Putting our heads together (GOVERNMENT)

[Capt. Hood]

Being in the middle of a rebellion was always a hectic time for anyone who sided with the rightful government, the only thing that Adam Hood was particularly thankful for was that for the time being, the rebellion wasn't open, all-out war yet, which meant that there was no clear fighting on the streets and instead there were only the occasional guerrilla attacks on Government-held districts. One thing that Adam Hood was not thankful for however was the fact that politicians, both current and former, were starting to drop like flies. The Media wasn't one hundred per cent sure just who was doing it, they pointed the finger at the Rebellion of course, that's what the Government had ordered them to do, but as to the exact perpetrator? No-one had a clue. Someone (they were unsure of how many people) was breaking into the homes of politicians, kidnapping them, brutally beating them to death and then leaving their corpses in very public places. People were getting scared, and it wouldn't be long before they started expecting the Government and Police to do something about it, but the police were clearly not cut out for the job, so Capt. Hood had himself stepped forwards with the offer to take a contingent of Presidential Guard and investigate the matter personally.

The idea of the Legendary Capt. Hood leading the investigation had spread like wildfire through the Media, and it had allayed most of the fears of the people, but it would only be a temporary respite. Eventually, if they did not solve these acts fast enough, people would start losing faith in the Government, and the support for the Rebellion would only grow in strength. This was an occurrence that simply could not be allowed, thus, Capt. Hood had almost quite literally moved into the Police HQ within The Federal District, known as The Shield, and ordered a space cleared out for the Presidential Guard so that they could work uninterrupted by the more common rabble of the Police Force. They would call upon them when necessary, but right now they were unneeded, and their presence would simply be off-putting if anything.

It had been simple enough for Hood to place a notice out in the Guard Barracks requesting the support of anyone not currently posted on active assignments, a few had already responded, some nameless Joe's that Hood had seen around the place, new recruits and their ilk. They were skilled, of course, but they weren't officers and that worried him, if need be, Hood himself could lead the investigation alone, but he wasn't one to turn down help in any way, shape or form.

He'd moved all the gear that would be needed for the investigation into their new home. They had a board on which to follow their ideas, enough filing cabinets to keep an entire office supply of plain manilla folders happy, a large table which they could sit around and discuss their plan of action, water coolers and plenty of cups, and a few regulation camping beds set out, which are normally for troops going on long patrols, but Hood knew that he and any others who chose to, could end up crashing in The Shield rather than heading home given the early hours they'd be working into.

Hood was sat at the large, round table, a cup of water in front of him next to his blood red beret, black and red being the colours of the Presidential Guard. Now it was just a matter of waiting until everyone showed up, a few of the nameless guards were there with him, loitering around, waiting for everything to begin.

[Decode A'Dære]

Decode had heard of Hood's plan through the great vine of drinking buddies and subordinates. Of course she wasn't exactly invited to Hoods' little group, nor had she been invited. She'd been quite insulted that he hadn't even sent her a text about the said event. She was pretty sure that Minno probably got one. She was technically a higher rank. At first, she tried not to be insulted by the minor fact but ideas and dreams soon stained her mind. Perhaps Minno and Hood had a relationship ... more so deep and abusive sex atop a glossy round table. The idea made her blood boil with hatred. She and Minno had yet to make up after the festival and tension between them had been an all out high. They weren't friends and Decode was disgusted by the woman. Weak people were never good for her and she definatly didn't like the idea of Hood indulging on the woman's ... weak body. 

Loud heels clicked along the ground followed by metallic clanks. A small grin curved her lips. "I bet that bitch is all over him. Her stinking wrinkly fuck fingers grabbing at Hoods chest. Fucking bitch," Decode growled, dying to pull out her guns on the older woman and shoot her right in the forehead. "I bet I could make a clean shot right between her eyes. Wouldn't it be pretty? To see that blood leak down her face?" Decode bit her lip, gaining quick shivers down her spine at the very idea. "Isn't that such a beautiful plan, B.U.G.C.? Or should I make it an accident? Work with her and then shoot her in the back of the head and pin the blame on some poor shit?"

"I don't think that would be appropriate, Miss A'Dære. Perhaps you could just try and mend the relationship. I don't think that Miss Elray is actually plotting to engage in sexual relationships with Mr. Hood," B.U.G.C droned, attempting to keep up with Decode's pace. 

