Description: Zach returns to the YFCC after dealing with several trials to inform Alma that he needs a leave of absence. Recent events are discussed, as well as future plans, and Alma learns that the situation is a bit more troublesome than he may have thought at first.
Evening has come.
Alma releases a weary sigh as the closes the last of his accounting books upon his dark-varnished and otherwise impeccably clean desk, his most tedious tasks at administrator of his community center having at last come to a close. Blinking his hazel eyes, their clarity marred by a bleary gaze, he glances over his shoulder at the vast bay window behind him, the best element of his office, tucked away off the side of the library. The sun has already begun to fade from the horizon, the last streaks of sunlight radiating a regal indigo hue, reminiscent of the Radiant Phoenix's own flame. Though fatigued, the young leader smiles almost despite himself, experiencing a moment of tranquility.
There have been too few of those recently.
From whence has this tide of darkness arisen? What is the nature of this being 'Orochi'? Who has already been possessed by the darkness, and how can they be saved? Even with the combined talents of Adelheid Bernstein's Einherjar Initiative and Seishirou Ryouhara's Kagero, Alma's erstwhile nemesis, this unlikely alliance lacks the intelligence it requires. Alma's theory that Soul Power might be a direct threat to the ambitions of those who want to control the flow of chi from the inside has yet to be tested.
Too much is left unknown.
And people are beginning to disappear...
At that thought, the tranquility in his features fades, and his lips tighten slightly as the scarred beauty's face takes on a grimmer cast. No wonder he is fatigued. He can only do what he knows needs be done, can only keep moving forward while he remains so ignorant. Even with all his strength, there are no other moves he is prepared to make.
Alma leans back in his chair, taking another deep breath.
He cannot remember when he last felt so powerless.
Zach Glen is one of those who may have disappeared. Or he is certainly /trying/ to at any rate. The psychic knight's recent trials would be enough to crush many a man, but somehow he is still standing. Before Glen can really launch into any kind of plans to deal with his troubles, he needs to sever (at least temporarily) some of the ties that bind him.
So it is when Zach makes his way into the Youth Center with his key. He quietly makes his way through the building, somehow knowing on instinct where to find what he is looking for. Perhaps, though, 'who' might be a more appropriate word. Alma will likely notice a faint, familiar stirring on the winds. A stirring, muted though it may be, that has graced this Center and poured an ammount of effort into it that goes beyond being a handyman or a janitor.
Zach Glen not only wanted the YFCC to succeed, he wanted to succeed here.
A purple-haired head pokes around the corner directly in Alma's view almost as soon as his presence can be felt. "Boss," is all Zach says quietly. He seems on-edge, like a hunter in the wild: seeking something out while entirely too aware that he may be hunted himself.
Strange.
Alma knows that presence, but--
He leans forward in his chair instinctively as soon as he senses it, a presence has not felt in-- longer than he realizes. Zach's efforts here have been such a service, far exceeding his simple official role, that his presence otherwise tends to permeate the building, at least to psychic senses, to which Zach's own signature is, well, unmistakable. The scarred beauty straightens, his hands folding on his desk, but his eyebrows twitch slightly, concern filtering into a now-alert gaze. His fatigue seems to have melted away. This is important.
Zach seems to have changed.
The idea that the handyman has managed to, at last, control his power is a profoundly impressive one, and would be a welcome surprise to the Thrice-Born Hero. Yet given the relatively short time in which Zach has been away, it's hard to imagine that such a profound change could come over him so swiftly, that he could have achieved such mastery within weeks, and so pivotally shifted his own aura. No, something about this is off. Eerie, even. Zach's muted aura does not feel entirely his own. Something about this is all too familiar to Alma.
Something about this feels wrong.
"Zach..."
But Alma does not attempt to hide the concern in his eyes. Whatever has happened to Zach, he is going to trust in the man. He refuses to believe that he is in any danger from his subordinate, whatever's happened. He rises to his feet, extending a hand and then gesturing to the comfortable seat on the other side of his desk.
"Are you alright?"
His brow is furrowed beneath the shade of his long, ruby-tinged bangs.
"Here... sit down for a while."
