Magical Girl RP

[KoyiTar]

Cyrel had completely forgot about the other woman till she tapped her on the shoulder. She felt kindave stupid for it seeing as she had been supposed to have been watching her. Of course she was leaving now and had asked her to inform Jade. She just nodded in response to the woman leaving and went to find Jade, which wasn't to hard to do seeing as the first place she had looked was wear she was.

"Hey Jade that lady told me to tell you she was leaving or something like that." Cyrel said as she walked into the greenhouse not really sure what to expect.

[Atraea]

God damn it Epol, any day now. Need to know where Andrew's at.

Jade sat at the table int eh center of the greenhouse, gently stroking the petals of the asphodel that sat on the table. This was a replacement; her third one in fact. The first she found on the floor, inexplicably smashed and stomped on, and the second had simply been stolen, a result of the vandalism, no doubt. She gazed at it and sighed, before her ears perked up to the sound of Cyrel's footsteps. When Cyrel's news hit her hears she turned around slightly.

"Is she? Good." Her voice was jagged, rough. She had no real reason to feel this sort of disdain for Marisol. After all, she'd moved on, and was happy. Marisol could have him. "...tch." Jade backed away from the table and stood up stretching, turning to face her pari. "Well, if she's gone, that means she's done talking with Corik. Tell him, and everyone else to meet in the break room. We need to discuss how we're gonna handle this murder business." Jade walked past Cyrel and down the hall into the break room, to find Aimee still snoozing on the floor. She sighed, "Well, at least we know where she is. Now then..." Jade headed out into the main area with the pool, scanning the area for Viola and Adrian.

Viola was dawdling by the pool, presumably still trying to wake up, as it was pretty early. Adrian, on the other hand was nowhere to be seen, and without Andrew around, there was really no way to contact him. She gave another exasperated sigh. "Shit. Th' fuck did he go..." She walked out further, before catching a hunched figure, lying passed out near one of the side doors. She squinted and approached cautiously, before realizing it was Adrian. She smirked, and knelt down to him. "Should fall asleep so close to the door man, you'll get sick with all th' cold air..." Jade reached out and shook him lightly. "Hey. Adrian. Come on man, wake up, I need you right now."

[Dimitri Luger]

Blinking softly after a small start, Adrian looks around, bleary eyes coming into focus on a more than somewhat distressed Jade, then sliding about to discover he had in fact fallen asleep against the door, more tired than he realised. Leaning to the side he stands steadily, yawning and stretching, slightly sore from his position, but very rested. With a quick look around the warehouse he satisfies his immediate curiosity and turns his attention to Jade, smiling and rubbing the back of his head. "Heh, yeah, and with an ice Sene I don't know that I'd ever live it down." He smirked softly, an eyebrow arched, arms resting behind his head, eyes searching the warehouse again, his head clearing rapidly. Not really out of the ordinary for Jade to be stressed, but what did I miss? Nothing too out of place... Richter, an updates for me?

"A calm relaxed attitude is not all I was intending if it will bring this second guessing. Honing your skills is one thing, but it seems that Jade really is distressed, and... there is much more going on." Ricther's voice mingled with hesitation.

The hesitation in Ricther's normal icy flow ran a shiver down Adrian's spine. He nods, face bleeding into blank neutrality, his mind racing. "Sure thing, Jade. What's up? What can I do to help?" He takes another look around the warehouse and out of the door, one hand moving to his pocket, clutching his gilded pen, prepared for anything.

[Keylaleigh]

While Viola looked generally out of it, she had been paying attention to most of the conversation that went on around her. Go to the break room. They had to discuss the murder business. Rolling her shoulders back to try and release any kinks in them, she made her way towards the break room and took a chair to wait for others.

Who was that woman who came in and talked to Corik? Why was Andrew not around? Everything seemed pretty stressed today. Of course, with the events of the last weeks the stress was completely understandable. She had been doing her best to keep an eye on the house across the street, but Aiden was doing a spectacular job at keeping anything going on inside there a secret from everyone. She had considered going to his parents with the information that she had, but something inside her prevented her from making that sort of move. Maybe it was a mutual respect for secrecy, or maybe it was a fear for being thought of as crazy.

