Visiting the toymaker(Blue)[Complete]

This was not a good week, that is what Solomon had decided. Next time Delvin called with a job the answer was going to be no. He wasn't even going to listen to what it was. Just a strait up no and then hang up. Then he wouldn't have trouble like the last job he had to do. With that thought in mind, the thief settled down to have a nice, pleasureful afternoon of reading. And of course that is when the phone rang. Looking at the number, Styx sighed and then answered.

"No Delvin." He said simply and started to pull the phone away from his ear.

"WAIT, 15k...." Solomon paused, he really shouldn't. He had told himself he wouldn't. Whenever Delvin called there was trouble on the job... But he always paid in the end as well.

"OK, you have one minute." He said slowly, looking at his watch and marking the time.

"There is this chick that works for the corps and she invents a lot of stuff. I got a client that wants something out of her lab and he doesn't care how. Your the best thief I know, so you got dibs. Consider it a return for the favor I owe you. Easy money and lots of it." Delvin took a deep breath while Solomon slowly considered the fixer's words.

"What's the catch Delvin?" He finally asked slowly.

"Just that it has to be done in the next two days. Apparently after that the chick will have finished and sent in her work."

This sounded too easy and strait forward for that much money. It really didn't make much sense. "How bad will the corp-sec be?" Maybe the woman had a lot of corporate security around her place. After all, if she was a prize inventor then of course her corp would take care of her.

"Almost nonexistent from what I know, really is a cake walk." Delvin was sounding hopeful again.

"Fine, I'll do it. But Delvin, if there is something that you think I should know before I do this, then you better tell me. Because if you don't and I find out, I am going to shoot you." Solomon paused as he listened to silence over the phone.

"Nope, should be clean and simple. Just like I said."

The second evening on top of a roof. Last night the job can be completed

This woman never left. She didn't even seem to sleep. She had been at her desk constantly for the past 48 hours, only taking brief bathroom breaks and to grab a little food to bring to where she was working. 10 minutes, that was all he needed. 10 freaking minutes where she stepped outside to get some air and he could slip in and get what the client wanted.

It was starting to look like the only thing he could do would be barge through the front door and screw the noise. That was not how a professional should work. In and out clean, with no alarm given and him away scott free with the goods. But unless something changed, that wasn't going to happen.

He almost didn't notice that she had stopped moving at her desk from his vantage point. Checking his binoculars, he noted her head was down on her desk. {Finally, your asleep. And after that much time I could probably make enough noise to wake the neighborhood and still not wake you.}

Moving quickly and quietly, Solomon climbed down the fire escape of the building he had gone up to get a good view into the lab. It was easy enough to get to the front door unseen and with a little fiddling at the front alarm panel he was in. The place was deserted except for the one woman that happened to be right where the thief needed to go.

The lights were still on, she had been working before she had passed out. Solomon checked the ski mask he had on to make sure it covered everything important, just in case. Knowing his luck, he moved over to the desk as quietly as he could and... Yep, there was what he was after. It was under the arms of the woman that had invented it. Now, he could... was that toy owl looking at him?

Almost done.... Blue's mind reminded her of this as she fought off sleep again. She had been working on this stupid invention for a week. After three prototypes, one of which had burned her hand in a bad and nasty way.. she had finally mastered the idea and how to execute it.

Some thought inventing was easy. That you just thought up an idea, bought the parts, and made it. But it wasn't that easy. It was all about how things worked. Whether of mana or electricity. How to power it was one of the harder things to figure out. How to make the gears run properly, how to make it function like it was supposed to. That was all harder. Hence the white bandage around her left hand. But she was still working hard, cranking this sucker out so she could take it to the boss man tomorrow morning when she woke up.

Probably closer to afternoon.

Blue tightened the final screw that secured the outter shell of the new pistol to the metal gun underneath and dropped the screwdriver with a loud clap on the table rubbing her eyes. She yawned, looking over at Albert where he perched on a little piece of wood that served as his rest. He had a cord that was currently plugged into the wall as he was charging but awake so that he was on alert. She wanted to clean the device. Grabbing a rag and a bit of her special polishing cream she set about on doing just that. Laying her head on the table as she worked the cream into the metal and the plastic making it shiney little by little.

The world slowly faded to black.

Blue fell asleep with the half polished pistol underneath her arms and a polishing rag in one of her slender hands. Her hair was up in a messy half bun up on her head the blue and black streaked tresses were a mess but somehow they always were unless she put a lot of effort into it. Her skin while pale was streaked here and there with bits of grease and dirt. She had been up for a while. Wearing a simple pair of jeans and a black tshirt.

The owl watched the intruder. Taking pictures, not that it would help since the man's face was covered but he was programmed to do what he was programmed to do. As he watched the man come closer to Blue he looked at the man. Following his every move. Small movements of his face as he turned to follow the man. Until he gave a soft little chirp.

Blue's eyes shot open. Intruder. Pictures downloaded instantly into her mind. He had a face mask. Was rather large in frame, and seemed intent on something. She just wasn't sure what. She had to admit, she had not been broken into frequently. Blue was armed, she always was, and she wasn't stupid enough not to have other weapons hidden around the lab. But she was even better armed than just her normal gun. She had her creation on her. Wrapping her hand around the grip of the weapon she turned and pointed it at the intruder in what she hoped was a very fast move.

Who are you and why are you in my lab? I'm fairly sure that door was locked.

The owl chirped and sleeping beauty shot awake. Well so much for the idea that she would sleep like the dead for a while. Now he was facing a wide awake, apparently pissed off lead inventor with a gun in her hands. This week was getting better by the minute.

{Congratulations Styx, you proved incompetent enough that you can't sneak up on one sleeping scientist. You really are the BEST thief around.} Even as these thoughts raced through his head, Solomon stood up strait with his arms crossed in front of him. His aura flexed as he poured a little magic into the air.

"Me, I'm in here because that..." An image formed in his head in an instant. It wasn't something he imagined, though he was creating it. Bits of junk, papers, and half finished devices were swirling into a humanoid form like a Golem and the thing was now holding a sign saying 'Your working too hard Blue, what about your family and friends.' With a small push of will Solomon pointed at a spot that should just be outside of Blue's current vision, but close enough that she could turn her head and see without taking her eyes completely off Solomon. Sound were just appearing at the edge of hearing, though the spell wouldn't really take affect and create the distraction until Blue actually looked at it and gave it some of her attention. "Let me in here." He finished with a small frown of disapproval. If that worked he would continue.

"As for who I am, take a guess. Here are a few clues. One..." He raised up a hand and ticked off his fingers as he made his arguments. He was guessing at this point, but a few guesses with what he had seen shouldn't be too much of a stretch. "Your dead tired from working more then two days strait... Again. Two, your in your lab with someone dressed like a thief now lecturing you about not stepping outside for even a minute, and barely taking time to do necessary things like eat, use the bathroom or even talk to anyone. And three, there is your half finished works, notes, and rubbish telling you they're concerned for you. Can you tell me WHAT I am now?"

Now the woman was probably one smart cookie normally, she was a lead inventor for a corporation after all. But she was also a lead inventor that had been up for over 48 hours strait and just woken up after maybe 15 minutes of sleep. That would make almost anyone as groggy as hell and a little slower in the mental two-step. He really hoped this worked for another reason as well. If it didn't then it would probably come down to violence. And while the thief could do what he had too, he really would like to avoid that option if he could. And not just because the lovely young inventor was the one holding a gun to his chest.

