The Blackbird Tavern & Inn

As he watched her step into the building his eyes tracked her for a moment before his left eye flickered and if one looked at it it would seem like it was lost tracking something else beyond where his right eye looked, he shook his head and then reached for the handle. He wasn't sure this was a good idea. Veta looked terrified, perhaps to a level that was dangerous. He could almost feel he was in trouble, but he shook that feeling from himself. He would as per normal struggle on, he might not know what he needed to do to make it up to Veta, but he knew she'd forgive him eventually. The man however added an increasingly irritating variable. He was an unknown, and he looked like he might be trouble. His left eye flickered as he readied himself. His little friends would alert him and protect him if it came to that. Casting a nervous look up to the rear-view mirror he smiled shakily at himself. His left hand moved to the door latch as he watched Veta through his little friends eyes. His right hand twisted the key from the ignition, and then pulled the keys out and slipped them into the outer pocket of his jacket. "I am ready for this, I have to be ready for this" He said to himself as his hand pulled on the latch.
 
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Marcus had been in the process of following Veta, but he paused when he looked inside the tavern. She hadn't been kidding about the changes. The sign outside was one thing. But this? This was an entirely new level of change. What alarmed him was the fact that none of the changes had triggered the magic to restore the building. That could only mean a few things, most of which he didn't like.

The pause at the doorway afforded him enough time to hear the engine shut down, and the door unlatch. Silent running as the battista may have been, Marcus' enhancements affected nearly every area of his body, including his hearing. Normally he didn't fully activate any of his enhancements. It wouldn't do to try to open a door and bend the handle. Or, in this case, to be deafened by the sound of his own footfalls. Still, leaving most of his enhancements at least partially active had proven to be quite useful.

It didn't take Marcus long to piece together some of what was happening. The person in this car was either responsible for the changes to Veta's tavern, or he represented whoever was. Either way, the interior of that building was currently his domain, not Veta's safe haven. Glaring at the vehicle, he readied his right hand's grip.

His tone was firm and decisive. "Veta, get back out here. No telling what all has been done in there."
 
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She had only taken a few steps inside then stopped as she heard Marcus' voice. It's alarmed her when he asked her to return back out. As she came out, first thing noticable was the black tinted windowed car..it gave her the shivers. She moved over to where Marcus stood, " I'm not going to argue, this place now gives me the willies. "

This was quite sad for her to say that about The Birdbird. Right now , she doesn't have control of her establishment, which really saddens her. She couldn't help but wonder if all that has happened with the changes if the one in that black car isn't responsible..from the looks of it, it really weighs heavy on that thought. If it was of a friendly nature, whoever is there would have gotten out already. Now standing beside Marcus.. " Where should we go ? "
 
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As the man exited the car his hand left right hand unconsciously slipping to his right pocket checking for his keys, it was a habit he had gotten into years earlier, after having locked himself out from one of his first labs.

That was a horrible evening, he'd come up with the idea to use the power of the building to melt the locking mechanism. So for around the next hour and change, he'd gone about stripping wires and using every spare scrap of metal he could find around the building. Patching in his makeshift electric torch took less time than most would have believed. That however much to his employers dismay had worked. He'd melted the handle, half the door, and part of the hallway he'd been standing in before the breakers all blew. It was then the security drones and fire brigade had shown up, and he had to explain how and why he did it so many times he almost forgot the properties of magnetized Mithril. After all of that misery, he left not with his keys or his experiments, but with a pink slip. That was also the first time he'd ever gotten drunk as an adult. Meandering from tavern to pub to clubs. However he had learned never to get drunk on Appletinis again. It was only a year after that massive setback, and hangover that he joined a new laboratory that ended up buying out his former employer.

Giving himself a mental shake he looked towards the doors where Veta had returned to join the mysterious stranger. His first thoughts were perhaps this was Cobra, or Julian. He'd heard their names in passing concerning Veta's past and he felt a sting of anger somewhere in his hind brain, unreasoning emotion as if he should be hurt or feel betrayal upon the one he despised behalf. Letting out a long sigh and clearing his throat loudly he spoke loudly, perhaps too loudly as he felt his voice crack "Hi Mom" he said as he lifted his left hand up in a wave towards her. Side stepping the door and pushing it closed with his right hand. Hearing the door close with a solid click his right hand returned to his pocket feeling the keys through the cloth. As Dakkon Sammael Olorii looked at the scene before him his left eye wavered ever so slightly his little friends were readying themselves if the mysterious man was an issue. As his left hand fell from the air and slapped against his left thigh a small click could be heard on the 8.4 hz audio frequency readying himself in case the man was a mage, sure he couldn't defend against all magic, but he had enough tricks up his sleeve that he should provide a wizard enough of a challenge to prefer fighting a high demon.

