This Wasn't What I Wanted!

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Immediately after hearing the news, Rory went up the stairs, heading to his small office where he sometimes sleeps at. Inside was a small bed, which he had shared with Vira many a night, and boxes filled with their things. He found one that held all of Vira's mementos, anything that she had kept during her stay with them. In a fit of blind rage, Rory threw the box out of the window, which overlooked the warehouse floor. The glass shattered, and the box landed behind the grouping of couches downstairs.

Aech jumped when he heard the crash and the box fell behind him. He looked up, hearing Rory shouting and more things breaking. "Ty, go help him, please," he said to one of the girls, who nodded and promptly went up the stairs. "Emina sometimes has these little temper tantrums," Aech explained to the for who had come in with him. "He likes to be in control of things, and when he can't be, it's like his tiny world inside his kind is just crumbling to bits." Aech twirled his fingers through his boyfriend's curly brown hair, smiling at him softly. After a second, he sighed. "He really loved Vira. You could jus tell. And he would ask me about what he should do, since he wanted to marry her. This'll probably mess him up for a while..." He sighed, looking away. Emina was the unofficial leader of their little group, and if he was out of himself for a while, then they might have a problem.

Whoever was listening to music turned their player off, Rory threw another box through the window above, this time accompanied by a shout, which held all of his anger and sadness.

"So who are you?" asked a punk-looking girl, her hair dyed in varying shades of black and purple. "Emina must think you're pretty legit to take you here. He's really secretive about all of this." She waved her hand around above her head. "Did you meet him at the rally?"
 
Despite Emina's ensuing wreckage from above, Dizzy heard a slight rustle of clothes and the small pitter-patter of steps from behind her, which immediately tells her that Chelle... or Nex, as she would've preferred, had already slinked away from her just before the curiosity struck the other members once again and turned their attention on her once again with prying questions in tow. As she turned to face their eyes, she shoved the memory card in her hand into her pocket as inconspicuously as she could.

"Uh, me? I'm just a random someone he helped out when we got cornered by the police in the subway..."

She's not sure what the punkish-looking girl meant by her being 'legit', since she doesn't even know what is it that they do exactly, although she's starting to get an idea of what it could be.

So I'm supposed to take part in all this, huh? She thought as she recalled Chelle's words a while ago. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't even imagine being pitted with such a choice.

Just so happened that this is no normal one, though. With her head inclined downward a bit, she introduced herself. "You can call me Dizzy. I hope it wouldn't be a bother, but I'll be under your group's care for a while. At least, until the chaos outside dies down a bit and I can finally head home."

That last part was, of course, a ruse. She needed a reason to stay with them and it just so happened that playing the role of a stranded third-person is the most readily accessible excuse she could think of at the moment.

As she went on with her little speech, people kept their eyes on her, as if sizing her. A few, including the blond guy and the punk girl, nodded their heads, as if in approval of her while others averted their gaze, either in disinterest or disdain. Whatever the case, it looked just like a scene of a transfer student moving to a new school, and the only thing that was out of place was the fact that Emina is still thrashing about in his room upstairs.

Noticing how unusually calm and collected these people are despite their leader blowing his top off above them, Dizzy thought that she'd bother asking about that. "So what do we do about him? Let him blow off some steam? Because I don't think he's even halfway done cursing the world just yet."
 
Aech shrugged. "Emina is better trashing his room up there than taking his anger out on others, or himself. I say just let him work things out by ruining his own things than hurting us. But normally he doesn't get this bad."

"He'll work it out eventually," the punk girl said. "Ty's probably just making him more angry..." Suddenly, with a rain of plaster accompanied by a, "God, mother fucking, damn it!" The group looked up to see Emina's booted foot sticking out of one of the walls. After a second, he pulled it back through, now seeming to be more angry at himself than anything.

"You can sit, if you want," Aech said, smiling to reveal two rows of braces, which seemed to be new. "Emina might take a while." He shifted a bit so he was facing forwards, revealing his right arm to be heavily bandaged. Wounds from the rally.

