xp_logs | Breaking the World 3 and 4

Back in the Central African Republic, Ord does indeed have a name of a possible suspect to suggest, then asks Angelo to stay behind and meet someone.

Pouring himself up a glass of water from a nearby water cooler, Malcolm Ord looked around at his guests. "Water, anyone? Gets a mite too warm here for my liking so it's important to stay hydrated and all that." He smiled at the others, taking a sip from his own paper cup as he waited to see if anyone else was thirsty.

"Water would be good, thanks", Angelo said with a smile in return, settling on the ground. "We've got some talking to do, that's dry work too."

Sooraya also gratefully accepted the water, sipping it before she set it down next to her. "Thank you, Mr. Ord. It is a beautiful country but quite warm indeed." She tilted her head as she looked at the man. "I hope no other children went missing while we were away briefly?"

Ord shook his head carefully, handing out water to those who wanted some. "Not that I've heard as of yet, but there's always a number of suspicious persons upon whom we're keeping a close watch." Looking out a nearby window, he watched a vehicle roll past. "One lad in particular is on my radar, who recently came into some money and bought a truck. Which, granted, doesn't sound like a bad thing but... I don't know."

Yvette had already finished one glass of water. "Another, please?" she asked politely, holding her glass out again. Her mutation - and especially the lack of pores in her skin - made over-heating a very real danger for her. "This person with the truck... did he say where the money was coming from?"

He refilled her glass with a slight smile before replying. "He'd said a relative had passed - an uncle, I believe - and he'd inherited the funds but... I don't know, perhaps I'm being too suspicious over nothing. It just sounded suspect to me at the time. Perhaps I'm getting paranoid in my old age." Ord forced a chuckle, shaking his head a little.

Fred watched the truck as well, though more out of appreciation for its relative health given its environment than any suspicion. He lit a cigarette before coughing into his hand a little, "Ah'd love tah sit around an talk trucks all day, but we got some more pressin' matters than a sketchy dude inna truck, don't we...?"

"Depends what he really did to get the money for it", Angelo noted. "I think what our friend here's hinting is that it might have something to do with the disappearances."

John took a quick sip of his water and poured the rest of it into Yvette's glass. "So we'll take a closer look at this fella. Maybe he'll drop a few bread crumbs that'll help lead us somewhere. Does Suddenly Rich have a name?"

"Bemba is his name, Abadu Bemba to be specific. I believe I saw him leave in said truck earlier today, headed for the jungle." Malcolm poured some more water into his own glass and shrugged. "Like I said, may be nothing, but it's a bit odd."

"It does sound odd, Mr. Ord." Sooraya agreed. She looked over at her friends. "Perhaps we should see what Mr. Bemba is up to? I think it is the most concrete lead we have so far."

"Sounds like a plan", Angelo agreed. "Shouldn't be too hard to track him if he's driven a truck through the jungle, it'd leave a trail like an elephant."

"Or Fred?" Jean-Phillipe smiled at Fred to indicate that it was a joke about the other man's powers, not any kind of insult. "I agree. It may be nothing, or it may be something. But the only way to find out is to investigate, non?"

Fred huffed a little, but grinned, "A truck like that? Ah could proally find it in the middle ah rush hour anyhow. Listenin for it out here shouldn't be too hard..." He looked at Ord, "But iffen he is up tah something, what's the plan for when we catch up tah him...?"

"That, I'm afraid, isn't something for which I'll be much use to you. Perhaps contact the authorities? Assuming that something is going on after all which, as I said, is pure speculation at this time." He shrugged and looked around the room.

"I think first, we find Mr. Bemba. Then we talk to him." Yvette's soft voice contrasted with the sudden hardening of her skin at the thought of children being taken and sold. "What happens next will depend on him."

"I'm sure he'll cooperate fully... oh, which reminds me." Ord snapped his fingers, turning around to face Angelo. "If I could impose on you ever so slightly, would you mind staying behind for awhile? We'll catch up to your friends in due time, of course, but there's someone who wants to meet you."

Ord takes Angelo up to an old monastery in the jungle. It doesn't go anything like the way he's expecting.

"Why does she live all the way out here?" Angelo wanted to know as the two men hiked up a clearly well used jungle path. "I mean, why not down in the village with everybody else?"

Following Angelo up the path, Malcolm dabbed a handkerchief to his slightly damp forehead before replying. "You'll see. It's a splendid old building out here, used to be a monastery ages ago, much more appropriate for her." He pointed up ahead as they walked forward, where a part of the old building started to come into view. "Just up there, you see? That's it, we're nearly there."

Angelo peered at the wall looming in front of them, eyebrows raising despite himself. "They knew how to build to last back then, huh? This's got to be centuries old, no one's used those symbols in a long time."