You don't have to be a psychic to know that Zach is in trouble.
But it helps.
Zach cannot meet Alma's eyes as he takes a seat. He stares at the floor for a moment, trying to collect his thoughts admist the jumble in his head. Zach's 'supression' is more like a great deal of weight forced over a very powerful spring: effective, so long as its balance is maintained. Even the slightest shift will allow the spring to unwind. Nothing for it, he decides, but to simply get it done.
"I... had a very bad night," Zach says, frowning. "It's like nothing has gone right since Africa." He falls silent again for a moment, considering. "I shouldn't stay here very long," he finally says. "I... I won't be able to defend myself without putting more people in danger. But I couldn't /not/ let you know why first. I think I owe you that."
Alma takes another deep breath as Zach begins to speak.
"Zach..."
It's as he feared.
"Thank you for coming to me."
He needs to say that, at least. Though they've worked together for some time now, the scarred beauty and the psychic handyman have never had the opportunity to grow closer, in part perhaps because the nature of their powers is so radically different. Of course, professional relationships are also not always the best way to foster further camaraderie. For all that, Alma has always trusted Zach, and always known him to be a stand-up individual. And how could he not be?
With an aura like that, Zach could never hide anything.
"I want to protect you, however I can."
Or so Alma thought.
"But I need you to tell me everything, from the beginning."
If it's exactly as he thinks--
"Did these problems begin when..."
Alma needs to learn as much as he can.
"...someone... approached you?"
For everyone's sake, as well as Zach's.
Zach looks up sharply, studying Alma carefully for a moment. He gris weakly after a moment, realizing that Alma has likely gotten /some/ information. "You know," Zach says, "It is amazing how easily people can attribute a little knowledge to 'psychic powers'." He settles a little bit before starting from the top.
"Her name is Tomoko Kimura," Zach says. "She visited me while I was recovering from my King of Fighters match." Zach sighs. "She played me for a /fool/, Boss. She claimed that she was a fan of mine, asked me to consider using something that had belonged to a friend of hers." Zach pulls down his hood, tugging at the collar of the hoodie to reveal an unusual choker. Serpentine in motif, strangely colored, when coupled with the sheer tension underlying Zach's aura, it might give Alma pause. "She told me it acted as a focus." Zach snorts.
"I wasn't planning on using it, but..." Zach scowls. "There was a complication. Yuri Sakazaki had somehow snuck onto our KoF team, after her father told her no. You can imagine how well that was going to go."
Alma, despite his troubled expression, smiles a bit as well at Zach's first comment. That's for sure. Much of what the so-called angel picks up on is intuitions and impressions. The conclusions he arrives at from them are his own, and not given to him straight-forwardly, based on the information he already has. But who is to know the wiser?
Even Alma doesn't know where Rose's power and intelligence begin and end.
The scarred beauty listens intently in the silence of the evening, confident that the rest of the building has long since emptied. (Volunteers, for better or worse, do not tend to stay over-late on Friday evenings.) Occasionally he nods thoughtfully, but his expression of concern never fades, or the contemplative cast to his gaze. The only flicker occurs when Zach mentions Yuri Sakazaki's father. That's not a person Alma has ever met-- is it?
For some reason, his brief visit to Amsterdam comes to mind, but for some reason, his memory of his time there is a little foggy...
"Tomoko," he repeats. It might be an assumed name. But if it's an assumed name used regularly, it could still be useful. "What did she look like, can you remember?" Not that he knows the ability of Orochi's minions to disguise themselves. His gaze sharpens upon the choker. "Zach..."
His eyes narrow.
"What exactly happened?"
If Ryouhara could examine that, then--
"Would you be willing... to hand that choker over to me?"
They might be able to learn a great deal.
But somehow, Alma doesn't think it's going to be that simple.
"She's old," Zach says almost immediately. "Japanese. Very proper. Then Alma asks the important question. "I've heard stories about what Takuma Sakazaki does to people who mess with Yuri. The moral on all of them is that you do /not/ mess with Yuri if you like to live." Zach looks down at the floor.
