Description: Once more, NESTS strikes at a school for ominouis reasons that may involve a certain subject of their interest. They find it and much more, even if, at the end, it gets away. Igniz, however, does not fret at their escape. Everything is going according to plan, and why shouldn't it? He had carefully manipulated it. Should he not then have uncontested success?
Taiyo High. Pacfic High. Seijyun High. Justice High. All school, all visited. By who? NESTS and NESTS associates. The purpose had been laden as a simple as to find a girl. The battle raged across the schools as Igniz led NESTS from scool to school, and now, one more simple was here for him to lead an assault!
And simply, that is Gedo High School. Perhaps one that Shurui would be at? How could Igniz tell?
Well, spies in many different places help. Perhaps he knew it all before, but as Kula and Angel could find Shurui, then there wasn't a real thought to how it came about, was there? But today, there isn't a thought that Igniz may come, it's a truth.
The front of Gedo is old, delapidated looking like Igniz dislikes. The god of NESTS dispises places such as this, but to imagine that his own spawn would be going to school here, of all places, is a terrible thought.
The bus of NESTS slowly pulls up in front, the door opening still as good as ever, Igniz coming through the door fully cloaked as he does. But not hidden. Instead, his features wave about him as he stands fully, his hair and face open.
He smiles, awaiting to be noticed. He speaks nothing at the steps of Gedo, but says so much.
Accompanying the self-proclaimed God of NESTs is the deceptively young looking Kula Diamond. She looks different than the last time she was at the campus; clothed in protective, highly advanced, violet colored leather armor with yellow, insulated gloves over her hands for her own protection against the element she wields in combat. Silently she stands to the side and a little bit behind Igniz himself, violet eyes glancing over the campus thoughtfully. She had already toured much of it during her prior visit and for now is content to just attend to whatever it is Igniz would have her do.
Her hair is still auburn and no swirl of blue ice crystals can be seen about her. Though she is capable of a frightening amount of chi manipulation before she exhausts her strength, she still has to keep her power contained until needed as even as carefully designed as she may be, she still has her limits. Her expression is somber, looking serious. Her 'on business' demeanor, as it were, as she does her best to stay out of the way and only make her presence known when she is needed.
She can't help but wonder about the girl they've come to collect. She warned Shurui that it was inevitable and that it was best she didn't fight it. But will she listen to the sound advice she left for her last time? And how many are going to throw themselves in the path of NESTs to keep this from happening? Quietly she exhales, arms resting against her sides, the girl standing perfectly still as if she's used to having to wait in one place for a really long time without complaint.
Delapidated. Old. Dated. It hardly has the shine and polish of any of the many other schools in Southtown, and for all their furor and earnest can-do since certain people took it upon themselves to clean the place up, its student base still look like the sorts you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alleyway.
A few of these very students, happening to walk around nearby the gate, stare suspuciously at the blonde and his bus, remembering the reports at all the other schools of just such an encounter. Some other? Well, either they don't care, or they haven't been paying attention.
One of these, for better or worse, has a big mouth. And a nasal laugh. A boy, dressed in baggy pants and a loose-fitting schoolboy uniform, holds a hand to his stomach. "Oy, who ordered the otaku bus over here? Did the dorks at the anime club try to stage some sort of convention here or somethin'? Okay, wait, wait- lemme guess, you're..." He itches the back of his head. "Eh, I give up." He turns to a passing student. "Who's the name of that blonde guy in Gundam?"
"Which Gundam?"
".... Fuck, I dunno. The one with the blonde guy."
"I dunno, but whoever the redhead's cosplaying, I wanna see that series."
"Maybe one of those harem animes. The one where there's this guy and all these hot women who want to screw him and yet he can't pick which one *he* wants to screw?"
"I dunno, she looks underage."
"There's always a loli. Some guys like that."
"Damn nerds."
Igniz barely pays attention to the boys at first as he looks about. At first, the god of NESTS has truly nothing to do. His vision gazes among the open schoolyard as it's busted, the Southtown Geese Howard hounds over as delapadated as ever. It's no wonder why Geese is so rich, he siphons the money directily from the city into his pocket.
But the god of NESTS acts sooner than expected, two steps taken forward towards the boys speaking. "Ah, this isn't a cosplay. I am truly a god. This is Kula, Kula Diamond." Igniz explaions with a bow, "We're here on business. So, if you would please, go and alert Shurui, I would be very happy of you!
The god of NESTS exclaims as he looks towards the boys, and upon a moment of clarity, his smiles, a large grin forming about his mouth. "I'm sure you would be persuaded if you knew that if you didn't, I wouldn't be very happy. And since I wouldn't be very happy, neither will you! I assure you, if you go and find Shurui, my problems will be your problems." Igniz states as he stands up straight once more, turning about towards Kula, walking towards the girl slowly.
Upon reaching Kula, he smiles. "You did all you could, but some people never learn. We must teach them a lesson once and for all. She did not even give me an answer! Very uncouth. Very unfortunate." The god explains, "She wasn't nice about it at all."
There's that word again. 'Underage'. The girl just slightly behind Igniz blinks slowly, the words of the students reaching her ears though provoking no other reaction. 'How is it,' she ponders silently, 'people always seem to know I'm younger than I look?' She can't figure out what it is that clues in people who feel it necessary to point out that her young mentality is occupying a body physically too old for it! It's not like she has a T-Shirt that says 'Hands off, I'm really just two!' It's no fair. She's always going to be twelve years behind! Forever 'underaged'.
But such contemplating is kept to herself as Igniz introduces her, giving her a moment to respond to the unruly students with a slight nod but otherwise remaining quiet as Igniz addresses them. She can't imagine how they could possibly refuse his requests once he clarifies their initial misunderstandings. After all, he TOLD THEM he's truly a god. What more should it take?
The leader of the Cartel returns to the long haired girl and speaks to her about Shurui and her earlier efforts to encourage her to come back to the orgnization of technophiles. "Nn," she answers the blonde, shaking her head. "Not nice at all. She was nice to me though. Did you try giving her something?" she asks curiously, trying to figure out why the rogue clone would be so difficult about all this.
"A god?"
"Damn it, I hate when they rolepla-" Upon hearing Shurui's name, one looks to the other. "Isn't she that one chick? The blind one with the dyed hair. Wasn't there some people after her?"
"Aw, shit, they came to *our* school? Fuckin' hell; I *knew* today was gonna suck." The guy itches his head. "Fuck it; this is annoying. Go cause trouble someplace else."
Meanwhile, while the two students ruminate over the identity of their 'cosplaying' guests, word *does* reach the clone. At least, the rumors do. Text messages sound off in the phones of many in the cafeteria, subsituting the speed of words hitting a listening ear for a far faster method. It's not long before many pairs of eyes look at the lone Shurui sitting at one table with her headphones on, idly poking at her overcooked rice with her chopsticks.
She blankly looks up, feeling the weight of many vague stares upon her. "What?"
A minute later, K''s cell phone rings. No text messages, no nothing. If and when he answers, Shurui'll say, very simply, in a tone of voice far more worried than a few minutes ago, "They're here. At Gedo. I'm going to try to go out the back."
Igniz looks towards Kula with a smile. He's nodding towards her with a simple smile, such a nice girl. Such a girl that listens, that isn't like all the other deceitful, hating girls such as those is Seijyun. It's entirely unexpected to have a girl such as nice as her, and all it took was sugar, spice and K's fire.
