[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/ngXB6GX.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/bSrl0gg.png[/img][/center][color=gray][h3]Night in Waterfront Vale[/h3][/color][sub][b]Mentions:[/b] Literally everyone [color=gray]||[/color] [b]Interactions:[/b] Matthias (in collaboration with [@ERode])[/sub]
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He left Silverside.

He wasn't thinking clearly. He knew that. He had to calm down, get himself under control, but even in the bright white lights of Silverside he kept seeing shadows.

He'd spent years building that place up, ivory towers and golden gates and cameras and guns and men and information and money and people too self-important to let anything from lesser districts even dare to think about touching it. He'd spent so much of himself crafting safety there and right now he didn't even feel it.

He didn't know where to go. But his feet had taken him to one of the great gates that kept them all caged in.

The edge of Waterfront Vale was even more heavily guarded than usual. Armed men in masks, goggles, and helmets secured the exit, enforcing an even wider perimeter. That wasn't a shock, considering what had happened yesterday. Adel didn't even chance getting closer than he already was, blocks away from the white line in the shade of some corner store. Night had already fallen and it was likely the soldiers were more antsy in the dark. Normally, looking at the exit gate from the skyscrapers of Silverside was like gazing at a makeshift vision board. Right now it wasn't doing jack shit. Fuck, if only he had the courage to just go for it, even if it meant leaving people behind.

Adel let his head fall back against the side of the building with a heavy thump. He'd forgotten his coat, but the November chill didn't bother him so much as the fact he couldn't smoke. No wallet either. Maybe he'd go inside and steal a pack like the old days. He didn't really feel like bumming one off of some random person.

There weren't many people around anyway. Besides the soldiers in the distance, the only other guy that was out late in this section of the Vale was across the street outside of a humble 24-hour clinic.

Goosebumps formed on Adel's skin as recognition surprisingly came to him. Wasn't that the guy that had attended Matthias yesterday? The man with the pretty eyes in the tailored Loro Piana. It was dark, but enough warm fluorescent light spilled out from the clinic to illuminate him. Adel was fairly sure he was right. Was it a coincidence or was the Lodestar actually here, now, of all places and times?

“Why the surprise, Canary?”

The man’s voice travelled well, a timbre as rich as petroleum. He seemed darker than before, backlit by the bright glow that shone through the clinic’s windows, only his eyes burning still with that strange light. A shadow of a man, with but two sparks of life. As Adel made himself more present, a finger would lift up from his clasped hands, the smallest sign of a wave.

“Waterfront Vale is the Order’s territory, and the Lodestar leads an adventurous life.”

Adel considered walking away without so much as a response, but ultimately he stayed rooted to the spot for the moment. His thoughts had been swirling wildly in his head, but when faced with his client -or his client's man, as it were- ingrained habits and procedures began pushing their way to the forefront of his brain. His business first mantra was surprisingly effective in grounding him, and though it took him a few moments to close off the storm of [i]what if it was all a lie from the start, what if he's part of it, what if-[/i] he eventually managed.

By the time he'd crossed the road his countenance was the same old Silver Canary as ever, save for the slightly haunted look in his eyes. He kept a wide space between himself and Elijah, just not quite so wide as an entire street anymore.

[color=silver]"Didn't expect him to get involved in another adventure this quick,"[/color] he said. The guy had to be a masochist, because if wasn't tucked away in Riverbend then it probably wasn't prior wounds he was being treated for. [color=silver]"Probably should have."[/color]

He didn't fidget, just stood, not quite casually but not stiff. Since the golden eyed man was not, technically, some random person after a moment Adel gave in and asked, [color=silver]"don't happen to smoke, do you?"[/color]

“I keep a pack to be courteous.” Elijah slipped a gloved hand into the inner pocket of his suit, drawing out a pack of Viceroys. He tapped a finger against the bottom until one cigarette slid out, then offered it to Adel. “Suppose you’ve had your share of surprises as well?”

A flick of the wrist, and there was a lighter in his hand. A silver case, embossed with the impression of a dragon; it snapped open to ignite a warmer flame than the clinic.

