A proposal [Invitation only] [rated R]

[Josef "Gauron" Totschläger]

"Wait... your Geass gave you cancer. That arises two questions: one, do you still have a Geass? And two, will my Geass give me cancer?"[/b] Such concern was understandable. And though it was lamentable, Gauron was without any solid answers.

"That's right. A bad stroke of luck, I suppose. Unfortunately, I am without my Geass. Not that I need it anymore, you understand. And who's to say what it will do to you. Everything comes at a price. Sometimes the power drives the user over the edge of sanity, others it curses with a disease, and still others become consumed by it." It was the best answer he could give.

"I suppose I could head to the Tokyo Settlement myself, but habit has made me very paranoid about staying in one obvious place for too long. As is... I barely ever sleep in one place twice."[/b] Mana said as she turned them down another alleyway.

"That's commendable," Gauron replied. He had lived much the same way when he had been a mere mortal.

"Well, I am pleased I do not have to work for your employers. It's nothing personal against the federation, but I do not like to work for governments... or organizations... or anything of the sort."[/b] She was looking at him now.

"And why shouldn't it be personal? The Chinese Federation is filled with morons and worthless pieces of meat. They despise me almost as much as I do them." He couldn't help but smile at the situation. They wouldn't cancel the contract because they were afraid of him. It almost brought warmth to his cold heart. Almost.

"However, I would like to crash this wedding... I am certain we can force an escalation in Britannia's aggressiveness if we change the tune of the wedding march. I'm thinking.... mmm... Ode to Joy?"[/b] she said with a short laugh.

Gauron liked the way she thought. It was cold and calculating, but had its own special flair to it. "I'm glad to hear that. It's astonishing just how much damage can be caused to a nation with just one pull of a trigger or flick of a blade." He had to admit to himself that he had never heard of the song that she mentioned. Music had never held much appeal to him. It covered the cries of agony.

He took a moment to survey their surroundings. They had entered an even more decrepit part of the ghetto. The buildings were nearly all husks of their former selves. Destroyed vehicles - civilian and military alike - littered the streets. He popped another couple caffeine pills into his mouth and chewed them like the rest. "Who do you think the best target would be?" He had already picked his preferred victim: the Empress-to-be. Killing her would be wonderful due to the simple fact that it would be a symbolic gesture. If he put the right spin on it, he could force the Holy Britannian Empire into a war with any faction he chose.

[victoria]

"I knew there was a catch..." Mana muttered, before shrugging, "I've come to terms with my mortality. If the geass kills me, then I'll die knowing I pushed humanity closer to it's inevitable destruction."

Mana couldn't help but laugh at Gauron's comment about China, "The entire world is filled with morons and worthless pieces of meat, Mr. Gauron... but then again, you know that already." she smirked.

"Explode a mall and people get angry. Kill one member of the royalty and a nation goes to war. It is so easy to manipulate the outcome of politics..." she agreed with him.

She took a second to think about the question regarding who would be the best target, "My initial thought was blowing up the entire stage... but that wouldn't do. The best anger is that which is fueled by the flames of love. A love lost calls for revenge... a blind fury unequaled by anything else. My target would be the bride. However, she must die at the altar... right after declaring 'I do'... and in a horrendous way that will scar the fragile minds of everyone present. I believe my Hades rounds will do the trick just fine..." she grinned at Gauron, hoping to have risen his interest.

Mana lead the way into the ruins of a warehouse. She navigated through the maze of dangerous rubble with ease, calmly, until she reached an area with a flat floor and grass growing from the dirt, in the middle of the skeleton of the building. She shoved a small chunk of roof aside, then reached to the dirt, producing a latch from the soil, pulling a hidden trap door open. She walked down the stairs into the trap door and underground.

Under the warehouse lay what most likely was a storm shelter at some point, or perhaps some contraband storage area... regardless, it consisted of a long concrete hallway with some heavy iron latch doors, ending in a main room that divided into several other rooms. Furniture consisted of a few portable tables and crates. A cello case rested against a wall, a few half-finished bombs lay on a desk... things of that fashion lay around everywhere in some form of order.
Mana walked over to a crate, opening it and revealing a series of strange bullets. The design involved glass and a clear liquid inside. She pulled one out, "Hades rounds... the fuel is pure ether. It's design to be slower than a normal 40 caliber bullet so it won't go through a body, but rather embed into it. Upon impact the igniter is activated, and the glass shatters, making for a ball of fire that is rather hard to control..." she smirked at the thought of using this on a bride, clearly day-dreaming, "I wonder what material will be used for her dress... I'm hoping it's a natural fabric... it'll preserve the odor of burning flesh in a more pure fashion..."

