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Post by Satoru Alabaster on Aug 11, 2015 0:18:27 GMT -5
The range was seeing a lot of use it hadn't ever been intended for in the past year; a safe haven, superhero hideout, pseudo-medical ward. Today it was being used for a meeting place, the most convenient spot to gather at for everyone that would be involved in the coming events. Satoru tapped his fingers on the arm of his wheelchair as he waited with Ren.
He'd talked a bit with the much younger man over the past few days, gotten a feel for what New Tokyo was like these days, what had changed since he'd left and what sway Jun held. None of the news was good, but the blue-haired Kuma was still useful, connections always helped. What they needed, though, was some Ghost insight, something that Takumi and Kiyo could bring more than anyone else... And then there was Karina, at the center of it all...
The old Tora rubbed his eyes. "This is gonna be one hell of a meeting."
"Understatement," Ren replied cheerfully, not looking up from some metal-loop puzzle he was fiddling with. He was perched backwards on a chair facing the door and a bit away from Satoru. "No one wants this t' happen, and it's gotta-" he paused as he tugged at one of the metal loops of the puzzle and frowned. "It's gotta happen anyway, come on you piece of junk-"
"Don't abuse your toys, Ren."
"It's bein' a shithead!" The Kuma protested, tossing the puzzle down next to him with a jangle. "Forget it. 'Sides, motion out front, people comin'."
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Post by Kiyoko Jun on Aug 11, 2015 12:58:05 GMT -5
This needed to be done, Kiyoko kept thinking to herself. The meeting today was to figure out what to do about Jun and Karina, and just about everything else that was involved in this mess. She had spoken with Takumi about it a little, and while they didn't exactly say it they both knew one thing was going to come out of this meeting. Her son was going to have to leave again, hopefully only temporarily, but the thought of losing him again so soon felt like a stab to the heart for her. It was necessary, yes, but it didn't mean she had to like it.
For now she was going to focus on the meeting, Takumi and herself were the only ones there that could really give insight on the Ghosts program(and she really doubted Takumi knew much of what went on behind the scenes, she supposed that'd be something she'd need to fill in). Kiyo came to the front of the range with her son and entered to see Satoru and Ren. The others shouldn't be too far behind.
Gabe and Karina had decided to walk to the range together, mainly because Merry and Tori were still shaken up by what had gone down at the warehouse and they figured it'd be easier on the two girls if they walked in a group. Kotori was doing her best to act like she was alright, but she was walking closer beside Gabe than she normally would and that was enough for the blond to know otherwise.
Karina kept Merry close to her, the events of the passed few days had gotten to everyone it seemed, not that she could blame them. She glanced up at Gabe, specifically looking at the bandana around his neck that was hiding the cut. "How's your neck?"
The blond Kuma shrugged. "I'm alive, aren't I?" It was going to take a while to heal, but he was fine. "And yours?"
She rubbed her neck at that, even though there was nothing there. Whatever damage the shock collar had done to her had vanished completely. Still, she remembered being shocked and nearly taken away from her family... "I'm fine." She decided to say after a moment. Besides, they were at the range now, they had more important things to discuss.
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Post by Satoru Alabaster on Aug 11, 2015 19:42:54 GMT -5
Takumi held his mother's hand as they walked into the range. His shoulder had healed by now, and he was moving fine as he'd expected, but he wasn't looking forward to this any more than his mother was. He knew what he had to do, duty was the day to day by this point, but that didn't mean he liked the thought of leaving after just finding his mother again. It wasn't fair, but the sooner everything was taken care of the sooner he could come home.
He nodded to the gunslinger as he stood beside his mother, he'd shed the sleeves of his armor in an effort to look less conspicuous walking down the street. The meeting was in daylight, after all, running along the rooftops wasn't easily concealed when the world was bright.
Satoru looked to Kiyo, noting the drawn quality of her face. They both knew what was to come. "How're you holding up?" he asked her quietly, knowing there wouldn't be too much time before the others streamed into the range.
Merry stuck close to Karina, but refused to reach for her sister's hand. She was getting too old for it, even if she wanted to, and although no one was saying anything about it right now, Merry wasn't dumb. Something big was coming, and she had a feeling she'd be grabbing for her sister's hand soon enough anyway. She looked to Tori, the other girl had been much braver during the kidnapping, short though it had been... Maybe her hobby at the range had helped? Mr. Alabaster seemed to know what he was doing with the guns, and if something like this were to happen again...
