Whatever Happened to...? [Aidan/Closed]

It had been a few hours since Aodh's plane had landed and the Quincy was still in a foul mood, he'd been far from pleased when he left Berlin and over 9 hours stuck on a plane had certainly not improved his disposition. The Sternritter Birith had been commanded by her Majesty to travel to Chicago due to a phone call she had received the day before. Apparently an old friend of hers, a Quincy called Raphael Laurent, had gotten himself arrested. His story was ridiculous, something to do with manufacturing drugs against his will for a business man. How could a mortal keep a Quincy, even a weak one, captive? That aside the story had gotten even more nonsensical after that. Apparently this evil CEO drug lord had paid off the police force to make sure that Raphael couldn't be released on bail, although Aodh's knowledge of this country's laws wasn't substantial enough to know if he'd be eligible for release anyway and on top of that the charges against the man were apparently all fabricated. That was the worst part. She was ordered Aodh to break the man out of jail illegally. Something the Sternritter was furious about being forced into. Of all the things the Queen wanted from him this was the only one that had ever pushed the limits of his loyalty.

Gritting his teeth at the thought of it he couldn't help but wonder why the hell she hadn't tracked down the American Lightner to deal with matters, he was the only one of her servants who knew the Quincy Families in the States and perhaps he could have used their influence to find a easier solution. Or, hell, why not ask her criminal boyfriend? He was sure Wraith wouldn't feel any guilt about breaking the druggie out of jail. It was odd though, Aodh was hardly the best at reading people, but he hadn't got the impression when he met Raphael that the man was weak will enough to be a drug abuser...but then that had been a very brief battle they had fought alongside one another.

Sighing he left his hotel room, having stopped for a short nap and then a shower before getting dressed in a clean suit having left his Quincy uniform at the castle, it would cause him to stand out a little too much. Best get this over and done with. Pulling on a pair of leather gloves he left the hotel. It wasn't a long walk to the station and noticing the relatively large group of people waiting to be seen he took a seat in the waiting area as he quietly waited to be seen. It would appear the stories he heard about the inefficiency of this country's police force was true, almost as bad as the UK's health service, he supposed all country's had their faults. Or maybe he was just used to the ridiculous efficiency that the Japanese displayed. Nearly half an hour later a fat man wearing a police uniform gestured him over to the counter. 

"What can I help you with?" the officer asked in a tone that suggested that he didn't really want to help with anything.

"Hello Officer my name is Mr O'Connor, I am an attorney and I believe you are holding one of my clients on false charges. A Mr Laurent. I wish to speak with him immediately." he said in a mixture of respect and accusation intending to annoy the other man however instead the individual just smirked.

"Really? Well I'm sorry to say that we can not let you speak to that man right now, unfortunately I can not allow anyone access to that individual." he replied with smug satisfaction.

"He has a right to a lawyer." Aodh countered.

"Not in this case."

Aodh frowned and focused on the man. All humans, even the Spiritually unaware, had Reiryoku even the weakest human had some level of  basic spiritual power. He could sense it in this individual if he focused hard enough, that faint energy, and behind this flowing energy was the man's shifting moods and emotions. All Aodh could feel from this man was smugness and, deeper, deceit. It was only lately that the Irishman's perceptive skills had evolving to such a point that he could perceive such things.

'So it's true. These men, or at least some of them, are working for that Business man.' he thought to himself. Still breaking the law sat poorly with Aodh and he wished Freyleif had put a little more though into this before giving her orders. He had to be certain before he acted.

"Very well. I suppose you are, in fact, working for Mr Toran then." he stated calmly. Still focusing on the minuscule power of the policeman he sensed the alarm flooding him and sighed as he man babbled an excuse. That was all the confirmation he needed.

Shaking his head he turned back at the waiting room, which was now empty, and pointed at the entrance. With a flexing of his power he used a low level, and wordless, Gintō spell to cause the door to slam shut. Then drawing a silver tube from his pocket he threw it at the door and threw his hands outwards towards it and recited an incantation. A mirror like barrier formed in front of the doorway, stopping the doors from being pushed open.

