[center][h3]Amadeo & [color=ff0911]Jason[/color][/h3][/center]

((Collab Post between [@Letter Bee] and [@Ryik].))

[b]Balibago, Angeles City - 10/18/2022, 20:55 UTC+8[/b]

Amadeo handed the bottle to Henri and said, “That guy says this is the cure for the zombie virus; take care of it!”

Then, he jetted forward, pursuing the weird, masked man with the hostage, adrenaline flowing through him as he gave pursuit. Although the masked man had a head start, his flight was faster, and he didn’t have enough time to go far. The man was doing what could only be described as urban parkour up onto the rooftops of the buildings the next street over, but he must have heard him coming because he decided to stop on one of them. He put the hostage down, letting him stand on his own two feet but not releasing him from the knives pointed at his neck from several angles. He then turned to face Amadeo, ostensibly staring at him through the opaque black eyes of his plague doctor mask.

Amadeo landed on the opposite end of the same rooftop, figuring that dialogue was the only path to a solution at this point. He still leveled his rifle at the masked man, though at this point it was nothing more than a bluff. The masked man’s bare leg, visible through his shredded black jeans, had already fully healed, which meant that the chances the hostage would survive Amadeo making an attack on his captor were slim. Still, he wasn’t yet prepared to give up completely, leaving the hostage to die. “Let the hostage go!”

Jason responded calmly, [color=ff0911]”I was planning to.”[/color] He made no move to do so, however.

His calm was unfitting for the situation, or at least Amadeo thought so. His heart was pounding rapidly, but the masked man spoke like it was an ordinary Tuesday.

Amadeo couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something wrong here, but he struggled to think of what that could be. Focusing on the here and now, he said, “Then let him go. Free and safe. I’ll even let you leave if you don’t wreak any more havoc.” There was a silent plea in his eyes.

[color=ff0911]”Is that so? I wouldn’t mind, but I recall from your earlier threats that you make a habit of telling lies.”[/color] He took a step, moving closer to Amadeo.

Amadeo was finding himself frustrated, yet at the same time, his ability to care was running out somehow. So he implored, “What would you want, then? For you to let the hostage go and stop wreaking havoc?”

Jason tilted his head from side to side, as if to indicate that he was considering his answer in place of any visible facial expression. It was an unnecessary gesture, though not a duplicitous one. [color=ff0911]”Know anyone who can take away a Noble Arm?”[/color] He’d genuinely consider going rogue for such an opportunity, though, to his knowledge, no such person exists. OPL cannot be used to simply delete a Noble Arm, and even if it could, the prototype OPL code he developed has become amalgamated with Razlyubit. As such, removing his Noble Arm would be the only way to purge it completely, and the process would likely damage his soul, since the code is not entirely self-contained within it. He could, perhaps, develop a procedure and find one of his old colleagues to perform it, though his Noble Arm would have to go first, and getting it back afterward without corrupted code ruining his life would be difficult, if not impossible.

It was no surprise, then, that Amadeo didn’t have the right answer. “Henri - that guy with the shield back there. I know him, and his Noble Arm can disable other Noble Arms.“ Maybe he shouldn’t be spilling such intel about one of his allies to someone who was clearly dangerous, but at the moment, he just couldn’t bring himself to care about the consequences.

Jason simply shook his head as he continued to casually close the gap between them. [color=ff0911]”That’s not nearly good enough.”[/color]

Amadeo felt like he should do something about his presence, though, really… should he? He had lowered his rifle, (when?) and the hostage was basically fucked anyway. He was, possibly, in danger, as the masked man drew near, but at the end of the day, what could he even do about it when the man had shrugged off a .50 caliber bullet like it was nothing? “What about… uh… money.” It was a half-assed offer; one he couldn’t even realistically fulfill. Still, he couldn’t give the man what he wanted, nor come up with any better offer. Maybe, he admits to himself, he just couldn’t be bothered.