Decode grumbled getting the mental idea of brown skin tangled with porcelain beneath silk pink sheets. She couldn't help but shake the image of Neapolitan icecream. What once was her favorite treat, fueled a burning hatred inside of her. Her fists twitched and she reminded herself not to destroy her own creature and how much of a waste it would have been.

She stopped in her steps, ignoring the sound of people softly clattering around her and instead the intimate giggles of what she imagined the two adults doing. Biting her lower lip, she felt as her teeth cut the flesh. She could taste her blood and like a bull, she was now seeing only red. 

She had to stop Minno before she climbed on top of what was HER'S. Like a cheetah, she dashed down the hallway before finally making it to the door. In these moments, she felt as if she already knew what was behind the door. Her husband Hood laying on top of the table with the bitch THE BIITCH ontop of him. She knew she'd most likely end up pulling her gun out and shooting Minno in the eyeball. She imagined vividly she'd walk over to Hood and he'd most likely stare at her naked and she'd most likely slap him and then he'd react out of anger and grab her hair. This would be followed by intense lip lock and then face on window, glass hitting back, make up sex. God ... was she looking forward to this? 

No longer allowing herself to ponder on it, she quickly lift her leg and kicked the door ... only to have it open from the inside by a poor victim. Heeled boot met face and a body ended up sliding on the floor.

Eyes widened, Decode rushed in the room, over to the dude. "Shit. Watch the fuck where you're going, dip shit," Decode spat, a little pissed that her ideal entrance had been ruined by some bitch who was probably record Minno and Hood's interactions. "You sick fuck. WHERE IS THAT BITCH?"

Minno looked around, her gun somehow magically appearing in her hands. "Come out, biiiiiiitch. You think I don't know you're here? I can smell your cheap fucking perfume all the way down the fucking hallway. Don't hide now. I know you probably got all in Hoods pants, you fucking fucker! FUCK! COME OUT HERE, BIITCH!"

To her alarm, all eyes seemed to be on her. There were some minor government officers and Hood ... no Minno ... She looked around, owlishly, realizing that she hadn't smelled Minno's perfume - only the scent of a clean area ... something she wasn't exactly used to. She lowered her gun a bit. "Uhhhh. So ... Minno isn't here, is she?" 

[Capt. Hood]

Hood had decided that given nobody was actually here yet, he would take this opportunity to savour the cup of water which he had laid out on the table in front of him, and start spreading out the files that sat nearby in order to get a good long look at them. He had been skimming over them when the door had suddenly burst open, one Miss Decode A'Dære bursting into the room, storming through the other troops here and drawing her gun calling out for Minno. Adam Hood patiently picked up the plastic cup of water and took a slow sip from it before he set it back down again, glass blue eyes steadily raised up from the papers to look across at Decode before shifting to the weapon in her hand as she looked around screaming about the smell of cheap perfume and apparently something about his pants...

He straightened up in his chair as Miss A'Dære seemingly realised that whatever she had imagined was just that, her imagination. He tugged his black military jacket further down to straighten out any creases that may have formed around his chest or stomach before two red-gloved hands reached up to his head and ran through closely shaved blonde hair. Having gone through all of the process of straightening himself out, his chair squeaked as he pushed it backwards and stood up with the smallest of coughs. Once again his gaze fell across to Decode and his brow furrowed downwards as only now he spoke.

"No. Minno is not here yet, you can not smell her perfume because of that, she is not hiding and she most probably did not get anywhere near my pants."

His voice was level but it was laced with an aggression that suddenly brought the room to a silence, all the eyes that had been watching Decode suddenly wanted to stare at something else, people getting on with work that two seconds ago they did not even know that they had had. Hood took this moment to take in a deep breath, and hold a hand out in motion to one of the seats next to him at the table.

"Would you like to take a seat, Miss A'Dære? I had one set up anyway, I had a feeling you'd turn up..."

