[img]http://txt-dynamic.static.1001fonts.net/txt/b3RmLjcyLmVlYWU0Zi5RV0Z5YjI0Z1EyaGhibVJzWlhJLC4w/antro-vectra.regular.png[/img] [hider=The District Sleeps Alone by The Postal Service][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF5FD3o0LGA[/youtube][/hider] When Aaron woke up, Lily had already left. He was laying spread-eagle on his bed, his face pointing up at the ceiling fan whirring above. In the distance, he could hear the faint beeping of the coffee maker. He felt absolutely horrendous. For a couple minutes, Aaron watched the ceiling fan spin around. It made a barely-audible click every rotation. Outside, Aaron could hear cars drive past on their morning commute. His phone buzzed gently on the nightstand. He picked it up and turned the alarm off. No message from Lily. Sighing, Aaron rolled to his elbows, then pushed himself up into a seated position. He slid black slippers on and pocketed his phone. Then he shuffled into the kitchen. He poured a cup of coffee and turned on the radio. [i] “Good morning Baybridge! This is 105.7’s Morning on the Rocks. Claire here from 106.5, filling in for DJ Rebel Diamond as he recovers in the hospital from last night’s horrendous metahuman attack at the Golden Throne nightclub! Police reports have confirmed that-”[/i] Aaron switched the radio off. He collapsed into a kitchen chair and sipped his morning coffee. He stared out of the window up at the grey sky. Today was going to be a bad day, he could tell. [i][b] “You deserve it. You fucked up, kid.[/b][/i] [i] “You never take a day off, do you?[/i] [i][b] “None of this shit would’ve happened if you’d told her the truth. You fucked it up and now you have to deal with the consequences.”[/b][/i] Aaron slammed his coffee cup down and put his head in his hands. It was hard to keep from crying. He felt sick, sick of himself, sick of the fear that came from stepping outside, sick of the melting feeling he got when he was around too many people. His coffee cup tipped over and spilled across the kitchen table. “Fuck!” Aaron screamed. He ran to grab the paper towels. His foot caught the fabric of his slippers, and he fell to the ground with a thud. Aaron could feel the coffee drip from the table onto his pants. He climbed back to his feet, nearly slipping again on the growing puddle of coffee, and grabbed the paper towels. He didn’t need caffeine today anyways. The day passed slowly and uneventfully. Aaron went down into his shop, worked on private orders. At lunch he ate a turkey sandwich and fed his rabbit. He watched a passing shower drizzle onto the windowpane and turn the sidewalks brown. At three PM, Aaron left his workshop and took up the cash register while Kate restocked shelves and swept the store. They didn’t talk much. She could tell he wasn’t in the mood. A few customers idled in, looked around, and left. They didn’t make many sales. Aaron tried hard to think of anything other than what his mind was stuck in. He texted Lily at 3:30, and didn’t get any response. Aaron decided he’d skip his evening tea break. He just wasn’t in the mood today. [hr] [hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/skTh6iG.png[/img][/center] [b][code]Oakdell Harbor, White Coast_[/code][/b][hr][hr] Since the Liu Family weren't courteous enough to accommodate for the Valos, they had to make their own plans. "Own plans" being awkwardly sleeping in the hummer until Jake scored them a beach house! And it was something else, baby! It was three stories, and right on the beach with a killer view! Johnny could sit around and enjoy it all day, if he wasn't, you know, busy planning the downfall of the FF remnants. They had it coming. So far, even though they capped that bitch Linda, they managed to get some important information from her. Turned out that list of FF locations was completely valid. Well, a lot of the places were dead, but thanks to their Liu friends, they managed to find something. A creepy, derelict warehouse. Who would have thought. The Valos were assembled in the living room, Johnny had several pistols on the table. He was cleaning his favorite revolver... while the rest of the Valos (and the Lius) sat around and watched. He looked up at them, and raised an eyebrow. "Heeeeeeeey," Johnny asked, "What is it?" "... How are you even going to make use of half of this?" Gabe asked, as she picked up an Uzi, and examined it, confused. "And you were carrying around a fucking [i][i]arsenal[/i][/i] the whole time?" She put down the gun, as she stared at Johnny. "Well, my logic is that we're about to fight an evil organization that uses guns," Johnny almost mockingly replied. "If you don't go in packin' you might as well go in naked!" "Unless you're using your pinky," Jake added as he walked into the room with a bottle of wine. "I don't see you needing to bring in anything more than two guns." "Cosigner..." Johnny muttered as he glared at Jake. "Just saying, Johnny." Jake said, as he sat down. "I wanted to teach ya'll how to shoot real quickly," Johnny said, "Because... even though we all are fantastical metahumans... you just can't beat the bullet, baby!" He raised the gun up into the air, and laughed. "Well, Linda couldn't beat the bullet..." Gabe said to herself as she leaned on the palm of her hand. "Well, Linda shouldn't of tried it," Johnny laughed. "Sorry, Johnny," Jake said, "But, I think we have enough idiots waving around guns." "When they beatin' yo' ass," Johnny said. "You'll wish you didn't say that, but you'll be a great pack