standoff. [adeline]

[Rook]

ooc;

This thread is a continuation of Kenn Park,as we agreed.

bic;

The thick, damp stench of glowing moss and bat droppings seemed like an endless cloud of smog Rook had to trod thru, he walked as silently as possible, his dark fur and clothing blending in well with the cave, it was already dark, the light of the sun had left him long ago, and the only light source his poor eyes had were his claws, which shone like miniature crystals, the water that collected in pools all around him (some which he'd had to wade thru) reflected their soft white light, on the walls of the caves, wriggling and writhing like iridescent fish.

It was cold as fuck. His sodden pant legs and cloaks clung to him limply, and he found himself removing the layers of clothing he had pained to put on, to avoid hypothermia he could not let them cling to him. Sadly however, he could do nothing about his layers and layers of thick fur , so though he tried to be quiet, he had to move as quickly as possible or risk death.

He'd been armed with a floor plan of this branch caves, and had tried to memorize it as sufficiently as possible, but his eye sight was pathetic in this darkness, it was one of his only physical weaknesses, but it was a bomber. Good thing he was equipped with ample compensation.

Adeline's scent was his primary method for tracking her, unorthodox but largely effective, in this unique way he'd found her trail, after two days of threatening and bribing other furres, he'd finally reduced her hiding spots to one particular area, and her scent had done the rest of the job.

Frankly he was tired of the whole thing, Adeline was a damned hard person to find, and he was worn with it, but he couldn't shirk his task, this was all his fault to begin with.

He did not have any intention of really hurting the tiger even if he did get the chance however, the Elders had purposefully sent him, The Killer, hoping he'd finally get rid of the nuisance that had been nagging them for months, Adeline's gang, but they were gravely under estimating her.

Rook wasn't going to make the same mistake, and he did feel for her plight, despite all the trouble she'd caused him.

No, he would not kill her if the opportunity presented himself, if he could help it, despite what the Elders wanted.
But damn, he needed that letter.

He could feel she was close now, and he struggled to quiet his own shivering, going completely still to cloak himself in the deep darkness. He found himself standing in a large depression, a bowl shaped area of the cave, several tunnels branched out a few kilometers at all sides, this seemed to be a center hub of sorts.

At least it was dry here.
He waited.

[Adeline]

For two days Adeline had been confused. The reason? The stupid piece of paper she had forcefully taken from a wolf during the Kenn Park fiasco. She didn't have the paper with her at the moment, having locked it in her safe in a secret place that only she and Groves knew the location and combination of. She had memorized the contents and had been fiddling with them ever since.

All it was was a bunch of numbers! Adeline had thought she had been acquiring something important when she had stolen the envelope, not a bunch of numbers. However, what had occured to Adeline was that the numbers might have some sort of code where each number was a certain letter. But then, how could someone tell if you meant 14 or 1 4? Groups of numbers were very close together, and Adeline had remembered there being dots between some numbers. If Groves had seen the letter he would have automatically known what was meant by the numbers, but Adeline, being uneducated and having grown up in a world without libraries, was flummoxed.

She had come down to the Caves because it was quiet, wherever she always went to think. Groves had wanted to come with, but she had insisted on going alone to think things out. Groves would only distract her. He wouldn't mean to, of course, but Adeline often couldn't help looking at him when he was around, especially if it was just the two of them. The tiger's hand fingered the jewel clasped around her neck, a trinket easily worth a thousand dollars.

But she hadn't come here to think about Groves and how much he meant to her! She needed to decipher this troublesome code! Adeline had brought paper and pen with her for her to scribble notes on, and, upon sitting down, took out the candle she had been carefully holding under her coat as she walked through the wetness. She was sticky with sweat, yet cold at the same time, but maybe the candle would at least help a little bit. She never wore much underneath the heavy frock coat, and shrugged it off, a very loose fitting pirate/poet smock underneath. Parts of the shirt clung to her fur as she tried to shake it away from her skin. With a match, she lit the candle, letting the light fill the the corners of the dead end tunnel she had snuggled herself into.