Behind him the heard the police man cry out  and turned as the man reached for his weapon. In the link of an eye Aodh had summoned a bow of burning blue energy still unable to summon Dhiaga Bogha thanks to the Sanrei Glove however he could form weak Caidil Teagmháil arrows, these silver projectiles were too weak to affect spiritual beings while using only the simple Kojaku bow but for mortals like this? It was easily enough. The man had just about unholstered his pistol when Aodh's silver arrow smashed into his chest causing him to collapse to the floor unconscious but uninjured. Other officers had now noticed the disturbance but Aodh calmly loosed arrow after arrow at the buildings inhabitants, including a few citizens who were in the station for one reason or another, until everyone was asleep.

As he made his way around the building he occasionally switched to his more destructive arrows to destroy the cameras that he passed. Entering the security room he sat down at the computer and the experienced hacker quickly accessed the security feed, surprised at the station's ironically poor computer security, and deleted the footage not just from when he entered but everything they had before finding the backups and deleting them too before shutting down the camera system altogether. The man then accessed the main network for the station and erased any mention of Raphael Laurent hoping it would help cover the other man's tracks once he left. Then deleting the logs that tracked his usage of the machine he stepped away from the computer and destroyed it too.

Aodh was feeling a little unnerved at how good he was at this. He began to think back to the less...savoury computer jobs he'd taken online to enhance his expendable income before pushing that aside, he didn't like to think of himself as unlawful, messing around online was one thing but this was another altogether. Feeling his anger at this job rising once more he stormed down towards the jail cells, destroying the last few remaining cameras despite them being deactivated and shot the last remaining police officer with a Caidil Teagmháil arrow as he ran up the stairs that led to the jail cell. Taking the man's keys he followed the stairs down, stepping over the unconscious officer, and after a few seconds he entered the room containing the holding cells.

Walking down the corridor he looked through the bars at the various prisoners, shooting them one at a time until only one remained awake. Better no one saw any more than they needed to. Still holding the blue energy bow he unlocked that last conscious individual's cell door.

"Mr Laurent." he said coldly. "Please come with me."

It wasn't a request.

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WC: 1356
Total WC: 1356

Raphael sat in the center of the cell that he’d been given which, thankfully, had just been emptied earlier the day before. He was performing an exercise that Weylin had taught to him when they’d first met: making a little ballerina. This was a wonderful way to improve one’s coordination with their power, a good way to get acquainted, or reacquainted, with one’s abilities, something Raphael desperately needed. It was also a good way to keep himself preoccupied, after all he only had about an hour before the guards came by for another beating session.



Toran had left the good fucking police of this station a drug that was capable of sedation and knocking out Raph’s powers, something they put to good use. They would come in, three at a time, one would use the taser, the other two would beat him for about fifteen to twenty minutes and then the last would jab him in the arm. This gave them no end of enjoyment and so they’d come around to do it every hour and his powers would normally be out until the next round. This time, however, they had come back sooner and so he’d been practicing while devising a plan. He’d spin the taser on the officer with it, then slam the other two against the wall then bust out the back wall and escape. There were a lot of flaws with this plan, but it was the best he’d been able to come up with in the last hour.



That was when he felt it, at the very fringes of his detection was the unmistakable feeling of someone letting their power free. It was an intoxicating thing just to feel it and it sent shivers down his spine, it was so much better than the drug he’d made. Moments of weakness, lapses in judgement, all of which coalesced into one stupid decision. He was still kicking himself over it, as he heard the commotion.



People were shouting, officers that had been at the other end of the hall went running towards the entrance. He heard small pops, and grunts, as if someone was hitting them with something. Officer Mack went flying past his cell. Serves you right, fuckface.





He wondered what this presence could’ve possibly been. Could’ve been a hollow…if any of the people were being killed, and a Shinigami wouldn’t have really made sense unless it was chasing a spirit, but then the officers wouldn’t have been fighting back, since they wouldn’t have been able to see it… That only left…



Suddenly the azure gleam of a quincy bow came into view, as did a man with deep green eyes and hair as black as the night was long. The gaze that this oddly familiar man gave Raphael was nearly as cold as his words which effectively equated to the command follow me.



A quincy? Why would…? Realization dawned on him and he got to his feet, his puzzled expression shifting into one of understanding.



