Darkness, Bright As Fire

The last thing Blaze wanted to hear as he was stalking through the door -- shedding equipment as he went -- was the irritating breedle of his private telcom line.

Greatcoat dropping to the floor quickly, and followed by a layer of ballistic mesh armour, he keyed the small earbud and snarled tiredly.


"Blaze."


"Ijuuin? Can you watch Aoi for a day or so? We've got another bogon-flooded closed-door meet --*"


A few more bits of random equipment were tossed into a cubicle, handguns locked into the recessed cabinet, a few clots of machine-oil and blood raked out of hair.


"I just got back from assignment --"


"Yeah I can hear you tossing things around. I'm really stuck here. I know, I know, it's short notice ... You're not ripped up again, right?"


"Can't Saito take her?"


"I'm going with him, of course; they need input from both sides of observation."


With a noise that was part-growl and part sigh, Blaze kicked off boots and greave-plates and raked a hand through his hair.


"Fine; just give me at least enough time to get clean and put away the roadkill."


"You're a lifesaver, Ijuuin. Thanks!"


The line went dead.

Sighing again, Blaze shook his head, snorted a bit of laughter and sent a summons to a few daemons to stow the remainder of his gear before he stalked to the bath.

"It is slow, isn't it."


At the moment moment the words left Blaze's mouth, the navi in question dissolved in a spray of pixelated 'blood', its daemon assailant shifting into standby. Giving the fading remains an irritated final glance, Blaze leaned away from the viewpanel and called up the source-code of the program he was testing.

Curious, Forte leaned closer to look at the code, absently chewing on the corner of his mouth.


"Are you sure the problem isn't with the testers? I mean, they aren't exactly --"


"Oh, I expect them to be deleted."


Pivoting to access a subterminal, hair swinging, Blaze hardly looked up from his work -- not that he'd much worry if he did, with the virtual readouts flickering past his line of light.


"I expect them to be deleted, just not so damned quickly. I'll dike the bug out eventually; but for now, I think that a diversion is in order."


"Another sparring match?"


"This evening, maybe."

"What I need to do is finish up those last few datapackets for you -- and follow up on that report of another stray Blues. Yes."


Getting up from his seat, Blaze clapped the blonde navi on the shoulder and smiled.


"I think it's time I introduced you to the Nexus, Forte. There's no sense keeping you cooped up here with Onyx and I -- it's nothing more than a prettier form of prison."

"So instead we'll blow the multiverse wide open for you; just stay clear of the brat, for your own good. The little bastard would just love to hunt you down, mark my words; he's everything I was and then some, wrapped up in enough self-righteous hypocrisy to choke an elephant."


Nodding absently -- having heard the warning before -- Forte's attention drifted back to the viewpanel.


"I'll be going through the same paces, then."


"Hell no."

Blaze shook his head with a snort.

"You're more than those witless things ever could be; and you don't need to worry about a chipfolder, either. Once you're ready you can feed from anything you wish in the library, or that you feel like requesting for that matter."


The test-server shut down with a soft breedle, and Blaze jerked his head towards the door.


"Let's get going. Onyx is waiting."

A quick note; I don't have the time for drafting a nice long letter at the moment. (Damn it anyway):

Would you be interested in dropping by the Tower during the holidays? Christmas Eve would be ideal, but I wouldn't be surprised if you had plans. We can have dinner and I can horrify you with the Christmas Cake.

You can invite along Midnight if you like, but if he refuses I understand completely.


Send me a line when you get the chance.



Blaze

Slouched at a console and acutely aware (now that the endorphins had flushed out of his system) of his new punctures and gouges, Blaze snarled viciously and snatched up the cables to link into the system.

He'd detoured to the Nexus -- against stiff regulations, but who gives a damn about regulations? -- to work off the bloodlust still eating at him after tearing that bastard Kuroda into fist-sized chunks. Even if he slipped, which was damned unlikely, the AV-field would take care of any problems ...

That had been his intent, in any case.

Encountering Vesper resulted in an illuminating and rather relaxing bit of conversation. Unfortunately, the little Ijuuin bastard had felt the need to turn up and try to bark at him again, like some demented chihuahua. Vesper had carried the brat off before that little encounter came to a head, and Blaze had a few different possible outcomes of that running through his mind.


If he gets you off-balance and doubting yourself again, I'll tear him apart the same way he likes to tear you down.

I've had enough.


At that wasn't even the last of it. Far from it, in fact: the brat's snide retort still struck him almost dumb.


"Why didn't you bring him to trial?"

The sick fucker destroyed six children's lives -- and slaughtered who knows how many, yet, before those 'experiments' succeeded -- and he has the sheer gall to ask that to my face?

Morally bankrupt little bastard.


Staring down at the cables in his hand, an image of the disembodied brains -- selves -- of Kuroda's victims swam in front of his eyes. Grinding his teeth until they squeaked in protest, he drove the cables home and got down to work.

Leaning back in the wide high-backed chair, he felt Onyx settle weightlessly next to him as the world dissolved into digital neon.

First the execution report for Ikuhara, then a second pillaging of Kuroda's intranet.

Then it was time for kata in the garden, injuries or no.

To: V2
From: Onyx

Would it be possible to meet with you at some point?

I would like to speak with you again, and thank you.

Temporary network location [coordinates]



Onyx

This is clipped from an impromptu question session in chat one morning ... mainly unedited, but eh ;3

( a few little things ... )

In a sea of blood red roses, something threatening has appeared.

Granted, there are those that would argue that a rescue team suddenly bursting through a Nexus portal into someone's rose garden is the threatening thing -- but no, not this time. The little group is the one being menaced.

In this particular moment, by two hulking cyberforms -- giant virii? Warped navis? Something other ...

Towering a good ten feet or so, the shimmering beasts lumber closer, razor tails slashing through the air and sparks striking from their claws.

The team has obviously been noticed ~

"Oh come on, now ... wake up, pretty doll. We have things to do, and things I want to see."


Sense, for V2, began to filter in slowly; he was suspended, wrists yanked above his head ... but where? and what was going on ..?

Just a place where this freaky plot-thing can be bounced around ...

And to make up for that other beast, this one is under a cut :3

( preliminary tidbits )

( now under a cut, to spare hapless flists~ )