Walking around the front of the car he moved towards the path that lead up to the front doors of the Blackbird and where Marcus, and Veta stood.
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Watching carefully as the man finally emerged from the vehicle, Marcus started to creep back toward his own vehicle, nudging Veta along the way. It hadn't been all that long ago that he'd had to deal with Drummond and the influence he'd had on Marcus and Katarina's family by way of his sister's deli. While Marcus was pretty sure this wasn't any of Drummond's "associates", that didn't make it any less dangerous.

Marcus stopped moving when Dakkon nervously greeted Veta. At that point, two thoughts ran through Marcus' mind, fairly well simultaneously.
The first thought nearly brought a smirk to his lips. "Good. He's nervous."
The second prevented it. "Mom? We'll see about that."
 
As she felt the nudge to her elbow from Marcus, she did begin to step backwards..her already quickened breaths just jumped up a few notches as now there appears a leg emerging from behind the black car's driver's side door..then there it was fully out from the vehicle standing before them..at that moment she began to turn , getting ready to make the dash to her car..

* Just get in the car..drive out to Cougar Pines as planned from before..* she thought to herself as she was turning about..then as the stranger from the black car spoke calling her 'mom' she halted so quick that she stumbled, throwing out her hand to Marcus' car hood as support from hitting the pavement..but it didn't work as planned, she hit the sidewalk with her knee, then her forearm , elbow and hand scraping . Lying there she gave a small groan, palms in front, sliding her legs forward as she was working the motions to stand,but instead just fell back thumping her rear down. She squinted her eyes as she looked at him..studying the man's facial features..what stood out was his blue hair..just like...
" Dakkon ?..is that ..is that you ?" Then anger set in towards Dakkon..
" Santo il Fuoco Dakkon !!"
 
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Dakkons eyes followed his moms tumble as he moved faster towards her and Marcus his legs moving towards a soft jog getting some level of feed back from the his little friends in the concrete under her about contact points and impact pressure, there was going to be some scrapes and bruises but seemed unlikely that she would have broken a bone unless she was really calcium deficient. As his stride stopped him about three feet from Veta and this Marcus fellow he heard Veta's interrogative. His face lost his momentary look of worry as he looked at her his grey eyes narrowing as he looked down at her "Well I certainly am not Azrael, Lilith, Nora, or Rain, but after abandoning your children I could see why you might have a hard time remembering my face!" He said his own anger flashing forward...Hearing her Statement a few moments passed as it filtered through his Anger he blinked slowly and then looked at her flummoxed. " That was ONE TIME MOM, and Klaus was able to clean up the mess." He said with the same exaggerated pitch as a child explaining it wasn't their fault the house caught fire. At least she didn't mention the numerous fires he'd accidentally started when he was young, or the 9 foot tall metal demon he'd lured through the walls of the billiard room. Realizing the oddity of standing over his mother he offered her his right hand. "Let's get you up, and get you inside"
 
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"That's not a good idea, little brother. Yesterday your implants were the most advanced technology in that place by at least a century. This guy almost oozes tech. The whole area's covered. I can't get specifics without being there with a better scanner. If you can't see anything I'd wager nano-tech."

It certainly didn't take her long to ignore Marcus' instruction to avoid using the comm implant. Katarina never had been one to listen to Marcus when she thought she had a better idea. Still, the information was useful.

Marcus took a step forward with his eyes leveled on Dakkon, holding out his own hand to help her to her feet. "Your extremely aggressive over-reaction to a surprised mother aside, using technology to make extreme alterations to a business' physical structure without the owner's consent or even knowledge is reason enough to call into question your motives. Veta, I advise staying out here. He may be well meaning enough, or it may be a trap. I recommend we leave and I can come back with a crew to see what all has been done to the building."
 
She waved the help from both of them away as she managed getting up on after swatting a few of the 'whatever' those creepy little things are. Now standing upright she brushes herself off, then pushed back her hair that had fallen over her face only missing a few wayward strands which she gave a sharp blow sending the strands out from her eyes. She glared at Dakkon, her eyes narrowing slightly,
" Abandon ? Seriously Dakkon ? I'm not going to get into that with you at this moment, but it will be a discussion coming. I can grant you that."
She then shot a glance over to Marcus.
" A trap ? Surely not a trap..bad taste practical joke on his mother maybe.."
But she did give what was said a few quick turn over thoughts.
" It's not a trap is it Dakkon ? " She hoped for an honest answer. But then Dakkon had never lied to her before..at least not that knew of.
 