mule for when the raid starts." Jake just rolled his eyes up into his head, as he leaned forward. Folding his hands. "Yeah, the raid," Jake repeated, "Do we even have a plan?" "Tonight," Johnny started off, "We gather information... because what good is chargin' in dick first if our marks aren't even there?" Gabe was surprised. "Long as we do nothing hasty, everything should go smoothly... but at the same time, we have to be ready for anything," Johnny said. "Which is why I'm going in packin'." He laughed, as he grabbed one of his pistols. A thought came up in his head. "Oh! What if bring in a fuckin' flintlock?" Johnny asked, to the belligerence of everyone around him. "Bet nobody would see [i]that[/i] coming." "Johnny," Jake said, face amazed at his brother. "It's an outdated pirate gun. It'll literally explode in your hand." "It's not about it [i]working,[/i]" Johnny said to his brother. "It's about the surprise. Like, how many people expect you to pull out a flintlock - they'd be stunned in shock!" "For all of two seconds." "... And two seconds is all you need to cap them." "The bullet wouldn't even leave the barrel!" Jake retorted. "That's why I have a [i]second[/i] gun, Jakey," Johnny said as he quickly aimed the revolver he was holding. "I'm quick as lightning, while they're surprised I'll start blasting." "... Then why the fuck are you bringing a flintlock?" Gabe facepalmed. "Okay," Jake said as he ended the conversation. "Can we please go back to planning? We'll discuss the matter of the flintlock pistol another time." "Fine." Johnny and Gabe said in unison. "Um, I have something to announce," Lin said as she walked up. "Me and Mika are going to be attending a function tonight." "So, that means we're two men down!" Johnny said as he leaned back in his sofa. "Sadly... but, afterwards, we'll be available to help." It wasn't like the Liu sisters could contribute much in an attack. Especially when Johnny made that promise to papa Liu! That meant he needed some replacement muscle... and honestly, he needed help in general. He needed meatshields to take bullets for the more important members of the Valos. Wait! He had the perfect idea. Perfect in this context means a complete shot in the dark! But, he's still trying. Johnny reached for his cellphone, and went through his contacts... and his finger rested over Taylor Pierpoint. He sighed, as he pressed call. [img]http://txt-dynamic.static.1001fonts.net/txt/dHRmLjcyLjAwMDAwMC5WVzRnVG05MWRtVmhkU0JXWlc1MS4wAAAA/perfume-classic-demo-version.regular.png[/img] [hider=Belle by Jack Johnson][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNnn5NAele0[/youtube][/hider] [i]La Fleur Hotel, Prince Ed Field[/i] You don't just get a call from Johnny Valos. As Taylor Pierpoint leaned against the balcony of her fifth story hotel room, looking down at her phone in disbelief, she thought about how nice a day she had been having, and how the God shining down above must have decided to stick his dirty finger in her perfectly nice day with a phone call from Johnny [i]fucking[/i] Valos. From inside, a woman's voice called: "Excusez-moi, mademoiselle, Le service de chambre est ici." "Un moment, Jeanne. J'ai un appele téléphonique." Taylor responded. She looked up at the cloudy sky. She took a deep breath and hit accept. She was bracing herself for either some grub for money or Jake's voice saying Johnny had finally taken one cap in the ass too many and dropped dead. "Bonjour, monsieur. C'est le resident Pierpoint. Comment puis-je vous aider?" (Hello, Pierpoint residence. How may I help you?) Johnny had no idea how to speak French! It was a little while since he last talked to her... but, he definitely picked up a few phrases, words, and et cetera. That wasn't important. "Taylor, this is Johnny, English please," Johnny said with a smile. "Fine," Taylor said, frowning. "What do you want?" "I know it's been a long, long, time... and by that I mean several years, but I need help..." Johnny replied. "Taylor..." Gabe muttered to herself as she put a hand on her hip. Great. He's getting that girl involved in this. Just what they needed. Now they don't just have to worry about Johnny doing something stupid, but now they also have to worry about Johnny and Taylor bonin' all the time. "If you're asking me to fund one of your vigilante kicks again I swear I'll claw your eyeballs out." "No, I'm not asking for money, it's something more important than that..." He trailed off as he put a hand on his side. "... Well, I probably owe you an explanation first...." "You can start by explaining to me where you've been for the last five years," Taylor replied. She tapped her fingers on the railing rhymically. The metal in metal made a "ping!" sound. "Were I've been?" Johnny asked... she probably wanted an explanation of what happened to that money he loaned her... he'll gloss over that, for now. "Do you even know what went down? Do you even know that the Valos manor is in flames?!" "Maybe I feel you hadn't forgotten about me after I stopped being useful to you I would have a better idea of what was going on!" Taylor snapped. She sympathized though. Things hadn't been good for the Pierpoint family recently either. She took a deep breath and shut her eyes. "It wasn't [i]that[/i]!" Johnny shouted back. "Look Taylor... shit went to hell really fast! Faster than I could keep track of!" He stopped for a moment as he took in deep breath. "The fucking Founding Family came in and ruined everything! They took [i]my[/i] family, and enslaved them! I've been fighting to do everything I could to save them..." He paused again. "It was out of my hands!" Johnny heard Taylor gasp through the phone. Taylor's fists clenched. For a solid fifteen seconds she was silent, looking down as cars passed by. Inside, she felt purely guilty. [i]Mon dieu, c'est ma faute...sacre bleu,[/i] she thought. "You still there?!" Johnny said. "Look, let's put this shit aside. I really-" "What do you need?" Taylor replied. "I need [i]you,[/i]" Johnny said, in a much calmer tone, "They... they have Sylvia, Ivete, Camille... and we're the only people who give a shit. I need you to come to Baybridge... to help us." "...Baybridge?" Taylor replied, agast. [i]Quelles sont les chances...