DCW IRL Round 6: Jupiter

[Sakila 88]

(@Chii-chan: Made it so that Mokou helped you out, you're conscious now, probably ready to fight by now. You're with Mokou.)

[Maltavite 61]

"Your status is higher than me? Don't make me laugh!" Petya scowled

[tengaku squared 291]

"Ahaha! That's wonderful, girl, but you're a bit late to the spot!" Yi smirked, then pulled out two knives. "Your family connections and bloodline don't matter here, in this ruined world. We go by merit. And merit picks me!" She pointed at herself. "I am in charge of the Armed Forces!" She looked around, then sighed. "Girl, I'll show you something." She pulled out several more knives, and threw them...at Petya's forces, killing them. "There's going to be some changes in the Armed Forces. Too much incompetence under Greyfield, but all that is about to end." She glared at Petya. "You are dismissed from the Armed Forces. If I see your face again, I will have your head and put it up on my wall as a decoration." She looked at Sakila. "Could you do this? You know nothing about our world. You are too soft. Despicable."

 

"And hear this, rebels. I have no animosity towards you, personally. However, the missile launches will still go as planned. You don't have much time left. We will retreat!" She motioned towards her troops, and they marched off.

 

T watched from above. "Oh my. This looks interesting. I suppose this will be worth watching."

[Rukia Kurosaki 357]

Ash gav Mokou a rare smile. "Thanks fer the help... I coulda swore I 'ad Petya out..." She sighed and flexed her fingers, adjusting her gloves before taking the scythe from her back."I'm ready ta go. What do I need ta do 'ere? I 'eard about the missile crap, an' we got Greyfield? Ya want me ta question 'im, er go try an' stop the launch?" She chewed her toothpick as she waited for the other Rebel's response.

[Misaki-chan 164]

Misaki ran, trying as fast as she could to find someone in the Battalion to ask about the capture. Ugh, I picked the worst time to replace my cell phone. I really do need to get better at memorizing phone numbers....

 

As she turned a corner, she saw a big group of people from the Armed Forces. No one seemed to be paying attention to her, so she hid nearby and listened to what was being said.

 

"Ahaha! That's wonderful, girl, but you're a bit late to the spot!"

 

From what she could see. Sakila was there. She extended her sword, ready to use at any moment. The woman who was speaking, radiating a controlling aura, smirked. She pulled out two knives, ready to use. Misaki almost began to run towards the group to protect the girl when the woman continued. "Your family connections and bloodline don't matter here, in this ruined world. We go by merit. And merit picks me!" She pointed at herself. "I am in charge of the Armed Forces!"

 

Wha- Family connections Bloodline? What is she talking about...? Sakila isn't connected to the Armed Forces! ... Is she?

 

She shook her head, trying to rid herself of such a thought. Really Misaki! There is no way Sakila is a part of the Armed Forces in any way!

 

Meanwhile, the woman looked around before letting out a sigh. "Girl, I'll show you something."

 

She pulled out several more knives, and threw them. They all hit men in the Armed Forces. They fell over, blood staining the ground. She watched, shocked that the woman would do such a thing. What the-?! Killing her own men?!

 

 "There's going to be some changes in the Armed Forces. Too much incompetence under Greyfield, but all that is about to end." She said before turning to glare at Petya. "You are dismissed from the Armed Forces. If I see your face again, I will have your head and put it up on my wall as a decoration."

 

She then looked at Sakila. "Could you do this?" she asked as she motioned to the once-live soldiers, killed only to make a point.

 

She continued, her tone full of disgust. ou know nothing about our world. You are too soft. Despicable."

 

"And hear this, rebels. I have no animosity towards you, personally. However, the missile launches will still go as planned. You don't have much time left. We will retreat!"

 

With a wave of her hand, she marched off, her newly gained armies following. Sakila and some Battalion troops were left. She began to start walking towards her when she stopped. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't have thought twice, but now she she knew that Sakila had connections in the Armed Forces. Did this make her a bad person? Was she not to be trusted?

 

She mentally slapped herself for such a thought. Really Misaki! You shouldn't jump to conclusions like that! It's not her fault she had family to the Armed Forces! After all, it's not like she was helping them or anything. She's helping us take them down.

 

"Hey!"

