"Rigor Mortis"-The life after death RP(Started/PM for participation)-Arc 4: Closing Loose Ends

[Link_to_Future]

Adrian looked between Marcus and Mira. The expression on his face did not change as they had split up the duties and the funding. Adrian did not care for these things. Far more pressing issues had come into the forefront of his mind. Fractions of plans had begun to silently take root in his thoughts. Nothing concrete had yet formed, but the day was still young and it didn't look like the situation was changing anytime soon. He could wait.

He was glad that today would be spent with these two even though he didn't really show it outwardly. Marcus and Mira at least seemed to care enough about others to not casually talk about manipulation techniques and deadly chemicals they had stolen so freely. It would be a nice change of pace from the parade of uncomfortable moments that had pretty well defined the entire excursion yesterday.

As they left the apartment and piled into the car. The ride over was uncomfortable and tense. Adrian could almost tell that part of the reason for this was because he was projecting it. He stared out the window of the back seat and quietly simmered, stewing in ideas about all he had seen. There was so much still that they didn't know about their situation. So many factors at play that he had to consider and research before even beginning to figure out how to move forward.

Time flew as he pondered silently. Before he really knew it, they were already at their destination.

"Where to first?"

"Phones," he intoned quietly as he reached for the car door. "Communication is going to be key moving forward. It would be best to start with that."

 

[SeanTheBlueSheep]

"Evey, are you awake?"

"Hm?" Evey wondered in the ever-elegant tones of a waking teenager. She rolled into the middle of the bed from her perch atop the edge of the mattress, perilously close to toppling, and wondered why her bed was so small and uncomfortable. In a jolt, she sat up, and looked around the empty room. How had she gotten here? Where was she? Why did the bed smell funny? She quickly regained her sense of position and sleepily stepped out of her bed, pulling the long sleeves of her night-shirt over her hands to keep them a little warmer. She fished in her bag for some deodorant, too uncomfortable to use the shower with so many others around, and made herself look presentable as possible in the reflection on the window before walking into the living room.

When she entered, she saw only Brendan, sitting on the sofa with his eyes closed.
"Where is everybody?" she asked.

 

[Generic_Username]

Spencer entered the apartment just as Evey came out of the bedroom.

"Where is everybody?"

"Oh, good, you're up."

He took a deep breath, and tried to get her up to speed without wasting much time. Everyone else had apparently already left, and it was better to get to the mall early and avoid the crowds, or else someone was bound to recognize them.

"To sum up, our boss' name is Frank. He left us some cash, and we're supposed to decorate this place." He gestured to the small bottle of pills on the desk. "Those are supposed to keep you alive. Take four."

He turned to Brendan.

"The U-Haul's out back. We can go whenever you're both ready."

 

[Berenzen]

Ben opened his eyes, mind clear of distractions, totally aware.

"U-Haul's here? Alright, I'll head down now."

Ben stood up and looked at Evey.

"You might want to change, sweet-tits, unless you really don't mind getting odd looks. I'll be down at the U-Haul."

With that, not wanting to witness the ensuing explosion, he turned and left the apartment, getting into the U-Haul. He looked at the cab, he forgot that U-Hauls only had one row of seats

"Huh, Looks like Evey's sitting *****. Suitable."

He sat in the front passenger seat and waited, they shouldn't be too long. And he could delay gratification of sparring with Evey until she was sitting in the cab. Hopefully Spencer wouldn't mind.

 

[Mr.Ivebeenframed]

"If we're going to get phones, then we should get disposable ones. Less expensive and if we get tracked we can easily dispose of it." Mira said. Although she felt slightly stupid for emphasizing the phones dispose-ability.

"Next, I guess we should buy clothes for disguises and stuff."

 

[TheIronRuler]

"Why are we here?" Alice asked Frank as she stopped in her place before entering The Tartaros Pit. "We could have gone and seen José", she continued to protest. Frank turned around and looked at her silently, examining her composure. "I don't want to see José. Come, Klaus is waiting", he raised his right hand and motioned her to follow him as he entered the shop.

The Tartaros Pit, a rather ordinary looking shop stocking on suits, trousers, hats, shoes and belts - all for men, was run by Klaus Schultz, an elderly German gentleman who came to America two decades ago. "Afternoon", Frank announced his arrival to Klaus. Alice walked behind him, her red apparel contrasting all of the colorless gray clothes in the shop. "Any news?", Frank asked Klaus. He heard a voice coming from behind a door in the back, "G.I.Joe!", he said loudly from behind the wooden door.