Adeline knew many of these tunnels almost like the back of her hand, and had purposely gone extremely far in, walking in a very complex pattern in order to try and ensure her privacy, but nothing was for certain. She knew the light wouldn't be visible from the main center, where everything branched off into complications, but if some wanderer chose the right tunnel to venture into, they would probably be able to see the candle's fire.

As she put the end of her pen in her mouth for thought and possible ideas, she thought about how the Angels hadn't managed to find her yet. She knew that at least Rook had seen her from a distance, and that wolf character probably gave a description. She was pleasantly surprised that no one did know anything. For the last day and a half she had kept out of the shop at Groves insistence and went to stay at his very secure house, in an underground room that many didn't know existed. But Groves said that only one Angel even went near the shop, and none to his house, meaning that the furres under her were more loyal than she thought. She had finally convinced Groves that she could go to the caves safely, and he had insisted on escorting her to the mouth, both of them fairly "incognito". She just wanted to think. Let the Angel's find her! What could they incriminate her for? Taking a piece of paper from a potentially harmful furre who could have been a part of the assassin attack that killed and injured Angels? Let them try that in a court of law!

Her mind was wandering again, and Adeline once again took to the paper, carefully writing down the first five numbers: 348.57 in a clumsy, childish scrawl. For the next few minutes, she just sat there, staring dumbly at the paper, wishing it would speak the answer. Magically appearing words wouldn't even help much because Adeline could barely read. Damn Pirateering!

[Rook]

Rook felt himself automatically drop into a crouch, his body was hidden well by the darkness and the reflection of the pools of water from far off, so it diddn't really affect his mission much, but it made him more comfortable, more alert. His good ear flicked upward, standing rigid for a moment and then going limp as they flipped back against his head, there was no water here but the moisture from the pools he had had to walk through clung uncomfortably to his thick pelt, he ignored it stubbornly. His pawsteps made no sound even on the hard cave floor as he moved nearer to the opening of the tunnel.

Then...at last he could see her. He had already thought through his actions up to his point, running would be pointless (and tiring) , there were several ways to go further in but there were no ways to get back out except from whence she had come, from where he was now entering.

They'd have to talk. Talk with Adeline, or as she had introduced herself to him, so truly deceptively in that bar room, Jade. How much had she lied? Certainly not about her back story, true enough, all of it was tucked in tight in her file, Fuckin' bastards keep files on everything but after that she disappeared into smoke, almost no one knew her real name, only endless variants and though she ran a gang she somehow managed to inspire loyalty of the Angels degree, which made it an anal job trying to find anyone who'd be persuaded, even with his claws, to talk to him about her.

The only thing Rook knew was that she was a fearless leader, an annoying trouble maker and a pissed off kid.

Well, time to go to work.

He stepped out of the shadows, his lips pursing into a calculatory frown.

"Adie? Jade? What do you want me to call you, whilst we have this little chat"?

[Adeline]

Adeline looked up, smirking in the candlelight, glad to be distracted from this endless game of annoyance. "I hadn't thought that you would be so inept. It has been over two days since that fiasco. I hadn't expected it to take so long to find me. As to my name? I go by many. What would you feel most comfortable calling me? I don't care what you call me as long as I know to whom you're referring." She was talking regally, she noticed, more like Groves than anyone else, and the eloquence of the speech pleased her. If only she could write like that. Or read like that. As it so happened, she could do neither, and so deciphering codes of numbers and letters were not the easiest thing. Perhaps it was for the best that Rook had found the tiger. Perhaps he would be able to help her. Adeline would rather that than to rot from confusion. She didn't necessarily find Rook an enemy, just a member of a corrupt group trying to achieve the same goals in different ways. Now...the council? The Council was a different story.

[Rook]

His large white teeth bared in a humorless smile, he appeared relaxed but it was an enormous deception, Adeline no doubt saw through. Rook never relaxed, being an ArcAngel was being a Predator. The bad guys, gangsters, rapists, terrorists and sociopaths had always been his prey, and always would be, he hoped.

