tushanshu_logs | Victory is in My Veins

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post: valdis

Victory is in My Veins

Characters: Valdis, Desmond and the Cultists
Date: August 22, 2016 (2017 in game)
Location: Beneath the Palace Gardens
Situation: Thanks to Rey, Valdis has found a way beneath the Palace Gardens and with standing permission from Xuiyu, she is set to explore the ruins that lie below.
Warnings/Rating: None yet

The riot seemed to have proven her point about the Cultists. They were a serious threat and at least now no one doubted that. Or at least, no one should. Part of it had been her fault, she had failed to follow up on the information she had received from Rey when she first formed the Cultist Task Force and that had given the Cultists time to plan their attack. She didn't quite have proof that it had been then, but it couldn't have been anyone else. No one else would have benefited. Not even the Snakes.

After his help during the riot. Valdis felt that Desmond would be excellent back up on this venture. So she had invited him along, telling him to meet her in the Palace Gardens. When she arrived, however, she sensed that she wasn't the only one there. Pulling out her eyeglass, she activated her soul sight. Two soul 'ghosts' as she called them, headed toward the entrance to the tunnels. Valdis didn't want to wait for Desmond. The scent was too fresh and she couldn't let her prey get too far ahead. Five minutes. She would wait five minutes before going in alone.

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Desmond hated riots. That what he'd decided after both getting the crap kicked out of him by angry Kedan, and having to pull his trump card. The one thing he (sort of) kept a secret. That, of course, being the Apple of Eden. It's power wasn't one he used lightly, as he'd seen what it had done in the hands of Al Mualim, Savonarola, and even Ezio.

That's why he was glad that Valdis had invited him to follow up on her hunch that the Cultists were responsible for what had happened, to give him a chance to do more than just beat people up.

Desmond will show up just a few minutes after Valdis contacted him, dropping into the Palace Garden from one of the exterior walls (the Ezio in him making him distrustful of most main entrances to large open areas.

"All right, so what're we after in there?"

To answer his own question, Desmond closed his eyes, opening them a few moments later, staring intently at the entrance.

"Great. I'm betting we're gonna have to split up to catch 'em, aren't we?"

She sensed him before she saw him and wasn't all at surprised when he dropped into the garden.

"Only if they split up," she replied, answering only his second question. She didn't actually know what they were after.

Revelations had a cloth wrapped around its hilt, hiding the red gem that usually pulsed with light and the slight glow that came from the blade itself. Without another word she started toward the entrance, treading lightly as she went down the stairs and into the tunnels.

Desmond falls in step behind Valdis, his footsteps nearly silent. "Call me a cynic, but I'm betting that as soon as they hear us, and they will, they'll wanna split up, assuming that it's just you after 'em."

As Desmond descends the stairs, he drops into a half crouch, keeping his Eagle Vision active as he's in full on tracking mode...when he notices something on the ground. There's a golden trail leading further into the cave. He smiles.

"Heh, you're never gonna believe this, but I think I can see where they're going. My extra sense must've gotten an upgrade without me noticing."

"Let's not let them hear us then."

She moved as softly as he did, keeping low as she followed the Cultists deeper into the tunnels.

"Handy." Was her only reply, her voice no louder than a whisper, not wanting to alert the pair she was hunting to their presence. She let the colors of the night fade from her sight, seeing the shadows of two souls rise ahead of her. They were still on track, for now.

She and Desmond followed them through the tunnels, watching from the shadows as the two took measurements and spoke in hushed tones, quietly enough that she couldn't quite make out what they were saying.

"Mrrrow?"

The usually soft sound rang in the darkness of the tunnels and Valdis looked behind her to see her fluffy white cat, green eyes shining in the small amount of light that came from the lanterns held by the kedan. There was no way that they hadn't heard.

Edited 2016-09-03 01:39 (UTC)

They were both incredibly quiet down in the dark gloom. If Valdis didn't have her soul sight, she probably would have never noticed them at all.

They were engrossed in taking measurements, one working with many tools and signing numbers to another who jotted them down when he wasn't keeping watch.

The noise startled them both, and in a flurry they grabbed up their necessities and made a run for it, splitting up where the underground tunnels became a four-way crossroads.

Desmond's focused almost entirely on the trail, shifting his vision between the pair of cultists, an the golden trail they left in their wake. When the cat meows, he's jolted out of his Eagle Vision by the distraction.

"What the fuck is that?" he hisses, trying to get his concentration back to where he can use his Eagle Vision again, to spot the offending feline. "They're gonna hear us at this rate."

And naturally, they do. "Fuck! I've got the tall one, okay?"

Without waiting for a response, Desmond takes off in a dead sprint, bouncing off the walls of the tunnel, and leaping and ducking obstacles as they present themselves.

Desmond's quick response might have shocked her, if she hadn't already taken off after the shorter one. Though she would have to discuss his language use with him later. She followed the trail of the shorter one with ease. Moving faster than her quarry meant that she could catch them quickly, but keeping an eye on her target was more difficult in the darkness, and navigating with her soul sight active made speed more difficult.

Nonetheless, she slipped past her target to block their path, thrusting out with one palm to try to strike them in the chest and knock them down.

The robed kedan staggered back at the blow, trying to catch his balance before landing on his rump. His hood slipped back, revealing a young man who was not long out of his late teens. He looked scared and defiant in equal measure, and quickly scrambled to his feet, bringing his fists up as though he intended to punch his way past her.