The door opened and from it came Klaus. A man in his late seventies, he is rather short and appears frail, his thin gray hairs are combed to the right and he brandished a smile as he greeted Frank. His smile narrowed as he noticed Alice behind Frank, "Jolie Rouge, welcome".

"It's Alice", Alice corrected Klaus.Frank walked to greet Klaus and they both smiled, held out their hands and hugged each other. "Klaus, did you find where the thief is at?", Frank asked. Alice walked out of the shop and looked outside. She leaned against the glass window and waited for Frank's men to appear.

"Something strange", Klaus began to explain his findings, "I don't understand much. He stole it through his Electricity-", Klaus stopped, rolled his eyes and hit his cane on the floor,"-Computer, yes. A Hack, no - Hacker. He told me the Tzardom sent its men to fight the Britons in the Opium trade. We can't collect the debt if the Russians succeed", Klaus continued his explanation. Klaus's hand was visibly shaking as he handed Frank a piece of paper with some scribbles on it. "Klaus, is there something wrong?", Frank inquired as to the health of the old man.

"I just need a cigarette, boy. My life is running out".

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Around, 10 minutes later, with six disposable cellular phones added to their inventory, Marcus Mira and Adrian stepped out into the main artery of the Lincoln Mall once again. While the mood was still undoubtedly downbeat, getting away from the dingy apartment and out into something that at least closely resembled normality had alleviated some of the tension.

So far so good. Marcus thought, No unpleasant surprises yet.

"I saw a tailors near to the entrance as we came in." Marcus announced "Should be useful if we ever need to go anywhere fancy. Let's go."

 

[SeanTheBlueSheep]

Evey got changed quickly, thinking privately of the many ways she would inflict pain on Brendan for his remark and the cowardice with which he had fled afterwards. She put on a simple black skirt, a stripy blue t-shirt, and a soft teal cardigan before making her way down to the truck, cursing her lack of forethought to bring another pair of shoes that went with the skirt and trying to get the acrid taste of the pills from her mouth. They had tasted like a wedge of lemon rind wrapped around a bottle of bleach with a chaser of Axe bodyspray. Not something she wanted to try again by any stretch of the imagination.

When she arrived at the truck, Evey peered in through the window, and pulled the door open. Eyeing Brendan coldly, she gave him a simple command. "Move." she most certainly was not climbing across him unless it was a life or death situation, or she got to elbow him hard in the crotch.

 

[Berenzen]

Ben got out of the cab, allowing Evey to get in, smiling amusedly at her glare.

"After you Princess, there isn't a back seat, though, you're going to have to sit between us."

Ben didn't give the crude name of the seat to Evey, if she didn't know it, it'd be his private joke, if she did... well that just made it all the sweeter.

"Spencer's coming down I hope, or did you slaughter him in your rage against my comment?"

 

[Generic_Username]

Spencer followed Evey down to the truck. Seeing her altercate with Brendan reminded him of his sister's complaints when she'd come home after babysitting the neighbors' twins. At least she got paid.

"Be civil, kids. You'll have plenty of time to bicker at the mall."

The ride over to the mall was pretty quiet. Spencer kept his eyes on the road and his head in the clouds, and even if anyone spoke, he probably wouldn't hear anything. Brendan and Evey did listen to him, save for a few exchanged looks. It wasn't necessary a bad thing, as their rivalry kept the atmosphere light, and took their mind off all the bloodshed that happened just the day before. The short time they spent on their way to the mall was a nice distraction from having to think about anything else.

Spencer parked the U-Haul near the entrance, just in case. Assuming the other group would get the smaller items, they were left with the furniture.

"I think we should get a refrigerator, a stove and an oven first. Armchairs, carpets and decorative items are all well and good, but nobody wants to starve."

He turned to Brendan.

"There should be a bank around the corner, too. You mentioned an account?"

 

[Berenzen]

The trip to the mall was surprisingly quiet. Evey must be ignoring him, Ben thought. Ben looked at Spencer when he asked his question.

"Yeah, it's got a chunk of money in it, should be enough to pay off a large portion of what we need. I agree though, we do need a refrigerator/freezer combo. After that, if we have enough, we might want to spend a little on some extra cots. It's mighty uncomfortable sleeping on the floor."

Ben climbed out of the car, holding the door open for Evey.

"We'll head to the bank first, then head to the megastore in there, from what I can remember, there's a Walmart in there."

