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New WD rule ten

Page history last edited by Sakaki 10 years, 2 months ago

 

 

 

WD Rule ten is entitled 'Better a lifetime of emptiness or a moment of meaning?'

 

Previous rule nine: The experience points needed to level up in badass is consistently one.

Next rule eleven: A lot of the time being an emissary of peace just means heightening the risk of being the first victim of war.

Summary Page

 

-Short summary-

 

Lukas begins unearthing information about the Sevens's 'Boss' while Matilde reminisces about time spent with her 'fake'.

 

-Long summary-

 

Yelena awakens the next morning and can tell Lukas is already gone. Although it’s not as if he’s a noisy individual, the silence that she wakes up to is different than when she and he had gone to bed that evening. Despite herself she tiptoes to his room and peers in to confirm that he is gone. She walks into his room and sits on the empty bed for a moment simply allowing the silence to be. Despite them being in a committed relationship, they still sleep in separate rooms because there is still a fundamentally awkward air between them. She blames herself though, as Lukas has been nothing but amazing to her. Deep down she knows there’s more to them---to her than she’s letting on, which is exactly why she’s been ever so forgiving in his exploits. Maybe it would karmaically make things right? Who knows. Anyway, she feels better that he didn’t tell her where he was going since it means that he has secrets he’s keeping from her too. Making things even would allow her to at least feel a little less guilty.

 

Yelena sighs and goes to the bathroom to begin her day.

 

Meanwhile Lukas is driving through Maryland until he reaches the MD/DC line and takes a left. He stops in front of a building and after looking at the directions, he was given for confirmation parks and pays the meter. He is wearing a pair of brown slacks with a white polo shirt, his dreads tied in a ponytail and his shoes immaculately shined. Considering how much trouble he went through to get this meeting off the ground, it figures that he should look the part, although he’s not entirely sure what part he’s supposed to be assuming. He then looks up at the building and starts to remember where he has seen it. One time when Nolan had lost his social security card, they had come down here to replace it though the office had been closed for a year now. He recalled being fond of the neighborhood and it’s plentiful amount of Ethiopian restaurants, and making a date to come back here soon which had fallen to the wayside. The building he now stands before was closed at the time, but is curiously now looking open for business without actually revealing what it is in business to do. The banner on the front and emblazoned on the doors simply reads ‘In the pursuit of actualization’ and nothing else. He shrugs an arm, opens the door and walks in to a lobby.

 

As the building is a square on the outside like the many others on the block the inside really doesn’t leave anything to the imagination. From where he stands, it’s a skip to the receptionist’s desk and the décor is sparse save for a few Monet reproductions on the wall and a ‘mission statement’ behind the receptionist. On her left side is a door that goes further into the office, and on her right are bathrooms. Lukas walks to the receptionist and asks if ‘Father Pietro’ is in? The receptionist, a woman probably only a year or two older than he smiles professionally and asks who he is. Lukas replies with his name and appointment time, and she nods and dials a number on a phone. After a moment of ringing, someone picks up and the receptionist states that he is here, (just like that) and asks if the person on the other end of the line would like to see him now. After getting confirmation she hangs up and opens the door for him stating that ‘The Father will see you now’.  He thanks her and after gathering his nerves strides in to meet his ‘date’.

 

Inside is small. So much so that upon entry, Lukas is nearly to the desk of the man he came to see. The man is typing something into a smartphone when he notices Lukas and gives a curt nod for the re-spy to sit. After doing so the man sighs heavily and speaks, asking him if he understands how much of a pain in the ass it was to come from Naples last minute? He should be grateful he’s not charging him airfare. He has a European accent that Lukas cannot identify, and his voice indicates a tone that nary has to raise itself to make a point, or say very much to explain itself. The man is dressed in black from head to toe, complete with white gloves that sit on the side of the desk beside him. He has many rings on his fingers with different signias ranging from a cross to a skull and cross bones. He himself is Caucasian, with dark hazel eyes and hair that is beginning to see salt and pepper spice. Lukas smirks at his comment and replies that ‘Father’ wouldn’t have come if it weren’t important, so they should just call things even.

 

The man glares at him pensively and leans back in his chair, his face not showing his amusement but his eyes betray him with a brief spark. He asks the re spy how he figured to contact him of all people, since it’s not as if he leaves return addresses or phone numbers. Lukas’s eyes narrow and he replies that he came to ask questions, not the other way around. Pietro rests his arm on the desk and reminds Lukas that they are in a pretty shitty position together, and that they’ll need to work together if they intend to dig their way out. Lukas laughs and points out that he’s using ‘we’ now, unlike their phone call and Pietro handwaves this stating that he had time on the plane ride to rethink his priorities. The re-spy congratulates this stating that he’s not as old and crusty as he originally thought. Pietro glares at him and Lukas raises his arms in mock defeat and begins to explain that he managed to obtain some information from the government about one of his agents.

