Ella and Elaine's Story

It may have only been sunrise but Elaine had been up for hours, conducting some mad experiment or another in the bizarre museum/laboratory she'd set up in one corner of the palace. Stories were told of that place that could chill the bones of even the most stalwart of men, let alone the servants of the palace. Presently the door opened and Elaine stepped out wearing a large lab coat over her normal clothes, the smell of antiseptic, disinfectant, and burnt flesh lingering on it. She spoke as she wrote on the clipboard she carried.

"Formula 139, test one. When applied it appears to cause instantaneous combustion. This could be useful, but given that it must be ingested to take effect the military possibilities are almost non-existent." Glancing up at a man that was sweeping the floor Elaine added, "Further tests pending."

Ella knew it was time to wake up when she heard the screaming. The door to Elaine's "lair", as Ella privately called it, was soundproofed. The only reason Ella would be hearing what was going on in there was if her twin had deliberately left the door open. Elaine was usually the one to wake her up, though normally she chose to use more conventional methods. There used to be a kind maid by the name of Mary, who came by every morning and knocked on the door to wake Ella up, then one day she had simply disappeared. Ella had refrained from asking what had happened to her as she knew she was unlikely to like the answer she got.

"When did it all go so wrong?" With a resigned sigh, Ella rose and began to prepare for another day of running damage control on her sociopathic siblings.

Aphelion had returned to his room to greet a few girls who were excited to see him they had no idea what secrets he was harboring. Aphelion got most of those evil traits from his mother. Aphleion had simply picked up what was shown to him. He smirked at one of the girls, wrapping his arm around her waist. He kissed the lips of another girl briefly, causing them both to laugh. He felt like he was on top of the world.

Every noble wanted to marry him, but little Aphelion wanted nothing to do with marriage. Even just the word drives him a bit crazy. He will go nuts if someone brings up the subject. He knows he needs to get married, but he believe that with marriage come too many responsibilities. He'd rather die alone.

He picked one of the girls to come with him to go check on his sisters. The girl followed, smirking at the others as they looked at her with envy. Aphelion knew he was handsom, and he really liked to flaunt it. He made his way, off to his sister's room. He pushed the door open and saw the more mild-tempered one, Ella.

"Morning. Elaine play mad scientist?" Aphelion asked his younger sister with a smirk. He knew that Ella wasn't a total fan of her older brother, but he really didn't care. He did what he wanted.

Ella looked over at her older brother as walked into the room. He had a girl with him, as usual, and it was yet another one she didn't recognize. "I do wish you would knock before entering, I could have been getting dressed." She was about to add that Elaine was always playing mad scientist, but before she could the screaming coming from the nearby room suddenly stopped, followed by a barely audible "Oops."

Elaine walked out of her fortress of solitude and over to her sister's room, tossing her lab coat over her shoulder as she went, figuring that someone would probably clean it up. Walking into the room without knocking, evoking the response "Oh good, a running gag." from Ella, she saw not only both her siblings, but some woman she vaguely recognized hanging off her brother. She greeted each of them in turn saying, "Hello brother, good morning sister," and to the woman who she could quite place, "I haven't killed you yet?"