 

She looked at Sakila, who was yelling out to her. She waved her over, which Misaki followed. As she got closer, the girl asked, "How's evacuation going for you?"

 

She smiled back. "Good," she said. "How about you?"

 

"It's going ok. Some people refuse to leave their houses though."
 

"You too?"

 

"Yeah. I-"

 

Before she could finish, Misaki interrupted, pointing at the old fat guy on the ground, "... Is that Greyfield?"

 

"Yep."

"You caught him?! Damn, nice going! Thanks to you, we have a way to extract info about the Armed Forces!"

 

Excitedly, she high fived the girl. "Well," Sakila said, "that is if he talks."

 

"Aw, I'm sure we'll find a way."

 

She looked at the unconcious ex-leader of the Armed Forces again before asking, "Say, how are we going to get this guy back to one of the HQs anyway? It's probably not the best idea trying to carry him there."

 

Sakila pointed to the distance, where a truck could be seen. "I called the Battalion HQ right after I got him. They said they would send over a truck to pick him up, and by the looks of it, they're here."

 

The two waved over to the driver, signalling where they were. After a few minutes, the truck stopped in front of them. Brent stepped out before patting Sakila on the back. "Good work," he said. "You have definitely helped our cause."

 

As two men came over and picked up the man, carrying him into the van, Brent asked, "Need a ride back to HQ? We'll probably be having a meeting discussing Greyfield's capture."

 

"Sure!" they said in unison. They quickly crawled into the van and with that they were off. Misaki watched the scenery contiously change as they drove. With nothing else to think about, her mind wandered back to what she had heard.

 

She isn't bad. She isn't.

 

... Right?

[Sakila 88]

Sakila mentally hyperventilated.

HOLY MOTHER OF ALL THAT IS GOOD, I HAVE NEVER BLUFFED LIKE THAT IN MY LIFE!

The whole situation had been scaring the crap out of her. The family bloodlines, the status, everything! She had no clue what she'd been talking about. But it did keep her alive for a while. Operation "Engage the General in Conversation So As Not to Get Blasted" successful.

She didn't know what to do now, sitting with Misaki in the backseat of Brent's van.

"So," the voice from the front seat. "Mind telling me what the hell that was?"

"Uh..." She looked at Brent's stern eyes reflected on the rear view mirror to Misaki's curious gaze to her lap. "I had... Reasons for not telling you all. Greyfield is—was my mother's brother."

"Was?" Misaki questioned.

"Mom's dead now." Let's leave it at that.

"...How did you catch him?"

"Uh, he trusted me, sir. Thought I'd spill some secrets."

"Did you?"

"No."

She twisted her hands in her lap.

"Good. We wouldn't want that, right?"

"...No."

The tension in the air grew thicker as the van drove on. "Sakila," Brent began, "You did well, tricking Greyfield. Now, we can find out where the missiles are being held."

I could have told you that from the beginning.

But she couldn't reveal everything, could she now? The pistol pushed against her ankle as she shifted her legs.

"Oh, yeah," Misaki started. "We left the rest of them back there."

"It's okay. Any of your partners are being picked up and taken to Battalion HQ for Greyfield's questioning," he explained.

Sakila leaned her head against the window. What next?

...

...

...

"We're here."

She jolted upright when she heard that and yawned. Had she fallen asleep? Opening the door, she leaped to the ground and made her way to the building.

[akane 0]

Sayuri was riding her bike to the next residence to evacuate when felt her phone vibrate in her pocket.

 

"Hello?" she answered as she pulled over to the side of the road.

 

"Hey, get back to HQ. We're having a meeting."

 

"About what?"

 

"Greyfield's capture."

 

"Greyfield was captured?! By who?!"

 

"I heard it was Sakila."

 

"Woah... I'll be down as soon as I can!"

 

And with that, she hung up before revving her bike and taking off as fast as she could.

[Kaitou Kid Legendary Thief 197]

From a distance, Vivi heard some commotion and within a few seconds, she saw a large group approach. It was the armed forces. However, it wasn't orderly and Vivi assumed it was a retreat. Before they reached the North section, they took a different route out of the district.

'Is it over?' Vivi thought. She approached close to the retreating army and spied on them from a distance. Yi seems to be with them. However, Greyfield and Petya seems to be missing. Even though they seem to be retreating, Yi seems to look pretty pleased.

