Padishah Mehmet II

IC: (Swordshifter, the Notch)

"Sure. I'll get you funds. And get someone to deliver a grapnel shooter to you. Meanwhile, I'm going to head back into hiding... Good luck."

Without turning, his eyes locked coldly on the both of them, he took two steps back, entering one of the chutes composing the walls just as its protective field was weak. And as such, he vanished.

IC: (Swordshifter, the Notch)

"It is still to be arranged. Something must be done before the meeting can take place, then it will all be done and I will personally contact you by comlink when that happens. That said... Iceblade, any questions?"

IC: (Swordshifter, the Notch)

"It's overwhelmingly probable that the side chosen will be the Fury. However, I cannot be certain until our moles' reports. As such, I will make sure they redirect said reports to you, Callerin. Any further questions?"

IC: (Swordshifter, the Notch)

"Simply put, Callerin, I have reason to believe that there will be members of other gangs there. While Iceblade will look to the technical parts of the operation, such as organizing the assault and apprehending, before disposing of, vel'Zharek, you will look to identifying these members, and, by the time of the assault, you need to have a list of names, false names, assumed identities and detailed descriptions of their appearances and manner of behavior that Iceblade can then use to deal with them during the assault. As such, you will need to go behind enemy lines. Also as such, I will arrange for you a meeting with our moles in the Fury and the Circle."

IC: (Swordshifter, the Notch)

"The answer is simple, my friend. It doesn't actually matter whether they win."

If someone had shot a picture of Swordshifter's smirk at the time and put it on eMetru, he'd have instantly been made a millionaire because for the first time in a thousand years, the leader of the Blades was actually smiling.

"While they race, our troops will swoop in on the racing track. We will take out vel'Zharek. It will be rather natural for the entire race to fall apart at the seams, and nobody will care who actually won. But we will make it clear why it happened to that Skakdi scum. Oh, we'll make it clear indeed."

IC: (Swordshifter, the Notch)

"What's done is done. The chance of this plan firing off successfully was slim anyway. Vengeance is no easy catch and will not be taken by simple surprise, no matter how perfect it is. I know this now."

His eyes narrowed down on Iceblade, cold and analytical.

"Now. To this issue of vel'Zharek. Yes, the man is organizing a competition. The thing is, he's been awfully arrogant lately. For example, he's planning to - nobody besides me and you two knows this, mind you, so beware not to let anyone know by accident - well, let's say he's planning to choose sides."

Iceblade and Callerin immediately knew what Swordshifter meant, simply because "choose sides" had become something of an euphemism with a very specific meaning among the Blades. Namely, the term referred to the unfortunate potential incident that a previously cooperative underling has decided to collaborate with another gang. Naturally, such behavior is generally frowned upon in the Blade hierarchy.

"You understand, now. This race is merely a brilliant opportunity to dispose of him. In such a way that no one would question us ever again."

(Vengeance, Onu-Ta Tunnels)

"Aye, I see, soldier. Hold on."

It was a matter of merely muttering a few commands over the comlink, and the gates opened. Vengeance and Horic stepped inside, finding themselves within the great Fury base of the Homestead, home to over a hundred operatives scurrying back and forth organizing the Fury's burgeoning war machine. Vengeance took a hundred rapid steps, quickly being surrounded by an ever increasing group of questioners asking questions such as "what happened in Onu?" or "are you alright, sir?" as he went deeper into the base, aiming for the central chamber, a vast circular hall where he would be clearly heard by everyone.

Finally finding himself in that hall, he made it to its exact center, as the Fury took the social cue to gather around him to listen.

"Fury," he finally spoke, "I'm home. This," he pointed to Horic, "man was among many who heroically took it upon themselves to save me from a Blade ambush in the Onu-Metru Archives. Regardless, we survived and will immediately begin investigations into what made it possible to organize that attack. All of you who feel confident enough to help in discovering a mole among our ranks, I await you in my war room."

OOC: They are. I just called it a motorbike because lol language derp

IC: (Swordshifter, the Notch)

"Good. Now, you two, get lost and get to training. Iceblade will call you up when you're needed. Iceblade, Callerin, you two stay here... we haven't had a chance to talk yet."

IC: (Swordshifter, the Notch)

"In a week. If you win, not only will your punishments be waived completely, but you will also have earned much glory and a financial prize of notable size from vel'Zharek and as such I advise you kick into training at the first possible opportunity. Any further questions?"