She had officially gone nutters.

How would she explain this to her mother.

Well her mother wouldn't care so long as she went nutters living in a tree and eating berries and being all things elven. Her father might care, Blue had a feeling that while he didn't come right out and say it, he was rather proud of his daughter and her accomplishments. Blue didn't really forsake her elven side, she just didn't bother to worry about it too much.

But right now. Shit was flying around her office. Blue blinked several times. Her lovely blue and green swirled eyes were watching everything and widening by the moment. She couldn't help but watch, she was so shocked. Her eyes shifted to the side, to see the golem standing there. How could this thing have let a man in. She read the sign it held and her eyes quickly flittered back to the man in seconds.

She widened her stance. But you could see in her eyes that she was very unsure of what was going on. What she was supposed to really be doing here. Why.. this.. man and this.. paper/mechanical.. thing had let him in. Her brows furrowed. Blue was a lovely girl, standing at five feet nine inches even with her hair a mess she had the elven beauty and grace just placed under a layer of grime and grease.

The man began to count. Listing off numbers of why he was here. Only serving to confuse her sleep deprived brain for a while. Blue was halucinating. It had to be. She hadn't slept in a while, and she couldn't actually remember the last thing she ate. Maybe a twinkie for dinner. It was a one very unladylike bite of food and the carbs and suger helped her go on for a while. But the point of the matter was.. she was totally high on something. No sleep.. something she ate.. maybe that twinkie was laced with something.

Blue's knees bent and she sat back in her chair. The gun in her lap but also still in her hands. She looked at the man, so curiously. Not really sure what to say or think about him. He told her that he was let in by the Paper Beast...

Why are you wearing a mask? I should think you would not need such a thing. If you were let in by someone here.

Her eyes flittered back over to the golem. Taking in the beast created by crap around her lab. Her lab was filled with crap everywhere. That was her life, collecting, sorting, and organizing crap until she found a use for it and then turning said crap into something extremely useful.

So... why are you here then... I'm confused.

His mind was racing now that it looked like he wasn't going to be shot in the next few seconds. Styx managed to keep a stern gaze on his face as he spoke in a dry and sarcastic tone. "I don't know Blue, maybe you view anyone coming into your lab as 'breaking in'. And what else is someone breaking in suppose to wear?"

He had to keep her a little off balance for this to work, he needed her thoughts to be more on her life then the fact that he was in her lab talking to her. Hopefully by the time they were done he would be able to just walk out of the lab quite as a mouse, with the gun of course. He might be taking the long road for this job, but he was a professional.

Now that he could get a good look at her and he didn't have a gun waving in his general direction he could tell that Blue was a beautiful girl. Sure she had dirt and grease on her face, but living in the Slums he had seen many times worse on the unwashed homeless and he knew she had been working long, long hours on her project. Not that he was studying her face because he found her attractive, he was on the job after all. He had to read her carefully so he didn't say the wrong thing. The getting to look at her was just a pleasant little side bonus.

"After all, this is your sanctuary. This is the place where you know how everything works or figure out how to make it work. Machines are strait forward and simple to you, not like people." Now this was a gamble. The girl obviously had brains and beauty so maybe he was just seeing her when she wasn't being the life of the party because she both worked hard AND played hard. But no one had visited in those past 48 hours. No one had even bothered to check on the lead inventor of a Corporation. He had to wonder if she even had any friends here. And if she didn't have friends at the place she spent most of her time, then how many did she have outside of it?

He slid over so he could lean on the desk with his arms crossed in front of him. What the distraction, as the creature wasn't just an illusion despite not being real, had said on its sign got him thinking. "I mean seriously Blue, what's it take for people to actually get to see you. Tell me your last three times you had actual conversations with people NOT related to work. Then tell me what it took for those people to get those conversations."

Blue's brows furrowed.

In a way the apparition was right. She didn't like people in her lab, she was most secretive when it came to her lab. Not to mention, that she was the kind of person that really preferred her privacy. Especially, when she was working. Most of the time when she was in the heart of a creation she didn't even take phone calls from her family. A fact that they hated but when she was in she could barely pull herself back out enough to care.

Blue had passion, so few did these days.

Her mind was slowly coming to the realization though that she had not yet called in her biggest resource. The lab itself. While he continued to talk to her, her mind was already connected to the vast array of wires, systems, and chips that lay behind the walls, under the floors, and through out the labs. In her mind, the video feed was playing as the man moved to stand beside her desk crossing his arms. Talking about how she never saw her family. Never went anywhere. And asked her about the last time anyone really talked to her because of who she was, or just because of work.

She watched, in her mind, in seconds, fast feed, that he came in and no creature let him in. He had come in on his own. Her hand shifted and she was up, whirled, and pointed the gun at him once more. Her eyes were more lucid now. His dream making was over, at least that's what she thought of it in her mind. Albert shifted, and one of his eyes slid to the side to reveal a gun barrel pointed at the back of the man. A large pnuematic hiss, several in fact, sounded as guns deployed from the ceiling to point at him.

What do you want? You broke in here, I could have your hide for this. No one would even think twice if your blood stained the floors of my lab. As you can imagine, it would add a little extra color around here.

Her eyes were cold, the guns were pointed at him and any move he made they moved with him. She could not imagine how he was going to be able to get out of this but she wouldn't put it past him. Thank goodness she was able to tap into her external systems without having to do very much. A little finger twitch and she had been in. Now he was in trouble.

Solomon blinked at the suddenness of the girl whirling on him, bringing her gun to bear. Several hisses came from all around him and the thief turned his head slowly as he glanced at multiple weapons trained on him from different parts of the lab. A glance over his shoulder showed that even the small toy owl had a gun trained on him. His head slowly turned back to Blue and as he met her eyes he flared his magic to step between seconds.

The world froze in the moment of time where his eyes were locked with cold blue orbs. His thoughts were no longer racing as he waited here. He could technically wait here for all eternity if he wanted too, except for the fact that when he fell asleep he would snap back into time. If he didn't need to sleep he could wait here for eternity would probably be a better way of putting that.

{Well, I guess that plan was a bust, so how about it Blue if I asked you nicely for your newest toy would you give it to me?} If he could have, Solomon would have shook his head. Plan A, sneaking in, had failed. Plan B, make shit up as he went along, had also failed it seemed. That left plan C, because plan D nobody wanted to come around. he didn't want to do it and others didn't want what would result from the plan.

The question was, what was controlling the guns around the lab. Was it a computer? Or was it the woman standing before him frozen in time. Or maybe it was a computer being directed by the woman. It made a difference. On one hand, if it was a computer that was directing the guns... shit, if it was and he did that then when the computer fired it would be Blue riddled with bullets. Well she was the one pointing weapons at him, but then again he was the one that broke into her lab. Really was only fair he supposed, he always knew that was a risk in the job description. Unfortunately he did have a job to do, so do it he would.

For all he knew the damn spell wouldn't even work right, or maybe it would make the turrets target each other. And maybe she had direct control over the turrets through cybernetics or magic. He knew that that spell would defiantly not work if she was controlling them directly. And if she was controlling a computer that was controlling the weapons... Hell that might even be worse, he didn't know what would happen then. Maybe they would both be shot, maybe the computer would explode from the conflicts of whatever she was doing to control the turrets and his pushing Chaos into the system.