 

Pietro smirks and corrects him. He managed to ‘steal’ some information. If the youngster couldn’t tell from his hair color he wasn’t born yesterday. Many people know about the stalwart tale of Lukas Diethel and Sector Seven who fought the big bad Japanese gang lord and ended up falling out of the Government. Lukas looks unamused but continues; in that information the name of a certain organization was mentioned….the ‘Church of Power and Influence’ or ‘CPI’. He and his girlfriend had noted that when their current boss Matilde had read a part of the file commenting how not Mugen was probably a member of this organization she dropped her façade for just a moment and the course of the not Mugen ordeal had changed dramatically. She got involved and according to one of his subordinates, she had ended him. Considering how much Matilde avoids getting her hands dirty, it suggests that her connection to CPI is something she wants to keep under wraps more than she wants to have his team do her dirty work. Lukas then suddenly looks pained and asks if Pietro can keep their meeting on the downlow though….he had to ask a certain Japanese ganglord’s daughter for his contact info and he’d rather that his debt to her stay under wraps. Pietro lets out a laugh, and comments that he makes no promises to anyone unless they can give him something in return. Lukas growls and states that this is how he found out about the church and its current leader. Now he wants to know more about Matilde in hopes that he can solve both of their problems and knock her out.

 

Pietro sighs and to Lukas’s surprise his expression softens and he looks almost…remorseful? He replies that Lukas is right, that not Mugen had left the organization recently, and she had been a member in her youth. He then surprises Lukas by stating that she also almost completely crushed the organization in one evening. Lukas is aghast and asks how one person could bring down an organization? Pietro remarks that people call others monsters so often nowadays that the word has lost its meaning. However there are still some monsters…genuine monsters out there in human skin who deserve the title of being abominations. Matilde Ngai is one of them…a monster born without fangs or claws as we all are, but had received them from him…and his organization and then had turned and used them to rip them all apart and will continue to eviscerate until the whole world lies in its wake.  Lukas is right that it is important to stop her and he hopes by having this meeting with him that they can purge the sin he allowed to walk on the world when he first trained Matilde. Lukas manages to sheath his surprise long enough to assure the father that he will do his best to stop Matilde…but first he’ll need to know more about CPI with an emphasis on the monster and her actions.

 

Matilde opens her eyes and rises without shining she utters a curse and rolls around before ending up on her back and sighing. Due to having so much pent up energy she hadn’t been able to sleep at all which begs the question…when’s the last time she fucked someone? The answer to that question is ‘far too long’, and she decides to correct this mistake post haste. Question 2. What is she in the mood for? Tits or man sausage? After making that decision she rises and stretches as if she’s about to run a marathon and then licks her lips. Time to get and give.

 

Once outside her room in the HQ she strolls over to where the Sevens are talking amongst themselves, and begins to ask them where Wargle is, but stops and listens to their conversation instead. Mo asks Ricca how she got here so fast, and the bombergirl replies that after she had talked to Lukas on the phone she did some thinking. One thing her late Dad had said is that you have to take care of your family. A lot of the time ‘family’ ends up being a group of people who care about you and not people you have a blood bond with. Knowing how they’re struggling without her and doing nothing makes her a bad family member no matter how she feels. They’d come running if she was in trouble, so turnabout is fair play. So she literally was on the next plane out after she had talked to Lukas, and that’s how she got there in time. Meifa looks around and asks where dipshit is since he isn’t here now and hasn’t been around all morning. Heike suggests that he’s ‘improving’ his relationship with his girlfriend, which Meifa finds hard to believe. She still believes he lacks the balls to do anything other than look at her and stuff. More like, how had a dipshit like him gotten someone like her anyway? Even after three plus years she can’t figure it out. Heike then turns to Nolan with a sly expression and asks if the Irishman missed Ricca? They’re like fire and ice right? Opposites attract and all that jazz too so they’ve got to be the perfect match…she makes a mess and he cleans it. Nolan sighs and shakes his head dismissively, replying to his teammate that only idiots who enjoy short relationships think that way. Heike grabs his collar and the two get into a glaring contest which Meifa tries to encourage to become a brawl. Mo stands and asks if there’s anything to eat, as Ricca sighs and leans back on the couch revealing a bracelet on her arm. Mo notices and asks about it, as she can see something dangling from it.

