Akuma, The Silver Dragon's Story

As they approached their destination, one elevator after another, he was taking in the atmosphere in quiet admiration, placing everything to memory. He had to admit that Diego has one he'll of a style, far apart from his father's more traditional stylings... something he grew to find stuffy. This was all a breath of fresh air. Nice, shiny, full of personality. Almost like the fanciful dreams of youth.

Despite it all, though, something felt off in the air, and in the back of Jouji's mind he remembered that strange exchange back in the lobby. And that tune Fiona kept whistling, it began to sound familiar... oh damn.

As Jouji stepped through the door, he looked to Diego.

Isn't that the Aschen anthem?

Diego Dellevon barked out a laugh. He couldn't help himself. There was no escaping the Aschen, from internal business meetings to the privacy of a fingerprint passcoded elevator off some backwater planet.

"So is it?" He asked Fiona aloud. The elevator opened to a large alcove, lit blue; Penthouse floor. The room was empty aside from three ornate round doors. There were no end tables, mirrors, or detectable surveillance systems. Each door featured it's own constellation of crystal. Two of the doors had their constellations glowing blue- this meant they were occupied, presently in use. One of the doors' constellations glittered white- nobody had checked into here, yet.

Two large men stood and guarded the door with the Cetus constellation. The other occupied door had a blue-glowing Aquila constellation. This was Diego's destination.

Fiona felt like someone had not only told her that the Boogieman was real, but that he was trying on a shirt in the same clothing store she was in. Of course that's where she recognized the song! It was omnipresent, little phrases from it appearing with and supporting villains on practically every show she could name.

"I think so," she nodded. "Whyever someone would have it in their head beats me. But now at least I can listen to it properly and kill the earworm."

She fiddled with her hand-held, changed the dial from camera to audio player, and with a few more button-clicks, began to play the all-too-familiar melody softly.

The door with the Aquila constellation opened at Diego's touch. They were designed for the utmost convenience. There was a small foyer and another door, which he crossed to and opened quickly. He took a step inside the door and swept his arm out in a grand motion for the rest of his company.

He was too busy watching his guest's faces to notice the corpse of his cousin chillin' over there on the couch. He didn't have reason to suspect that circumstance; last checked, Cobreo had his own room & was comfortably secluded in it.

As Jouji and his two goons stepped towards the threshold, almost immediately they froze up as a smell hit them like a truck, their noses wrinkled up as they were overwhelmed, so many times more pungent than before but unmistakable: death. Judging from Diego's body language and expression, he had no idea what awaited them inside. Jouji froze in place, then looked to Diego, eyes locked, a look even for his kind an all-telling expression of, shit has changed.

Jouji moved quickly into the room, almost freakishly fast, actually, then looked around the room before looking down at the couch, a blank expression on his face. He looked back at Diego and shook his head slightly, motioning to Fiona with a sway of his head. He had no intention of exposing a child to what awaited them inside, that, and he had no idea if the killer was still around or not and didn't want a kid caught in the middle if they were.

Before Fiona could scurry into the room, Joe positioned himself such that she couldn't get by. With instinctive curiosity, she tried to use her telepathy to push past him, but the more mature mind of Jouji blocked her attempts as though she were a ragdoll.

"What's going on?" she asked, her voice wavering on concern. The last thing she expected was the dead body of her cousin; she had no idea what they were withholding from her.

Diego locked eyes with Jouji, glanced at the couch, and almost lost his footing. The world spun sideways and then back again. He reached out mentally to Cobreo and found a dark void. There was nothing there. Nobody.

He pressed a button on his watch. In three seconds flat Four large men wearing all black came bustling through the front door and into the foyer- the Dellevon guards from outside earlier, and two more that must have been inside of Cobreo's penthouse.

With a jerk of his chin towards Fiona, Diego signaled two of the guards to surround Fiona. Not in an intimidating way, but in a way meant to keep her protected and slightly isolated from the rest of everyone. They shifted into the room and off to the side, one of them attempting to block Fiona's view at all times. He tried, anyhow.

Meanwhile, the other two guards moved swiftly towards Jouji's goons.

Nope!

Diego halted them in their tracks and pointed at the couch. At Cobreo.

Figure out what the fuck happened here,

He said to them, then confirmed to Jouji in his mind, Shit has changed.