There was still some hesitation before Adel closed the rest of the distance, noting the brand, accepting the cigarette and leaning toward the little flame with it in his mouth. As soon as it was lit he shuffled away, inhaled deeply, and held everything in his mouth and lungs until he could neither breathe nor taste, and then let the smoke trail out of his nose. He studied Elijah as he did, part habit and part paranoia.

[color=silver]"Every day's a fresh horror waiting to be found,"[/color] he finally said by way of agreement.

“The city’s gotta maintain its charm.”

Behind the two, the clinic’s door swivelled open, the creaking of wheels sounding as the Lodestar, as finely dressed as ever, rolled out into the darkness. A slight shift in his shoulders indicated that he had turned his ‘head’ towards Adel, but as always, there were no sudden movements, no show of surprise or alarm.

A new bandage was wrapped around one hand.

“Mr. Dawson.” Elijah stepped back as Matthias spoke, a single movement to remove himself from the conversation entirely. “Your timing is…well, I suppose Waterfront Vale can only be so large.”

Adel's eyes traveled from Matthias' twisting 'face' to the bandage, though he didn't feel any satisfaction at being right.

[color=silver]"I didn't mean to catch you unawares,"[/color] he said. He hadn't actually intended to run into Matthias at all, he'd just needed to be somewhere else for a while. [color=silver]"I..."[/color]

He swallowed whatever he had been about to say quickly, thinking better of it. Or not thinking, as it were, and having to stop himself from saying it. He brought his eyes back up to the vague shape of Matthias' head. If he looked at things objectively, it made no sense for the man to be part of the conspiracy that had taken root in his mind. So, then, where did that leave him?

[color=silver]"...do you want to go somewhere?"[/color]

“Not necessarily. But it seems like you do.”

Was it force of will or the divorcing of mind and body? Matthias gripped the wheels, indicating to Adel to lead the way, whether it be a location or a conversation.

Adel wasn't kind enough to offer to spare Matthias' hand and push his chair, but at least they didn't go far. The brunette gave Elijah a departing nod in thanks for the smoke, even though the man would probably tail them anyway.

There were plenty of public parks in Waterfront Vale. It was a fairly nice district; grass and trees, playgrounds, a close knit community. A little darker when night fell on account of being on Nocturnia's southwestern side, away from the more highly developed areas. No less noisy though. Sound carried far. It was one of these parks that the two men ended up in, only a little more private than the pavement outside of the clinic given that a pair of teenage lovebirds was present, but once they spotted the company they scrammed soon enough.

In usual Silver Canary fashion he didn't speak for a few moments, even after he'd stopped walking. He stood turned away from Matthias at an angle, seemingly lost in thought but still not completely willing to show his whole back to the man. He savored his nicotine for a little while longer as that question tumbled around in his skull. [i]Where did that leave the Lodestar?[/i]

When he did speak next, his voice was not quite as neutral as he'd wanted it to be.

[color=silver]"Why did you lie to me about sugarcrush."[/color]

If he knew, he knew. No point in feigning ignorance now.

“Figured you’d charge more, if you knew that the Order’s own research into Sugarcrush had turned up nothing conclusive yet.” No need to explain why the money was needed. “How did you figure out what it did?”

[color=silver]"Direct experimentation."[/color] No matter how it turned out, the results spoke for themselves. [color=silver]"Why did your Order never try and take Pennystakes?"[/color]

“Hm?”

Adel hesitated for a moment before he explained. [color=silver]"With all of the expanding you're doing. You picked Del Guarde and the Thorned Roses to go after instead of the far easier target next door."[/color]

“The Order isn’t a mafia, Mr. Dawson.” Matthias shrugged. “I won’t say that I wasn’t tempted to, considering how fragmented Eastern Nocturnia is. But Omakase does good work. Unless you’re saying otherwise?”