Eventually, when Rory did return from his bedroom, he was accompanied by Ty, and had bloody gauze wrapped around both wrists. "He cut again," was all Ty said. It had been a large problem for Rory, and sometimes he would appear to be dealing with everything fine before having a sudden relapse and appear with fresh cuts. Rory's eyes were red, his mouth set in a firm line.

"Everyone is here?" he asked, looking over everyone. At the confirmation from Aech, he nodded before saying, "Make more fake IDs. We might need them if Vira's with them. We'll probably have to go underground, too, and maybe go to the next city over. That's...it's all we can do, right now." Rory's green eyes burned with determination. No one else would turn traitor, he decided.

"Get to work. Ty, teach Dizzy how to make a fake ID and pass."
 
As soon as Emina gave out his command, everyone in the room rose from their stupor and started to head towards their respective work stations. Dizzy's eyes darted around, looking for any signs of a person who will be entering the cubicle in the corner, which is labeled under 'Nex'. But before she could make any progress on that, the girl who was beside Emina, Ty, took hold of her non-metal hand and dragged Dizzy into her workplace without even so much as a warning.

Sitting on Ty's desk was a laptop that looked like it hit its prime a couple of years ago and a small machine that looked all too similar with your everyday toaster. As Dizzy stared at the numerous windows displayed on the laptop's monitor, Ty bent over to retrieve a stack of blank white cards from a desk drawer and crammed them inside the toaster-like machine.

"Watch what I do." Was all she said to Dizzy before she sat down in front of her laptop and started to work.

The moment Ty's hands touched the keyboard, her fingers started to fly around in such a speed that Dizzy couldn't even keep up just by staring at it. Various programs and windows started to appear and move in the monitor as Ty worked on the card layout and information to be placed on it. Meanwhile, as she worked on that, the toaster machine is working overtime, churning out a cards one after another.

Telling her to just 'watch' was definitely easier said than done. When the time came for Dizzy to make her own, she doesn't even have a clue where to begin working. It's not that she's computer illiterate; she knows her way around a computer, thanks to her being an accountant in the past, but the way that Ty just used the computer just now was definitely in a different level than her usage. Dizzy had to wonder, if this is going to be how majority of this group's work will be like, how is she going to be of any use to them at all.

Still, she had to try. No sense in backing out after all that's happened. Taking a deep breath, she tried to recall how Ty had done it. She placed her fingers, flesh and metal alike, on top of the keys and started pressing on them.

… Nothing.

She blinked, dumbfounded, and then tried again.

Still nothing.

She tried the trackpad, sliding her index finger back and forth.

The cursor's not moving. It's just stuck there, frozen in the middle of the screen.

… Err, did I somehow break it already?

(( Gonna post at OOC chat. Let's talk plot ))
 
Rory kicked past one of the boxes he had thrown, idly picking at the gauze wrapped around his right wrist, his grey eyes watching as everyone as they went to thir cubicles. Once the commons room was empty, he went to his own, which was in a corner. Instead of creating more IDs for himself, he began dumping the hard drive of his computer onto a darknet torrent site, where he knew no one would look for them, even the authorities.

Once that was done, he unpinned an old map from one of the walls. It was older than he was, from his parents' time, and was printed on real, honest-to-God paper. Rolling it up, he shoved it in his back pocket before beginning to work on the pictures he had hanging up. Most of them were of his parents at rallies an protests, back when citizens could still speak out against the government without fear of arrest, being sent to a labor camp, or worse.

As Rory took down the last picture, he smiled softly at it. It showed his mother wearing a Guy Fawkes mask, though her hair, dyed to look like a rainbow, was unmistakeable. She was holding a sign that said, "America: by the people, for the people! NOT CORPORATIONS!" She had lived in a time when the country was called the United States of America, not the West Atlantic Agreement, like it was Now. Rory ran his thumb over her masked face, sighing softly. Placing it into his backpack, he began to shut down his laptop.

That was when he noticed something was wrong. It wouldn't work. Simple as that. No amount of ctrl-alt-delete seemed to work. Frowning, he glanced up as he heard Aech's voice shouting, "Anyone else's lappies not working? Mine and Kale's are just frozen."

