Alexa watched as the Eldritch shoot her informant. She would probably get one of her underlings to clean the mess up before the police could get to the body. But for now, the Eldritch needed to be dealt with. It was a good thing that she was in one of her suits today rather than her jacket and jeans. She didn't hesitate as she stepped into the alley and behind the Eldritch, "And where do you think you're going?"
Janusz was just about to leave. To go onto the next part of his day, to go to Tamara once more. He wasn’t all too surprised when a person stepped out after him, though he knew he’d need to handle this a bit differently than he typically did.
Without turning around, Janusz answered. “Away. From here.”
"I hope my here I mean out of the city," Alexa continued to approach him. Hostility rode off her in waves as she finally made her way to the other Eldritch, "This is my city and you need to leave. Now."
Janusz finally turned around, to look at the other Eldritch, observing her features.
“Your city?” Janusz commented quietly to himself, almost in a tired tone. He didn’t say what he had planned though, instead keeping the thoughts in his mind. Janusz didn’t falter, standing his ground.
“I’ve been in this city for a long time. In that time, in those years, you have not noticed me, up until today. Why should I leave just because you tell me to?”
He's been here for years? How have I not noticed him before today? Alexa thought to herself with a frown. She kept her composure though only letting herself think the confused thoughts and not her combat plans as she glared at him harshly. She wasn't going to let some other Eldritch ruin her decades of hard work, "Because I've been here longer than you have. I have more connections here than you and can easily make your life a living hell."
“Oh? Have you, now?” His voice did not change in tone. Janusz barely seemed intimidated.
“And besides, it depends on the context for here. Because if I recall correctly, I have been on this planet since 1989 when I first decided to come here. And besides…” Janusz gave a tilt of his head. “You were living peacefully before you decided to confront me. Why can’t you just go on your own way and resume business as usual?”
"Oh really? I've been on this planet since 1989 as well you know and I've stuck with my home base in this very city for all those years," Alexa responded deciding to match his uncaring demeanor. The other Eldritch had a point, but the mere fact he was here was going to bother her, unless… "But yes, I could go on my way and resume business as usual. However, I'm not going too. Either you're leaving or we can make a deal."
“I refuse to leave.” For his own reasons, of course. Reasons he wouldn’t say. He folded his arms. The note of her saying she’d been in this city all these years stuck with him, but you couldn’t exactly avoid travel when you had a war or two to fight in, could you?
“It depends. What sort of deal?” Janusz questioned.
"Work for me," Alexa responded letting the light smirk tug on her lips. She folded her arms as well as she looked at him. Her hope was that her words of being within the confines of the city for so long would help sway his decisions, "It would be useful to have someone of my caliber alongside me amongst all the humans. You be able to do more of your vigilante justice with me, more than you can do now at least."
“What sort of ’jobs’ would that involve? And would there be limitations to what I could do?” Janusz asked. This part of his job, he wasn’t really willing to give up too much for it because it was the only place where he truly felt some freedom in. He wanted to know what he would be doing if he were to work alongside her.
"As long as you let me know what you're doing, and it doesn't affect my own scheming, no limitations," Alexa responded to the second question first. She quickly formulated a response to the first question, "You'll probably be put in charge of something within my business, but you wouldn't be doing any of the dirty human work. I haven't quite worked out the details yet."
“And what is your business about?”
Janusz considered what she had said. It seemed interesting, to say the least. He’d probably end up saying yes, but he wanted to gain as much as knowledge as possible before he jumped into it.
"We deal with matters of the law," Alexa answered. It was mainly the truth. Her cover business was a law firm, but the other half dealt in breaking the law by selling drugs, trading illegal wares, and, of course, murder.
Janusz appeared to ‘hmm’, as he turned to the side slightly. “I will..” He began, quietly at first, then added on, a bit louder this time. “Yes. I’ll agree to the deal.”
Alexa's smirk only grew as she held out a hand to him. She was glad he accepted and even gladder to have another Eldritch in her ranks, "Then we'll shake on it and the deal will be sealed."
Janusz held back for a moment or two before he reached out his hand as well. “Okay. Deal done.”
Above, the clouds in the night sky thundered softly as rain began to fall. Janusz glanced away to the rest of the alleyway. He’d better stop at the market soon and get to Tamara. Who knows when she’d call again.
“What now?” He questioned.
Alexa had a grin and messed with reality just slightly so the rain wouldn't ruin her suit. She let go of his hand after shaking it putting it into her pocket and pulled out her phone, "You have a phone, right? Give me your number so I can call you later to give you more information. I'm figuring you have better places to be right now."
Janusz had a phone, alright. Just not a typical one. It came with the suit, you see, and putting numbers on there was a real pain. So upon noticing her usage of her abilities, with a quick glance around, Janusz seemed to push his gloved hand into the air. The small area around it seemed to almost warp for a brief moment. Janusz pulled out a much more convenient mobile phone and the area turned to normal. Pocket dimensions were some of Janusz‘s favourite and most useful tricks to use, although you did need to be careful with them.
“My number.” Janusz read it out to her, briefly taking off a glove on his hand in order to operate the phone.