[Josef "Gauron" Totschläger]

Gauron smiled as he followed her. She was perfect. He was very pleased with the contract. Mana's willingness to die for the cause of crafting what he saw as a perfect world was excellent, her hatred of humanity was top notch, and her understanding of the effective use of terrorism was leaps and bounds ahead of even the most experienced practitioners.

"My initial thought was blowing up the entire stage... but that wouldn't do. The best anger is that which is fueled by the flames of love. A love lost calls for revenge... a blind fury unequaled by anything else. My target would be the bride. However, she must die at the altar... right after declaring 'I do'... and in a horrendous way that will scar the fragile minds of everyone present. I believe my Hades rounds will do the trick just fine..."[/b] she said, smiling.

Gauron had to admit that she had piqued his curiosity with the mention of her so-called "Hades rounds." Whatever they were, they sounded fun. His eagerness for an explanation nearly overran his happiness at her choice of targets. "And what, pray tell, are Hades rounds?" he asked, his interest getting the better of him.

Unfortunately, she stayed mum on the topic. Gauron noted that her path no longer seemed random. They were undoubtedly nearing her hideout. They came into an area that had once been used for industrial storage. The remains of warehouses stood all around, slowly falling into disrepair. He was certain that there wasn't another soul for blocks.

He followed after her as she lead the way into one of the husks. It was filled with rubble that hazardously cluttered the building. Mana maneuvered through it with ease and grace. Gauron was less skilled at it, but managed to get through with only a single tear on his suit jacket. He came over a rise just in time to see her open a trapdoor in the ground. She disappeared down the hole and he followed.

She continued to lead the way into a room that smelled of explosives. Crates containing all sorts of fun compounds and devices. A few tables were scattered here and there, many of them covered with bombs in various states of completion. An instrument case stood against the wall. "Cozy," he said with admiration in his voice while she made her way to a crate and opened it.

She turned to face him with a strange looking bullet in hand. He examined the round with a careful eye. With the exception of the head, it looked like an average bullet. The tip was made of transparent glass and within the glass was liquid. Mana spoke with pride. "Hades rounds... the fuel is pure ether. It's design to be slower than a normal 40 caliber bullet so it won't go through a body, but rather embed into it. Upon impact the igniter is activated, and the glass shatters, making for a ball of fire that is rather hard to control... I wonder what material will be used for her dress... I'm hoping it's a natural fabric... it'll preserve the odor of burning flesh in a more pure fashion..."[/b]

"Well, I must say, you are full of surprises. This thing really is a work of beauty. I can't wait to see her writhing in pain as she is consumed by the fires that will ignite war anew."

[victoria]

Mana pulled out two boxes of Hades rounds, each containing 50 bullets. She placed the boxes on a table, "You can take those. I'm sure you'll find good use for them." she smirked.

Mana took a remote and pressed a button. Classical music began playing lightly from a makeshift speaker connected to her music player. She pulled out one of her many small portable laptops, all of them were suitcase laptops, military grade. She opened it and sat it on one of the tables. She typed two passwords and rolled her thumb on a biometric reader, before the computer showed up a blue screen of some strange operating system. She proceeded to send several e-mails through anonymous accounts to the Britannian police, stating that several civilian buildings in Shinjuku were home to resistance cells. She had been sending these periodically, "Things need to pick up around here..."

[Josef "Gauron" Totschläger]

Mana grinned as she handed over two cases of her toys. "You can take those. I'm sure you'll find good use for them."[/b]

"I know I can," he said before picking one up and inspecting its contents. He would need a new gun, but that was hardly a concern.

When the music turned on, the corners of him mouth tugged down a little. The beauty of the so-called art form was lost on him. All the same, he stayed quiet as she opened a laptop - a rather expensive-looking military grade piece of hardware - and began tapping away at it. "Things need to pick up around here..."[/b]

"False reports to the police?" he guessed. "You are quite the active one, aren't you?"

[victoria]

"Creating war is all I do... everything in my life revolves around it. I feel the situation here is behind schedule." Mana closed the laptop, taking out a cigarette and lighting it. She was thoughtful for a while. She needed information on the Black Knights, such as locations and operation intel. However, getting such would require either a torture session or a mole. Either option would require some planning.
"You wouldn't happen to know any Black Knight members, would you?" she asked with a chuckle, ashing her cigarette on the floor, "I need some information only a Black Knight would have."[/color]

[Josef "Gauron" Totschläger]

"Creating war is all I do... everything in my life revolves around it."[/b] She was so determined, so resolute in her calling. Gauron found it refreshing that she was so very committed. He could almost feel the world that he had sought for so long nearing with ever increasing speed. " I feel the situation here is behind schedule."[/b]

Gauron smiled. "That it is. Except for a few interesting incidents here and there, the next war is too slow in coming," he agreed.