Diego pressed his watch again. The doors clicked locked and a notification was sent to the staff to lock down the Hotel Zafiro. Shit had more than changed, and Diego could think of only one person who could possibly be responsible. He guarded the thought.

Jouji's underlings raised their arms as the guards approached them, but sighed when they walked away. Despite everything, these two were only trained to rough somebody up if they had to, Jouji was the professional here, and even he was at a loss. Everything had gone wrong, even beyond any plans or potential problems. And if his hunch is right, this is the damn Don Dellevon no less! This is beyond the worst case, this is an entirely different league of problem. He didn't know what to say, what to do. But in case the assassin was still around, he unbuttoned his sleeves, ready to use his blades if he had to. Something donned on him as he looked around the scene. Wasn't he supposed to be some high level psionic?

"It was quick, there was little to no struggle," he said quietly to Diego. He held his nose and tried scanning the scene over again, giving his best to calmly and methodically piece together everything, including any sensations he had prior. He was already in this deep, he intended to go above and beyond at this point. " Death wasn't long ago... upwards to an hour tops. That was... was... around when we were just arrivin' in the lobby... wait, shit. Scent of blood. Blue hood. Damn it."

Sense anything? Even a trace?

Fiona screamed. Despite their best efforts, it was impossible for two guards to stop a psionically-gifted child from seeing what was going on in the room.

With the wail of a banshee, she leapt out of their arms and across the furniture to paw at her cousin's body.

"No, no, no!"

Cobreo was supposed to be invincible. He was the strongest arm of the Dellevon body. His unflappable psionic gifts -- she should have felt him long before even opening the door -- were gone, leaving a palpable blank space in her mind.

The opening of the Hotel... this was meant to be a happy occasion. With the hunter in the lobby, the Aschen on the station, and now this: suddenly, Fiona felt very tiny indeed. But for now, all she could do was sob. Maybe this place wasn't as safe as she thought. She wished her Mum was here.

“Carmen” Diego hissed quietly back to Jouji, “You saw her here?”

The two guards made quick work of covering the body with a sheet - the rituals could occur after an investigation.

Who else could it be? Sure there was a laundry list of people who wanted Cobreo dead, but who would have the balls to carry out a hit here?

Did she do it herself? No… she’d never get her hands dirty like that.

He glanced back to Fiona. Shit.

A red light by the door lit up. It was an emergency light. Something was going on in greater Blue Heaven.

Some grand opening.

“Fiona, sweetheart,” Diego gave Jouji a look, one of those oh-boy-please-excuse-me looks, and rushed over to Fiona, who was impeding the guards from taking care of the dead.

Marisa was going to murder him.

Bolea Nuurk noticed the lockdown alarm in her room - and got a little tickled at the thought of more news. She didn't know why, and wasn't going to get nervous about it. She'd have to get Shaunie to get his equipment, yes.

In the meantime Bolea slipped into her soloncamband - a camera band designed for solo use and broadcasting. It compressed her blob like form in the middle and wasn't comfortable, for Bolea. No matter. The news is the news!

Blissfully unaware of what was happening a couple floors above, Bolea exited her room and took the glass elevators back down to the lobby.

Diego barely needed to touch Fiona to pry her off the body; she melted in his arms. She was still sobbing, and still with the the damnable Aschen music playing on her handheld.

The guards covered the body of Cobreo with a sheet, and that was the end of that. "No, no, no," she repeated. This wasn't at all like when she saw a dead lizard or bird on the sidewalk. When that happened, the first thing she did was take out her camera. But using her camera here would have been... unholy. She knew that someone somewhen would be taking pictures of this scene. Let them carry the curse.

There was a stickiness on her skin and clothes. She didn't process it. She couldn't keep her thoughts together. The world started to lurch out of order. And Fiona fainted in Diego's embrace.

He caught her and hugged her close, sending rapid-fire commands to the guards with his mind.

Evidence. All of it.
Authorities. Now.
Camera footage. Sweep it.

Diego looked up with darkened eyes at Jouji, and broadcasted to all in the room, Carmen. FInd her.

Fiona was carried into one of the bedrooms and laid gently on a queen sized bed. In short order this had gone from the best day of his life to the worst day of his life. The four guards scattered to command, one staying at the body, another stationed at the door. One briskly swung the frame of the larger than life painting of the Andromeda galaxy on one wall off it's secret hinge and disappeared into the passage behind. The last head to the elevators, meaning to handle business.

