towerofanimus | chasing numbers

Entry tags:

chasing numbers

Characters: Veronica, Open.
Setting: Elevator, floor 56, and floor 34 (Backdated to the 26th)
Format: prose or action brackets; I'll follow you.
Summary: Someone has been paying attention to the random messages on the terminals. And now she's going to investigate.
Warnings: Usual tower related things. Will add as happens.

[When it had started Veronica had barely noticed it, just moving on and forgetting about it. The second time it happened she was more attentive to it, scribbling down the codes and working to decipher them. The third time came and went but Veronica just ended up confused. They were phrases; short, random ones that repeated. It seemed that they were pointing to somewhere in the tower but she didn't know where. At least, she didn't know until the last message. Two numbers, both could be tower floors, or it was simply a big joke. Either way, Veronica's curiosity had been peaked so she set out to investigate]

The Elevator

[There's a teenaged girl in the elevators. This probably wouldn't be that interesting if the girl wasn't wielding swords and covered in scars. She'll stay silent unless someone starts a conversation with her.]

Floor 56

[This floor was just as unnerving to Veronica as it was startlingly familiar. The random hospital rooms, the surgical suites, the ever-present hint of blood in the air, it was all just like home. She even heard chilling cries that reminded her of Fran's experiments. She half expected to see Okita or Adorea in one of the rooms. Sadly, she seemed to be the only person here, or was she? Swords in hand, Veronica made her way forward into the floor.]

Floor 34

[This was the most surreal floor Veronica had seen yet. She found herself outside, somewhere, going up stairs that connected to floating islands. The island she found herself on was long and narrow, she could see over the edge into the nothing below her. The urge to jump strangely went through her but she was able to fight it off and keep going forward, looking for whatever, or whomever.]

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She squints at the light, then at Mitchell. The blue flame was pretty interesting, but nothing really outstanding.

"A mysterious person in a gas mask, hiding in one of the floors and sending out cryptic codes, would not be very welcomed by an armed person." Still, to show she's polite, she finds a chair at the opposite side of the room and sits.

Good, she's sitting, he makes a few last strokes of his pen before shutting his book. Turning his full attention to her now, grey eyes studying her from behind lenses. "Well at least one person was able to make it here. So welcome to a job interview." He leaned back in his chair, singularly at ease. "Strengths, weaknesses, what did you do before you came to the tower, head size."

"......Excuse me?"

You'll.... you'll have to repeat that.

"Do I really need to repeat myself? Le sigh." He shook his head slowly, melodramatically. "Strengths, weaknesses, what your previous line of work was and your hobbies."

Jeez, don't make him feel like a parrot here!

She's... she's confused now. So confused that she'll actually go along with it.

"Uh, I'm skilled in swords, explosives and sneaking around. I have superhuman reflexes, but not superhuman durability unfortunately. My ears can pick up supersonic sounds, my eyes can see infrared, and my fingertips have needles in them that secret a paralytic poison that fights regenerative powers. In my world I was created to protect my crea-my father and all he had from those that would do harm. I've killed hundreds."

A pause.

"I generally read in my spare time. I have a music collection back home too."

Edited 2013-08-29 20:06 (UTC)

"I see...." He taps a finger on his chin, he may have not had many candidates, but one who is good with assassination is just as good. "That would put you In a perfect position for assassination and espionage."

Another pause to think. "Do you have any clue who and what I am, and what organization you are going to join?" Most likely not, most of the residents appear to be in the dark sheep. "Also, do you like Lovecraft and industrial music?"

She stares at him for about a minute or so.

"Can't say with the mask on. Though, you seem like someone who is planning something big and needs some help." A tilt of her head, "Never really cared for Lovecraft, skimmed it a little though. Rock and industrial are okay, something I picked up in my travels in America.

And as for what organization..." Veronica thinks about it for a few seconds. "You're not a member of Black Lotus, are you? Because the sentinels should have killed you all by now."

"Good, read more of Lovecraft, it is an imparitive, along with industrial music." Staring is fine, in fact he's staring right back, intensely, almost to the point where he may burn a hole through her eyes. But he won't do that, that's just rude. But he just shakes his head at her guess, sure the Templars had almost wiped them out, but like a Phoenix, they rose once more. Stronger and more terrorizing than before.

He clears his throat to give her the recruitment video gist. "No, we are not. For us it's all about power, grabbing, keeping it, using it, power is our currency, our DNA, our God. We control the world, we provide the blueprints and we give the instructions. We are the people in grainy photos behind grassy knolls; we are the shadow faces in smokey back rooms and darkened boardrooms. We're right here, hiding in plain sight, buying and selling favors. Blackmail, treason, deceit, these are our stock in trade."