"I gave her time. If she truly wanted to find us, then she would have. There wasn't any hidden initiatives. It's her own mistake to have hidden herself away." The god of NESTS explains as he turns about once more, facing the boys. At least, the students don't move. He, however, does, moving towars then once more in a simple slow, methodical walk. He looks about, still no sign of the girl.
"So you know her? Excellent! Please, provide me her location?" The god of NESTS asks.
"It's..." He starts, "very important."
Igniz answers Kula's inquiries then turns to address the students once again. The long haired NESTs operative stays behind, arms relaxed at her sides, her stance a little stiff but she doesn't look impatient about it at all. Violet eyes watch as Igniz tries to give the Gedo youths a chance to cooperate before he might resort to other measures.
At last she moves, however, her right hand coming up to rest over her right ear, head bowing slightly as she listens. "The other teams report that they are unable to confirm where she is yet," the girl remarks toward the NESTs leader, taking care of handling the pesky radio chatter for him in the meantime.
"The team covering the back reports some movement, however, they're repositioning in order to better verify." Her gloved hand lowers, going back to rest against her side now that her status report has been given. If Shurui really is taking notes from K', she's probably going to be a bit more elusive. K' took a little pursuing for her to find the first time and he's probably got the rogue clone playing hard to find as well, Kula ponders, some of her operative instincts kicking in passively.
K' did in fact answer. He did in fact hear Shurui's brief words. And all he replied, before hanging up, was a brief and tense injunction: "Go."
The young experiment shuts his cell phone afterwards, very slowly, long fingers methodically folding the small object in the cradle of his hand. For a few critical moments, he can't move: paralyzed between his old impulsive, violent urges to leap forward and strangle the answers out of anyone in his path, and that newer part of himself that tries to take into account Geese's teachings of prudence, patience, and cunning-- and also, the fact that he now has to worry about what will happen to Whip if he's killed.
It's ironic, then, that it's the thought of Whip that ultimately spurs him into sudden movement: sending him tearing towards Gedo at a quick lope. For it was because of Shurui that he found Whip, and though he never expressed it, the girl has cemented herself in his favor-- and he, in her debt-- by that one act.
That Shurui could be 'a bit more elusive' under K''s directives is a mild understatement. For all his violent and explosive rages and his brash demeanor, he can be shockingly subtle when the need calls for it; he is, after all, well-trained by the selfsame organization that has come here today. By the time he's within sight of the school he's a shadow slipped in between buildings, his own natural chi blurring him in a soundless and wide loop about the building... his flat gaze appraising the situation as he circles around to the back.
It would seem NESTS taught and engineered their little renegade a little too well, because the surveillance team trying to move around towards the back never sees him coming. The sleepy air suffusing Gedo is sundered in an instant by the barking report of gunfire and the sounds of shouting: and then sudden /screaming/ echoes briefly off the walls, before abrupt silence falls like a guillotine on those sounds of struggle.
The students... get a little more agitated after that. K', for his part, just moves on from his handiwork with a matter-of-fact efficiency, looking for a certain grey-haired girl.
Shurui doesn't have the exact perks of K''s genetic code, nor the training he and Whip posess. What she *does* have, however, doesn't leave her at a strict disadvantage. She can't stay her ground and fight, but she *can* run away. "Right," Shurui says in a quick reply to K', then adding, "Whatever you do... That's up to you." ... They never had a plan, after all. All Shurui knows is to trust the people around her, for once, and not try to stick around to do any favors. Time to make her move.
The overcooked rice is left to cool as Shurui bolts off admist the sideways stares of a number of students in the cafeteria, exiting out the back door to the small courtyard facing the back.
Meanwhile, the two nameless boys, among many others gathered there to stare and gawk, gaze at the two NESTS operatives and the bus. "Shurui?" The first student wrinkles his face. "No, dunno her *personally*, and I sure as hell don't know where she is. She's not my type, y'know? Flat-chested and short. I don't wanna go around looking like I was trolling the middle schools for jailbait." He squints at the tall blond, folding his arms. "Are you some sort of loli pimp? Isn't that just wrong, man?" He turns to the second student for support, who in return stuffs his hands into his pockets.
"Dude, I *so* don't want to get involved in this. I don't even know the girl."
"Whatever, ma-"
Screams cut through the enlightening conversation, the second student cutting off the first's with a yelp. "What the fuck, man! Is this some sort of joke?! What's a fucking machine gun doing here?! I thought that guy was kicked out!"
"Dude, I don't think that's Manzo."
At that very same moment, her small form currently positioned hunched over amongst some bushes, Shurui's lips pucker in a soft whistle of amazement. ".... Damn, he's fast."
The god of NESTS turns towards Kula in a smile, bright and happy still with the progression of events. Not yet has he had to lift more than a finger, and everything is already going as planned. Kula was more than helpful, the team had got into place and now everything was planted for the arrival of another, just incase. And, in fact, Shurui's 'escape'.
"That's very responsible of you, Kula." Igniz states, "I'm proud." The god of NESTS exclaims towards his own creation, the rather young but old Kula Diamond. To say she was her age would be a terrible overstatement. She was actually much less, and an impressive feat at that. Of course, she would look older if the project would have allowed it, but what better than a teenage girl to 'create' innocence?
But then everything changes in an instant. The boys begin to talk about him being a loli pimp. Igniz just chuckles and shakes his head, not even answering fully. He lets them continue their conversation until the sharp reports of gunfire break through the air. Igniz knows the weapons. He had ordered them not too long ago, standard NESTS sub-machine guns before they fall silent.
Looking towards Kula, Igniz is still upbeat, happy, and smiling. "Kula, please, go on ahead and assist them. I'll be there shortly." The god of NESTS exclaims, looking upon to two boys, "And you two, don't get in any trouble." Igniz states, a rather backless threat for the mostpart.
And from there, he hovers straight up, aiming to get the top of the building. His form ascends slowly, but it's still faster than moving about the building by foot. After all, a god shouldn't rush. He, instead, will get there when he means to.
The reports begin to flood in to his suit, showing the threat that's present.
Ah, his good friend K'. He seems to not to take being ignored very well. But, when has he ever?
Everything seems a bit too calm. A bit too controlled. There should be more fear, more respect for the divine being that has decided to grace the rough school in the bad part of town. But instead there's snickering, talks of pimping, and just general High School ruckus. Kula is quiet, brightening as Igniz thanks her for her input, the girl nodding back at him.
But the calm before the storm comes to a rest, the young NESTs creation bringing her right hand up to her ear again, mouth curling into a frown. The reports are scattered, confused, coupled with the cacophany of gunfire in the area. Wincing a little as she dials down the volume on her earpiece, she speaks up to warn Igniz, "Team Delta has been attacked. None of the four are checking in. The site commander is counting them as down." She's done drills like this all the time back at the base, but this is the real deal, and she can't help but feel a surge of adrenaline, a sense of excitement and purpose at being able to serve in this capacity for which she has been raised.
Igniz charges her with the task of aiding the teams however and in that moment she moves forward, closing her eyes for a moment between steps, only to open them a moment later with an accompanying flare of bright white chi that shimmers along her body from head to toe, leaving in its wake sky blue hair and a persistant flurry of ice around her form.