Something's not right.

Vivi had to ask someone about this. She immediately zoomed back to the village centre at her fastest speed.

-------

[Maltavite 61]

"Shit... These f***ers was capture Greyfield! We'll heading back to the silo to defend the missile before these dumbass were captured! And I'll smack that b**** for betray us, stupid fool..." Petya ordered his remainig troops and they are heading back to the silo as fast as they can

[tengaku squared 291]

(@Kley: You don't have any more troops loyal to you.)

[Rukia Kurosaki 357]

(Meh, super busy, don't have time right now to post. )

[Kaitou Kid Legendary Thief 197]

(due to post Chinese new year activities, don't have much time to post either.)

[IdentityUnknown 216]

(So most of the festivities have passed, other than the occasional Chinese New Year celebration. Please resume this round in the next three days, if not then this round will unfortunately be cancelled.)

[Kaitou Kid Legendary Thief 197]

(Still busy. It's the 7th day or CNY. It's everyone's birthday. Happy birthday all!!!

I'll still post though.)

------

Empty. It seems like all have returned to base. Vivi would have appreciated if someone were to go inform her. In a corner, she saw some remaining rebels leaving, and decided to go ask about the situation.

Vivi somehow manage to 'borrow' a phone from the unwilling rebel and phoned Misaki. She then knew about the capture and retreat and Sakila's uncle etc. Vivi decided to head back as fast as possible.

-----

"What's the story???" Vivi asked as she threw open the doors of the meeting room. Jackson was already there together with all the rest of the members.

"You're late Vivi. We were about to start."

"Humph. Won't be early if I had to return here by foot instead of having a ride like these guys." Vivi threw a glance at Misaki and the others who tried to laugh it off.

"Now now, lets not waste too much time and start already... The topic is... Grey field captured..." Jackson proceeded with the meeting as Vivi walked to the other side and sat down casually beside Misaki.

[Rukia Kurosaki 357]

Ash stumbled into the meeting room, slumping in the chair beside Vivi. "Ran... all the way... from- town..." She panted her words quickly before getting to her news. "The gen'ral's been sacked. An' some weird guy was trynna mess with Sakila. 'Ave you guys seen 'er?"

[Maltavite 61]

(@Aaontillado Greyfield is captured? What!)

[Sakila 88]

(Sorry, been a bit busy.....)

"What? She was just here," Sakila heard Misaki reply before slipping out of the room, cloaked. Sakila went up and down the main hall of the Battalion HQ before spotting Mokou in one of the rooms. She needed to do this.

Without her parents, Sakila felt like she was without an identity. She was simply a tool, a fly-on-the-wall. But now, she had a chance to be someone. She didn't want to wander through life invisibly anymore.

"Sakila, what's up?"

"We need you for a brief moment. Can you come with me?"

"Sure."

The redhead stood up from her desk, placing the papers she'd been checking in a folder. She followed Sakila down the corridor.

"So, Mokou, we haven't talked much for a while, huh?"

"Yeah. Hey, about earlier today..."

Sakila stayed silent.

"...I was wondering..."

No comment.

"What exactly—"

"Don't wanna talk about it."

Mokou shut up for a while.

They passed the meeting room and Mokou raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

At the far end of the building, Sakila opened a door and stepped outside into a deserted back alley.

"Sakila? What are we— huh?"

Sakila pulled the pistol from her boot.

"Wha-wha-what?! Sakila, what is that thing?!"

"A gateway to visibility."

And with that, she shot. The recoil from the small gun was greater than she thought and her shoulder was thrust back painfully. Cracking it forward again, Sakila simply watched as Mokou slumped to the ground. She chucked the pistol back into her boot and pulled Mokou's immobile body up by the hair. She placed her palms firmly against both sides of the redhead's head and held her body in place with her legs. Switching on Hidden Dragon, Sakila sharply twisted Mokou's head to the left, breaking her neck.

She let the body fall and didn't look back at the scene as she fled.

[Misaki-chan 164]

"The gen'ral's been sacked. An' some weird guy was trynna mess with Sakila. 'Ave you guys seen 'er?" 

 

Misaki looked around, searching for the girl she thought was present. "What?" she said, "She was just here."

 

Where is she? Weird...

