The Organization Strikes

[K2]

Only about an hour had passed since the explosion in the Capital, and now, on the other side of town, something strange was happening. A man wearing a large trench coat walked into a tea shop, a slightly worried look on his face. He seemed kind of distracted, and barely noticed when it was his turn to order as the man behind the counter had to ask, "Sir, how may I help you?"

Yes, this man was... An odd one. And after several moments of looking down at his watch, finally, he stood up, pulled out a pistol, and pointed it at the crowd as he opened his trench coat, revealing heavy explosives that were strapped to his body -- kinds you couldn't exactly get at your neighborhood Zarethian shop. Who was this man, and what did he want? No doubt, there would be many panicked people all about as he shouted, "NOBODY MOVE! GET ON THE FLOOR, THE LOT OF YOU!"

[Beware Ye Who Enter Here]

There was a lot of screaming, people milling about and finally getting on the ground or in cover like he said. There was a silent alarm system running and the camera's were glued to the man, if they were placed were they could see him that is.
One of the clerks looked up at him fearfully and began to pile up the credit chits from the register. It was a primitive store that actually still had them.
"What do you want?" A nearly incoherent woman asked, her makeup flowing down her face because of her tears.

[K2]

"I don't want your money," the man scoffed, turning and looking around, not able to see the cameras but trained enough to know they were there. The Zarethians were watching him. The government was watching him. That was just what he wanted... He was scared out of his mind himself, of course. He didn't want to do this. No. He had to. Right? No. Yes. He was confused. No. He shut his eyes briefly, pictures of family members going through his head, before opening his eyes, making sure nobody was trying to pull a fast one on him. He had to do this. He had to do this. He... He had to do this?

"I-I don't want to hurt anyone," he said softly, more to himself than anyone else. His eyes darted on the walls, looking around, as he spoke louder now, saying, "Zarethian government. You have forty eight hours to denounce your war crimes and arrest the entire Senate, the Council, Director Eric Mann, Assistant Director Amy Jacob, and Fleet Admiral Aki Sora. You are to, effective immediately, declare none other than Mr. Zaigen your leader... JUSTICE!"

And then, he pressed the detonator.

[Beware Ye Who Enter Here]

He clicked it and was instantaneously engulfed by a portal shield, precisely guided by an AI in the city defense network. It took longer then usual for it to react, but it was just in time. The man was gone, trapped inside a pocket dimension where he harmed no one.

The government immediately began looking into Mr. Zaigen and called him to the government headquarters in the capitol.

[K2]

By the end of the hour, the entire place was cornered off, witnesses were questioned before being released to their families, and Hand agents were crawling all over the place. This attack had been thwarted, but it could very well have been bad. The portal shield had, of course, shielded the public, but the bomber was still dead and they were down on leads. By all accounts, footage suggested this guy looked different than the cultists, but could he be related?

[Beware Ye Who Enter Here]

Isoldr stopped at the doorway, pausing to read the minds of the witnesses. Mostly it was terror and confusion, there was hardly much he could gather except for blurred pictures of the culprit. He shook his head in frustration and walked into the building, heading for the security room.

[K2]

OOC: I'm going to request Kauliya so I'll get back to her in a bit.

Waiting for him in the Security Room was one of Kauliya's team members, the lanky young technology expert Viktor Basköv. Turning to let Isoldr into the locked security room, Viktor gave a slightly awkward greeting before turning to the camera display and pulling up footage of what had happened. "U-uh," he awkwardly explained, "Here we go." Pressing play, he watched the footage begin to display on the holovision.

[Beware Ye Who Enter Here]

"War crimes?" Isoldr muttered as the footage played. "Zaigen? The "For the people!" candidate in the last senate race? Its unlikely he'd have connections to a terrorist group." He stretched out his mind to the spot where the man was. He sensed fear, and hope. It was unmistakable.

"Do we have the ID of the terrorist?" He asked.

