Villain's league (IC)

[e_voyager]

rue was full in both mind and body. not necessarily the best combination when your mind is full of worries and uncomfortable second thoughts. thoughts provoked by the letter he was reading.

Rue reread the letter and it's warning. A waring about the red wizard being a threat to Rue on the same lever of potential as Rueican. Rueican was once called doll master and he had over defeated Rue several times. in the end at their final battle in a fit of rage like how he drove him off at their first encounter. then it had cost the life of Clair the woman who befriend him when he had no memory of who he was or what he was. still even though he managed to defeat Rueican bye unlocking what was then his full power he could not bring himself to kill him. that turned out to be a good thing as Rueican saved him form their creator Valen at the expense of his own life shortly after he revived Clair using the power of the dew prism and his soul gem where he has stored her soul without knowing. reading this letter and the memories it brought up unsettled rue. "There is a password on the drive this letter says." Rue told Liz in part to distract himself form his worries." it's to protect the data from prying eyes just in case." the password Dewprism was in the letter that Rue had read but that could wait. he had something else more important to ask Liz. "we can win this up coming war right Liz?

[Boog]

Anastasia eventually made her way to the rest of the group in the Talking Lizard household, rubbing sleep out of her eyes alongside her 24th cup of coffee.
"Mmf, th'hell's'matt'r witcha p'ple, talking b'niss already." She gave her head a shake, once, and laboriously focused on Release, "What's this about decoding?"

[familyghost]

Release gave a sly smile.  "You're a puzzle.  Genius level intellect, one funky van and I'm ninety percent sure that trying to read your mind would result in terrible pain due in no small part to your reaction."  He let the side of his mouth curl into an even more sly smile.  "That plus hiding your face makes you one of the more interesting people here.  I like interesting, it keeps me from blowing things up."  When the toast popped up from the toaster it just as suddenly flew over to Release who quickly downed it in two gulps.

"My toast, no squirrel's going to get these ones..." Release smiled as he licked his fingers.

[Boog]

"Good to know, wouldn't want you losing your self control," Anastasia replied dryly, her head finally starting to clear. Funky van. Yeah, I'm just Scooby @#$%in' Doo. Gyeh. "Good to see you know flattery will get you everywhere, you're not a complete lost cause. Now then, and I repeat..." Her eyes narrowed as she went to pour herself another cup of coffee, "What's this about decoding?" I don't like it when people dodge questions.

[familyghost]

"Telling makes it less fun." Release smiled wickedly as he passed a mental scan over her mind.  "Think of a number between one and five million.  Don't be shy about decimals, surface thoughts are the easiest to pluck after all."

[Boog]

Anastasia quirked an eyebrow at the psychic and thought of a number. Then she got bored of it, and thought of another. And then she got bored of that one, and so on until eventually moving on to thinking of equations and proofs, and sequences of numbers whose meaning were almost impossible to discern.
All this in about two and a half seconds, flooding the peeking Release's brain with what could only be called a horrific amount of information.
"I don't play games. Now tell me what you meant."

[familyghost]

Release blinked at the inordinate amount of numbers he saw in his mind.  "Gee thanks for the headache..." He muttered.

"I hope that's not all that makes you tick, but then again that's what decodings all about.  Finding out how people work, why they are the way they are, why they do what they do..."  He smiled.  "And at this point in time I want to decode... you and see why you pique my curiosity.  But like I said it can be painful with someone like you..."

[Boog]