But the alternatives were too sit here and wait for whatever security Blue called... Or had she already alerted them when the guns popped out? Again Styx did a mental shake of the head where he couldn't do a physical one. That didn't matter, assuming corp-sec was alerted he had about 10-15 minutes before a rapid response team was on site. So he was going to have to start that clock now. If he surrendered they would see his face and his life would get a lot more differcult. He was fairly certain he could get away after getting out of the lab, but he would loose his prize and his identity to the guard. And all that was assuming that Blue didn't just turn him into a smear on the wall.

So, the question was did he attempt something that was probably very foolish and dangerous, but preserved what he wished to keep secret? Or did he wait and take the road that lead to a much more differcult life in the future... Really, there was only one choice in his mind. When in doubt, roll the dice. If you had to go out, go out with a bang. If you won, victory was all the sweeter. An idea started forming in his head and if he could of he would of grinned, hell even the lovely young lady currently frozen in time in front of him would probably survive if she hesitated for just a second. That's what he needed, one extra second and he knew where to get it too.

Composing himself so his new found confidence didn't feel like it was straining against the carefully neutral face he had adopted when all the weapons were pointed at him he stepped back into the flow of time. To Blue it would seem like he did a smooth pan to the weapons and then back to her, never mind the many minutes he had spent in thought. Very slowly, so not to disturb Blue and cause her to squeeze the trigger because of sudden movement, he moved his hand and point to where the distraction Golem was. Aren't you forgetting him. And Solomon reinvested some magic into the Golem.

Now all in all, the distraction was harmless. It was real, well real enough. But generally they could do no more harm then maybe a slap, a poke, a touch, or things of that nature. And as Blue turned more attention to Solomon the distraction was starting to fade. However with the reinvestment of magic and if Blue gave it even the slightest bit of attention it would regain what it had lost and then some. The Golem would seem more menacing, more dangerous as what seemed like sharp metal formed near the hands. The noises it made would sound threatening and generally it would do what a distraction did and draw eyes and attention. Even if it was for a split second.

If Blue did get even a little bit distracted, then Solomon would push out with his second spell to everything pointing a gun at him. Even if it didn't work properly, it might delay the reaction just a little so that the guns wouldn't have a chance to fire before he acted. If Blue glanced in the Golem's direction Styx would snap the hand that was pointing at the Golem around and slam the edge of his hand into Blue's wrist to knock the gun out of line with his body before the hand tried to close on Blue's wrist. His other hand would sweep under his jacket and pull out the revolver he had concealed under there and level it at the center of Blue's chest.

And if all that worked... He would hold that pose, keeping his own gun trained on Blue before he spoke. "Tell you what, how about you put away the guns in the ceiling and the little toy owl. You and I put the guns in our hands in the drawer of this desk and we have a conversation in a civil like manner before we end up killing each other. Because while I don't care for dieing, I prefer that to capture."

For a second, they stared at each other.

His gaze and hers, locked, and she wondered what was going through his mind. With almost twenty guns pointed at him. She didn't count, didn't need to, five would easily do the job. They were on rotary motors that would allow them to point at a 360 degree angle no matter where he went, a gun could be trained on him. She had purposefully made sure there wasn't a single blind spot in this lab. Because even if she had to die, it would be better than letting New Dawn's creations, blueprints, and ideas out into the open word where it could be sold among other things.

She wasn't even thinking about the golem creature off to the side. He was just some sort of beast, but the thing was he had barely moved since her attention had first been drawn to him. Now, she was focused on the man in front of her. Mentally, she thought about alerting the guys that were security of the many buildings that New Dawn owned. But in the same breath, she didn't really feel like she was out of her league. It might be safer to do just that, but .. she wanted to take care of her own problems on her own.

The beast shifted, and she tapped into the camera system in her mind and saw that it had turned into a much uglier much more ferocious beast. Seriously!? Her eyes shifted, as if to make sure that it was really true when in that split second that her eyes were diverted he knocked the gun out of her hand. The tingles up her arm made it obvious he had hit her right at the wrist over-stimulating the nerves there making them release their hold on whatever she was holding.

She looked up at him as he now had a gun on her. Quickly she ordered Albert to grab the gun, she wasn't as worried about herself as she was about her creation. The gun pointing at her chest was just an unfortunate side effect. Albert lifted up and swooped in, taking the gun up and off into the rafters hiding in them easily. Blue's eyes shifted down to the gun pointed at her chest and then back up as the man mentioned that he wanted to put their guns away and talked.

A single sable brow rose on her face.

Sure, sure. You remove your mask. And that gun. We can have a nice chat. I do not think that is too much to ask for. If you really are willing to have a chat instead of turning into an unbecoming stain on my precious walls.

The ball was in his court, Albert returned, the gun was hidden and he sent the message of where into her mind. Her gaze didn't falter. It was amazing being able to communicate with all mechanics around you. His gun. Had a microchip in it too. They all seemed to these days. Her fingers twitched and in seconds downloaded the blueprints, she read them in seconds, and she put a small block on his gun. Oh he wouldn't notice anything different until he tried to shoot her with it. It wouldn't work. The safety mechanism was locked in place.

Such a shame.

But it was important he didn't know this. It was more important, that he believed they could sit down, maskless, and talk. While she figured out what the hell he was doing here and then maybe.. or maybe not alert the security people.

Styx didn't follow the owl with his eyes, probably wouldn't have helped him at all anyways. He watched a single eyebrow raise at his statement and chuckled a little sadly. "Blue, this gun isn't here to kill you. It's here so you don't end up killing yourself. I don't need it, but people seem to take you more seriously and take more time to think if you have a gun pointed at them."

As he spoke he slipped his gun back into his holster. "If you don't believe me, you might want to check where your lab guns are pointing. Because they aren't pointing at me." His spell had worked on all twenty of the automatic lab defenses. He could feel the strain the magic had left on his body as his temperature had spiked 10 whole degrees from that one effort. Add in the magic he had used earlier and his body would now be at around 116 degrees.

"As for the mask, that stays on. The premise of what I am proposing is quite simple. I am a thief, not a killer. I don't kill when I don't have too. A fact that you should be thankful for because if I was the type to kill to make a job easier, then you would be dead already. There was the moment you woke up, which you reacted quite well too. But not well enough as you were still groggy. There was while I tried tricking you, where I could have easily taken you out in your confusion. And there was just now, when I could have let your own lab defenses tear you too shreds. So, for my personal code of conduct, I think that earns me at least letting me keep my mask. After all what is a thief without his mask?" And the fact it would make his life way more differcult in the long run.

If his picture was passed around then he would have to deal with Corp-sec, Librium police, and Terran guard all knowing his was the face of a bad, bad man and make it harder for him to sneak about. Oh there were things suspected about Styx to be sure, but no actual proof of his actions. He had been arrested multiple times over his 12 years of criminal behavior, it even got to court a time or two. But never did it quite work out for the police. Just one of those things, guess he still had a little luck in him.

So she didn't end up killing herself?

Blue's brows furrowed. This guy kept throwing things at her that threw her off her thought process completely. He explained that people tended to think straight when there were guns pointed at them. Seriously contemplating what it was they wanted to say or do in a situation when their life was more or less on the line. She could see his point. But when he mentioned where her own guns were pointed she cursed herself and checked on the computer. She fought the urge to roll her eyes.

She tapped into the computer and found something had messed with the aiming system. She shut down the automatic aim, in seconds, four of the six guns went back into the ceiling because she could mentally opperate two at the same time and still hold a conversation without trying. The two twisted, and found themselves pointing right back at the masked man.