[Pnév 'Vee' Mistis]

Whilst Capt. Hood was halfway through chastising Decode for her rather abrupt entrance, another young officer had also made his entrance into the room. He wasn't too tall, and he was relatively scrawny, but this was hidden underneath the smooth fabric of a uniform incredibly similar to Hood's own. He was missing the two bars of a Captain, but the same dark black and red of the Presidential Guard was all too apparent on the young man's uniform, which was complete with an officer's cap which was completely black save for a red trim around the top and the Presidential Emblem emblazoned on the front in gold. A sturdy revolver hung at his waist and he carried himself well, just as well as any professional soldier would, some might say that he carried himself slightly better than most professional soldier's would.

He stepped briskly into the room, freshly polished shoes clacking lightly against the floor as he snapped the heels together and held his hands behind his back, his feet now snapping outwards to just shy of a shoulder-width apart, one arm pulling up to his head in a salute, his fingers just brushing the beak of his cap. A youthful face appeared rather stern but was also emblazoned with a feeling of success and pride that was rare to see on the face of one so young... The man introduced himself.

"Corporal Pnév Mistis, formerly of the Ellusian Marines, now on exchange to The City State of Thelotia, in particular, to The Presidential Guard, Sir!"

The arm dropped down behind his back again. Having announced his presence, he went on to explain his reasoning for being there.

"Me and my... Colleague, are answering the call to arms issued by Captain Hood, we feel it would be a good opportunity to properly integrate ourselves into the squad, Sir!"

[Kyros Mistis]

As Vee introduced himself the loud noises of great footsteps seemed to echo into the room before a much, much larger man came into visibility. He was standing perhaps three inches higher than Vee and twice as wide, the great Bear of Ellusia stood behind Vee with a great smile crossing his face. He held out his long arms and suddenly scooped up Vee into a bear hug, a great laugh roaring from the man as he called, "Hahaha, look at my boy being all professional! HE MAKES ME SO PROUD!"

As if he suddenly remembered where he was he let his grip on the boy go and instead just kept one of his hands on Vee's shoulders, "He reminds me so much of myself. Oh by the Empress, he's growing up so fast..." He rubbed his eye as he seemed to fight back tears. The cheerful attitude betrayed the fact this man was deadly and incredibly skilled. He was apart of the Ellusian Special Forces, such a top tier group that he wasn't even allowed to explain his previous rank and duties, as far as these men and women were concerned he was a Marine before being transferred here to help Thelotia.

"Ah, where are my manners," the man grunted out in his thick Ellusian accent, "First Sergeant Kyros Mistis of Ellusian Marines, now the President Guard on behest of the Empress herself! Ah, yes, our benevolent ruler cares deeply about the President's health and safety."

[Decode A'Dære]

Decode looked up at Hood, feeling all sorts of butterflies fly inside her belly. A normal person would be drowning in embarrassment but she was already too consumed with pride to have any form of mental let down or regret. A light chuckle hummed from her and she bit her lower lip with mental pleasure. 'Oh, Adam Hood, you just don't know it yet, but you are MINE,' she thought before deciding to wave off his words with a role of her eyes. 

"Obviously she's not. Guess, I'm lucky its just you and me - minus the commons around here." With a light snicker, she moved closer to him - thinking of perhaps dismissing the others to do something else so she and Hood could have some fun time. 

Suddenly the door opened and she stopped, her plan going down the toilet at the entrance of the two men. Gritting her teeth together, she offered a rather disappointed. "Well whaddayaknow. Never-fucking-mind," Decode hissed, deciding that it would be best to take a seat. Plopping down in the nearest open seat, Decode threw her legs upon the table, leather pants squeaking against the perfectly waxed furniture. 

She narrowed her eyes at the two males. "Who the fuck are you guys?"

[Minno Elray]

Brown platform heels clacked delicately along the perfectly waxed flooring. If one would look down, their reflection would be very clear minus the blanched alabaster hues. Minno bit her pink colored lips. She wasn't quite sure why she'd even forced herself to fix herself up today. Things had never been the same since the festival. She was never good company but she felt she must distance herself from others. Originally, she didn't plan out getting out of the bed. Another day of sitting in darkness and eating microwavable dinners and gallons of Neapolitan icecream. She reminded herself that she DID have a job ...

She rolled up the sleeves of her dress shirt, the buttons stopping a bit over her bust. Her tan pants hugged her thighs and calves giving her figure a defined look. Her hair had grown a bit and she'd clipped it in a neat yet long bob.