His eyes narrowed harshly at Marcus attempting to chastise him. The man was shrill and aggravating as he continued to prattle on. He might have a point however concerning his anger towards his mother, but she had left him, Lilith, and Nora. The only people he and his sisters had to rely upon were his Brother Azrael and the despised one and his other brood. His pride refused to bow to either of them and this man felt he was entitled to step into family business. That alone caused his left eye to flicker a little faster showing a bit more order to the movements if someone was looking closely. Though what those movements wouldn't give much of a hint unless they knew precisely the law out of the overlay of the control interface overlayed upon the contact lens. He allowed the man a moment to speak before, Dakkon let out the loudest most obnoxious laughter he could manage through his anger towards this interloper. The man was the most ridicules creature he'd had the chance to meet outside of a vivisection. His eyes were drawn to his mother seeing her wave away his attempt to help, thankfully she was also waving off this new persons offered help as well. Catching his breath before looking coldly at Marcus " You must be the greatest kind of simpleton, allow me to clarify a few points for you, as you clearly need them spelled out for you, first, if it was a Trap why would I allow her to have left the trap in the first place ? Let alone let her leave twice ? Or Allow you to continue to breath anything other than disulfur-dichloride in a clean room for my own amusement ? Thirdly do you think your crew would be given any quarter to inspect my work ? " He said his eyes flashing with challenge and a smug anger. His left eye flickered a little back and forth as he spoke. Looking back towards his mother he felt a little hurt because she thought he was pulling a prank on her, and a bad joke if nothing else. Going from hot to sullen his gaze moved to his mothers face as he spoke " It wasn't a prank, nor is it a trap. I just know how much you love the Blackbird and decided I would improve it, let alone fix your bed so you couldn't smack your forehead into the post again." He said softly his eyes moving back towards Marcus allowing the anger and dislike to overwhelm his hurt feelings. Depending on the eyes Marcus' support team had several larger metal suits about the size of small trolls would be heading towards the street Veta, Marcus and Dakkon were standing upon. Their lumbering steps would echo slightly like tin cans being stomped flat. Thermal cameras would see they were running nearly two hundred degrees colder than local atmosphere.
 
" Dakkon..There is no sense in being rude with Marcus..he has done nothing but try to help me." At this moment she noticed the flickering to Dakkon's left eye, she stared at it but seeing the sadness to his face over ran her curiousity, but definately she would question about that later. She reached out to Dakkon's hand.. " The changes to the Blackbird IS wonderful, in fact, more than wonderful..but, why did you feel you had to present those changes in this manner of secrecy? Why not come to me personally ? That certainly would have kept me from near hysteria..not to mention it would have been nice to have you with me." Her attention to his face was more to him than to his eye. " Now..how about we take this 'homecoming' off the street and on inside to the 'not haunted' Blackbird. I could get us all something..Marcus, you may want another root beer..what about you, son?"
 
"I could give you a breakdown of his psychological condition based on what I've heard, if you like."

Marcus simply rolled his eyes. He'd dealt with people like this before. Extreme pride often mixed with extreme sensitivity. Add in a halfway decent intellect and you had a combination that made for a poor companion. Marcus' enhancements were plenty capable of catching the subtle movements of his eye. Actually, Marcus caught quite a bit more than what anyone else generally did. His father had made sure that his experiments with his children had been all-inclusive. Katarina got the majority of the mental enchancements. Marcus had gotten the majority of the physical ones. The two were meant to compliment one another, which they did quite well.

"I'll pass on the offer, Veta. Once his changes are complete I'll be happy to come take a look and see if what he's done will still work with our plan. In the mean time I have a call to make, and it sounds like the two of you would be better off without me interfering. I'll be back in a little while."
 
Veta nodded to Marcus declining on the offer of the root beer with a small smile, added to a soft relieved sigh that most everything seems to be winding down to a calm . though now she is starting to feel a bit tired from the high anxiety of the day. " Alright Marcus, another time then..promise ? Again, I want to thank you for being here and wanting to help..I know I was a complete wreck of a person..I just hope first empressions of me doesnt make me look like a total lunatic." she said with a slight nervous chuckle.
" We never did get a chance to discuss of that plan..when you do get around to making another visit we can talk about it.."
She was about to say something more but pause..she drew quiet, her head turned slightly as if she had heard something and was seeing if she could hear it again..
" Did..did you guys hear that ?..it sounds..its funny but it sounds metallic like.."
She now begins to turn around not knowing what to expect on the street behind her.
 
