[center]Calypso was barely out of the bar before Ardur sent his plan in motion. He grabbed the attention of the bartender, composed himself as to not react to the skunky smell of the man, and told him to give the girl with the pink hair whatever drink she wanted. Ardur looked back as the drink was delivered, made eye contact, smiled, and returned to his drink. A few moments later, Ardur was joined by his new drinking companion. For the next few hours, Ardur chatted, charmed, and intentionally lost every game of pool he played against the lady as he gained her affection. Ardur had already forgotten her name, [I]Clarica, Candice, or was it Valaria?[/i]. It’s wasn’t because she was ugly, by most guys standards she was cute; but not the kind of cute that you took back to meet your mother. Instead, Ardur had focused his attention on listening in on the conversation of the other patrons. “[b][i]I fought him ove- she looks cut- what am I doing here- I bet that guy is a spy – omething big is going- aye am su duwnk ryet[/i][/b]-” [I]Wait[/i] Ardur thought to himself as he focused his hearing back to the voice. Cassandra was not making it easy for him with her not so subtle attempts at hurrying the timeline along from bar to- “[b][i]yeah, ‘ere boss is movin’ some weight in a few-[/i][/b]” “[b][i]How about you buy me one more dri-[/i][/b]” “[i][b]minutes, goin’ loud from-[/b][/i]” “[i][b]nk and see where we go[/b][/i]” “[i][b]what I have heard, over in Gh[/b][/i]- Finally. Something somewhat useful. Ardur wasn't going to act on this information as he was a little drunk already and he fancied living; even if it took a long time to get that information with the the noise in the bar. Normally Ardur wouldn’t need to focus so much to hear but this bar seemed to fancy the overly-loud approach to bars that sunned away anyone not deaf enough already. Arudr turned his attention back to the pink haired girl named Chalice, flashing his trademark grin as he did, and raised two fingers in the air in the direction of the distracted bartender. He stared at the two fingers for a second and did not move. Ardur, looking back at the bartender with a more sarcastic grin this time, flashed the two-finger sign againt before pointing down towards Camile’s cup, then pointing towards his own. The bartender looked forward with a rather blank look on his face before a [I]oh yeah[/i] look adorned his face, and he quickly made their drinks; by sloth standards. Ardur’s was the same, a simple whisky neat, while Cherry [I]was that her real name?[/i] had a monstrosity of a drink that was overly flashy in both color and sugar content. Ardur shifted his head from side to side ever slightly; if your goal is to get drunk, why beat around the bush? Ardur turned his head back towards Candy, flashing a nice smile, and said “[b][i]oh, and what does that-[/i][/b]” Ardur paused as a strange reverberation began to fill the air, under the music at first but soon overpowering it. The rest of the patrons simply mistook it for heavy machinery or construction. The day was now alive with activity, after all. No. This sound was different. Set apart from the dull rumbling of the known, this sound penetrated the mind of Ardur as if some metal was screaming out in pain on a scale that he has never heard “[b][i]Hold that thought,[/i][/b]” Ardur said as he rose off the bar stool and made his way towards the door. [I]*boooooooom*[/i] The sound of the city’s heavy anti-air defense gun ringing out in the distance, followed quickly by the explosive sound of the round hitting something. The bar was now keen to what might be transpiring, everyone except the bartender who still had the same blank stare on his face. They quickly dropped what they were doing and rose to their feet, eyes shifting towards the door. Ardur approached the open door, the bright light of day making it difficult to see through with the night eyes that he had gained in the bar. With a fast hand, Ardur grabbed his sunglasses out of his pocket and placed them on his face as he walked out the bar and into the street; he was soon followed by Caroline, and a few of the Black Brethren members who exited the bar with weapons in hand. Far away, the group could see the stricken vessel as it neared the ground. Blown in half and further destroyed by the city's air defenses, the craft impacted the ground with a massive force that was thankfully not as large as it could have been. As it impacted the ground, a mixture of both dirt and fire erupted into the sky, followed soon after by the massive sound wave that shattered glass and car windows, and again followed soon after by the shifting grounds that were caused by the shock-wave. Ardur turned his attention back to the pink haird girl and smirked, "[b][i]you have my number, Chole, call me and let’s set something up,[/i][/b]” Ardur finished as he began to walk away from the bar in the opposite direction of the crash site. The girl, visibly confused by this, “[i][b]but my name is C-[/b][/i]” the rest of her name was cut off by the sound of sirens. Ardur watched as he walked as countless numbers of Peacekeeper crafts swarmed both the streets and the air. He noticed the air group had set up a very wide parameter that stretched up to the edge of the Bandi district. Ardur didn’t think too much of it as he gained enough distance, and called another Quick Car; who arrived after a few moments and he was off back to his apartment within the hour. Along the way he ordered some takeout and had it delivered to his apartment's door; he was drunk and he needed to not be as quickly as possible though he knew it was a myth that food turned the corner on drunk, he did not care. Ardur was dropped off by the car and he made his way inside the building. As he got close he heard the locks on the door disengaging as he eyed the bag of food, grabbing it up with his one hand while the other pushed open the door. --30 minutes later-- [i][b]“Play back the call,”[/b][/i] Ardur said as he used his chopsticks to bring some food off the to-go container and into his mouth. [i][b]"He's here, hurry,”[/b][/i] the female voice spoke as the picture of Dak formed on the holo-table. [i][b]“How far was that address from the impact zone?” “Far enough that survival is almost certain,” “Any way through the quarantine, then?” “Calculating....No, with current intelligence there is no safe way into the quarantine,” “Send a message to my contacts that are in that area, say ‘find a weak point on the quarantine or an area that’s not guarded, double normal rate for actionable intel,’ and let’s change that.” “Messages sent,”[/b][/i] VC started. [i][b]“And order me more food” “What would-”[/b][/i] VC paused. [i][b]“Sir,”[/b][/i] VC stopped suddenly as her voice cracked, [i][b]“you have one,”[/b][/i] VC paused, [i][b]“one new appointment, guests are arriving.” “What do you mean appointment,”[/b][/i] Ardur said as he reached for his gun. [i][b]“Sir, I have been overridden by another sooource,”[/b][/i] her voice bending a little, “[i][b]please do not draw your gun, we’re not here to fight,”[/b][/i] VC finished as the sounds of the locks disengaging could be heard. Ardur paused his hand over the holster before pulling it away. Someone had hacked his system. Someone wanted his attention. And judging by the sound of multiple footsteps echoing forth in the hallway, someone and their friends were here.[/center]