She wasn't too comfortable right now, but deceit was what she was best at. Standing outside the door, she quickly stepped inside. She was met with the presence of a few familiar faces - more so she didn't know personally but had done her research on before coming to this ... eventful gathering.

Upon her entrance, she decided to make herself known. "I must apologize if I'm late. I to do a lot of things before coming," Minno spoke, eyes briefly locking with Decode before she moved close to where Hood would be. She was sure the President would be arriving soon so it would be best if she stayed close just in case.

[Capt. Hood]

There had been no flicker of acknowledgement from Hood towards Decode's advances, but the smallest wry smile spread across his face when she was interrupted by two Ellusians wearing the uniform of the Presidential Guard had stormed into the room. That expression was swiftly replaced by one of his usual looks of pure disregard as he looked both of them up and down whilst they introduced themselves, it seems they had a child and an even bigger child to care for... What was all this 'Sir' bullshit? Hood meekly raised a hand in a pure, lackluster mockery of a salute and motioned for both of them to take a seat whilst Decode, rather bluntly, asked them who they were. Capt. Hood decided to answer for them.

"These two are Ellusian Marines, temporarily transferred to the Presidential Guard by the good grace of The Empress to aid us with this little rebellion issue we're having... As young..." He paused for a moment. "Pnév, was it?, pointed out, they seem to believe that our current problem with murdered politicians would be a good opportunity to show us what they can do..." If he was being honest, Hood only knew of the pairs arrival for selfish reasons.

The rumour mill was in full force, and apparently the Empire was looking to punish Thelotia for it's inability to keep Icos El-Elron alive, sending these two was a slap in the face to The President as is, but what's more than that, words had been spread around that the Empire was also looking to lift him from his station and take him into their own military. What better way to punish Thelotia than to take away it's prodigal military son? Either way, he didn't plan to leave without a fight.

"Take a seat, gentlemen." He said, motioning to the table. "And let's not go on with this 'Sir' shit, please. The only man you need to address as 'Sir' would be President Exusia." As soon as he finished his statement, Minno Elray also decided to make her entrance, apologizing for her late arrival. Hood simply shrugged. "Anyone who decides to come on this operation is doing so of their own free will and in their own time, I can't chastise for tardiness..." He may have been suggesting that it was fine for Minno to be late, but the tone of his voice most definitely said that it wasn't. Adam glanced down at his watch, before looking up to the room now rather full of Presidential Guards.

"The President should be here shortly, but I believe that we may as well start the briefing now, The President is already fully aware of the situation. If everyone would like to take a seat..?"

[Kyros Mistis]

Kyros had read the files of those he would be working with very thoroughly and it was very interesting to finally meet them in person. The Thelotian Presidential Guards were supposed to be the greatest loyal fighters in all of Northern Zoi, but to entirely call them 'Guards' would have been an insult to these men and women because they were essentially extensions of the President's 'Commander of the Armed Forces' title. They would give commands in his place and lead armies in the President's place as well.

His eyes scanned from one Guard to another, falling first upon the girl his files called 'Decode'; wild and had a bit of a drinking problem (apparently she had spilled a few beautiful details of information on numerous occasions), she was said to be not only dangerous but void of any ability to care for anyone but herself. They couldn't even tell if her loyalty towards Thelotia was at all great. 

Minno had walked in behind them just moments ago and Kyros recited everything he knew about her in his head. Somebody who actually seemed old enough to hold this high ranking position as the Presidents Guard, she had been fighting this rebellion since before any of these children here were even born. A mile long kill record had earned Kyros's respect and the boys down in the IIA believe she was responsible for leading countless rebels into a slaughter, something that was given credit to holding back the Rebellion for years.

"Aye, the Empire has a great deal of experience dealing with rebels so we've come to show you what we know. We'll teach you things such as how to check if a bomb is under a stage and how to keep people from jumping the fence during a parade for our leaders. Simple stuff." Kyros gave a small chuckle as he lifted his hand of his son's shoulder and pulled out his chair to sit down. In truth Kyros had served in many, many missions where he was dropped in some remote valley with a dozen guys and told to find and kill some wannabe rebel leader. Tracking, killing and knowing the rebel's patterns is something he was enormously skilled at. 