Of course Marcus had heard the sound, long before Veta had noticed. On a normal basis one might be tempted to react to such peculiarities. However, Marcus had to remind himself that this was the old sector of Ayenee Capitol City. And, as he'd suspected when Katarina first told him about there being activity in this sector, it always meant something more. He wished he knew what that seemed to always be the case here. Sure, when he was visiting the Yamatian home realm, it was clear that most of the people he'd met there were frequently busy, and he'd had to release all of the restraints on all of his enhancements just to survive that battle...something that still haunted him...but it was entirely different there. You at least had some inkling of what you might expect there. But here? Not just in the realm of Ayenee but in the middle of the seemingly forgotten sector of its capitol city? No. There was no telling what one could come to encounter.

Marcus turned to head toward his car, responding to Veta as he did. "In this area of town? There's no telling what it could be. Might be best to get inside, after all. I'll catch back up with you later."
 
Dakkon took his mothers hand softly in his, his eyes sparkling slightly with a mist of nostalgia. As her questions whipped around between him and Marcus he licked his lips before he spoke "If the changes were made in the open you might have freaked out Mom worse, either that or attributed it to Father, but more than that it wouldn't have been a surprise" He said softly. Hearing Veta invite Marcus his spine had a minor stiffening. As his left eye flickered before he responded to her next question " I could go for a coffee, its a bit early in the day for much more than that" He said feeling himself starting to relax hearing Marcus excusing himself. He didn't need someone sticking their nose in to his families business. Right as Veta mentioned the sounds his eye started to flicker, and then stopped in its tracks. Deciding against halting his earlier orders the large metal automatons continued to walk down the road, slowly. Dakkon arched a brow before tilting his head listening as if he didn't know the sound of them tramping around in slow movement. However he looked to his mother before saying " Maybe we should get inside Mom "
 
The peculiar souds were still coming down the street but still unseen.. but as Dakkon took her hand, that seemed to push the sounds back just alittle. She gave a pat to Dakkon's hand and flashed him a smile.
" Alright, coffee it is and perhaps some breakfast."
Then seeing Marcus moving towards his car, she released Dakkon's hand and followed Marcus, she wished to thank him again but yet stopped as he said 'should get inside ' she stood and started a few moments. What is this tone of concern? Everything was over now, wasn't it ? Then as she heard Dakkon's request of getting inside, she gave a look at him from over her shoulder, a slight tilt of her head..there seemed urgency to his voice, and with repeating with the word 'should' also.
" What is it you two ?"
She asked as the concern laced with fear was returning.
 
"Marcus..." The tone of Katarina's voice rarely changed. However, when she was short on words, it was never a good sign, and Marcus knew exactly why.

Pausing at the door of his car just long enough to respond to Veta, he nodded toward Dakkon. "Ask your tech savvy son. He's the one with the controls. Just look at his eyes."

He didn't bother to explain how he'd known what Dakkon's eye was doing. He simply got into the car and shut the door, quickly pulling up a map overlay of the old sector. "Where are they?" A group of light illuminated on the screen.

Marcus sighed in relief and pulled away, navigating through the streets to avoid Dakkon's crew. "Now what are they?"

"I don't know. I told you we should have upgraded the monitor stations. 'Nooo.' you said. 'These ones are fiiine.' you said. Well they're not so fine now, are they?"

Marcus had gotten pretty good at recognizing that anger was always a secondary emotion. He'd also gotten pretty good at dealing with the underlying emotion. So, his sister's snippy retort didn't much affect him, but he was able to get a sense for what was going on with her...fear. "Katie," The name only he and their parents ever called her came out. "what's going on?"

He heard her take a deep breath before answering. "Those things are cold, Marcus. Like, no living creature or machine should be able to function, cold. Back before we had all that drama with the diner, Sometimes Drummond would use something kind of like that to...persuade people. He had a lot of tricks to choose from so he didn't use them often, but that's not the point."

Marcus sighed as he pulled up to an old warehouse near the docks...the edge of the old sector. "What a time for Inferno to be MIA. Sounds like we could use a quick tempered burster lord. So, you think Veta's kid is somehow connected to Drummond?"

"If it's actually her kid, you mean?" Another sigh. "I don't know. Maybe. It might be Drummond's group, or some other crew like them. Then again, it may be completely unrelated. I need to go there with you."

"Not a chance."

"Hey, who's the older sibling here, anyway?"

"You come down here and I won't have anyone I can trust to monitor the whole area. Anyway I need to check something here. Keep an eye on the tavern for me."

"Fine. But be careful."

