Shelter??? ((eliza/slade))

[sephiroth]

The mysterious creature known as bittingston had lead charlie and jericho to a warehouse roughly 2 days ago or was it only a few hours ago. Charlie couldn't really tell how long it had been since she had gone unconscious, but she had woken up underground following the strange creature that ended up saving them. She could only assume since both she and jericho were alive, after that strange man had assaulted them.

Bittingston had led them to a strange hide out somewhere, she really didn't know where. She had ditched her cell phone at the sight of the unmarked van outside her office at the New york University. She was now paranoid to remain as unconnected as possible since she didn't know how deep these people she had worked for were connected.

She regretted taking that contract with the DOD now that she realized what they had done. She had mulled over this all until bittingston had led them to and left them at an abandoned warehouse somewhere in the middle of who knew where.

She felt it should be safe considering the creature before them, it had left some time ago to go find....she couldn't make out its words. It had left them definitely in a place that seemed at least as if had been in inhabited at one point. There was canned food, a small cot, and some raggedy blankets that made a sort of bed.

She sat in a corner off away from any doors or places of entry. The big werewolf followed and leaned next to her as she removed its helmet and scratched the things fur. It was a few hours before she eventually fell asleep unaware of the creatures the might still inhabit this old warehouse.

((Slade and Eliza))

((OOC: Talked this with nemo kins about what was going on and where he would lead these two. Tried to do my best not to puppet bitty and just describe where he took them. We talked about this for several days and he oked it.))

[slade]

For a while Slade looked at his destination, the irony of it all was not foreign to him at all as he peered up at the warehouse against the dirty gray sky, it's rusty roof scratching the mist that rolled in wafting gently in the blowing wind. He gazed up upon it and strode forward, his feet kicking up clouds of dust the settled in his wake, his gray boots turning rust red.

His posture was calm and collected as he reached out to the door and eased it open, he did not bother with stealth but neither did he kick it open, each motion was calculated, practiced, a man who moved not with arrogance, but with sheer nearly overwhelming confidence in all he did. He had forged himself upon the anvil of life and death and in the route not found himself wanting. His one eye pierced the gloom within the warehouse and he gazed upon the inhabitants within. It was surprising, a werewolf, and actual werewolf in power armor, only a idiot scientist would have thought that idea up... that or a six year old... He corrected himself, only the boy or the idiot would have thought of it and decide to make it an actuality.

He looked at the two seated on the warehouse floor and raised his eyebrow. He was careful to keep his voice neutral but his posture and his stance was someone in charge, in a word... he was broadcasting "Alpha" as loudly as he could. His voice was low, pleasant but in charge. He first looked out the door and gazed at his apprentice making sure she remembered to stay outside till he called for her, that settled he turned back to the others.

"Welcome you two. I believe you have been expecting me."

With care he entered the warehouse, each silent footstep putting him closer to the two, the human and the wolf.

"Now then little red and big bad, I understand you have landed yourself in a mess of trouble..."

Slade crossed the warehouse to a fallen beam and sat down upon it, perching his elbows on his knees and steepaling his fingers before his face as he looked at them, his gaze from one eye seeming to fill the room.

"Now in case you are wondering my name is Slade and as of this moment on I am your best friend. I can help you keep ahead of your pursuit, help you keep control, and maybe even give you back your humanity from time to time... now are there question? Because I want to make this absolutely clear, get things worked out, because my apprentice is outside and if she comes in and gets so much as nibbled on I will get upset, suddenly, and violently, and quite possibly all over the place... now that is clear any questions while my apprentice makes tea?"

[echidna]

Eliza nodded to her Master - she had been pre-instructed, and wore her mask for the occasion. An aura of dominance was what Slade wanted to give off in this, to let them know who was helping who, to make clear who was in charge. Dignified mystery. Yes, that would do. Eliza stood in the cold, and kept the two Vivems she'd brought with them in the periphery of her own perception, one in the scaffolding of half-completed construction, the other lurking somewhere around an old, abandoned scrapyard. Both of them were alert, and idly weaving webs, as they had done the last time she was here - she knew all too well that it was their equivalent of chewing bubblegum on a job - helped the nerves.

The Broodmother took notes on the rest of the minions she'd placed near here. She reached out... where was the first Vivem? She was still here, wasn't she? The Queen? She'd moved some distance away - Eliza had given her the run of the place while she was gone, in case she had to come here again one day... like today, for example. She reached out with tendrils of thought... and something met her halfway, accepting her so gladly.

