low, no higher than a whisper. She wasn't willing to risk someone overhearing and getting caught so soon. "I can tell. The signal strength dropped drastically as soon as you went in. This might be a problem, Lin." Rupert replied, a visible frown in his tone. "I suppose that means I'll be on my own once I descend these steps, hmm?" "No guarantees, however at best, there will be a lot of static and sudden dropouts. But it's your call. Do you wish to proceed?" "I'll proceed. I can't turn back anyway. The door closed and I can see no lever or handle to open it back up." Amaya said as she began to descend the spiralling stone stairs. Already, the small crackles of slight static sounded in her ear. Looks like it would just be her on her lonesome. She only hoped she wouldn't get lost inside the catacombs. The moment her feet touched the bottom of the stairs, the static flared. Wincing, she deactivated her earpiece and tucked it into her pant's pocket. The walls, ceiling and floor were of the same material as the Colosseum above. Stone the colour of bleached grey rock and rough enough one could tear skin if pressed too hard against the surface. All in all, it simply contributed to the undesirable fact that Amaya had to take this exploration slow. Overhead, bare bulbs hung from thick electrical wires bound together with black tape. They were spaced several meters apart, allowing for a crouched person to sneak from corridor to corridor and room to room under the dim light with the aid of shadows. Amaya tried to keep her chosen path relatively linear and easy to backtrack, constructing a mental map as she went along. Much easier said than done. Amaya was pretty sure she missed a few hallways here and there, or at least mixed a couple up. Nevertheless, it seemed things were going two ways for her. She had yet to come across anyone during her exploration, which was a good thing. But on the other hand, the various rooms were bare of furniture, papers, electronics or anything of that sort. This unknown organisation was either smart enough not to leave any snippets of their plans lying around, or she had not even covered the main areas yet. Amaya was leaning towards the latter. Because, really, which organisation never had idiot henchmen within their ranks who ultimately let slip something important? All she really needed was another solid lead, be it verbal or written.

redletalis · Jul 12, 2016

It was a game of cat and mouse through the streets of Rome. Reborn easily cast himself into the role of mouse, letting the other two take up the role of cats, letting them herd him to where they wanted him. He even gave them the time to pull out cells and call for reinforcements, and at the same time he made sure to give them (and whoever else showed up) hell. He had to put on a convincing show and he was also testing the enemy's skills, resources and resourcefulness as he ran along.

He kept the chase going into the night. By this time he was certain that the authorities had noticed something going on - the trail of dead and dying bodies was a dead give away - and that added another played to the game. Having taken up a position on a rooftop Reborn smirked down at the street where three police officers were clashing with a group tha had been chasing Reborn. This was the eigth meeting of the two groups that Reborn had orchestrated in the past four hours, and it had to be sowing chaos in the ranks with the added bonus of alerting the police that there was something big going on.

"Thank you for doing my work for me." He muttered to himself as another two police officers showed up at the scene, outnumbering the enemy. Sending one last smirk at the fools, Reborn quickly made his way across the rooftops in search of another group that he could annoy. Just a little bit more and he could believably let himself get caught.

Come the dawn Reborn gathered up the biggest group of enemies that he could herd together and got in the middle of them for a turly epic bare knuckle brawl. He allowed for a blow to connect to the back of his head, keeping control over his Flames to keep it from healing instantly, fell over and then through sheer force of will kept his body utterly relaxed as the goons around him kicked and poked and hit at him to make sure that it wasn't a trick - which, of course, it was.

"Eh, he's out of it." Someone said.

"I'm not so sure. I don't trust him." Said someone else.

"No way he'd simply lay still and let us kick him. He's properly unconscious." Said the first person. "And after this chase he's had us on no wonder he's out of it. I feel like joining him myself."

"So what do we do with him?"

It was a woman who answered. "Strip him of his weapons, bundle him up, and to the cells. The leader will be delighted to know we caught him. The leader's been wanting a good, long talk with this guy for a long while. Quickly now before the police shows up."