“Freylief sent you didn’t she? I knew that she wouldn’t let me down, though I didn’t know that this was going to be the way to do it.” He tapped his finger against his chin. “Ah, the hell with it! Lead on! Though, we should probably be careful because…” And that was when he felt the presence of normal mortals outside. Someone had probably tried to come in for help, realized that they couldn’t and called another department that was now attempting to find a way inside. “Ok, I’m going to level with you here: I don’t want to go back to jail now that freedom is this close and I don’t want you to go to jail either as you were the one that flew all the way over here, smashed your way through, and unlocked my door.” He turned to the ceiling and focused. “In…light of that…” He concentrated more and bricks began flying down from the ceiling. The bricks came down, forming a staircase to the second floor, and once up the stairs he created led out onto the first floor of the building. “I’d like to get the hell out of here as soon as possible, but we’ve got another group of police outside. So we can either go out onto the street or I can build a set of stairs to the roof of the next building. Which would you prefer?”


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"No one's taking you back to jail." Aodh replied icily, a faint tone of annoyance in his voice. "There's no one still conscious in the building, all camera footage has been deleted, the security system deactivated and the camera's destroyed for good measure." Admittedly the last part was more to confuse the the police force, after all why destroy something when you'd already shut down the system behind it. "Also I deleted all electronic mention of yourself. However since you're being targeted by this Mr Toran I doubt it'll cover your tracks for long."

Aodh let his own attuned senses float just beyond the perimeter of the building and he could sense it, those vague wisps of energy that signified a mortal of no truly measurable spiritual strength. A few had gathered around the door. "I placed a barrier over the entrance so they can't enter. They won't even be able to get the door open. My guess is it's either pedestrians trying to force the door open or officers who are alarmed at not getting a response from the station on the radio, either way the confusion will give us a chance to escape."

The Irish Quincy quietly considered their options.  "Yes her Majesty sent me.  I know you were friendly with her in the past but please refer to her by the title she has earned. It is disrespectful not only to our Monarch but to the Quincy people to not do so. How she allows you to act in private with her is her business and altogether a different matter, understood?"

"Now we need to get to my hotel room." he stated letting the bow in his hand flicker out of existence in a burst of Reishi. "Once there you can fill me in on all the things you couldn't tell her Highness in on the phone. I've made arrangements to get you back to Germany, you'll be safe at the Royal Castle."

Aodh awtched the man psychically tears the bricks from the wall to form a wall before raising an eyebrow "You know I'm fairly certain that tearing bits of a structure out haphazardly is a good way to turn a perfectly good building into a tome for it's inhabitants. Secondly I don't think simply putting them back is the same as a properly cemented and sealed wall, wouldn't you agree?" he noted sardonically. His mood had not improved and Aodh had never approved of any man or woman making unnecessary use of their abilities, it smacked of arrogance and immaturity to the reserved man. "We can head to the roof, once there we can use Hirenkyaku to go from rooftop, to rooftop without anyone seeing us."

The Irishman followed Raphael up his makeshift steps "You know we could use the existing stairs and just use the rooftop emergency door." he observed "I've shut down the emergency system so we don't trigger any alarms."

Tilting his head slightly he frowned at the other man "So you don't need to summon your Chakrams to use your powers? That was your weapon correct? I recall we ran into one another back in....around this time last year I believe, during a Hollow incursion in Karakura Town. " he added his tone becoming more friendly as he recalled the occasion. It had been the first time, since his reawakening, that he'd fought alongside his own people like that. It was an event he recalled proudly despite it's confusing and very, very strange ending. In a way that made Mr Laurent a rather special comrade to Aodh, he supposed.

"Anyway that seems fairly common amongst our people with mental powers. I've been meeting more and more Quincy with such skill sets over the past year or so. Perhaps one only needs to do so when the power revolves around combat or around the actual weapon itself like my own."

Shrugged he gestured upwards. "We should pick up the pace. I'll feel more comfortable once we're out of here." he stated. Despite his words the man seemed as calm as if they were simply taking a leisurely stroll.