[/i] Taylor looked down at her feet and sighed. "Tu as la chance du diable," Taylor said. "I'm at La Fleur Hotel in Prince Ed Field." "... Shit," Johnny said. "We're in..." He looked around at his friends. "We're in Oakdell Harbor, in a lil' beach house Jake rented for us," Johnny started off. "Should we meet somewhere?" "Meet me at Orchestra Mall in Courtbridge," Taylor said. She picked this off the top of her head as a nice even location, not on her territory and not on his. Should Johnny's plan be absolutely ludicrous (and it probably was), Taylor would be able to get away without him knowing where she lived. "Sure thing, babe," Johnny said, "I'll get the gang together, and we'll head straight there!" He hung up the phone... and prepared for the worst. "... Why are we getting metal tits involved?" Gabe asked as she crossed her arms. "She's a piece of all, nothing else." "But, a useful piece of ass." "Yeah, when you need loans," Gabe groaned as she rolled her sole eye. "Besides," Johnny said. "She's a close friend of the entire family. Especially Sylvia." "And that's what you said about Jacqueline," Gabe said, "Right before she turned out to be working for the Family, and seemed more than happy to throw [i]years[/i] of friendship out the window..." "Gabe, lay off," Jake said. "For once... I have to agree with Johnny." "Oh my lord," Johnny said, "Jake [i]agreeing[/i] with me? Hold the phone! The fuckin' endtimes are on their way!" "Taylor has a good head on her shoulders..." Jake said as he crossed his arms, as he looked at Johnny, and shook his head. "... And we could use another one more of those." And he wasn't just talking about Johnny being the problem here... Gabe also had her problems. "Well, Jakey," Gabe looked at Jake with a teasing tone. "... You better hope she doesn't bring her little lady friend, ha!" There was a silence from Jake for a few moments. "... I don't think my pelvis healed properly from our break up." "Okay, okay!" Johnny shouted as he got up. "Enough banter! To Prince Edfield we go!" There was a silence. "... Why?" Gabe asked. "Because she wants to meet us," Johnny started off, rolling his eyes. "[i]Gabe[/i] - Know what? Just get in the hummer." Gabe shut up, and got in the hummer along with the rest of the Valos... as they continued this increasingly bizarre adventure of theirs. Mayhem was sure to follow. [hr] Taylor slid her phone into her pocket and walked inside. She sat down on the velvet couch in the living room and gestured to her assistant Jeanne, who poured Taylor a glass of wine. "Excusez moi, Mademoiselle," Jeanne said. "Le service de chambre attend toujours." (excuse me, madam, but the room service is waiting). "J'ai une recontre," Taylor said. "J'ai besoin de toi pour me coduire." ( I have a meeting. I need you to drive me somewhere). "Oui, mademoiselle," Jeanne replied. "Je vais chercher la voiture." (Yes, madam. I will fetch the car). Jeanne moved towards the door. Outside, the room service waiter stood at attention with Taylor's dinner. Jeanne let the man in and he placed a cloche on the table. He lifted the cloche to reveal a plate of baked fish and gnocchi. "Jeanne," Taylor said, picking up her fork. "Apportes les details de securitie. C'est l'une de ces recontre." (Jeanne, bring the security detail. This is one of [i]those[/i] meetings). Jeanne paused. Her mouth hung slightly agape as if she was going to say something, but then she closed her mouth and turned away. "Oui, mademoiselle," she said, leaving the room. Taylor nodded to the room service waiter and handed him a fifty dollar bill. "Keep the change," she said. He thanked her vehemently and then ran out. Taylor finished her dinner in peace. Then she walked into her room and changed into a new outfit, more [i]applicable[/i] to the environment she was about to be thrust into. She thought about whether or not she should redo her hair as she pulled a slim ballistic vest on over her lace bra. The vest was uncomfortable, but as of late she'd grown accustomed to it - it had saved her life more than once. Over the vest she slid a white sweater. She finished dressing and, to ensure protection, slid a small pistol into her silver purse. These days you could never be too careful. As soon as she'd finished dressing, Jeanne knocked on her door and escorted Taylor to her car, a white Aston Martin. Behind the Aston Martin was a black Suburban, inside of which sat four men in black suits. Taylor sat down in the passenger's seat of the car and adjusted her hair in the rear view mirror. She looked good, just like she wanted to for her reunion with the Valos family. Despite the security, she had a really bad feeling about this entire thing. As she always said, you don't just get a call from Johnny Valos.