IC: (Swordshifter, the Notch)

Noticing the curious (and in Iceblade's case, slightly annoyed) gazes of the other Blades, Swordshifter spoke.

"With much good reason, you might be curious as to why I am asking such questions. The answer is simple. No doubt you have heard of Virtazh vel'Zharek."

Of course they had heard of Virtazh vel'Zharek. A Skakdi that originated in some pothole in Zakaz, vel'Zharek had, with the demise of Circle authority in Le-Metru, gained much power and influence in the now Blade-dominated district by establishing himself as an entrepreneur - the main organizer of a tournament of chute racing competitions, using improvised and less than improvised vehicles. Traditionally, vel'Zharek's racing competitions were considered illegal according to Circle law, but in a district where Circle law did not apply for as long as the Blades got their cut, and they got a generous one, nobody really objected.

"You see, in this next race of his... the Blades need entrants. To show the glory of our gang, you understand. To show our power. And you two have a slight problem, Vilu and Kapa: you're going to drive there, if you value your lives and internal organs. And to waive your punishments entirely, at least one of you will have to win."

About Swordshifter there was always a peculiar thing that when looking a person straight in the eyes, he would almost always give off a perfect impression of what idea his gaze wanted to give off in the first place. And when he looked Iceblade, and then Callerin, over the two recruits' shoulders, in the eyes, they knew exactly what his eyes were saying: he wasn't telling the rookies everything. Oh, no.

IC: (Swordshifter, the Notch)

"And you, Vilu?"

IC: (Swordshifter, The Notch)

"Has it come to your attention that not thinking is a very bad habit?" the leader of the Blades hissed at the creature known as Kapa. "I can't say I should expect anything else. After getting your training from this man," he pointed to Iceblade, "you runts learn only the most unsubtle of lessons: chase everyone, regardless of whether it even makes sense."

His glare was cold. Not even that angry. Just as cold as the January night.

"Well. Either way. I'll relax your punishment," something about the tone indicated that he addressed as much Vilu as Kapa, "just this once. With the condition of answering just one question. How good are you with a motorcycle?"

(Vengeance, Tunnel)

"Aye, it would seem like it. I don't recall us ever figuring out where the attack came from, but I think we deemed that it was probably a Rahi. If the Blades or some other opponent knew of this passage, they'd have tunneled into it already and used it to sneak up on our positions, being the sneaky little Mahi they are."

Vengeance quickened his pace. It would be best if they were back in their base by evening. "Regardless, there's not much left to go. Hopefully, Ta-Metru's not fallen into too much disrepair without my oversight."

Pakare approved.

-Dovydas

IC: (Swordshifter, the Notch)

Swordshifter's gaze locked into Kapa's eyes as the two other Blades agents circled him as if they were falcons aiming at fresh meat. His discontent was obvious.

"Kapa, wasn't it... here's a lesson for you, Kapa - if you want to live, never, ever, ever follow my second in command without my permission. Is it clear?"

As if an excellent punctuation of the point, it was at that moment that Kapa's vine was left in cinders, and he collided with the ground, or rather, Vilu.

"That applies to you too, Vilu. And yes, I know your names. Now get up. Iceblade, Callerin... don't stab them just yet."

(Vengeance, Tunnel)

Vengeance nodded, and clapped Horic on the back, half-comfortingly, half-enthusiastically. "Brother, you're not the first one I've heard to tell such stories. One might say my own is not that different. Half the Fury is filled with having their own personal version of that story. Speaking of which... I think we've passed the first kio mark. We should be at our destination in another hour or so."

OOC: Actually, you didn't arrive at your destination, Oryx. Since I feel like including more people in this, you can try something else, like jumping out of the retracting chute midway onto the platform.

IC: (Swordshifter - the Notch, Le-Metru)

 

"No matter. This is the Notch. Nobody can end up in the same place with the same chute as somebody else."

 

The chute that they had come out of suddenly moved. It was as if it was some sort of tentacle, suddenly opting to expand from where it dropped them off to another direction entirely. It became apparent, as all the chutes around rearranged, that whoever was on that chute would certainly not end up in the same spot as Callerin and Iceblade did.

Yeah, mmk, approved officially.

And I would very much mind a Rahkshi battle as well. Unless they're really, really low level.

-Dovydas

IC: (Swordshifter - the Notch, Le-Metru)

"No matter. This is the Notch. Nobody can end up in the same place with the same chute as somebody else."