"You caused me a hell of a lot of grief, you know that? At least 30 bucks in coffee bean alone, you run a group of enormously hard headed kids, hell, brainwashed kids, If I diddn't know you better I'd call you a little occultist".

His eyes narrowed suddenly, serious "I diddn't hurt any of them Adie, and I don't want to have to hurt you. But I need that letter".

He paused, to remove his coat casually and stroll up to her, like anybody in a library, leaning over her to see the copied list. He glanced at her for a moment, his claws pulsating with light every millisecond or so.

He studied her face carefully then, taking a step backwards

Then, he smiled sincerely this time, his eyes igniting in understanding, his ragged silver fur taking on splotches of snowy white in the candlelight.

"Ah...I see, I'd forgotten". The corners of his mouth raised his smile in a smirk, it looked odd and unfamiliar on his rough, rigid features.

Now they both knew where they stood, Rook waited patiently for her to speak.

[Adeline]

Noticing Rook looking at her dreadfully annoying piece of paper, full of scribbles and crossouts and childish handwriting, Adeline's face hardened. The paper only really contained one of the 7 codes from the letter, one of the 7 sets of numbers, but Rook didn't know that.

Defiance flittered across Adeline's face as she heard the Angel speak and saw his smirk. It looked like he didn't smirk often, but the smirk really only belonged on Adeline's face. So, the tigress, decided, she was going to exchange expressions with the verging-on-elderly man in front of her. Tearing the paper off of the notepad she had been using, she scrunched it up and lit it with the candle she had been using as a light. As she watched it burn, slowly turning charred and black, she looked up at Rook, a smirk now in place on her face...and man did IT belong there. "Oh...I'd forgotten..."

She watched it burn for just a little bit longer, until all writing was gone from the page. For a few seconds she let him think she'd burnt the letter, but spoke calmly, "Now wouldn't that be a shame if the REAL letter had gotten burnt?"

For all Rook knew...it was.

[Rook]

I'm sorry Adie, I can't give you the gratification you need. I was informed, a very little, but enough to know that that isn't what I've been stomping through icewater and batshit for


Rook diddn't flinch as the piece of paper was whisked away, he hadn't been smirking at the 7 lines of code, without the rest of the letter they were useless, everything Tabitha had worked for rested on the recovery of the original letter, not something scrawled unfinished with an unsteady hand. Rook had been informed they were the call numbers of books.

No, he had smirked rather at the fact that it was obvious that Adeline, for all her fire, had the reading capability of a second grader, perhaps even less than that, and from the way she'd written some of the numbers and notes on the paper, as if she were etching them in stone, made it apparent that it pissed her off.
This was a distinct sore spot, he would not ignore it.

He did however, feel the learned-and-re-learned haughty indignation burn in his chest that she would carelessly throw something away something an Angel had died for. His lip twitched and then curled, almost into a snarl, but he calmed himself, he had a resolution after all, he wouldn't break it for such flighty reasons.

Rook had a bit of the arrogance of the Seraphim in him, but less than his more cultured partners, Rook feared losing his Middle Angel status more than he did dying, with every season it drew closer his nerves tensed.

He did not want to become a Seraphim, though it was practically already decided by the fact that he was an ArcAngel and an Apprentice Overseer.

He had no taste for sitting around at a large table with twenty or more people, and bickering over bloodshed like a Highschool debate team, the Seraphim were frightening, and seemed more Monster than Furre, in fact he could scarcely think of anything that frightened him more than his Elders, when he had to lower his head to them and look up into their dark, emotionless eyes when he reported. He couldn't say they felt nothing, but he could testify that it certainly diddn't seem like it.

He killed because it was the only thing he was good at anymore, and when that was taken away, he honestly diddn't know if he'd be of any use at all.


But Rook was a vagrant, despite having the countenance of a Professor, he was rough like all ArcAngels, he had seen people bleed to death and been the cause of it.

He knew what was truly important.

"Why would you do that Adie? Just to mess with me? I really doubt that, don't you spend all your time at that antique shop digging through shoe boxes to find our old gymsocks"?