Blue edged around, keeping her eyes, and the guns above locked on the man. Albert was already tapped into the New Dawn mainframe and he was ready to push the alert button. The cameras in the rafters and the like had been on as they always were and the extra ones came on the second Albert had been alerted. Though he didn't have a face, at least she had caught something on tape so far.

So, we are at an impasse then. You will not take off your mask. I cannot, in good faith, let my guns waiver. Therefore, it seems we are at a stand still. So tell me, are you willing to take the leap of faith? You are the one that broke into my lab, and you are the one that has broken all the laws, rules, and general norms of the human population. So the ball is in your court, as they say, it is all a matter of what you chose to do with it.

Blue was now leaning against a large stone pillar. To her left and right she was free and clear to move, but she felt better with the pillar against her back guarding it. Her fingers twitched from time to time, as she called on her magic to check on various things.

You came here alone. Watched me, from the roof top across the street. Waited until I fell asleep instead of coming in here to forcefully take what isn't yours to begin with. A fact I appreciate. But you have no back up coming, and I do not know if you have what it takes to get out of this without some sort of deal being made.

Blue folded her arms over her chest. Watching him with her mixed colored eyes, and her wary gaze. She was curious what he would do now.

Solomon chuckled a little as he watched most of the guns retract except for two. He glanced around at the lab and noted all the cameras watching him. Plus that stupid little toy owl. Was that thing a familiar or something? It acted way too... alive in some ways. It always seemed to do what his mistress wanted and even now was watching Solomon carefully. {So the question has to be ask, does the virginis ex machina know magic... And is that the correct way to say that. Virginis is maiden and machina is machine I believe, but no... Ex isn't 'of' is it... What is 'of' in Latin?} Shaking his head of extraneous thoughts, he returned to looking at Blue who seemed a little less cold then when this all started.

"Ah, but my dear mistress of machines, you've arrived at the point of the mask in the whole of it. See, I can see all those cameras around me and while we talk now you speak of how you can trust me. Well if I was to give you an honest answer I would say you shouldn't. I did, after all, break in to steal from you. But to get back to the original point of the mask, lets say that somehow we come to be able to completely trust one another in this meeting. Still I could not remove my mask." The thief paused for a moment, letting his words sink in before continuing. "You see, even if you were not to say a word, there would still be the video available to your corp for review. And then I would have to worry about corp-sec. And if they were to give that video to the Librium Police or the Terran Guard I would have all three to worry about. When this is done and we part ways, this meeting will have no more bearing on you. If I show my face here, my future would be a hard one indeed."

Styx stood up and stretched, a couple of joints cracking as he did so. A quick jerk of his head and his neck popped once, relieving a little tightness that had built there. He looked over to the rapidly fading distraction Golem and waved a hand. The mass of junk and papers collapsed fully, leaving a pile on the floor. But maybe, if by some miracle it does happen that we come to trust one another, then you'll have to tell me the deal with that sign. Unless it really was that you just worked to much." Styx walked over and poked the sign with his foot a little before the writing seemed to fade.

"As for your final statement, yes I came alone and it is true that I have no back up. Usually, when I don't wake up a dead exhausted inventor with apparent blunderings. I can usually sneak into most places I want to get into. And I have a deft hand at fast talking I like to think. I almost had you believing all this was a dream. And we're sitting here talking instead of you trying to turn me into a blood stain so I guess I do alright with that. And then, if it's necessary there is violence." That was the simple truth of the business. Sometimes the cards just didn't work out and you had to resort to force. "Unfortunately... I'm a lot better at violence then I would like. And the abilities I have are... indiscriminate. So I work alone and when I cut loose no one I care for gets caught up in those abilities. When I cut loose, everybody dies. Everyone, except me of course."

Styx picked up a piece of what looked like an inch thick plate of steel from what had been the Golem. It was a fairly small plate, but still heavy. Cupping his hands a little as he held the plate, Solomon willed two balls of temporal distortion into his hands. The balls immediately tore into the plate soundlessly as they formed and the inch thick steel seemed to disintegrate from Styx's touch. "That's about the best control of it I can do. When I'm touching something instead of projecting out." Which was true, he usually had to throw those balls rather then use them while they were in his hands. And while he had pretty good aim with his throw, it was still less control then placing a ball of the energy on the target.

It's annoying really, a few people keep trying to get me into wet-work... Solomon froze then for a moment. He tilted his head and looked around the lab. From what he had seen so far of this girl, it would be almost impossible for anyone to sneak in here and steal something. She somehow seemed to have enhanced senses, complete control over this lab, and that mechanical toy owl. It didn't matter whether they were magical or cybernetic, probably no one would be able to sneak in here undetected. In fact for most people it probably would have come to violence. And if it came to violence, either the thief would be dead... Or blue would be dead.

"Son-of-a-Bitch... you better not have been a part of this you asshole." Styx muttered to himself as he made mental notes of certain questions he would have to ask Delvin when he saw the little bastard next. And decide whether he really was going to kill him.

Mistress of Machines....?

Blue tilted her head to the side. She was young, lovely, and very confident when it came to her job. To see her outside of her lab was a complete rarity. She was self conscious about a lot of things, but she tended to put on a confident front because it kept most of the trouble makers away. He went back and addressed the mask. She was curious why he wouldn't take it off. His argument made sense, of course, but that didn't mean she liked it. She wasn't even sure what she was supposed to do. Technically, she should have alerted the security team the second that she woke up to find some strange man in her lab. But she hadn't. Because Blue, was not inherently violent. She was much more at home with her valves, screws, nails, and bolts. She was much happier reading a blue print and designing something amazing than she was at any sort of contact with other people.

Blue had shut herself off a long time ago.

He dismissed the golem that had made her think she was dreaming. Everything fell into a pile of rubble, not that it really looked all that different from the rest of her lab now. But she could tell that the pile had not been there before. The sign still existed until he rid the lab of that too, and he seemed curious about what the words on the sign had meant.

Blue said not a word on the matter.

The man seemed surprised that she had woken. Thankfully, she had Albert for that. He was a good device, one of the best she had created yet. If it had not been for him the man may have very well snuck in and out of her lab carting off the pistol that she had just finished creating and was due in the morning. She would have had to try to make another one, and it wouldn't have been nearly as good as the original. For the time constraints.

Yes, I have safeguards against people that sneak into my very own establishment to take what is not rightfully theirs. Imagine that.

He mentioned how dangerous he was, and went over to the pile of rubble that used to be his golem. Picking up a plate of metal she watched as he worked his magic on the plate.

Hey! I was going to use that for something!

She wasn't mad, but it got her off the pillar and about three steps closer to the masked man before she stopped and glared at him. Her eyes, a blue green mix, glared at him as her hands engulfed her tiny slender hips. She was NOT happy to lose that metal. That shit was expensive and hard to find! It wasn't as if she couldn't ask for it from New Dawn but sometimes it was the art of finding such treasures that could be used and made valuable that Blue loved the most.

You are talking to yourself. Either speak up. Or get out. I do not know what you are still doing here. What you came for, you cannot have. It seems to me your job is done. I am certain there are other places for you to be. You will not make any progress standing here talking with me. I will not give you what it is you came for.