Well, she could think about it later, really, the range was right here.
She didn't want to go in, the Ghost was in there already she could see his hair through the window, but she forced herself to take the few extra steps to get ahead and pull open the door. They needed this to be done.
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Post by Kiyoko Jun on Aug 11, 2015 20:17:53 GMT -5
Kiyoko looked over at Satoru at the question. "Just wanna get this over with." She responded just as quiet. She squeezed her son's hand just a little, like she was wanting to make sure he was still there because it was only a matter of time before he was gone again.
Thankfully she could keep her mind distracted from that soon, the others were here.
Karina walked inside with Merry as she opened the door, putting a protective hand on her sister's shoulder as the entered. The other Ghost was there, she'd glanced at him quickly and even though the situation with him had been explained to her already she was still a little on edge.
As the two sisters made their way inside, Tori was right behind them and stood herself next to Merry. She was normally bubbly, or at least talkative but it just didn't feel right to be that way right now. The little gunslinger in training had done her best to be brave at the warehouse, but the truth was she was terrified, and even more so when Gabe had gotten hurt. Now she was just a big bag of anxiety and confusion, but she figured it would be best to keep to herself right now. She didn't know what would happen, but she doubted she'd be doing much of anything. That sucked, really sucked, she needed to find something that she could do to help...
Last but not least to enter was Gabriel, letting the door shut behind him as he looked to see who all had shown up. Of course there was the Ghost, apparently his cousin? Whatever, Takumi or something. Honestly he was the last person the blond wanted to see, and he felt he was perfectly justified with that too.
But, they had other things to worry about, and it seemed like the white haired man wouldn't be causing anymore harm to them, so he supposed he'd just let it go. Eventually, at least. Near death experiences weren't the easiest thing to shake off.
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Post by Satoru Alabaster on Aug 11, 2015 20:55:15 GMT -5
Satoru nodded to Kiyo and then watched as Gabe shut the door behind him. Keith probably wouldn't have wanted his son anywhere near Takumi, but this was pretty much life or death. There wasn't any reason to wait any longer, either. "Alright," he started, sitting up properly in his wheelchair. "We were all there, we know what happened," there wasn't reason to go into what it was. They all knew.
"What some of you don't know is what Takumi being here means," he added. "Karina is a Ghost, and if Jun tracked her down and knows she's here and sent another Ghost after her, that means she's damn important and Jun probably isn't going to let up on dragging her back to New Tokyo." It already sounded bad, and he hadn't even hit what he figured was the worst of the news yet. "From what Ren's told me, Jun hasn't changed too much since Kiyo or I left the city, and that means that we can't just consider this whole thing done..." Satoru looked to Kiyo and Takumi.
The white haired man nodded. "Lady Jun will send more Ghosts, if we are fortunate," he said quietly, loud enough to be heard by everyone in the room but without a lot of force behind the words. It was just a calm statement of the facts. "If we are not she may decide that the city is harboring a fugitive, and she may send more or use her power to declare a war with this city..." Karina was talented, he knew that from their fight, but he didn't know all of Jun's fixation on her. After all, Ghosts got stronger all the time, but she hadn't been trained...
Merry just stared at the Ghost... He wasn't even going to apologize for what he did, was he? There was a part of her that was angry about that, but most of her was more concerned with whoever Jun was... This wasn't any good, this wasn't any good at all. More Ghosts? No. No that wasn't fair.
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Post by Kiyoko Jun on Aug 11, 2015 21:31:45 GMT -5
Gabe frowned as Takumi spoke, well shit, things were just going great weren't they? "Can't you just go back and tell her Karina was killed while you were trying to retrieve her?"
"That wouldn't do any good, Gabe." Kiyo spoke up quickly for her son. "Jun's a lot of things but she's not stupid, even if Takumi gave her plausible reason that an accident might of happened, she'd just send someone else here to confirm it." And then they'd be back to square one.
"From what I've heard from Takumi, it doesn't sound like Jun's gotten over me escaping her and the city, and that was almost twenty-five years ago. If that's the case then she definitely won't stop until she's got Karina." Assassins were so much more valuable than slaves after all. Not to mention that Karina had more natural talent than average Ghosts did considering the young age she'd had her first kill. With proper training in the program there was no doubt that she'd rise up in ranks very quickly, making another perfect soldier for Jun.