"And he was coming for my friend, because he thought she'd been kidnapped or something," he says finally. "And I had something that could help me stop him. So I tried the damn thing on." Zach's voice breaks, the fatigue brought on by the last few months starting to show. "And that's when I found out she was lying to me. So I have..." Zach considers. "My power output is insane. But it's too much. Again. It either gets away from me like in the bad old days, or it gives me a nasty migraine."
"It doesn't come off. I can't find the clasp. Can't pull it off, can't cut it off." Zach pauses. "Can't cut it off /yet/," he amends. "I never did let Rust try the chainsaw."
Though Alma's eyes are calm, his mind is racing.
"So they've neutralized your power," he murmurs, "by making it something you cannot control. When it is used, it only contributes to the chaos and destruction they wish to foment."
He is distracted from his musings, however, when the emotional strain that Zach is under begins to break free. "Zach..." He reaches out for his subordinate's hand, aiming to take it in his own, assuming of course Zach does not pull away from the expression of sympathy. "I'm sorry. I should have warned you as soon as I learned about this threat. Though I fear... by that point, I was already too late."
The tall youth takes another deep breath, shaking his head slightly.
"These people are agents of an entity known as Orochi," he says, perhaps a little too calmly, "a dark force of unknown nature that seeks to sow discord amongst humanity for reasons all its own. I assume you were chosen for your overwhelming power." And, he does not bother to add, lack of empathetic senses that might have warned him of the danger. "There are many opponents of Orochi, and I have not made contact with all of them yet. But many of my contacts and allies are working hard now to combat these enemies, and seek ways to defend ourselves against their depredations. I..."
His gaze flickers, and for the first time, the otherwise self-possessed young leader looks away from Zach, unable to meet his subordinate's gaze, rather than the reverse.
"I've joined forces," he says quietly, "with Seishirou Ryouhara, the international terrorist... who scarred my face. His engineering abilities, in the realm of chi and its manipulation, are second to none that I know of. For his own reasons, he too seeks to oppose Orochi."
His gaze is troubled. Alma isn't sure about this path. But--
"Zach..."
He cannot think of a better way.
"If you seek to be isolated, and to thereby protect others until your curse can be lifted, I can ask a certain man to stow you away upon the airship Sky Noah, where you will be defended and need not use your powers. It... may seem... an unusual request..." The lead psychic seems unusually troubled. "...but rather than apply chainsaws, I ask that you let Ryouhara examine your choker, if he deigns to. It... uh... may be just as dangerous, but... it will be more fruitful, I think."
Alma shakes his head again, as though to clear it. He can hardly believe what he's saying, but he has no idea what else to do. He can delve into a man's mind. But to decern the nature of this strange item, well, that is beyond his abilities or talents. And he knows for a fact Ryouhara can manipulate wielders of psychic energy.
He knows that all too well.
"I'll do whatever I can to keep you safe, Zach... you and others."
At last, his gaze softens again.
"Are you... going to be alright, Zach?"
"Yeah," Zach says when Alma mentions the followers of Orochi. "They're... messing with people's chi. Twisting them somehow. They got a teammate of mine, Antoine Huang. They also got Ken Masters and Amy Johnson. Though... Amy's a strange case," Zach muses. "She's not mad with rage so much as... I don't know, some kind of brainwashed convert or something. Hard to figure. The collar," Zach jerks a thumb to the choker, "Reacts to these guys, and those they twist. It's creepy as all hell."
"And they've already taken a swing at me," Zach says. "Guess they realized I wasn't going to take what I did to myself lying down." Zach's gaze goes back to the floor as he tries to bull through what comes next. "I had a warehouse out in the Old Old Warehouse District. Almost no traffic through there, seemed like a good place to lay low if I needed to. That's where Carrol Jayne and his goon found me."
"I know about Amy..."
Alma knows all too well.
"...but... Ken Masters? They got /him/?"
This he can hardly believe. Seishirou was right. No matter how formidable a man's will, it seems the taint of the Orochi can corrupt him. This is dire news indeed. "To think that Ken might go on a rampage... good heavens." The otherwise unflappable psychic seems deeply disturbed, blinking repeatedly before running a hand through his hair to briefly rub the back of his head. "We're in more dire straits than I even imagined. Thank you for telling me, Zach," he adds, recovering his composure. "This is all critical information."