The Canary's jaw tightened. Stress showed through the tension in his figure. He didn't answer Matthias, instead stepping over to a cold metal bench and dropping himself into it. As he was seated he let the tension go, and disguised what remained by pulling one of his feet up onto the bench. He draped an arm over his knee and let his dwindling cigarette hang loosely in his grasp as he pressed his forehead to his arm.

[color=silver]"Your life is in danger. Not in an abstract Nocturnia way. Like, imminently."[/color]

“Like a Vincent, Ezra, Antonio, and two other guys who are equally evil by association kinda way?”’

There was a weak puff of breath from where Adel was curled up. [color=silver]"Yeah."[/color]

He already knew that Vincent and Ezra were after Matthias, along with the Commissioner of course, but now he had three other guys on his ass too? He might be an even unluckier bastard than Adel himself.

[color=silver]"Antonio Litwin?"[/color] he asked, the well worn cogs in his brain spinning faster. That was the old man in Brewery. He must be the man Khor had told him about, the one bucking her authority. Fuck. [color=silver]"One of them why you ended up with another clinic visit?"[/color]

“Considering I walked into a room with all of them, I came out alright.”

There was a brief pause, and then Matthias produced the notebook that Nep had given him. He handed it over to Adel.

“How much supernatural bullshit involving Gyfts can you stomach, Mr. Dawson?”

Realistically, not a lot. He'd puked into the river half an hour ago when his nerves had finally overcome his will. But he opened the journal anyway, attempting to digest it while the thing about [i]all of them[/i] being in a room together circulated around his head.

If Ezra was colluding with Antonio then he couldn't keep Khor out of his issues. She had to know as soon as possible. If Ezra was colluding with [i]Vincent[/i] then Adel was fucked. He couldn't avoid Vincent, for more than one reason. Tonight was just getting worse and worse, but at least he knew ahead of time now, for what good that did. The haunted look had come back full force, Adel's brown eyes so dark with dread that they might as well have been black pits. He flipped towards the journal's end -all disturbing shit, a man driven to madness with Antonio in the center of it- before going back to the first page with Khor's name on it.

[color=silver]"This is bleak,"[/color] he said. He assumed Matthias had more to say about this, but the notebook already detailed that the old man had been manipulating people for years before this.

“Yeah. It’s [i]actually[/i] worse though.” Matthias folded his hands over his lap. “The Jolly Jalopy is a front for some underground monster, and drinking whatever Antonio brews connects you to it. It also exists [i]separate[/i] from him, so it definitely isn’t dependent on his own Gyft. Or, maybe, his own Gyft is just his connection to it. And this monster is what drew all the fucked up folks of Nocturnia there.”

There was an audible click of a tongue, an incomprehensible sound for someone with neither tongue or teeth to make.

“If I had known, it’d have been the perfect party to crash with a couple grenades.”

Adel laughed through his nose, if it could even be called a laugh. More like a few hoarse exhales accompanying the shake of his ribs. He brought a hand up to pinch his temples, obscuring his eyes. [color=silver]"If only. And I thought Ezra Blackheart was the worst thing in Nocturnia. And now we’ve got the eldritch illuminati."[/color]

A fucking mind-link monster, really?

He should be more frightened at the prospect, but he was already kind of full up on the feeling of impending doom so there wasn't any more space for it. He tried fitting this huge piece into the city's puzzle as the night air finally started to seep into his skin.

Speaking of Ezra, he had to wonder if the Midnight Man was really willing to work with all of them. Was he hooked up to that monster too, under its control or in control of it? Adel still vividly remembered the first time he'd met the man after hearing the stories, and seeing the kinds of things the Dark Aces did. How insistently he'd tried to recruit Adel, absorb him, possess him - it was scary, and why Adel had gone so far out of his way to try and never meet the man again. It hadn't worked, of course. The thought that Ezra's scheme had been brewing since way back then made Adel's stomach flip again. He leaned back against the metal, hand still covering part of his face.

[color=silver]"Ezra. [i]’Hired’[/i] me to get close to you."[/color]

The funny part was he could probably get Matthias to trust him a lot easier this way, since while Ezra was busy threatening his well being he hadn't forbidden Adel from just telling the guy what was going on. He normally wouldn't have though, if not for finding that fucking door.