It called Eliza mother, and she smiled. Something loomed in the darkness of the blizzard-stricken night. It was a vivem... odder than a normal one, its carapace a ghostly white color and gracefully fluted and intricately shaped as it half-revealed itself from the shades of the wild storm. The other two vivems hiding in the darkness scuttled and dared not approach her, this one they called, in the Broodmother's head, their Queen.

"You've grown, Indrani..."

She knew, and gave a brief chronicle of her growth to Eliza. The Broodmother smiled at this, and reached out to gently touch over the chitinous crest of her face.

"I have learned much under him, my daughter. Don't fear for me - you're doing wonderfully... keep up the good work." she rewarded her firstborn daughter with a kiss, and the creature scuttled off into hte night, dissapearing easily into the storm, letting Eliza shift her focus back upon the meeting.

Indrani again spoke in her way to her, something to the effect of 'Welcome back, mother - it was good to see you again', without words, but images and sounds set in context, just the right frame to be understood perfectly, regardless of language.

[sephiroth]

Charlie woke up when she heard the sounds of footsteps and the clanking moving of a warehouse door opening up. She sighed she felt horrible not just for loosing her job but for ruining her own life. Granted something had to have been done to stop that company and she had done what she could. She had whipped most of the research data only keeping a copy on a small flash drive which was dangling on a necklace with her car keys.

She could tell that this man wasn't someone to be trifled or taken lightly. She stood up and brushed herself off a little bit. She had briefly understood something about "Gurrting elp..." Which she had assumed meant "getting help." In all honesty though she hadn't been expecting someone to get to them, and make such a grand entrance.

"Yes sir we have." Charlie replied respectfully almost saluting or bowing a bit out of force of habit. This person reminded her of one of the military advisers who oversaw her work at the department of defense. "Well Yes we have....ummm....." She didn't know what to say other than answering honestly when he had made the comment about them landing in trouble. Granted she had landed her self into this mess and unfortunately the way things turned out jericho was along for the ride.

The werewolf raised its hackles a bit when it saw Slade then backed down suddenly and seemed to take a few steps back. This man had a strange scent about him. It wasn't just the smell of blood and battle those he was used to it was something more, something wrong twisted. It was hard to really describe all jericho knew is this man caused him to whimper almost like some scared pup yet, it also stirred some of his primal instincts in such a way that there was no way he couldn't just try to challenge the man before them, in fact he seemed to suddenly become submissive.

The addition of the strange spider creatures surrounding them also didn't help with the sense of dominance radiating from Slade, It could catch their strange scent but was weary of them. The smelled dangerous to say the lease.

Charlie was rather surprised by the werewolf's behavior when he backed down from this man in the mask. She knew deep down that there would be no trouble though it did worry her a little. What kind of man was he, to make a werewolf back down. She had seen the video files of the being right next to her cutting tanks appart with his dragons teeth, or turning a man into mush with a single punch. yet here he was acting like a scared puppy, it was unsettling to say the least.

"No questions at all Slade." she answered for them both though the werewolf's submissive posture was more than enough to answer for both of them. "My name is Doctor Cross." she answered back. "How do you know so much about our situation?" she was surprised that anybody knew about their pursuers, and the incident.

she herself thought they would have covered it up like did with everything else. Then again since fleeing she hadn't seen so much as a tv or cell phone in days or was it hours she couldn't really remember. Just the thought of this whole mess was enough to make her dizzy and she sat back down against the wall her head aching like no migraine she had ever had in her life.

[slade]

Slade smiled within his helmet and continued to stare at the two, unblinking, this was a precarious situation even for him. He had to make absolutely sure the wolfen knew he was on top, could not hesitate, could not relax. Not till he was satisfied... but he was glad she asked that question, it showed she was not easily cowed and was thinking. It was a good question and he treated it as such. He waved one hand to the side magnanimously.

"A fair question. Lesson one and do pay attention, I don't like to repeat myself often. Knowledge is power and I have a variety of sources of that sort of power, in this situation I relied on my appentice and her... friend to learn of you, and once I learned of you I did some researched, dug pretty deep and found some interesting things... much to interesting to let either of you go to waste so I intructed her to have her pet lead you somewhere."

The hand held out snapped twice, the sound piercing the silence of the warehouse like a lance.

"Speaking of my apprentice, Eliza be a good girl will you and come here."

Without taking his eye off the two he indicated the girl.

"This is Eliza, also known as Broodmother, my apprentice, my pride, my joy... anything she tells you you might regard it as coming from my mouth... or not. Your choice. She created your friend mister... bitey was it Eliza? Yes, Bitey. Her close friend and creation. She is quite good at creating useful beings... Eliza, tell the good people about yourself, and tell me what you have figured out on your own about their situation. Use your eyes and brain, what you have learned and what you observe now."