He leaned forward, not missing a beat, though he was completely unaware of her relations with Groves. Rook hadn't thought to look into him at all, even if there had been anything there, he was too much fixated on the vision of Groves's father, to realize his son could be in a relationship with anyone else.

"Now you have a letter, it must have been exciting after searching all that time for some sniff. There is one problem though...isn't there"?

[Adeline]

Adeline looked at Rook in contempt of the hybrid's remarks. "I would never lower myself so far as to search for gymsocks, especially yours, Angel."

The way she said his profession, sneering maniacally as she did so, was bound to provoke hostilities, but they were hostilities that the Angel himself had originally provoked by insulting the antique shop. And by smirking at her childish hand.

"And actually, I don't have a letter at all. Haven't seen it for the past....two days, actually," the tiger said, smiling impishly. She didn't know how he would react to that. Would he assume she meant that it had been stolen or given away, or that she had just locked it up for safekeeping, so that it could be kept safe.

She didn't much see the importance of it anymore, especially now that she had it all in her head, and didn't see the importance of the Angel's death for it either. She was just another person caught in the wheels of fate. Six others died fighting for what they believed in, or were hired to believe in, yet Rook probably didn't care about them because they were "the enemy." Plenty of people Adeline knew were dead. The entire crew of her parent's ship for instance, people she grew up with. It was their time to die and they did. Adeline didn't. People who worked under her had died trying to fulfill tasks she had given them. Sure, destroying what other people had died for mocked them and was disrespectful, but there is always someone else who thought that person shouldn't have been respected in the first place. Otherwise they wouldn't have died.

So it goes.

Adeline didn't know Rook too well, but she had heard about him. A lot. For instance, he was considered the killing machine of the Angels. And, he already had her trapped in this itty bitty corner. If he wanted to kill her, he would. After he got his information. However, Adie sure was going to annoy the Angel for all it was worth.

He was still a Middle Angel, which surprised the tiger, especially because of his age, and positions. Maybe he didn't want to be a Seraphim. Maybe he thought that would mean he would be admitting his age. Maybe he liked the outdoors and the tasks. Maybe he hated the corruption too. He wasn't a regular Angel, that Adeline could tell. Most likely, he didn't want to be.

She attacked that part of him. "Off subject, maybe I'm changing it because I don't want to answer your problem question, but regardless. You're still a Middle Angel. What, are you not competent enough to become a Seraphim...or are you not corrupted enough, old man?"

[Rook]

It was his own damn fault of course, for ruffling her fur, and he'd expected retaliation, his age was often a sore spot those who knew of him chose to pick, among others such as his near celibate state after his wife's death. These things angered him, but he'd grown used to them, in the Angels you couldn't afford to be "sensitive".

Words could cause damage, but they weren't letter-bombs.

However, he lowered his eyes to her thoughtfully, gray smoldering in the candle-light, fed now by Tabitha's life's work.

His voice was slow, and quiet as he gave her a standard answer, one he had trained himself to say.

"I would be honored to resume the position of an Elder. The Gates have yet to accept me in their ranks, so yes, it seems am incompetent, by their standards"

There was no bitterness or anger in his tone, but there was hardly anything else either.
It was easier for Rook to admit to being a failure, than it was to admit being afraid and soft, which was, in fact what was truly happening. As old as he was, he wasn't quite at the Seraphim age boundary yet, he still had time to be accepted...but...

Maybe the Gates know my fear, maybe they will Bless me, with a Sacramental crushed skull or a Holy stray bullet in the gut, before I have to sit at that damn table, before I have to face ...them like friends. I'm already going to hell, I have no wish to ascend deeper. It's not fair.

They are Cold, I am trained not to show my emotion, they truly feel none, why are they chosen for this? Or do the Gates...

Do the Gates make them that way?

A shiver ran down his spine, though he hid it well.
All of these thoughts, spanned in five seconds, running through his head were really strings of images, that he was glad to push back into the dark spot where avoided visiting whenever possible.