The chute that they had come out of suddenly moved. It was as if it was some sort of tentacle, suddenly opting to expand from where it dropped them off to another direction entirely. It became apparent, as all the chutes around rearranged, that whoever was on that chute would certainly not end up in the same spot as Callerin and Iceblade did.

Swordshifter slowly turned, his gaze piercing the two Blades somehow at the very same time. There was just something about his gaze. The sort of quality in a man's eyes that can turn your guts to ice.

"No, surprisingly, I'm not responsible for that," he answered the question he guessed they were going to ask. "Good job getting in the exactly right chute to get here, by the way. The offchance of that was ridiculously small. You ought've contacted me and asked for instructions first, but somehow you managed without that."

IC: (Vengeance, Onu-Metru Fury Base)

Vengeance took just a brief smile at Horic and nodded. "Off we go, then."

From the Fury base in Onu-Metru to their central fortification in the Homestead, there was no one stable way. Due to the two Fury districts being largely separated from one another by enemy territory, every movement of forces from Onu-Metru to Ta-Metru would be done in a covert way, crossing over chaotic Po-Metru and militarized Ga-Metru in ways that were about as confusing as the Great Beings' lines of thought.

Typically the Fury would take a chute to the Po-Metru borderland between the Circle and Northwind-controlled territory, where they'd get off, hike across the sand to the borders of Ga-Metru and improvise from there. However, Vengeance eventually deemed this way of behavior illogical, and had a single, long tunnel dug from the underground levels of the Onu-Metru bases to Ta-Metru. Mata Nui, if the Circle only knew what sort of incredible asset lied literally under their prisons in the Coliseum...

The entrance to this tunnel, located in this base's cellars, revealed a vast highway, as wide as there were under the hills and mountains of the island of Mata Nui in its heyday. As they set off, Vengeance turned to Horic, a quizzical expression on his face.

"You, Horic... when was it you joined our little escapade of a gang, again?"

(Swordshifter, the Notch, Le-Metru)

It was about ten minutes of travel through a confusing patchwork of half-built chutes when suddenly Iceblade and Callerin found themselves literally ejected out of the chute. A retrospective inspection revealed that the chute simply... ended above where they were now, a small platform surrounded by walls built entirely out of chutes wrangling around its sides.

And there stood one Toa, his face turned from them, two katana strapped to his back in such a way that one might even wonder how he could even reach them there.

"You two are being followed," he muttered without turning. "I would've hoped you wouldn't be followed, Iceblade."

IC: (Onu-Metru, Fury Base)

Vengeance let out just a bit of a laugh and grinned at Horic. "Yes, Horic, yes he is. This here is Enaltai, the Fury's most sociopathic, unstable and downright brilliant asset."

Meanwhile, the Fury's most sociopathic, unstable and downright brilliant asset tossed Aglesis and Xaron each a medkit, and handed them a bottle of Steltian brandy that he seemed to have been drinking for awhile. There was still enough for both of them.

"To answer your question," Enaltai flicked a finger, indicating Truakhia, "There are some things Toa were never meant to do. This particular case involved splitting an Olmak in two, a Tarakava, draining an Archive Mole of its light, setting a building on fire and a Mahi burger."

Vengeance took a deep sigh. "The horrible part is that he's probably not making any of this up. Whatever you did, Enaltai, you did it well. Good job. What's the word on how we were ambushed? The map of the Archives we were using didn't show any sort of vast hall."

"I can only assume they've spies and moles in this base. As they do in all the others. As we do in theirs. Unsurprising, really."

"So in other words, you don't know more than we do."

"Of course I don't."

Vengeance took another deep sigh, and grinned. "Alright. Let's consider this a success because hey, we're not dead. Enaltai, you get back to your post, try to uncover these moles that are everywhere these days. The rest of you, I'm heading back to Ta-Metru. You're left to your own devices for now. You know the drill: if anything happens, you'll know."

(somewhere)

Swordshifter's quiet baritone resounded in Iceblade's ear ten minutes later. It was very evident this was not a live conversation, because the message, just like Iceblade's message a moment ago, was recorded and then sent.

"Be in the Notch in an hour. Bring one person. A trustworthy person, not like the undercover spy you brought along last time."

(Coliseum)

Thaldrix could never honestly say that he wasn't a selfish man, because he always knew he was. Very selfish. Often beyond reason.