This is getting very long winded, and he gives props to Kirsten for coming up with it. "We work the magic of the drunken evenings with senators, and chiefs of staff. We shack down demons and negotiate with sorcerers. We have stocks in Hell and compromising photos of angels."

And now it's all coming to a head for the grand finally! But she deserves to have an idea of what she is getting into. "We use any means ness scary, no matter the cost, because the world is a bad place, and you can either do, or get done....We are the Illuminati, and we are not done." There you have it, your locked in now, hopefully she didn't go asleep or walk out.

Congrats. You got a raised eyebrow out of her. Not much else though.

"Oh, so you're one of those organizations. The ones that control everything behind the scenes. We're the hand pulling these strings! We're the almighty ten percent that's leading you lambs to your slaughter." She gives a little shrug. "Please forgive me if I do not sound impressed, but I've heard those speeches before. Many of you special operatives have done some pretty bad things in my world, for no real reason either. In fact, the only reason why I'm still here..."

She stares piercingly at him, putting on a sly grin. The stitches on her face stretching almost to the limit with the movement.

"...Is that I'm curious about just what you're planning to do here."

Edited 2013-08-29 21:28 (UTC)

"Well it's more like less than ten percent if you account for everyone in between. But yes, we do control everything. We have the answers to almost everything. And everything we do has a rhyme, purpose and moral." He's not going to say anything about "special operatives", as he is disposable.

His demeanor is unchanged, and he gives her an equally powerful, if not flat, unimpressed look. "Stop, do not pass go, do not collect two-hundred dollars. All plans will be made available in time, it is unfortunate that I cannot enlighten you at this moment. Just know that the objective is to not have our admins bend the knee to us."

Welp. He's intrigued her, so she'll stay for now.

"Yeah, one of those guys told me that before I slashed his head off..... Sorry, it's kind of a joke-n-nevermind!" Veronica shook her head, her face became a little more neutral now. She was quite curious now. "I don't think anyone really cares what happens to the admins from what I hear. You know there's a resistance movement right? Why not just work with them?"

"Why work with the sheep? It's like setting off alarm bells and whistles. Besides, what I have in mind, no one in those little groups would agree with or follow me on. "I have my reasons and really couldn't care much for those in the tower."

He paused, looked at the doorway, then the ceiling, then back to her. "Careful of what you say, there are eyes and ears everywhere. I have reason to believe that certain residents may still, very well be under the influence of the admins as well. Caution and secrecy are a must. Movement in small numbers is a must. Do not talk, drink and forget."

"Really? You could have fooled me, what with being a secret organization that is probably known for giving less than a damn about others."

Her eyes follow his as they scan the room. Nothing really seemed to be out of the ordinary. Except, of course, the obvious.

"Influence? You mean the admins are using mind control?"

Shush, he's paranoid, and he has a right to be. "Most likely, they've already done it once before. It's not all too hard to guess that they may continue doing so. Kind of like with MKULTRA. Note, we may be using a form of projects MKULTRA and Artichoke in the future."

But first things first, as always. "Theories aside, we must begin moving. Do you know much about the factions in the tower? Who usually calls the shots, who is just the pawn? Etc.?" Tis is actually important for her to know.

Seriously? Talking about old American mind control projects now? The Professor personally debunked the first one and the second one got nowhere. Veronica's getting the distinct impression this guy is paranoid.

"Factions? Well there's the resistance headed by a guy named Enoch. I might have met him once. Then there's the admins. Seems like there's a bunch of people in between though."

Obviously this professor of hers didn't dig too deep, good."Oh good, you're not completely in the dark then, this will make things a tad easier. Also, watch out when performing actions with the resistance characters. Their plans never seem to go all that well. There is also the so-called league of evil, granted they could be lumped together as part of the resistance group."

He sighed and rested his chin on his knuckles. "The first move shall be to breach these groups, single out members that appear to either be of importance, or have a weak will." His heels began to tap on the floor. "Avoid suspicious activity. Do not tell anyone of me, most in particular one Nazi scientist by the name of Doctor Richthofen. This is not a game of clue, do not leave behind evidence, do not suspect the shadow in the corner."

Actually he dug too deep and made something worse. It became classified to even Veronica at that point.

"Wait just a second." Veronica stands up now. "Do you really expect me to just do as you say? I never decided on joining you, I don't even know who you are!"

Well that's just as bad, digging way too deep is what done in the Mayans.