[K2]

Typing on a few keys, Viktor pulled up the holofile for the man as Kauliya slipped into the room silently. The official Zarethian ID of the man pulled up first, and then, the Hand's files on him.
"His name's Ivan Navatril," Viktor explained, "He was a middle-class citizen, worked private security for the Heart of the Council during its early construction days. He did some contracting work for the government -- specifically for the Hand... This is interesting."
He pulled up a video file which began to play -- it was the notorious footage from eight years ago of Eric Mann and his private security walking into a building right before it exploded. The Zarethians had thought Mann to be dead for eight years after that until just earlier in this year when he resurfaced. Replaying the footage of Eric and his security walking into the building, he zoomed in on the face of one of the guards.
"Seems he was on Eric Mann's security team during the senate race of '54. Believed to have been killed in the explosion. Apparently not."
"Could Yairhoff Haydenn have a connection?" Viktor suggested, "He's running against Zaigen this year, and we all know about his connections to Eric Mann."
"Only one way to find out," Kauliya spoke up now, her mind racing as she turned to leave, off to find Yairhoff.

[Beware Ye Who Enter Here]

"I'm surprised they're letting him run." Isoldr scoffed. "Given his reputation, he wouldn't be able to garner any votes from anyone but the extreme xenophobic groups and isolationist groups - if they didn't provide their own candidates again." He followed Kauliya down and began imputting data into the Inquisitorial network, an online database full of information on virtually everyone in the Empire. He found Yairhoff's latest address.

"42 Walabe lane, Zydney." he said shortly, as he followed.

[K2]

"Damn, all the way in Zydney?" Kauliya asked, surprised as she watched various personnel walking in and out of the shop. Stopping and resting on the counter, she pulled out her phone and punched a few keys in before putting it away. "Transport's on the way. It'll be easier to fly. While we wait, tell me a bit more about yourself. I mean, you don't do this for a living. I mean, there's got to be something else, right? If you only get a few jobs every once and awhile."

She pushed up on the counter as her feet dangled off the ground, her butt finding a nice place to sit on the tea counter.

[Beware Ye Who Enter Here]

"Are you so sure that I only work a few jobs a year? Perhaps the Inquisition has sent me on many missions of high importance throughout my service." He said idly, tapping his leather encased boot impatiently. He wanted to get to the Yairhoff residence as quickly as he could but he supposed this young woman may have some uses.
"You may be the watchers for the Empire," He said as he turned slightly to look at her, his eyes gliding over her figure for the first time. Pleasing to the eye, he though offhandedly. " but even you need to be monitored." He said, as he turned back around and starred out the glass window of the shop.

[K2]

"Now you're starting to sound like one of the Council's dogs," Kauliya replied, rolling her eyes, "They've been out to get us for a long time. Understandably so, I suppose. The whole incident with Eric Mann surprised everyone, and look. We're still dealing with the aftermath. Still," she met his glaze, coughing a bit to get his attention, "...I think I would have noticed you monitoring me before."
Men.
There was a small beep from her phone. She pulled it out, checking the notification, before hopping down from the counter and walking ahead of Isoldr towards the double glass doors of the tea shop. Putting her phone away in her pocket, her hands pressed up against the glass door as she pushed it open and walked into the blinding sun. She paused as her eyes readjusted before looking up into the bright sky above. She could see the blue trail of energy overhead pushing the black transport ship along, and as it got closer, she could see the blue stripes, the Zarethian emblem, and the opaque-blue fields that surrounded the transport's wings and covered its top. She could hear the faint buzzing of the engines as it approached, slowly lowering from its height. As it continued descending, people got out of the way of the transport, and Kauliya could feel the gust of the transport as it lowered.

[Beware Ye Who Enter Here]

For once, Isoldr let out a real, honest laugh. It was soft, almost snide and had a distinct rasp to it.
"Please, don't fool yourself. I watch them too." He said, smirking under his mask. He let her walk past him as the transport came hovering down. He walked behind her, and then passed her as she winced at the sun.
"I heard that." He said as the transport came down and its doors opened up with a pneumatic hiss. Inside was the plane steel gray cabin with a total of five black synthetic leather seats. Isoldr mounted the craft and sat down and buckled himself in.