As he was carted off - and mentally kept a track of turns and directions - Reborn absentmindedly wondered exactly who this leader was and exactly how big the enemy's forces were because he had to have killed at least ten people, incapacitated another eight and had around fifteen arrested and yet there were around a dozen people around him now bringing him into the echoing, closed off dusty coolness of the catacomb tunnels.

Things were getting more and more interesting by the minute.

Loki Odinson · Jul 14, 2016

Glancing at her watch, Amaya noted that it had been slightly more than two hours since she had entered the catacombs. It certainly didn't feel like it, but the tightness of her calf muscles from staying low for a rather long period of time told her the watch wasn't lying. She was starting to feel rather unaccomplished and the barest tinge of resignation started to pool within her. Coming across a forked road, she paused for a moment. An hour earlier, she would have picked the left route and be done with it, believing sticking to a methodical path would do the investigation good. After all, one could hardly investigate if they were lost. Now, however... Heaving a soft sigh, Amaya moved down the right-hand path. Screw methodical mapping of this big-ass place. She needed results, dammit. Another hallway, another right turn, and before she knew it, she was in large hall. It looked like a villain meeting place straight out of a James Bond film, together with solid oak high-backed chairs placed neatly around a long rectangular table and dim lights from an overhanging chandelier casting the head seat in shadows. Amaya would have sniggered and snapped a few photos had the situation been vastly different. Unfortunately, her phone was deliberately battery-dead. Sidling up to the table, she ruffled through the various sheets of papers scattered over the surface, scowling slightly as they appeared to be nothing more than blank sheets and outdated newspapers. Not one to give up, she worked her way steadily up the length of the furniture until she came to the seat at the head of the table. While her eyes looked over the faces of the desk, her fingers wandered the surface below. To the right and about half a meter in on the underside of the table was a small latch. A pull of the thin handle reveal a small slide compartment. A Tokarev clattered to the stone floor below, beside it laid a small flashdrive. Now that's more like it. Amaya snatched the flashdrive off the floor with a grin, replacing the pistol back in the compartment and sliding it shut once again. She was not a moment too soon. The silence that she had grown use to for the past several hours was suddenly broken by multiple footfalls. Not wasting a second longer, Amaya bolted as quickly as she could to the nearest corridor, making sure she was quiet as possible. The casadence of voices drew nearer and the inspector pressed herself flat against the wall, half-shrouded in the shadows to eavesdrop on their conversation. " - told you to keep an eye on all of them! And what do you do? Get yourself so shitfaced you can't even remember the whole of yesterday!" A dark-haired male in his mid-forties yelled in Italian, stalking furiously through the hall. "You can't blame me solely for that." The younger man trailing behind muttered sullenly. "Piecco told me he had it handled and he never let me down before. How was I to know he would screw up so badly?" "I don't give a rat's arse who is to blame! He is your man. If the Police gets wind of this, you can bet your ass the Boss would shoot you where you stand." Fortunately for her, they took the path to the right. As their voices faded, she slowly peeled herself away from the wall. Time for her to start looking for a way out. Backtracking the way she remembered coming from, Amaya heard the swish of a swung object too late. A sharp pain erupted at the back of her head, and the last thing she felt before blacking out was being hulled over a broad shoulder like a sack of rice.

redletalis · Jul 16, 2016

Through corridors, around corners and down, down, down into the depths of the catacombs they dragged him. Reborn made certain to remember every turn, every stair. He counted every step that his captors made in order to get an approximate meterage covered during their journey. The lights placed along the walls at regular intervals helped to count as well, and cold custs of stale air along with echoes told him when they were passing corridors or rooms. Oh, the mental map he was building was rudimentary at best, but the catacombs weren't well explored as it was, there were none official maps that he could get his hands on without hacking into databases that would notice they were being hacked into hereby drawing attention.

They came to a bigger room - definitely room, not chamber, the echo was wrong - and Reborn was placed on a stone slab (probably a sarcophagus lid). His captors untied the ropes around him, grabbed one of his arms and then let it drop on his face. Reborn used his Flames to briefly cut muscle and nerve control to that particular arm adn let it hit him while desperately hoping that there were no Flame sensitive or active people in the room. Small as that trick was they would have felt it if they were there.