She only picks up speed as she moves, her feet gliding over the concrete as if she was skating with the greatest of ease, arms pumping at her sides. With the Delta Team down, she needs to reinforce the other two teams fast. But more importantly, she needs to know for sure who took the team out to begin with... and keep the interference from troubling Igniz. Red-tinted eyes skim her surroundings as she zips by, a violet blur, listening to the radio chatter on her ear piece, her operative's instincts carrying her forward...
Panting lightly-- more from the exertion of actually getting to Gedo than from killing the team of four that had gotten in his way-- K' slows in his lope briefly, glancing left and right with narrowed yellow eyes. Alert and wary, he resembles, even more than usual, a disgruntled wolf looking for the intruder that dared step past the border onto his territory. His progress eventually stops entirely, breath coming a little more evenly, eyes cutting towards a certain stand of brush...
...and then he starts to feel it. That burn in his blood, that slight sick feeling in his stomach that heralds the presence of another wielder of the Kusanagi bloodline: close, and closing. He knows already that it's Kula. And he really doesn't want to deal with her right now.
Were he a more heroic, upstanding soul, he might have bravely gone to confront and engage Kula. But he really isn't. Some foolish, brash, and competitive part of him -does- want to fight her-- does want to belligerently test his strength against her own-- but the smarter part of him just screams that he can't afford to possibly get himself killed. That's why his attention turns right back towards the stand of bushes, the boy slipping forwards in grim silence and circling around behind to where Shurui is.
"We need to go. Now." K' barely even looks at the girl other than a quick once-over, soon enough switching his gaze back to staring fixedly off in the direction of the cause for that burning pulse in his blood. "Not interested in having to fight here." Of course, what he's overlooking is that if they stay, the students of Gedo might aid them. K' isn't accustomed to the idea of people helping others.
One of the advantages Shurui has in her favor is that, when K' comes looking for her, she's able to tell. The burning chi-but-not-chi holy fire that pulses in his frame is a sure sign when he gets within her second sight's range. The bushy leaves and branches, with their faint pulse of flora aura provide no obstacle against the glow of any human aura, which prove to be far brighter. Sometimes too bright, in Kenji's case. But that's neither here nor there.
Heroic upstanding souls are better used for when you *don't* have anything to lose. Shurui's got a whole lot of vague possibilities on what *will* happen to her if she's taken, and none of them seem promising at all. Looking over her shoulder at the silent K', Shurui's lips down downwards in a frown. She nods. "Me either. Couldn't find an opening, though- did you see..." She trails off. ".... I guess you sort of made one when you came here."
Haha, he's killed people to get to her. Shit. Also? ".... Kula's coming, isn't she?" Her face wrinkles into a worried frown. "And that Igniz guy'll soon follow too. We can't take them both on at the same time, and everyone else is probably dealing with the rest." God, she should've *thought* of something other than 'run away'. "If you have an idea, I'll follow."
Running away? But that's a perfect idea. How else will Igniz follow you for the ends of the earth unless you retreat first. Something that Igniz would most likely do, if one was to turn and flee in turn. But what will come of this all as he slowly makes him ascent over the school. Slowly but surely, he continued. The first story, the second story. And, landing there, he slowly begins to move across.
Not even their escape will make the god of NESTS move faster, knowing fully well that even if he makes his way there slowly, nothing would have changed. His men's lives were easy to throw away, and Kula, lovely Kula would simply make her way all the way to K' and slow them down. What else would ice do?
Igniz's steps are strong and slow, making his way across the roof one by one. The students underneath might even here as he moves, making his way towards the opposite side of the school, his visage begins to come up, the sun behind him as he looks down, already seeing the many of the NESTS members taken out by K'. He grins, softly, as he makes no sound. He'll watch for now what happens, and if it strikes him, improvise.
If asked to explain how she knew that K' had drawn near, she wouldn't be able to say for certain. She just knew. Knew that it was he that had killed the team that was now represented by muted silence on the radio, their voices snuffed out, their time declared to be up right then and there. She doesn't feel sorry for the deceased. They served their purpose. Distractions, hedging in the targets long enough for the real operatives to get into position. Even in dying they revealed the presence of a legitimate threat somewhere on the campus. One that Kula was searching for now.
The distance she can cover when she really wants to move is remarkable, and it's done with the greatest of ease on her part. Glancing in the walkways between buildings, around corners, scoping out the courtyard and other larger sections of the campus... the fields, the bleachers... She's getting close, she can feel it.
And then she's found them, the swiftly moving girl skidding to a stop thirty feet behind K'. With most of the student body drawn toward the front of the school to see the crazy bus and the people that arrived in it, there's fewer eyes to see the gathering closer to the back of Gedo. Red-hued eyes glance between the flame wielder and the girl he has made himself the protector of. Back and forth, her expression neutral as she stands stiffly, arms at her sides. "You know you can't leave. Not when Igniz has come all this way." she points out, her tone as neutral as her expression.
Her right hand lifts to rest at her ear as she reports, "I have the back exit covered. Teams don't need to relocate for now. Hold positions." Lowering her hand, she doesn't show signs of aggressing. But she's not about to let them go charging past her either...
Still looking around them, his sharp back-and-forth appraising their location and situation in an instant, K' concludes that the number of potential outs available to them is, unfortunately, 'very few.' Licking the edges of his teeth in a nervous, absent gesture, K' eventually breathes out a harsh breath and decides to just start moving. Nothing will be accomplished if they just stand here, even if the few routes out that yet remain are unpromising. "I'll -make- another opening," he replies shortly, even as he starts off in a quick lope: expecting Shurui to follow. The question of whether Kula's here doesn't get replied, K''s tense silence serving as answer enough.
He seems unaware of Shurui's discomfort with what he's done in order to reach her, and even if he were aware he wouldn't care. The incident has been shaken from his mind, as easily as the vague scattering of blood across his knuckles: left over from where he'd struck a man in the face hard enough to snap his neck in one shot. He doesn't seem appreciably remorseful about it, either. Animals don't feel any pangs when they kill prey, and NESTS's own psychological programming has long since made it easy for K' to see things in such a light.
And then, abruptly, K' finds his blood thrumming with the presence of another engineered killer. Intercepted, K' draws to a halt: though his pause is brief. His yellow eyes settle on Kula, angry and cold, and he starts forward again, stiff-legged and threatening, his entire posture aggressive and bristling. He keeps himself between Kula and Shurui.
You know you can't leave, she says. K''s response is swift, cryptic, and likely will not be understood in the least: "You know -you- can." His hands tense, fingers slowly clawing open in shut in an idle flex. Knuckles crack as he fixes his gaze, the boy aware of Igniz's encroaching presence but-- for the time being-- not willing to turn his back on Kula to face it. "Get out of the way, Kula."
Blood. Shurui's sensitive nose itch at the faint smell of it on K' as he nears, sweet and metallic on the air. Yeah, he probably did. It's discomforting, but it's not something she can't reason off, for now. ... After all, they had guns. Semi-automatic ones. She heard them. They had no qualms about aiming them at K', most likely.
It's kill or be killed right now. Shurui swallows her reservations as K' speaks. "Right." The girl follows as the tall boy lopes off, somehow managing to keep with K''s long strides against her somewhat shorter own.