"Same!" Rory called, before walking out of his cubicle. "Everyone...get out here." Once his group had all assembled, he said, "Vira...she's probably got the authorities on us...we leave for underground in five minutes. Call your families and friends on prepaids, tell them goodbye and that you love them...it might be the last time we'll talk to them again for a while, if ever."
 
"Here, take this." Ty said beside her before she shoved a handful of cards into Dizzy's arms. Before the latter could air out any notion of protest, Ty had already turned around and gone inside her work station, leaving Dizzy to sigh and watch everyone else stir into action in all her lonesome

Some took his advice as they pulled away from the crowd and took out their mobile phones while others immediately scampered ran around their cubicles, upper rooms and all over the common room, gathering as much personal belongings as they can stuff inside their bags.

She didn't have to worry about doing all those sorts of things; all the belongings she had brought with her is only her phone and these baggy clothes that she nicked from Emina's place. She left all her other stuff in his apartment, and if not there, on the cold subway floor. As for contact with family members, they are currently living halfway across the globe right now so there's probably no need to cause them any more unnecessary worries.

… Now that she realized it, she noticed that her ID, her legitimate one, had gone missing. Figuring that it must've been one of those things that she had forgotten to fill u after getting her healthy dose of pepper fumes, she walked on over at a table and scattered all the cards that Ty had given her on the desktop.

She barely had any time to pick a couple out in random before she heard someone... or more particularly, Nex (Chelle), call out from the floor above.

"Hey guys. I think we've got some company." Was what she said as she looked out from one of the cracked windows. Amongst the first who ran up to her side was Dizzy, as she wanted to make sure what her longtime friend meant by those words.

Sure enough, the sight of the red-and-blue lights from patrol cars were expected. Although there weren't that many of them yet, around two or three by her quick estimate, the fact was they are there and probably are just waiting for any development from both sides before springing into action.

Dizzy couldn't help but sigh... again. Looks like another rough day is ahead.
 
Rory watched his little group--his little family--run around trying to get their things or say goodbye. He already had his things together, in his backpack, since he had predicted that the authorities would come, and was ready to leave. As Nex announced that the cops were there, Rory said, "Alright, everyone. My office." He went inside first, kicking aside a small throw rug. Beneath it was a manhole that led to the sewers. Once everyone was there, obviously surprised to see the manhole, he said, "This is what I mean when I say underground. We're going underground, to the part of the sewers the cops don't have on their computers. But I have a map of the old part of the sewers, from before my parents were even born." He nodded to Aech and Jaie, and they came forward, beginning to help him move the cover off the entrance.

Once it was off, he adjusted his backpack before taking out a flashlight and nodding to his fellows. "Let's go. Who knows when the cops will come..." He got on his knees, pushing himself inside the dark hole, using his feet to feel the ladder. There was some light, mostly from the platform below, but for the most part it was dark. "Close the hole if you can," he called up. They needed to get as far away as they could before the police could get in the sewers.
 
Dizzy had hoped that when Emina said that they were going underground, he meant that as a figurative term of speech, as in they're going into hiding somewhere that the authorities could not pinpoint, somewhere where they could lay even lower than the one they are in right now. So one could only imagine how much her heart fell when the metal lid was closed behind them with a resounding echo and the putrid smell of the sewage around them was the only thing that she can smell... and even feel.

It was kind of a surreal situation as to how everyone just followed obediently inside the sewer's dark labyrinth. No one in the group even bothered to voice a complaint or suggest another method of escape as they shuffled one after another, like this was some sort of an occult pilgrimage. True enough, it only shows how much faith they'd put in their leader's course of action, something that Dizzy has yet to learn completely.

"Here, this might help." Chelle said from beside her as she reached something out. Unconsciously, Dizzy opened her metal palm out to whatever she's being given and received what seems to be a cloth mask, the words 'You are free' written over its white fabric. Chelle then zipped up her oversized coat up to her mouth and turned away from her without another word.

As she stared at Chelle's smaller figure, Dizzy let out a silent smirk, as if she was reminded of something. Something... interesting. She quickly placed the mask over her mouth before anyone else could notice the grin forming across her face.
 
