[Closed]

[daddyscythe]

Characters: Spirit Albarn, Cybele
Location: Shibusen Dungeons
Rating: PG
Time: Jan 15, after the closing of Investigation Mission I-005
Description: Spirit needs to interview a certain prisoner.

Comments

[recreant_pride]

She had been a 'guest' of the Shibusen jail cells for quiet some time now. No matter what they did or said, she had never broken. It hadn't taken long for Cybele to heal from her wounds from that day. Ever since, the Witch had taken it on herself to pass the time in whatever way brought her some level of amusement. Most of the time such amusement came from tormenting the legendary Deathscythe himself, but Spirit rarely came down for such visits. The last time hadn't been since the Shibusen fools had discovered one of Mother's devices. The memory brought the barest hint of a smirk to her lips before she caught a scent on the air.

Her long tail flicked to one side at the familiar scent on the air. So she'd be getting visitors today, would she? And none other than her usual source of entertainment!

The chains around her wrist clinked together as she reached up to adjust the rim of her pointed hat. There wouldn't be any fun to be had if she started too early. No, this was something she would work up to so that she could enjoy the sight of the Deathscythe squirming for his answers.

"Your face needs work if you want to intimidate me, Deathscythe." Peering up from beneath the rim of her hat, Cybele pushed herself up to stand while she regarded Spirit's grumpy expression. "I'd thought that you'd gone and forgotten about me since your last visit."

[daddyscythe]

"I wouldn't forget you," he muttered as a retort, dragging a small, portable table behind him into the confined space. He set it up quickly, and laid the maps on it with a certain nervous briskness to his movements. Spirit wasn't afraid of this witch -- or witches in general -- because he knew his own strengths and the effectiveness of this dungeon cell. But a lot rested on this information and he wasn't even sure what it was about.

He pointed at the marks on the map, which they had replaced with similarly-colored stickers instead of pins. "We found this in a witch outpost in Europe. It was empty except for these. What can you tell me about them?"

[recreant_pride]

"Oooh something happened, yes? That is why you're Mr. Serious today," Cybele almost gleefully said while sensing the nervous air around him. This was so unlike the Deathscythe of legend! Had they discovered something not to their liking? That was quite possible, and as the table was dragged in and the map placed down, Cybele knew that it had to be connected to her sisters.

He spoke, but she didn't draw her attention down to the map right away. Instead she studied him with a sharp gaze as Spirit explained Shibusen's discovery. Europe, yes, she remembered the plans well for that region. The thought had her smiling. Yanking the chain to move with her, Cybele moved with grace as she padded her way over to the map.

"Left in a hurry, they did?" Cybele unnecessarily asked instead of answering his own question. One glance at the map and the Witch knew what each mark was for. "Shibusen has been busy. Had any trouble?" She didn't answer his question, but she never did in the beginning either.

[daddyscythe]

He'd expected that. She tended to try to dance around him like a cat when he asked questions, and usually, Spirit didn't mind following the dance for a bit before going in for the kill. (Stein was the one who did threats. Spirit was really far too nice for his own good.) He eyed her as she sat down, wondering vaguely if all witches were naturally graceful and figuring that it must come with being women.

But he wasn't here to play. He tapped the map insistently. "There's always trouble. But our goal is to save lives. What are these places about? You know, don't you?"

[recreant_pride]

It was disappointing that he wasn't in the mood, and it soured her own enjoyment for now. This was the only type of entertainment she had! She'd just have to make do with what she had. That thought had her long tail swishing back and forth as she reached up to tug the rim of her pointed hat down more over her eyes.

"I know what they are," Cybele said before reaching out to trace her fingertip over the red stickers patching parts of Europe on the map. "You know what these are." A pause while her touch moved over to the blue stickers around America. "And these."

The plans Medusa had for those areas had been well underway before she'd been captured. That wasn't to mention the Deathscythe's mood. Oh yes he knew the situation was out of his control, and that soon enough, many more lives would be lost.

[daddyscythe]

"They're targets," he said tersely. Lucerne, Leichtenstein and Linz had already been attacked, as well as Nevada and the United States. But nothing yet had happened to the Czech republic, Italy, Germany, and Austria -- at least nothing as catastrophic as the black balls. "These have already been attacked, but it was done in different ways. Will the green targets also suffer from a different method? When? What do we have to watch out for?"

It was almost chilling to see that these large events were planned in full scale. It meant that the witches were cooperating in a bigger operation than Shibusen had been able to anticipate.

He had already sent some of their men to investigate the locations, but there was nothing turning up yet. For all Spirit knew, these were planned attacks, not forts, or whatever it was the witches were up to. If Cybele wanted Spirit to be in any mood to dance with her, she had to give him something.