"Find us, join us. I believe I made that abundantly clear. And what I have in mind is of utmost importance." He is still calm and as cool as an ice cube. "And it's good that you don't know who I am, it should stay that. I don't even know who my own boss is." He really doesn't. "But of you want to call me something, call me the Pyramidion."

It's what happens when science is involved.

"The Pyramidion."

She gives him her best "are you serious?" face. Seriously, she'd been working on it.

"Well I mostly came to investigate the codes, and even if I help you, I frankly have no idea how I could possibly breach three different factions."

He just shrugged as she gave him thar look.

"You don't have to breach three, just one. I'm certain that a person of your talents should be able to do so rather easily. Be buddy-buddy with those involved and when things are set phase two will commence." Flattery always helps to initially butter people up. "I would also say to bring a few of the admin's worker bees here, but that would most likely draw their eyes."

She muses on what he says.

"By worker bees I guess you mean those robot-like things that do stuff around here. I could probably herd up one or two. But which of the three do you want?"

Well if she was really gung-ho about it....

"Yes, I mean them...but if you do manage to bring a few near here, kill them, immediately. Or at the very least attempt to make them unconscious. I would like to see if we can poke around with their minds. As for the type, any you feel can be taken opportunistically. its not something you're required to do, of course. But that is something that can wait for now."

He always did wonder if the drones could be reprogrammed. "Just, remember, the name of the game is to keep your head down, but listen and see everything. Learning is more than half the battle."

She's not that excited. It's just something she picked up from her sisters. Plus she likes to fight.

"I know the rules of battle, I'm a warrior."

Veronica looks around the room, her eyes focusing on the fire.

"Still, I have no idea what you're planning. That's sort of important. How do I know you're not just going to turn me into some kind of slave?"

"Because individualism is important amongst us. Besides, it's not you who I'm looking to enslave. Just follow my lead. Unlike back home you are not replaceable."

And that's saying something amongst the Illuminati. It would kill him if he had to make his only recruit disappear.

"You sound just like Fran." Which is actually a little touching, even if was simultaneously ominous. Again, just like Fran.

She leans against the wall, thinking hard on the subject. She clearly walked into something that wouldn't be easy to get out of. She mused on the idea of just killing him, but that didn't seem very sportsman like after all the work he went though. And she seemed to be the only one who actually figured it out.

Veronica crosses the room and holds out a horrifically scarred hand, little needles stick out of her fingertips.

"Fine. I'll help you. You seem like you need a lot of it."

She could try and kill him, but that fire on the ceiling wasn't just for show.

But likewise, he reaches out his own, gloved hand, to shake hers. "Welcome to the company then. If you have any questions, or are in need of anything I will aid you...based on the situation. Just know our resources are currently limited."

She glances around the room.

"I hadn't noticed. Madaraki, Veronica Madaraki, and I'm used to working alone so this works out."

Let him know her name. It'll be all the better if she does have to kill him.

"Hm? Oh I already knew that." Kind of, he gets people's names mixed up all the time.

"But it's nice that you told me. Any questions? Ones that I can and will answer?"

"Of course you did." Might as well go along with the, likely insane, guy. Since she's given her name out to maybe six people at most.

"No, no questions," She looks up at the fire dancing on the ceiling, "Except maybe about that."

"The animus ball? What of it?" He tilts his head at her, did she also think it was better than the horrible lighting the rest of the hospital used?

"So that's what they're called. Seen a few of those things around here. Honestly I would just put in new light bulbs. All of this magic stuff is weird."

Yeah, she's not used to this whole magic thing yet. Too bad everyone else is.

"No, that's what I call that flame, I can make them whenever, and wherever I want....Were the ones you've seen moving?" Because if they were then that would be another thing he should take care of.

"You make them? Interesting. These ones moved, and I think they were trying to attack, didn't work though. Never understood all this supernatural stuff, all my world has is science."

She looks down at her hands. That might be even better in some regards.

Edited 2013-08-30 03:09 (UTC)

"Yes, it's just a raw form of what I can do, very basic. Anyway, if you see anymore of those fires, stay away from them, and do not follow them."

Then he waved a dismissive hand. "You're eyes just haven't been opened. There is always more out there than conventional science can answer."

"Not unless it's unconventional science."

She turns and makes for the door, most of what she wanted to say done. "I guess I should go. If you want to contact me send another code or a letter or something."

"Well that would depend on your knowledge of unconventional science."

He watches her start to leave and decides that he should pack up his own things and get back to work. "Will do, and take care to not say anything about this."

She gestures to herself. "I think I got most of it down. And will do. No one would believe me anyways."

With that, she's out the door, simultaneously confused and relieved.

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