Every moment with Slade was a test with quite the learning curve.

[echidna]

Eliza walked into the room. It wasn't that her mask was hideous - indeed, it was stylish, with red lenses over the eyes that glowed very faintly in the light, her face completely covered, lending her a kind of mystery. It wasn't that her clothing was all that intimidating - the too-long sleeves of the tunic, armored about the chest and shoulders, but especially around the neck in bombsquad fashion - it was.. perhaps marginally cute? She held herself like a princess, showed no fear, but no ego.

She was also barely sixteen. All of these factors combined to tell volumes of a girl who did not mess around.

"Mr. Bitey, yes." she answered her master's first question with a quiet, but clear voice, just a hint of smile, the faintest tinkling of pleasure present there. Those big, glowing lenses of her mask turned to Charlie, then to Jericho in turn. She knew the woman was in control - it wasn't the same as her control over the creatures that, even now, lurked in the shadows, just in the periphery of her vision, as was her style. She came to stop abreast and behind him, fading in from the shadows to plain view.

The trick was... putting people at ease while not revealing too much, Eliza told herself reassuringly, and spoke after a moment. "I had Mr. Bitingston lead you here, to this place... because I used to stay here, before this man took me under his wing." she began. A truth. She had no intention of sharing her life story, but that much she owed them, she felt. One debt squared away, hm? She continued.

"When he says created, however... that is not an exaggeration, I assure you. Some of my Children -" she spoke with some emphasis on children "- you have seen already. Mr. Bitingston, for example, is the firstborn of one species I have created. There are others similar to him and more yet you've not seen, but... all in good time, yes?" she said, adding a bit of sladelike flair to how she said it. He was a bad influence on her, she noted with some bemusement.

Now to Slade's question.

"She and the wolf are in a situation... similar to my own, when we first met. It takes me back a few months, Sensei." she began with a hint of restrained mirth... mostly toward Slade. "The corporation and their well-fed dogs wait with lethal intent even as we speak at her apartment... her car has been rigged to explode, one of my children is as we speak satisfying his urge to chew on a human femur belonging to one Dog who thought he might seek a promotion by following her - he did not have a chance to call it in - and there isn't a soul aside us here in this room for miles..."

She paused a moment, then added "...aside my progeny, of course."

[sephiroth]

Charlie watched this whole reaction with an obviously surprised look on her face. Then again it was surprising to find out that your whole life had been turned upside down, that there was a corporation that didn't exist officially trying to kill you. Then the fact that there had apparently been a bomb in her car and then there was the mysterious man who had apparently been chomped by a sibling of the Mr. Bitey if things were to be believed.

Charlie had immediately picked up that Slade was not a man to be messed with in any situation. She also picked up on his little subtleties like the fact he was constantly testing Eliza, and that the same might extend to her. She understood that, it would be no different than working with her old company. She also understood that no help came for free.

"Well thank you both, now what can or will i be expected to do in return?" She said rather bluntly. If there was one thing charlie hated it was going into something without understanding or knowing what those repercussions may or may not be.

Her normally gentle eyes were hard and focused on the conversation at hand now that she knew or at least had an idea of who she was dealing with. She knew she would have to be careful but she didn't want to make the same mistake she had made before. "You can't have me believe that this hospitality isn't going to have some price. Not that it isn't appreciated." she said in a surprisingly hard voice, she wanted to get strait to the business end of this whole affair now that the dust had settled. 'no more mistakes' she thought to herself as she waited for Slade's reply though part of her hoped she hadn't been too rude.

The werewolf kept its body in the low signs of submission though it was surprised his mother seemed to be handling the situation. It could still smell those weird spider creatures and was keeping out of the conversation for the most part. Though it did walk to charlie and tried to make itself seem slightly smaller than normal. This was a situation it was unused to finding itself in, the wolf ears flicked a bit as it watched the spider things around it with uneasiness, as if it could see them perfectly fine. It was only able to do so because of the mechanical eyes that were now present revealing the movements of the spider things as well as illuminating their outlines.

[slade]

Slade smiled withing the confines of his mask, a slow movement of his hands conveyed a sense of his amusement as a bit of his primal sense backed up a bit assured he had the situation under his control. He slowly stood and walked over to his apprentice and looked down at her approvingly. Slowly and deliberately he put a hand on her helmeted head and patted it in appreciation. As he took it off he gazed on the two newcomers.