"Stand aside!"

Indun. Her memory of the girl came quickly to the forefront of her mind when the boy's hood slipped off. Her eyes narrowed with fury. Just another child being used by Daseng for who knew what. Just another ignorant and blindly loyal child. Calming her rage at Daseng, Valdis lifted a brow and crossed her arms.

"No. We are going to talk about what Daseng has you doing down here."

"You're crazy if you think I'm going to tell you anything," the young man retorted, brazenness of youth fueling his bravery. At the same time, his hand instinctively went to the messenger bag over his shoulder, protectively. "Don't you have petty crooks to chase down?"

"What do you think I'm doing?" She replied, "Kids like you are about as 'petty' as they come."

Then Valdis sighed, rolling her eyes. Teenage boys were closer to idiots than adult men, what with their 'I can take on the world' attitude.

"Fine," She said, "However, if you aren't going to tell me anything, then you aren't of any use to me." She grabbed his bag by the handle in order to slam him into the wall of the tunnel and pin him, gently "And since my friend has probably caught yours by now, we definitely don't need both of you."

Time to see how committed the boy was to Daseng...

Edited 2016-09-15 00:31 (UTC)

The young man's chin jutted out. "I'm not a kid," he shot back. "My wife doesn't think so either, for your information."

He grunted when she slammed him against the wall, grabbing for his bag futilely. He was weighing Valdis' words, his gaze darting down the tunnel in the direction his partner had dashed.

"I... maybe you do need both of us! How do you know?"

Everyone's a kid compared to her, she thought, raising a brow at his words.

"And does your wife know that you're running around doing Daseng's dirty work?"

Then she looked back down the tunnel where he had, a sudden idea in her head.

"I don't know, maybe I do," she replied with a sigh, "And despite what you might think, I don't kill in cold blood. Not so sure about my partner though."

The kedan young man hesitated again. "If I agree to go with you, you'll make sure that doesn't happen?" he asked.

Valdis' features shifted, a concerned expression forming on her face despite the satisfaction she felt on the inside.

"Of course," she said firmly, "I don't let people die for no reason."

She lessened her hold on him, just so he wasn't pinned, but she still held onto his bag with one hand. If he tried to run, well, at least she would have the bag.

The kedan opened his mouth as though to refute that, then wisely closed it. He did try to tug the bag back, though, possessive of it.

"Who told you we were down here?"

Valdis arched a brow when he opened his mouth to argue and she was actually quite impressed when he closed it without saying a word. When he tugged at the bag, she released it, a show of good will as it were, though she did have every intention of taking it in the end. Whatever was in there, it was important.

"No one told me," she replied, pointing back down the hall in the direction they both had come from, "Now, let's go find your partner."

((Mid note: Information has been concluded to player OOCly.))

The taller Kedan was a little more composed than her shorter brethren, though she didn't know the tunnels as well as she thought. She hit a dead end, and rounded sharply on Desmond, drawing a blade.

Her expression was frantic, desperate, teeth clenched and her knuckles white. She knew what the foreigners were capable of and she wasted no time with banter. She lunged at Desmond, blade raised over her head.

Desmond hadn't expected his quarry to be a woman, but it didn't deter him at all. His mind races, trying to decide on what he should do. He didn't want to kill the Cultist, but she wasn't leaving him many choices. Desmond crosses his arms over his head, prepared to catch the Cultist's blade or hands, whatever he could grab onto, hoping to disarm her. If he could get that far, maybe he could test out the new toy that Tony had made him.

Fortunately for Desmond, for all her fanatic energy, she wasn't particularly skilled.

The blade clattered to the floor as she was promptly disarmed, and in a panic she scrabbled to retrieve it, her back to the assassin.

Desmond holds out his left arm, and extends the contacts on the Shock Blade, such that the crackling of the electricity is apparent in the silence of the tunnel.

"I'd think twice about picking that blade up. I just wanna ask what you're doing down here, and if you had anything to do with the chaos in the Courtyard earlier. This doesn't have to get ugly."

Despite his desire to avoid a fight, Desmond nevertheless palms his own knife, prepared to defend himself if the Cultist decides to come at him again.

Edited (Doy, he's only got a shock blade on one arm.) 2016-09-05 04:30 (UTC)

She hesitated at the crackle of electricity, fingers hovering only a few inches from the dropped blade. She knew what the foreigners could do - what the would do, given half a chance.

If she cooperated, maybe she'd live.

Her hands fell limply to her side, teeth clenched in a sort of helpless fury.

"Ask your questions then."

Desmond retracts the Shock Blade, but keeps his knife handy. He's thankful that the Cultist he was chasing decided to play ball. An Assassin he was, but he didn't want to take a life if it could be avoided. Particularly if it was just someone following orders.

"Okay, first off, what are you and your buddy doing down here? Valdis seems to believe that you're trying to find something for what'shisname, Daseng. I don't know much about the politics of this place, but I know that the only time you run away from someone is when you're doing something that you shouldn't be. So? What's the story?"

He pauses, thinking.

"Second, did you, or someone else from your merry little band of misfits have anything to do with the Dust that got released up in the Courtyard? A lot of innocent people got hurt, some of whom were my friends. Someone needs to answer for that."

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Victory is in My Veins

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