Kyros's eyes finally fell upon Captain Hood. The file he had was extensive and detailed with all the known operations Hood had been part of. The things he had done in this rebellion... well, it was proper Ellusian. While his loyalty to Thelotia and the President could not be questioned it was no doubt he was an ambitious man. The file had classified him as both a threat and a potential transfer to Ellusia's secretive Special Forces, well one thing was for certain was that the Captain would fit in well there... 

[Capt. Hood]

Capt. Hood was quick on the trigger, speaking up as soon as Kyros was finished.

"Wonderful, I'm sure you'll teach us plenty about preventing potential Coup d'etats within our own governmental system as well." He said calmly as his gaze fell onto Kyros without the slightest flicker of fear or intimidation. The President may be willing to take this sleight of his authority in his stride but Adam Hood most certainly would not, these Ellusian 'Marines' had been sent here into the Presidential Guard, serving today in his unit and he would not be treated as a fool. He looked across to the younger Ellusian, his son, he looked pale and narrow. The rather brief reports he'd been sent on the two men listed Pnév as eighteen years old, but he could easily pass for younger.

"We've recently had a string of murders, politicians both former and current in small, minor roles. Initially, we thought nothing of it, we doubted that they were linked and given their location within impoverished areas we simply put it down to jealous people taking out their anger on those who had more than them. When we started to piece the murders together, we swiftly realized that more than likely, this was the Rebellion. This new train of thought seemed logical, and for the time being that's what we've been feeding to the media, it will hurt their standing amongst the people and in essence will do us a favour, but there's a problem." He took another sip of water before sliding a series of photographs down the table, images of the murders before coroners arrived on the scene. They were horrible, skulls caved in, unrecognizable faces, teeth forced through the upper lip and nose from the intensity of the beatings.

"Konig Exusia is a war hero of Thelotia, brother to President Exusia... I'm sure he'll corroborate what I'm about to say, but he believes that if there was one thing that Konig would not do, it would be to brutally slaughter people who have little-to-no say in the actual control of the Government. So yes, whilst we have been sliding out stories blaming the rebellion, inwardly we have been pinpointing the attacks towards a single man in particular, you may have heard of him."

Another series of photos were sent along the table, it was grainy security footage from the train attack months ago. It was an image split into two, two separate frames from the same camera. The first frame showed a tall, slim man if not lithe with muscle, shoulder length black hair wearing distinctly unique armour, in particularly the fur collar around his neck, he was wielding a sword at his waist. The second frame showed the same man, but changed, skin had been replaced with black scale and his face had distorted into a snout-like shape, horns protruding from the top of his head.

"Ataxía, The Dragon-Slayer." Capt. Hood continued. "The only real wildcard within the Rebellion that we can truly confirm as to being capable of all of these acts. Now, we cannot one hundred per cent guarantee that it is Ataxía who is behind these attacks, but we also cannot pinpoint anyone else who could do this to another human being..." He paused, looking across to the Ellusians. "Not outside of this room, that is..." He pointed to one of the photographs, the first killing, Mr. Dillion.

"Coroners reported that the injuries to the first victim were both external and internal, which hints that something was holding the victim's head in place whilst the murderer was attacking him... We found no evidence of any device holding his head in place, so we believe that Ataxía maybe had an accomplice..."

[Kyros Mistis]

Kyros listened intently as Captain Hood spoke, lightly scratching his beard as Hood handed out pictures of the so called Dragon Slayer. "Well shit..." Kyros huffed, "It looks like you're dealing with a Dragon, not its slayer." Beyond the intelligence community and a few leader Ataxia wasn't a known name, his exploits within his islands were merely stories passed around at port cities when sailors were really, really drunk and nobody believed what they were saying anyways. It was natural that Kyros had no real idea of who Ataxia was... the files concerning Rebel leaders and Anarchists were still being recovered from one Icos El-Elron, who had spent the past year studying those within the Rebellion and Anarchists. Where he put those files the IIA had yet to figure out...

He looked back up at Hood and gave him a sly smile, honestly to Kyros it didn't matter how you died so long as it was effective to the mission... if his mission became bashing a man's head in to send a message, well he wouldn't have a problem with that. "This... Ataxia, you believe he's acting against the wishes of the Rebellion? More importantly you say he has followers, which of course tells me all these rogue killings are in our favor - don't we want in group fighting?"