Deciding to try and take her mind off of the current thoughts floating around in her head, she picked up a book and scanned the cover. It was a book of celtic myths and legends that she hadn't looked through in quite a long time. A bit of reading material should keep her busy until the group meeting started up. And hopefully some questions would be answered so they could get something done.

[Maeve]

Aimee woke up at the sound of approaching footsteps, slowly opening her eyes and rolling on her back. It had taken her a long time to fall asleep last night, leaving her tired and still sleepy this morning. She blinked a few times, trying to adjust her vision, before remembering she had left her glasses on a nearby shelves to make sure that no one would step on them during the night. She stretched her arms and sat down, reaching a hand to grab them and quickly putting them on. After a quick look around the room, she realized everyone was already gone, except Viola who was sitting at a table.

"Hm, good morning!" she said at her Sene, blushing slightly and hoping she wasn't late for whatever was planned for the day. A look at the clock taught her it was still early. "Did something happened while I was sleeping?" she asked herself, wondering why everyone would be up at this hour...

"Most likely, yes."

At the same time, Viola informed her that they had a meeting with the others soon. Aimee nodded, then, hoping she still had some time, she headed to the locker room to change into more practical clothes. She came back a few minutes later, wearing the usual jeans and shirt combo, only to find the break room in the same state she left it. Shrugging, she decided to imitate her Sene, grabbing a book and sitting while they waited for the others to arrive. Judging from the cover, she had apparently grabbed an old compilation of fairy tales and other stories for children. "Oh well, better than nothing," she thought while she started to flip the pages.

[Atraea]

Jade smiled weakly and helped Adrian up. "We need to talk about the murders goin' on and what we're gonna do, so you need to report to the break room. But uh, before that..." Jade's expression fell slightly, and she leaned in a little, her voice lowering.

"Andrew's not here. He's been gone since last night. I know it doesn't seem like a big deal, but usually when he goes out on patrol he always comes back, or at least lets me know when he'll be back. I haven't heard from him at all, and with everything goin' on..." Jade stopped,a dn took a breath, realizing she was beginning to ramble. She put a hand on Adrian's shoulder. "Look. Just...Epol's outta my head right now, trying to contact Lyn. Andrew's voice in his head. Technically he's not supposed to, and I don't wanna get... Richter is it? I don' wanna get him in trouble. And I dunno how far you got in your training and stuff, but...could you try and contact Andrew? Just see where he is and stuff? Even if eh's just coming in late, that's fine I'm just..." She sighed. "I'm just really fuckin' worried, ya know?"

[Tsemara]

(Meanwhile, in another part of the city.)

7:05 am, Buckland Residence
Karen was sitting in the living room, reading the newspaper. She heard Bast meow at Maxine’s door to be let in. This was nothing new. Periodically, the feline would opt to sleep on the couch in the living room, and would join Max in the morning. She ignored the feline, expecting the door to open withing the next couple of minutes. However, the teenager didn’t let him in this morning. The woman glanced down the hall, confused. Even if her daughter was taking advantage of sleep in days, she would have gotten up to let the cat in by now.

“Max?” Karen called. Bast was the only one that answered.

Concerned, Karen put down what she had been reading, and stood up. She had noticed that Max had been acting strangely lately. She napped during odd hours of the day, which she didn’t do before. Her grades had been slipping below her usual scores. And she was easily irritated by the littlest things. That wasn’t too far from the norm, but at the same time, the girl’s fuse seemed to be shorter all the same.

Bast pawed at the closed door, as Karen approached. It seemed like he was attempting to dig his way into the room. Then, he sat down on his haunches. He meowed at Karen, as he looked from her, to the door, and back again.

“Max?” Karen rapped her knuckles on the “Keep out!” sign that adorned the otherwise plain barrier. “Honey? Are you alright?” she opened the door a crack to check on her daughter, who didn’t reply.