Karina nodded as the information was given. She understood well enough, and while she seemed relatively calm on the outside, she was angry. This wasn't fair, she kept hoping this was some nightmare and that she would wake up from it but it just kept GOING and it was all because of HER.
She closed her eyes for a moment and sighed. "Alright," she started, opening her eyes. "The only way this is going to end is to go straight to the source, isn't it?" Straight to Jun, to the Ghost program, to New Tokyo.
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Post by Satoru Alabaster on Aug 11, 2015 22:32:04 GMT -5
Satoru and Takumi both nodded, and Merry stiffened. "No," she whispered, too quietly to be heard as Takumi started to speak again.
"Yes," he said, eyes locked on Karina. "I need to bring you to New Tokyo, and Jun needs to think she's won. When she does, we can strike and take her out..."
Satoru let out a huff of air. "It's our only shot, but it'll be dangerous getting you both out of New Tokyo afterwards. Jun's the main power there, killing her, or even just unseating her, is going to leave on hell of a power vacuum." Those always got bloody, and that was before factoring in the confusion of trained assassins without orders and with their leader killed. "You'll have to do more than just get her out of the picture."
"We can figure that out when we arrive," Takumi replied, frowning. Jun was keeping New Tokyo together, but that didn't mean she was the only option to lead the Ghosts. They would have to at least keep them from falling into chaos. "There are some other members of the Black Zodiac," he paused, realizing no one would know who that was and finding it almost funny. "Ah, that is, the inner circle of the Ghosts," he shifted a bit, the tattoo on his upper left arm showing a little more as he did, "they're loyal to Jun on the surface, but they're the best because they can and do think for themselves, it's possible one of them might take over or at least help us..." And they would likely be short of allies once they hit the city...
"Or!" Ren piped up, standing up and spinning the chair around on one leg so he could sit properly in it and still face the gathered clan members. He held a phone in one hand, one of the ones with a larger screen, and beamed. "I could make a phone call."
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Post by Kiyoko Jun on Aug 11, 2015 22:55:04 GMT -5
Karina looked at the tattoo on Takumi's arm curiously. So there was an inner circle among the Ghosts? She just assumed they were all the same. She was starting to get the feeling that there was more to the Ghosts than she originally thought, Karina wasn't too sure how she felt about that.
She turned to face Ren as he spoke up, but it was Tori that responded to him. "Uh, to who?" It wasn't her best contribution to a conversation, but no one else was asking.
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Post by Satoru Alabaster on Aug 11, 2015 23:59:12 GMT -5
"My mum," he replied easily, and before anyone could make a snarky remark he continued. "She's head of the largest gang in New Tokyo, wiped out Toru's side of the family years ago." He paused and his grin turned sheepish as he looked towards the ex-Tora in question. "Sorry about that, by the way."
"Fuck off," Satoru replied coolly.
"Anyway," Ren continued smoothly, as if he'd never interrupted himself. "If anyone's gonna have enough clout to take the city, it's my mum. This plan oughta help her out, so that's why I brought this. Give her a vidcall and ask, get some plans in place for gettin' the albino's out." The others knowing her face would help too, since they'd probably be doing deals with her in person in the city. They wouldn't have much opportunity for questions, the less people who would know about the plan the better, after all.
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Post by Kiyoko Jun on Aug 12, 2015 15:43:35 GMT -5
Kiyoko nodded at Ren's suggestion. "That's actually a good idea, your mother's on good terms with Jun so that'll help to keep their cover." Even if it was for an escape plan they still had to be cautious, the less reason to give Jun suspicion the better. Kiyo remembered meeting her a few times when Jun would make deals with her, Ren's mom definitely had enough power to take the city after Jun was out of the way.
"Uh," Gabe started as a thought occurred to him. "I'm not pretending I know much about New Tokyo, so don't take this the wrong way, but are things gonna be better or worse with her in charge when everything's said and done?" From how they talked about Jun he didn't know if there was anyone worse fit to be in control, but it was still something to consider when talking about a change in power.
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Post by Satoru Alabaster on Aug 13, 2015 12:38:11 GMT -5
Satoru looked to Ren for the first time in the entire meeting, that wasn't something he could really answer, he'd been out of the city for too long to know much of the goings on and the present politics. If Ren noticed the gap in his elder cousin's knowledge, he didn't say anything. "Depends," he said instead, holding back a laugh. "I mean, hard to get too much worse, but mum's not fond of slavery and shit, so probably better."