[color=ff0911]”I am satisfied with my current financial security.”[/color] He stated, matter-of-factly. He was standing right in front of Amadeo now, staring down at him through the mask.

Amadeo eyed Jason, as if trying to divine the content of the man’s character with just his eyes. It wasn’t very effective, but interacting with the man directly to figure it out was starting to feel harder. “Would you do it…” He couldn’t think of anything. “...If I asked?”


Jason gave the guy a contemptuous glare from behind his mask. [color=ff0911]“Can’t say I’m inclined to do favors for liars.”[/color] Accidental lies, he might find annoying, but wouldn’t hold against someone. However, Amadeo’s lies had been malicious, meant to intimidate and deceive. They weren’t very convincing, but had he believed them? He can’t imagine any outcome but an unrepentant betrayal.

He casually walked over to Amadeo’s side, leaning his elbow on his shoulder. Another unnecessarily friendly gesture, but it would help confuse him and move things along. He was also getting tired of pretending to look directly at the guy’s face, and this position would excuse him obviously avoiding eye contact. [color=ff0911]“Now, tell me, do you have any objections to becoming a captive?”[/color] The original plan to send an infected member of Task Force: Obsidian in to infect the others didn’t seem like it would pan out after its various members willfully went out during their vacation to handle the outbreak. Taking one of them captive would be the next best thing.

Amadeo knew by now that there was some malign mental influence pushing him ever so gently into a bad course of action. He was finding it hard to care and recognized that this was due to that influence, but it was a self-perpetuating problem. Thus, he simply nodded and said, “Okay.” He then dropped his gun. He was getting tired of holding it anyway.

It wasn’t quite a valid answer to his question, but it’s not like he needed the guy’s consent in the first place. He leaned down a bit, picking Amadeo up with one arm and hauling him over his shoulder before walking back to the hostage who had been watching the scene unfold nervously. He was now wearing a dumbfounded expression, blissfully ignorant about what had just happened.

Seeing as how he now had a better hostage, (who also happened to also be more portable) he didn’t need the previous one, and figured he’d set him loose on city hall to spread the zombie virus. Before he did so, however, he decided to ask the man a question, indulging him for a bit if only because his shock and confusion were amusing. [color=ff0911]”Do you have something to say?”[/color]

“Why did-” the man stopped, his face going through a range of emotions, as if suddenly realizing something, then asked, “Will you let me go? Unharmed?”

Hmm. He can’t deny that the virus counts as harmful, even if it’s just by virtue of dehydration, but it’s not like he has to use this guy to spread the infection. [color=ff0911]”Do you want me to?”[/color]

The man puts on an uneasy expression, visibly unsure. “...Yes?”

Jason simply pulls the knives away from his neck. [color=ff0911]”Very well.”[/color] There are plenty of infection candidates in the building after all. All he has to do is take one of the floating knives and launch it down to knick one of the civilians below. Once that was done, he looked over at his former hostage. [color=ff0911]”You can make it down yourself, I trust?”[/color]

The man nodded, perhaps not wanting to push his luck.

[color=ff0911]”Then this will be where we part ways.”[/color] And with that, he took off, jumping off the roof and disappearing into the surrounding urban sprawl. He pointedly did not mentally examine why he chose to do a favor for some civilian he’d likely never meet again, because whenever he did such things, he always looped back to the same conclusion: he didn’t think the same way anymore, and dwelling on how wrong it felt was by itself enough to give him another headache. This time at least, it didn’t matter. He had accomplished his mission, and there was no sense in dwelling on it further.

He caught lots of odd looks as he passed by people, what with his mask, Amadeo, and the bloody holes in his back and leg, but if anyone reported him, the results never materialized. It fortunately didn’t take him long to find a parked car ripe for theft, and after buckling Amadeo into the passenger seat, putting a blindfold on him and taking off the mask, he drove his way over towards the designated extraction point.