"Still outta it."

"Well, I'll be damned, y'all." A female voice spoke up. "He done be totally bushwhacked! I thought this was supposed to be the boogey man!"

"Even the best hitman in the world makes mistakes, Magdalena." The first person said. "And the boogey man isn't this guy. It's either the boss or the Vindice, and I'm leaning towards the boss. Now come on and help me search this guy. We have to get rid of all his weapons, and he'll have loads of hidden ones."

"Ain't never gonna say no to feelin' up a guy." Magdalena replied. A moment later she was pulling the fedora off Reborn's head - he nearly reacted to that one, it was his hat! - before running her hands over his head, his face, down his throat and over his shoulders. "Now this is one fine specimen! I'd love to play some more with him. Too bad he's still alive."

The other people in the room grunted in disgust - a feeling Reborn heartily shared - and several of them joined in on the action and continued to search Reborn. They ended up removing his suit jacket, double shoulder holsters, vest, and tie. Along with that and the obvious weapons they found the three hidden knives and the poison capsules. Magdalena's hands were playing with Reborn's belt and dipping dangerously below it, when some genius looked at Reborn's watch.

"Hah! I knew it. This is a garotte." He said and removed the watch. A soft swish was all that was heard of the metal wire being pulled out. "This is so cliché. It's been done too many times in books and movies."

"Aw, c'mon y'all, that one's a right ol' classic." Magdalena purred. She was leaning over Reborn and he swore that her boobs were occasionally pressing against his face. Now, Reborn loved the ladies but this was so not the time nor the place nor the correct person. Nor did he want to be smothered by her bosom. That would be too embarrassing.

"Dump it with the rest." The leader of the group spoke up. "Here. Use this to tie his hands on his back, and then pick him up again. We'll put him in the cell with the woman. They can be unconscious together."

Hands grabbed him and turned him around. His arms were pulled back and restrained with plastic handcuffs, and then several people grabbed him and carted him off down further corridors and stairs. Reborn heard the screech of an opening metal door opening, he had a brief moment of flight to prepare himself and then landed roughly on the ground. His shoulder ached, his head ached from where it had hit the stone, and the plastic cuffs were almost cutting off his circulation but he stayed still and relaxed until he heard the door close and be locked. Only then did he release trickles of his Flame to heal his aches and slowly blink open his eyes to complete darkness.

"Could be worse." Reborn muttered to himself. "Right. Time for phase two."