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Despite being right at the front of the Mall, the tailors Marcus had spotted earlier didn't seem to be trying very hard to pull in customers. Almost comically bland and unassuming, in a way it was conspicuous in it's desire not to be noticed. Hundreds of potential customers might have walked past it every day without anyone acknowledging it was there. For Marcus however, it lit up like a Christmas tree against all the other benignly colorful displays, grasping at potential consumers who's intellects are treated as those of mere children.

Outside the shop was a woman leaning insolently against the glass, dressed from head to foot in red. Marcus could imagine how desirable most would consider her to be, but Marcus just thought she looked faintly ridiculous. In a way she was too perfect, like a 1920's pin-up cliche. Nevertheless, he wondered who she was, looking so out of place loitering inside the Lincoln Mall.

When they entered the shop Marcus' had to do a double take. Frank was there, this time in conversation with an old and withered man who looked like the shop keeper. It seemed the appearance of the woman outside was explained. She was probably another one of Frank's lackeys, keeping lookout. Marcus wondered what part they had to play in all this. He thought it only logical to assume that they were involved, for Frank didn't seem the type to have friends.

Something made Marcus oddly confident about this chance meeting. Maybe it was because this time the meeting wasn't on Franks terms. They were out and about, and had walked in on something Frank had not specifically authorized them to see. Perhaps this time, Marcus stood a chance of actually getting an insight into his new employers life, and maybe they could find out something substantial.

"Frank! Here on business I presume?" Marcus exclaimed cheerfully, with a hint of acidic wit.

 

[TheIronRuler]

Frank looked away from Klaus as he asked him for his help. He quickly reached for his jacket's inner pocket and took out a cigarette pack, quickly handing it to Klaus without looking at him. He knew what he was doing was forbidden, but he couldn't let Klaus live like that any longer. Klaus tried to speak as he took the cigarettes, but instead remained silent. He saw a young man enter the shop and call Frank by his name.

"Young man, come inside and I'll find you a perfect fit" Klaus said as he walked towards Marcus and extended his hand to greet him. Marcus shook Klaus's hand. "He's gifted", Frank said without looking at the two, "He has Green Hands". Frank turned to Klaus and raised his hand. Klaus took a cigarette out of the pack Frank gave him and put it in his mouth, then Frank snapped his fingers and lit it. Klaus inhaled the smoke and raised his hand forward. He noticed the shaking had stopped.

"I'm buying new clothes", Frank moved his hand over his trousers, "I need a new pair". Klaus hit the shop floor with his cane, "Come in, boy! You need to look your best for the Councillor" Klaus instructed Marcus to follow him to the other side of the shop, stocked with suits and trousers.

Alice looked at the group of three of Frank's employees go past her. She moves her right hand and began slowly wiggling her fingers, as if she was stringing strings. She closed her eyes and continued to move her fingers.

 

[Berenzen]

As Ben walked to the bank, he looked inside the Tartaros Pit, as he passed it. Ben blinked as he saw Marcus and the others talking with Frank. He nudged Spencer and Evey, nodding his head towards the group.

"Looks like Marcus ran into Frank, hopefully he'll get some better answers for us. Anyways, we have to do our shopping first, if they're still here when we're done- it shouldn't take too long to get what we want- then we can accost them ourselves."

Ben walked on to the bank ATM and inserted his card. He punched in his PIN and selected Withdrawal. As the screen asked him how much he wanted to withdraw, he thought, then punched in $1000. It was about a third of the rest of his trust fund, and his daily maximum limit. When the money came out, he picked it up and turned away, forgetting to pull out his bank card.

"Alright, let's go. The faster we can get this done the better chances we have of not being seen by someone we know."

Spoiler: OOC

Sean/Generic, this is your cue to pick up the card. It also has my character's legal name on it, so your characters can learn his name and thereby add conflict.

 

[Link_to_Future]

Adrian walked towards the clothing store without uttering a word. He took a moment to briefly glance at the woman in red before stepping into the establishment. Something about her seemed unreal. She was dreamily moving her hands in some strange manner through closed eyes. Adrian didn't think that it felt right, but he moved with the group as Marcus called out to Frank a little too pleasantly.

Frank didn't seem too enthused to see the trio outside of the apartment. Adrian fought to keep his face neutral when looking at the smoking man. The hot flame of rage had burned back into a delicate simmer since they had left the apartment this morning. Still, it was there in the back of his mind, coloring every scratchy word that he spoke.

But the other man was different from Frank. He jovially smacked his cane against the ground and spoke with almost too much enthusiasm. The man seemed excited to see Marcus for some reason outside of Adrian's grasp. The geologist didn't mind though. The man had been in cahoots with Frank...he wasn't to be trusted. None of them were to be trusted.