Anastasia blinked for a second, thoughts of numbers fading to the background momentarily, and let out a groan. Short tempered, arrogant, psychic, and CORNY. "You have no idea," she replied to him unambiguously, "So, if we can focus on the business at hand? Where's todays newspaper, we should have- ah." So finding the aforementioned periodical, she slapped it down onto the table unceremoniously, headline facing up for all to see. Naturally, because the universe doesn't like people getting smug with themselves and often used the stupid to prevent such an event, it was something about the local sports team's latest win. With a grumble the scientist snatched up the paper again and searched through it for something about their attack on the city, which was ironically under health and fitness. She put the paper back on the table and pointed to a photo someone had taken of Quaddle in the panic.
"We got our asses kicked yesterday by a man with the DUMBEST name I have ever heard, up to and including Englebert Humperdink," she snarled vehemently, glaring around at those present (Crystal being except by virtue of being the lover of one of her coworkers rather than actually one of them, a rank she estimated at somewhere around "Pet civilian"), "We're some of the best in the business, and we got screwed over by this complete and utter SHMUCK! Croc! Laos! All this time we're supposed to be on this you're messing around in Laos! Rue, I don't even know WHAT you were up to! When I got there Daemon was being used as a paddleball and Liz was being menaced by some sort of dragon-thing, Sebastion and Sheridinna are freaking GONE, the Boss was recruiting Release exactly two hours too late- oh yeah, some psychic; tell me what I'm thinking, but you can't get some damn precognition on that thing?- I was busy trying to get my base set up and testing out a plague, and Crystal-!" The rabbit whirled around to point at the girl in question, at which point the stream of verbal abuse sputtered and left Anastasia standing for a moment feeling awkward. Her brows furrowed for a second as she tried to remember what she was about to say, and finally shrugged sheepishly, "As you were. Sorry, it's been a long week."

[Angel]

Crystal paused when Release asked about Anastasia. She hadn't seen the rabbit, but she couldn't quite remember what room they'd given her, and besides, waking her up would be rude.

Thankfully, the scientist came down, albeit still a little sleepy. Crystal smiled and stood off to the side when Release challenged her almost immediately. Controlled chaos interested Crystal in a way she couldn't explain  - probably why she'd fallen for Liz in the first place. Anastasia proved too strong a foe for Release for the moment, then snagged the paper and found the story about the attack on the city yesterday. The she-gecko paled a bit at the rabbit's vehemence on the team's screw-ups, but then again, she'd only seen this kind of tirade in the movies before. So it really DOES happen, she mused briefly before Ana's passion drowned out any other thought. There was a fire in the rabbit's voice that had Liz been there, calm as he usually was, he would've shrunk away in magnified shame. At the end of it all Ana whirled around to face Crystal, nearly blinded by rage, her voice reaching fever pitch.

The girl backed up a step, her heart jumping for a split second and the whites of her eyes visible. Then, as quickly as she had started, Anastasia snapped back to normal, apologizing and quieting down.

Crystal made a noise that was, at best, a cross between a gasp and a bark of nervous laughter, then quickly went silent and took a seat at the kitchen table. "It's okay. Yesterday was pretty trying for everyone."
---
Liz nodded almost absently when Rue told him about the password, not bothering to ask whether the boy knew it. At the question though, he became slightly more alert. It was so oddly innocent for someone with a group of individuals like themselves. But it was worth asking, and he sensed just how serious Rue was.

"I think that's the very reason our employer gathered us all together," he answered at last. "Individually, our kind always seems to fail. But by combining our strengths, we have a fighting chance against even a foe like our wizard friend." He smiled a little embarrassedly. "I know that sounds corny, but it feels like the truth."

[e_voyager]

Rue smiled. it's not something that he did  overly often. but still it was reassuring. "i've failed before Liz. but that i'll i wanted was to revive a dead friend of mine but it seemed every step of the way there were people and demons getting it my way. i'd defeat a monster with the power to destroy cities or armies and some treasure hunger would take advantage of my being tired and steal what i'd recovered. or my bother would show up and kick me around until  i managed to  tiered him enough to move off. but then i wasn't trying to conquer the world. Mint was" he said touch his forehead gem before remember to cove it with a hat."but i think for her it was more a principle then he was upset by being upstage by her younger sister who was to become queen of their kingdom."

Rue thought about it and made a decision. "Liz when we face this mage i want to fight him. his magic might not affect me very well but there is a spell. a spell that my brother used to drain me of my power temporally if he used that i want you to run. You have some one waiting for you to come him and you may be strong but if i lose my power then i can become a handie cap that might cost you your life." Rue said this because he knew of now mages among then that might revere the spell and wasn't sure if he could over power it himself again. he was worried and his tone and words caused the shadow demon in his pocket to depart and head towards Rue's boss. soon DarkE would know what his Lieutenant said and would know what to do.