Rob laughed at Connor's worry "Please be more careful, I worry too much about you." and replied the worried brother with "Well hey, if it means that much to ya, I can walk around with her" with another grin like he had given before. After hearing the menu, Rob got real excited. He's getting fed! Buddy could have a bit of bread. At Raina's orders he ran down to the pit. The others started to pull out lighters, matches and other ways. "Hah. Matches. Oh you guys dropped out or something? Let me show you how its done. You might wanna get out of the way." And without hesitation he pulled small metallic orbs out of a pouch from his pack. With the small marble sized devices he pushed down a button the size of a pin. A red light went on-it was activated. "Fire in the hole!" and he threw it to the kindling. A fireball and a thud. Fire! With another smile "Well there's my contribution. You two have fun now" Him and Buddy played around while they're cooking. They go inside and eat. Rob tore a chunk of bread and threw it on the ground. "ey bud. venu" While they were eating Dante brought up "Well, when I left for the Royals" a fire is lit inside Rob. He stands up, and Raina puts her hand on his shoulder "Rob its...." He grabbed her hand-it was soft and reminded him of when his mother would hold his hand at the food market. He turned around and placed her hand with her other. "No, this is something I have to do." He turned back and faces Dante. He started to unbutton his shirt and pulled it aside to show a GIGN tattoo. "Tu es un cochon régalien? Tu battaile comme un raton! T'essuyé te derrier et t'assied."(You're a royal pig? You battle like a rat! Wipe your ass and sit down." Dante shouted back "I can't believe it, you were a piece of shit rebel?" With that Rob replied "Oui, et tu joues avec te couilles tout le jour?"(Yes, and you play with your small balls all day?) "Sorry Raina for the disturbance. I'll be leaving for the palace to fix some trucks for them. Dante, lets take this outside and not bother this lady anymore-I have something to show you." Rob put his pack down and took out a large blue rag and a helmet. He wrapped the rag around his neck and then put the helmet on his head to go with the scarf. In normal GIGN uniform he swings around the FAMAS "Look familiar?"
Another nerve is struck in Dante. "You rebel mutt!" and he backhanded Rob. Rob with his helmet didn't feel much of anything. He took off his helmet and put it on the ground in front of Buddy. Buddy starts jumping around and was all giddy. Rob poured some grain from the pouch into the helmet-now Buddy's food bowl. He unwrapped the scarf and covered Buddy with it-a blanket. He turned back to Dante who was still going. "So you went off to be a rebel, now you're going to the royals? You stupid or something kid? Why do you need all this money? Now you're kissing the prince's feet now?" and swung at Rob. Rob's rebel training hit and he quickly countered it"I'm not a fucking kid!" He slid his arm under Dante's armpit and reached behind and grabbing his other arm and brought him to the ground "T'árret! C'est le GIGN!" After tackling him, he helped him up from the ground. "You wanna know why I'm a filthy rebel? You wanna know why I need all this money? Well besides soap being expensive in this economy-"
He sat down to tell him a story. "About a year after you left I was in my father's workshop. I heard my dad shout "No!" and a gun shot. He had killed a royal. The other guards would have none of this. They tazed him, then cuffed both of my parents. I chased after their truck-it was going real slow, was a real junker piece 'o shit-I jumped to the back where the guards were. In anger I striked out to the guards but they kicked me down 'Get out of here boy!' with tears in my eyes and anger in my heart I ran back to the farm. Buddy was still there"he rubbed his goats ears"and I built something with that fury-that right there"and he points to some gawdy looking thing"don't touch that. It's a trap I made. I planned on making hundreds to plant infront of our farm, to protect Raina and Connor, because I knew you could't you weren't there. They took my parents into slavery. I need this money. I can buy them out" Tears are dwelling in Rob's eyes now. he covers his face with his hand, but his right eye was still exposed. "I just want my mom...." This caught Dante by surprise. "Whatever." and with that he headed to his car. It was a real nice one-he pimped it out. he's an engineer, that's what he does. He loads Buddy in his seat for the hour drive. As he drives out he feels a bit bad for leaving like that but it must be done.

After the hour drive he arrived at the palace. He'd heard great things about it, but never pictured it to be this grand. He came around to the garage where a guard was sitting. "I'm Rob, I'm here to fix the trucks." The guard got up from his nap and his playboy. "Thanks, now I don't gotta sit here all day! Have fun!" and he went for some privacy. Rob put down his tools and set to work. While he was fixing the truck he heard some footsteps. He pulled himself from the truck to the stranger. He panned up from her feet and up her smooth graceful legs. He was met by a beautiful face. With a dainty giggle "What are you doing?" He rose up, and was surprised by her height(or lack thereof). "I'm Rob" He looked down back at the truck. "Well why don't I show you." He went to the ground and patted next to him. She went down with him and he explained the engine, the transmission-the whole works. Even showed her how to fix them and what to alter. When they were done he noticed some grease had fallen on her forehead. "Buddy. venir. tu peux passe un chiffon pour nos dame?"(Buddy. Come. Can you pass a cloth for our lady?" Buddy returned. "Merci." He gently wiped her forehead with the cloth. She was gorgeous. He felt his empty stomach. He hadn't eaten breakfast and lunch was rolling around. "You wanna have lunch?" she accepted and then went off to eat. As they were eating he kept looking into her eyes. My god, he hadn't seen anyone like this before. While they were eating he took her hands. "Soo... How about I clean up a bit and come down here later on?" He noticed the bit of confusion. "I like you." he held up their hands "I want to take you out on a date." he referred to their hands again "so we can do this and maybe a bit more." As they were holding hands another girl came in. Who was she? They looked the same. Great. Twins! She was upset though. "Whats going on?" Before Rob could present himself or do anything, he was dragged out the door by this small girl and his goat followed. That was odd. He drove home to clean up for his date. He sighed deeply. His shirt was nice when it was clean, but he had jeans on. He had to find a pair of pants to wear. He held his head down and dreaded having to go back to Dante and Connor after the fight, but he had to get over it. He slugged over to Dante. "Do you have a pair of pants I can wear?"

Elaine frowned, that had been odd. Not people running away from her, that she was used to, though they usually tried to be less obvious about it, but Ella running away while dragging some scruffy looking nerf herder behind her was new. Before the crueler of the twins had time to wonder just what a nerf was or why one might want to herd it, she was approached by a terrified messenger. The fact that he was terrified didn't really say much about what the news might be, they always looked terrified, though she supposed that that wasn't without reason.

"Hello Tobias." Elaine greeted him, taking a seat at the table and inviting him to do the same.

"H- Hello your m- majesty" Came his stammering response. He did not sit down.

"We've been over this Toby, you're to address me as Her Amazing Royal Imperiousness."

"I'm so very, very sorry you're A-" The messenger quickly jumped to correct himself before being cut off.

"I was joking." Elaine said flatly. There was a long pause before Elaine patiently asked, "Well?"

"Ah, yes, of course, I'll just get to it then."

"Please do."

"Without any sort of delay at all."