And that's when they meet up with the Anti-K'. Kula. Head peeking out from her stopped position behind K''s body, the clone's eyes narrow in concentration, as if trying to focus on the girl's appearance. In reality, it's one of these confusing times where Shurui's two sights collide against one another, one confirming the girl's aura to be the icy mirror of K''s holy fire, and the other.... saying her blurry appearance has changed. Her hair is... blue? But wasn't it auburn? And her outfit's different too. Everything smells, talks, and walks like a polite NESTS operative, rather than the girl who handed her one of her friends and confided to her, despite Shurui being her target.
"...... Kula?" Shurui blinks, her voice uncertain. No, it *is* Kula. This is the Kula that stood toe to toe with K', the one designed to be his rival and equal. The Kula she met is the part that existed and developed outside that, one who loves sweets and adopts lonely keychain penguins and plushies and loves them with all her heart. "... Kula, you got to let us go. I don't want to go back. Not after everything Igniz's done. The fighting, the kidnapping... I don't want to lose the things I have now. You know what happened to the last person who kidnapped me?"
She points to her eye. "She tried to take out my eyes. My fucking eyes. And before that? Before she thought I was useful? I was chained. Fucking chained to the ceiling like a slab of meat. Poked, stabbed, pulled." She shakes her head. "How can you say that everybody at NESTS is gonna be nice to me? How can you make sure I'll be okay? You've got no say in that. That's something I gotta do."
Something else is coming. Something powerful, and familiar. "Move, Kula."
"No, she can't." A voice pings from two stories up, standing above on the Gedo High Building. Up above, the god of NESTS stands, his hair blowing in the wind, only aided by his cape. The sun hanging not too far above him, giving him the onset of a heavily being that's placed against a bright background, unable to really look up due to the sun itself.
His arms raised upwards as his sides, as if to grasp the world itself, but then, holding them as he looks down towards the many assembled. Kula, K', Shurui and the NESTS employees.
"She is a creation of NESTS, and, as it were, a better daughter than the world itself can give. Her freedom, K'," Igniz continues, "Will be complete after she kills you and Maxima. Is that not a fair trade? With no bitter hatred to steer her wrong, there will be no roots for it to grow, and Kula will be allowed to live life without have you speak your idiocies and hatred to her." The god of NESTS exclaims, unmoving still save for his cape and hair.
"Oh, and Shurui." The god of NESTS exclaims once more, "You shouldn't have to worry about it. We'll take much better care of you. There are no chains, or pokers, or any of that. We'll take good care of you. Clothe you. Feed you. Isn't that what you want?" He exclaims with a gleaming smile.
"Your resistnce doesn't make any sense at all. It is, if anything, a waste of effort." Igniz closes with, a smile ever present.
Seeing K' here reminds her again of her last experience with him in the SNF a few weeks back. He had ignored her completely, all the way until the end when the match was effectively concluded. Nothing she could do seemed to get his attention, even when she tried to make friends with Rock in hopes of spurring some kind of jealous reaction! But now he can't ignore her. This setting is different. She's an obstical to his departure, just as he's a roadblock in the way of completing this operation...
He tells her that she can leave and Kula blinks, eyes shifting back and forth between them, a look of uncertainty crossing her features though she doesn't budge. It gets worse as Shurui speaks up as well, confirming that the chilly aura in front of her is in fact the perpetually cold girl she met the other week. She talks about losing the things that she has now and Kula retorts, "What do you have now? Your files indicate you have almost nothing." she points out, sounding torn between concerned and just a little annoyed that someone would willfully chose the existence her portfolio says she has.
But then she speaks of a prior capture, a time she spent at the 'mercy' of a modern day devil, and Kula balks slightly. While violence in the midst of combat is something she isn't the slightest bit shy about, the mention of torture within captivity is something all together different to her. Offensive, scary, disarming to a degree, the girl's brow furrowing slightly. "That wouldn't happen at NESTs..." Right K'?
She too asks that Kula move but the agent stays put. There isn't going to be an easy way out of this. Not by simply talking. And while Kula's resolve falters for a moment in light of the pleas, the presence of another reinforces her position before she can become too shaken. Igniz steps into view atop the roof, looking down on the trio of NESTs experiments, and Kula glances up toward him, a faint smile forming on her lips. Right, how can she doubt when Igniz is right here?
Her right hand comes up, gloved fingers clenched into a loose fist, icy crystals drifting down from her limb slowly as the temperature immediately around her continues to drop - that strange reaction of her blisteringly cold energy only seems to get more powerful as she becomes more tense. "There's no point in fighting this... We can take you to a better home now, away from the lies of this world..."
"You hear that...?" K' grins violently at Kula. The careless look would almost have been handsome, were it not unremittingly vicious and baring far too many teeth. "He says you -can't- leave. You're a good little slave, aren't you? A dog on a leash, doing tricks to get something you shouldn't have to work for! Why should you -have- to do anything to get a freedom you should've been entitled to just for being alive? Who says he's even gonna keep his promise?"
He knows Igniz is there; but K' hasn't bothered to grace him with even a look. When the man finally addresses Shurui, however, K' slants a murderous yellow eye over his shoulder up at him. "She doesn't want your clothing, your food, your minimal standards of care to keep her alive. She has all that now, and more. She doesn't need you. What she wants her -freedom-. And I want mine."
His stare rounds back onto Kula, dismissing Igniz from his sight with as much unspoken insult as can possibly be conveyed. Visible fury etches into his gaze at the base stupidity of what's coming out of her mouth, frustration at her brainless nature exacerbating his natural impatience. His lean frame nearly smokes with rage. "Files?! You ever think about who WROTE the files? Ever wonder whether the lies are in NESTS instead of out here? Did she LOOK unhappy to you when you talked to her before? She has the freedom to choose what she wants to do, that's what she fucking has. Do you?" K' jerks his head over at Igniz, a smirk twitching his features. "From how he's talking, it doesn't sound like you do. If you don't kill me, he won't let you go. That's the only god damn choice you got. Even -I'd- give you more than that."
Yes, Kula has definitely got the brunt of K''s attention now. And furious though it might be, enraged as it is... she might even be enjoying it. It's better than his cold indifference, after all, considering he's almost literally the center of her world. Of course, what he does when Kula opines that torture wouldn't happen at NESTS might call into question whether it's really better not to be ignored.
K' stops. He just pauses. His tensely-wound figure... visibly relaxes, the boy slowly leaning back on his heels and -looking- at Kula. Amusement twitches convulsively at his features, visible in the instants just before his head dips, his shoulders slump, and he starts laughing. It's possibly the most unpleasant form of laughter it's possible to make: joyless, humorless, full of mocking hatred and bitter spite. It's even a little crazed-- and because of that, for a disorienting few moments he bears a disturbing resemblance to his 'brother' Krizalid.
"What the -fuck- do you know about what did and didn't happen...?" K' eventually manages, the dark words crawling out of his laughter like some kind of disease. "'That' was done to me at NESTS for longer than you've even been alive, you mindless little -child-." His hand lifts, fisting in the lapel of his jacket and the neckline of his shirt. The spasmodic, white-knuckled grasp yanks the fabric aside slightly. Only a little skin gets bared, but already a highway of scars is visible. "I've got the proof scarred all over me..."