[familyghost]

There are few things Release could not tolerate and people yelling at him about precognition was one of them.  "First off, I prefer the term 'psionic' for just that reason.  Precog is exceedingly rare, and even if you do have it most mortal minds are almost immediately shattered by the sheer number of possible outcomes and that's only straight precog there are so many smaller facets equally capable of shattering minds it isn't funny.  Meanwhile, I'm here I'm psychokinetic and telepathic and..."  Several glasses shattered  and pointed at Anastasia like missiles locked onto a jet,  "I don't like being blamed for others failures.  Got it?"  The bunny girl piqued his interest, yes,  but she was also dangerously close to crossing a very delicate "do not insult the psionic line".

[Angel]

"Hey! HEY!" Crystal suddenly shouted when Release broke the glasses. Fear was still in her eyes from Ana's rant and the conflict in general, but something else was covering it up. She was angry, for the first time anyone there had seen. She usually reacted to these kinds of ordeals with shock and fear, but this was different. This was bloodshed waiting to happen in her own home, which she was letting people live in out of the kindness of her heart and her love for Liz.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," she said, her voice containing restrained, but obvious fury, "but isn't it extremely rude to break things when you're at someone else's house?" Her gaze stayed on Release, burning as strong as she'd let it around people as powerful as these. She wasn't as strong as the psychic and she knew it, but she wasn't going to let him go around smashing her glasses either. "Put that glass down and leave your fellow guests alone, or I'll go to my workshop and get the blowtorch. Got it?"

---

Liz listened, wide-eyed, to Rue's story. The boy had reasons much deeper than his for doing what he did, and for a moment, he almost felt guilty. He really wasn't sure how to respond to an admission like that one.

Then Rue instructed him to run if Quaddle attacked them. It was a bold decision, and one Liz wasn't really comfortable with. "Well, I don't want to leave you to die if something happens. And chances are he probably does know that spell; he said he was over three hundred years old. But, if its obvious that neither of us can beat him, if he's too powerful... I'll do what you ask." As he said it, something occurred to him. "You have a separate employer, right? Will he be okay with me leaving you behind if that happens?"

[familyghost]

Normally Release would have completely ignored the gecko girl, but the threat of a blowtorch got his attention and he quickly remembered he was a guest in a the friendly gecko's home.  "Whatever..." Release said as the sharp broken pieces swirled into a easy to sweep up pile.  "Looks like I owe you two some new glasses."  He said as he left the kitchen and went outside, plopped on the ground and looked up at the passing clouds in an attempt to calm himself down.

[e_voyager]

Rue thought about it he's have to tell Liz more about himself but he could skit a few things . "He would not hold it against you i'm sure. Especially considering that i asked you to leave. he knows that my world is dead or mostly dead and that i'm serving him because of his promise to revive using magic and divine power beyond that or my creator Valen and he was acknowledged as the greatest of his race of sorcerer so great that he developed an artifact that would allow him to remake not just the world but the universe as he chose had he lived.  The others knowing what he was up too besieged him and he locked himself away with his creation so that should he die he could be revived. To ensure this he created my bothers my and myself.  Our oldest sibling was called Doll master. Ruecian was his true name and his mage was great.  Still magic is a funny thing. It requires knowledge of something to be truly effective and i'm betting that this Quaddle that you tell me about never encountered something like myself. if he has then there is the chance that he might try to turn me against you that's what i worry about more then my own safety. i've heard how you speak about this Crystal she'd very important to you. she is to you what Clair is no was to me. Perhaps more so and she is why you must be safe"