"She is the pride of my autumn years, she might end up being the most clever of the apprentices I have had, one was too rebellious, too ungrateful, another too self interested... but she strikes a good balance... and she sees the core of things."

He gazed at them in silence for a moment and then once again gestured amusement.

"As do you I see. I will not deny it, I do require help, help from both of you if you will. I will not force you, if you don't want my help feel free to leave now, or later... I do warn you, if you betray me at a crucial junction though... I will be most disappointed."

The warmth in his voice drained in a second, replaced by a dark anger-less chill that emanated from him like an aura before it faded almost instantly. His posture once more friendly he began to walk slowly toward them both.

"You see... I am smart, I am very smart, so very smart, I can see a war on the horizon, a war where no one will be able to take a stance on the fence, people will have to choose sides... and I intend the winning side to be my own. My allies, my forces, my apprentice... but I need more then I have right now to win in the coming storm. I need science, a cutting edge above the rest... that is where you come in..."

His feet took him to three feet in front of the woman, charlie. He looked at her calmly and slowly his gaze shifted to the wolf cowering behind her.
"And I need muscle, dependable soldiers that will be loyal to me and my cause... that is where he comes in. I am not asking you to help me for free, without profit. I am willing to pay, in goods, in safety, in a place to research and help with research. I have resources... with my help at the very least we will be able to find him a way to be human at least some of the time once more... maybe even more then that. All I require is time and services, and loyalty. Does any of that sound unreasonable?"

[sephiroth]

Charlie thought for a few minutes looking at slade, his voice there was something enticing in that voice. It resonated with her as well she couldn't explain why the man was so charismatic. She had met few figures like slade and she doubted she would ever meet someone like him.

"no it doesn't sound unreasonable." Charlie replied thinking as she answered him slowly. she had more pros than she had cons in this arrangement and there were so many reasons why. She had already made her mind up for the most part to help but she didn't want slade to think this was an easy choice. He might get suspicious, and so she weight her options more carefully.

First she could continue her research unabated how she wanted. There would be few interruptions from military officials and bureaucrats. She could also focus her attention on her specialties and possibly help jericho recover his mind. All he required was a little help from her and the werewolf. That wasn't illogical nor was it unexpected.

Second she could get access to resources, materials and even have help from slade himself. She sighed to herself and weighed the options before her, she could hide with slade and join him, in research building, and help him in the upcoming war. Or she could run, even if she made it she couldn't be expected to live for more than a few months. She sighed to herself and decided logic played into slades favor as well as her own.

All of these thoughts wound through her head in about 30 seconds. She was worried that she might seem too eager if she answered right away. She waited another agonizing minute before answering. "Well since it seems we are in need of each other, i suppose it can't be helped. I agree to your terms slade....." She sighed and removed her necklace with her keys ect. She dropped off her office keys, lab keys, apartment key, and left only a series of tags which happened to be 5 flash drives of copied information she had stolen from the company.



The werewolf listened to the conversation and whimpered still unnerved by the giant armored spider things in the room. It heard the conversation and gave a nod that supposedly said "very well." it watched with some trepidation but even jericho had to admit to himself that the deal was amiable.


"Call this a show of good faith slade." charlie said as she pressed her glasses up against her face as they were almost falling off. She spun the flash drive tags around in the air a few times before letting go of the necklace and throwing it to him. She sighed and shook her head, it really didn't matter to her what was on the hard drives or how it was used. The schematics inside did very little good, they were weapons they were meant to kill.

They also weren't part of her work, she was already a traitor her main concern was her research with jericho, going back to medical studies, and stuff associated with biology. Not the development of weapons meant to destroy and kill as effectively as possible, not that she couldn't improve on the designs nor that she couldn't make said devices.

[slade]

As the flash drives flew towards him, Slade did not move, did not blink, and then all of a sudden his hand was there right in the path of them holding them gently, almost cradling them curiously in his hand. he slowly lowered his eye from her gaze and regarded the flash drives for half a second before returning his gaze to the scientist and gently lobbing them to his apprentice. Always testing, simple reflex test this time, and a job.

"Keep those safe till we get back to base Eliza... I would be displeased if something happened to them."

As he turned on the two he smirked within his helm, honestly he was willing to bet the scientist had back ups but a little pressure on a normally simple assignment would keep her more aware, always test, always push. His feet still not making noise he headed to the exit of the warehouse.

"I'll go get the truck, we... borrowed it for the occasion, should get us pass the patrols pretty easy and fit Eliza and her pets and you inside the trailer relatively comfortably."

On the other side they would also be relatively uncomfortable but small price to pay after all.