Blood in the snow

[Edzilla]

He smiled, a ludicrously sincere smile, "Japan, huh, I lived there when I was about.. maybe 13, in Kobe, amazing city, school was good to, after I learnt the language," he got up walking into the kitchen ,"wondering how I knew? the English and Japanese language don't mesh very well, that's why the last syllable always seems to fall through." He reached into the bottom draw, pulled out a pan, then a guesstimated amount of pasta, followed by boiling water. The gas hob came to life and the pasta started to simmer. He turned round to her, leaning against the kitchen counter, "I left there when I was 15, 2.5 years ago maybe, Japan was probably the high point, things went slightly downhill after that..." He pulled out some chilli and garlic, chopping them effortlessly (clearly a dish he'd made before) before dropping them into a small pan with a generous amount of olive oil. "Why did I bring you here? I left that note as a bit of fun to be honest, I was losing the adrenaline rush that I was normally getting, everything was so calculated, I wanted to see if there was someone to match me," He stirred the frying garlic and chilli now , simmering away gently. "Now I know there is, I thought hard about killing you, leaving you to freeze out there, cyanide in the tea e.t.c. But then again it would have been a bit of a waste, your not the reason I'm killing people," he walked over to the fridge before stopping and walked back to the cooking food, stirring the pasta. "I guess now it's just a bit more exciting you could bring my details to the FBI, wouldn't take long to find me, do they do a CSI: Northern Peninsula?" He smirked, walking over to a draw and grabbing a colander ,"Mind taking the chilli of the heat, it's probably done." He walked over to the sink, draining the pasta, then put it back in the pan. "Feels like I've had this a thousand times, I hardly taste the chilli anymore," he poured the contents of both pans together, then split into two bowls. He looked out into the blizzard, or rather into the white, "this is such a beautiful place to be in autumn, you can eat outside, the birds are still here..." He put the two bowls on the table with forks, "sit down, " he walked gently over to the fridge, "much of a wine person?"

[Yuno]

She nodded walking over to the chili and pulling it from the heat with her good hand. She nodded quietly in complete understanding, "I know how you feel...back when I used to...back when I was hacking and cracking all the time. Ya know when they caught me...the agent who broke in and beat me to unconciousness. When I woke up he asked me why I'd done it all. He asked if it was my parents or if I was abused or what. And really it was just the thrill of the action and the job...I could do it...and nobody could stop me...so I did it."

She grinned as he spoke of killing her, "I'm sure they do, but if I had any intention of turning you in, I would have let them see the code and prepare to ninja in at you...unfortunetly I don't like this government or any government very much."

She smiled, "Never had it...always drank saki." She nodded, "It reminds me of my family's vacation spot near mount fuji...place is beautiful. " she looked at him, "So why do you do it?"

[Edzilla]

He poured out a two glasses of Sauvignon Blanc, and brought them over. "Doesn't hurt to try..." He sat down and picked up the glass and took a sip, heard the question mid drink. He put it down, slightly fazed by the question. "That's more complicated, goes back along way, 16 years." He took a small mouthful of the dish and swallowed gently. "I grew up in England, my mother was from here, Michigan, this was a holiday home for a while, my father was a management consultant for car companies, worked on efficiency." He could see what he was saying wasn't very interesting, " long story short I lived in many many places, started in Manchester with Bentley, moved to Berlin with BMW, making friends was hard with all the moving but I managed, it got even harder when I the language changed, we moved to Milan with Mini and then Japan with Mitsubishi, again probably the best times of my life ,probably lost it there," his tone changed from the light to the grave. "We got news that we were to move to Detroit, mother was actually quite happy, I wanted to stay in Japan, but there was no choice." His tone got even darker ,"some bad things happened to friends, things got worse and worse until eventually my Dad got involved." He stopped suddenly his tone growing matter of fact,"anyway I saw how broken this country is, I travelled to so many amazing places and then America was so full of problems, I just had to do something." He smiled again, the shine back in his eyes ,"so I'd break it down and then rebuild it, the right way, ten tere wouldn't be so much intolerance and ignorance," He got up, and grabbed the bottle from the counter , refilling his glass. "Your turn, why did you come? I you have no interest in turning me in, what could you possibly hold to gain?" He smirked, this was relevant.