 

Ricca smiles and shows it off upon her request.

 

It’s a golden bracelet with the first letter of each of the seven’s names dangling from it. Ricca explains that she had been working with some family members in Italy known for their jewelry. The other members clamor around, and soon orders for more are being tossed about. Ricca promises to call back home and see what she can do, as it would be a great team motif.

 

Matilde looks down at them in contempt wondering to herself how they can possibly be so upbeat considering their current situation? She could ask them to do a number of illegal and or immoral things and they’d have to unless they want to be at the mercy of the outside world. It’s probably true then…fools are easily amused. She decides to look for Wargle elsewhere so she can get her pent up urges dealt with and then get some sleep, when he surprises her by coming from behind and asking if she slept well. Matilde glances up at him her expression soft and answers that she didn’t, but he can help with that. Wargle’s eyebrow raises, and she winks and asks him to consider it a henchman’s duty.

 

Pietro first explains that CPI is an organization formed a little bit after the creation of the country. He gages Lukas’s reaction, and the re spy confirms he finds that hard to believe. Pietro laughs and tells him to believe whatever he wants. His ancestors had created the organization even before there was a two (sometimes three) party system. The doctrine is simple enough…that true world peace will come from religion, power and influence. As such, they would don whatever means it takes to gain all three of these facets. Be it through moral and legal means…or otherwise, which is why they can’t exactly go public. Even after the two party system became the norm, some politicians, movie stars, and other influential people had a secret membership to CPI. Lukas makes a face and asks Pietro if he realizes that this sounds like any other conspiracy theory? Pietro thumbs his chin and admits he never thought of it that way, but he asks Lukas in return if someone like Mugen er…Matilde could exist without a past if he is making this up? The re spy sighs and Pietro continues. Although at first secretly existing as enough, as time went by the members of the CPI saw how the world continued to deteriorate, and wanted to take action. This was still when the country was young, and people were disillusioned, so it was easy to start creating secret armies. Sure they’d assist the country in times of great need, but the members of their militia swore allegiance to CPI. The Church even started an R&D department, which developed a little something to deal with the possibility of an endless war starting at the hands of the utter fools who sought to destroy them and the way of peace. Pietro looks Lukas in the eye and asks him if he knows of the World Destruction Theorem? Well, the Church had developed it nearly a century ago.

 

Lukas’s eyes grow huge and he asks in a whisper if Pietro understands what he’s saying? He’s implicating himself in worldwide genocide! Pietro makes a sour face and handwaves his question, stating he doesn’t know the theorem himself, and it changes every few decades. He knows at one point CPI did have something that could bring the world to its knees so that they could ‘fix’ it, and the secret societies associated with the church modernize it, but other than knowing of it he’s not exactly sure how it works since secret societies wouldn't be very effective if everyone knew of them. In any case, thanks to Matilde, even if he wanted to use it to destroy humanity he couldn’t since the US Govt knows about eeeeverything he does. Lukas begins to ask but Pietro is already answering before he can. Basically the Church had started training soldiers from early childhood and calling these camps of kids ‘orphanages’.  This is how he met Matilde Ngai ---the monster. He’s not entirely sure where she came from or where she was born, but she was brought in as a possible ‘soldier candidate’. Of course they don’t want to turn well adjusted and happy kids into fighting machines, so only those deemed ‘candidates’ went through the training process. Matilde was….well, she was an emotionless waif of probably 13? When he met her. She took to the training like a duck to water, though she was too good at it. A few exercises ended with deaths, and no one could ever tell what she was thinking. Nothing interested her, nothing excited her, nothing made her upset. She simply existed. That is until she discovered the theorem.  The existence of the theorem was top secret but somehow Matilde found out and became surprisingly interested in it. She changed into a different person overnight…asking about its progress, its lethal capabilities and so on. She was like a child who had discovered a new hobby, but her interest seems to be in the end of the world. Even among the other children in the training camp, she had no friends or enemies and seemed to only bond with the adults who were in the know about the theorem. Pietro pauses for a second as Lukas looks on expectantly, and the father amends his statement, saying that he did remember one stubborn boy hanging around her. He seemed to be as broken as she was so maybe he found some sort of solace in being around her despite Matilde giving him the cold shoulder. He’s not sure what happened with the boy after she departed but….