Blue's way of speech was much more formal than most. She used single words more often instead of conjunctions and slang. It wasn't through any real effort of her own, it was merely the way she was. Maybe it was because her mother's first language was Elven and second was the common language that Blue like most second language speakers used the language more formally than most.

Styx cracked a smile at blue's sarcastic reply to the fact she had security to prevent people from breaking into her lab. And it had to be a custom job too, because he hadn't seen anything like it when he was coming in. He had gotten past most of the security without a problem, but it seems he had missed something with Blue's system. Probably that damn toy owl again. But that didn't matter now, he had other things to worry about.

Now her getting upset at the destruction of the steel plate surprised him. It hadn't looked all that important, just another piece of junk cluttering up the lab really. But then again it was her's, guess he would be upset too if someone had broken into his place and destroyed something, even if it wasn't valuable.

Actually, that happened a lot more then he would have liked since he lived in the slums. Every month or so something happened in his apartment building and occasionally it was his apartment that was targeted. Of course he knew what questions to ask and where to look so usually he got most of his stuff back if anything was taken. Sometimes he even got better stuff, sometimes worse.

"Sorry, I'll send you a replacement." Probably wouldn't cost that much, how much could a plate of metal be?

But now they were at the important part of the meeting, the part that he had to wonder how she would react too. I'm going to need to ask you a question now, because I think someone wants you dead. This job had too little details for someone who was aware enough of your projects to not to have known about your abilities." He then added dryly. "Unless you regularly brag about your latest projects in a bar or something in your off time. Something I doubt to be sure."

He walked closer to Blue in an easy, unhurried stride, stopping about an arms length away. "Would you mind telling me if one or more of these things has happened recently. One, you've recieved one or multible death threats." Styx raised his hand so one finger was in the air.

"Two" Styx raised another finger as he counted off on his hand. "you received rather persistent requests for your employment at a rival corp or elsewhere, one that may even have hinted at dire consequences or that you would regret not taking the offer. Three... Styx raised a third finger.

"You recently had a near fatal accident or were accosted by thugs of some sort for no apparent reason besides a random act of violence. And finally four... Styx's hand was almost fully open at this time.

There is someone in your company trying to push their own inventions and is constantly getting shot down in favor of your projects or would receive the very nice and prestigious position of lead inventor if you didn't have the position for whatever reason."

It was a nasty little set up if what he suspected was true. He wasn't here to steal from Blue, he was here because someone wanted to kill her. Or someone wanted to kill him. Maybe someone wanted them both dead.... Nah, no need to start getting paranoid now. Except its not paranoia if they really are out to get you.

Whatever

Blue's arms folded over her chest again. She sighed, as she rocked her weight so that it was on one hip instead of both equally. She was not happy he had destroyed such a fine sheet of metal. Those weren't as easy to come by as you might think, she had found that, and it had been a treasure. Now it was disentegrated treasure. Worthless and useless. At least he hadn't gone for a valve or something, that probably would have got him shot. Now she knew what his magic could do and the next time he geared up for something that might destroy something in her lab or be dangerous she would shoot him.

She had no reason to be endeared to him.

He changed the subject and the tone of his voice. Her brows furrowed slightly, as she listened to him telling her that someone apparently wanted her dead. Because, why else would they send him there. He was right, only a select few knew what she was working on anyway. He didn't know her well enough to know that she didn't go out at all. Much less to a bar to boast about her latest creations. She didn't even tell Jack about her creations, anything that had to do with New Dawn was something she considered confidential. And she had enough personal creations she was working on that she didn't have to worry about nothing to talk about, she merely talked about her own stuff.

He walked over to her, and her eyes followed his every move. Her stance didn't change, though she was a little more tense than before merely from the close proximity. She was not very good at combat, she could probably hold her own well enough, but she didn't train for it or anything which meant someone that was trained could probably clean the floor with her if they wanted to.

But here she also had her guns and other secret lab security weapons at hand.

No. she answered to the first.

Why was this starting to sound like one of those horrible 'who done it' mystery shows that sometimes she heard while she was working in her lab and the TV was just left on to some channel or another left to play for as long as it wished to.

No. she answered to the second with a sigh on the end already tired of this stupid little game. This guy and his mind games were really starting to get the hell on her nerves.

The third stuck at her. Like a pin. Her eyes narrowed and she looked over at him. How did you know about that!? No one but that girl knew about it! Unless. unless... YOU were the one that sent those thugs to accost me in the park!

She listened to the fourth and final offer and she sighed, there was a guy, that was... just not as talented as Blue that was trying to work his way up in the New Dawn company. But, he couldn't pull things out like Blue. Perhaps it was because she had magical talents when it came to this sort of thing, or perhaps it was just that she was always working to make things better. Working to change things, find things that were useful to New Dawn. This boy just tried to make something.. anything.. and half the time they never worked. He was doomed to be an apprentice forever unless he could get his stuff together.

Thomas Reed. He is an apprentice inventor, at the home base. He wishes to move up but his inventions are subpar he will never make it. I should think even if I was in fact, no longer alive, he would not make it. His inventions are rudimentary at best, and half of the time do not work as solicited.

Blue's lips pursed for a moment and then her eyes met Solomon's.

Do you.. really think someone is trying to kill me? Why?

"so you have been attacked recently. Any distinctive marks or anything you remember on the people that attacked you? Could be something, could be nothing. But all the same it didn't hurt to get more info. But it was the next answer that caught his interest.

"Thomas Reed you say? Wouldn't happen to have a father named Nathan Reed would he?" Now there was a really piece of work. Upper crust with fingers in a number of dirty little schemes. A real piece of trash, and that was saying something coming from a professional criminal. Of course all the PR always had him giving to charity and doing what-ever for the city.

Rumor had it he was going to try and run for the Governor position in Librium but... Oh yeah, you generally needed the backing of the Corps to be the Governor. Which meant really you had to be a boot-licker with a lot of high-end Corporate friends. And hey, having a son as the Lead Inventor of a Corp is a good one. It wasn't even a position of real power, the Corps never gave that up. It was just something for the people so they could feel like they had a part in the system. But that was getting off the topic at hand.

Speaking of off hand topics, since he had gotten Blue in the habit of answering his questions. "Are you single?" Whatever her reply to that he would note and then continue.

Do you know how hard I had to scour the infonet and ask friends that had connections to learn anything about you and your work here? And do you know what I learned? Your name, You work for New Dawn, and you have a mother, father, and sister. I got a lot of old articles about New Dawn releases that give you credit as the inventor and that's about it. Course I had a very short time to do this and maybe there is more if one digs deeper. But its clear either your company or someone you're close to manages your information well, because your practically a ghost. And whoever sent this job knew you were working on this project and when it was due. So clearly they had a little better information then most." Solomon grimaced, he didn't like admitting his own short comings.

"No time to prepare and being thrown into a mystery is not how I normally operate. But even still I have a lot more patience then the usual professional. Most would have probably taken you out when you started spinning around with that gun in your hand... You made changes to this lab's part of the security right? Did you change the security on the door as well? Because I found that door way too easy... Unless you want thieves to break in to gun them down. And did you install other sensors that you know would detect people in the room before... you know, they're standing right next to you while you sleep at your desk?" That would probably be the clincher. If someone had tampered with the security her lab beforehand to make it easier to slip into and the only thing that had stopped him was that toy owl... Well that would be a fine kettle of fish.