He looks like a god. Shurui had nearly forgotten just how charismatic the NESTS leader was, despite all her misgivings about his answers. But those misgivings were mostly formed *after* he had left her the first time; not much was holding her back from going with him when he came to speak to her. Just her fear of anybody wanting her for anything ever again, and K'.
Assaulted at both sides by Igniz's logic regarding Kula and Kula's own words regarding Shurui, the grey-haired clone crowds against K', stopping just before brushing up against his back. His words give her space to think, while saying the things she'd already felt. There's a part of this whole song and dance he knows all too well: freedom. She has it in abundance. K', on the other hand? Has to fight for every second of it.
And Kula? She doesn't really even know what freedom is, as far as Shurui knows. Even if she did, would she see any there's even any advantage to obtaining it at such a high cost. "Kula, when Igniz came to me the first time, he said I could have everything he promised me if I did an occasional favor for him every once in a while. Are these the sorts of favors he has you do? To kill people?" Dark eyes try to zoom in on Kula's own, but keep instead falling on the crystalline blue of her hair. "I don't want to kill people unless I *have* to. Like if my personal well-being's at stake. If I really wanted a better life and clothing and money, I could just fight in a tournament or something. I can afford to lose there, at least."
.... It's not as if Shurui didn't already know, of course. K' and Whip pretty much spelled it clear to Shurui that they weren't around to contribute to the yearly NESTS bake sale. Igniz isn't going to give her a straight answer, but Kula may not be so tempted or able to craft such charasmatic lies. "Besides, K''s my friend. That's one thing I have, among many others." Yes, she said it. "You want to kill my friend? I'll fight to make sure he makes it out alive, even if I like you." Manipulative? Perhaps. But, even if Kula decides to push everything aside and fight, it'll give her something to muse over later. It may put K' in a different light, after all, if Kula sees someone off the wall confess to something somewhat.... *drastic*.
".... I have other things," Shurui then continues thoughtfully, shaking her head. "No one gave me anything, yeah. Life was pretty shitty for me at times. But K'sBut I got an identity. A savings account that'll get me almost through a decent college... I have a chance at a normal life." She tilts her head back at Kula. "I had a father, too. I only got to be with him a short while, but... after we both realized just how lonely we were, and how much we provided for each other... The fact that we didn't share blood or genes didn't matter." Those dark eyes narrow, gazing vaguely ahead in reflection. "He opened up a few doors for me I wouldn't have been able to gain on my own. He also gave me the tools to create my own person, but it was up to me to figure out how I was going to use them, if at all."
"I'll use them to decide my own truth. It's not what you say, what Igniz says, or even entirely what K' says. But I'll know it to be something I believe in with all my resolve." She furrows her brow. "So that's another thing I got going for me right there."
Igniz just watches as K' and Shurui both make their case to Kula. Both of them show her reasons and tell her stories about ways they were able to cope with the world, why NESTS is so bad, that killing and work aren't worth being set for the rest of ones life, come peril and pestilence. Igniz merely grins, smiling still.
The god of NESTS barely stirs in fact as they plead their case to Kula as if she was the jury, and Igniz simply the judge. He merely watches, his eyes streaming over the two, the wind softy rustling by.
"K', why do you hate what you've become? Without NESTS, without me, you wouldn't have become more powerful. Have the ability to finally fight back. Would you rather have stayed weak? And think how the science will benefit others. Do not some, such as yourself, must give so that others have more?" The god of NESTS asks, raising a hand. "It seems to me that you've been spoiled rotten, twisted by the falcities that this world has to offer. You have choosen poorly, fallen from the garden, and now akin to an angel cast out from heaven, you much strike back with twisted truths and hatred to prove your worth to yourself and others." Igniz states, shaking his head.
"But we can see through his lies, can't we Kula?" Igniz asks, his voice up beet and encouraging. "He doesn't confuse us for what he is. He is a traitor, leaving our cause for his own." Igniz exclaims, his visage turning towards Shurui.
"But we cannot forget about Shurui, once more twisted by the words of a traitor. Understandable, but unfortunate. Something one must simply accept instead of trying to change." Igniz continues, his features still fluttering in an unseen wind as he floats off of the building, hovering into the air towards the group assembled below.
"To hold the abilities to survive in the present world is a small token to her. She has survived what many others in this world has. Life. And to feel justified for simply living seems to be completely unjustified, don't you think?" Igniz exclaims, his words more confusing than calming, doubting than accepting. For the seeds of doubt sow powerfully in the the most fertile minds.
Life is really complicated all of the sudden. The sky blue haired child killer holds her ground, moisture in the air immediately around her turning to crystals of ice and drifting to the concrete beneath her feet slowly. The renegade - the traitor who precipitated her existence - latches onto every word spoken of by Igniz and herself, twisting and turning them each in turn as he pries apart her verbal defenses little by little. He calls her a slave, a leashed animal, asks her why she should have to perform the things she does just to earn the right to survive and Kula stammers, "H-he would have to keep his promise; lying would mean he wasn't perfect like a god." A leap of logic assembled in the mind of the child, nutured since she could speak her first words with nothing but NESTs propaganda.
He tenses, the heat building up around him, and she recoils just a little, drawing her arm back to rest against her opposite shoulder, looking a little defensive. He questions the files and Kula is quiet, the point that the files JUST MIGHT BE BIASED leaving her without response for a moment. Shurui looked happy, sure, but, "Maybe she doesn't remember what she's missing out on now," comes her retort at last.
He questions her freedom and once again she is left speechless, mouth opening then closing, red hued eyes blinking slowly. Does any five year old really ever feel caged? At an age when all they seek is protection and shelter, is there any chance she would be longing for freedom from the walls of her home? But the matter of choice gets to her as K' declares that she has but one choice to make. Kill him and test Igniz's promise, or fail. But all of the words pale in comparison to the laughter that comes when she challenges the question of torture in captivity. She swallows, eyes narrowing a little. She has his attention now, that's for sure. It's reassuring on some levels - he can't ignore her now, she stands between him and his attempts to cart Shurui off. But this doesn't seem to be just about trying to get her to move out of the way. He's legitimately trying to present a distressingly compelling case...
It doesn't get any easier for the faux teen when Shurui begins to speak, Kula's attention shifting ot her. She asks what kind of favors Kula has to do for NESTs and the girl nods just slightly, not really understanding what the problem is - what's wrong with disposing of those who willfully create problems for the Cartel? Shurui says she doesn't want to kill anyone though and Kula glances toward Igniz just briefly. Was Shurui not trained properly? Maybe incomplete training? She knows K' shares no such compunctions as he willfully demonstrated this very afternoon.
But then Shurui asks if Kula wants to kill her friend and the perpetually chilly girl balks, eyes snapping back to the grey-haired clone. Her mouth opens then closes again. Friend? K'? "What is there to like about him?" He's neither cute, fluffy, NOR squeaks when squeezed!! Her voice isn't taunting or sarcastic, she sounds legitimately confused. She speaks of the life she has for herself and Kula stays quiet. It doesn't sound any better than what NESTs offers in her mind. But she speaks about deciding her own truth and Kula blinks again. Choices. Just like they had discussed last time. Serious business, those.