"So now you don't trust me, Marcus?"

Marcus whipped around and saw an all-too familiar face...sitting in his back seat.
 
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Looking towards his Mother, he tilted his head slightly to the right looking towards her. He smiled at the offer of breakfast, the idea was not something he'd thought about in a while actually eating at the start of the day was normally something that only occurred to him by accident anymore. Then his hand felt the cool air fill the space where his mothers warm hand had been as Veta released it and he felt himself tense ever so slightly. The automatons general proximity moving towards his location at their slow lumbering pace was starting to have a general effect on the local air streams in the are making the street become colder and around them a fog was starting to grow as they moved, condensing the ambient humidity. Certainly it had its negatives but in this case their extreme temperature variance would make them harder to discern. Leidenfrost effects helping to disperse and push away from the negative temperatures helping hiding them visibly even if they made it within direct line of sight. Hearing Marcus accuse him of control made his expression go blank for a moment as if he hadn't heard him but he had, and Marcus had revealed how astute he was on general meeting, and how paranoid he was. It also indicated that Dakkon would have to use his other systems for control around him if he wished to remain a complete mystery to Marcus. With a slow narrowing of his eyes and a tilt of his head making his eyes focus upon Marcus at a upper tilt to the right. All he said to the charge Marcus had leveled at him was " Am I ? " He said shaking his head and moving towards the Tavern " Come on Mom, lets have a nice breakfast, I could certainly go for some pancakes if you're making them" He said with a casual boyish smile as he walked and then said "There's nothing to worry about mom besides Even if I wasn't certain of what I have done to the Blackbird to keep you safe I'm not the only one of your Children invested in keeping you safe, let alone if Father deigns to grace us with his presence. " Dakkon could feel where his Ice trolls were, although mental control was far more taxing than he preferred Marcus letting out his eyes little twitches would make it far more difficult to use the easier interface undetected. Certainly he could at least give Mr. Marcus a chastisement for his petulance, but now was not the time.
 
She rubs her hands along her arms as she began to feel a chill in the air. It was a bit on the odd side as the weather seemed comfortable earlier. Hearing Dakkon's request for pancakes made her chuckle slightly, bringing back a memory of how he loved her pancakes. But just as Marcus mentioned about Dakkon's eyes to her..she did take a closer look. As she did, and noticed the oddness to them..'why did I not notice that earlier ? Perhaps she did but was so caught up in the shock of Dakkon now being here. So much, in such a small length of time has things been happening.
" Dakkon..I should have noticed it sooner than now...but..what is going on with your eyes ? Believe me when I say that I do love the idea that you and my other children would like to see me safe..but I want you tell me what is really going on ..both of you stating that I should get inside...what is happening ? I'm not sure I can handle much more secrets and surprises ..I think I have had enough for one day..I will get inside, but I want some answers."
She then moved on past and slipped in through the open doorway of The Blackbird.
 
"What do you want?"

"Now what makes you think I want something?"

"Is that who I think it is?"

"Because the last time you came around it ended up costing me quite a bit of time and money. Not to mention the toll it took on Katarina and our parents."

"So it is him."

"There was a lot more going on then. At least more than you guys knew about. Look, I didn't come here to reopen old wounds. I came here because you need my help."

Marcus' eyes glanced over the backseat. "No weapon. So you didn't just stow away while I was at the diner."

The other man shook his head. "No. When my scanners went off that there was activity and I saw it was your rotation to keep an eye on things, I knew you'd come by here eventually. I just waited for you. The staff is outside."

Marcus checked the mirror. A platform made out of what appeared to be fog sat some three hundred feet behind the car. On it lay a metal staff. "So again. What do you want, Doriaon?"

"I told you. You need my help. For one thing the Catalyst isn't here. While you were gone last time the Board decided it would be better to leave it somewhere more secure."

Marcus laughed. "More secure than here? Like where? The basement floor of some secret military installation?"

Doriaon's face didn't waver a bit.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me."

The other man shrugged. "It wasn't my call. The Board thought that the Catalyst was too important to just leave unguarded. I tried explaining to them why it was kept here in the first place, but none of the Founders are with the Board any more. It's becoming political, just like everything always does, eventually."

Marcus' fist struck the window. It flexed, but didn't break. Benefits of a vehicle designed specifically to be driven by someone with his enhancements. "So now what?"

"Now, Mr. Rodia, you're going to need some additional help."


"Doriaon, if you so much as suggest that I go and see Drummond."

"No no no! Drummond has nothing to do with this. There is a family, though."


"I don't like it, Marcus."

"Yeah..."
 
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