[color=silver]"I think you noticed something was strange when you swapped to calling me Dawson instead of Adel. Feel free to stroke my ego and tell me I'm wrong."[/color]

“The Silver Canary, charging half what Cyrus does?” Matthias shrugged. “I actually swapped to Mr. Dawson because of a movie I watched though.”

Because Lord knew one needed some form of leisure in this blasted City.

“Only question that remains then, is whether or not you’re [i]still[/i] with him or not.” If it was just a matter of safety, after all, it was obvious that the better bet would be with a clusterfuck of shadowy maniacs. But when it came to stability? “Can’t im-“

The Lodestar paused. Tapped a finger against his armest. Envisioned Nocturnia as a map, that ever-shifting tapestry of boundaries and domains.

“Did Antonio take Omakase as well?”

[color=silver]"Ezra did. Or both of them if they're all one monster mind."[/color] It hurt to say. [color=silver]"Their districts. The people are alright. But-"[/color]

He sucked in a breath, indignation flickering through him now that he was slowly getting back to normal after his earlier revelation. It didn't outweigh the apprehension.

[color=silver]"I'm not [i]with[/i] him. I'm never gonna be [i]with[/i] that bastard. He needs me for something–"[/color]

Adel stopped talking abruptly when the thought made his breath catch in his throat. Somehow he felt if he said it aloud then it would set everything he thought in stone. And despite the impromptu info-dumping with Matthias, he didn't know if he should tell the man. Just because Matthias wasn't involved with Ezra -or the Nocturnian Illuminati- didn't mean he wouldn't do the same thing Ezra was if he found out.

[color=silver]"...I figure they're going to use Pennystakes as a staging ground to come after you. Vincent too. I'm sure he's going to head off any attack you plan to make on White Pine."[/color]

It was about what he expected. A war on two fronts, just like the Del Guarde. It’d be comedic, if it wasn’t so fucking dire. And there was something too, about how [i]spooked[/i] Adel was. An uncharacteristic burst of emotion. An uncharacteristic everything, really. Alone at night, in territory that wasn’t one’s own?

Nocturnia came to mind once more. His designs with Leo. The disposal of Omakase. Vincent’s Sugarcrush. The attack on Kairo Tower. Emily’s strange acquaintanceship with him. The ticking timer that was the ceasefire with the Commissioner.

His finger tapped a regular beat. Smoke swirled and coalesced, then scattered at the pull of the riverside wind.

“Tell me what you learned of Vincent and White Pine.” Matthias spoke.”Then, let the head of Akula’s Crew know that I have a cure for Antonio’s influence, so long as they’re willing to fight to reclaim their district. Let Poppy know as well, to send me any pertinent information about Penny Stakes and Grey Heights she’s got.”

He had no need for food or drink, sleep or rest. His mind was always clear, too clear to be swayed by emotion. Even machines recognized him as cold. His sermons had never inspired emotion, only calculating self-reflection. And though he lied more naturally than he breathed, the Lodestar shone a way through the night as luminous as the northmost star.

“Help me, Mr. Dawson, and I will dash these serpents against the rocks before the week ends.”

Now wasn't that a nice thought.

Adel didn't raise his head from where it rested against the bench. He had unveiled his eyes at some point, staring up at the leaves of one of the park's trees while he brought the cigarette back to his mouth. It had already burned down to the filter, but he pulled on it anyway.

Tomorrow he'd be in a better place; he'd be fine, calm, rational, put together, and like he hadn't learned several things that could turn the entire city on its head. Tonight he'd work on getting to that place.

[color=silver]"I will,"[/color] he said. Technically Matthias had promised to pay for the info on Vincent anyway. Adel had planned to accept Accardo's request and keep some of the things he'd learned from Matthias, but now? Fuck that. He could tell the Lodestar all about Poppy's ex-districts himself right now, but he had to wait. For his own sake. He was sure that rumors of Omakase's assimilation by the canaries, embellished with force or otherwise, would crop up before daybreak. He had to wait at least that long. And Khor... he hoped she wasn't already too deep in for him to pull out.