Rory tied a bandana across his nose and mouth, knowing that until they got to the old part of the sewers the smell would remain. He had done this several times before, but they were only drills, meant to prepare himself for the inevitable. But during those times he had been alone, not to mention with someone who barely even knew what they were doing. As he walked, he heard a soft splash, and then, "Aw, damn it." Glancing behind him, he saw Aech pulling his foot out of the water, making a face. "My foot fell in," he said, by means of explanation.

Turning back around, Rory adjusted his bag before focusing more on his feet, not wanting his boots to suffer the same fate that Aech's had. They walked in silence for a couple hours, and just as Rory's feet were beginning to hurt, they reached a door set in the wall of the sewer. Taking out his keychain from his pocket, Rory unlocked the door before holding it open. "This leads to the old part of the sewers. None of the authorities know what's down here...I've never even gone, but I have a map of it...I'm not sure who we'll meet down here, but we should be safe for a while..." He trailed off, watching as everyone else went inside.

Following them, he let the door shut behind him before locking it. Immediately, one could see the difference between the old and the new sewers. The older ones were made of brick, and the passages were wider and echoed more. Also, there was no sewage running through the tunnels. They had all been diverted and closed up when the new system was built. Now, the old sewer system was full of the smarter homeless and people like Rory; those who had connections to the world before and needed to hide. As far as Rory knew, only a few people even knew that these were here, these testaments that life wasn't always like this. He ran a hand along one brick wall, sighing softly.

After a second, he took out the map, and glanced over it before saying, "Come on...there should be an office or something nearby that we could stay in, if no one else is there."
 
Two hours of trudging across muck, mud and whatever it is that's mixed in the sewage had left Dizzy to have entirely shut off her entire sense of smell. Sure, the smell was quite bad and powerful to have slipped past the mask that Chelle had given her, but after a while, she managed to get used to it, leading her to become completely desensitized towards it for the remainder of their trek.

Still, that didn't mean that she didn't get to breathe in relief when Emina lead them through a metal door by the sewer walls. The moment her boots stepped on the dry floors, she immediately removed the mask from her face as the putrid scent of the sewage vanished. It felt like it was her first breath after such a long time as she drew in a deep one, obviously taking in as much non-smelling air as she can.

Although, of course, this is not without a price. For every step that they take inside these large hollow corridors, their sense of foreboding increases. Though they see no one else in any direction with whatever light they have on them, they knew that they were not alone.

… Everyone must've been thinking of the same thing too, as their self-imposed silence kept on going even as they were given a brief respite. And judging that this feeling came down to the level that even Dizzy, who had no experience in participating in these sorts of guerilla-like expeditions, could sense it, there could only be one conclusion for it.

They were already surrounded.
 
Rory reached his hand into his jacket pocket, acting as if he was carrying a knife or a gun. Hopefully that would deter anyone from bothering them. Feeling tense, he clenched his hands and kept walking, taking out the map again. He looked around, slowing a bit. Finding a little sign on the top of the wall, near the ceiling, that read, 'S-28,' he looked down at the map, finding the tunnel.

He continued walking, leading them down a tunnel. As they were walking, he began counting how many pairs of footsteps he heard, trying to see if anyone was following them. However, due to the echoing of the tunnel, he couldn't hear anything unusual.

Then, he heard an odd scraping noise, and spun. Down the long tunnel was a figure, dressed in all black. Even from a distance, he could see the sickly looking skin and the greasy, tangled hair. He was probably a Meth addict. Rory walked towards him a bit, calling over, "Hey...we don't have any money or shit you can sell. So...just stay over there."

Glancing behind him, he saw two others, both looking like methheads. He saw the glint of a knife. "Shit..." Aech muttered.
 
It's amazing how much of an advantage one small weapon can make to put a larger group of people on their toes. Everyone's heads went back and forth as the scraggly dirty men from both sides started to close in on them, like a predator stalking its prey. And judging by the looks on their faces, it seems that no one had thought of bringing a weapon along with them.

All except for one, mainly because of her obsessive levels of paranoia.