[Yuno]

She accepted the glass of wine with a thankful nod and took a tenative sip of it. Finding the taste less harsh and more sweet than the drink she was used to she smiled lightly. She listened to his story nodding in what he could tell was true sympathy.

Then she heard his question and moved her back turned to him as if she was going to return to sitting. He could tell she was deep in consideration of something although he wasn't certain it was the question at hand. Her voice was far away as she answered, "It's been a long time since I saw a code of that sophistication....my job these days doesn't bring me anywhere near such things...." she turned a glow in her greyish green eyes, "I'm sure you've danced once or twice in your life...you listen to a lot of music...you know how it feels when you catch the rhythm..the beat of a song...when it really catches you..." she drank for a moment moving slightly as if in dance her hips swinging to some beat that only she could hear, "You just wanna dance. Let the music take you right?" her grin was serious as she tapped her lip, "and then when you hear that song it gets to be like...a drug..you just wanna keep dancing." She moved past him towards the counter finding some plates and dishing pasta onto them, "When I started hunting for you...that thrill it was the first I'd had in 2 years. It was a feeling my mundane desk jockey life wasn't giving me. And when I found that code in that last song...it was like dancing for the first time." she smiled spooning the chili over the noodles.

She turned smiling and holding it out to him," So some agent bruised my wrist, and some detective caught one of my bots. And you hauled me through snow taller than me. At least I'm not sitting in a chair watching my life pass by....living off the memory of the agent of chaos I used to be. Now at least...I'm alive again." she grinned with thrill on her face drinking the last of the wine down and setting the glass down on the counter.

"So why did I come out here...? Well...because the thrill is in this direction...you might have killed me...but I doubted you would...no...that's a mass murdering lunatics style right." She smiled at him, "Nah you don't seem that way...you're out to change the world...and people like me, we aren't making it a worse place...in fact, people like me used to make it better."

[Edzilla]

"I know how you feel... I've experimented with a lot of drugs, there's a man down in LA who would supply me for certain kills, if I needed someone to relax, a little bit of morphine, or trust there's cocaine... You've seen what I did with acid, but after all that, I could never ever fine anything like music... it's addicting, it's intense and it's subtle, the most you could ever want and more than you could get from some pill..." He was nearly done with the food but he got himself caught up in his own words. "It's made me feel everything, made me want to kill , made me want to love, to live and to die... in someways it's ruined the world for me, when that crushing reality comes when you realise it's nothing like you thought, you swear you feel your chest ache... Some experiences can be incapsulated in one verse, others reach peaks you didn't know existed..." There was clearly something about it he didn't understand, maybe that was his quest. "Life without music would be wrong..." He stared into the oil that had settled on the bottom of the plate, but then snapped back when he realised how much he'd digressed. "So lost something you could barely live without and this was a way to get it back, I see..." He let the silence set before breaking it ,"What do you do now? I'm irrelevant now, or so you say, what will feed that raw need for adrenaline." His voice sounded surprisingly concerned considering he didn't know her name.

[Esiphas]

Jack Sighed. "Mark, We'll take the Russian with us. Seal and I can handle.him. Message me with Any Intel you find- Im.going to.go see if we can get any records from the hospital. Theres a small amount.of Ash on a street cornee nearby, and If tge Guy was killed in the Ambulance, I want to know how the Killer managed to.get in an Ambulance. Best bet is, He stole a Uniform and Acted as a Paramedic to get close to the target. And you might want to check the connections between the muggers and the Rythym killer again. He knew his target was going to be Injured." With.that, He climbed into the Car and grinned. Akright Seal. Lets drive- Hospital bound."