But then the master of the Cartel speaks and Kula's resolve, perhaps faltering, cracking a little, is reinforced by the raw, undeniable charisma the self-proclaimed god of NESTs exudes. K' is stronger because of what NESTs gave him. What was he before them? Would he have amounted to anything? What about the gift of power bestowed, grafted into his blood? He asks about seeing through their lies and Kula nods slowly. He asks what she thinks of Shurui's condition, her understanding warped by K''s traitorous lies, and Kula's expression hardens just a little, the girl lowering her arm back to resting against her side. "I think it's time for both of them to come home," she finally declares, her voice slightly shaky but detatched, distant at the same time. Reluctantly her eyes stray back toward K', meeting his yellow irises for a fleeting moment before drifting down his face, down further past his neck - coming to rest upon his scar torn chest. Her mouth trembles.
He claimed that was evidence of what happened at NESTs. He called her a mindless child. His body marred, living proof of events that transpired longer than she's even known life. For a moment she ponders the many red circle marks on her arm; hidden by the jacket she wears as protective armor, evidence of countless needles, shots, syringes, injections, infusions, tests. She isn't even conscious of how her breath has quickened, each exhale accompanied by a faintly visible vapor even in the warm afternoon air. "Your lies don't matter to me." she asserts, taking a single step backward as if to distance herself from the two nigh lost causes. What happened to him - where did those come from - why did he run away - is that why?
"I have all the freedom I want." she adds defensively, forcing the declaration, sounding closer to a petulant child who barely knows of what she speaks. 'Freedom.' If it's really something she should have more of, surely Igniz would see to it.
K' doesn't notice Shurui's proximity. Given his usual aversion to being crowded, this is rather extraordinary. His attention is fixed, instead, on Kula and Igniz as the girl behind him attempts to appeal to Kula in a rather gentler, more reasonable fashion than he has. He lets Shurui talk, never interrupting her: not even speaking up to agree. It's debatable whether he even hears her.
He definitely hears Igniz, however. K' turns slowly on a heel, his jaw grinding shut and eyes narrowing to slits as Igniz addresses him. The rage that builds up in him at every word is literally palpable, felt physically in the air as a distinct rise in the temperature around him and seen in the killing clench of his hands. "Why wouldn't I hate it..." he snarls, so infuriated he's likely painful for Shurui to look at: and possibly even too hot for her to stand too close to. "I never wanted it. I didn't WANT you to take me away from my parents. I didn't WANT you to take my sister away. I didn't WANT you to turn me into THIS, I didn't -want- power. I wanted to be NORMAL. I wanted to stay with my family. You took all that away. You didn't even leave me my MEMORY of who I -was-."
His breathing comes quickly and shallowly between his teeth. A twitch plays along his brows. Leather creaks when his hands wind even more tightly shut. "Without YOU, I'd still have my life. Without you, I'd still be a -person-... not somebody who can't even remember his name. Don't even fucking pretend you're helping anyone by killing their families and turning them into monsters." Kula speaks up, then, and K''s attention jerks over briefly to her. "He's a man," he snaps. "He's not a god. Gods don't bleed."
His gaze travels slowly back to Igniz as the man prompts the girl... but the answer sends it bolting right back to fix on Kula. Going -home-? "I am not going back to die," he grates: he's looking at her, but addressing both the girl and the man who holds her leash. "I am not going back to be torn apart, to be tampered with; I am not going back to have all my memory taken away again!"
Then, of course, she tries to argue with him. Arguing with K' is a bad idea even on a good day... and this is the farthest you can get from it. K''s yellow eyes widen in anger, briefly; and then they lock with hers, direct and unforgiving, something completely pitiless about the way they pick apart the defensive petulance in her voice. About the way they seem to know she doesn't have the first idea what she's talking about.
"Do you? Then why can't you leave? Why can't you say no to what he demands?" He starts towards her, almost leisurely, aggression written so deeply into his movements he seems on the verge of attack. The girl may be capable of standing against him, even killing him, but there is no fear expressed in his stance. He regards her a moment, almost neutrally; and then his expression abruptly opens from its intense rage, unfolding into a terrible, mocking smile that cuts violently across his face. "Think about that in the few minutes you get before I come to kill you. If you're going to shut your eyes to the truth, then you can die without ever seeing what a real life is like."
"You know," calls a strident voice from around the nearest corner, "/typically/, they take children away from homicidal sociopaths."
The voice is followed by a "HUP!" as a blur moves from around the corner, streaking rapidly across the distance toward one of the remaining teams watching the area. One gets a punch in the jaw, which shatters; a second receives a rough blow to the chest; a third, several quick punches; the fourth, grabbed by the collar and then punched in the jaw. All fall down.
It's Vanessa. She is smiling in a not even remotely pleasant kind of way.
"Hi, Dash," she adds, tossing a two-fingered salute his way. "I'll be with you in a moment." She's not drunk enough that it /shows/, but that doesn't mean there's nothing in her system, knowing her.
She skates across the distance again, moving fast enough that it's difficult even for the more skilled fighters in the area to keep track of her position, and after exactly five harsh THUMPs of fist to flesh, and four squawks of surprise, and one disgusted snort, Vanessa turns her attention to the crowd of people talking. She takes in the scene quickly: K', she knows; Kula, she's heard of through the network; Shurui is an unknown; the other, the unbelievably handsome man with the air of the universe's most arrogant prig, that must be...
"Igniz, right?" says the redhead. "I haven't seen your face before. I guess even bastards can be handsome. Do your dudes /all/ suck this much?"
She says it to Igniz, but she shoots her eyes past him, briefly, toward K'. She tries to silently signal him to get while the getting's good, tilting her head toward the corner she just scooted around.
Those words. Why Shurui nearly wants to answer them herself, to shout the words that seem so obvious to her. But it's not Shurui's role to answer; K''s got plenty of vitrol to go around. Perhaps, maybe, a little *too* much. Her mental senses pick it up before her skin feels the prickle of intense heat- it's enough to force her to press a hand against her slightly lowered forehead, her mouth clenched in a expression that sits between annoyance and pain.
Looking at K' is impossible now. It's not the same as Kenji or Tenma, in much the same way looking at the flash of a giant explosion is different from looking into the center of the burning sun or the bloom of light hitting blood red against the water; both hurt to look at, but the experience is something she's able to tell apart.
Shurui can't ignore Kula though; not while K''s turned his attention to Igniz. The flare of chi burns in her head despite her sparing herself the visual pain of looking at K'; her speech reflects it. ".... 'don't think any of us have the energy to lie, Kula. Not anymore, especially on things like this. Why lie when the truth's hard enough to understand?" Willing the buzz to die away as she concentrates, the clone's voice becomes stronger. "K' didn't tell me what to do. He just told me what happened to him. And then someone else did too. And then Igniz decided to go around attacking schools in the name of finding me, when I've been here the entire time." As if to emphasize her point, she takes out her glasses and presses them on. "Why are you going to accuse the girl with the psychic powers that she's going around believing lies?"
It's a gamble. In reality, Shurui can't read minds, and even if she did, would she even begin to understand minds like Whip's and K''s? Or Igniz's, for that matter? As for K'? She thinks over the real reasons, the sorts of reasons that may make K' blanch or yell at her if he bothered to listen. She subtly smirks as she looks at Kula. "Because he knows what I've been through. Knows it to the point that my experience is just a fraction of the shit he went through. All the rest is just things he's choosing to do by his own will. And that's why I consider him a friend, whether or not he thinks of me the same way. Besides if he tells me something I think is BS, I'm not going to follow him blindly. I'm going to throw a water bottle at him."