Kyros shifted his balance in his chair a bit and glanced over to Vee, trusting his instincts far more than Captain Hoods, "Of course I'm pretty old so my ways may be 'out of date' for all you young guys. What do you think of it, Vee?" To be fair, Kyros had no problems being ordered around by Captain Hood, but he was here to advise and learn so he was merely doing his job. To Kyros, he felt they should continue to drive a wedge into the group so they would fight themselves... it was the quickest way to end an uprising.

[Pnév 'Vee' Mistis]

Pnév listened to the back and forth between his father and Captain Hood and gave a slight shrug of his shoulders. Looking through the files, his father was certainly right that they were dealing with a Dragon... Some of these images were obscenely graphic to the extent where Vee was fairly certain that lesser men would look away in disgust. He scratched at his chin slightly as he looked across at his father who asked him his opinion. There was a moments pause followed by a sigh as he laid out his own personal opinion on things.

"Well, unfortunately it seems we arrived too late..." His accent was as thick as his fathers, but his voice was softer. "I think the reaction that this 'Ataxía' wanted was for the finger to be pointed towards the rebellion... Yes, there will most likely be some infighting within the rebellion but at the end of the day they still have a cause to fight for, and if they have a man that can do this..?" He motioned to the photos. "Konig Exusia is no fool, I studied his military activities with great interest in the weeks before my reassignment and he is known for his use of resources. All this will do is inspire the rebellion to fight harder, besides... In fighting or not, if we allow the killings to continue it will do nothing but degrade the base of the Government and undermine them, we cannot allow that to happen, of course."

There was an irony in that, Vee noted, given that the one thing they had effectively been sent here to do was to undermine the Government that they had been sent to serve. Nonetheless, his point had been made.

[Javier Xander]

As sson as Pnev was done talking, Javier walked into the room. Yes he was late, but he got the news just about an hour ago from a text from his employer, that he was required to be at this meeting. Javer walked in and sat down in a chair away from everyone and he took sigh as he looked at the pictures.

[Kyros Mistis]

"Ah, yes, so you got the public up in arms over these killings and you've backed yourself into a corner, you've got to get revenge now or risk losing credibility..." Kyros nodded at his son's statement before gazing back at Hood, "So what's the plan, how do we root out a dragon?" 

Kyros had once seen a dragon, once, and it was in the distance. His warship had been patrolling a common route of smuggling when in the distance the crew spotted a dragon flying near Drakos Nisi. The moment of panic on board could not be lightly said, the artillery gun were shifting and every Marine drew their weapons upon the dragon and waited to see if the beast would draw near. He had never seen such a large creature before in his life and he was fairly certain that beast could pluck the warship from the water.  Facing a human sized dragon didn't seem so frightening, at least.

His gaze shifted has Javier entered the room without a word. Kyros had an idea who he might be but he wasn't certain. Without another thought of the man Kyros looked back at Hood and awaited his answer.

[Capt. Hood]

"To put it so bluntly, yes. As for a plan? Well, the targets so far have all been politicians past and present and we should have reason to believe that the next targets will also be of a similar nature. He's been working his way upwards and it would be logical to assume that he plans to strike as high as he can without being completely deluded as to what he can achieve." Capt. Hood leaned back in his chair, sliding a photograph across the table of a man who appeared to be in his mid-40s with brown hair that was already going grey from stress and worry lines engraved into his face.

"Prime Minister Alaine Talios." Hood continued. "The President is far from The Dragon-Slayer's reach, that much is certain, but the Prime Minister..? Well, he gets as much protection as we can afford to him at this moment in time, but it could be debated whether or not it's enough to stop a man with the tenacity of Ataxía. Now, I want to say that our plan should be to simply jump up in arms and casually wander over to Prime Minister Talios and surround him in a ring of steel, but that's a foolish notion... I think our best opportunity is either finding a way to lure Ataxía out of hiding and then strike him in the open where we don't have to worry about a bodyguard detail on a VIP, or we simply wait and observe Prime Minister Talios, then strike when Ataxía shows himself." He gave a shrug before crossing his arms against his chest, leaning back in his chair and looking across at Kyros.

"Which sounds best to you?"