Alexa watched as he reached into his pocket dimension. She wondered why he kept his phone in a pocket dimension but decided not to question it as she put in his number. She had no problem keeping herself dry because it was so unnoticeable with the light rain. She sent a message to the number hoping his phone would go off, "The message is from me."
Janusz looked at his phone.
‘Recieved.’ He typed in the response to her text.
Turning around, Janusz put back on his glove. He did have a place to be at this moment. Without saying anything, Janusz began to leave.
Alexa smiled and let the other Eldritch leave for a moment. Before he could fully leave the alley she called out, "Oh yeah. Welcome to the mob."
She turned around and walked back into the alley to meet up with Kasey to get back to the upper levels. Alexa wanted to get out of the rain and the lower levels.
Janusz seemed to halt in step for a moment as he heard her. The mob. So that was what this was.
He couldn’t exactly back out so soon, he’d just made the deal. He’d have to wait and see how this would play out. He resumed his walk.
Proceeding out, Janusz went up to the mid levels, where he was sure to come across a market. He could then pick out the potatoes for Tamara there. As he was surveying the area, finally coming across what he was looking for, a raspy but loud voice; even among the market interrupted him.
“Jan! Are you coming down to the fighting ring tonight? It’s been a while since you’ve been there.”
Typically, Janusz went down there for investigations. He never told Kovrov, who seemed to believe he was just going down there for fun. But Janusz didn’t really have anything planned tonight. As long as that new deal of his didn’t intercept..
“Sure.” He said, after a moment. “How did you know it was me?”
“The way you carry yourself and walk! And besides, you don’t really see just any armoured guys like you down here.” Janusz still didn’t get it, but he let Kovrov off. Kovrov seemed harmless enough.
“Anyways, see you tonight!” The man waved, running off into the crowd before Janusz could respond.
Turning back, Janusz made his purchase. It wasn’t too expensive, but it wasn’t all too cheap, either. Even for just a few potatoes.
Janusz made his way over to Tamara’s home.
Alexa met up with Kasey in no time. She allowed a slight bit of rain to fall on her suit. Kasey walked up to where Alexa was, "Did you manage to get the informant?"
"No, but I got something better," Alexa responded continuing to make her way towards one of the quick passes to the upper level, "We'll need to send in a team to clean up the mess, however."
"I'll send for one right away," Kasey responded pulling out her phone to make a few calls. Alexa just smiled as she continued her way up. Her human underlings already worked like a well-oiled machine, now let's see how well working with another Eldritch would go.
Janusz had entered the house of Tamara, located about ten minutes away from the market he’d just visited. The house wasn’t really much of a house first look, it only seemed to be a Butcher’s shop at first. But built into the back was like a warehouse, a big one. Set up like a normal family home.
Tamara greeted Janusz upon entry. “Ah! Have you brought the potatoes?”
“I have indeed,” said Janusz as he approached. He set them down on a counter, looking around. Tamara gave him a knowing side glance.
“The children are in bed.”
“Sleeping?” Already?
“Who knows?”
Janusz placed his hands on the countertop, sighing. Tamara began to prepare the potatoes. Presumably making a soup, Janusz reckoned. His senses were still haywire, for whatever reason. Even if the adrenaline of killing the criminal had ran out long ago, it was almost as though something else were interfering with it.
“Why don’t you take that off? Get changed into something less..armoured..?” Tamara had snuck up on Janusz, and moved her hands up to his helmet, as though she was to take it off.
Janusz pulled away. Not right now. Not here.
“No,” at first, his voice came out cold, but he stopped. “I mean, I will. I’ll go do that now..”
Tamara stiffened, but allowed him to proceed into the hallway where the spare bedroom was located. Janusz shut the door and look into the mirror, slowly removing his helmet.
What looked at him was not the face of a man but of a thing. An inky, black featureless face returned his stare. His face.
Janusz had witnessed this phenomenon only once before. It was rare to come across another Eldritch when you acquired a Husk. Only certain Eldritch had this..condition, it was like a reaction. Not a very beneficial reaction though. It seemed to only occur around other Eldritch, and it didn’t happen every time, either. It wasn’t studied upon because…well, humans didn’t know of his true identity.
He stilled himself, calming, and allowed his real face to be molded into the human one. He was not Shiondun right now. He was Janusz.
Janusz prepared to get ready to go to the fighting ring.
Alexa arrived back at her office building and sat back in her desk. She leaned back in the chair and rested her feet on the desk while one the others left her be. She looked to her arm to see some of the hairs still raised and no matter what she did they remained raised. Her mind knew it was because she had ran into that other Eldritch, whom she didn't even have his name yet. Now that seemed rude to her. It was fine if she didn't know a human name, but this man was an Eldritch. She did have his number, so…
With the snap of her fingers, one of her underlings came into the room. She held out a paper with his number on it, "Take this and track it down, or at least it's last location. I want you to track the owner in person preferably. Or at least get someone to do it."
"Yes madam," the little human responded taking the paper and scampering off. Alexa didn't need to be an Eldritch to make humans fear her. It had been a while since she had been Tazha, but it was a necessary evil they assumed.
Wasting no time she took out her phone and sent a text to her other Eldritch, I never did get your husks name. What is it?