The Apple or her Life [Pre-Plot Thread][Company Members][NR]

Joe had been with the Templars for some time now so it was only fair that the bossman had left him in charge of delivering the DVD of that girl they had captured being tortured. They all knew where Darkman Tower was, but it was his privilage, his right so to speak, to be the one to do the deed. Joe didn't try anything funny as he approached the tower dressed in his nice suit. He was weaponless, and carried nothing more than the DVD in a clear case.

Joe walked up towards the doors, thinking that either some sort of guard, or greeter would likely meet him there and inquire as to who he was and what he wanted. "My name is Joe, and I brought something from my boss." He lifted up the DVD slowly, keeping his movements from being as threatening as possible, he didn't want shot or whatever after all. "It's a DVD that needs watched by the big boss man as soon as possible. Lives are at stake and all of that so make sure they watch the video.", would be what Joe explained before handing the DVD to whoever. "Oh, and this cellphone, was told to give that too.", he handed over the cellphone.

He would go into the tower willingly enough if expected to, but if not then he would simply turn and leave to head back to the Templar hideout.

The butler happened to be the one to receive the visitor. He introduced himself as Joe, and stated that he had something from his boss. What he said next caught the butler's attention, and caused him to give Joe a curious expression. The butler took the DVD and the phone. "I'll make sure to deliver this to him right away then, sir," was the Butler's response. "Have a nice day."

After an elevator ride 1,000 floors above the Earth's surface, the Butler took the DVD and phone to the main office. "Sir Jr, a delivery for you," he said, walking over to the desk where Jr sat, sliding the case and phone across the desk. "The individual that delivered this here asked that you watch this as soon as possible, as 'lives were at stake' as he put it." The butler then turned and walked back out of the tower.

Jr looked up as the butler walked in. What he said made him frown somewhat, and after a few keystrokes on the digital board in front of him, a camera was looking at the individual who'd delivered it. He didn't know who that was; he'd never seen him before. "Lives are at stake?..."

Jr looked at the phone for a minute, then pressed the "open" button and caused a slot to open to his right. he opened the DVD case and placed the CD inside, then pushed it shut. Another screen came up, and began to play the contents.

Cala had been captured. A frown instantly formed on his face, and customary to the trademark Kane rage, dark clouds gathered overhead. Thunder and lightning accompanied them.  "Now listen here, Company people. I want the Apple of Eden and you're going to hand deliver it to me. If you don't then she dies. If you think I'm playing with you then take notice that none of her wounds are healing. That's because of the device around her neck that completely blocks all of her abilities, her strength, and that lovely speed of hers. So killing her won't be all that hard, now will it? You have twenty four hours to bring the Apple of Eden to me. I'm sending this message with my Courier who will also bring a cellphone to you. When there is an hour left of your time limit the cell phone will go off with instructions of where we are to meet for the swap. If you do not comply... well, your darling little friend here isn't going to enjoy how I deal with her."

"Do these pieces of shit not know who they're FUCKING WITH!?!"

Furthermore, whoever these guys were, they had technology that would render supernatural abilities useless. They had to be some serious group. Jr had no idea what this "Apple" thing was they were talking about. After a final message apologizing to Vigilante about those 5 years they were in the Ninja world, the man further injured her before knocking her unconscious and the video went off. Hard winds and storms began to brew outside, blurring the window with water.

How to handle this. Jr had no idea where these assholes could have been. How to handle this indeed...

V thought it about time to head back to the tower. If he ran into Cala, then, he'd just run into Cala. He was still a Company member and had a job to do. He couldn't be running off being emo over girls. These people had promoted him to Underboss, him, a mere human. V had to fulfill that role.

He arrived at the tower unsuited as a suspicious looking person was just leaving. Using his Company Pendant, Matt was able to walk inside through the front gates and across the courtyard. Inside of the first floor of the tower, he took the elevator up 1,000 flights.

Matt walked into the office right as the man on a screen began to explain that he wanted an apple. His expression changed as he walked over and began to pay close attention. Whoever this guy was said he wanted it or Cala, who looked beat up and worn out, would die.

What caught his attention the most was Cala's apology. "V... I'm sorry. About the other day, about disappearing like I did for those five years. I didn't mean to, I got trapped somewhere. I thought you'd be angry at me, and I didn't want to stare at you and make you uncomfortable. That's why I acted the way I did in the office. When I realized, later on, how it might have looked... I tried to follow you, to make things right, but then I lost track of you. I'm so sorry... I never meant to hurt you like that."

Then the piece of shit on the screen burned Cala, and the scream she made echoed through his ears. Matt didn't even seem to notice that it at began to storm outside. His anger began to rise dramatically.

Through the rain and wind, Alec made his way back to Darkman Tower. He took the top entrance and came down the stairs instead of opening the window and letting in all that rain and air. Down a flight and down a hallway, he pushed open the glass doors and stemmed into his former office. His son was behind the desk, and Vigilante was there too without his suit. Both of them were looking pissed off. Alec wanted to go home and rest up for a few days before he embarked on his survival adventure across the expanded Sunset isle, but with the way things were looking it seemed like he wasn't going to be able to do that just yet.

