Board Thread:Role Plays/@comment-5999656-20190205035159/@comment-25582638-20190212191439

A pair of red eyes snapped up at the serene pier before it. The rodent trapped between its paws squirmed, trying to break free from its distracted predator. And then, then there was it, a whistle. Its ears flicked and panned. The sound was very faint, quite a bit far from its position. And then there were more whistles. They didn't sound like whistling wind nor whizzing arrows nor flying wind needles. The pointed ears flicked again, but this time at the sounds of warm bodies slumping quietly against the rocks.

Immediately, it stood up on all fours, tail swishing for a moment before standing erect. It couldn’t hear well over the raging waves, but it saw with its night vision eyes a growing numbers of strange yet familiar figures began to emerge from the rocks.

Enemy? Or ally?

“Who's behind this….?” came the question from a figure sitting beneath a bushy tree, the voice sounding as robotic as an android. There was a hologram floating in front of the figure, and a device connected to a small satellite dish beside. All ten fingers typed across the digital keyboard, manipulating the data and windows popping up and closing. There was one window that the figure didn't close: a map notifying that there was an unknown signal by the sea.

“Hrm, this is hard…” Heavily encrypted signal. Trying to tear it down might reveal their location. Sighing, the figure flipped open a Scroll, thumbs dancing swiftly on the screen before sending an encrypted message.

'''CATSAI. Plug. Urgent.''' Sent to: SP

The figure sighs loudly and, back slumping against the tree trunk, and then looks up. “Alright. Come here.”

Immediately, the cat on the tree branch released the rodent. It dug its nails against the wood as it climbed down cautiously. Upon reaching the bottom, it pattered over to the figure, the light from the hologram revealing an adult feline cat with snow-colored, silky fur.

“Go, show yourself to her. She'll know what to do.” the figure said to the white feline, scratching the chin affectionately. “Be careful.”

It seems that something was blocking the communications at the auction for a period of time because the figure was able to contact the others not too long ago. Thus, updating them about the situation was impossible. A concerning phenomena. Either someone messed up a signal jammer or intentionally using it.

Hearing the orders, the cat stared up at the figure, meowing softly before climbing up a tree and jumping from branch to branch.

The figure turned back to the hologram, now with a new pop-up blinking.

CATSAI CONNECTED

Time to greet the uninvited guests with a bit of hacking, the figure thought while sending messages of anonymous warning of caution at the rest of the auction's security that were not affected by signal jamming. Whether they would consider it seriously or not was entirely up to them.

-

Brunhilde knew better than to let such an entertaining event take over her place. If she'd allowed it, rumors would spread around the upper crust; that the Bluthardt cannot maintain order in their den. Or rather, the dwindling Engelnacht had lost its edge that some “petty” conflict was allowed to take place. Nevertheless, her attendance in the auction wasn't endorsed by the family, so she needed to avoid attracting more unwanted attention. Such a hassle. But she was somewhat thankful that the snake cousin of hers stepped up to diffuse the situation.

On the other hand though, it was a little disheartening that the fledgling little Daybreak didn't stay around to play a bit longer. Well, just a little. But she would lying if she wasn't hoping at all. Brunhilde had already expected that the Ninth's subordinates to be overtly professional in their work. Ever since the Bluthardt and the Syndicate began exchanging intel, she'd been to at least two or three in-person meetings, which was said to have increased after the tower was destroyed. From those meetings, there was one thing that the Engelnacht heiress would always complain about them, that is-

''They're so stiff. Even dear Maris.''

Brunhilde flicked her hair with a “hmph”, not noticing a white feline navigating around the human maze and walking past the Stalker’s feet, and she deadpanned at the white-haired man who might had yet to realize that the so-called lizards were already here before they grew fangs and scales, and even before he was born. Too late for that. And they were more busy tinkering with the new PMC to bat an eye on a territorial mob boss. Leave the territorial disputes to the ANGELs.

“Meow.”

Suddenly, the Engelnacht heiress was pulled out of her musing, and she looked down at her feet, blinking at the unexpected sight: a white cat sitting obediently, its blood red eyes looking expectantly at her. It took her a few seconds to process everything and organize her thoughts.

“Hello Kuro.~” The heiress picked it up without hesitation, cradling it gingerly in her arms as her fingers reached for the collar. She spun around to avoid prying eyes, especially from the Stalker and Decadere. Mostly the former. The way the Stalker stood and observed each one of them, and the unfaltering tone as she addressed them specifically out of dozens of crowds out of nowhere…. It was as though that the reputable Stalker needed something. A talk perhaps. But knowing the Stalker's reputation, it was probably a talk to give or receive information. But why?

As the Engelnacht heiress mused, she finally plucked off a small, rolled up paper from the collar and read its contents. Slowly, her brows creased slightly, lips pouting with degree of annoyance. At that, she pivoted and walked over to the bodyguard standing behind the counter with the saleslady of the jewelry store.

“Trouble.” Brunhilde said as she handed over the paper to the bodyguard.

Nodding, the man quickly stepped out from the counter and began relaying the message to others. It didn't take long for the rest of the security detail to had gotten the message and began moving. While half of the security remained in their stations, the other half began sliding open some of the glass cabinets and shelves, and put the most expensive-looking jewelries inside metal boxes. Reason: reserved for a number of buyers that had already made payment.

Brunhilde then brought out a black mask with a beak-shaped visor and filters that she pressed against her face. The mask unfolded, its upper part extending to her top head and fanning out to reveal feather-shaped row of metals, and wrapped the rest of her head. Behind the mask, the HUD activated and started rebooting its built-in programs. She tried contacting the outside. At that, the feather-like metals moved shyly up and down.

No signal.

She glanced at one of the bodyguards standing beside her. The unnamed man turned his head to her and shook his head.

“Miss Swan.” The silver armor-clad soldier spoke as he stepped forward. “The Stalker said she have information.”

“Bring her to me then.” Brunhilde said without a pause, pulling up her hood. Whether because she was too busy tinkering with her mask or knew that there was more urgent matter at hand, the Engelnacht heiress didn't bother to think twice of her decision. “Tell her we're taking a stroll while she talks.”

Brunhilde paused, and turned her head to Decadere and Crim.“And that goes to you two… well, only if you don't want to get left out that is.~”

She didn't know exactly what was happening, but she trusted that darling wasn't the type to kid around while she mingled dangerously with these people.

---

Wynston narrowed his eyes at the white cat the moment he saw it. That couldn't be any good. Not because of whatever sign it had brought, but because of the implication of its presence. However, Brunhilde was right here, and it shouldn't had come as a shock if she brought the usual someone else who absolutely shouldn't be here.

He could feel his headache worsening at every second. This wasn't supposed to happen.

Shaking his head, he put his gloved hand over his ear, trying to contact the outside, but he couldn't hear the familiar ping that indicated a successful connection. A few more tries later-

“Signal's gone. That's weird.” He muttered beside Diaboli as he turned on the HUD of his mask. No signal as well. But the last time he'd checked-in with the family's command center, the signal was relatively strong.

Just as he was about to speak to Decadere, Brunhilde spoke suddenly to them, already wearing her Black Swan mask, much to his surprise. The movements of the other bodyguards were quite confusing enough, seeing that they'd started to store the most important jewelries back to the boxes. Something was wrong.

At his cousin's words, the Crimson Snake sighed. He can't leave his young cousin alone anyway. “Do I even have a choice?”

He then turned his head to the white-haired man, respectfully waiting for his companion's answer.