Maybe that's all it takes. The ability to show K' as something other than... well... a thing. "You know another part of what I feel too, I bet. And that's sometimes all that you need to feel that a person is worth a lot to you. Especially when you consider that something real rare."
She's had her say, which means Vanessa's timing is impeccable. She doesn't know *who* this lady is, or why she's even here, but damn it! "K'!" Shurui snaps her head to look at the enraged Beast of Fire, eyes wide. "Our chance!"
It's then, in that spilt second, that it begins to hit her. ......... Dash?
And Igniz would see to it, if he was a fool.
For, after creating Maxima and K', would he truely create another that he could not control as easily? Manipulate better than K9999 or K'? It would be the equivalent of dropping a large box with a monstrosity inside and imagining that it would not maul both sides as equally, but instead 'ally' with the side that made it. This is mostly relavent to K', however, because he was mostly that monster in the box.
"I'm proud of you, Kula." The god of NESTS smiles, "So young, yet able to see the move clever ruse." He exclaims, his face beaming of encouragement and pride. But even small victories are for not, as Kula's requests to K' go unheeded. Igniz turns towards K' as he speaks, looking down fully upon all of them while hovering yards above. A small laugh is let loose as K' speaks, "You truly have been suffering this entire tire, haven't you?" Igniz states, "I took away your memory so you wouldn't be full of hatred, despair. To start anew traveling from town to town, being my mercenary for a time. Tell me that you didn't enjoy your work? Killing without a second thought? And now you turn on me?" Igniz shakes his head, "You're a traitor, K'. You don't need your memories, K'." The god of NESTS states with a smile.
"K', I'm afraid that if you stay, you only stake to lose the rest of your memories." Igniz begins, "For, if you're this dangerous to the world, I will have no other option than to permanently remove them, leaving you a walking husk of who you were until the end." Igniz exclaims with a soft chuckle. To him, it's a rather amusing thought.
But the environment changes. The team that Kula was expertly leading is under assault, and as quickly as it was, the assault stops, both of the previously surviving members falling to the ground. Igniz paid them well for a reason. This job has its obvious dangerous qualities. At first, without looking, the voice is distant. But as Vanessa appears, it matches perfectly to the voice heard in Pitch Black.
"Ah, you!" Igniz speaks as he turns, almost delighted. "That is very flattering Vanessa, a god should only look so perfect shouldn't he?" Igniz exclaims, as if to show his unatural good looks, his hands raising above his sides for a brief time. "That's a silly question to ask. I could provide you with more than compatent opponents if you would like, but I digress, losing would not be in your best interest." The god of NESTS dictates, "For to gamble against a god, the stakes are high." The business man explains, still hovering above with no fear of retaliation from below, his cape softly blowing as he begins to softly lower to the ground.
But of course, there are many here that matter to the god of NESTS. Shurui speaks once more, against his own words, directed towards Kula. Igniz makes no forward movements, no steps as he finally lands, the soft earth blowing about as he continues under his own powers.
"You all preach as if you know everything there is to know, even if many of you remember nothing." Igniz states factly, truth by his godly hand. "Now, Kula remembers everything. Her picnics on the hill with Foxy, the games she played with Diana. Yet you all still insist her life is terrible. But you all remember nothing. I simply took your memories so you would not remember how much of a paradise you lost when you were let go. But... it seems that even the smallest bit of information is grasped so tightly that even in death it would be impossible to remove." Igniz explains, "But, if you insist, you may all visit and find out once more what you have lost one last time." Igniz calls, his cape kicking up with power white chi building as he begins to lift off from the ground once more.
"But that will the last you remember anything I'm afraid!"
K''s response to Igniz's practically cajoling words prompts a wide eyed stare from Kula as the icy haired girl regards the yellow eyed experiment in a slightly different light. She really has to decide, to make one of those damnable choices everyone is always talking about. Either he's deluded, a liar, convinced of his own wrong perceptions... or he's telling the truth about what did happen... what WILL happen. But how is she supposed to know? The scars are good evidence, to say the least.
And in the next moment he's turned upon her again, taking steps forward. She had sought him out the first time, chased him down, unafraid. She had fought him again since, and then once at his side, also unafraid. But as K' advances, she finds herself taking a step backward, her insulated shoe scuffing against the concrete. He asks why she can't leave and Kula is completely silent. Perhaps she needs those few minutes to think about it that he so kindly offers. Her jaw tightens as he says she can die, dismissing her existence now as having no purpose if she isn't going to understand what it is he's been trying to tell her all this time.
She struggles for words, but in the next moment there's a new arrival and she's left with nothing to do but stare as Vanessa makes short work of the remaining teams. Kula would move to intercept her, to put a stop to the total crushing dished out upon the other operatives. But right now her role is to block the rear exit, lest K' and Shurui take off that way, and for the moment she's rooted to the new position she assumes after taking that step back.
Looking just a little bewildered, she turns her attention to Shurui and listens to what she has to say, and answers her with silence as well. She speaks of why she likes K', why they're friends, and Kula glances back and forth between Shurui and the young man, as if trying to validate the thinks she's saying about the older rogue project. Igniz speaks up, complimenting her on her resolve, and Kula just looks a bit more spooked than a moment ago. So many conflicting voices, please, arguments, ideas. Igniz's encouragement gives her a little strength. She's quiet as he addresses Vanessa. The woman is a new entity to her, not one she had ever been briefed on. If Igniz doesn't tell her to attack her though, she isn't going to make the first move, unless she needs to defend herself.
Igniz speaks to K' and Shurui, but in a sense he's speaking to her as well. Mentioning the memories Kula has of her last couple years of her very brief life. The way she was tended to, cared for, nutured. All between the intense combat training, the experiments, the tests, of course. Mustn't forget those. But he says the same thing she suspects - that the memories of K' and Shurui are missing the time they spent living under the care of NESTs and now they're acting out based on false memories, fake ideas, nightmares.
He rises up, his suit carrying him, allowing him to move through the air like the divine being he claims to be, and Kula holds her ground, watching quietly. For once, perhaps she does the most prudent thing possible. She stays absolutely, completely quiet. Her thoughts hers to keep, her confusion hers to conceal, her ignorance hers to hide. If Igniz wants her to stop K', Shurui, and Vanessa? She will step to it, but right now matter is up to the Cartel's charismatic leader, leaving it up to him how he wants to handle this situation.
Caught between Igniz and Kula, still nailed immovably to the ground in front of Shurui, K' seethes with virulent fury: visibly frustrated by every last word being said. It's a miracle he's held himself back this long, and the fact that he hasn't yet lunged for Igniz's throat might be due to all that he's learned about prudence ever since he got out from under NESTS's shadow. That, and the vague awareness that should he die, he would leave people in need of him behind. It would seem K' has learned just a little bit about not being so selfish.
"Nothing you did to me was ever a kindness," K' grates in reply to Igniz. "You took me away, you turned me into something else... then you took all the memory of who I was and what you DID to me. All you left me was memories of how much I suffered. You call that kindness? You made me nothing but a -thing- for you to use. Just like you made that girl--" He's talking about Kula. "--just to use her. Doesn't matter if you treat her better... she's still nothing but a tool."