~

Max was only vaguely aware that something was going on outside of her bedroom. But she could not muster the energy to respond. She was hot, exhausted, and just wanted to curl up and sleep until she felt better. Judging by how clumsy she had been when attempting to remove her blankets from herself, she likely had frostbitten fingers. They looked fine, but she couldn’t feel them past her palms. Her chest felt like she’d been hit by a bus, making breathing unpleasant, at the very least. It was downright agonizing at worst. The irritation in her throat didn’t make things any easier. The pressure was intensified when four little paws materialized on her abdomen.

Normally, this gesture would have been rewarded with cuddles, and sometimes an amused growl. Then, Bast would curl up on top or next to her and snooze. Today, all the cat got out of his keeper was a throaty sounding cough. The confused feline was, thankfully, shooed away by the cool hands that were, then, placed on the teenager’s brow.

Mrs. Buckland held her hand on Maxine’s forehead for a couple seconds. The teenager’s protests fell on deaf ears, as her mother thought. “You’re really warm, hun,” Karen commented, removing her hand. “I’m going to go call the doctor’s office.”

“ ‘Dun need a doctor…” Max protested, as her mother stood up. “’m fine.”

“Maxine, you aren’t fooling anyone,” the blond replied, sternly. “You’re seeing the doctor whether you want to or not.”

“’m fine, really,” Max said, trying to get to her feet. She couldn’t feel the carpet beneath her toes, but she had no time to register this before she was doubled over, clutching her chest. The coughing fit that came afterward lasted for a short amount of time; before she could breathe without sounding like she was attempting to forcibly remove her lungs from the inside out.

Karen sighed, looking concerned. “Get dressed,” she commanded. “We’re leaving as soon as I can find someone.” Before Max could protest any further, she was out of the room.

[Dimitri Luger]

Adrian looked across the warehouse again, eyes flicking to the outside momentarily, a feigned disaffected glance covering the area one final time, before he is satisfied that everything is normal enough, his full attention returning to Jade as she expresses her concerns. Giving his best reassuring smile, he places a hand on her shoulder. "That is a little odd, but I'm sure he's fine, he wouldn't get in too much trouble without leaving some kind of clue or call of distress, but I can certainly check, if he is in the city I'm pretty sure I can get a vague idea." He smiles again, closing his eyes and preparing to search out across the city.

Deep breaths... feel across the emotions, the thoughts and wills... Andrew?

He probed through the city, just the most gentle touch reaching out, searching for the familiar presence of his Sene, determined to find him, deciding to transform for greater acuity if he was unable to search out Andrew before the meeting. Tracing familiar paths through the city, feeling half familiar minds, feeling the pulse and flow of life in the metropolis.

[KoyiTar]

Cyrel finally made her way into the break room after finishing what she had started with the pool. She quickly noticed not everyone was there yet. Only Viola and Aimee were in the room. Both reading a book of some sort. "Hey guys." She said taking a seat to wait for everyone else to enter the room.

She was wondering what else would be said about the murders other than what they already knew from the news. How were they going to handle it when they had no idea who was doing it other than one of the Misus. At least that was the speculation thus far. Deciding she was bored with just sitting there she got up to go look through the books to see if she could find anything of interest to read.

[Keylaleigh]

Viola's phone alarm broke her out of any thoughts she may have been having at that moment. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, glancing down at its glowing display. In large white letters on the dark blue field it read "DOCTOR'S APPOINTMENT FOR ELLIOT: 8:00". She sighed, closing her phone and looking around at everyone.

"Well, I'm out. The nephew has a doctor's appointment, and I promised to take him." She sighed. Thank goodness she set her alarms an hour early. This would give her enough time to head back to pick him up. She put the book back where she got it and waved goodbye to everyone, heading out the door. "Contact me if anything happens, okay?"

----------------------

The walk wasn't too long, and she got home just in time to be met by Elliot and her sister. "I almost thought you weren't going to make it." Her sister looked down at her with a hint of a frustrated glare.