"That would be greatly appreciated, Tobias."

"Immediately is when I'll tell you, immediately meaning right now of course, I mean when else would it mean? Well, I suppose if one involves time travel-"

"You're pushing your luck Toby."

A look of panic crossed the already scared looking messenger's face before he finally managed to say, "General Tulius' airship has been destroyed, and no one could have survived the blast. We believe it to the work of the known rebel terrorist Richard Winters, who had been captured shortly beforehand."

Elaine's expression slowly turned to one of mild depression. "Darn, I rather liked the old cyclops. As for Winters, I was really looking forward to interrogating him, I even had a special chair made, just for him. Now I'm all sad."

Tobias flinched. "Please don't kill me your majesty- I mean your Amazing Royal Imperiousness, I wish to see my wife and child again."

Looking over at the messenger Elaine asked, "What on Earth are you going on about? I'm not going to kill you. If I killed every messenger that brought me bad news I'd be out of messengers fairly quickly. Now leave, take the week off, spend some time with your family, and read up on anxiety disorders, I think you may have several." As Toby ran to complete her orders Elaine added to herself, "Now what am I supposed to do with that chair?"


Ella disliked having to throw Rob out so rudely, but she knew that her sister was dangerously unpredictable. And what was all this dating stuff about, didn't he know that every second spent in her company greatly increased the odds of him dying a horrible death? Attempting to date her, assuming she was right about how dating went and what not, was practically suicide.

Not for the first time, Ella began to question the sanity of those around her, Elaine was a borderline psychopath, her brother was fiddling while Rome burns, to use an old expression, and Rob just walks up and asks the princess out, not that she had disagreed or didn't like him at all, it was just that there were more important things to be done.

Was she the only person left alive that wasn't completely crazy?

Rob spotted the commotion. "Oh fuck. Don't think I'll need pants now." He ran to the his home, it was still safe. Good thing his dad opted for concrete. He picked up the phone. "Voici Rob Gansu, je exige du renforts!"(This is Rob, I need some reinforcements!) He hung up and went to his room. He snatched up his blue GIGN jacket and put on some armor. He felt the dent over his right lung. "This thing sure comes in handy." He wrapped the scarf around his neck and placed the helmet on his head, buckling it and swinging the face shield down swiftly. He heard Buddy baaing at him. "Oh man." He hated that his goat had to come into war. He pulled out the small kevlar vests- it was originally made for dogs, but it fit Buddy fine. After gearing up he walked out and saw one of the bastards feeling up a small child. He has some differing insignia. An officer? There were a few soldiers behind him. Rob took out his hammer and gripped it hard. A deep anger in him. He covered the child's eyes and brought it to the man's head. "Pour le tête du cochon!"(For the head of a pig!) "If the rest of your motherfuckers wanna die do something stupid okay!?" A soldier brought up his rifle "Fuck you ya mutt!" So he smashed his heads in to. The final soldier was left ready to pull the trigger. Rob gave him no time bringing his own gun around him-but not to shoot him. Bashing him with the butt he took the bayonet from the lug and brought it under his neck. "You are bastards, and may your soul have no rest." Rob hatched a great idea. Prevent this. He let him go. "Tell them if they come back here, they'll find a wrench in their eye and a jackhammer up their ass." Rob was brutal when it came to this. He didn't like it but this brought out a fire. He went to the child who had fear in her eyes. "Hey are you okay cupcake?" he held her arm. "Everything is gonna be fine. Don't worry. Where's your house?" He realized it might of burnt down, and she's not safe here."Gather as many as you can. Those who are not safe here. Those who's lives had been ruined at Royal hands. Take them to the west of here to the GIGN post. Here." He pulls a wad of cash out from his pocket. "should be about 500. Use that for transport, and keep whatevers left. Devenient une guerrier pour les gens!"(Become a warrior for the people!)After sending her off, he thought for a second. Dante. "fuck. that son of a bitch is probably out there." He loaded his gun and found a hoard of Royals. "Oh boy." He scanned the crowd, checking to make sure there wasn't an old friend. He had a plan on how to make a memorable entrance for his date. He threw a few of those incendiaries in the formation, a few were screaming. He started spraying lead into the crowd. Not accurate to kill them(all at least) but enough to wound and definitely piss them off. Two mean came behind him and grabbed him by the arms. Rob didn't even have to follow through with his plan they did it for him. "Look I got one, boss! So we got a rebel huh? With my bare hands to. We're gonna have fun with you." Rob slumped down to their command deceiving them. "Yeah ya did. Damn. If you could give a dead man his one wish, could you bring me directly to the adviser, Ella? And my goat" He was already going to have to go back to her. He couldn't kill everyone here. Raina must of been safe, that over protective brother would of been over her neck. He wished Raina were tougher. Something he decided then and there he would change her. So him and his goat were taken to the palace and brought to his date. A free ride in his eyes. They kicked him off the truck and his face went to the dirt. "get up" he obligingly rose. They lead him to Ella's quarters. "You're majesty, this dirt has asked to see you-by name even." Rob smirked a bit, but also put his head down. "I said I was gonna come back." With his wrists bound he lifted up the shield. "I just didn't mean for it to be like this. I wanted to wear a nice shirt and maybe touch up the hair." He patted his chest "not with armor" he pulled on the cuffs and raised his hands "or my hands tied." The seriousness drained and he back in a smile. "Still up for that date?"