"You wouldn't happen to know any Black Knight members, would you? I need some information only a Black Knight would have."[/b] There was violence in her voice and a spark in her eye that Gauron knew would mean agony for any Black Knight that she happened to get her hands on.

"Unfortunately, no. I'm almost certain I was near two a few days ago," he replied, thinking back to his trip to the Tokyo Memorial. "But a pair of... acquaintances kept me from coming away with any information." He thought for a moment. "Perhaps we can lure some here? Make a transmission over the radio in Japanese asking for help and pinning it on Britannian forces." If he could get his hands on an appropriate Knightmare Frame, a Sutherland perhaps, the illusion could be made complete.

[victoria]

Mana's smile widened at the mention of a trap. Normally she'd be slightly resentful at someone else proposing a plan she didn't think of first, but given it was Gauron who had suggested it, she felt nothing but joy at the idea of a ruse.
"It would have to be a short-wave transmission to make sure they don't all show up. We wouldn't want a large force showing when all we need is one Black Knight." Mana took a drag of her cigarette, her eyes shifting to the side in thought, "Perhaps we should get a real Japanese to send the transmission... but his acting must be believable. Perhaps we should hijack a Britannian police knightmare to make sure we can deal with any possible enemy knightmares. We all know how fond Black Knights are of their oversized toys..." It was clear Mana didn't like knightmares. Sure she knew how to pilot one, having been trained by the Britannian military years ago, but she was never fond of how impersonal knightmares made war. It was easy to kill a man in a giant robot... it took true willpower to kill someone face-to-face. A fact that was lost in many in modern warfare.

[Josef "Gauron" Totschläger]

"It would have to be a short-wave transmission to make sure they don't all show up. We wouldn't want a large force showing when all we need is one Black Knight."[/b] She raised a good point. A group of the so-called Knights for Justice would make things unnecessarily complicated. "Perhaps we should get a real Japanese to send the transmission... but his acting must be believable. Perhaps we should hijack a Britannian police Knightmare to make sure we can deal with any possible enemy Knightmares. We all know how fond Black Knights are of their oversized toys..."[/b] There was venom in her voice now. She didn't seem to appreciate the Knightmare Frame weapon system.

He nodded. "Well, then, I suppose I have some work to do," he said with glee in his voice. "I'll find a way to steal a Knightmare or two." The Knight Police were relatively lax with their security protocol when it came to their Frames, so stealing the machines wouldn't prove to be too difficult. The hardest part would be slipping into their hangar unchallenged. He turned toward the exit of Mana's hideout. "I'm sure you can find us a willing volunteer for the transmission."

[victoria]

"Finding a volunteer won't be a problem, specially in the surrounding area. I suggest we perform our ruse in Shinjuku to avoid any connection with this facility. I'll scout the area for a suitable place to perform the trap, and a place to take the Black Knight we capture for questioning." she took one of the cellphones off her pile of phones. She detached a small card on the back with the number to the cell phone, handing it to Gauron, "Contact me when you get the knightmare."

Mana smiled as she began walking into an adjacent room, "I need to change first... feel free to head out."

[Josef "Gauron" Totschläger]

"Finding a volunteer won't be a problem, specially in the surrounding area. I suggest we perform our ruse in Shinjuku to avoid any connection with this facility. I'll scout the area for a suitable place to perform the trap, and a place to take the Black Knight we capture for questioning."[/b] Mana handed him a card with her number - one of many, it appeared - on it. Gauron grinned as as he took the card and inspected the number. "Contact me when you get the Knightmare. I need to change first... feel free to head out."[/b]

Gauron sneered happily as he picked up the Hades rounds she had given him and started walking down the hall. "It won't be too long, little artist," he said, half to himself, in a cold voice. He was out of the building soon enough. "Well, Majhid, what do you think about this situation?" To anyone watching, he would seem crazy, talking to himself. Fortunately, there wasn't a single person for blocks. Gauron laughed at the dead man's answer as it echoed within his mind. "You assume that it will get to that point. I'm not giving this power up for anything. You were a fool for giving it to me in the first place if that's how you feel." The former Contract Bearer continued his angry ranting, which Gauron promptly tuned out. He had planning to take care of and he wasn't about to let some dead man get in the way.

[EXIT]

[Sylvana Li Britannia]

Topic Complete!

Mana I. Monblanc: (3646 Words, Normal RP) 365 Exp, 365 Credits
Josef "Gauron" Totschläger: (3819 Words, Normal RP) 382 Exp, 382 Credits

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