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WC: 683
Total WC: 2039

"You've destroyed all the physical evidence, data recording devices and knocked out everyone, believe me I get that. I could see it as you sent the officers flying past my door, and I can see all the annihilated equipment. Thankfully this place doesn't have any kind of backup storage." Then he sighed. "But, like you just said, I'm being targeted by Toran Pharmaceuticals, and if there's anything that I know about them it's that they don't give up easily, especially Mr. Toran himself. Slimy bastard doesn't give up until he either gets what he wants or you're dead...or both." Fears shot through his mind for a brief moment before he shook it out.

Oh, so he used a spell to seal the door. It probably is civilians... "Well it seems that you've thought of just about everything... We'll only be in trouble if any other officers try to get in through the windows. Should be fine."

Raphael noticed the man's agitation to his informal reference to Freylief. Ok, yeah it was probably a little rude to some degree, but as far as Raph was concerned there was no point in referring to someone as anything other than their name. Still, this guy seemed to really buy into that kinda stuff, probably the way he was raised; in that respect it wasn't all that different from Raphael's own indifference to such things. Still best to play along for now. No reason to piss of the guy rescuing you.

"Very well," Raphael replied. "Best to keep my manners, regardless. I am happy that her Majesty responded to my request for assistance." But when he mentioned expounding on what had been going on...well, he wasn't sure that he wanted to actually go into that one. Forget Frey, he had no idea how this guy would respond when Raph finally put everything on the table.

"In some ways," Raph said as he ascended the stairs. "But in this case it should be relatively fine. It's not a load bearing ceiling, so nothing bad should come about of it. Worst comes to worst a foot of the ceiling behind these stairs should fall down and while, yeah there's some brick there, it's mostly just plaster and wood."

Huh, he did disable the alarms... Really did think of everything! I'm impressed!

"Well, since you've taken care of that aspect we might as well just use the main stairs. I do hope that you forgive me, this has been...an interesting last few weeks. My mental processes aren't all here yet." Raph rolled his shoulders and popped his knuckles. "It's so odd to be feeling like this again, but it makes me happy."

The first one hit. "My what? Chakrams...? Oh! Oh yes... We've certainly got an interesting talk in the rather immediate future, don't we? A lot has happened and there's been some...interesting goings on. Let's get out of here like you were saying and then we can talk."

"That's right! I thought you looked familiar! Well, let's get out of here so that we can talk. There's a lot that I didn't get to mention and a lot that you might need to and/or want to know about, but that will have to wait." He opened a door into a set of stairs and started going up and, after about three flights, they exited out onto the roof. Raph looked around a few times, then turned to his rescuer. "Which is the way to your hotel?"

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"Yes we can talk once we're back in the hotel." he confirmed. Aodh decided to cut the man some slack, he probably didn't know the full story of what had been going on with Raphael and it was clear the guy wasn't in top form, it was also clear that this Mr Toran was an unpleasant individual who had put Raphael in his cross-hairs.

Well Aodh had promised he'd keep Freyleif's friend safe and he would do so besides the man was an old comrade of his having fought Hollow side by side in the past when Karakura had been under threat.

Once they were on the roof Aodh pointed off in one direction. "It's that way." he replied to the question about the Hotel's direction. The man considered the best way to get there. They could use Hirenkyaku but how fast would Raph be? He wasn't that powerful, which usually meant not that fast but more importantly he had admitted to being fussy from whatever drug he'd been injected with. It would be a rather embarrassing end to their venture if Aodh had to report back that the man had fallen from the air due to a lack of concentration.

Coming to a decision he nodded. "Try not to move." he instructed.

Holding out his left hand the man concentrated. He pulled Reishi from the air, causing the cross hanging from the Sanrei Glove to glow slightly, as he performed the technique. A frown creased his forehead. Such a technique should have been effortless but with the newly donned glove he was struggling to draw enough spirit particles from the atmosphere around them. Gritting his teeth Aodh forced his powers beyond the dampening affect of the archery glove. Slowly it came together. Beneath their feet a circle of blue light flickered into existence. A Reishi Platform.

As it slowly began to rise into the air Aodh let out a sigh of relief and snapped his fingers, wordlessly dismissing the barrier on the entrance of the hotel room. The first of the officers would begin waking soon.