Loki Odinson · Jul 26, 2016

When Amaya next awoke, it was to absolute darkness and laying on her side, hands bound tightly at the wrists by plastic cuffs behind her back. The air smelled stale and musty and she couldn't help but wonder if these ancient cells ever saw the light of day. A rather foolish question, she reflected after a heartbeat. There were no windows, no torches or lamps present and it doesn't seem she would be granted a source of light anytime soon. She blamed her momentary lapse in logic fully on her still-throbbing head. It wasn't intense but the steady pounding made it difficult to focus on the little things for longer than half a minute. The cold that seeped into her bones through the damp stone floor wasn't helping matters either. Her harsh breathing echoed around what she thought was a fairly small cell and it was with slight apprehension that she pushed herself into a sitting position. Grunting slightly, she grimaced in mild discomfort as her shoulder ligaments pulled taunt, joints rotating as she worked her bounded hands over her head and to her front. A wriggle of her toes told her whoever searched her missed the phone and flashdrive tucked into her boots. Predictably, her gun, shoulder holster and earpiece were missing. They even took her coat! The nerve of some people, honestly. It was just as well she thought better than to bring her Inspector badge. Standing slowly to her feet, she squinted into the darkness for a second or two before giving up entirely. Trying to see anything here was utterly futile. So she shuffled along, bound hands waving cautiously before her. Her fingers touched cold stone after a few steps, and Amaya quickly concluded that it was approximately four feet by four feet. A single-man cell, then. A huff of frustration, feeling three walls and metal door later, she was back in what she believed was the same spot she started in. Sliding back down to the ground, she sat on her bottom, pondering her alternatives. Amaya could not see, had no lockpicking tools, no weapons save the hidden blades in the soles of her boots and no idea where in this catacombs her specific location was. One, she could wait until someone unlocked the door - hopefully bringing some source of light together - and overpower them with a stab to the guts. Provided they came alone or in pairs and had no backup nearby. There was also communication to take into account. If Amaya failed to take them out in one blow, they could very well call for assistance and she would be killed. Two...well, she had nothing currently. Maybe if she thought long enough, her brain might be able to cook up another possible plan of action? Not bloody likely. Footsteps and voices suddenly drifted through the door and Amaya rolled onto her side, forcing her body to go limp despite her muscles bunching instinctively from the chill of the stones. Hands returned to their previous position and eyes shut, she focussed on shallow, even breaths. The conversation paused as a ring of keys were withdrawn and slotted into the lock, then the high-pitched whine as the metal door opened. Light flitted briefly past her eyelids but Amaya dared not open her eyes even as she felt scrutinising gazes boring into her. A soft thud of a body hitting the ground near her nearly made her jerk, but the minute twitch of her leg seemed to go unnoticed as the two lackeys left quickly, lock turning with a snap behind them. Once again, she was thrown into darkness. When the voices finally faded into nothing, she sat up slowly, opening her eyes and rotating her hands back to the front. Judging from the deep breaths, her cellmate seemed to be unconscious. Amaya's speculation was quickly shot down as clothes rustled softly and a male voice mumbled. The comment about Phase 2 piqued her interest - not a hard feat seeing as she had nothing to occupy her mind at the moment - but she shrugged it off. What this stranger's objective was isn't any of her concern. Her main concern was... "Hey, unlucky guy. You don't happen to have a lighter or a matchstick, or an object that can give off light of some sort, do you?" Amaya whispered in the approximate location of her current cellmate. She paused, then added. "I can break these cuffs as well so long as I can see where to cut. I doubt you would appreciate me driving a blade into your arm or worse."

redletalis · Jul 26, 2016

"Who said I was unlucky? I'm here with a lady in the dark. This could very well be my lucky day." Reborn said once the surprise of suddenly being addressed wore off. If he hadn't been tied off then he might have reacted before he could have thought twice and would have ended up killing the poor woman.

The cuffs were tight but there was enough plastic between his tied wrists to give Reborn enough movement to plant his hands on the ground and wriggle around until he was almost sitting on them. Then he focused and lifted himself enough to fold his legs underneath him and wriggle and slide his tied hands around until he could slide them over his knees and have them back in front of him rather than tied on his back.

Reborn forced himself to his feet with a groan, briefly frowning down at his dusty more-grey-than-black suit. And he was missing his fedora so his black hair spiked up without control. This was not the best position to be in when meeting a woman, but it wasn't like he could nip out and ask the goons out there for a shower and a new suit just because he had been taught to be nice to women.

"And while I do appreciate the offer, I will have to decline this time around." Reborn removed the solid, black buckle of his belt (which thankfully stayed in place and did its function) and flipped out the small knife hidden there. A moment later the plastic was cut in half and he had full range of his movements again.

He cut a short piece off from the remaining plastic and then lit it up with his Flames, creating a small flame the size of a matchstick - and if he was lucky that was what the woman would think it was.

He focused back on the woman. She wasn't quite as tall as he was, and she was of Asian descent. And she was about as dirty as Reborn was. Well. He could use this situation.

Reborn smirked at her. "Tell me, who are you and why are you here in this lovely establishment that could use some dusting?"