He hisses in a breath, back straightening and head lifting, as if needing to cool his system from all the fury that brands his warm blood. "Who are you to tell me what I don't need? You don't own me. My memories are mine to keep, what few of them I've got..."
K' actually turns away from Kula. The girl isn't saying or doing anything, and because of that she's fallen out of his attention for the time being. His hands twitch visibly, as if longing to shut around Igniz's throat and strangle until the pulse inside his grasp sputters out and fades. The man's attempts to twist the truth elicit something between a snarl and a laugh, the boy advancing a step even as Igniz approaches. "You're fuckin lying," he sneers, voice branded with conviction. "The only thing I don't remember is who I was... where I came from. I remember -just fine- what you had done to me... and calling that a 'paradise' is a joke..."
Of course, that fact renders him simply unable to comprehend the different treatment Kula is afforded: and when Igniz speaks of it, K' looks momentarily like he's been slapped. The way Igniz regards the girl-- the way the girl spoke of her own life within the cartel-- has not escaped K''s notice. For a moment, he almost seems to struggle with himself, latent jealousy warring with his better judgment. "Why..." K' coils inwards on himself, his head lowering, tension strung so tautly through him he looks to be in actual physical pain; shuddering, the young man pulls in as if trying to hold an outburst back. He's not successful. "Why do you let her -live- like that... it's so fucking -pointless-..." After all, a pampered gun is still just a gun.
That momentary wondering lasts only a few seconds. He breaks out of that instant of perceived weakness with a snarl, angrily shaking it off: fire lighting down his arms as he faces down Igniz and his searing white chi. He looks fully prepared to lunge and try to kill Igniz right there. But something hits his senses at the last moment; he stiffens, a sharp gaze shooting over his shoulder, only to register the arrival of a... kindred spirit, of sorts.
K' experiences something he doesn't often experience, and he finds himself shocked at how pleasant the feeling is. He experiences an actual gladness to see somebody, even if that somebody is calling him 'Dash.' "...Took you long enough," he shoots back, and though his eyes narrow, the smirk that cuts across his face reveals that he really is rather relieved to see it's her.
But when Vanessa indicates they should leave, for a moment K' seems torn. His temper wants him to stay and try to kill Igniz for good, but his better judgment knows that trying to take Igniz and Kula now is simply wasteful, foolish suicide. He hesitates a moment, gaze slanting back towards Igniz with murderous longing-- but then he sees Shurui out of the corner of his eye, and something in him wavers. He doesn't need the girl to tell him twice: he just turns-- expecting Shurui to follow-- and cuts abruptly towards Vanessa, attempting to t
take advantage of the path she's created.
"I'm still learning about the world, yeah." The clone presses a hand to her chest, attempting to emphasize her next point. "I only know what I've experienced myself. They call that empirical evidence. I like things I've been able to confirm for myself. Like..." Shurui turns her face to glance back at Igniz, narrowing her eyes to concentrate on the blonde god's glowing white aura. ".... Your aura's powerful, but I'm sure I remember people who were around the same level. It feels... like you overinflated it. Like something was attached. Sewn on. It's white, but sometimes that reflects what a person believes, you know? And I've seen white before." She points to Kula, eyes nuetral and voice matter-of-fact. "Your aura's blue. Crystalline. It's kind of pretty, really. A lot prettier than mine, from what I've been able to have seen of myself. But everyone I see here... they're people." Then, to complete the point, Shurui turns her finger to point back towards Igniz, perhaps much in the same manner as the handheld game Kula was puzzling over earlier. "I've seen people so bright it hurts my eyes. I've seen people who make me cry looking at them. You.... You're a powerful person, but you're not a god. You're just a guy who's managed to figure something out."
What could she possibly prove at this point? K''s pissed, Kula's still sided with Igniz, and here Shurui is, trying to make sure she keeps yapping in order to somehow keep words flowing so fists don't fly in their absence. But as Igniz's chilling indirect threat freezes any further words directly in the girl's throat, her eyes widening in fear. No, he didn't threaten her, but as heavily as she's relied on K''s experiences in order to guide her own decisions, he might as well have said her name instead.
The fact that everything has yet to dissolve in blood and fists (not counting the entrance K' made to get in) has been nothing short of a miracle. Or, perhaps, it's more that Shurui's been underestimating both sides of 'debate' at hand. K''s standing his ground but not lashing out physically; Igniz is simply residing in words rather than force. Kula is still the Kula Shurui met underneath the shade of the single courtyard tree; it's just showing a more complete view of her personality. But it can't last for long. Wincing as K''s chi blazes in a mental buzz in her brain, she barely keeps herself from latching onto one of his arms and running- an act that would guarantee an instant painful burn if not some further repurcussion- and instead speaks again, her words a personal mumble beneath her breath. "Up shit creek, I guess." Shurui's face looks downward, trying to wrack her brain of options. Anything. Even something to keep herself from collapsing into some telltale state of someone who is, in reality, just three years old. It's not that Shurui's unable to cry- it's just that, while the door is shut tightly, if someone rubs her the correct way, it'll be hard for her to stop.
And that's not going to be exactly helpful to anyone, is it?
Of course, that's when Vanessa proves herself to be a godsend, though at first all she gains from the short clone is a wide-eyed surprised stare, until the telltale shift in K''s energy next to her head to something else, whatever it is, makes her jump to the conclusion for now that the woman seems to be on their side. When K' turns to run, she abruptly follows, scrambling away like some urchin caught in the headlights of a cop's car. No more room for words, last or no; she'll take this oppurtunity to leave no matter what it makes her look like. There's just too much to lose.
Even as everyone begins to leave, Igniz has few words to give them. To explain themselves to him, he will think about what they said, and most likely trash it when it comes full circle. But, gods will be gods after all. That's the moral of the story.
Even as Kula stays steadfast as his side, the god of NESTS simply tells her to do nothing. No orders. Not even spoken words as he speaks to the crowd, those that may very well not heed a single word that he offers to them.
K' bites back at Igniz's words even, suggesting that what he was given was not divine, and Igniz simply smiles. Shurui tells Igniz that he himself isn't a god, and still, Igniz yet smiles.
And then the trio escape, turning about and running from Igniz and Kula, escaping unheeded as Igniz simply smiles.
Slowly lowering himself to the ground, Igniz merely smiles. Turning towards Kula, the god grins a little. "Do you see them? Those are the face of traitors and cowards alike." He states, unheeded even at their untimely escape. "They kill the innocent and merely leave them to bleed on a school's property." Igniz states with a shake of his head. The dead serve no purpose save for parts and organs that can be easily cloned themselves. With such, the god of NESTS allows them to simply pool. Other teams will come and drag them off, with a lack of a better term.
"But you kill for the good of the world. Never forget that, never become the monster that K' is." Igniz states, his cape simply wrapping towards Kula, even around her as it embraces her in a warm, soft grasp before a fuzzy feeling occurs.
And what once was there, now isn't, the god of NESTS disappearing with Kula in turn.
The bus itself drives off, leaving Gedo with no fight at all. Peculiar.
But, Igniz succeeded in what he had planned. And that in itself is important.
Log created on 21:22:17 06/10/2008 by Igniz, and last modified on 03:21:17 06/16/2008.