Establishing Control (Collectors)

[Demetrios]

"This isn't right..." A breathless Kali echoed out, her eyes wide as she watched the greenish flames rise higher into the air. She wanted to move, run as far away as possible but she found herself unable to move from her spot. Her breath was vanishing, seemly sucked away by the flames that grew exponentially with every passing moment. Kali had never seen anything like it and for the first time in a long time, she was afraid, "It wasn't supposed to happen like this."

-

The morning light had just begun leaking into Kali's room when the phone started to ring. She didn't budge from the twisted mess of blankets at first and instead opted to cover her face with the nearest pillow to try and block the ringing phone that seemed to grew louder by the moment. Cursing herself for not setting her phone to vibrate, Kali through off the pillow and reached widely for the phone while knocking down the many empty mana capsules that laid widely about her nightstand. 

"Gods be damned," she whined as her hand finally grasped around the phone. Without looking at the caller ID she quickly picked it up and held it to her ear, "Yes!?" She asked impatiently, expecting it to be one of her informants who picked a really bad time to call. 

"Good morning to you too." A much more relaxed, even a bit cold voice spoke back. It only took Kali a mere moment to realize who was speaking to her; Demetrios. Kali sat up, eyes wide and almost thrown into a panic. Running her hand through her dark hair she suddenly felt very naked... well that's because she was, so 'emotionally exposed' might have been a better word. 

"G-Good morning," Kali said in a much more tamed fashion, "What do I owe for this pleasant call?" 

"Your ability to kill and command." Demetrios spoke back plainly.

"They're yours, as always." Kali stretched her legs and slid to the side of the bed. Her eyes burned as the light graced them, with a hiss she turned her back from the light and bent her head forward to try and avoid the dastardly light.

"Excellent, I want you out of the city with a host large enough to put down the revolt in Gefyra City right away."

"R-Right away?" She echoed, trying to hide the disappointment. Having just got into the city she would have hoped to at least... see him for a little bit, even a couple of minutes would have been good.

"Right away." Demetrios answered back, either ignoring the disappointment or simply not registering it.  "Take as many Collectors as you'll need and win me back my city."

"It will be done." Kali answered back swiftly as she pushed the disappointment away. 

"Take Parker with you." That actually surprised Kali and she wasn't sure if she should be outraged or amused. While she did enjoy working with him last night she wasn't sure why Demetrios would pair the two back up... did he not trust her any longer? The thought frightened her greatly. Kali held her tongue too long and the silence was picked up on, "Will that be a problem?"

"Absolutely not." She said swiftly, "But... I'm a little confused on the line of command here. Am I answering to him?"

"Yes." The words hurt more than she could ever have imagined, "and he's answering directly to me."

"Very well... I'll take back the city." She added softly, knowing not to fight his decisions.

"I have complete faith you will."

"I will." She said once again, knowing the conversation was coming to an end. "It was nice speaking to you-" The soft clicking sound let her know Demetrios had already hung up. Closing her eyes Kali almost found herself in tears, almost, a swift throw of the phone into the window and a satisfying clash seemed to help her. Still fuming Kali rolled off the bed and started to getting ready to move once more.

The state of her house was... well, horrible. The nice beach house was in shambles at the results of the party she hosted; people were strung over furniture while the smell of alcohol, sweat and mana still haunted the rooms. Kali hadn't realized how many people showed up until she began to step on and over other people (because this was her house and she was still angry, she'd step on everyone if she had to!).  The worst part was Kali wasn't even intending to throw any party at first but after pulling that nasty trick on Parker the sudden urge to get completely wrecked really seemed appealing to her. Indeed, judging from the state of the house that's exactly what happened.

Kali lost track at how long it took for her to get ready but soon she was out with the cold morning air nipping at her cheeks. There was a fresh lair of snow on the ground and she cursed it. Having located one of her drivers among the piles of the still mostly intoxicated people he didn't exactly look overjoyed when Kali showed the text containing the location of Parker (Demetrios sent it after he hung up, it took a moment as she needed to translate his 'code' into the right message. That always took awhile and she still wasn't sure it was the right area). 