Alright, Yuri. Theres no real Info on the Killer, But my speculations are as follows on the latest murder." He began relaying to the others his thiyghts on tge Murder- How the mugging was connected, and he reasoned tgat the Murderer had posed as- or was- a Paramedic, Before the Murder. "He's likely A master of Disguise. Dont trust Anyone if you value your Life. Also, Stick with Codenames at all times. Seal, you've got yours. Mine wash Dash, Whist in the field, So I'll use thst. Yuri, lets call you Pariah, unless you have a Specific Choice."

[Yuno]

Her eyes were shining in response to this digression, "Indeed...that's how I got into coding...music theory...I was 10 my parents bought me a guitar...Even after I stoppped and took to coding...I'd listen to music the entire time....long nights just me and a screen and whatever band I liked at the time." at the mention of drugs she chuckled, "eh...drugs weren't my thing...not unless I was in a challenge...break this high...get this information buzzed..." she too had been eating as he spoke. He noticed that she ate in a very measured way and didn't appear as at ease with a fork as him.

She chewed thoughtfully as he spoke and then shook her head, "It isn't that I couldn't live without it....it is that I am not alive without it." she seemed to be drawing some distinction between the two because her eyes were very pointed and sharp as she said this.

She lifted some noodle towards her mouth as she heard his question. She grinned around the noodles and pointed at him with her fork, "Help you or at the least stop others from hindering you." she swallowed before continuing. "See...those people don't stand much of a chance at you because they are thinking in the box. Even the way that agency wanted me to decode your thing was wrong. But if they follow the drugs you used or get smart and start checking locations they might by chance hit upon you..or someone you've dealt with." she lifted more food up studying it briefly, "I only exposed the head of Japanese Intelligence for his string of Mistresses and out of wed-lock children...and that got me a price on my head and an entire agency chasing me." she grinned taking a bite and chewing it. "You killed people...a First Lady...if they don't have the best if not the brightest hunting you then you seriously should up the game."

She'd finished eating at this point and set her fork down. "I suppose if you don't want help, I'll probably ask to stay here the night. Then assuming I walk out alive I'll go home to my dog and my life...and I'll either wait for you usher in Utopia...or start hacking again." she picked his dish up walking over to the sink and beginning to clean them out of habit.

[mantisstalker]

Zack had walked the last six kilometers to the airport after a very loud argument about the taxi's prices, and by the time he reached the airport it was getting dark. Zack had used the darkness to slip onto the air field and stow away onto a small private plan in the cargo compartment, allowing Zack to get some sleep if uncomfortable, and after being rudely waken and a short chase by security he finally made it to LA. It didn't take long for him to find a group of likely looking targets in a small ally and make his way over to them.

Zack buttoned up his coat so that his collar covered the bottom of his face and walked over. "Hey fella's. Mind telling me who your boss is?' The group looked taken aback at the sudden question and responded with the typical grace of most low lives.
"Whats it to you?" one said pulling out a knife, another pulling out what looked like a small firearm while the third just stood there a scared look on his face.
"Look I don't want any trouble. And if it's a matter of money..." Zack pulled out his wallet only for the one with the knife to hit it out of his hand.
"Well maybe we want trouble." The one with the gun said advancing forward.
"Then I'm sorry" Zack replied in a rather flat tone reaching a hand into his jacket.
"Sorry for wha..." But the gun guy was cut off as one of Zack's revolver bullets whizzed through his jaw, soon followed by the knife guy as another bullet passed through his eye socket. Zack turned to the last remaining gang member hoping to keep him alive, only to find he was also pulling out a weapon forcing Zack to put him down as well. Zack surveyed the carnage he had caused but was soon snapped out of it by a scream at the end of the alley.

He had to act fast before the police could get him. He stooped down and grabbed one of their cell phones and what money the men had on them before standing back. He needed a way to shift the blame and with a jolt realized what he could do he stuck a hand into his coat and pulled out the music box that Bruce had given, him before opening the lid and placing it next to the bodies. This way the killer would be blamed and no one would be looking for a rough P.I while he when about his business. Zack heard sirens at the end of the alley and sprinted down the other end of the alley, quickly stowing his gun and unbuttoning his coat before diapering into a crowd.