The crystal furnishings and pastel blue walls did nothing to comfort Diego in this new predicament. The Don Dellevon was dead. His successor?

With a scoff Diego glanced to the mirror wall and glared at himself. It was time to thank Jouji for his patience. Get justice for Cobreo. Call a meeting. Get things in order. Plan a funeral.

It was time to get back to work.

Fiona awoke a couple minutes later, her mind having undergone a hard reset. She looked around the blue room: an end table, clock, dresser, dinner table, television, and so forth, all stylized in a retro-futuristic indigo. She lay on the smaller half of a queen-sized bed. She remembered going up an elevator, and talking to Diego and a weasel named Joe, but nothing else. She didn't remember falling asleep.

Her skin and clothes were sticky. She vaguely processed that it looked like blood. Was she injured? It didn't seem so.

Something must have had happened. But there was a hole in her memory, and a quiet part of her brain wouldn't let her focus on it. Fiona's mind didn't want to remember.

She tucked herself in, and tried to get comfortable. Maybe all she needed was sleep.

After rolling around for a few minutes, Fiona pulled herself out of bed and went to the washroom. In the mirror, she saw streaks of blood on her face and shirt. She cleaned herself up as best she could, inspecting to make sure she wasn't injured. No, this was definitely somebody else's blood.

Why was she alone?

She reached out, tentatively, with her mind. Panic fear assaulted her emotions. Fiona was safe here, she thought, but people out there were scared. Somebody must know what's going on. Heck, she felt like she knew the source of the mass anxiety, but it was locked up in a partition in her brain. The letter "C" struggled to find something to connect to.

In the aftermath, Jouji leaned against a wall with his arms crossed. All senses both logical and illogical told him that Carmen was long gone by now, but did she kill him herself? Was she such a precision killer? Of the things in the underworld, this whole thing made no sense. It was... stupid, personal, not much significant was even taken, aside from Cobreo's life, nothing to gain from that aside from maybe the sheer satisfaction of causing misery within the Dellevon family. He slapped his hand over his face and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He took something from his pant pocket, a bottle containing pills, nothing illegal though, simple ibuprofen, this whole thing left him with a headache, so he downed a couple quickly and swallowed hard. The scent of blood was still in the air and, combined with everything, his head began began to pound.

Through the gap of his fingers he saw the two goons, Doke on his phone... most likely reporting to him. All this shit has finally pushed that calm exterior to near cracking, he finally moves and gets straight in the goon's face and, without breaking eye contact he takes the phone from his hand without any effort. Whatever look he gave Doke, he nearly stumbled back, a bead of sweat running down his forehead. Jouji takes to a corner away from them.

"Listen here," Jouji said, a certain defiance in his voice, "if we're to salvage this, we should send-"

Cut off in his moment, a deep imposing voice is heard on the other end, almost like a growl. Don Kurogane himself, and he had a body to match that voice, Jouji knew all too well.

"Send out a pack for a single human woman..?" he answered, to complete Jouji's thought, but with a tone more cold and unmoving. "Aschen can delight scrounging through sewers hunting for a single rat, but superfluous waste is for a lesser breed, not ours."

"This is my operation," Jouji hisses, trying to have some control.

"That I allowed you to have," Kurogane rebutted. "And clearly you are taking it too personally."

Jouji gripped the phone tightly, the brittle shell crackling as he did so. before giving out a hoarse and bitter laugh.

"You know, you'd make more friends if you stopped being a stubborn asshole," Jouji said, still trying to get any leverage to move his stone of a father. The two goons looked ready to intervene but the fear of the present danger superseded fear of future repercussions from the Don. They knew they had no chance to overpower Jouji. "You know what? Just one, just one to hunt her down, bring her back here, so she can stand trial to whatever standards the Dellevons operate. You got that?"

There was a moment of silence, the two goons stood frozen, bated breath as they looked almost ready to book it. After a long pause there was an audible chuckle, a deep and terrifying sound but a chuckle all the same, he was pleased, not pleased with the proposal, no, he was pleased that Jouji demanded, not asked.

"Shinigami, one Shinigami," he said plainly before the phone abruptly hung up. There was a dead silence as Jouji, after a pause handed the phone back to Doke. None of them said anything to each other.