Viola shrugged. "Sorry, I've been pretty busy lately, sis." She did her best to ignore her sister's eye-roll and instead looked down at Elliot. "Well, ya ready to head out for your check-up?"

"I don't wanna go..." Elliot mumbled, looking everywhere except the two women he was standing between. "That place is smelly and boring..."

Viola knelt down so she could be at eye level with the boy. "I know you don't want to go. Nobody does. But how about we go get some ice cream afterwards?"

A small smile broke out on her nephew's face, and he nodded slowly, still trying his best to look grumpy, even though both women could tell he was not at this moment.

"Well, you two have a good time, okay?" His mother waved, going back inside to continue getting ready for work.

Viola and Elliot nodded and walked towards her mother's old car that she used every once and a while. "Now, let's head off to the doctor's..."

[Nuklearsamurai]

Andrew was exhausted. After his battle with the Misus girl he was already pretty used up. He wasn't cut out for fighting the way Jade or Corik were, and having to use so much of his own power was taxing to say the least. Couple that with having to haul a dead guy out of a parking lot, deal with the ambulance and then getting arrested, he wasn't sure how much longer before he passed out. These guys clearly had some kind of idea about what they were doing though. They seemed to have an idea what the Vilos were, and had some vague sense that the Misus existed. No matter what he tried though, he just couldn't get them to believe that he didn't kill the guy.

Not that he could really fault them... they did find him sitting beside an eviscerated corpse... covered in his blood. While true, it didn't look good, he hadn't done anything wrong. He'd tried to save the guy, but the only thing was he didn't have any proof the guy was in danger to begin with.

The thing with Shadow Lions, or any Misus power in general is that unless they set something on fire, they didn't leave much of a trace, making it really hard to prove they were there. His own powers however... sheets of ice, pillars, walls... they stuck around in winter for a while. The police could see exactly where he'd been and couldn't find a trace of the girl he claimed had done this.

Leaning forward from the chair, he rested his elbows on the table and hung his forehead in his hands, running them through his hair before looking up at the two men. Both were watching him, one leaning against the door, the other rifling through papers in a file that he'd pulled from his briefcase.

"You're not going to find anything on me in there." He said, his eyes closed, hand resting in one hand. "I know that's the file you've got on all the magical activity in the area. And I know I'm not in it."

Ivan glanced up from his papers before returning to his work, flipping each page as he scanned them. "We'll see" he replied, his voice weary after having been up all night with this guy.

Andrew sighed, leaning back in his chair again, irked that his interrogators still wouldn't believe anything he said. "If you say so." he muttered. He was surprised that the file Ivan had was so thick. It clearly had a lot of information on it, but he was confident that they didn't have any information on his own abilities other than what they had seen in the parking garage. It was time that he managed to convince them that he wasn't lying to them and that he really hadn't done anything. he closed his eyes, focusing the bit of energy he had left and narrowed his awareness into the room he was in. This was going to be a little risky.

[color=grey]"Why isn't he in here?" He said, in sync with the loudest thoughts running across Ivan's mind. "How can I not know anything about him?" he continued. "wait... he's saying things." "he's saying my thoughts."

[Nuklearsamurai]

"I am" Andrew told him, opening his eyes. "I told you there's nothing in there on me." Looking directly at Ivan now, the sleep deprivation clearly showing around his eyes and a headache beginning to build in his temples, "And I also told you I didn't kill that guy. Yes, he was killed the same way as all the others, but If It had been me, why would I have stuck around? None of the other ones had been moved, you never found any ice near any of the other bodies. They hadn't been moved. None of that fits the M.O of this girl. All you have to do is believe what I'm telling you."

The man leaning against the door hefted himself off the frame, and took a few paces into the room proper. The look on his face was one of total confusion. He clearly wasn't understanding what was going on.

"Wait.. what just happened. What is he saying?" He spluttered at Ivan, his eye's darting between his comrade and Andrew.

Quickly, Ivan flipped the folder shut and picking it up, tucked it under one arm and stood, turning to leave the room.