Blue thought back to the people that had attacked her. She couldn't remember anything special. Not really. That day, that moment of the day had passed so quickly that it was more of a haze of attacks, having her hair pulled, and the young woman that had helped save her life by shooting arrows from the tree.

Umm, they all wore leather jackets, and had a red patch on their left arm. Like a gang thing I guess. I don't know. And the leader guy could shoot fire balls.

That had been fun, watching the girl that had saved her life boost the mana of the burning tree so that it would burn out faster and therefore turn to dust a lot faster without spreading to all of the other trees in the park. She bit her lower lip as the man called out the name of Thomas' father with ease. He had apparently done all of his research.

Yes, the one and the same. His father got him the job here. He wants to go somewhere, but he does not have the knack for it. He is not inclined that way, not merely because of magic but because of his lack of any sort of intelligence.

He wasn't stupid. He was just not geared towards making any sort of inventions. She was still thinking about Thomas and his horrible father Nathan when he threw another question at her.

I am .. wait... are you HITTING ON ME?!

She bit her lower lip before she knew it, glaring at him with her arms folded across her chest as she shifted her weight to her left hip. She tilted her head. She was certain that he was just being noisy. Afterall, she was certain that he didn't find her attractive, though Jack had seemed to when they were in the middle of a dumpster filled with stinking garbage and finding treasures in it. But this was different, he had broken in here, and .. and... she wasn't even sure why he was STILL Here.

He tried to cover his ass saying that he didn't know anything about her. That he had tried desperatly .. well maybe not desperatly, to find some information on her but he could only find out the very basic. Her family, her job, her name. She wondered if the company had her down as Blue or if they had her down as Niara. She answered to both, she supposed, mostly at home. But the guys here had given her the nickname Blue when she had started and she had taken to it rather quickly. Preferring it over her own name that she had been using since birth.

so you think, someone on the inside wants me out. Why? I do nothing but bring great things to this company. They think it, I make it and better than they thought it. Not to mention, that I come up with hundreds of things for them. There is not a single thing about me that you need to know. I do not know you, it pleases me that you found out so little about me. People should have to learn such things the hard way.

She twitched her fingers, lets prove something here and now.. she thought to herself. Her mind instantly connected to the servers, she had long ago hacked her sister's pass word which got her into the Terran Guard database. She easily read their file on the man. A wanted criminal. Known by Styx, but they had little else on him, not sure if he used magic, or what his real name was. She then reached out into the room...

Jackpot.

His phone, in his pocket, she connected to it instantly and she was reading everything that he really was. Oh no one really put their information in the phone, but it was a gateway and that was all she needed.

Solomon W Grendel, such a classically litteraturized name, if that is actually a word. Your father was military, your mother was a stay at home mom for the most part. Your father went to prison and you went to the blackmarket like he did to make your money. You moved your family to Bastion where you left them to come here and work for someone, who pays you for collecting things, delivering things and doing the bidding of someone that calls your cell phone almost weekly. Did I miss anything, Sol?

She asked tilting her head to the side waiting for him to answer. She drummed her fingers nervously on the bicep of her arm unsure of what he would think about her hacking into his past.

Oh I saw a picture of you too. So.. if you want to take off the...

He called her attention to her security system, something that had not occured to her yet and she turned from him. Tilting her head to the side, and cursing. Suddenly the guns folded back up into the ceiling and as she walked computers came on as she moved through out the lab and computer language began to scroll. She glanced at them, reading them as if they were a book and in English some how. She wasn't even typing, in fact there wasn't a keyboard connected to any of them, but windows opened and closed as she began to rework her security system the way it was supposed to be. The way she did it, someone had fucked with it and that pissed her off!

Wonder.. how much he costs to hire... she thought to herself.

{Hm, leather jackets and a red patch on the arm. Not much to go on, but then again I might be able to work with it. And pyros seem to be a dime a dozen these days.} Styx thought to himself as he watched Blue think. The fact that this Thomas was Nathan's son did give him more to go on. He didn't know much about the son, but the father was as ruthless as they came. Solomon could easily see him arranging a death or two to climb one more rung up the social ladder. Not that the thief cared about the games of the upper crust, they could all rot in hell for all he cared.

He couldn't keep himself from cracking a smile at Blue's reaction to his last question though. Pity the girl didn't fully answer the question. 'I am' could be all that she was going to say or she could have been about to add a 'not' onto the end of the statement. Ah well, she probably would have no interest in a thief that just broken into her lab. Pity, she was a beauty and fun to tease.

Her disbelief was natural, at least in Solomon's eyes. Those that followed the rules and generally lived a good life rarely believed that someone would wish the sort of ill will man could visit upon their fellows when they sought power and wealth. He had seen it often, to often really. Ad so many times it was those that were suppose to be 'pillars of society' or 'leaders of the community'. They were only in it for themselves really. At least he and others like him were honest about what they were. He was one of the bad guys, he knew and accepted that. But at least he was also honest about that fact. Maybe that would count for something when the time came to pay the bill of life.

What Blue said next shocked Styx so much he actually took a step toward Blue before he froze. His eyes went wide as his mouth opened, then closed silently. He then gathered himself and his gaze turned cold for the first time this meeting. His hand unconsciously moved to the handle of his revolver as he contemplated his next move. Should he silence this woman, who had somehow figured out who he was? The chill in his eyes drained after a few tense moments before he reached up and pulled off his mask.

"Damn, not going to make my life an easy one are you?" He spoke as he rubbed his head to clean off some of the lint that his hair had caught from the mask. "You know, might not be the best idea to tell a criminal you've figured out their identity right to their face while they are in the middle of a crime." He had multiple of reasons for not doing what probably would have been the logical choice and killing Blue, the foremost in his mind was the fact that he simply didn't want to. But this really made a mess of things. He was going to have to step fast and light to keep ahead of the police after tonight.

The guns then snapped up into the ceiling before the inventor moved over to her computers. He watched her stare at it for a while as they came to life on their own and their screens flashed... something on them. Well that at least proved it to his mind that she could somehow control machines mentally. And from her body language it seemed she did not like what she was seeing.

"Well beautiful, from your poster I'd say that I was right about your system being messed with. Sorry about that, but that's the way of the world. If it really was Thomas and Nathan in this then at least you have an idea of where to start looking." The cold look in Styx's eyes returned as he spoke now.

Deal with Thomas however you choose, but Nathan is from my side of the fence. He'll be dealt with according to the rules of that side as well." There was no doubt about the way that Solomon would 'deal' with Nathan if it was him that had set the thief up. The chill of death coming off the thief was almost visible.

He took a step forward when she began to spout of his information. The anger that passed his eyes. Even under the mask she could tell that he was pissed off with her for delving into a past that apparently he would rather keep to himself. She watched as his hand twitched closer towards a gun that he had put away earlier, and her brow rose. Was he ready to do that. Because it would definatly be Mutually Assured Destruction that much she was certain of. Indecision took over his features and then.. it was gone as he pulled the mask from his face. He was much more handsome in person, that much was for sure. More rugged and gruff but his picture did not do him any sort of justice.

He was right, it wasn't the best idea to put all your cards on the table especially with a criminal. But if he had wanted her dead he would have shot her earlier. And she had more guns than he did. It wasn't until she started worrying about her security system that she had let the guns go away and now she was reading code on the computers as windows opened and closed like crazy.