(OOC Yay you're finally posting again!)

"Still up for that date?"

Ella stood staring at Rob in shock for a good ten seconds before finally saying, "You really are completely and unabashedly suicidal aren't you? I mean you must have literally no sense of self-preservation whatsoever. Of all the places you could possibly ask to be taken, upon running into the few soldiers who seem bizarrely willing to cooperate with a rebel, you decided that this, the place where you are most likely to suffer a fate worse than you most horrendously twisted nightmares, was the most logical choice?! I mean, normally I'd be happy to see you, but under the circumstances what the heck were you thinking?!" After this somewhat long, and completely justified, rant, Ella buried her face in her hands. "Alright, just give me a minute to figure a way out of this." The meeker of the advisers began pacing the room as the guards waited patiently to receive their orders.

"Am I interrupting something?" came a voice from the doorway. Elaine stood, flanked by six individuals covered head to toe in concealing armor, leaning casually on the door frame and looking down at Rob with a sort of detached amusement. "Oh no." Ella's voice was faint and horrified. "You don't look well sister, perhaps you should rest." Elaine said coldly, then addressing the ominous figures accompanying her, "Five, see to it that my sister remains in her room until I return Twelve, take the goat out to the stables then come right back. Eleven, Seven, Eight, and Thirteen will bring our guest to my office." Then turning to the two guards that had brought brought the aforementioned 'guest' with a venomous glare she commanded, "As for you two, you bought him here with no orders to do so, you took him to Ella's room without some much as a 'by-your-leave', and I'll bet you didn't even search him first. Go wait for me in front of my room and pray to whatever deity you believe in that I am in a better mood when I arrive to deal with you."

One of the two decided that this was the moment to speak up. "What if we're atheist?" Elaine responded by shooting the man in the face. She then turned and walked out of the room without another word, followed by the four of her escorts that hadn't been assigned to see to it that Ella remained in time out. Two of the elite guards trailed slightly behind as they were dragging Rob behind them. "You think she'll use the chainsaw this time?" one asked the other after some time had passed. "Nah, it's real purpose is more decorative than anything else, she doesn't have the build to use a full-sized chainsaw properly anyway." Before the two could continue the conversation the third cut in. "Cut the chatter you two. Besides everyone knows immolation is were the real fun is at."

Ella paced the room, frantically muttering to herself as she attempted to puzzle out the situation she had just been presented with. Elaine's elite goons stood guard outside her door, her window was locked and twenty stories above the ground, and she had absolutely no way to fix even a small part of this mess. Plus she had just been provided with further evidence that she was the only sane person left alive, so there was also that delightful idea to mull over as well.

After her men had shackled the prisoner to the nondescript metal chair, and thoroughly searched him for so much as an unauthorized breath mint, Elaine stepped into Royalland Pangaea, and walked over to Rob. "Leave us." she told the four that were idling, and they unquestioningly walked out. "So," she asked the shackled rebel in a conversational tone that could almost be described as friendly, "what exactly were you doing that got you captured?"

Rob felt even worse hearing Ella's tone and her worrying. Unabashedly? "Quoi? Well sure. I did it for you." He went to give her a kiss, but he saw the guards and his tied hands and thought it wasn't such a good idea."Well that's a good thing." He slants to the guards "I dream about rainbows and candy" with a sarcastic voice even though there is truth in that statement. When Buddy was sent to the stables he piped up "Wait Can't he stay here?" then not wanting to go against her orders "Okay fine. Take this." He went to grab the pouch but his hands were stuck."Oh. Yea. Buddy, mon ami, mets le sac petit sur le tête"(Buddy, my friend, put the small pack on your head)"Okay go on" After hearing Elaine's orders he spat out in a stupid voice. "Huh. I can't even count that high." He chuckled at the guard's remark, but after seeing him shot decided he should keep quiet. But when they said the chainsaw was only decorative he had to open his mouth. "Really? I have a bazooka for a mantle piece but that's just me." When he was led to the chair and searched he saw how much of an arsenal he had. How did he even lift a foot? He had a decent range of tools, two guns, miscellaneous explosives and pyrotechnics, along with other spare parts of other projects-circuit boards, wiring, screws, fuses. "Could have the holy grail in there!" his remark was met by Elaine's. "Impossible. I already do."
"Mon dieu..." he mumbled. When his captor asked him he was lifted by her voice. The fool took this as friendship and opened up in a similar tone-one that probably wasn't to appropriate for a royal lady, but more for talking with fellow rebels. "Well I came here to fix some trucks for you guys. Then Ella showed her beautiful face" trying to get out of this he thought a bit of a compliment would lighten his punishments. He thought about what the hell he did. She looked so much like Ella. Who's now trapped in her room"looks great on you to-we ate lunch and then she pushed me out. Jesus little thing like her's got some kick. She's stronger then Buddy anyway..." After a pause he remembered the word that confused him. "What does unabashedly mean?"