"What's going on in here?"

A cellphone and a DVD case were on the desk. Alec figured they both just watched something that neither of them wanted to see. He reached over the desk and restarted the video. Watching the whole thing, it even made Alec frown.

"So whoever these jokers are, they managed to nab Cala, and put some device on her that made her powers useless... Hmm. Apple of Eden? The hell is that?... Maybe dad knows..."

Devon had been busy working on a smaller version of Wolfenstein in the R&D department when all hell started to look like it was breaking loose outside. She had heard stories throughout the years of how when one of the Kane's got pissed off bad enough the weather started to change. Figuring that that was what was going on now she locked up her new Wolfenstein project and then headed out of the R&D department, down the hall, and to the elevator which she took a floor up before exiting.

She walked into the office just as Alec was beginning to replay the video. Cala had been captured, a technological device used to stop her from being able to free herself. Worst still she was being tortured, and according to what the man on the video said she would die in twenty four hours time if they didn't deliver to him some kind of apple. Devon's hands clenched into fists as she listened through her apology to V: it was as if she were saying goodbye, giving up, as if she saw no hope. Knuckled popped as her fists closed even harder at the message to herself: Cala didn't want her getting involved. She expected them to keep her out of it, to keep her 'safe'.

"Son of a bitch!"

The band around Devon's arm that connected her to Wolfenstein, her large and rather intelligent robot, began to beep softly: her raised blood pressure and heart beat signaling the Wolfenstein that something was wrong. The robot gave a roar downstairs, and the sound reflected Devon's feelings exactly.

"Aww shit."

Devon came in. She'd already seen too much, so there was no point in turning the video off. Jr didn't intend on getting her involved; he was going to keep this hush-hush when it came to her. Jr could hear the roar from below, in the R&D department, which lead Jr to believe that she had some sort of creation that responded to her emotions.

Jr calmed down for her sake, and the rain and winds outside calmed. A large grey mass hung overhead with a drizzle. "Devon," said Jr, with red eyes looking in her direction. "We're going to get your sister back. Do not get involved. It's what your sister wants too. If I have to go find these assholes myself, I will. But you have to stay out of it."

Jr then had a small premonition that something in the office was about to be shattered, possibly glass. With the way Vigilante looked, he was possibly about to go blasting out of the window, so shaking his head, Jr simply reached to his left and slid the window open.

Enhanced Intuition:

The Mk II suit surrounded his body as he made fists and had a hellish frown on his face. When the suit surrounded him completely and the new systems came online, he'd have to thank Jr later on for opening the window for him, because he did exactly what Jr had to be thinking he was about to do - blast forward out of the window and downward towards the massive city below, building up on the kinetic energy from his movement as he went.

When he and Cala first got close, she allowed him to put a single Nanite into her bloodstream. It was that single Nanite that would lead him to where she was, and he'd already gotten a read on her. He used his jets to push him even faster toward the ground. If there were any time perfect to test out his brand new suit, that time was now.

So it had all been one big misunderstanding. She still had feeling for him, just the same as he still had feelings for her. He felt like it was up to him to get her out of whatever hell she'd found herself in, for her little sister's sake, and for his.

Alec looked at Vigilante to see something else beside his normal suit covering his body. The suit he had on now looked like an advanced version of the other one. He was surprised to see it; so that's what he went to go do after he left? The brains on this kid was something else.

But then he was out of the window in a flash, and Alec was after him. What was he going to do? Did he even know where he was going for that matter? Alec had to stop him before he flew off and did something stupid. Alec caught up to him and grabbed his shoulder.

"Hold on a second man... HOLD ON! V! Hold up a second!... Do you even know where you're going? Slow down, don't go doing anything stupid, yeah?"

Niala flew towards the tower, almost reaching it as two figures came flying out of it: first what she assumed to be Vigilante unless there was another superhero running around, and then Alec. She didn't interfere in what was going on with the two of them and instead flew herself up to the open window of the office. She stepped inside, brushing off some of the mist that had landed on her bare arms.

She looked over to see Devon's pissed off expression and then looked over to Junior. "Erm... someone want to fill me in on what's going on?", she asked softly as she walked over to her desk and took a seat. What in the world could have happened during the literal ten minutes she had been gone helping Amaranth? What could possibly have everyone so pissed off? She was prepared for some shocking event, as she easily assumed it wasn't something tiny. She could have attempted to use her psychic abilities to find out, but preferred not 'reliving' anything violent and tragic if that had been what happened - everything she saw she also felt as if it was happening to her after all.

Devon stared back at Junior, looking into his red eyes for a moment without saying anything. The idea of staying behind, of letting someone else go rescue the last member of her family there was left seemed insane. And yet, after several seconds Junior's words sunk in and she let out an exasperated sigh. She threw herself down on the nearest chair and leaned forward, burying her face in her hands and knocking her glasses askew.