----

The business man was sitting both board and upset as Baika fussed over hot limited the selection of shoes were for those with feline feet like her own. The Poor shop keeper was trying to calm her down and apologizers profusely about not having more feline costumers when baika's ears suddenly perked. The business man was still there but he was no longer board and he'd turned to stare intently into a shadow in the corner of the store where to aisles met. Baika resumed her Ranting even louder and walked around the poor shop talking about how she should buy this place just to fire him and stock a decent selection of shoes. She was doing this to be a distraction as DarkE received his report. "He was not pleased.  he question the demon and then set it back to Rue with orders  to return to him once they arrived at base of operations. Standing up and just shy of stomping He walked over to Baika who stopped mid rant and looked at him.
"We're Leaving" his voice and eyes left no room for argument.
"Yes boss" she said not slipping up and calling him master like she normally would. He was not in the mood for jokes. In moments they were in the car and he was driving out of the city. "Where are we going boos?"

"Rue is planning of fight Quaddle. I warned him not to" said the boss having learned the name in  the report.
And that was it.though Bakia  Rue was going to disobey and order. The bossed didn't like that not one bit. "But he may have a good reason. and who is Quaddle?"

"He's th red mage. the one he enveloped the city in a spell while casting and sustaining a second spell. and you're right he'd better have a good one." said the boss and the headed for the airport. It's be about and hour before the helicopter would be there and then it's still need to be refueled.

--
Its mission completed for the moment the shadow demon worked its way back to Rue tracking him vie his shadow like always. It would return to the boss one it knew where they were headquartered. Per the bosses orders.     

[Boog]

Anastasia gave a derisive snort at the psychic's outburst. Child. She brushed some shards of glass off of a nearby chair and sat down with a sigh, "Well, now that that's done with, lets try to get down to business." She glanced around at those present, "What do we do next?"

[Angel]

Liz paid close attention to both Rue's backstory and the road. He had no reason to think Rue was lying about something so obviously personal to him, and he'd heard much crazier stories before.

"Well, if you know so much about magic, I can see why it would be better for you to fight Quaddle. And you're right about Crystal. But hopefully, we won't encounter our mage friend." The pair was, at the moment, almost halfway to Liz's town. "Thank you for telling me your story."

[e_voyager]

Rue sat there quietly after acknowledging Liz's gratitude. the boss was going to be angry with him he knew but this was some thing he had to do some one he had to face. and it came down to it. well as far as he knew it the boss would likely keep his word and revive his world anyway. after all Quaddle needed to be tested and if possible dealt with. chances where he was in the way of DarkE's plans as well. ah well he'd summon a messenger and send the boss word of his decision when the reached the house. for not he';d best figure out what he was going to say to the boss.

[Angel]

Crystal watched with an even, but still semi-furious expression as Release piled the glass neatly on the floor. Another outburst like that, she decided, and he can stay in a hotel and break all the glasses he wants. She was undecided whether the same fate should apply to all Liz's cohorts, but she refused to let destruction happen in her home.

She moved to get the dustpan and broom, tail lashing angrily and ears open as the group gathered to discuss their next move. Hope Liz gets back soon...

[familyghost]

Release sat for a few moments before he decided to head back in.  He knew he ticked off the rabbit girl, possibly scared the lizard's girl too.  He also knew the Boss probably wanted his team to work together, so to him it looked like he had some explaining to do at least to the rabbit girl. 

When he got back in he saw the lizard girl's angry look and decided it would be best to apologize to her first.  But then again he was a telepath and insane so he took the duel route and walked over to the lizard girl.

"Sorry about the glasses..." He said under his breath.  He hated to apologize, but he was expected to work with the team.  "I'll replace them if you want and I'll try to keep my temper in check in your home."

At the same time he made an intentional connection with Anastasia. You really don't like puzzles I take it, so here it is 'decoding' is what I call getting to know someone. 

As he finished the telepathic sentence he funneled over a few memories of his own.  They started out with Release as a young child playing with a near identical young child.  Then it skipped forward to the two being taken in opposite directions by oddly suited men.  It ended with Release looking over the young man as a teen and thoughts of pain entering his mind.  Then he killed the young man with a telepathic twist of the neck.

He was a precog, were taken at 6 years old by a shadow government organization.  He was my twin.  Do not cross the line.  He hoped he didn't have to explain that the line meant expecting him to have such an extraordinary power.