Blue Heaven officials had been officially notified of the murder. Diego furiously tapped orders and information into his phone, surprised to hear back that there had been a murder in Starwind Plaza as well. Carmen, a killing spree? He didn't take her for the type, even though he knew she was capable of anything. Getting her hands dirty didn't feel... her style. But, there Cobreo was. Dead.

The staff were to ensure guests were taken care of, safe. If there was anything the Hotel Zafiro could do for whatever investigations, they would. The camera footage was already being swept. Yes, Carmen had been here. She had used the part where she wasn't officially estranged from the family to get by.

Well, she was to be banned from all Dellevon Intergalactic properties from this point forward - and immediately detained, should she be stupid enough to arrive at one. He made sure of that with a quick message to the board - and another to the House Dellevon group text. That message thread got muted ages ago, so he didn't see the incoming flood from other family members on the news that Cobreo was dead. He sent a separate text to his brother Carlo- who likewise had muted the chat- catching him up to speed.

Diego looked at the little bubble indicating the still unread message from his cousin. From Carmen. He tapped it.

Wouldn't the Don Dellevon like to know? ;)

Now what could that have meant? Was she being cheeky- knowing he was next to assume the position, an admission of a roundabout sort? Or was she actually innocent? He shook his head, doubting that, and looked over to Jouji, thinking he heard the rattle of an ibuprofen bottle. Ah, he was on the phone now.

In the back of his mind a panic started to arise- Fiona. He glanced back at Jouji and sent out to Fiona with his mind, Everything is ok. Are you awake? He sent a wave of peace to her, hoping she'd be able to accept it and harness it. His next problem was keeping the details of this from her. She'd already seen the corpse. Not just any corpse, either. It was already a lot of familial distress. Despite what he went through as a child, with the generation before his becoming obsolete, he'd never wish that on anyone else. Especially not his little cousin. Marisa had kept her shielded from this part of things... until today.

"They're checking to see if Carmen is still in Blue Heaven," Diego said to Jouji once he was off of the phone, "However there was another murder. In Starwind Plaza. Doesn't seem affiliated, but," his eyes flicked to the goons, "Best be eyes up."

Everything is ok. Are you awake?

In her mind's ear, Fiona caught the message and recognized it as Diego.

She replied, keeping it short and simple. Yes, I'm up. Where are you?

Fiona didn't know what else to say; amnesia had blocked out the entire last ... how long? ... of her life. She felt like she should at least know where the blood came from, and until she figured that much out, she didn't want to compromise her position. She was an unfinished puzzle. At least the situation was peaceful -- she picked that much up from Diego's message -- so she wasn't full of dire urgency.

"Doubt it," Jouji muttered, his mood more dour, his eyes towards the ground and shifting as if he were trying to read something. It wasn't his first time, he had seen death before, more brutal than this, but it doesn't mean you just get numb to it, and if you do, well that becomes another problem entirely. And the way this was done, there was no honor in his culture. He was never given a chance, and the likelihood he never even knew why he died is high. Furthermore, a child was subjected to it. He rubbed the bridge of his nose again and. "I mean, she was headed out before the lockdown... unless she's a complete moron, I doubt she'd stick around to see what happened next. My advice? Check for any ships that left within the last few hours, closest to when we first made contact."

There was a brief pause as he thought on what to say further, and after deliberation, he took another breath and raised his head and looked to Diego more directly.

"How's she doing?" he asked.

“She’s,” Diego tried to read Fiona. Oddly enough she seemed fine.

“She’s functioning, seeming fine,” He wasn’t so sure and figured he’d better make sure. He locked eyes with the guard at the door, who nodded and spoke subtly into his watch.

With a final and hard glance back to the sheet covering the corpse of Cobreo, he said to Jouji, “Let’s find somewhere more comfortable.”

Diego checked his phone. Cobreo’s room was clear- no signs of anything. Well, then. Diego crossed to the giant painting, swinging it open and pointing his chin towards the secret tunnel between his penthouse and Cobreo’s.

“This leads to another penthouse,” he paused and stopped himself from cringing, “Cobreo’s.”

As he stepped through he sent another mental note to Fiona, Our guests and I are next door. An attendant is arriving to assist with whatever you need- is there anything you need?