As everyone backed away from the men, Dizzy heard a metallic click from somewhere behind her. She looked around to see what it was, only to be met by the sight of a gray canister flying in the air above them. Taking a brief moment to think, she quickly realized what it was. It's only natural; she did just see one yesterday.

"EARS AND EYES OUT, AND RUN!" Chelle's forcibly shrill voice filled the air as the object floated a few more inches higher before it reached its apex. Upon her command, Dizzy shut her eyes, pulled up the mask that was hanging by her chin and plugged her ears with her fingers

It was different this time, however. She was expecting to be treated with another dosage of those pepper spray fumes that took much out of her yesterday, but it didn't come. Instead, it was this loud noise erupting above them as the canister exploded the following moment. And if it was loud enough to go through her completely blocked-off ears, she could only imagine how loud it actually was.

Taking advantage of this chaotic moment, she made four great strides in front of her. It was this length that she had estimated to be the distance between their group and the man blocking their way. With her eyes still closed, she raised her metal hand as she leapt from her third step and swung it forward, letting loose of all the momentum she had as she landed her fourth.

Her guess was right on the money; she felt something, probably the man's jaw, connect with her steel knuckle. Given that her hand is composed of nothing but an ample collection of nuts, bolts and plating, it didn't take much effort for her to deliver a painful blow, as the hit was followed by a howl of pain and the sound of something collapsing into a heap. Without pausing to see how much of a wreck she made out of his pretty face, she straightened herself up and called for everyone else behind her.

"Way's open! We have to bolt it! Now!"
 
The canister landed at Rory's feet, and before he could react, an unbearably loud noise shattered the air. Rory let out a shout, squeezing his eyes shut. He tripped, hitting his head on the stone floor. Once he opened his eyes, he looked at his friends, at their pained, angry faces, how Aech shouted as he helped his boyfriend stand. And he realized that he couldn't hear any of it. He couldn't hear.

Eyes flying wide, he shakily brought a hand to his left ear and snapped, his breath catching when he didn't hear it. Looking up at Dizzy when she ran at one of the men, he felt Ty helping him up, shouting at him, but he couldn't hear a word she said. Paling slightly, he followed as she pulled him away towards the others, praying that his hearing would return to him.

She took him to Dizzy, shouting something, while he tried to make everyone understand what happened. However, not being able to hear himself was enough to startle him into near silence. "M-my ears..." he stuttered. "Can't hear..."
 
A few seconds after she gave her command, Dizzy wondered why she can't hear the march of footsteps following right behind her. Curiosity getting the best of her, she turned around to face everyone else and opened her eyes. It was only then that she realized the extent of the disorientation that the earlier blast had caused to her companions as she watched most of them struggling to get to their feet and regaining their composure.

"What the hell was that, newbie?! Are you trying to kill us?!" Ty shouted, obviously convinced that it was Dizzy that set off that blast. Behind her was Emina as she dragged him by his hand while he complained something about not being able to hear anything.

She was no longer listening to Ty's (justified) ramblings, though. Further behind them, Dizzy could see the other two men were on all fours, their hands clutching the sides of their heads. As they writhe on the ground, however, figures of even more men, clothed in ragged clothing, rushed out from the shadows behind them.

Chelle, who's mainly unaffected by the sound blast, looked from the men giving chase and then to Dizzy. The moment their eyes met, she knew that they thinking of the same thing: Both of them could easily save themselves from this mess by running away now, but that would mean leaving Emina's group here to get caught.

And here, she was torn; she knows that the best way to achieve her agenda of reaching Ami would lie in following Emina, but would that line of thinking still be applicable even if they are caught by drug addicts several hundred meters under ground?

What would be the best decision to make...

...

"Shit, I completely fucked that one up..."

Hearing that rather brusque comment, Dizzy widened her eyes in time to see another gray canister sailing a few inches from the side of her head. This time, it flew over everyone's heads as it was now aimed at the men running towards them.

Instinctively, Dizzy covered her eyes as the canister emitted a bright light and another blast reverberated the walls. Hearing another wave of pained howls, she looked up to see what had happened.

However, there was no longer any time for that. As she raised her head, a hand clamped tightly on her shoulder and spun her around. The next thing she knew...