[K2]

Watching as he walked past her, she grumbled at this, and was even more put off when he notified her that he'd heard her remark. She could have sworn she hadn't said that out loud. Shrugging it off, she walked forward to the fighter, its engines still roaring, it hovering just a foot off the ground. She stepped up into the cabin, and could hear the swoosh of the door behind her as the sunlight faded and was replaced by the dim blue light of the illuminated floor. Buckling herself into a seat, she reached back to a shelf behind her, tempted to grab the champagne, but settling for the pitcher of water instead. Grabbing a glass and pouring one, she offered it to Isoldr.
"I'd give you the champagne, but I don't think that's the most professional behaviour when we're on duty, wouldn't you say?" she smirked.

[Beware Ye Who Enter Here]

He shrugged in his seat and pulled the glass towards him with his mind. He used his psychic abilities to suck the water through an air slit at the front of his helmet, more to preserve the mystery he had and to toy with Kauliya then anything else.
"Only if you couldn't hold your alcohol." He said mildly as the craft took off and began flying towards 42 Walabe Lane, Zydney.
He closed his mind to everything but what was in the immediate area. Flying generally took its toll on him and  constantly having millions of voices in your head and vanishing the next second is unnerving, even to him. Instead, he concentrated on his mission, or at least tried to. The loud bumping of Kauliya's heart was distracting.  He could practically hear the blood flowing through her veins even as he heard her thoughts.

[K2]

A bit surprised about his display of psychic abilities, she smirked, pouring herself a glass now. That was different. And to think, he'd been so surprised about the cultists having some non-magical ability. Or maybe this ability was magical. She kind of doubted it. In her experience, most people... Didn't trust psychics. Too many bad memories about the Lorcar, she figured. She didn't mind, herself. As she drank from her glass, she fought to hold back her grin at his words. "I can hold my own, believe me," she replied, "I'm not always on duty, though the Director seems to think I am."

She was a bit unnerved by his silence, but saw that he was... Concentrating, and decided not to bother him. He was a strange one, but he still impressed her. As the craft grew closer to Zydney, she started to pull out her weapons, making sure they were ready to go, before re-strapping all but her hand gun, which she kept at her side, ready to go. It occurred to her that, so far, she hadn't seen Isoldr in action. Was he even qualified?

"If you want to stay in the transport, that'd probably be best," she suggested, still not catching on to the fact that he read minds as well.

[Beware Ye Who Enter Here]

"I am more qualified than you can imagine, agent." He said shortly, standing up, letting the restraints fall down around him. As he did so he once again expanded his mind, enveloping everything within three hundred yards with his consciousness. He could feel every blade of grass, see every insect and taste the emotions given off. He could taste fear, anger, amusement, hate, love, passion, worry and every other emotion. He focused on the house and quickly scanned for individuals.

The door opened with a pneumatic hiss and he stepped out onto the rough concrete. The wind picked up as he strode towards the house, picking up his cape. He enjoyed the image he got from Kauliya's mind. It was impressive, in an egotistical kind of way. Not that he cared what anyone thought, but he certainly enjoyed people's emotions.

[K2]

The Haydenn Residence

42 Walabe Lane, Zydney, Tefillin

Dusk was falling upon Tefillin now as the long day finally started to come to a close -- for most, including Yairhoff. However; Agent Kveta Kauliya knew that her day -- or rather, night -- was only just starting. As it turned out, 42 Walabe Lane was a massive complex, well secure for a man such as Yairhoff. The transport had parked as close to the complex as possible to avoid detection -- near the south end of the fenced complex, just within the gates, on a jogging track, where security was relatively low.

"Damn," Kauliya felt herself saying as she stepped out of the transport and onto the concrete track, next to Isoldr. "I'm surprised he can afford this place. It's huge. Why do I get the feeling he's got private security?" She sighed, putting away her hand gun and bringing out something a little more heavy. "Guess I may get to use this one after all. Now, how are we supposed to find this guy on such a big complex?"

Meanwhile, in Yairhoff's bedroom, he was well preoccupied.

"Uh. Unh. Mmm. Yeah! Yairhoff! Yeah, baby! Right there! Mmm! MMM! MMMMMM YEAH! Unh. Yairhoff. Mmm."

As the blonde girl panted, Yairhoff himself collapsed next to her, brought to pleasurable climax but reminded once more that he was not as young as he once was. After a few moments of heavy breathing, Yairhoff mustered up the energy, sitting up and moving his feet off the bed to the cold, wood floor as he reached down and grabbed his white, button-up shirt from the ground beside his bed. Standing, he began to put on the shirt as the blonde-haired woman in his bed asked, "Where are you going?"