Feeling much more relaxed now as with the Reishi gathered it was a much easier effort to actually move the platform. The Reishi construct began to pick up speed as they were lifted into the air and then began to accelerate at a considerable speed towards the hotel over the roofs of the buildings.

"We'll be at our location momentarily." he told his companion with a faint smile. "This should keep us out of the eye of the public."

As they travelled the Irishman ran a hand through his hair, a habit of his while he was thinking, he realised he hadn't introduced himself properly. "Apologies I didn't introduce myself properly. I am Aodh O'Mongan, Sternritter Birith of the Quincy Orer."

Their surroundings blurred by as the Reishi Platform sped through the sky above the buildings and Aodh silently constructed an invisible barrier around them so that they wouldn't be subjected to the discomfort of the air rushing by.

"The rough plan is to get you out of the states and back to Germany so that you may meet with Her Majesty in person. We have gathered support from some of the Quincy in this country to secure an exit, a private jet to fly us back to Berlin." he smiled faintly "Which means our journey home will be much more comfortable than the one I took to get here."

He paused "However I was also instructed to...assist you with anything you might need to accomplish before leaving. We shall discuss the details once we're back at my room."

Even as he spoke the platform was slowing now and loosing altitude. Within moments they had set down on the roof of the hotel. Aodh grabbed Raphael by the arm. "Just one moment." he requested before using Hirenkyaku to cause the two of them to blur and with a great burst of speed they vanished to reappeared in an alley way next to the hotel. Aodh give the man a moment to recover knowing that it could be incredibly discomforting to move at such speeds under the force of another. After a few minutes he wordlessly walked off, trusting his companion to follow and entered the hotel.

Reaching the desk just beyond the entrance a pretty young smiled happily at him. "Oh Mr McBride!" she said happily using the fake name he'd registered at the hotel under. She seemed genuinely happy to see him. Aodh had no idea why people in this country seemed to like the Irish so much.

Returning her smile with much more warmth than he usually displayed he shook his head "Please I told you before, just Patrick is fine." he returned. Again a fake name. He glanced over his shoulder at Raphael hoping the man wouldn't give him away.

"This is my cousin Paul that I told you I was here to visit." he explained gesturing to Raphael.

She greeted the man distractedly before turning her gaze immediately back to Aodh who seemed utterly oblivious to the girl's borderline infatuation with him.

"Well we have much to discuss so I should return to my room. I'll talk with you later Rachael." he said pleasantly again not noticing as the girl's mood soured at the announcement.

"Okay Patrick but we'll talk later!" he responded.

Aodh simply nodded and made his way to the elevator.

Once Aodh and Raphael were in his room and he'd locked the door the man put a finger to his lips. He took out a small device from a briefcase on his table and quietly ran it around the room for fifteen minutes. After finishing he put it away and took a seat, gesturing for Raphael to do likewise.

"No bugs. Best be careful." he told his companion.

When did caution become paranoia?

"So from the start. Why and how did a Quincy get captured. What exactly led to this moment and how much trouble are we in?"


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WC: 999
Total WC: 3038

Aidan pointed out the direction of the hotel and then, after a few moments of thought, put his hand on Raphael’s shoulder. Then there was a great deal of concentration, which was when Raphael noticed the glove on Aidan’s hand. A sanrei? He’s even farther along than I thought… A platform of reishi formed beneath the two and Aidan snapped his fingers causing the whole thing to lift into the air and then lurched forward, off in the direction of that the quincy had pointed.

The man reintroduced himself as Aodh O’Mongan, and that he was a… something? Sternritter? Birith? The names meant literally nothing to him, he wasn’t as well-versed in his quincy terminology as others. Aidan gave him the plan that had been made, though Raphael wasn’t too sure as to how this was all going to hold up, especially when he found out that Raph no longer had his quincy powers.. In fact, he’d probably have to formulate another plan… A boat probably, but it would have to be a pretty big one. As his mind began mulling over separate ideas, they arrived at their destination.

They landed on the roof and then immediately Aodh used Hirenkyaku to take them down into an alley. He felt a bit dizzy, nigh-nauseous, but managed to reorient his head before he puked and without a second thought started after the man.