Marcus was being displayed like a show pony for this older gentleman. As Marcus shook the new man's hand, Frank uttered something about "gifted" and "Green Hands". Marcus was being indoctrinated into their little club without any subtlety. It was apparent that both Mira and Adrian were being ignored for their lack of gifts.

All the better, he supposed.

Adrian immediately turned and started thumbing through the outfits on display. He cared little for clothing himself fashionably but it was an excuse to avoid eye contact with the others. His mind briefly drifted back to woman outside of the store. A ping of realization came over him as he compared how out of place she was with their present company.

"Could...that be Alice?" he mumbled to himself, staring blankly at one the tag on a pair of slacks.

 

[TheIronRuler]

Alice continued with her attempts to find a suitable candidate. When she had found a car driven by a busy mother with a small child in the back, she had locked on her target. The Car broke through the road and drove into the parking lot, accelerating towards a concrete wall separating between the Parking lot and another street. The car quickly turned to the left, but it continued to drift to the wall. It flipped on its roof and smashed hard into the wall, blocking the entrance to the car from the other side.

Screams of anguish and cries of help came from the automobile as a woman begged for anyone to help her get her baby out, a ten year old boy. The door was crushed and the other side pressed against the wall, it seemed like both of them were doomed. The woman in red opened her eyes and smiled. She looked over at the group of fresh recruits and wondered what they will do next.

She had no time to spare. She couldn't wait for Frank to test them all individually.
.

Spoiler: OOC

The other group needs to ignore what is happening outside, and the current group has to be careful with trying to solve the situation. I suggest you let Mr.Ivebeenframed do what he is supposed to do and listen to my Co-GM, Link to Future if you have any questions.

 

[Generic_Username]

The other group seemed to be looking at something happening outside, out of his sight, but Spencer wasn't paying attention to them. Why was Frank here? He eyed the store carefully, and noticed a young woman in red studying Adrian, Marcus and Mira.

Something lit up in his mind.

...Alice?

"Alright, let's go. The faster we can get this done the better chances we have of not being seen by someone we know."

Brendan took a thousand dollars out of the ATM as if it were no big deal. How much money was in his trust fund anyway? Deciding to ignore the woman for now, Spencer hurried after Brendan and Evey, picking up Brendan's card from the ATM.

"Right. Wait, you forgot your--"

As Spencer reached out to give the card back to Brendan, he noticed something was off. He stopped for a second and pulled it back towards himself, examining it more closely. The information on the card didn't match what Brendan had told them about himself earlier. His newfound trust in him was suddenly gone.

"...Benjamin Debue?"

He lifted his gaze from the card towards "Brendan".

"Care to explain this?"

 

[SeanTheBlueSheep]

Spoiler: Haghrghagrhagrhgarhgrallblrllrghrl

Never mind. Generic got to it before I did. I must remember to press post before I watch things.

 

[Berenzen]

"Fuck," Ben muttered under his breath, then turned to the other two.

"Not now, not here it's too public for a confrontation. Let's just say that I didn't trust you guys at the apartment, and I rather that you didn't know my name. So I used an alias that was somewhat similar to my own name. Yes my name is Benjamin Debue, so call me Ben or Brendan if you wish. Let's get the shopping done" Ben noticed people streaming towards one of the entrances, "while everyone is distracted."

Ben took the card from Spencer's hand. The cat was out of the bag it seemed, now he just needed a place to make sure that it didn't claw him to death before he got to explain.

"Once we're done shopping, you can scream at me all you want on the ride home. However, this explanation requires a bit of time to explain and would attract too much attention here."

 

[Mr.Ivebeenframed]

Mira didn't need to be asked to do something before her legs began to move. She had seen this scenario play out dozens of times and not all of them ended greatly. She looked back to her other mates for help.

"Someone get a crowbar!" Mira shouted as she shot both of them a glance. She turned back to the car and ran towards it. She smelled the gasoline slowly leaking out of the engine and the gas tank. A spark could send them all in flames.

"Don't worry... everything is going to be okay..." Mira said to the woman. She eyed quickly. Most of her wounds seem to be lacerations from the roll or the numerous impacts. The airbags had done a good job of preserving her but now it seemed useless. Then Mira moved to the child who was bawling his head off. The door refused to budge as Mira tried. The glass was already broken but large shards bulged out discouraging any attempt to pull the child out without clearing the glass but that mean that if they were, then clearing the glass would mean risking getting shards thrown in the boy's face.

"Everything's going to be alright..." Mira kept repeating as her body went on auto-pilot and her mind watched from afar.