"Poor Cala... she can't seem to get a break... first kidnapped and turned into a vampire, then my presumed death, then her best friend dying, then getting trapped in that dimensional space, now all of this...", she muttered after both Vigilante and Alec had disappeared through the window that Junior had opened.

When Niala came in through the window and asked her question Devon winced, not knowing if she could take watching that video for a second time. "My sister's been kidnapped. Some guys made a device that stops magical powers, or abilities from working. They've tortured her from the looks of things and are demanding something called the Apple of Eden within twenty four hours or she dies...", she summed up.

While Devon explained to Niala - who came in soon after Vigilante and his father left out - what was going on, Jr restarted the video and pushed the holographic screen over in front of her. What she would watch it, he began to rapidly type on his keyboard, looking through cameras, seeing if he saw anything out of the ordinary. He got so caught up with being angry that he didn't even think to follow the guy who delivered the CD and the phone.

But, maybe Vigilante knew something that he didn't. He racked his brain trying to figure something out. "Devon," Jr said, still typing rapidly on the digital keyboard. "Vigilante gave you some of those... nan-things once before, didn't he? Did he ever give some to your sister?"

Why his father was chasing after him, he didn't know yet. Or was he going along to help him? Knowing his father, probably the latter.

Someone was grabbing him and saying hold on. He didn't want to stop. The radar had already picked up on her position, and he was headed in that direction. By his estimates he'd arrive in the destination in about 10 minutes if he kept up his pace.

He looked back to see Alec. "I know where i'm going, and I don't plan on doing anything stupid," Answered V. "Cala let me put one of my nanoids in her blood 5 years ago. I already know where she is. I'm gonna go get her before something bad happens. I don't need any help, let me do this!"

V took off again and quickly resumed his top speed. He headed in the direction that his radar was leading him, prepared to kill if he had to.

[Thread Exit]

Alec just nodded his head. If he was confident that he could rescue her alone, Alec wouldn't get in his way. The kid quickly flew off, and Alec watched him disappear into the horizon.

Alec turned and began to head in the direction of not Darkman Tower, but Sunset Isle. This situation was pretty serious, but Jr and Vigilante would be able to handle it. it was going to get more serious later on though, he knew this. This was only the beginning of something bigger. When the main even began, then he'd step onto the stage. But for now, he had business to take care of with his new sister and clone.

/Exit/

Niala's hand went to her mouth as she listened to Devon's description of what was going on. She had been surprised that Devon wasn't out there, or at least flipping tables or something in some sort of blind rage. However, as her eyes fell upon the screen that Junior had turned her way and she watched and listened to the video as it played she began to understand. Cala was indeed bloodied up, and looked like she had been some sort of ordeal. The men were perverts too, from the way the guy who seemed to be in charge had handled waking Cala up. When Cala was slapped Niala had winced, but it was nothing to how she felt watching the purple haired female being burned with that plus sign looking symbol.

Cala had apologized to V, had even explained things, and had also asked that Devon not be allowed to interfere. Niala shook her head slightly when she was finished watching and turned her chair so she could look out the window for a few seconds before she too turned to the computer. "Don't worry Devon...", she said as she picked up a video feed of Vigilante speeding off towards what she assumed was where Cala was being held. "... your sister will be gotten back.", she said to encourage the other female. She too was curious about how Vigilante was going to find her, but with the way he was moving he seemed aweful determined to do just that.

Niala hit a few buttons on her keyboard and found the last actual video feed she could of Cala leaving the building after speaking with Devon. She flipped from feed to feed as she followed Cala and her movements leading up to her kidnapping: it looked like she had simply been going for a walk when a van had come up behind her and four men had gotten out of it. One of them had thrown something that looked like a awkward frisbee towards Cala which opened up at the last second and snapped shut around her neck. Cala had tried to struggle against them when they dragged her back to the van, but they had her out numbered, and Cala obviously didn't have her usual strength. The van sped off into the night.

Niala followed the van through the news feeds, the idiots having not been careful enough to cover their tracks. They had taken a straight shot towards what looked to be a fifteen story tall building. Niala frowned somewhat as they disappeared into the garage, keeping her from seeing anything else. She fast forwarded the footage but the van didn't reemerge. "That must be where she is...", Niala muttered beneath her breath.

Devon simply kept her face buried in her hands as the video played, but it didn't stop her from hearing all of it all over again, including her sisters pained scream at the end before silence announced she had been knocked unconscious. What were they doing to her sister now?

Eventually she looked up, fixing her glasses onto her face properly. She got up and began to pace back and forth across the office floor, every so often glancing over in the direction of the windows, as if hoping to see her sister being brought back safely. "I... I need to go do something. Or I'm going to lose my mind. I can't just sit here doing nothing. I'll be downstairs.", she said before leaving. She would at least work on her wolfenstein suit, that would take her mind off of it until her sister was brought back.

She headed to the door and back downstairs to the R&D department and inside where she returned to being bent over her desk; but even here she threw a glance backwards out the window every so often to check and see if someone was coming.

[Exit]