It seems his subordinate has even more to tell, however.
"Carrol Jayne?" Alma leans forward, his eyes narrowing again. "Is this another one of them? What is he like?" He exhales quietly, his mind clearly racing again. "I wonder how many of them there are..."
"He's tall," Zach says, thinking back. "At least seven foot, and built like a brick house. Dude tried to put a sledgehammer through my chest like it was some kind of sacrifical dagger. The goon was all... culty, too. I think there's at least four of them. Carrol and someone name Brihan Bogale. Tomoko, and the guy who was with Amy when she attacked that church in Metro City. He's either working with them or someone else they brainlocked into this."
Zach inhales. "Anyway, Carrol Jayne attacked me. I... defended myself. I didn't... I didn't know those people were /there/, Alma."
Alma is very quiet, and very still.
His gaze inscrutible, his features calm, he lowers his hands to his lap, sitting straight in his chair, eyes level with Zach's own. The atmosphere in the room seems to tighten, a certain stuffiness that does not seem as though it could be relieved merely by opening the large window behind him. Outside, night has fallen at last, but no stars have emerged from behind the cloud.
A streetlight flickers faintly in the distance, the only stirring.
"Zach..."
Alma's words emerge leaden from his lips.
"What people?"
His gut is painfully hollow.
"What happened, Zach?"
The plans he had formed collapse into dust in the back of his mind. Even with the darkness he sensed lacing his old associate's aura, even with his sense of profound foreboding, he didn't expect this-- never expected this. Even as he waits for his fellow psychic to respond, he knows, in some sense, what is to come. And now it seems harder than ever to answer the question...
What is right?
Zach does not respond with words. He simply reaches into the cargo pocket of the hoodie, and pulls out a newspaper. Or a section of one at any rate. The top page details the recent freak 'gas main explosion' in said Old Old Warehouse District in Southtown. "...it wasn't a gas main," Zach says in a low voice. "It was me."
By the time Zach has spoken, Alma has already come to a conclusion. The last time he felt this morally challenged, he was poised between protecting K' from Geese Howard and protecting the YFCC. He finds himself on very dubious ground, to be sure. But when all is said and done, Alma's own convictions and ideals arise from and support the bonds he has forged, and the promises he has made. When it comes to matters of justice, he wants to ensure not that the evil are simply punished, but that constructive steps are taken. And these circumstances are--
Well, highly unusual.
"Zach."
At last, Alma speaks.
"Though this occurred without your intent," he says quietly, calmly, "there will come a time when you must take responsibility for this act -- when you will need to atone. Though you were manipulated and betrayed, you will not be able to go forward if you attempt to bury this, or pretend you were not involved. I can see from your eyes that you could not bear that in any case."
His hands fold gently upon his desk.
"But there is a great evil at work here. This is a matter which the police cannot resolve -- could not even if they tried. This appears to be a cosmic battle, with the world itself at stake. Humanity is on trial, and none of us intend to fail... no matter what we must suffer or endure."
Briefly, instinctively, his hands unfold as one reaches up to gently touch the mark upon his chest, hidden by his tailored suit. The eternal seal of the Ryouhara. A man now his ostensible ally.
"Zach, I believe you must dedicate yourself to combating the taint of Orochi with all your strength, all your might. You must gather your will, and find a way to circumvent the effects of this choker. I do not know what Ryouhara may subject you to, if you can gain an audience with him, but he is the only man I know who would be able to help you -- and thereby give you the power to fight Orochi's minions, at our side. For now, you must not waver."
He pauses momentarily.
"...but when the time comes, Zach, and this fight is decided, for better or for worse... you must find your own way to atone for this."
At last, at long last, his gaze softens.
"And I promise... when you do, I will support you."
Oh, Zach...
~ You never deserved this. ~
What other tragedies must Orochi wreak before he is stopped at last?
"I'm turning myself in after this whole thing is done," Zach replies. "Only reason I haven't yet is because a jail cell's as good as a death sentence right now." Zach considers. "Yeah, Ryouhara already knows about the collar, I think. Ran into that Ayame girl in China, she claimed to be working for him." Zach leans back and shoves his hands in his pocket. "I think..."