So he moved on quickly enough

"I don't see you giving that letter up to just anyone, for all I know you have copies of it, that's not my business, my mission is for the original letter, it's the closest thing you've come to a solid answer. I teach my apprentices not to make deals with criminals, so I will not offer you anything, but I will rationalize for you.

Why would you want to stop me?, This is not a political matter and it has nothing to do with your vendetta. It's the root quest. It's what everyone sane should want, It's what we're trying to convince people to want, it's what it's all about. You can squabble with us for the rest of your life, and pretend it makes a difference, but you know if we get our hands on that letter, things will start changing.

I already decided I won't kill you, and beleive me, that's going on my permanent record...the Seraphim want an easy inconspicuous way to kill you, they diddn't put it in writing, but it was clear enough, your irritating"

His gray eyes hardened, a flash of lightning across a stormy sky, even as the last ironic word emitted from him.

"Doesn't mean I won't kick your ass. This is my mission, one way or another I'm not failing, tell me where the fucking letter is"

His claws glowed as his passion sparked, he had been waiting the entire time to say this, hoping before that he'd get to her, or she'd comply easily for her own reasons, when he knew she would not.

Hell, he had no way of knowing that even if he bashed her head repeatedly against a hot iron if she'd tell him, it was really still up to her, pride or rationality. She was strong either way, and she had a choice.

Rook acknowledged, it had been her choice from the beginning.

[Adeline]

Adeline snorted at the Angel's answer, not really believing a word of it except the part about the Gates. He would be honored, would he? Right. Listening to the Angel's words, Adeline took one of his sentences.

"It's what everyone sane would want? I could turn you in for treason for saying that, Rook. Who sent those assassins? The people behind that obviously didn't want the truth, the letter's contents discovered. And who would have been the group to send that? Obviously not you and your Angel friends. Not me. That leaves one political group left, one group who is obviously opposed and afraid of the Gates and wishes to just forget about them. The Council. Now, I will say nothing about my opinions on the Council, but I believe you just called them insane, did you not? If you get your hands on that letter, you're right, things will start changing. There'll be a whole damn revolution in the making. You'll all make a big deal about the whole damn thing and the Angels and the Council will finally rise up in opposition, maybe even civil war. Where does that leave me? Choosing a side. I don't like choosing sides. I'm on a side of my own. If everything is done quietly, inconspicuously, it might be a bit more peaceful. Now, I honestly don't know how to get that letter back, because I truly do not have it anymore. However, it is safe from any other hand."

This was true, Adeline and Groves had locked it in the very hidden safe in the center of the basement maze underneath Groves's mansion, a safe which only Adeline and Groves knew the combination to, and location of. But, upon leaving, Adeline told Groves to get a new lock for the bulletproof, heat resistant safe, and not to tell her the combination. Upon any circumstances. So, even if she was tortured almost to death, she would not be able to tell anybody how to get in the safe. And Groves would leave somewhere else to total safety.

The tiger spoke again. "I need your help Rook, but only yours. I don't want to bring everyone into this and make a big deal of it. I may not be able to give you the letter, but all the information is here, in my head, memorized. It's been giving me quite a headache, to tell the truth, but I'm the only key to all of this. Nobody else knows what it contains at all. And, you know, banging my head against the wall and beating the shit out of me might harm my memory. Secretively, we can do this. Publicly? The city's going to hell regardless of whether we get the fucking name or not. Why else do you think I led you here, of all places, one of the deepest places in these caves, one only I've ever gone, that I know of, anyways."

She was pretty sure no one else had ever come here. Each time she did, she left something behind, something valuable, something that any one else would pick up and take. Something old, so they wouldn't think somebody would come back for it. It was always there when she came back the next time, in the same exact spot, never moved at all. She knew; she measured it.

[Rook]

Rook actually grinned at this, but it was so humorless and trite it had an opposite effect.

"Your deluded and naive, Adie, ...never would have thought that of someone like you. I've not got much chance of being cradled by my organization when I can't slit throats anymore, ah the glamorous life of an Angel....