Soon enough they had arrived at an apartment that looked less than appealing. Kali found herself amused at the fact Demetrios's new favorite buddy lived in a shit hole like this and it took a moment for her to regain her composure, her annoyed driver was a little freaked out as to what she found so funny. But soon she was out of the car and marching into the apartment. The translated message gave the room he was in as well as she wasted no time trying to peer through the names in search of him (chances were he was under some fake name... his real name was a bit too well known right now that it would have been too risky to use). 

With some quick, forceful knocks Kali placed on Parker's door she balanced herself against the door frame and cursed this entire day. Still in the morning and it already sucked... she didn't want to leave Thelotia so soon! She just got here after all!

[Morgan Flynn]

And currently Parker lay face down in a pillow on his own bed snoring loudly into it. If it was one thing he had issues with yet it was that he wasn't a morning person and Demetrios wasn't a sleep person so if he was to be previously informed of Kali's visit it was entirely lost on the man. He himself had stayed up late for....reasons....and found comfort in sleep a few hours after midnight, drowning himself in the feathery soft feel of his blankets, the crack of his window allowing in a steady, cold breeze. The sounds around him were pretty soothing, the wind whistling now and again and even the sirens and cars honking outside the window played a soft melody for him - the one thing out of place was definitely the loud rapping at the door. Sharp and quick, at the first 'bang' the peaceful man's eyes shot open and with one forceful movement Parker leaped straight out of the bed and into the middle of the room.

"Shit!" he hissed, grabbing at a heavy book nearby as his heart raced. Who the hell comes to him? Trouble, that's what. And he wasn't dressed for the occasion, either. He wasn't dressed at all.

The sound continued and Parker reached quickly to grab his pants from the floor, sliding them on as he began to hop towards the door. Whoever it was they were either super polite about the killing and/or robbing him thing or if they hadn't bust down the door yet they didn't have any business with him at all. Maybe it was the neighbour's stupid kid again. Senses still out of whack he stumbled towards the door and only opened it the smallest crack, staring straight at her chest the girl on the other side and sighing, mostly in relief and partially in frustration as he let the door then swing open. With sleepy eyes that he rubbed at, he yawned.

"Oh hey. You know the party was last night, right? Not this morning? I mean if you wanted to I'm sure I've got time somewhere for it but it's probably going to have to wait till like, after breakfast or something," he mumbled to Kali.

[Demetrios]

Kali suppressed a grin as Parker greeted her in a very... well, fair reaction. Honestly she was a little worried he'd start screaming at her because of that little trick she pulled on him last night but all considering he was taking it pretty well. Not caring to let him know any of that she peered past Parker into his apartment and simply gave a shrug, "My party is rolling twenty-four hours a day with the strict exception when I'm working... and I'm working right now." Kali gave a soft yawn before ducking into his apartment, "You've got coffee? I could kill for some right now." 

Glancing around the place she plugged her nose of the smell, not caring to hide her disgust of the area, "Ugh, this place smells of you." She hissed as she walked over to the window and opened it up, letting a rush of icy cold wind sweep in. Her comments were ironic considering her house currently smelled like a hedonist's dream. "You chose to live in a place like this? The Agency IS paying you, right?"

Demetrios would have approved of this apartment. He liked ordinary, boring places like this and never really approved of the mansions and beach houses Kali owned across Zoi. What was the point of having all that money if you weren't going to enjoy it, though? It always perplexed her how Demetrios viewed the world.

