The cloaked figure sighed to himself, running a hand across his (unseen) face.
Obviously, I could've thought this one through a bit better.
"Kelne sent one of his minions, huh? Just my luck..." The cloaked figure grumbled a bit too loud, before it cleared its throat again. "Can't you tell your 'boss' that it would be really nice for him to be here? See, the way things are set up, it'd be better if everyone were there..." The figure coughed again and spoke a bit more carefully and evilly. "... by which I mean it would be all the more mysterious, and spooky! And all of that crap."
The shoulders of the cloak twitched again, and even Kelne from his spot above could note that the cloak did not fit the mysterious stranger quite as well as it should've. How
suspicious! This was especially noticeable when the figure stepped from spot to spot, somewhat uncomfortably.
"I was hoping that some of the others would show, but they're either busy or they've fallen out of existence..." The figure continued, hopping from foot to foot. "So I need everyone I can get. C'mon."
***
The presence of guards around Doma had stepped up considerably, especially around the market. The offering of telepathy and mind reading for cash was forbidden, as this was what may have led Darko to his fate.
There were no mysterious figures wearing hats and coats here. That would've been too suspicious. No, the new figure entering the fray looked every bit like your average Doman. He was average-height, of average build, and average clothing. Barely noticed, he slipped through the crowds, looking upon one of the flyers advertising the murder.
The man cursed slightly and headed off, swiftly blending into the crowd...
***
Somewhere... on another world far, far away...
Amidst a scattering of simple houses, a prison, and a tower, stood a tent of sorts that held what appeared to be a trash can moving on wheels and a person of some sort, buried beneath a large cloak. She was busily typing away at some sort of computer. Although it had been scratched away, the sticky residue of an Infinity logo remained plastered onto the side.
The computer seemed to be focusing on Infinity Corporation and its two branches. The first, formerly headed by Monotar, and later Alex, had clearly been disbanded. Many of its members had been taken into custody, its assents had been scattered, and the research projects had all been placed under wraps. It helped that Alex was being kept in the prison here as his punishment.
The second, she didn't know quite as much about. She had never been to the world of Water, where the second branch was said to be held. She did know that the people of the world had revolted, in mass, against the Corporation and had been doing so for some time. The last project that the second branch had supposedly worked on, the so-called 'Androids', used up the last of the branch's money. The Androids had been sent to Gaera, but were fortunately, for the most part, beaten.
For some time, she had had a lingering worry in her mind, but with the absolute confirmation that the two branches were destroyed, what was there to be concerned about?
Just then, a blinking 'e' appeared at the bottom of the screen. She noticed and clicked on it. A screen of e-mail messages appeared, and the newly arrived message filled the screen.
"... oh, it's from Galc!" She noted happily. She read the message quickly, and as soon as she had finished, a dark expression crossed her face. "... this can't be true, can it?"
With only a moment's pause, she began adding a new file to her database. She knew she would have to get moving soon...
Edited by: Crawling Reshiki at: 1/23/06 12:20