Whether or not you beleive it, Most of us remember what we're supposed to be doing, and who we really answer to, Some are my own apprentices. You'll see them soon, I wonder how you'll get along..." His gruff, snarling voice held traces of unspoken laughter then.

His eyes were still hard, but he raised an eyebrow " This for instance, is blasphemous...and yet I'm not bursting into flames.... I need every piece of information on that letter. You must leave nothing out. We'll know".

He had given his acceptance, come hell or high water, he'd get what his superiors had asked for, but he wouldn't be the only one to take something away from it.

[Adeline]

Adeline's eyes hardened at the insults. She didn't think she was deluded. From the way she saw things, she had more reason than Rook right now. Much more reason. However, arguing with Rook would accomplish nothing. They were both upset enough as it was.

"I'll help you burst into flames," the tigress muttered under her breath, itching to throw the candle at the Angel. A wry smile came over her face at the thought. Her temper was starting to get to her, and she needed to calm down, and calm down quickly before she brought things out of hand. Why the hell had she even entertained the thought that this would go smoothly? Did she think that Rook would just let her off easy?

Adeline scoffed. "You'll know? You don't know shit, any of you, but whatever. Give me what I want, and I'll give you what you want. Let me make sense of the letter, and you get the information on the letter. You don't get the actual letter. I can't get that back. You get to write it down on one of my pretty little sheets of paper." She glared down in hatred at the sheets in front of her. The ones that produced absolutely no results.

Her head was throbbing, and she wasn't even suffering from a hangover. She just wanted to go home now. She didn't even care anymore, not really. She'd leave if she could, but there was no way she was getting out of this. She wanted to go home, sleep, wake up, go out, get wasted off of her ass, go back home, sleep more, wait out the hangover, then have Groves figure the letter out for her. Genius that he was, he'd be able to do it easily. That way, there would be no correspondence with any more fucking Angels that make her head hurt.

[Rook]

Rook watched the slew of hostile expressions on her face pass distantly--she was a rebel leader but she acted more like Jamie than any terrorist he could call up from memory.

He observed her, seeing her irritation and exhaustion and the bitterness she felt as though he were looking down on her from a bird's eye view. David had taught his apprentice to approach the world with his insightful eye, but Rook had never been as good as it as he.

I don't think anyone ever was he thought remembering the dog's blue eyes the best, mischievous and vibrant, and so different from the rest of his tattered features.

Thinking of his Mentor reminded him to calm down, he decided not to spur Adie on anymore, as much as she wanted answers her youth made her more prone to stubbornness, and Rook was frankly as sick of the whole mess as she was. It'd be easier not to retaliate.

He looked over her quietly, his eyes were curious now but they hadn't softened, he waiting for her to begin writing.

[Adeline]

Adeline sighed resignedly as she put pencil to paper once again. With a thick, childish hand, she painstakingly wrote the first three numbers of the first set of five. Then she stopped, and looked at what was in front of her. It annoyed her to no degree, the complete shittiness it embodied. Groves had tried to teach her how to write, had even tought her a little how to read. But with penmanship? She had no hope, and even less patience.

Looking at the numbers from an objective view, her slowly dwindling anger flared up. "Fuck this!" she said, crumpling up the paper and throwing it to the side. It was even more embarassing, her lack of an education, when Rook was there watching her, waiting for her. She didn't want to give him something that looked like it was written by a three year old.

She literally threw the pencil and a sheet of paper at the Angel in front of her. "You write the fucking thing," she told him angrily. "I'll dictate."

Adeline hated having faults.

[Rook]

Rook blinked at her vicious struggle with a task he had once lived on, he found it both ironic and strange, he was also inheritly curious, even having read her file. But he said nothing, he caught the paper in the air as it fluttered downward like a shot bird, and crumpled it a little, but straightened it out with his thumb and forefinger, he bent briefly to pick up the pencil that had rolled onto the wet musty surface of the cave, wiping it on his coat before leaning over on the table, his eyes void of the expression that had been through so many expressive ups and downs in the last hour.

He was thinking, but he saw no profit in giving Adeline any clue as to what was going on in his head. He waited, once more.