[Morgan Flynn]

"Yeah, of course they're paying me..." Parker scratched his head as Kali made herself at home. He walked himself over to the small kitchen to dig around for the coffee she'd requested, at least he was sure he had coffee in this place? He really couldn't remember where he would have stashed it so it took him a few moments digging through several cupboards and as he set the machine to do the work he turned an eye back to his 'home' that Kali seemed to hate. He didn't see anything wrong with it. It had a grey carpet like, everywhere. Walls were an off-white colour but it was kept together nicely enough. Parker didn't really have a lot for possessions either save for a handful of books that didn't even come close to filling the bookshelf and yet they trickled off of the shelves to the floor in a mess anyway. He had a dirty shirt draped over the back of his one and only sofa and a cheap television with a dozen action and horror movies scattered over the floor in front of it.

"What's the matter with it? It's nice. It's got....walls. There's carpet. I have things to do while I'm here," Parker couldn't help but ask, leaning on the round kitchen table he had to face the woman and wondering how long he was going to be able to stand around shirtless before that window she opened started getting too chilly for him. Why did she have to open it all the damn way? He had it the way he liked it.

If there was one thing that was going to stand out as a real eyebrow-raiser in Parker's apartment, it was what was hiding underneath the extra movies and an empty coffee cup on the table in the livingroom. Doilies. Legitimate, finely crafted, intricately designed doilies. Those were a must.

[Demetrios]

"It's decent at best. Where is the room devoted to the vast collection of alcohol? Where are the stripper poles? It's just so boring!" Kali laughed as she leaned against the wall, her eyes drifting over his chest, not even bothering to hide her gaze.

For a moment she forgot why she was here. Kali had to remind herself she was here from orders by Demetrios and he placed Parker in charge... the very thought once again annoyed her.

"You need a taste for the finer things. Thankfully I have great taste. How classy were those gifts I left you last night? I thought you'd enjoy that."

[Morgan Flynn]

"You call banana wine great taste? That shit's gross," Parker chuckled, really wanting to ask her to leave a selfie next time she decided to try something like that but kinda having that kept to himself almost seemed to amuse him more. He impatiently turned a look to the coffee machine still dripping away and took a stroll out from the kitchen area and past Kali, on the topic of 'finer things' he felt the need to shove some of the items around on the table to reveal the lacy decorations to her.

"I got fine taste, see? Doilies, that shit's awesome. They decorate, they're great - this whole place is great!" Parker continued and threw his arms out to the small living room, "got a roof over my head, food to eat, a place to sleep, it's peaceful. You think it's boring that's you, I guess, but I don't really need a...an entire room? Full of alcohol? Nah. No. Shit's not worth it...if I want a stripper I'll just go to a club, they're trouble taking home..." Parker actually thought they were trouble anywhere, even in clubs. He wasn't particularly fond of them and their feigned playfulness, their wicked tricks that they played to not only take all of your money but the things they did when they got desperate...!!! Nope, not after the harpoon incident he and Periot experienced. Never. Ever. Again. Strippers were trouble. Trouble! He was almost shuddering thinking about it, that or the suite was chilly now. Either way, thanks, Kali.

Parker quickly disappeared into the bedroom to grab one of his shirts from surprisingly the dresser, he evidently remembered to do laundry at some point this week. After he threw that on he made a quick march out and slammed the window shut that Kali had opened only minutes ago on his way back to the cupboard, upon which he pulled out a couple of mugs and poured whatever coffee was ready into them. He slid the one mug over in her direction, shortly after reaching into his pocket to throw down towards her a set of keys to one of his favourite sports cars.

"Besides, why spend money on a place you only eat and sleep in when I can spend it on something actually fun?"

[Demetrios]

"Ugh, you're so fucking Thelotian it isn't even funny." Kali groaned as she seated herself in one of the chair surrounding the table. "Uncultured bitches that like doilies and-, wait, what?" She stretched her neck forward to examine the thing Parker seemed to love so much and gave it a rather disgusted look, "Well... that's just weird. I mean not the weirdest thing I've ever seen that guys are into but really kinda weird." 