"Centuries indeed, correct." Ord gave Angelo a favoured grin, impressed by his knowledge. "Ancient Christian symbols, to be precise, and yes, quite old and unused in this day and age." They reached the entrance into the ancient stone building, a large wooden doorway that creaked quite loudly when Malcolm pushed it open. "Come inside, please, right this way."

Aghanne stood in the center of the open room, as if she was waiting for them. "I have been waiting for you." Her dark eyes going from Ord to Angelo, which she offered the man a knowing smirk.

"Sorry, the jungle's hard going when you're not used to it", Angelo said apologetically. "The minister said you wanted to speak to me?"

"Yes. Come. Sit." She gestured to the mats on the floor nearby before taking a seat on a mat herself. "I am called Aghanne." Her eyes once more fell upon Angelo, "But I know plenty about you, Angelo."

"Really?" There was a touch of wariness to that as Angelo sat down, but he glanced back at the minister in question. "I didn't realize I'd got that much of a reputation."

"Our Mistress knows much, my friend, do not be surprised." He bowed deferentially, almost reverentially to Aghanne, before slipping into the background once again to let her continue to speak.

"More than just your reputation, Angelo." Aghanne said as she continued to look at Angelo, but not to make him feel uncomfortable. "You experienced the feeling of loss from such a young age, it has made you who you are today. Your future holds the same." Aghanne moved closer to Angelo, "May I?" She wanted to read his palm.

She might not have been trying to make him uncomfortable, but he was, a little. Still, though, he held out his hand. "I hope you're wrong about my future, at least", he told her wryly.

"The future has many paths with different outcomes. It is what we do now that will change the future." She took his hand into hers and gently touched the lines into his hands. "You have traveled the world and met a lot of people." Aghanne closed her eyes a bit as she closed her hands around his, her breath came into a sharp intake and she opened her eyes and dropped his hands. "Interesting." She stood up and walked over to a basin filled with water and dunked her hands into it.

Ord was curious as to what Aghanne had seen to make her react so, but he dared not interrupt her or question her vision. Instead he picked up a nearby towel and strode over to his Mistress, waiting to dry her hands once she had removed them from the basin.

Angelo was watching both of them, a little perturbed by the almost worshipful way Ord was behaving towards Aghanne. "I have travelled a lot", he confirmed. "Can I ask what else you saw?"

Aghanne turned to face the man, "I saw the future. I have seen a wild fire spreading rapidly among the lands, engulfing everything in its path." As she spoke a couple teens wandered in and sat nearby, listening to what she had to say. "This future can be changed, but only if we stop what would cause such a disaster."

Angelo glanced at the new arrivals, and a few more who followed them, wondering for a moment why they looked familiar but putting it down to having seen them in passing in the village. "A fire? Are you talking literally or metaphorically?"

"Both. He would come to us, with a broken past, a traveler of the world. He would come and we shall be ready for it. Before he fulfill his destiny and destroy us all." The woman looked down at a young teen and lifted her chin. "Fear not, for we are ready."

A few of the teens had moved over toward Ord, and he signalled for the young men to grab the other side of a large, heavy block of wood, which he helped them slide into place to barricade the sole entrance to the monastery through which he and Angelo had entered. They stood in front of the door, and Malcolm held up his hands in a reverential gesture to Aghanne. "We are ready, all thanks to our Mistress! She shall save us all!"

"Wait", Angelo had started to say, focusing on the young faces more intently. "I've seen photos of them. These are the kids you said were missing, and you're not surprised." He rose quickly and made for Ord, and the door beyond him. "You knew nothing happened to them, you knew where they were. You brought me here. Have I walked into the fucking Wicker Man or something?"

Ord blinked. "I... I'm afraid I do not get that reference." He shook his head and raised his hands, waving them around the room. "It does not matter, Angelo, because the important thing is that we are saved. Mistress Aghanne will save us, all of us, and they will help her to do so. We're doing what needs to be done."

"He speaks the truth, Angelo. We have to do what is needed to be done or else everything we know it is destroyed. This is the path we chose for our beliefs, for our future." Aghanne said, "You are what will destroy us. The bringer of fire and destruction. We cannot allow you to continue living, to bring an end to us. Grab him! We must prepare for the ritual!"

"Oh, hell no. And you, Mistress Twisted, stay out of my head." It was a guess, but Ord pretty conclusively seemed to have been influenced and Aghanne knew things she couldn't have got many other ways, and he began what shielding techniques he could and turned to pull at the piece of wood, punching and kicking the ones who came for him.

Malcolm signaled for the teens to interrupt Angelo's attempts to escape, abstaining from such actions himself and leaving the job to younger, better able persons. "Be careful not to harm him, yeah? Mistress Aghanne needs him." With that, he bowed reverentially to his Mistress, smiling as her plans to save them all were about to come to fruition.