Elaine

Elaine nodded on occasion as Rob spoke. When he had finished she answered the one question he had asked, choosing not to comment on his reference to his meal with Ella. "Unabashedly - in an unabashed manner. Unabashed means not concealed or disguised; obvious. Ella meant that you aren't even pretending that you're not trying to get yourself killed." Then standing up and waling around the chair so that she stood behind Rob she said, "You didn't answer my question. I asked how you got captured. Judging from the arsenal you brought in with you, I'd say you're at least somewhat capable of protecting yourself. Competence notwithstanding." Walking back to her seat with the kitchen knife she'd been retrieving, she casually pointed the blade in Rob's direction. "Let's make this quick. I do have things I'd rather be doing. Not many, mind you, but there are things." Elaine wasn't going to pretend to be nice anymore. She just hoped he either got really defiant so that she could torture him, or he got really cooperative and she could get this done quickly so she could go see Ella.

Porter

Porter dashed through the forest after Richard, having to slow down every once in a while when he passed him. When the rebel stopped to ready his Raptor, Porter drew his sword and ax. They might have seemed somewhat archaic by comparison, but they had proved themselves well.

"Hope you haven't got rusty. We've got us a princess to save."

"It has been a long time since I heard something like that." The masked assassin responded, before sprinting towards the village. Almost immediately he spotted the pair of villagers but was quickly distracted be the guards. He didn't worry though, he was certain that Winters could handle them. It would seem Porter was not incorrect in believing this as Winters quickly eliminated them. Before the bodies even hit the ground he was in front of the two of them.

It was her. This was the only thing that Porter could think of. It was her. More than a decade spent hidden away in the woods, masquerading as some phantom, lamenting his failure day after day till his sanity was strained, yet here was the princess whose death he had mourned nearly every waking moment of his life. Then it occurred to him that people who were perfectly unharmed were not generally carries around by others. Closing what little distance remained between himself and the pair, Porter asked the man, "Is she alright?" If the answer was no... well he didn't know what he would do. Finding out that the princess was alive not a mile away all this time, only to have her die before he arrived would be the ultimate emotional kick in the face. He' probably flip out and march to the palace to try to kill them all. Assuming he survived that he figured he might as well try and go after whatever divine being had thought up this whole scenario. But perhaps that was getting ahead of himself, he hadn't even heard the answer yet.

Rob was angered with her insult. He hated being called stupid. He shook the chair. "Oh shit!" and he crashed to the floor. "Man, you might wanna fix these chairs." While on his back he saw the array of knifes there. "Jesus you plan on cooking a hog or something back there?" He rolled himself over so he was on his knees and pushed himself back up in a sitting position. "Whoops. You're not much for small talk are you? So you wanna know how I got captured? Well besides the obvious that two men took me. So what do you want to know? Why I was taken here or why I was taken period? Well since you brought up the pocket lint I'll tell you why they took me. You pigs up here sent yet again, soldiers to raid helpless villages. Me being a proud guerrier de GIGN, I fought back. I protected people. I protected a little girl from a pedophile soldier raping her. Just boom. Smashed his head with the hammer. Bink. Just like that. I did that to another soldier. The third I felt a bit of mercy so I let him go. Only after bringing knife at throat 'if you ever come back here again, you'll find wrenches in your eyes and jackhammers up your ass.' Then lucky me, I find a whole mob of the filth. Oh boy. So." He waddled chair over to his stuff, and fell yet again. "Dammit not again." Recuperating himself again and he continued to make progress to the table, making sure to halt a few feet away not to worry his captor that her entertainment was being "naughty." He tried to stand with his legs bound to the chair, and was forced into a squat. "Watch out" and he threw a smaller explosive at the ground. "I threw larger ones, and they burned a few alive. Then after I sprayed lead into the crowd." Satisfied with his story he slumped back down into the chair. "Good? Can I go now? I got a date and we don't wanna leave your sister waiting now do we?"

Elaine

"Jesus you plan on cooking a hog or something back there?"

Elaine chuckled at this remark. "Now there's an idea." she muttered. After he'd finished and asked if he could go now, mentioning Ella again, she twirled the knife a bit, looked around the room, and finally answered, "No." She glanced over at the rebel before elaborating. "You've confessed to being a member of the rebellion, plus you killed several members of the royal guard, though I'm willing to give you a free pass on that first one, seeing as I would have killed him too. You attempted to smuggle weapons, a rocket launcher among them, into the royal palace. All of these things are crimes that could get you sent to prison for life, if you're lucky."

Walking over to the wall and picking up a small vial of clear liquid, Elaine added, "You are not lucky." Putting the vial into another device that looked something like a tranquilizer gun, she explained. "This is a vial of nanobots, they remain inactive until they encounter human blood, such as when they're injected into a host. Upon activation they will tear the host apart from the inside out.." Steadying the gun and looking through the scope to make sure she hit Rob, Elaine said, "Goodbye test-subject 7-B."