Like Parker, there were a set of things Kali really liked - mana, banana wine and strippers. No not the ugly, disease infested strippers that you find down in the Red Light District. She liked the really expensive ones that only worked when CEO, Lords and other elites threw massive parties. Kali had a half a dozen or so on call for whenever she felt like her house desperately needed one. Parker didn't like strippers because he hadn't seen any GOOD ones!

"Boooo, shirt, ew!" Kali hissed as Parker marched back, "You're like literally shitting on all of my fun here. You and your silly ass doilies." Kali did happily take the coffee and even though it tasted rather shitty she was happy to have the caffeine in her system. After a couple more sips of the coffee she thought it was time to finally let him know why she was here, "We've both been given new orders, Parker. The First of the First wants us out of the city and marching to Gefyra City today." 

[Morgan Flynn]

Parker rolled his eyes as she complained about him being 'so Thelotian', like somehow he could help that being born and raised here. What was he supposed to be instead? Ellusian? Ha. Ha! Though really if he was would she act any more like a brat to him? For a moment he began to think what if he was really Ellusian, he'd probably be so cool. So cool she wouldn't have dared play her stupid trick on him last night, she probably would have begged to come home with him instead! Not show up the next morning and make fun of his home and...and complain about his shirt...? Was she complaining about the shirt he was wearing or the fact he even bothered to change into a shirt at all? He'd been kind of aware the last few minutes that she could obviously see him but he didn't think she was checking him out? Was she even doing that? What was with this girl?

'Whatever. Don't ask. Let her whine. If she's grumbling 'cause she missed out then I guess that's her problem, she's 'working' right now, remember.'

The doilies were something he gave her a bit of a scowl for. He'd lived with Periot for a good number of years and the man was obsessed with them for reasons Parker never understood other than Periot's rage-filled "BECAUSE THEY'RE FUCKING AWESOME" or "BECAUSE I FUCKING LIKE THEM!" or "BECAUSE THEY GIVE THE APARTMENT SOME FUCKING CHARACTER!". Parker never tried to understand his friend's love for the 'old lady' type of decoration, though after living in a place that was forever decorated with them he truthfully couldn't imagine living without at least one in his own place now. It not only reminded him of Periot, it...in a way kind of looked neat to Parker, as goofy as it might have been for a man his age to own such things.

"You're like, literally shitting all over the thing that gives my place some character," he answered, taking a page out of Periot's book though thankfully without the bellowing, "I thought girls were supposed to understand that kind of thing! And..."

He'd been arguing a bit now but began patting at his pockets again, hilariously having easily found his car keys but that phone of his...the bedroom, probably. Always. Yes, of course, between the bed and the nightstand. Parker admittedly had a bit of a short panic attack at the idea that Demetrios might have tried to get ahold of him already and here he was having coffee and arguing class with...with her!

"...is that so? Gefyra City? That's..." sudden? Yeah. Yes, most definitely. Wasn't really what he had expected to wake up to either. He had actually forgotten already that Demetrios had even told him that he could expect to work with Kali again soon, though even if he hadn't he didn't think of 'soon' as less than twelve hours from when Demetrios had spoken to him.

[Demetrios]

"And I thought all guys liked strippers so I guess we're both finding out new things about each other." Kali shot back at Parker as he struggled to remember where his phone was. Indeed if Parker were to go fetch his phone he would have at least one message from Demetrios informing him (in his own weird way) that Kali was on her way and she'd explain everything. Also there was a text saying he secured his new place and was moving immediately... what was not said was that the apartment was being doused in flammable mana and set on fire.

"And yeah, I know but I'm not in any position to question orders when they come directly from the First." Kali tried her best to keep her annoyance of the subject out, "I suppose the Agency thinks it's time to put this revolt down once and for all. It won't be easy but we've been given free use of whatever resources we want, which of course makes me very happy."