"Come with me for a minute John." He said, griping him by the arm and bodily pulling him from the room, leaving Andrew alone for the time being.

As the door slammed shut, Andrew sighed heavily and faceplanted onto the cool metal table. His breathing was a bit ragged, as he worried his little stunt had been too costly and he'd overextended himself. Pressing his face into the cold metal he wished that he hadn't spent every night out until all hours. He was in control of the situation right now, but in the state he was in it wouldn't be very long until he made a mistake, or gave the two men any more leverage over him than they already had.

"Lynn" He thought desperately. [i]"Lynn. I need you to do me a favor."

"What do you need Andrew. I'm honestly surprised it's taken you this long to ask for assistance."

"I don't need your sass now. I need a freakin' nap. And I need you to find Epol. I don't care how 'against the rules' it is. I need to let Jade know what happened. Please..."

"...of course Andrew. I can understand the situation you've got yourself into. Please take care of yourself in my absence."

"Thanks..."

After several minutes, Andrew began to recover, his breathing evening out and the pain in his head beginning to subside. On the edges of his senses, he became aware of a familiar presence. Taking a deep breath, he focused his sleep-deprived mind and honed in on it. Recognizing it as Adrian's power he realized that they were looking for him. He was too weary and too far away to attempt anything like telepathy... somehow he had to let him know where he was though. Lynn could relay what had happened well enough, but he wasn't so sure if she would be able to relate directions accurately though. He would only have enough power left in him for just a quick burst of something that would hopefully draw his pari's attention.

Glancing at the door to see if there was any indication that they'd be returning soon. He could barely detect the buzz of their thoughts beyond the steel slab, but he couldn't manage to get anything concrete. Giving up that effort, he focused his remaining power, ever last ounce he could manage. An embarrassingly frail sheet of hoar-frost began to form on the chair, he sent a mental pulse upwards into the air above wherever the hell he was. It was all he could hope that it would be enough to get noticed.

Completely spent, he slumped into his chair, transforming back into his regular clothes on reflex. Despite the sudden drop in temperature that his efforts had created, sweat beaded his brow and his breath came in ragged gasps. That was all he'd be good for now. He just had to come up with a way to get out of here.

Shortly after his breathing had returned to normal, the door to the room opened again and both Ivan and John entered.

"Ok kid." Ivan said, sitting down. "I think we can help each other out."

[Atraea]

~7:28 am, The Eirberg~

Epol floated his way down the hall warily, his gaze shifting in all directions, trying to locate Lynn. He was initially going to send a message across the gentle, persisting humm of the collective conscious, but considered the more "hands-on" approach once he rememebred what it was he was doing.


Arrgh...fate's sake, where IS Lynn? Epol had been at this a good while, and his sense of urgency was being felt by Vilos in the conscious, specifically those nearby. Slowly, Vilos began to appear, leaning out of doorframes and thresholds, appearing at either end of the halls, wondering why one arth Epol would be looking for one specific Vilo. Their thoughts and motives were meant to be shared, and wholly felt by everyone, it should not have mattered whom Epol asked for help, for they were all willing and able. But the Vilos in the hall sense something off in Epol's briskness. He was always that way certainly, but today...

Epol could no longer ignore the looks he was recieveing, and slowed his floating pace in the hall, surveying the concerned gazes he was attracting. After a few moments, Epol felt a flood of messgaes, tinged with empathy, concern, and...one feeling that was unfamiliar. Despite all the others Epol was getting, this feeling, this sensation was...unnerving. It slowly wafted through the collective membrane and brushed across Epol's being, and clung to it, as if it had been lain with cobwebs. The tones and timbres of the messages filled the air, many being echoed and repeated as the Vilo attempted to discern the cause of Epol's urgency.

"Why do you rush little one?"

"What is the trouble?"

"Calm yourself, we are all here."

"What do you need?"

"Why go when we are all near?"

"Why can we not help?"

"Why do you search for only one when you could have us all?"

"What do you need that you cannot share?"

"Why do you attempt to hide? What are you hiding?"

"Show us." "Yes, show us." "Show us little one, you have nothing to fear from us."