"Your majesty?" Came a voice from the intercom. Elaine lowered the weapon in frustration. "What is it, Eleven? Can't you see that I'm in the middle of something?" How the girl was able to tell the elites apart was unclear, seeing as all their voices sounded the same through their helmets. "It's your brother, your majesty. He demands we let him in immediately." "Fine send him in." Turning back to Rob she said, "Sorry, looks like we'll have to finish this after big brother leaves." The prince was quick to enter the room and even quicker to correct Elaine. "You will do no such thing. Unshackle him immediately. He's coming with me."

Elaine looked appalled. "He is most certainly not. I am going to use him to test my nanobots." As she spoke she crossed her arms over her chest as though to prove that she was serious. "Perhaps you're forgetting who is in charge here, little sister? Last time I checked your title was adviser.' For a brief moment Elaine's expression changed to one of absolute fury, before quickly being replaced by one of sickening sweetness. "Of course, dear brother. Would you like him gift-wrapped as well?" Dropping the gun to the side she calmly crossed the room to free Rob. As she undid the shackles she whispered, "Maybe you are lucky after all. We'll just see how long that lasts."

"Follow me." Aphelion instructed. "Just Mr. Gansu." he clarified when Elaine tried to go with them.

Rob laughed as she branded him as a rebel. "You say that like it's a bad thing." But after being accused of smuggling "Hey that's not true. When I smuggle I get a paycheck. So you gonna give me the money now?" but then she grabbed the vial and his heart raced. After the explanation he wanted to have one last joke before he died. "Shouldn't read off the medical facts on that? I mean will feel light headed or drowsy? Okay, just take me on my good side" and he turned his head appropriately when she brought up the scope. He didn't move at all until they mentioned a visitor. "So now we got an audience?" When she remarked that they'll have to finish later he snapped back "ah I know. You just love seeing my pretty face." The man gave the orders and he instantly felt ecstatic. "I get to live another day!" He was even happier seeing the girl defied and put back in her place. She freed him and when she whispered "We'll just see how long that lasts" "Yea, guess we will." and when his hands were free and mobile, he turned her head so no one would see him kiss her cheek. Then he ran to the safety of who ever had mercy on his life. As he walked with him he was full of questions. "So who are you? Why did you do that? Did Ella send you? Why me?" He was presented with an odd and foreign concept. Someone without hooves cared about him.

As the prince left him Rob muttered under his breath "what a prick. making deals with the devil." He saw Elaine talking to Ella as he arrived in the doorway. "You know Elaine, rumors are never good." After getting a death glare from her as she parted, he charged her. "Bam, reality check." He only meant to intimidate her and stopped himself. "Not so tough without your darts and me out of shackles." He continued onto Ella. He saw his goat playing with the princess. Ella scurried over and hugged the man "You're alive!" Rob wrapped his arms around her "of course I am." Ella stepped back at this, and Buddy charged into his leg. After a short shout of pain he looked into her eyes. "Maybe we should sit down. Don't wanna bend down to tell you and don't want you to kill your neck. He found a seat and slowly lowered himself not wanting to break a chair made for someone much smaller. He had to have his legs stretched out, no way he could bend his knees in this. "Okay, that wasn't my first profiling. I've been interrogated multiple times before." He leaned into her with more seriousness on his face. "Look, I've been cut, shot, zapped, burnt, whipped, beaten-huh even ridden. Why should I be afraid of some sassy girl with megalomania? I didn't think it was to big a deal to come back here. I mean where else was I gonna go? Anyone that cares about me," and he placed his arm around Ella's back and his hand on her shoulder. With his other hand he pat Buddy "on my lap, or is back home with a crew protecting her from her own shadow." He relaxed himself back into the chair. "That reminds me. I'm now your bodyguard. Don't get too excited now. Having to hang out with a towering stranger sounds fun." He rises out of his chair and stretches, letting out a loud yawn that sounded more like a bellowing roar. His shirt tightened and a lean-yet still muscular body was shown underneith. His wide shoulders, pecs and collar bones were highlighted by the fabric. "Oh boy. Ready for a nap. But there are things that must be done. This didn't work out to well last time, but do you still wanna go into town for some supper? I mean, I gotta be with you either way, now."

Elaine's eyes brightened with malicious glee as Rob started towards her. She quickly began to draw her rapier when, all of a sudden, he simply stopped. She wouldn't be able to get away with killing him without suitable provocation. With a frown and a glare of annoyance directed at Rob, Elaine stalked out of the room. She had more important matters to be dealing with anyways, not the least of which was the idiot who brought him here in the first place. Maybe she would turn him into a cyborg, it was still experimental technology, but cyborgs were cool. On second though, the idiot didn't deserve to be cool, she just splice him with dolphin DNA and watch him flop around on the floor for a while.

Ella was confused. Rob had gotten dragged away by Elaine and then come walking back saying that he was now her bodyguard. "Alright, I suppose that we could go to the town, though I don't see why we wouldn't just eat in the dinning room." An image of Rob and Elaine glaring at each other over the table ran through Ella's mind. "On second though, I can think of a reason or two." And so she agreed to go with him to the town. She did have the feeling that he might still be working with the rebels, but if that were the case she hoped they didn't plan on attempting to use he as a bargaining chip. That would go badly for everyone involved. She didn't think her brother cared enough to do much about it and Elaine... well as she said earlier, that would be bad for everyone. "So," Ella cleared her throat, "shall we be off?"

