* Lukas walks! Yes, walks. It is amazing, how he walks. Walk walk walkity walk. Ten's in his backpack still. * Alys is still following. And limping. She's probably going to have a nasty bruise. [The door leads to a hallway. There's a nice green carpet, and it becomes clear that this was the office portion of the building. There's a few rooms from side to side, and the hallway ends in glass double doors. You see the parking lot beyond.] Y'know, we really should have come in this way. Carpet and no boxes, and all that. * Lukas looks back to Alys. "... you should really rest, you know." He pulls out his gun again. I'll sleep a lot when I get home. I want to see if this was worth it. Yeah, yeah... * Alys unclips her chains, since Lukas has his gun out. * Lukas starts checking rooms! [After a quick search, it becomes clear that while there's some furnishing remaining, the offices have long since been devoid of anything noteworthy... except the one on the far right. There's a paper-cup filled with coffee here. And a laptop. (WOO. LAPTOPPY.) (LAPTOP n_n) * Alys sips the coffee, which is probably cold. But she doesn't care. Mmm, caffeine. [It's still warm, actually. But it looks used.] * Lukas focuses on the laptop. (Is it on?) (...Mmm, used caffeine.) [It is on! And opened to an e-mail program.] * Lukas has a seat. "Aw, so thoughtful." * Lukas starts rifling. * Alys watches Lukas do his hacking thing. (In the computer sense!) Let's see... [First message, September 8th, 2062. From: "J. Hendrix" To: "Head Honcho". Subject: "Nebel IV"] * Lukas reads that one! "Well, at least it's not the wrong address..." "Hey boss. Just delivered the goods from Engelwerks to Covenant, like you ordered."] * Lukas peers, then says, "... Middlemen. We hit the middlemen. Sigh." Yes, he says sigh. Like we would ever have the luck to find the Big Bad and kick his ass that quickly. Anything else in there? [Second message, September 9th, 2062. From: "J. Hendrix" To: "Elsa Cruz". Subject: "Covenant"] * Lukas reads that one too! ["Hey, Elsa! I just did my first assignment yesterday. You know that chopper we swiped from Germany? Gave it to a bunch of chicks, like the boss said. Really, they're all women. Freaky, huh?"] [It's about now you realize this is the "Sent" folder. But I assume you'll be checking both :P] (Of course!) [Third message, September 9th, 2062. from: "Elsa Cruz" To J. Hendrix". Subject: "Re: Covenant"] * Khalil has joined #factory ["Yes, they're all women. You'd better get used to it. I heard they're planning to exchange human resources in for the goods we give them."] * Alys sees Khalil in the hall and calls from the room they're in, "Over here." [Fourth message, September 9th, 2062. From: "J. Hendrix" To: "Elsa Cruz". Subject: "Re: Re: Covenant"] (... Wait, wait. Just to check if I'm parsing that, they're giving them manpower in exchange for stuffs?) * Khalil turns and then follows the voice. He still hasn't bothered putting his shirt and robe on, carrying it in his arms. ["Aw, man! You mean I'm gonna be working with a buncha chicks? Well, at least they better be hot. Of course, there's no way they compare to you, Elsa."] ( Yes :P ) * Alys 's eyes widen and her face flushes a bit before she looks back to the computer screen. ( Or womenpower, in this case. ) * Khalil glances at Alys, then responds. "I apologize for my attire. Let me make myself more presentable." [5th message, September 20th, 2062. From: "J. Hendrix" To: "Head Honcho". Subject: "Base."] * Lukas glances up at Khalil at 'presentable', then snorts and looks back to the messages. Clicky click click! No, it's okay! Really! Um. Is your back okay now? * Khalil goes behind a crate or something and slips on his shirt. "Much improved. That Herman can work miracles." ["Hey boss. Just wanted to thank you for this new place. It rocks. The red caps are great co-workers, too. Just give them human blood and they're happy. I just share my victims with them. Cool, huh?"] Maybe I should have him check out... my... [6th message, Sept. 22nd, 2062. From: "J. Hendrix" To: Head Honcho". Subject: "Bot"] * Alys' voice trails off as she reads the messages. Your...? Is everything alright? * Khalil steps out from behind and heads towards Alys to see what the commotion is. ["Got the bot all set up. I thought we couldn't afford stuff like this? Oh well, it's cool. Thanks."] (Short attention span. ^^) * Lukas snorts. "Should have paid more for actual armor." Hm? Yeah. Just. Blood stuff. * Lukas continues scrolling through for important notes, since he can always review things later at his leisure. [7th message, Sept. 25th, 2062. From: "J. Hendrix" To: "Elsa Cruz." No subject.] "Blood... stuff?" ["Hey Elsa. I got my place up and running now. Just send some fuel to the lovely ladies at Covenant for their chopper. Freaky that I'm dealing with them exclusively, but hey, whatever, right? By the way, about our boss...? Oh, I gotta go. Red caps want something. TTYL."] * Lukas says idly, "Apparently vampires like blood. And, uh, so did the guards. Yeah." [8th message, Sept. 28th, 2062. From "J. Hendrix" To: "Elsa Cruz." Subject: "Our Boss."] Vampires like blood. * Khalil stops shortly. "This is a revelation?" No. * Khalil seems