The rustling stopped. There was a pause, then Ryker's stiff, wary voice came back to them. "I could ask you the same thing."
Mike took a quiet breath, steeling himself. "Ryker. It's us. Mike and Tanrial. We….came back to talk."
The door opened further and Ryker stepped into view, haloed by the gold light from the lamp inside the room. Surprisingly, he didn't look angry–just cautious and confused. "Why would you do that? After all the trouble you went to trying to get away….why would you come back?"
(I'm probably not going to have a lot of time today, sorry)
"To stop you doing anything life changingly stupid," Tanrial narrowed her eyes at him, sighing through her nose, "And to get you 'kids' out safely."
(that's okay, I won't have much time either)
"The children?" Ryker stepped forward. "Don't you touch them. They're safe here! Why would you take them away from me?"
Mike didn't move. "Maybe because of what you plan to do with them. Maybe because we don't want you to have that much power."
Ryker's shoulders drooped. "So you think I'm in the wrong." He gazed at them for another minute, then sighed and turned away. "I'm……I'm sorry if I somehow gave you that impression. But…..there must be some misunderstanding. All I want to do is help people! What's your objection to that?"
"Help people by killing off all pure blooded humans?" Tanrial raised an eyebrow, "What about those other children your… your creating in that lab downstairs? Are you gonna use them like your using your others?"
(dropping off a reply right before bed because I can't resist lol)
"What? No no no! I'm not going to kill anyone, especially not the pure-bloods. I want to rebuild, don't you see? Just because my children were born in a lab doesn't mean–"
He stopped himself and made an obvious effort to calm down. "Look. I'm sorry. I don't know what you heard, but it's not the truth." He turned and walked back inside the room he'd come from. "Come in and talk. I want to show you what I'm doing."
When Mike hesitated, Ryker called back over his shoulder. "I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. This place isn't the same as the world you came from. I know you might find it hard to believe, but you're safe down here."
(Night!)
Tanrial glanced at Mike, then at Rick before back to the door where Ryker went and shrugged, "I still don't trust him but it's worth a shot…" She said before following cautiously.
The room was smaller than the cubicle-filled chamber they'd just left, but still big enough to fit a desk and several rows of computer servers. A file cabinet stood nearby with its drawers thrown open and its files ruffled as if someone had been digging through them. The only sound came from the faint whirring of the fans on the backs of the servers.
Ryker sat at the desk, absently fiddling with a pen as he studied the papers in front of him. He didn't look up when they entered.
"I don't think I've met your new friend," he said. "Where's that other guy, Bernon?"
Mike leaned against the door-frame with his arms folded. "Bernon's on the surface helping with the attack. This is Rick, he said he'd help us when he heard what you were doing."
Rick touched the brim of his cap habitually. "Howdy."
"Nice to meet you," Ryker replied. "even if you did come here with bad intentions. I hope we don't have to be enemies for much longer."
"Welp, sir, that depends on what you tell us in the next few minutes, I think."
"Right." Ryker glanced back at his papers and thought for a second. "Let's start at the beginning, I guess. What do you three think my plan is?"
"Well," Tanrial rubbed her neck, "From what we've been told, you're gonna use your kids to… to create some utopia for people like them. In the process, killing off all pure-blooded humans." She looked to Mike as if asking if that was right.
(I'm not gonna have a lot of time either today, ooft, sorry)
(np! I'll just bombard you with a mountain of text lol)
"And you're against the magic-users," Mike added. "You want to kill them too."
Ryker steepled his fingers and rested his forehead against them. "No. That's not it all. How did you manage to warp it so badly? I mean, it's understandable since you probably got it from an unreliable source, but…..no wonder you tried so hard to stop me, if that's what you thought I was doing." He straightened. "Listen. I already said I don't want anyone to die. Humans are my main priority right now. Pure-bloods are incredibly rare these days, and unbelievably valuable. I want to gather them together so they don't go extinct, you see? My children will help protect them so that civilization can grow again. As for the magic-users….I may see them as a threat to humans, but I don't want to wage war on them. And I understand that not all of them are murderers. Look at you, Tanrial. You're a wonderful person."
Standing, he picked up a large diagram and held it under the light. "This is a drawing of the city I want to build." It was a large collection of graceful structures with plants growing on them, surrounded by a smooth wall and small flying machines. "It'll be called Biocosm. No carbon footprint, no poverty, no violence, no oppression. Eric will be in charge of it one day when I'm gone. Yes, we don't want any magic inside the city, but it's just because we want to preserve humanity as best we can. We still want peace and a healthy trade with magic-users." He looked up at them, his voice almost pleading. "I know it sounds impossible, but if there's any chance at all, I'm going to try. All I need is the data drive, and we could make the world a little better. Don't you see? I'm the good guy!"
Rick frowned uncertainly, glancing at Tanrial. "Did you guys know all this? Are you sure we're doin' the right thing here?"