She was looking at a face that she never thought she would see again. The face of a man, albeit more aged now, hiding behind a mat of red-highlighted hair and dark-green tinted glasses. On his face was an expression of such seriousness that Dizzy had never thought she would see on him.

"Hey, wake up! We've got to get your friends out of here, NOW!"

His words echoed and rang within Dizzy's ears. No longer locked within her personal moral dilemma, she shook off his grip and turned towards Emina. Using sign language with her hands, she signaled to him that they follow the man who just appeared. Hopefully, he's coherent enough to understand what she meant, as she's not really that confident with her ability for hand gestures.
 
While Dizzy tried to use hand gestures to make him understand, Rory was trying to hear something, anything. However, nothing worked, and soon he was following the man that had suddenly appeared, disoriented. He was relying heavily on Ty to stand, his hands shaking as he walked.

"Where are we going?" Aech asked, suspicious of the stranger. "Who are you? And why should any of us trust you? I mean, Emina is over there practically deaf, who's to say you and Dizzy aren't with the feds and you are all working with Vira?"
((Sorry for the short reply))
 
While listening to Aech's barrage of questions, the man clicked his tongue in annoyance as he strode forward in a brisk manner. Helping strangers out in a pinch is one thing, but making them understand that your intentions are purely clean and free from any ulterior motive... mostly, is another thing.

Something that Dizzy knows for a fact that he is not capable of doing well.

"Look, lover boy, I'm not asking anyone to place your trust on me or on my friend here. You all could pretty much stay where you are and wait for these meth-heads to gut, rape and leave you all for dead for all I care. But I don't think you'd want that, huh?"

He mentioned all those things in one breath as he continued walking in the lead. With the pace that he's going with, Dizzy is finding it quite hard to keep up with him, what with her looking back every now and then to check on the others as well as behind them, to see if any more drug addicts are in pursuit. When she saw none, she looked back in front of her to see the man standing in front of a solid iron door. His hand on the handle, he turned around to meet with everyone's eyes, most of which are staring back at him with contempt and suspicion thanks to the rather harsh words that he had just told them.

"Not that you'd have much of a choice in this type of a scenario, but I thought that I should let you know that that option is open." He added simply.

When no one replied two seconds after he said those words, he nodded his head, assuming that he had taken control of the situation. "Now, if you must have to call me with something, then call me Teishi."
 
Roy didn't know exactly what was happening, but judging by how angry Aech looked, it couldn't be good. When Aech got angry, he was always the first to start a fight. One the other occasions that he had gotten into a fight, Roy had seen that Aech fought dirty and wouldn't stop until he or his opponent was incapacitated.

Watching as his boyfriend placed a hand on his shoulder, calming him, Rory turned back to face the male, wondering what was said to make Aech so angry.

Eventually, they stopped at a door, and Dizzy's companion again addressed the group. Staring questioningly at him, he wondered why his friends all looked at him with contempt and suspicion. He frowned a bit, hating being out of the loop like that. He fixed his hazel eyes in each of his friends, praying that they knew what they were doing.
 
After making his brash introduction, Teishi then led Dizzy and the rest of the group through the cast-iron door behind him without even so much as a second look back to the people who are collectively pooling their hate-filled glares on him. Regardless of this, though, they still followed him through on the other side. Dizzy was one of the last ones to step inside, as she opted keep a lookout for any signs of the meth-heads following them. It was only when Chelle went through the door while staring at her imploringly did she follow inside.

Stepping through the door frame was like stumbling into someone's very unkempt apartment. Immediately, within seconds of entering, she caught sight of several objects, most of them being papers, plastic bags, food wrappings and various metal parts that look like they belong on weapons. Below the single light bulb illuminating the area, a table sat at the middle of the room, laden with what looked to be a stash of weapons that are long banned by the government, as well as more of the junk that are already strewn all over on the floor. Even the solitary couch at the far end of the room wasn't spared from the mess that has besieged the whole vicinity.

"We should be all right here. Those goons never did track down where I was hiding once and it seems like the electric tripwires I've just installed could make their heads hurt even more..."