Zach lets out a slightly frustrated sound. "When I was attacked," Zach finally continues, "The guy Jayne had with him... he made it sound like coming after me was just part of a crusade." Zach lets out a long sigh. "I think they are out to kill any psychics they can." A swirl of emotion runs through him in a moment, hard to decipher from the sheer /density/ of it.
"I've already been kidnapped once on account of what I am, Alma. I'm not about to sit down while some assholes try to do worse to people like me." Zach frowns. "But... I don't think... even if I could get around the collar somehow... I don't think how I am now will be enough. I need more than just a crapton of energy that I can throw around. I've... already been shown it won't be enough."
Alma is listening carefully. Zach is just full of information. 'Ayame,' hm? That name sounds vaguely familiar, though he can't place it right now. Perhaps it's just his imagination. Either way, the more he knows about Seishirou's minions, the better. Kagero will be his enemy again someday.
Perhaps not too long from now.
"I see," he says quietly. "Then it's as I feared." For an entity bent on corrupting those with the power of chi, it appears as though no such manipulation will effect those with psychic power, at least not directly. It stands to reason that they would seek to neutralize or destroy such individuals, and moreover need to do so through mysterious artifacts, and not through the taint he sensed in Amy. "If Ryouhara already knows, I suspect he'll seek to contact me soon enough..."
For Alma will be able to be both the bait and the trap.
"I understand, Zach," he continues softly, once the man has finished. "The evolution of your power has been a long time in coming. I suspect it will be very difficult for you to change now, given the way in which you have grown, but... if a radical transformation is possible, I am sure an event such as this is the impetus. But..."
He looks at Zach again, gaze careful.
"If you don't want me to ask Ryouhara to attempt to remove the collar, or you do not think you would be able to be of service even then... what do you plan to do?"
Zach is silent for a while. He is clearly pondering. The wheels are turning, and turning audibly. "I need to get better, in every sense of the word. I need to learn how to use not only my powers, but my body better. I'm a one trick pony right now, and my trick's not as good as it ought to be."
Zach leans forward. "I /do/ want Ryouhara to get a look at this thing," he answers. "I'm just not confident he can remove it without cutting my head off first." Zach goes silent, as if something had occurred to him /just/ now. That may not be too surprising, given what he has been through recently.
"Oh god," he whispers. ".../Dad/."
Alma nods slowly, though his gaze is faintly unsure as he regards his subordinate. "Yes... I understand." But what can be done with Glen's power under such constraints, and so thoroughly manipulated? Is there any way that Zach can compel himself to change, when he has been locked into a single form for so long?
It is true, however, that Alma has always known, in some fashion, that Zach's growth would be limited until he somehow found a way in which his powers could grow beyond that of mere brute force, a psychic energy used more as a hammer than a chisel, incapable of subtlety or the spiritual elements of their craft. "That may be," Alma replies to Zach's comment about Ryouhara, perhaps a little too seriously, "but given your predicament, Zach, I do not think we have any option... but to take risks. Nevertheless--"
Whereupon he is cut off.
"Er..."
Blinking once, Alma leans back in his chair slightly.
"Z... Zach?"
He's not becoming unstable, is he?
tIf Zach was tense before now, he is at DEFCON 1 at this point. A thrill of pure fear runs through him like a bolt of lightning. Zach locks eyes with Alma, fearful not for himself, or the man in front of him, but for another person entirely. "My dad," Zach says with a weak voice. "My dad's a psychic too. /Subtle/ stuff," he explains. "He's a guidance counselor." Zach casts around, then starts patting himself down.
"Alma," Zach explains. "Dad's not a fighter. It's just not who he is. If these guys are going after psychics..." ...then there is no way, in Zach's mind, that they will NOT go after Sean Glen. Father of one man they have tried to subtly and then overtly tried to remove from the field. "...dammit," he snarls, "Where's my /phone/..."
Log created on 21:09:13 04/08/2011 by Zach, and last modified on 01:53:05 04/09/2011.