He was the sort of man that had no qualms with sending people to their deaths so he'd live. He had no problems at all with lying, tricking and thieving in order to seize a better predicament in life for himself, because beyond his own personal needs very little actually mattered to him. And in this particular situation that Metru Nui was living in these days, Thaldrix knew that there was only one way to protect what belonged to him - to do his absolute best to win this war. And, hopefully, profit from it, too.

When Vakama walked in, Thaldrix stood in at least partially feigned respect at the Turaga's arrival, smiling slightly. "My scouts, Turaga, report that as of today, the Blades seem to be intent on a war of attrition with the Fury. They have engaged Fury forces at several flashpoints, most of them in Onu-Metru, implying that they may be planning on a seizure of the district."

The Ta-Matoran stood, quietly, for a few moments.

"Although, personally, given the Blades' usual tactics, I wouldn't expect something as simple. It's quite possible they're just trying to trick us into complacency or into attacking their positions. If they wanted to seize territory from the Fury, oh, we'd know. There wouldn't just be a feeling of tension and the occasional skirmish, there'd be an actual assault on the Metru as a whole."

OOC: Okay, you've guys had your first taste of fun, now it's time to move said fun elsewhere, especially considering I'll have to work on my term paper over the next couple of days and won't have the time to monitor you in detail.

NPC IC: (Onu-Metru Archives)

Suddenly, the ground shook, the combatants finding themselves tossed off their feet and off their stances, be they offensive, defensive or confused. Vengeance was no exception. Having been distracted by that fireball and then lured away from Vilu by another couple of enemies, the Fury leader had been very occupied with stabbing, punching and shooting away at everything mobile and unfriendly in sight, and as such, when the ground shook, he found himself staggering forward, barely avoiding impaling himself on a Blade's longsword long enough to stab the poor sod right up his armpit.

Oh, he knew what this was alright. While everyone looked confused, awaiting some other tremor or an emerging giant Rahi, as was typical in such stories, Vengeance knew that this was something much worse.

Everyone had frozen, standing quiet, unmoving and fearful of what was to come next. Except for Vengeance. Vengeance simply grinned.

And then, blinding all the combatants, a single ray of light emerged, shattering the vast darkness, from the western side of the hall. Then another one from the east, from the way Vengeance and his Fury had come. The ground shook yet again, and somewhere along the ground, something clicked.

It became blatantly apparent two seconds later that what had clicked was a smoke grenade, as a vastness of dark, thick clouds filled this underground hall. All the while, Fury comlinks suddenly caught a very, very specific message.

"Back the way you came. Hurry, now."

Vengeance knew this voice, and knew that it was very wise to follow that particular bit of advice. The rest of the Fury, too, recognized the voice of one of the gang's most profoundly unique operatives and did the same, quickly jumping off their feet and dashing towards the blinding light on the eastern side. It was at that same moment that anyone lacking a Fury radio communicator was hit with a strong, almost remarkably strong pulse of magnetism, forcing them to the ground for just about five seconds.

By the time the Blades and neutrals had finally stood up, the lights had disappeared, and so had the Fury, who, to their eternal amazement, found themselves in a completely different part of the Metru than they had come from - they found themselves in one of their Onu-Metru bases, in a storeroom which was almost entirely empty, save for a Toa of Stone with a Hau and the most nonchalant expression that one could even physically muster in such a situation.

"Enaltai," Vengeance muttered, just a little bit of anger in his voice. "Was there no less chaotic way of getting us out of that mess? And what did you do to begin with?"

Enaltai simply smiled. For about a second.

"Liquor, anyone?"

OOC: For the record, if anyone tries following the Fury down the path that they disappeared in, they'll just end up in another part of the Archives.

I accidentally posted my profile in the other forum (GoM profiles), and since my copy and paste function isn't working for some reason I can't post it here. :/ So please approve it thanks

Let me know if I need to make any adjustments.

You need to make a ton. I don't want to be nitpicky, but you have to follow the profile form in this page + no, sorry, you can't have two Rahkshi powers.

-Dovydas

That was beautiful.

Head GM extra-approved just to show my happiness at this profile.

-Dovydas

Yours truly excluded, of course

Circle and Northwind and unaffiliated folk, take a page from this man's book.

-Dovydas

Personally, I'm just amused and slightly irritated by how EVERYONE FLOCKS TO THE ARCHIVES regardless of what faction they're in or even if it matters to them

Also, Basilisk, approved.

-Dovydas

oh, right.

Forgot about that for a moment, sorry.

It's approved.

-Dovydas

Approved, EW.

-Dovydas