Rob saw her eyes and was glad he had disappointed her. He hated her, but he couldn't. She looked like Ella, and was her sister.

Rob sprang up and grabbed her hand. "Yes yes yes!" He quickly kissed her hand and dashed out the door. "Buddy, race!" His goat obligingly ran to stay a few steps ahead of his owner. Rob turned around and started to run backwards. "Come on!" He continued to run out pacing his date, he turned to make sure she was still following him, but in that instant he tripped over some frantic man. He fell on his stomach but quickly rolled on his back and ran his feet off the walls and rolled once again to his feet. He headed back to the man he just knocked over to see if he was okay. "Toby? How've you been? It's been to long." Remembering the friend's anxiety and paranoia ever since that one time....
"Hey take this-for you and your family." and he handed him a pile of bills neatly stacked and wrapped in a band-fresh out of the mint."Take care of yourself now." As Ella caught up to him again he sunk down. "Well you got me." Seeing they weren't to far from the garage he decided to walk-and take her hand.
They made it through the door and there were the trucks he had worked on earlier this morning. Again with the same guard who tried husking away porn under the month old newspaper. Rob turned to Ella with a great plan. "Hey I got a funny idea." He ruffled their hair and raised the question. "You have lipstick on? Well, put some on my cheek." He was gonna get a kiss from a beautiful girl and a funny joke. With a faint pink lip on his cheek, ruffled hair, and an loose shirt, Rob determinedly walked to the guard, pushing up and closing the magazine, but with the courtesy to keep the man's place with his finger. He pointed to him and Ella. "Haha, can you help a guy out and give us the keys?" he said with a wink. The man handed them over and Rob released his finger from the pages. There was resistance from the sticky worn pages. "Ewwww" and wiped his fingers on the counter. He went back to Ella and picked her up to complete the act. "Lets go!" They raced into the car and Buddy quickly followed, his owner making sure he was in before slamming the door and flooring it out of there. The tires spun and the engine roared, but as soon as they were out Rob returned to normal speeds. While he was nearly collapsed laughing. "So where to first?"

Rob pulled the car over and answered his phone. He doesn't wanna be on the phone in the middle of traffic and cause an accident! He's not all bad. "Hello, Rob Gansu. Hey dad. Nothing much with a girl. Aaaah exactly. Yes I was there and I showed them why they should never return. No no I was, now I'm on a date. But dad. Come on. Fiiine." and violently flips the phone shut. "I'm sorry Ella. I really wanted to go out to dinner. But my dad wants me to clear the after math of the town. Maybe it'll be good. You can see firsthand who the sorry bastards your siblings are. Don't worry I won't take you down to the children's graves. Hey you know what we can still have dinner." He jumped out of the jeep and opened the hood, pulling some odd item from his bag. After wiring it with the engine and slams the hood and the door. He revved it to see if his modification would work. You could hear and feel a significant increase in power. "There we go. Hold on." He raced and swerved through traffic hearing screams but he wasn't sure if that was of the drivers or his date next to him. He arrives to the charred town, but it wasn't the first time he's come home like this. His father said to meet someone. An old friend of his. The son of the McReary's capo. "Hey Pattie how you been?" The man answered in a hard celtic accent. "Aie who's this cunt you rolling around in. Come on sweetie, why ye be sleeping with this guy? He's nothing but trouble." Rob punched the friend on the shoulder "Not helping." They walk around the ruins together scaring looters away from snatching jewelry off the corpses. Some runt was trying to rob an old lady. A boy-scout spirit came out. "Lets go help that dear old lady." Rob and Patrick grab two bats left in the ruins and charge the degenerate. "You better run motherfucker!" He heard the warning too late. It wasn't long before the two bashed him off the lady. "Pat, find out where he comes from. And tell him who sent him." Patrick ran off to chase after the beaten one, while Rob helped the lady to her feet. He led her home and the grandmother kept saying how Ella reminded her of her daughter. They departed and Rob headed back to the house he stormed out of last night. The tall man was leaning in the doorway holding hands with the shorter figure in the doorway. Seeing the five in the kitchen already talking he decided to wait and let them finish their conversation. Buddy couldn't wait to long. The goat ran towards Raina. "Buddy. what is it with him and Raina." The goat stole some of her bread and started jumping around wanting to play. Speaking out to excuse his pet "Miss me?"

Connor watched with a strong expression watching the two visitors talking, the one who refereed to himself as Dick seemed somewhat silent in the past few minutes but this didn't bother him to much. He stayed calm and collected, concealing his rage and tension nearly expertly but, a disturbance ruined the whole act of him being in control fled as the goat ran up to Raina.

Connor drew his knife and prepared to throw it and probably would have if Rob hadn't stepped in behind his pet. He took a breath and sheathed his blade quickly,hoping no one would notice. "Rob you need to knock or something before you come inside." he said with a sigh and leaned back against the wall.