 

Matilde and Wargle lay in bed, their naughty romp in lustland complete. Wargle glances over at her and with a slight edge of mischievousness in his voice ask if she’s a virgin? He knows he should have asked beforehand but to be honest he hadn’t partaken in the flesh in quite some time either so he just ‘went with it’. Matilde raspberries and replies that she’s not some Asian princess who’s parents have her chastity under lock and key. He needn’t worry about being the guy to deflower her. She then reaches out for his head and holds it close to her chest in a surprising move of gentleness. Wargle begins to ask what she’s doing but she begins talking instead, telling him about her first. She was raised in a orphanage where they trained broken kids to fight in a war that might happen some day, and he was some dopey kid who’s name she can’t even remember now. He apparently saw his parents get killed by a dope dealer when they couldn’t pay him up for their smack. After that he lost the ability to feel or some shit like that. So he ended up there because no one knew what else to do with him, but all he wanted was something to fill the emptiness. Be it killing or camaraderie, so he started hanging out with her after she offed a person during training exercises. It’s not like she cared about him or anything but he was convinced they were similar and made for each other. Eventually she just started listening to him so he’d stop talking and following her around. She even fucked him once cause she was bored, and he was horny so it worked out. That only made things worse between them since men can’t seem to take a hint, so when she finally decided to roll out from that place he didn’t take it well. Wargle glances upward and asks what happened to the boy after that? Matilde doesn’t answer and he raises his head to find out why…

 

Lukas asks about Matilde’s departure, and Pietro explains that before Matilde came into their possession, hell, before she was born, a scientist who had been working on the theorem decided he’d be better off on his own and departed with their secrets. Apparently he had even gone public with it, though fortunately he had conveniently left out the part where the formulas weren’t his original work so it didn’t get traced back to the church for a while.  Pietro gives Lukas three guesses as to who this gentleman might be? Lukas’s eyes narrow and he states ‘Arthur Penbur’ in a low voice. Pietro nods and continues; Matilde was less than pleased when she found out that the theorem had been compromised already, despite it being years before she was born. He had never seen her angry before, but she was livid. She demanded to know what the church intended to do about him, and when she found out that nothing was happening, she decided to take things in her own hands. She started telling others about the existence of the theory of world destruction. One can only imagine how this would end up changing the Church, as only an entitled few know of the theory, and once it became public knowledge people were enraged that the CPI would have such knowledge and keep it, all the while keeping them in the dark. Conspiracy theories developed and finally the dam burst and all out internal war erupted, all while Matilde watched her work from afar, the war being both long and brief, terrible and liberating. They call it the ‘one evening slaughter’ because most of the church went down in the span of a day with most of the internal infighting happening in the evening. When the fighting finally subsided, the church wasn’t even a shell of its former self. It was less than that; a dreg of a shadow, not only that, but the theorem was now public knowledge and Matilde the lynchpin of the whole incident had disappeared without a trace.  Pietro had to then make the difficult choice to sell out some of the less…stalwart members of the Church in order to keep the tattered remains from being seized by the US Govt, and anything he has on the WD theorem was seized, and they keep a watchful eye on his organization. Lukas asks why he didn’t just walk away from CPI, and Pietro replies that his family started the organization and the last thing he wants is for it to crumble on his watch. He then gives Lukas a stern look and asks if he really thinks he can stop Matilde? To gain the revenge that he seeks?

 

Lukas returns his gaze with one of his own. He replies clearly and succinctly that he has no choice but to stop Matilde. She has he and his friends captive, and he’s not the type to simply allow her to do as she wishes. If Pietro gives him backing he promises results. Pietro nods curtly and explains that he wouldn’t have given Lukas the time of day if it weren’t for his resume. He then extends his hand and promises his full support. Lukas takes his hand and the two shake.

 

Meanwhile Wargle sits up and sighs as Matilde has fallen asleep leaving the story as a cliffhanger. He knows with her personality she may never finish telling him so it’s only that much more infuriating. Still, to get a glimpse inside that insidious head of hers was intriguing to say the least.  She then murmurs in her sleep that she grants moments and not lifetimes. Wargle looks down at her and begins to wonder if the not Mugen case had started way back in her childhood? That this was granting that boy a moment of meaningfulness in comparison to a lifetime of emptiness?

 

Lukas leaves the building and unlocks his car electronically. He tosses a pamphlet and few other items Pietro gave him to aid in his quest to stop Matilde into the passenger side and looks up at the building one more time. He recalls what Pietro had asked on his way out that despite his feelings towards her, Matilde is still the hand that’s feeding him. Is he truly going to bite that hand, knowing the consequences?

 

Lukas allows himself a smirk and replies. ‘With that hand dangling out there unguarded, wouldn’t it be more foolish of me to not try my luck and swipe at it?’

 

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