Kali glanced over at Parker and debated telling him the little fact that he was in charge of her. It wasn't right... she had more experience with this type of thing! She could get the mission done, she knew she could. But if she ever disobeyed Demetrios that would be... bad, if he ever figured out. Kali glanced up at met eyes with Parker, the man had pretty eyes... and no way she was taking orders from a man with pretty eyes.

"By the way, I'm set to be in charge of this mission." Kali stated, feeling her gut tighten as she imagined how angry Demetrios would be. "You won't have a problem with that, would you?" Not like she really cared, although she did worry about him making a fuss and calling up Demetrios. That would have been bad.

[Morgan Flynn]

"Yeah, alright."

No question at all. Considering how very uncommon and recent it was for Parker to not just go on missions of sort but be in charge of things, he had no reason to question Kali on it and never thought to. He yawned again and pawed at the floor by the bed, finding his phone eventually and to him it was just another day of 'Demetrios said, therefore do.' He liked it, he liked knowing what was expected of him and felt the need to please. He felt productive, and generally just...better about all sorts of things, at least when he was kept busy he was.

He'd only blinked several times at the messages left for him and scratched his head, giving a glance back to Kali as he reappeared to sit by her and continued, "I've no problem. You're smart, you know what you're doing. You need me to drive then?" Because of course he defaulted on his skillset with a minor recently in 'being scary'.

[Demetrios]

Kali almost gave a sigh of relief as Parker seemed content with accepting her command. With that she seemed almost a little guilty for ignoring Demetrios's orders, but fuck that, he's too nice to be in charge. The Agency needed a firm, powerful hand to guide an operation like this. "I've heard you're a really good driver so yes, I'm very interested to see what you can do."

I'll bring Demetrios that traitor's head and he'll see how worthy I am...  knew Demetrios blamed her for losing To Chameno but what was she supposed to do? She fought as hard as she could to get it back! Pushing herself up from her chair and swiped Parker by the arm and interloped their arms. "I know you were all like 'don't touch me unless we're bangin'' but I think we're kinda past that aggression thing. Sorry about lying to you about that party thing by the way, that was rude of me. I can be really mean sometimes!" 

"Take me away, hero!" She cackled loudly, clearly very pleased by the idea she would be in charge of this mission. 

[Morgan Flynn]

Was that really what it took for this girl to be happy? Just saying yes and not giving her grief? In the past it was something Parker would have been delighted to know and knew very well he'd stupidly use it to follow her around if it meant he got laid...which to be fair he still might if such an opportunity would allow it. It was a thing that confused even himself when he thought about it, and how that was nice to know and all but somehow he was...kind of getting used to saying things when he disagreed? Or rather felt like he had more courage to do so? He had no idea, the way he was changing was surprising and secretly a bit of a thrill to him as well as he began to learn new things about himself every day.

So now did he stand by what he said earlier to Kali? Or did he just smile and accept this? He wasn't as enthused about the cute girl hanging onto him as he knew he normally would be, his thoughts being an awkward mix of how she was such a pain yesterday, played that trick on him, was kinda a pain now, and now clinging onto him like somehow they were really close? At the back of it all he did only too well remember Demetrios speak of Kali.

Parker felt like shoving her off of him, or at least considering their relationship thus far logical sense screamed as loud as it could for him to do as such but he didn't. His brown eyes only glanced down to Kali, she was content and pleasant right now and even laying down the 'hero' title on him. Maybe it was too soon but her words stung him as they brought him immediately back to Asteria, intertwined with his arms, pawing and petting him gently that it aggravated him now to even remember it.

"You think so? I still think it's a good rule to have," Parker at least didn't sound angry however he wasn't nearly as happy as Kali was, though he did give her a very obvious look over with a smirk, "I mean I accept the apology and all but I'm kind of an action instead of words kind of person, you know?"

He swiped up his keys and made for the door with her. He hadn't a clue how far away Gefyra City even was or if she had plans of him actually driving them there or with what vehicle. She'd tell him, he believed her.