(ooc-The song the box is playing is 'Bleed It Out' by Linkin Park for anyone that doesn't remember)

[Edzilla]

A smile was on his face, "you want to help me, just to continue this 'life' of yours, I'm not sure this is the sought of thing you'd want to get into..." He took another sip of wine, before gently putti it on the table, "then again, you've already surprised me..." He got up and brought the bottle to the table, it wasn't empty but it was getting there at alarming speed. "One simple thing then," he looked straight into her green eyes, "look me in the eye and tell me you actually want to do this."

[Yuno]

She reached for the bottle of wine and poured some into her glass before setting it back down in front of him. “I lived in a hole at the base of mount Fuji for 4 months with my then boyfriend under the pretense of wanting to be close to nature, when really I was avoiding capture by the government.” she paused to drink grinning, “Frankly, I'm not certain you understand the sort of life I've already led. And the sort of life I'm willing to lead.” she took another long drink draining her glass.

“Yes. I want to. You can send me home, I mean whatever on that. But I suspect if you do that it won't be long before my shennagins take the spotlight off of your murders.” she was looking him dead in the eyes and he could see that she wasn't kidding or uncertain.

She stood up again slowly taking her glass and rinsing it out leaving him to think on it. The water ran over her damaged wrist soothing it slightly with its heat. She turned yawning tiredly and muttering in Japanese, “How do you stand all that flying. I suppose you could just end the man smelling of tobacco.” she chuckled slightly walking towards the couches and flopping down on one. She pulled her tablet from her bag flicking to the news. “Another murder has been seen here today by the Rhythm Killer.” her eyebrows raised as she looked at this, “Well now...looks like you have yourself a copy cat.”

[Edzilla]

He smiled,"Never thought I'd have fans, at least not this soon," he walked off to grab his laptop and brought it back, also flicking instantly to the news. "3 men, some back street in LA, killed by revolver rounds,'Bleed it out'," he looked slightly mythed, memories brought quickly back. "That was my last one, some thugs got to good a look at me, human can take a while to bleed under paralysis." He flicked through a few more pages ,"not one of my favourite songs, but I couldn't find anything else appropriate.." He put it on the side, his eyes wild with thought. "I can't let him live, this is supposed to be precise social manipulation, if he keeps doing framing me that will all crumble.." He walked over to the tap and filled a glass of water, sipping hard at it. "Why, that's a question, why is he doing it? Maybe he's trying to draw me out, maybe he's just covering up, maybe he's crazy..." He finished the water and then typed on the keyboard again, "haven't poisoned a man in a while, but that's a little boring." He clearly didn't get much relaxation time, he ate, slept and killed. "What do I do, if you want to work with me, what do we do to this guy? He needs a message, not to mess with us again.." He looked like he was about to walk off when he stopped, "first things first, we need to find out who he is, what's he's like... Ever been to L.A.

The sat-nav of the Enzo booted up automatically then began to automatically plan a route. It finished rapidly, the ETA was given : 18 hours to Los Angeles. Then Dashs phone began to ring, a tone he hadn't heard before. When he answered he heard Marks familiar voice, "are you there? Good, you need to get to L.A. we've managed to source the LSD from this mans mouth, it comes from a dealer in LA, he's probably met the murderer so maybe you can beat something out of him, understood?" It was a rhetorical question as the call ended immediately.

[Tyamius, Shadow Lord]

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Tim said punching the gas, the tires squealed and the car took off almost reaching peak speeds in a matter of seconds. He began to weave in and out of traffic before hitting a straight stretch, I-45 north was a long set of straights going on for what seemed like hours. He gunned it, the local pd watched knowing they couldn't catch the Enzo to begin with didn't even bother chasing him.