All it took was a short line of questioning before Epol could pinpoint the cobwebs felt.

Suspicion.

They knew what he was attempting to do, they knew it was not something a Vilo did. But it was not their place to judge or punish, it was that of the eight, and since they were locked away in the Medvete, their thoughts closed off, unresponsive, and occupied. The most they could do is attempt to prevent.

Epol curled inward as he floated there, cringing at the sheer amount the messages he was receiving. Arrrrgh...do you all not have something better you could be doing?. Epol straightened and the conscious quieted, anticipating Epol's motives.

"Where, is Lynn."

It was in that moment that the conscious stilled. There was a brief, chilling silence, and then one by one, more messages. Terse, jabbing, like barbs, all saying the same thing.

"The garden."

Epol gave a small uncomfortable nod and turned, heading for the lobby and doors, the force and feeling of the messages almost escorting him out. Once out of the doors, Epol surveyed the landscape, his gaze falling upon a small gazeebo-like structure, though far more ornate. Under it sat Lynn, up straight, but closed off, her being emitting a faint ripple throughout the conscious for Epol, so as to be deliberately lost in the sea of bigger, louder thoughts.

Well, that certainly explains why I couldn't find Lynn... Epol floated over, situating himself before Lynn.

"I am here."

Lynn opened, and rose with a stern expression. She nodded and fixed her gaze upon him, the message sent was still faint, but with an even flow, as if to slowly fill Epol up.

Epol steadily lowered as the message was recieved, and after a few moments, finally looked up to seet Lynn's gaze, as if he would understand the information better by looking from whence it came. When Lynn did nothing but nod grimly, Epol contemplated her for a second more before turning away from her and looking out into the horizon.


Jade. I know where he is.

[Atraea]

Jade had been standing in front of Adrian for a few minutes now, watching him "work," when she suddenly felt an odd ping in her brain.

Jade...Jade. Jade. I know where he is.

Her eyes widened and she twitched, turning her head to the ceiling, not even thinking to answer mentally. "Took you long enough, where th' fuck is he?"

...a holding cell in downtown Kentopolis, near the Ironbridge side. Ivan arrested him early this morning while he was out on his patrols and he--

"He what, what did he do?! Epol?! EPOL! EPOL ANSWER ME!" When it became clear that the connection had been cut off, Jade let out growl of aggravation and ran back to the locker room, grabbing her jacket and cell phone. On the way out, she stopped at the break room, and Cyrel and Aimee looked up. "Found Andrew. In jail. IVAN. Goin' to bail him out somehow, I'll explain later. Corik's got some shit to tell you about the murders, and since he's got the info, he's in charge. TEXT VIOLA, BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING. Clear?" She didn't even wait for so much as a nod before she tore out of the building and headed in the direction of the nearest bus stop.


~Back at the station~

Ivan eyed the young man. John, despite being told to expect it, seemed mildly baffled by the young man's sudden change of clothes and was about to comment on it when Ivan held his up to silence him. John shot Ivan a look before walking behind in and leaning against the back wall to let Ivan talk. Ivan sighed and leaned forward in the chair, resting his elbows on the table.

"Changed back huh. I didn't realize reading minds took so much out of a person. Well, I'll be quick about this then." Ivan laced his fingers and set his hands down on the table. "You're not in John's files, and you're not in mine. Now given what John does, that's not a huge surprise." Ivan heard John scoff from behind Andrew but ignored it. "But I work for the FBI. The US Government. To be able to appear invisible to someone like me...well it takes skill. Which you've clearly got. If you can hide information that easily, I can only imagine the type of information you can pick up." At that point the young man looked up. Ivan smirked. "That got your attention. I'll make this brief. You'll work for me. As an informant. Keep me up-to-date on the activities of everyone in your group. Give me whatever information you feel could be relevant, I'll leave that completely up to you."