Her chin lifted as the windows stopped flying for a moment as she stared unable to quite believe what she was seeing. It was shitty hacking at best, which was why he was so easily caught. You never... repeat NEVER hack a technopath's computer. She had been so focused on her things and her project that she probably hadn't been able to notice that she was being hacked. Normally she had feelers out in her systems, or had Al watching them but she had probably passed out at some point which meant that Thomas was able to hack her system.

Son of a bitch!

She looked over at him, letting the 'beautiful' comment slide because she doubted that it came from a heartfelt place. Still, she looked over at him. He was right. If Thomas and his father were trying to off her so that Thomas could have her position they were crazed. But, his father stood in a high place, she couldn't just go after him, though she could make Thomas quit or.. worse get fired. It wouldn't take much. No one liked him, no one thought he should be here anyway, they had basically been forced to hire him, but, if Sol was truly capable of dealing with Nathan then she could easily deal with Thomas.

So, does this mean we were once enemies, then psuedo friends, and now we are co-workers in the effort to save my life and perish those that call danger to it? Blue pursed her lips.

It would be strange working with a man that had merely broken in here to take her project. One that she had done well on and would probably get a great deal of praise for. She knew that she was one of the best assets that the company had. They had other inventors and creators. They had a technopath or two. But she was the Lead Inventor for a reason. Because she consistently proved herself and she constantly went above and beyond. She sacrificed all else, for that of her job and the love that she had for it.

I know how to deal with Thomas, but what will you do with Nathan? she asked curiously. Why.. do you want to help me so? Why now? So suddenly? Are you single? she chuckled at the last question but .. still.

Allies... well maybe, they were in a pretty pickle the two of them. "Well I suppose I could help you out. I don't like getting played and I certainly don't like getting set up. Hell if you know anyone in the Terran Guard I can probably help you get both of them in one go. However, I'm going to need a little help with that. Because as much as I'm willing to get a little revenge for this betrayal, I'm not going to prison for it." He was who he was, if he wasn't then who would he be? And it had to be the Terran Guard, not the Librium Police. Sure the syndicates had connections within the Librium Police, but so did Nathan. Terran Guard were to new and their members to devoted to the cause to have turned corrupt... yet. There was always a yet with that statement.

Her questions at the end made Solomon laugh, a full throat laugh that muffled his laugh. "Learn quick don't ya. Yeah I'm single, but you probably don't want to settle for a slum dog like me. Still it never hurts flirting a little." He gave Blue a wink before continuing.

"As for why I'm willing to help? Well for reason one, I don't like getting played. "Reason two, while I'm more then willing to spread the wealth to those less fortunate then the big boys, I'm not in the habit of taking things that are fundamentally irreplaceable just because I can or it would make my life easier. When I kill, there is usually a reason for it. Three, because I feel like it. That's the most important one by the way. And reason four, maybe I'll get a kiss from a lovely young woman before the night is done." He gave Blue a wide grin before his face turned serious.

"Now, tonight is the last night that the delivery can be made. If you do know someone in the Terran Guard or knows someone that knows someone you'll need to get them on the line... And we're going to need to bring that gun with us. If they don't know something is wrong, then your friends in the Terran Guard can have them red handed. Nathan always did have that habit of needing a trophy. And he'll want it tonight. Simplest way of getting him and his son besides is probably give them what they want and catch them when they take it." Such a shame really, now how was he going to explain his being here. Maybe Blue could help with that as well.

So... they needed external help.

She did have her Uncle Kane. He was in the guard but he was probably out on a mission she hadn't heard from him recently. She knew that he was fine but he did things on a very covert level. Blue knew others too. People less amazing than her Uncle Kane but at the same time could get the job done that she really needed to have done. If they were going to have to take out Nathan, so they could get rid of Thomas they would need help to do it legitimately.

I know a few people I could probably contact to get things rolling.

She could leak things into the public. Videos and things of Nathan, things that he probably had hidden somewhere on the net. But she wanted him to be caught for illegal activity. She didn't want him to just be slightly discredited until his team could put together some crap about how it was all fake. Someone trying to sabotage their campaign.

Blue grinned when he mentioned that he was infact single but didn't think she would settle for someone like him. She shrugged. I do not think you see me the same way most men do.

She listened to his reasons as she went over to a desk where she had a phone. She lay her fingers on top of the device and it came to life as it automatically shifted through all the different contacts to find the one that she was after. But she didn't dial right away. He mentioned that he hoped to get a kiss out of the deal, causing her brows to raise. She turned bright red and then turned back to her phone knowing if she spoke about that little statement she was likely going to stutter and there was no reason for that.

Blue ran a hand over her messy hair, and pulled out the clip. Letting the blue and black locks fall down around her shoulders and down to her waist as she listened to his plan. He wanted to take the gun over to Nathan, as planned, and then when he was caught red handed they would get the gun back and Nathan and his son Thomas would be out of their lives for a while. She looked a lot softer with her hair down and she stood there biting her lower lip in thought.

How about we compromise on that. How about I send you with one of the prototypes. I've made several. They do not actually work. But it would look like the gun, feel like the gun, and he could still get caught red handed with New Dawn material that is confidential.

She was really loathe to let the real device out of her care. She wanted to make sure that she could still turn it in in the morning. If anything happened to it, she would be most certainly in trouble which would make the rest of the plan worthless. Because in the end she would lose face in front of the big bosses.

I can call someone at the TG. But, the question I have for you, is what you will do. Do I come with you? Or do you have some excuse for why you are there. Because if you bring him this device, then, you will be seen as a criminal as well. Which you are, but I am not sure you want the TG on your back. If I go with you I could explain a little, but I am not sure how much my word goes with the TG. I know some of them, but I do not work for them. Do you have a plan for that.

Blue began combing her hair back away from her face. Taking the soft gentle dark curls and twisting them up behind her head before she replaced the clip that she had taken out of it earlier. Wanting to make sure that he had some protection as well. She also didn't want this to come back poorly on her either.

He nodded when she mentioned she knew a couple of people. "Well then we have a few options. The first would have been the one I had done alone. Because quite frankly I doubt you would want to be an accomplice to a number of deaths. It would have been easy enough if I just dropped the fact I knew it was Nathan that I was doing this job for and his guys would have tried to kill me and then I'd be in the clear to deal with them as the I see fit according to street rules. But like I said, that option is the messiest and also lacks anything of grace. Not really my first choice."

When the inventor told him that she didn't think he saw her the way most men do and he smirked. "Well I'm sure a number of men see you as beautiful. But I doubt many have seen you stand up to someone that broke into your personal sanctuary with such a calm composure. You got guts Blue, that goes along well with brains and beauty."

As Blue continued with her idea that he could take one of the prototypes and Styx thought about it and nodded. This theft wasn't about the actual gun so much as the side benefit his employer was hoping to gain from this endeavor. "If it is one of the prototypes that you've worked on in the past couple of days then it still fits the terms which I was hired for. I am a man of my word, so until I'm 100% certain about the situation I have to complete the work I was sent to do. So far I'm about 99% certain, but I could still be wrong."

Then they came to the last part of this plan, how to accomplish it. "Well I have an idea, please feel free to add your input. If you have some sort of tracking bug that can be put in the prototype that I'll be taking. I need to set up a couple of things on my end, so I go do that and give you a call when I'm done. You call your friend, tell them you have been broken into and the thief stole a prototype with a tracking bug in it. The place I am meeting my client in is in the slums and has a number of connections into the Undercity, the ruins of the old city that was here and was built upon. TG follow in on the signal where the deal is. You give me a little warning and I slip into the rat warren while the TG deal with our enemies." It was a simple plan, best to keep things simple.