Jenko however, jumped happily at the goat licking it happily wanting to play with the animal. Connor hadn't told him to stand guard or sit so he could do whatever he liked now as he jumped around the mammal.

Before the strangers could respond to her inquiries a little goat ran up and snatched the remaining bread from her plate, startling her. For a moment she forgot about the chaos and reached down, petting the goat and grinning as she greeted Rob.
"Welcome back guys, I was so worried about you two! "
Hastily she stood, retreating into the house and returning with a plate for Rob and a few slices of bread for Buddy.
"Here you go, you two must be hungry! Where have you been? "

The others still sat around silently munching, though she had not forgotten they were there. It seemed they were avoiding her question, but she knew someone had to take action soon. They wouldn't be able to stay here, and soon the town would be swarming with soldiers seeking their bounty.
"Well if no one is going to answer me then have a nice life, I won't be seen with the man they're searching for ans neither will my family."
Angrily stormed into the shack and threw what little she had into a bag, and slipped on a pair of old ragged boots. boots In another bag she packed some food and water. Stepping back out of the shack she crossed her arms and stared down the group, trying to look determined. dtermined. However she was in no condition to travel alone, and soon it would be nightfall. She had no idea how she would eat, or where she was going but she had made a decision.
"I'm leaving, before things get worse. Whose coming with me?"

Rob rejected the food as he had already eaten lunch. He was upset with her worry. He was happy someone gave a damn, but only because he didn't die. "Ya ya, I've heard it before. I'm straight out of line. Don't worry about me." Hugging Ella "I'm not your misery. I have been with this wonderful lady. I know I know you must be jealous. Calm down Raina now that Rob's gone it isn't the end of the world." He was confused about her outburst. "Where the hell did that come from? What question? Why won't Dante go fuck himself with a machete? I dunno we've been asking that one for a while." He looked down to Ella. "I'm sorry for all of this. I promise I'll make it better. Make it worth it." He followed Raina closely "mon dieu what are you doing?" Rob was really confused and felt terrible that this date has become a rescue mission. When Raina said she was going to leave he looked to Ella again. "I'm sorry." He turned back to Raina but was closer and more in her face. "You're a real piece of fucking work you know that Raina? What choice do I have." He questioned Ella "wait... do I?" hopefully she could see clearly.

Ella

Ella was... extremely confused to put it mildly. She tried to pull Rob back slightly as he got in the woman's face, though her success was limited at best. Then even more confusing he turned back to her. "wait... do I?" "Do you, what?" Ella replied. "I'm not really sure what specific instance you're both talking about, other than, you know, the village being in tatters and all that. If you mean it in some general sense than yes, you always have choices, though sometimes there doesn't really seem to be a good one among them." Turning to Raina, she said. "I'm sorry for not introducing myself earlier, this is all rather befuddling since I haven't gotten a proper answer as to just what is going on. I am Ella, one of the royal princesses of Pangaea. I'm terribly sorry if one or both of my siblings are responsible for your village's current state." She hung her head and her voice adopted a more tired tone. "I try to keep them in check but... "

Porter

The masked man followed Raina with the words "I shall accompany you of course, milady." He wanted to explain the situation to her, but didn't want to talk about the past that he'd tried so hard to discard in front of everyone. When Rob raised his voice and stepped forward, Ported quickly interposed, moving between him and Raina, and fixing the lad with a glare. His stare-down with Rob came to an abrupt end when he heard the words of the girl he had brought with him. "What?" he asked, with mixture of hatred and disbelief. One third of the royal trio responsible for ruining the world stood before them, brought there by Rob no less. He wanted so badly to kill her, the only things stopping him from doing so were the facts that Raina was there and shouldn't have to watch that, and Raina seemed to know Rob, who had in turn brought Ella with him. Plus he wasn't exactly keen on the idea of killing a child, even if the child in question really, really deserved it.

Elaine

Elaine sat in one of the rooms of the palace, watching several monitors at once with a cold appraising look. After a few minutes of this, she seemed to have gained whatever information she'd wanted from the screens and swiveled the chair to face the person standing behind her. The being was to far into the shadows to determine its identity, but Elaine knew the thing better than any other person could ever hope to. "Six." she started simply. "Yes, empress?" came the electronically distorted response. "According to the tracking device in car B-3, keys given to one Mr. Rob Gansu, the car has just entered to village we were searching for Winters. A strange place to take a royal princess, don't you think." The question was, of course, completely rhetorical. All the same, the mysterious six answered faithfully. "Yes empress, suspiciously strange."

"My brother has become so concerned about keeping his grip on the throne that he's completely overlooked the danger he's put Ella in." Talking with Six was almost like talking with herself, they both already knew how the conversation would progress. Actually verbalizing it was just a formality. You believe Winters to be there as well?" "I know Rich is there, but there are bigger fish to fry. If I'm right and all goes well, we'll be having quite the interesting family reunion soon. It goes without saying that we won't let brother dearest in on this. After all, it'll be far more fun as a surprise."