[recreant_pride]

Knowing that they had been attacked gave the Witch everything that she wanted. Medusa's plans were going ahead at full speed, and at this point, there was nothing Shibusen or anyone else could do to stop them.

"You have already sent Shibusen dogs out to sniff the area. Did they return with nothing?" He didn't need to answer for Cybele to know the result. If there had been anything, they wouldn't be here asking her for information. It would be easy enough to keep her silence, but did she want to anymore?

Medusa was taking her time trying to break her out. Perhaps she should gain her attention? She had spent enough time being bound and chained, and Cybele wanted out, even if that meant spoiling Medusa's fun.

"You already have the answer you want, Deathscythe, but you are too blind to see it." With her tail swishing back and forth, Cybele leant over the table as she smirked up at Spirit. "Four points are marked for death, but it is not the four points that are important. No, not the four points at all," she said while the palm of her hand came to rest in the area in the middle of all four points. "Swift death will fly in and take your innocence away, but Shibusen cannot win this if you do not open your eyes and see the answer."

Good lord, Cybele, brush your teeth!

[daddyscythe]

Spirit bristled, and clenched the hand that had previously been on the map. "We don't have enough men to scour the countrysides for anything out of the ordinary. Even as they're there, other places are being attacked with no one coming to help them. We need to know what we're looking for."

But this was a clue, and despite his protest, Spirit was filing the information away at the back of his mind. The four points -- converging on one location. Sources of something? Then the real target was the middle, wasn't it?

Give her a toothbrush and she might!

[recreant_pride]

Her smile broadened at Spirit's words, and with and playful swish of her tail, Cybele seemed to purr. "I once warned Shibusen dogs that they were weak, and you are," she said with a deadly glint entering her gaze. As things were, they had no chance of winning this war, and all she would have to do was sit back and wait for the others to come and get her.

It was just a pity that such an outcome was far too boring. She'd been here for over a month as it was with no attempt!

Leaning back in her seat, the chains clinked together as she settled her hands back on her lap. It was looking like she would have to spell it out for the Deathscythe. This was why Shibusen was the one losing this war, and why she chuckled lightly and shook her head in amusement.

"The colour indicates the method of attack to that region, Deathscythe," Cybele offered before peering back up at Spirit from beneath the wide rim of her hat. "You brought the box of false jewels to me not long ago. It was a test, you see. A test that worked, did it not? Now what would happen if there were four successors, four much larger successors to take that little boxes' place?"

[daddyscythe]

The insult and the coyness went over his head, too used to it from the host club. His ear was ringing from what he'd just heard, a realization that the emitter the had taken from another site weeks before was a precursor to this.

A successor to--!

Larger. A Madness wave emitter of a larger size, in four locations, targeting at least a quarter of Europe. Spirit straightened up abruptly from where he'd been looming over the map, bumping his thigh to the table and almost sending it clattering.

"Have to warn them," he muttered, pulling out his communicator and ignoring Cybele. He would leave, but the map was bulky to take with a hand.

[recreant_pride]

It seemed that Spirit no longer had to have things spelled out to him from what she'd just said. That was lucky in her opinion, since she was beginning to think that she'd have to draw a diagram for him in a hopes that he'd understand.

The alarm he felt was amusing, but she didn't taunt him for it. Medusa would be angry that she'd spoken of their plans, but it would get her attention, and with it she would soon be free of this place. That much she was certain of. She'd already wasted enough time on this vacation.

"You'd be best running, Shibusen," Cybele said as the communicator was pulled out. It didn't matter if he ignored her or not because she just kept speaking regardless. "That Witch post was abandoned, you said. There would be only one reason for that."

[daddyscythe]

That was obvious enough, but it hadn't seemed to occur to Spirit before now. If they had left without any seeming intervention, then didn't that mean that they were done with the place? That they were done with the experiments?

He fell silent as he contemplated on this horror, before realizing that the person on the other line was trying to talk to him. "-- sorry, sorry. Can you get Sid and his guys to look for emitter like the one we found in what'sthatplace? Yeah, yeah, devices. Yeah, all four places. I'll be up there in a moment." Spirit glanced at Cybele, before nodding his polite, if somewhat grudging thanks.

[recreant_pride]

Shibusen would be busy dealing with the mess unfolding in Europe. That was good in her mind. While she knew that there were dark plans in the works, Medusa had so much more planned.

That was why when he gave her the grudging nod of thanks, she smiled and reached up to pull the wide-rim of her hat down to cover half of her face. "You've no time to be lingering here, Deathscythe. Be seeing you real soon."