[Demetrios]

"Awwwww, I gotcha. Still feeling a bit bitter, huh? I guess I would be too if I thought I was gonna get THIS." Kali said with a gesture to her own body. She let his arm go and quickly walked ahead of him, expecting he was heading down to the garage where he kept his car. "Don't worry though, I'll find a way to make it up to you! But first we have to focus on the mission - I was thinking we call up at LEAST a hundred Collectors and slip into the city. We'll scout the city for their locations before bringing in more Collectors and then we'll- you're following this, right?" She asked quickly turning to him.

"Anyway, I want to try and take him out with one swift attack. If we catch them unaware we can totally fuck their shit up." She learned that one from the IIA, those assholes had spotted so many of their bases and businesses before attacking. They never had any chance to react...

"We need a set of competent officers and some fake IDs because they most certainly will be watching for the two of us. Those won't be hard to get but finding a place to stage the operation will be rather difficult. When the Agency revolted they seized all our property as their own, we're kinda short on some places..." Kali had a cool apartment on one of the bridges that overlooked the great river, it was easily one of her favorite places. "We'll find a place though, it's all part of the fun."

[Morgan Flynn]

Parker bit his tongue, surprisingly enough as he really wanted to argue that no, he wasn't bitter he didn't get to plow her last night, he just didn't want her hanging on him if she wasn't gonna...whatever! Stupid girl. He rolled his eyes instead before she got into her mission idea, prancing off ahead and he tried to register the plan in his head.

"I think I'm getting it," he answered honestly, trying to put the numbers in his head and gauge how big this was as he took himself down the stairs, "you said a hundred though, right? How many people do they have then? If they expect us to come do you think they'd like...y'know, know how you'd plan to attack them?" Because to him an Agency that separated and fell apart and turned on each other still knew the other's tricks, right? That was what Currie had argued about Morgan, wasn't it?

And on the topic of finding a place to stay out there...did the enemy know them well enough to figure out where they would likely go as well? Maybe it was Parker thinking paranoid, he couldn't help it, he had lots of questions but at the same time he did recall Kali vaguely mentioning yesterday about how this was probably very possibly her next assignment. She was on it for a reason, Parker was along because...hmm, why, really? To drive her there and back and to scare the people they were after? That was his guess, and if they worked well enough yesterday then clearly Demetrios had no worries they would be fine together for a longer period of time.

[Demetrios]

Kali knew the Fourth Agency completely, after all she was in charge of the To Chameno operations within the gang. "The Fourth had the largest amount of Collectors than any of the Agencies COMBINED during the glory days, 30,000 Collectors in addition to our 'satellite gangs' that paid tributes to us, I controlled half of those Collectors in To Chameno but..." her expression grew dark as she spoke, "When the IIA hit us we lost a fair amount, the rest fought with me to control what we had while others abandoned the Agency to either run or join one of the others. Reports say the revolting Agency within Gefyra City has gathered about 17,000 Collectors,  which would give them enough men to overrun us if we fought in a traditional military fashion."

Kali's voice was devoid of the happiness that had previously been there, instead it was far more tamed and cold, "Their leader is a man who calls himself Kallistrate, fashioning himself off the ruler of the Land of the Independent as some type of poetic way of calling us the Ellusian Empire and he a liberator. Anyway, he's an opportunist piece of shit." she spat after that, right onto the hall floor without giving it a second thought, "We don't NEED large amount of numbers take to him down, we just need a opportune moment." 

"Which is why we won't be going in large numbers, they'll be watching who comes and goes so we'll need a good cover. What cover would you prefer? I had considered siblings but we don't exactly look alike... so perhaps newly weds? Ohhh, I'd be your loyal, ever-so-sweet virgin bride!" And suddenly that joy was back just as fast as it left. Honestly the girl couldn't seem to decide if she was pissed off or happy.