While saying that, a loud 'Clunk!' echoed as Teishi swung the door's barrel bolt back in place. For some reason, the sound of the lock sent shivers down Dizzy's spine as she heard it. Safe to say, however, she's not the only one feeling that way as Teishi turned around from the door and back at the group who are now cramped inside the whole room.

"Normally I don't allow a large group of people like yourselves step into my private hole-in-the-wall here, but given the few circumstances within your group, I thought this might qualify as an exception."

Somehow, Dizzy had a distinct feeling that she's one of this 'circumstance' that he's talking about. She tried to catch Teishi's eyes but it was clear, even from behind his colored spectacles, that he's adamant on averting his gaze from her, as he just stared at the group's general direction with a stoic expression, his arms crossed while he leaned by the room's only means of entrance and exit.

"So, tell me. What led your motley crew to wander around in an unlikely place like this?"
 
The apartment reminded Rory too much of his own, in that it was unkempt and looked as if a single man lived there. Still, it was a squeeze for the entire group to fit into the front room. He moved to the couch, cleaing a space and sitting down,snapping his fingers near his ear, trying to hear something--anything. Meanwhile, Aech took a position as acting leader.

"Police were on to us after the rally. Emina decided that we needed to go underground. He has a map of the old sewer system, so we were trying to find somewhere safe. We didn't really think about possible attacks from methheads. But right now, we have to take Emina to a doctor. We need to know if it's permanent."

He looked at the man, Teichi, wondering what his motives were. They couldn't be good, but Aech knew everyone could use a rest. Especially Emina. Maybe when he woke up, Emina's hearing would be fine.

"Just let us stay for a day. We'll be gone by then. Promise."
 
"Rally, huh? So that's the reason why it's so rowdy up there..."

Hearing Teishi make that comment made Dizzy wonder how long he has been holed up underground. Stuff like what he has in this room don't just accumulate into a mountainous pile in a mere few days. He's definitely been staying here for quite some time now.

For how long, however, that remains to be a mystery for her.

"Well, I don't really mind you guys staying here for a while. Might give me a good change of pace, you know." Teishi said as he waved his hand around the place. "Just don't go touching anything that might explode, because it probably will. Loudly, too."

With that, he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket and slouched off towards one corner of the room, where a table strewn with a hundred papers was set. Although he did say such words in a cool, defiant fashion, the most likely reason why he agreed on such a request so easily was because he feels a bit responsible for blowing Emina's ears out.

… It helps knowing the person that you're reading into. It makes the effort so much easier...

Dizzy bit her lower lip as she was reminded of these words that someone had spoken to her off. One could say that it was like some sort of a bad memory for her.

…

"So, who'd have thought that I'd find the two of you running around in a place like this?" Teishi was saying as soon as he heard Dizzy nearing him with Chelle following right behind her. "You know the last time I saw you, one was flinging molotovs towards the police while the other had a bloody stump as their left arm."

It was easy to distinguish which of the two did he identify first. In response, Chelle just shook her head and took off the hood she has on, revealing a stern expression behind her red spectacles.

"We have our reasons for being with them." She said in a hushed tone, obviously not wanting to let anyone else overhear their conversation. And then, as an afterthought, she added, "But you might be able to help us out with something, though..."

She then looked on over at Dizzy's direction. At first, Dizzy just blinked at her confusedly before she realized, with a pang, what she meant. Hastily, she dug into her pockets and brought out the memory card that Chelle had given to her earlier.

"Ami's gone missing on us and this is all that she's left behind, so..."

"So you want me to find out if there's something in there that can help you guys out in finding her, right?" Teishi interjected. Looking past his rather rude interruption, Dizzy sighed and nodded her head as she reached out and let the card fall into his open hand.

Teishi stared at it for a second before he gave a curt nod. "Sure, I could do that. Although, speaking about that woman...:

Predictably, he slowly looked up from his hand and then back into Dizzy's gaze. Already, she could tell that he's about to lay down some sort of a heavy revelation on them.

"... I heard she's sided with the authorities now. She's with the guys that shut us down."

… Along with him...

((Sorry for the delay. Been busy))
 
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