"The capital," he replied, matter-of-factly, "I need to file some papers about my election with the government. I hope you'll be here when I get back."

"Mmm," she replied, giggling, "Are you inviting me to a sleep over?"

"I had some other things besides sleeping in mind," Yairhoff replied, slipping on some pants before he opened his bedroom door, only to be face-to-face with the head of his security team.

"Jon Pierre," Yairhoff greeted, a bit surprised. "What's wrong?"

"We've got a situation. Misses," he said, glancing over at the naked woman in Yairhoff's bed, "Please get dressed, quickly. We need to get both of you to a secure location."

[Beware Ye Who Enter Here]

Isoldr nodded and tapped the side of his head. "The mind is a more useful thing then any database or gadget." He said, striding towards the house itself. As he did so, he found the minds of his targets and, to his irritation, he found panic and urgent warnings going off in their heads. He immediately began sprinting towards the mansion.
"They know we're here!" He shouted back to Kauliya. "Just follow me, but get a move on it!"
He found his way to the front of the building and promptly blew open the front of the house with his mind. Glass, wood and furniture exploded inwardly in a rather spectacular fashion.

[K2]

"How could you possibly know that!?" she groaned, running after him.
The moment the door was kicked in, Isoldr was met with rapid firing of bullets from gunmen at the stop of the luxurious foyer's staircase. As the gunmen shot at Isoldr from the second floor's balcony that overlooked the foyer, Kveta quickly came to support him, shooting her pulse weapon at the first of the two gunmen, and firing a shot right into his chest, rendering him deceased.

[Beware Ye Who Enter Here]

Isoldr's shields protected him from the pulse blasts and he swiftly grabbed hold of the second man's mind, crushing it like an overripe melon, savoring the brief screams of incomprehensible agony that echoed through his mind. He then caused the upper balcony to collapse, falling on the men below it and causing those on it to fall to the ground. He leapt through the doorway and pushed aside enough of the mess for them to walk through the lower doors. He continued to scan for Yairhoff.

[K2]

As Isoldr scanned for Yairhoff, Kveta felt her knees buckling in the momentary calm, her eyes lit with wander and even fear. How... How had he done that? How had he managed to... When he said he used his mind, she hadn't taken him literally. She knew he was psychic, but he... He managed to make the entire balcony collapse. That was CRAZY. How powerful WAS this guy? If what he had said was true -- that his job was to monitor the Zarethian Hand, she was afraid -- really afraid -- to know how weak she really was in comparison.

Picking herself up, she was ready to follow his lead. Reloading her weapon, she kept her eyes pealed for more security.

--

Yairhoff, the blonde girl, and Jon Pierre were well on the way to a safe room now, as Jon Pierre, on a hallway on the second story, typed a few buttons on his phone before the wall slid open to reveal a hidden set of stairs down below the first floor directly to a basement. As the three started down the stairs, the trap door closed behind them.

[Beware Ye Who Enter Here]

"Your fear is good." He said absentmindedly as he walked through the maze of rooms. "It is motivational. They're afraid too, but they think they may be safe. They're wrong." He followed their trail of emotions and it led up to the trapdoor. Isoldr frowned and tapped on the metal, it wasn't too strong for him to break, but it was more effort then he cared to use on it. Instead, he took out a small, intricate cylinder about the size of his hand and pressed a button. With a snap-hiss, a incandescent blade of energy appeared, ruby red and pulsing with power. Isoldr channeled some of his concentration into it and then sliced an X into the door. Smirking, he kicked it down and proceeded after his prey.

[K2]

Kveta was mainly silent, alert, as she followed him through the rubble, to the second story, and through the various halls and rooms. When they got to the trap door, she watched in awe. He easily brought down the door with his blade, which would have impressed her if she hadn't just seen him collapse an entire balcony without lifting a finger only moments prior. She made sure her weapon was ready as she followed him into the dark passageway staircase.

They were about half way down when there was a rattle as something from below hit a stair near them. Rattle, rattle.