[e_voyager]

"Sir sir!" shouted and excited lab assistant. "we've made progress."  the project leader sighed. he'd wanted to be excited but they'd been working on this ever since the packaged arrived hour and hours or work non stop and so far with out good results. they lost the prey right after the flash just like the boss had. " show me" he said.

the lab assistant led him to the work station .there on a monitor the edge of the cite were was the red mage and two others. they were heading out of the city. "well do but what happened while they were in the city. and who's that guy in black?" "we don't know sire but we decide to monitor any and all footage of people leaving the city and found this. now were backtracking the satellite path and trying to pin point where the three of them met up and where they are going"
---
Rue began to write a messages on a piece of was it fabric or cloth? that was uncertain as he pulled it from his pocket he finished the short messaged and called into the air. "messenger who hides in shadows come to me. i have a package to be delivered by thee"  the darkness stirred.

--
with it's ear in Ru's pocked i could not help but here Rue's summons.  slipping out into the shadows of the car the shadow demon appeared in the shadows under the dash board. it looked up at him waiting for what ever messaged Rue had for the boss.
__

Rue handed the message to the demon and bid it wait a moment. "Liz i'm sending a messaged to my boss. do you have anything that you might want or need to assist or mission. from safe houses to artillery He can get it if it's needed" though Rue didn't say it he was thinking about Crystal. he didn't know what she looked liked and couldn't really imagined b. what she human? a lizard? or something else entirely like Baika?

[Angel]

After a long time in silence, Liz almost jumped when hearing Rue speak up. They were now about fifteen minutes away from home, and he'd been falling into a lull of security. The boy sent some sort of message using something Liz couldn't see too well, apparently to his employer. Probably another shadow-creature... does he control them or does his boss?

At the question, the gecko balked a moment and thought. "Hm... I guess one or two safehouses would be a good idea, and possibly a well-hidden lab. Just in case Crystal and I can't handle having everyone in the house." He noted the boy's faraway look and added, "Not that any of you are unwelcome. It's just that our neighbors took a while to get used to two lizards living on the street, so they'd probably think it's a little strange to have so many people around now. Besides, if we get caught, this'll be a good backup plan. Thank your boss for me."
---

Crystal calmed the flames in her eyes when Release came back in. The psionic looked calmer as well, though he was clearly irritated when he apologized to her. She nodded once. "It's all right, just don't do it again." She grabbed the dustpan and broom and collected the glass quickly, listening for any other conflict or important news.

[e_voyager]

Rue nodded and  wrote down  the request for several safe houses at least one taking into account the likely needs of human gecko's and at least on a decent science lab and he included a thank you as well as Liz had asked him to..  The second message done the handed it to the hiding shadow demon and sent it off. 

He looked around they were entering some kind of neighborhood. he seemed quite suburban almost TV like in it's layout. ah TV. it was perhaps the one thing he'd come to enjoy about this crazy world. especially the TV were you control the actions with those odd remotes and the box that you fed disk. those were fun but it was kind of scary to find that one of the disk  that you could feed the TV box contained the story of when he first meet mint and form several points of view including mints own.

[Angel]

Liz and Rue made it to the gecko's house without any interference. Crystal let out a sigh when she saw the car pulling up, and walked over to the door, waiting for Liz and the new person to enter.

Liz got out of the car and walked over to the passenger side, waiting for Rue before going in. He didn't see any smoke, and the house looked okay on the outside; that was the first good sign. Nonetheless, he ran a hand through his blond locks and hoped that appearance really was everything.

[e_voyager]

Rue got out of the car and stretched. it was probably a little slower then running a loft faster the boating but it was still quite restful way to travel. he looked at the house and nodded. "nice place you have here" it was a far cry form he cabin that he and Clair had lived int but not as done up as mint's place or some of the bosses places.  The house said to him. 'we are comfortable here' and that was more then he could say fore a lot of places he'd been.

he sighed as he though about what he'd done. " you know my boss will probably show up soon. anywhere form a few hours form now to a few days form now depending on what he's doing at the moment. That said we should probably look at the information that he sent us now. "  what he didn't add was that he felt sure it would be sooner as the boss was not likely to bee pleased with his delectation of intent to disobey orders.