 

The people in the room chatted amongst each other for a while. Eventually Jackson said, "We should start. As much as I'd like to wait for Sakila, we need to talk about the matter on hand. So-"

"Wait," Brent interrupted, standing up as well. "Mokou isn't here either."

 

While Sakila being there was not as big a deal, Mokou's absence was one to cause slight alarm. If it was thing about Mokou everyone knew, it was that she would never miss a meeting. Even when she was sick as a dog, she wouldn't miss a meeting. Worry filled the room as statements and questions bounced around.

 

"Really?"

 

"Where is she?"

 

"Something's wrong..."

 

"What's up?"

 

"She wouldn't miss a meeting, no matter what..."

 

Suddenly, while soft, a scream could be heard. Many stood up, looking in the direction the scream came from. 

 

Misaki said, "What was that!?"

 

Footsteps echoed in the hallway. People started running out of the room, obviously worried about what happened.

 

Misaki followed, pushing her way through the crowd. Eventually she made it and saw it. A girl, crying and shaking. She had blood on her, though she was pretty sure it wasn't her. A few were crouched by her, one asking, "What happened?"

 

"M-Mokou.... M-M-M-Mokou's..... D-D-D-D-D-"

 

"WHAT?!" someone yelled, obviously impatient.

 

"SHE'S DEAD!"

 

"WHAT?!"

 

The worry had been bubbling in the group escalated to full out panic.

 

"How did this happen?!'

"What do you mean she's dead?!"

 

"Who did it?!"

 

"How did you find her?!"

 

The girl answered the last question. She was gasping for breaths as she explained, "W-Well... I-I was taking a short cut... Went through the alley.... Found her... Dead..."

 

Her weeping took over her words, as incoherent sounds came out of her mouth. Shock covered the faces of everyone there. Misaki only froze for a second before running into the alley to see for herself. 

 

Mokou was pale. All life that had been there had been drained out, like the blood pooling around her body. Her expression was soft, unlike the cold looks she normally had. All of her worries and fears seemed to have drained away as well. No mask to hide behind, just the simple truth. The girl leaned closer, examining the wound inflicted on her. This wasn't fatal. 

 

Others tried to look at the body before someone pushed their way through. "Out of the way!" they said.

 

Following them was someone wheeling a gurney and a group in blue jumpsuits carrying things like bags and cameras. "This is now a crime scene!" one of them yelled out. "SO GET OUT!"

 

The group that was looking at the body was pushed out of the alley as the blue jumpsuit group began their work. Waiting for them was Brent and Jackson. "Look," the Nubinelle leader shouted out as he shushed the loud crowd, "We need to find out what happened. So you will give your statements to me and Brent one at a time. Got it?"

 

Everyone nodded. "Good." he continued. "We will be doing it in the main conference room. You will go one at a time. Understand?"

 

Once again, everyone nodded. 

"So who wishes to go first?"

[IdentityUnknown 216]

(If you're busy, please speak with Moho and I'm sure he'll excuse you if you don't post regularly.)

[Kaitou Kid Legendary Thief 197]

"What do you think of this?" Misaki asked, turning the direction of Vivi and Sparrow.

Sparrow turned to Vivi.

"Why are both of you looking at me?" Vivi looked away annoyingly.

"Well, I thought you'd be more experienced in this as Jackson kept sending you to missions like this..."

"Humph. It's obvious right? I'm sure both of you realized as well..." Vivi grunted. "You don't need experience in this. The shot didn't kill her immediately. Too much blood loss, but didn't die from blood loss. No external visible bruises anywhere either. Probably died from some other internal injury like head injury or neck injury whatever..."

"What I thought as well, but not as obvious as you described." Sparrow added with Misaki nodding her head in agreement. The body was already in the custody of the forensics team so there was nothing they could have done. "Who could have done such a terrible thing?"

"It's pretty obvious tha-"

"-that its an insider job?" Misaki cut Vivi off before she could finish. Vivi didn't respond but it was exactly what she was thinking.

"Mokou is not our ordinary battalion soldier who will get ambushed so easily, and without any or much retaliation. The injury was inflicted at very close range, indicating that it was someone she trusted, possibly from the battalion."

Vivi thought so too, but she was still quiet. She had a bad feeling about this.

"Vivi, any thoughts?"

Vivi didn't answer. She was deep in thought.

"Vivi?"