When it got down to it, though, it was still going to be a crime lord in charge. "It's just a matter of it being a different devil, we're not a kind bunch, y'know. Mum's just a little more practical than Jun is, less keen on revolt. My sis is the same way, so it oughta be... kinda better?" Ren gave a lopsided grin at that, voice trailing off into the high off-pitch of a question.
Merry had been gravitating closer to her sister for the entirety of the talk. This wasn't, this wasn't anything like she had hoped. She'd known it was going to be bad but there was a little part of her that sincerely wished that things were going to be fine, and having it crushed like this, to know that she was going to lose her sister for at least a while if not forever? That... that was a little more than she could handle. She reached out and grabbed Karina's hand, refusing to let herself cry but wanting a little bit of comfort...
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Post by Kiyoko Jun on Aug 13, 2015 18:14:08 GMT -5
Gabe frowned slightly at that but kept from saying anything. Instead, it was Kiyoko that spoke up next. "Well it's still better than total anarchy." Better to have some sort of order than none at all, and Ren's mom was still a better choice than Jun when it all came down to it.
Karina looked down at her sister as she took her hand. She squeezed Merry's hand gently and smiled to try comforting her a little. This wasn't something she wanted to happen either, but it seemed like their only choice.
Though, there was something else she just realized... "My parents." How were they-- no, how was SHE going to explain everything to them? They didn't even know about the Ghost situation to begin with.
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Post by Satoru Alabaster on Aug 17, 2015 23:13:57 GMT -5
"I'd assume you'd tell them," Satoru said. Typically he'd suggest lying, but this was too long a stretch to lie about, and it was too loose a timeframe. Truthfully, they didn't have a way to give an exact date for extraction. Besides, he knew how much he'd worry- or outright panic- if Gabe went missing for who knew how long. "Unless your sister can cover for you for however long this is going to take..." He gave Merry a pointed look, as if sizing her up.
Merry froze.
Yeah, lying wasn't going to be much of an option.
Takumi looked to Karina. "I can go with you, if you like, they may realize the gravity of the situation if it comes from me, since I'm not their daughter." It wasn't exactly a perfect solution, but there was already technically a war in the city, surely this couldn't be too much more danger than there was originally in Hatsu Itonami?
Ren just watched, tossing his phone up and down and looking at the computer behind the desk.
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Post by Kiyoko Jun on Aug 18, 2015 1:05:10 GMT -5
Karina frowned, she knew she would have to tell her parents, there was no way of hiding something like this anymore. She gave Takumi a hesitant look. "I'm not sure if you being there's a good option though, they've been trying to get an answer about what happened to my face and…" She rubbed her arm with her free hand and shrugged a little. The scars, as little as they were, were still scars, and if it got brought up that Takumi was the one responsible then she wasn't so sure how they would respond with him being there.
"Don't worry," Kiyoko started. "I'll go with you too. Takumi being there would still be good for them to see who you're going to be with while you're there." As dangerous as this was going to be, Karina's parents were going to need SOME sort of assurance that their daughter would be in safe hands. "As for me going, well, your parents might need a bit of empathy for what's about to take place." After all, she was risking her child's life too… She held herself together well enough, her usual blank stare(that she'd noticed her son had very clearly inherited, by the way) only faltered just the slightest bit, her mouth twitching for just a quick second before returning to how it was.
She had a feeling she wouldn't be keeping herself together for much longer.
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Post by Satoru Alabaster on Aug 20, 2015 1:18:46 GMT -5
It needed to be done, there was no other way around the mess that was going to come from meeting Karina's parents. Takumi just hoped they wouldn't be unreasonable, if they didn't leave then things would be worse. He might be a member of the Black Zodiac, but that didn't mean he could defend an entire city from Jun. They had to leave. "We have to do this soon," he reminded. "A week is the most time we can spare, less would be better."
He didn't look towards his mother, he wasn't sure if he could handle looking at her while reminding her he'd have to leave almost as soon as he'd arrived.
Ren, who had darted over to the computer with a few wires and his phone, piped up again. "Great," he said. "Now that we've got the girls riled up about that mess, I can give a call and we can all figure out arrangements. Get over here and meet my mum!"
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