[mantisstalker]

Zack sat on a toilet lid in a public bathroom and placed the last of his bullets into its chamber. He didn't like killing but he was a realist and did what he had to...whatever he had to, to kill the (please don't swear) that killed his wife. With a flick he put the revolvers chambers back in and stowed it in his coat and pulled out the thugs cell phone and looked at it. It was not something he would have bought, but he could tell it was something he could never afford. With a sigh he started to scroll through the text messages on it and quickly found a promising looking one. It read "Money collection. 8PM. Tuesday. Warehouse 23. Trent street." with the sender being simply BB.

This must be the drug boss and by the looks of it wanted a meeting tonight for money collection. With a grim smile Zack stowed the phone away before flushing the toilet and pretending to wash his hands (He was after all just sitting there), and walked out of the bathroom and started to make his way to the warehouse, with a good idea of what to do next.

[Yuno]

She was sprawled on the couch and he could see that between the wine, lack of sleep and pain she was beginning to doze off. Her blinks were growing fewer and fewer as she sat there. At his question she seemed to try and shrug it off before moving her fingers over her tablet, "Can't say that I have. Haven't felt comfortable traveling alone." her fingers drew out her phone and she grinned dialing the number of her landlord. He answered luckily, "Heya Mr. Bruskeq. I'm going to be away on business for awhile...I know how much you like Yuki...would you take care of her for me? I'd pay you of course." she hummed into the phone several times a bright smile on her face , "Of course I want to keep the house. Please continue to charge me." she thanked him for several minutes before hanging up.

She moved her hands over the tablet a keyboard appearing. "Hmmm let's see. How many people you think go through that air port everyday." her fingers were moving with incredible speed and dexterity as she typed on the screen. Her lips were pursed and she seemed incredibley focused for someone about to sleep only minutes before.

"Wow...that is a lot of people...let's see..." he couldn't see very well what she was doing, but she grinned suddenly, "So time of death can narrow the field." he watched her for what seemed like an hour sit mumbling every now and again. Then she snapped her fingers suddenly, "Got it. Man you'd think air ports would have better security....but here we are, all the people who came into the air port today." her fingers moved again.

She was studying the screen briefly and suddenly a huge grin broke over her face. "Well now isn't that interesting to see.." she looked up at him, "looks like that P.I. I originally gave a little info to just got into L.A today." her fingers moved a bit more. "Other than that, no one I know on this list...interesting, looks like he didn't pay for the flight either." she hummed to herself over this. "hold the phone a second." she pulled up her documents glad that she'd had the foresight to code her own server. "man looks like those three guys that got wacked were all suspected or convicted criminals and drug dealers."

She put her tablet down and began to rub her eyes, "There's an ongoing investigation into their gang right now...I'm going to make this wild assumption that the man they have thumbed as the boss is the same guy who sold you that LSD?" she held her tablet up showing a picture to him that was indeed his drug dealer.

She grinned suddenly, "Sorry just realized I don't know your name. " she held out her good hand "I'm Rei." her green eyes focused on him briefly and then she dropped her tablet, "Oh man...I think I see...whoever did this copy cat, I betcha they are trying to piss you off....I mean how else did they so perfectly nail a group of guys belonging to your guy? Probably hoping you show up to stop them from taking your boss....you gotta warn him someone is gonna be after him."

[Esiphas]

Jack, despite being pressed into his seat by the speeds, tapped Tim. "Seal! We need to get to L.A! They've found the dealer!" He tapped a Quick response into hi phone as well a text message. Jacks phone was protected by three layers of security, as well as Several government Passwords, And whilst he could send messages out, a special device stopped him from receiving messages. This had kept him safe for some time, though he wasn't particularly eager to put it to the test with the Murderers skills.

The message simply read 'Get some men, check Hospitals. Rhythm stole hospital uniform, or is Medic. Find out if any uniforms taken. And who by. Seal, Dash and Pariah headed to L.A, meeting with The Boss.' He hoped it got through to Mark, and Mark understood.