"Huh...? Oh. i was thinking we may be involved in some trouble guys..." Vivi replied.

"What do you mean?"

"To be precise, me and sparrow and... Sakila."

"Ah...! No way!"

"Looking at the situation... We three could end up as the primary suspects." All three understood what these words meant. The expression of the trio turned grim.

[Sakila 88]

She didn't know how long she ran for. All she knew was that her clothes were soaked by the rain once again. She felt the phone she'd set to vibrate go off softly in her purse. She concentrated, cloaked it, and pulled it out.

Vivi.

She let it go to voicemail as she walked through war-torn streets still somewhat reeking with the scent of blood. An old man sat unnoticed by a shop corner. Almost absentmindedly, he dipped his finger in the bowl in front of him and wrote a word on the wall. Sakila laughed lightly at the reference.

It said "Blood."

She remembered it faintly. It was from a book about war, written many years ago, about a period even more years before that.

Even then, there were wars. Even then, there were catalysts. How far have we really come then? As humans?

Another call. This time from Misaki.

Do people pick a side simply because there are sides to be picked? Is it really that black and white? If you want power and money, you join the AF? If you want to stop the torment, you become an 8th or a Rebel?

She hadn't known what to do afterwards, so she returned to where she'd met the strange man from the IS.

If it's like that, then what am I? Am I good? Am I bad? Am I a traitor? Or have I been betrayed? And if so, then by who? Uncle? Brent? Vivi, Misaki, Sparrow? Mokou? The IS? My parents? ...My own feelings?

She deactivated Hidden Dragon and leaned against the wall numbly. Her shoulder still ached from the recoil of the pistol.

Now what? Well, you reap what you sow. I guess the best thing to do at this moment is wait for word from the IS.

~~~

(I'm kinda stuck now. Can't really do much until I'm contacted by Waylon or T or something, I guess.)

[Kaitou Kid Legendary Thief 197]

"She didn't pick it up." Vivi hung up. She used a spare phone given by the engineers to call Sakila, but it reached voice mail.

"I'll try..."

"... How is it?"

"No luck. She's not responding." All three sighed.

Just then the last guy came out from the room to call on them.

Misaki turned to the both of them and patted hard on her chest two times before heading for the room. Both Sparrow and Vivi replied in the same manner. This was an old traditional way of wishing good luck in the rebellion, usually in more mission critical or life threatening situations. But in recent years, it's meaning have changed slightly.

Vivi picked up the spare phone and dialled Sakila's number again.

[Maltavite 61]

(I lost my interest on this round...)

[Rukia Kurosaki 357]

((Hm, I just thought of an interesing way to tie up the family issues xD Hope ya don't mind bein' related, Ime-chan~))

  

 Ash frowned, backing up slowly. She watched Vivi dial Sakila's number and gave a quick nod, turning and running out of sight before Vivi saw her go.

   I 'ave ta find out the truth about this... even if it's gonna mess up my plan, I can't hurt the cause. And if that bastard from earlier made Sakila do this, then what? She thought of Mokou, the strong, sincere woman who'd headed her effort from the beginning...  But Sakila... how can I protect 'er now if she's turned? She must 'ave 'ad a reason... just, don't be her.......

 

  Ash slipped the photograph out of her sleeve, unfolding the corner to reveal another child, a girl of maybe five years... Damn... Shoulda told 'er sooner she 'as me on 'er side... But now I dunno... It's pops' fault anyhow. Taking a deep breath and letting it out, she slipped into the chamber in which Greyfield was being momentarily held before his questioning. Since everyone was preoccupied with Mokou's murder, he was alone, bound and imprisoned. He looked every inch a warrior, a leader, a scoundrel... and yet...

 

  "Pitiful." The man looked up, as much hatred in his eyes as compassion had ever been held in them. "What do you want? Sparrow, is it now?" He spat his words contemptibly, and Ash only looked upon him with more pity. "I swear ta you, on mom's grave... if you 'ad anythin' ta do with this mess, an' if cuz's caught up in it, yer gonna wish I'd died with 'er, pops." Now Greyfield smiled, nearly chuckling. "You don't think I wish that every day, Ash?"

[Sakila 88]

(This was my literal reaction when I read this:

"Oh! OMG I don't mind! Yay!" Followed by a squeal.

Literal reaction.)