[Angel]

Liz smiled truthfully at Rue for the compliment on the house. "Thanks." But the smile faded when the boy mentioned his boss showing up, and the urgency of seeing the information he'd sent them. He glanced at the windows, seeing an expectant Crystal peering out at them. After a sheepish 'I-can't-come-in-yet-but-I-see-you' wave, the gecko turned back to Rue.

"By 'now', do you mean right now, or should we show it to the others?" He wondered whether he should ask after his and Crystal's safety, then decided against it. Somehow, he figured that someone willing to provide safehouses and labs for them might not hurt them so quickly.

[e_voyager]

"by now i mean when we get into the house" for a moment Rue thinks that he sees concern on Liz's face. "i don't mean to worry you but my boss rarely does anything with out reason and this is not likely to be and exception" Rue realized he was talking in circles and probably making it worse. "Don't worry know the boss the drive will probably contain information on our oppents and how to fight them."at least Rue hoped that was the case as he  was not 100% sure. as for the bosses  soon to be big appearance it was likely to be for him alone . the boss liked to do things form the shadows

[Angel]

Liz nodded at the reassurance Rue offered. "All right. Glad to know we'll be safe. Thanks again," he said and started up the driveway into the house.

Crystal opened the door for her lover and the young man, giving Liz a warm smile then greeting Rue. "Hi there. I'm Crystal, and this is where you and the others will be staying for a while. Don't break anything really valuable and be as civil as possible," she smiled, holding out her hand for Rue to shake. He seemed like the quiet type, but the weapon he carried might contradict that.

[e_voyager]

Rue was taken back by crystals manner. she was so warm and cheerful. maybe Clair wasn't that cheerful and she certainly didn't have Green scales but he could sense a strong similarity in them and new that she'd take up arms to protect those close to her that way Clair had taken up arms to protect him. "i'm pleased to meet you ma'am" Rue said trying not to let the shock so. " i'm very touched by your kindness to me and my co workers." it was safe to say that Rue liked her already

---
"Boss"  came the question in a timid voice. it was Baika again
"yes what is it?" Asked DarkE still in his business close.
"we've received another message form Rue. he's asking to safe house for the others as a standby and something about lizards"

"one of Rue's coworkers is a Gecko with  elemental poser to summon and generate elemental. I assume he's the one that Rue's referring to."
over the past coupe of hours DarkE had calmed down but he was still angry. what was Rue thinking?
"where the message?" h asked and in moments he was reading Rue's written note. Rue was a quick learner is somewhat and isolationist. that was why he sent run on so many solo missions. because he did them well but this was still more then Rue was aware. he was sensenig that something big was trying to get started and when that happened there was always some kind of trouble and he aimed to see that it did as little danger to him and his chosen as possible.

[Angel]

Crystal offered a friendly smile to Rue and released his hand. "Well, I'm glad to see civility won't be a problem for you, Rue. It's a pleasure to house someone so polite." She gestured him to the table, a relieved feeling in her bones. He wasn't going to be temper-prone as Ana or Release, and it was pretty safe to guess he wouldn't cause trouble.

"Cryssie?" Liz called from the kitchen. "Why are a fourth of the glasses gone?"

Crystal's eyes flickered at that. "Don't ask," she called, turning towards the kitchen and looking part exasperated and part nervous. "What's that you're holding?"

"Oh, this?" said Liz, re-entering the room and glancing at the thumb drive. He'd almost forgotten he'd been holding it. "Something Rue's boss wants us to look at..."

[e_voyager]

Rue disappeared not truly disappearing but making himself scares as he followed an inner sixth sense. he found  what he was looking for and a few minutes later he returned to the living room where he sat down and  promptly nodded off.  he did not dream. not this time thong his body seethes with magical energy and his forehead crystal seemed to glow in the light of the room.