Adel sat up, finally looking back at Matthias. His gaze was a little clearer.

[color=silver]"I need your next moves. Something substantial, but that you'd be alright with them knowing."[/color] He'd already divulged that he was spying on Matthias for Ezra. It wasn't a stretch to come to the conclusion that Vincent had made a similar deal with the Canary. So how much trust was Matthias willing to put into Adel? [color=silver]"I can find out for myself. I'd rather save us both the time."[/color]

“Nothing changed. I’m advancing upon White Pine, with the primary goal of taking down the creator of Sugarcrush.” If they tried to move it through the blockade that he had asked Leo to set up, all the better. If they moved their facilities up to Heavy Crossguard, it was a bit misfortunate, but he could deal with the Lion afterwards. “I’ll also be organizing a proper alliance with Asterion’s people, now that Ezra has gone out of his way to take…direct action against them.”

Adel could find out most things if he tried hard enough. And Matthias wasn’t a strategic genius when it came down to it. He just had a propensity for acting swifter than most, running a budget that was about as paycheck-to-paycheck as one could expect from someone who generated it mostly off of tithes and donations.

“The rest, I suppose, I’ll leave to you to figure out if it’s worth sharing or not. I’m coordinating the attack on White Pine with Burberry’s Lion, who’ll be striking Heavy Crossguard. I’m in talks with Clash, to organize a…pilgrimage to the eastern districts. My deal with the Commissioner will last maybe a few more days at this rate, but I intend on getting her to remove Ezra off the ‘board’ for a bit, now that he has rooted himself in Omakase’s former territories. And, I suppose, considering the rest...Asterion has been in touch with the Iron Rose.”

She hadn’t been at the Jolly Jalopy, but perhaps she was subservient to them. It would explain her silence, her inactivity…but if her silence came from another reason, perhaps he could use that too. If tomorrow’s attack went well, the territories of the Order would become a bulwark against the combined forces of Ezra and Vincent.

Maybe it’d be worth running a protection racket, on a city-wide level.

“I may connect with her as well, if she hasn’t already decided to be bedfellows with the other Rose.”

The Silver Canary absorbed the information quietly, some things he knew, some he expected, and some pieces were new entirely. He drummed his fingers on the top of his knee, already carefully choosing what he would report back.

Detective Newport was a handful, but she was surprisingly easier to deal with than most. On a business level, at the very least. And Adel already knew that Vincent was after her for some reason, due to the job he'd forced onto Poppy the other day. Her Blue Bloods were swift and brutal, and would certainly be an asset if they chose to fight. She was already crooked for sure, but they could keep her from being taken in by this evil conglomerate with plenty of cash and flattery. With how tight-lipped the Kairo Empire was being after that morning's attack, he wasn't sure how reliable the man would be - but then again, the group's power and influence had already been on public display.

Now only Isabella Dellacroix was an unknown element.

[color=silver]"I can speak to Commissioner Franchesca for you, if I'm still alive after meeting with Vincent tomorrow."[/color]

It would probably damage his reputation with her, acting as a liaison for the Order of Enlightenment, but she liked him enough to have once offered him an official position as her consultant. He was sure he could spin it in a way Antonia could understand without being too upset with him.

“If you think it will help, you don’t need to mention me. While things may change soon enough, right now…” Matthias made a gesture, the index finger on his left hand extending out, before being wrapped by the fingers of his right hand. “Jeweled Bank is surrounded almost exclusively by this new alliance.”

Adel was well aware of that, but he nodded anyway. Hell, if Matthias had decided to join up with them then he would be in the same position. If the Order fell he would be in the same position. It still didn't feel great to be completely surrounded either way. Unease crawled over him from time to time about it.

When he replied it was only to let out a juvenile, [color=silver]"This sucks."[/color]

What else could be said, really, except…

“Yeah.”