(Ooft, okay so I'm flying out to England tomorrow (I'll still be active during the day as I fly at night but I'll just be off and on) so for the next couple days I don't know when I'll next me on as time is going to be all over the place for me, lol. But for the next four weeks I'm gonna be all over the place soo… yeah)
Tanrial frowned a little, "No, we didn't know this," She took a few steps forward to get a better look at the map. She sighed through her nose before glancing at Ryker, "If this was your plan all along, why didn't you just tell us straight up? All of this could have been avoided. I don't know what to believe anymore…"
(sounds exciting! I hope you have fun in England! ^^)
"I tried to tell you," Ryker replied. "But I understand. Trust is a luxury you can't afford. It's only natural that you'd be suspicious of me, since you'd never met someone who set the lives of others before their own–at least not without some ulterior motive." He smiled. "There's still time. We can stop this madness, and you can help me. You could still protect the children, if you wanted…they seem to like you, I'm sure they'd love to have you around more often. You too, Rick. And you, Mike." He turned to Mike hopefully. "You're a pure-blood, so you could be involved in the program directly. What do you say?"
"No." The hostility in Mike's voice caught Ryker off-guard. Mike was staring at Ryker with a concentrated anger that made the older man tense up nervously.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"There's still one thing you didn't explain," Mike growled.
"….Yes?"
"What about the containment ward? You know, the one on the lowest level with starving people in it?"
For a split second, Ryker's eyes widened and he stuttered. "No…you don't understand. I didn't want to put them down there but they– they wouldn't listen–"
"They wouldn't listen to your utter garbage? Yeah, I don't blame them. Let me guess: They're agents of anarchy and you had no choice. You totally didn't experiment of them, or leave them to rot down there while you built a paradise for the privileged. Right?"
"I…that's not…."
"Just shut up." Mike straightened. "My turn. Remember Wren?" Ryker nodded, looking bewildered. "Her memories go back a lot farther than she ever let on to you. She's the one that told us your plan. And right now, she's showing the other kids exactly what you're up to."
Ryker shook his head in a speechless panic. Then, he stood up and bolted for the door.
(I swear I'll stop typing so much after this TvT)
(ooft, I will! when I get rid of this cold Thanks!)
As soon as Ryker made a move to escape, Tanrial went after him. Ryker having to move round the desk worked in her advantage, and she managed move the table just so, so that it blocked his path. She then went to tackle the guy.
(ahh, hope you feel better soon!)
Mike moved as well, taking him from the other side and helping Tanrial pin him to the ground. Ryker was surprisingly strong, but could do nothing to dislodge the two of them at once. Still, he struggled desperately.
"It's not what you think," he cried. "Those prisoners are monsters!"
"The only difference between the people in the cells and the ones you created," Mike shot back, "Is that you can control the latter. Or should I say, used to control. They're probably all free of your sick influence by now."
A hard light appeared in Ryker's eyes. "Not all of them."
A bullet whizzed through the doorway and tore a hole in the edge of Mike's coat. He ducked downward and cursed. "Tanrial, help me get this guy tied up. Rick, buy us some time!"
"You bet," Rick said, and ran out the door.
"I swear if that's Eric…" Tanrial muttered, grabbing the rope to help tie Ryker up, making sure the knot was tight around his wrists.
Mike dragged Ryker to the back of the room so he would be easier to keep track of. From outside the room came several loud crashes and a burst of gunfire.
"Let's get out there," Mike said. "Rick may not be able to cover us much longer."
Tanrial nodded, taking one last glance at Ryker, "You weren't hurt by that bullet before, were you?"
(correction, I'll be gone for like an hour, ugh)
Mike shook his head. "Nope, it didn't touch me. When we get out there, take cover in a cubicle on the right. I'll take the left. Okay?"
(Ooft, all good)
"Gotcha." Tanrial gave him a small nod before hastily making her way to the door. She dodged one bullet that was shot at her before ducking for cover.
"There's two of 'em out here," Rick called from across the larger room, his voice strained. "One of 'em….throws things."
As if to demonstrate his point, an entire desk came hurtling in a silent arc towards their hiding place. It landed in the aisle between them and cartwheeled past, screeching against the floor and sending huge splinters flying everywhere. Mike dove away and took shelter behind a different cubicle, waving for Tanrial to spread out more.
(Sorry, been packing and had internet problems)
Tanrial gave Mike a nod before cautiously making her way to the outskirts of the room before heading towards the two attackers. She tried to keep quiet, but ended up knocking a trash can over.
(no worries, mine went down too ^^ I gotta go to bed now, see you when I see you!)
A shape suddenly loomed out of the shadows nearby and advanced into the dim light. It was Jackie, her eyes narrowed and her hair in a tight bun. She carried a combat knife in one hand and a desk chair in the other. She seemed to barely notice its weight as she stalked towards Tanrial and prepared to throw it.
(Yup, see you soon :)
Tanrial stood and took a few steps backwards, her gaze locked on Jackie and the knife in one hand. One of her own hands went to her dagger slowly, the other ready to use any magic if it came to that.
"You have one chance to surrender," Jackie said coolly, stopping a few feet away. "After that, I no longer have the ability to guarantee your survival."
%20pngg.png)