Loki Odinson · Aug 1, 2016

Great, I'm stuck with a womaniser. Amaya rolled her eyes in cover of the darkness, completely sure that he was being sarcastic despite the lack of bite lacing his words. Chivalry was hard to come by in modern society, and a gentleman would not be caught dead in this kind of place. Unless, of course, he was a poor civilian in the wrong place at the wrong time. That, she highly doubted as he was being rather calm whereas a civilian would be screaming or demanding an explanation. On that note, she was glad her fellow captives was not about to go into hysterics anytime soon. Another rustle and soft click of heels signalled him getting to his feet, and her eyebrows rose further at the small swish of a blade and the telltale schnick of a knife sliding through something - the cuffs, most likely. Shortly after, a small yellow flame came into existence, brilliant in a way no ordinary flames could be. But in her haste to be free, Amaya brushed it off as a side effect of burning plastic. The fire could be green for all she cared. What she wanted was to get out of here as soon as possible in order to see what was in the flashdrive. And if all this effort was worth it. With the aid of the small fire, she jabbed held her wrists before her and activated the mechanism in the sole of her boots. The blade shot out and with a swift slice, the cuffs came undone. A grimace pulled at her lips at the grimy state of her clothes, and she ignored the man's question in favour of brushing herself off. Determining it was the best she could do for now, Amaya eventually stopped and spared a few moments to scan him in turn. Tall, dark and handsome of European descent. No wonder he was such a suave bastard, if one followed stereotypes to a degree. Either way, her fellow captive in dirt suit and curly sideburns the like of which she never saw before was most definitely not a civilian. So...undercover cop, private detective, a personal enemy of this organisation were one of the many possibilities out there. In that case, honesty on her part would not be wise. Not until his position was clear. "Could ask you that myself." Amaya pursed her lips, then turned her back on him to prod at the door's lock, removing the longest hairpin stick in her hair to fiddle with it. Lockpicking was hardly her forte, but one had to make do, right? Glancing over her shoulder as she continued fiddling with the lock, Amaya added. "If it eases your mind any, I'm a PI. As for what I am doing here, well...let's just say one small misstep on my part and I was carted down here the same way you were. Anything other than that is client's confidentiality. I'm sure you understand."

redletalis · Aug 4, 2016

There was something familiar about her underneath the dust and dirt and blooming bruises - he probably didn't look much better really - and it took him a moment longer than normal to actually recognise her. She was one of those international cops, and she had been on Reborn's trail more than once even if she had never actually managed to catch up with him. He should know, he made sure of that by hacking into the database her agency used. Well, well, well. This was going to be amusing to say the least.

"Oh yes, certainly. Confidentiality. Very hush-hush." He nodded, a small smirk on his face as he watched her try to open the door to their improvised cell. He stood silent for several moments, just watching her and holding the little flame aloft both to give her more light and also to keep it out of immediate range of sight. Out of sight, out of mind was perfectly applicable here in this situation.

That he got a lovely view of her backside was simply a bonus, really. Shame that the light was so poor, it was a lovely backside.

"Are you certain that your knitting needle with do anything, darling?" he leaned over her in order to see the keyhole better. The door was solid metal but Reborn was pretty confident that he could have broken it down if he truly tried. He would keep that as Escape Plan Z and run through Escape Plans A to Y first.

"And what were you doing when you made your 'small misstep' and got carted down here?" he added. "Ah, I think you need to jab that thing a little bit harder, perhaps bend the tip a little. Have you ever picked a lock before, love?"

This Is the Way the World Goes Boom (redletalis x Loki Odinson)

The Plot Bunnies are attacking!

God of Lies and Trickery

The Plot Bunnies are attacking!

God of Lies and Trickery

The Plot Bunnies are attacking!

God of Lies and Trickery

The Plot Bunnies are attacking!

God of Lies and Trickery

The Plot Bunnies are attacking!

God of Lies and Trickery

The Plot Bunnies are attacking!

God of Lies and Trickery

The Plot Bunnies are attacking!

God of Lies and Trickery

The Plot Bunnies are attacking!

God of Lies and Trickery

The Plot Bunnies are attacking!

God of Lies and Trickery

The Plot Bunnies are attacking!

God of Lies and Trickery

The Plot Bunnies are attacking!

God of Lies and Trickery

The Plot Bunnies are attacking!

God of Lies and Trickery

The Plot Bunnies are attacking!

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