"And one more thing, though I'm sure you already thought of this. it would probably be best to remove the part of the security recording that has us conversing. Probably just making it look like I figured how to kill the feed without raising a fuss might be best." That part he would have to leave to her, so she could probably take care of that in the two hours while he got ready.

"Oh, and you look good with your hair down. You should try it more often. Though I suppose while your working it would get in the way." He added that last part after a bit of thought. It seemed to him long free hair and moving mechanical parts didn't tend to go together well.

She did not want messy. The less people that got hurt or died the better. She wanted justice for her design that someone was trying to steal. But she didn't want anyone to die there was no need for that. She didn't need some sort of large shoot out on her hands. She just wanted to clear the air, and if it got rid of Nathan and his son Thomas then all the better.

He mentioned that most men might have seen that she was beautiful but it was different when you saw someone like her standing up for herself and her lab. Being brave in the face of a gun pointed at her. She was brave, she guessed, she merely was doing what she could to protect herself and her lab. There were some things that she could not lose and her lab was one of them. It was more her home than any other place in the world.

He seemed to be at least slightly on board with the prototype idea. She headed off through her lab, luckily she hadn't tossed or melted down any of the more recent ones because sometimes when she was tired she went back to the ones that she knew wouldn't work to check them out and then went back to the one that was going to work. Solomon followed her as she grabbed a step ladder from one of the spaces between the overflowing shelf units and she used it as she reached up to a rather new box that was at the top of the shelf and pulled out a couple prototypes.

Blue was listening to him the entire time he spoke about his plan. Leaving with the prototype, in a couple hours she was to call the TG. Then, she would alert him that they were on the way. From there she would delete the video footage of their conversation and their idea to work together. She was going to cut the feed and make it staticy. When she came down she was lost in thought thinking about all the different things that she needed to do when he surprised her by saying that he liked her with her hair down.

She was pulled out of her thoughts, and her multi-hued eyes looked up at him in surprise. She hadn't expected that at all. It wasn't like, she didn't think her hair was lovely. It was different however when someone surprised you with it. Her hair was already put back up, and he was right it was much too dangerous and annoying to have her hair down when she was working.

Okay, well, so the plan is, you will take this... she said trying to hide the blush on her cheeks and her shock at his little comment. He really WAS hitting on her, and now that it was twice, she felt more unease just because.. she wasn't used to this kind of thing. She handed him the best prototype. ..with you when you go. I will put a bug in it obviously, the fact that you ask if I 'can' do that wounds me you know.

She gave him a mock glare as she moved on and headed towards a different part of her lab. Which was more of a huge warehouse with tons and tons of boxes and piles of crap. It was no real home, but she felt more home and safe here than anywhere else. She headed over to a small desk that seemed somewhat out of place in the whole opperation with it's polished steal front and opened it to a drawer filled with tiny devices. She picked up a pair of tweezers and picked out the tiniest bug that she had. Which was about the size of a pin head, all it had to do was send out a signal it didn't need to be big. She slid it into the center of the barrel so that it was virtually invisible and secured it in place.

She fed her own mana into the device and a computer on the desk turned on and began to beep a tiny little blue dot right over the lab on the map. She then turned to him and handed him the prototype. It wouldn't work, but it would look like it did. Sometimes she had to see it to make different changes or figure out how pieces needed to be made to fit. So she usually went through a couple of prototypes before she made the final product, this was the last one she had used.

So... I guess this is it then. I will, wait a couple hours, call the TG, and then I will text you, so you know to get out. Don't get caught, because I don't think I could really help you out. Though I might try. She looked up at him as they stood there prepared to say goodbye, she doubted he would ever come back, he would, she hoped, have no illegal reasons to return. And she doubted that he would return for any legal ones.

Solomon hid his grin with great differculty as Blue flushed slightly. It was a little hard to believe that the woman who had so calmly stared him down was getting flustered by a small thing like complimenting her hair, but he guessed that came with being in the lab a lot. And if most people failed to see the woman behind the inventor then it was their loss.

Under Blue's mock glare he put on a similarly mock look of chastisement, even going so far as to draw little circles with his foot while hold his hands behind his back. He couldn't keep that up for long without his grin breaking through though and watched with interest as Blue placed the bug in the prototype. A few moments later she did something and a computer came up showing the inventor's lab on a map with a small blue dot on it. Looked like everything was set. He'd have to head out as soon as he could to get what he needed done.

Looking up at Blue he listened to her goodbye and nodded."Don't worry, I've survived this long in this business. I think I can survive a little longer with a little help from a beautiful and talented inventor I believe." He paused for a moment as in thought. But it just seems like something is missing at the moment... What could it be...? Ah, I know, I haven't stolen anything yet."

After he spoke, Styx stepped in and put one arm around Blue's waist. He gave her a quick kiss on the lips and then a grin. "Since your giving me the prototype and some help, I'll just have to settle for stealing that."

He let go of Blue and headed for the door. "I'll have to come back later some time. You need something better then that instant stuff you were surviving on. I'll bring dinner one of these nights. Don't worry, I can let myself in. He chuckled as he mentioned breaking in again to bring over some food. But now he had some work to do. Time to step fast and light to avoid being caught between the rock and a hard place.

The flattery, was something that Blue could not get herself used to. She was not normally flirted with. She wouldn't have minded. Even with Jack it was more them spending time together and enjoying each other's company than actual flirting. Blue bit her lower lip and tried not to blush at the next beautiful and talented comment. She appreciated the talented part, but then she heard about her amazing skills often enough. She brushed a bit of loose hair out of her face and looked over at him as he tried to figure out what he was forgetting. She couldn't imagine what. Then he mentioned that he hadn't stolen anything yet.

I don't think there is any need for you to...

He came over and his arm looped around her waist before she could even process the movement and then he kissed her. Her entire body lit up on fire. Electricity coursing through her veins. As quick as it was there, it was gone leaving her body alive in tingling aftershocks as she stared after him.

He headed for the door and Blue just watched him in awe. He had totally.. kissed her. She turned bright red the moment she realized what exactly he had done. He had KISSED her. She was in so much shock that it didn't register he mentioned he was coming back with better coffee and dinner at some point. Not to worry about when he would let himself back in.

Hey! You may not get in this time!

Though.. she was pretty sure that he would. And just like that he was gone. Blue felt lonely all of a sudden. She made her way back to her workbench and checked the clock. He had been here for a bit over an hour, and she felt like.. suddenly, she was just feeling very lonely. No one ever really came to her lab. Especially, outsiders. It was not good if anyone knew where the location of New Dawn's main creation lab was. Or where their best kept secret, Blue, was. But now the placed seemed huge and lonely, and Blue was the kind that normally reveled in solitude. The quiet hum of the generators and computers, the occassional spark of the lighting going out when a bulb burst. The music that she sometimes played when she just wanted to fill the space. But it was almost.. never that someone was in the lab with her.

Blue turned off the lamp on her desk and made her way to the small alcove in the back of the lab where she had a make shift cot and kitchenette for when she basically lived here. Which was often. She sunk down on her cot and looked up at the ceiling. Slowly she reached up and turned the lights off to the warehouse and stared up at the ceiling in the darkness thinking.. processing.. wondering... as she waited for the hours to pass so she could hold up on her side of the deal.

Her fingers twitched and she was in the net in seconds.