moderately confused. (You're not the only one, kiddo.) ["So I've been wondering... Who is he anyhow? I mean, I heard he was the CEO of some big company that went bankrupt a while back. Any ideas?"] Red caps are actually... I'm pretty sure they're something that's specifically not a vampire. But these guys might just name themselves after those. Other things can like blood as well. [9th message, Sept. 29th, 2062. From: "Elsa Cruz" To: "J. Hendrix" Subject: "Re: Our Boss"] Although yes, it is disturbing. * Khalil finally makes his way to where he can read the messages. ["Keep this under your hat. The boss is very secretive, and I heard he killed someone who went snooping around. But word has it he was the last CEO of a company called Asahara. They were leaders of some cartel or something, but they lost power twenty years ago. There were a bunch of relentless attacks, and they finally folded. "] (Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha haa....) (Fuck.) (*snicker*) (*dies several times*) ["Word is, the boss is trying to build power and retake control of the the cartel again."] [10th message, Sept. 30th, 2062. From: "J. Hendrix" To: "Elsa Cruz" Subject: "Re: Re: Our Boss"] ["No shit? That explains why he needs all these people. Even if they are chicks. Hey, what else can you tell me?"] They seem very open over e-mail. [11th message, Oct. 1st, 2062. From: "Elsa Cruz" To: "J. Hendrix" Subject: "Re: Re: Re: Our Boss"] Their idiocy is our luck. * Lukas grins. "And I will encourage people to be until the day I die." ["I can't say anymore. I've told you too much as it is. Boss wants this kept secret."] * Alys turns to Khalil. "See that! You complained, and Fate got annoyed!" [12th message, Oct. 4th, 2062. From: "J. Hendrix" To: "Head Honcho" Subject: "Delivery Complete"] Actually, I would have wondered about the mental capacity of the hire- er if he had let any more slip. ["Boss, just delivered that new weapon to Covenant."] * Khalil then eyes the latest message. "Hmm... weapon?" [12th message, 8:46 p.m. From: "J. Hendrix" To: "Head Honcho" Subject: "Delivery Complete"] ["Boss, just delivered that new weapon to Covenant."] [13th message, 8: 53 p.m. From: J. Hendrix" To: "Elsa Cruz" Subject: "Kickass gun"] ["Holy shit. I mean HOLY SHIT!! Do you know what the boss just had me give to those Covenant chicks? Some kinda fucking LASER gun! Seriously! That thing shoots lasers or plasma or something! Sucks that we had to give it up; I'd have liked to keep that baby."] Just before we arrived... [14th message, 9:19 p.m. From: "Elsa Cruz" To: "J. Hendrix." Subject: "Re: Kickass gun"] (Wow. Just recently sent.) ["I was in charge of the operation that stole it from Zunkuft and, actually, you're wrong. It's called a rail gun. It actually shoots depleted uranium at high velocities. I know it looks like a beam, but trust me, it's solid. But yes, it's still pretty amazing. It's a prototype: the first handheld railgun that doesn't break after its first use. I was surpised as much as anyone that the boss gave it up."] ["He must be getting something good from Covenant in return."] Aw, fucking christ... What the fuck are they going to do with a RAILGUN? ...most likely, use it. And given our track record, most likely against us. They don't NEED to use it against us. [15th message, 9:48 p.m. From: "Head Honcho" To: "J. Hendrix" Subject: "Behavior"] * Lukas clicks through while responding, "You use that kind of shit on, like, tanks! Do we have tanks? No!" (We're a roleplaying team. Of course we have a tank.) ["Your behavior has been unacceptable. I do not appreciate the sharing of details about our operations over such an easily accessible source. If you do this again, I WILL terminate you."] [That's the last of the messages.] * Lukas sniggers. Hah. Too late. Yeah, really. Can we sent an email pretending we're Hendrix and try to get more out of that other person? Before Big Bad cuts off his e-mail account or something? It is an interesting proposal. ... s'worth a shot, but we'd need to know what he doesn't know. I'll work on it later. The wonderful world of laptops, I can do this. * Lukas picks it up! You rock! Okay! Time to get my leg healed, or something. Because this hurts. [Lukas holds it over his head like Link would in Legend of Zelda. DadadaDA!] Do you require some assistance? Yes, please. * Khalil offers a shoulder. (You got the VAMPIRE LAPTOP! You can use this to suck computer bits from other computers, and read dumb e-mail. Press start to access it on your sub- items screeen!) * Alys leans on him and starts limping away. (We can send dumb email on it too!) * Khalil takes her back to the healer person. * Lukas closes it and slips it into his backpack, then checks around for actual paper (gasp!) things. (Who needs paper? :p) (She's so milking this.) (No, if she were milking this, she'd be wrapping her arm around you.) (And copping a feel. Mmm. Feel.) (Just wait. I won't ask Alys to strip. ;P) (Well, it is just her leg.) (Exactly!) (Take off your pants.) (Yeah. She didn't have fuggin' BULLET HOLES) (Psh, I took care of the bullet holes.) (Yes.) [There's nothing else around.] * Lukas follows the cripples out, then, having successfully sacked the offices! [End!]