When that did not illicit a response, Ivan sighed, and spoke again, his voice lower. "All right, let me put this to you another way. Because you've been obfuscating information that I need to gather to perform my job effectively, my position is in danger of being filled by another agent. Said agent is far more agressive than I, and FAR more willing to hunt down every Magical Being within 100 miles of Kent City, Vilos or otherwise, and have you all shipped to a government testing facility in a remote location to get the information we need to identify these threats properly. You may think that the cozy situation you've got here is the norm, but let me assure you, this is by NO MEANS the norm. Most cities send their Magical beings away as soon as they're discovered, only allowing 3 or 4 to live normal lives and still serve openly. Or even in small towns in the Bible Belt? You wouldn't believe some of the shit that happens to kids like you when there's no one around to look after you, especially in the small towns. I've heard stories where mobs tried to break into people's homes trying to get ti the kid, families that had to relocate. And that's just in this country. You know what they do to kids like you in countries with less freedoms? Say countries like Iran? China? Russia?" Ivan stopped when he noticed John staring at him with a hiked eyebrow. He took a few moments to let the information sink in and then continued.

"You wanna know why Beings like you have been kept safe and free to do what you do? Me. Because I am one of those "Big Brothers," with eyes everywhere, so I control the flow of information. But because you've started hiding shit, I can only control so much, and I'll tell ya this: Big Brother ain't happy. You wanna keep fightin' the good fight, you're gonna have to cooperate in some capacity." Once he finished, Ivan leaned back in his chair and folded his arms, staring the young man down.

"So. What's your answer kid?"

[Nuklearsamurai]

Andrew was on the verge of collapse. He'd spent every ounce of magical power he'd had and he could no longer even hear the dull buzz of thoughts from the area. He'd become so used to the background noise that not having them was an uncomfortable feeling. He was suddenly much more vulnerable than he'd ever been, and he did not like it.

When Ivan and John entered, he sat up, doing his best to look more well off than he was. They sat down and suddenly they had a deal to make. The way Ivan made it out to be, Andrew was the bad guy, standing in the way of some federal program single-handedly. All these threats Ivan was making... He was grasping for information. Ivan was clearly used to knowing everything that was going on in the Vilos circuit, and having Andrew show up, with unknown abilities and absolutely no previous information... He was understandably frustrated, but it wasn't helping his case with Andrew.

Under the circumstances, exhausted, drained, cut off from his own people like this, he was in no mood to play nice with the investigator, however given his circumstances, he had really no choice but to accept this informant's deal if he wanted to avoid jail. His chest sinking, he sighed heavily and looked at the man across the table from him.

"If you really need to know, reading those kind of thoughts from you wouldn't normally be this draining. I was already exhausted when you started this farce of an interrogation 6 hours ago. I don't know exactly how much you know about the whole story behind the Vilos and the Misus, but I'm certain you know more than the average person ought to."

Glancing at the other man, examining his face with weary eyes for a very brief moment. "And you," he started, "are in way over your head. Maybe when you're done here, you could ask Ivan about all he hasn't told you."

Looking back at Ivan, Andrew expression hardened somewhat, a icy look creeping back into his eyes. "I haven't been hiding anything specifically from you, and I don't care if you feel like you've been left out of the loop. As far as I have ever cared, this hasn't been any business of yours. The reason you don't have anything on me is because that's what I do. We have the same job, in a sense, but it seems I'm better at it than you."

"You think you're the only one that can keep us safe?" Andrew scoffed a little, "You've done nothing for me. You just now found out about my existence. I've been picking up after myself for 10 years. It's different now though. People died. Where were your eyes then? If you know everything there is to know about the magical phenomena, where were you when they died? Oh right... suspecting us."

Glaring directly at Ivan, Andrew kept going. "You control the flow of information? That's what you want to believe. You don't know half of what you think you do, but I guess now you've got me in your pocket. I can't exactly walk out of here, every one saw my covered in blood. I'm betting you're the only thing standing between me and a long life in jail, or at this testing center you say you have. You've got your informant, but I don't like it."

Sitting back, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. "One last thing though. You share what you have with me if you want my help. I'm the best there is in this field, and if you want my resources, I want yours too."