As they entered, a pretty young brunette behind the counter smiled broadly at Raph’s companion. Aodh had apparently given his name as a Patrick McBride, and then referenced Raphael as his cousin, Paul. Seeing Aodh had made her a bit excited, it wasn’t necessarily hard to detect. His head began to pound as voices flooded his head, though with some concentration it all stopped. Though this time a feminine voice pierced his head, memories shot through him, it was like wildfire. Happy times, sad times, times of pain. But it was odd, these weren’t his own memories, it was almost like they were someone else’s…yet as they approached the room where he and Aidan were to talk, they all faded away, though now, distant voices continuously broke his concentration.

The moment that they were inside the room, he wasted no time in sitting down on the bed. He concentrated hard on shutting the voices out until, finally, the tumult died down and he could think again. Again, he’d been seeing memories, though this time it was about five or six different ones per second, each of which felt like days. Now that they were gone, though, he could certainly focus enough to explain everything that had happened.

He got back to his feet, pointed at the chair, pulled it out and pointed towards Aidan. The seat pulled free from the desk and rushed over to the man, before stopping about a foot away from him, and turned to face Raphael.

“Please have a seat,” Raphael said and, without looking to see whether the man did, he began his explanation. “I don’t know how much you know about what occurred during the rather brief reign of Markus Hohenfels, king before Weylin, but he had employed my late mother to make an artificial army of quincy. She had several different bunkers scattered across the East Coast here from where either she or…” He trailed off for a moment as his thoughts returned to the broken face of his biological father lying against the wall of a bunker. “Or someone else, performed the necessary procedures and performed experiments on different spiritualists or potential quincy. I think they were trying to figure out what made spiritualists, fullbrings and quincy different on a fundamentally spiritual level. I don’t know, unfortunately, I haven’t looked at all the research. I was caught by her and after a few…I dunno, weeks, of experimentation I was finally forced into accepting the Quincy powers. But I saw everyone becoming so powerful, my friends disappearing one after another and… I became desperate so I made what I can only describe as a proto-hollow, something not yet a hollow but with many of the same properties. I utilized artificial soul injections to keep the soul consuming problem at bay, but it degraded my mental state…” He shook his head, the stupidity of his actions compounded down on him. “I was saved by someone, I don’t know who the hell it was, but they saved me and took me to an old friend who managed to heal me. The problem is that in return for this, those quincy powers that I had a while ago had been lost.” He stopped for a moment to let everything sink in before continuing. “So then, to continue the montage of stupidity, Mr. Toran offered me a powerful drug that repressed my memories, but addled me to the point that…well, ya know.” And he gestured his hands making tiny explosions. “Poof! No powers. Apparently in this addled state, I was able to make more potent versions of this drug that could be redistributed on the underground. Personally I would love to take the fight to Mr. Toran, but I don’t think that now’s the time…” He paused and watched Aodh. “So, you’ve heard what happened, what do you think? Time to just leave me here?”

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Aodh, already sitting, was a little confused when Raphael offered him a chair but he put it down to the man's agitated state. He listened in silence, and no little shock, to the man's convoluted tale. However he kept his expression carefully neutral and remained silent until the other man was finished speaking.

"I see." he said softly. He pondered for a few quiet minutes. "Allow me to recap. Your mother worked for the Tyrant Hohenfels trying to produce artificial Quincy." he paused, the idea was absurd and it shocked him that a pureblood like Markus would pursue such a path. "I can't say I know much about the Quincy activities in the this country. Your mother's activities are not known to me although I am sure we can pursue old royal records of her work in the Order once we return."

The Irishman considered before continuing. "And your mother used these experiments to turn you into a Quincy...was she not one? I have never heard a child of a Quincy not inherited the powers of our people before." he asked genuinely curious although, admittedly, right now might not be the time.

"This proto-Hollow piece...I have no idea why you would even pursue such research." he admitted "I can't ever imagine wanting power so much to even come up with it. You seem to be equal parts intelligent and unwise Mr Laurent."

Aodh shook his head a look of almost disbelieve on his face. "Regardless. You got saved by someone but lost your powers. You developed other spiritual powers, beyond Quincy abilities, became drugged by this Mr Toran and lost your own abilities while creating drugs for him?"

The Irishman sighed. "A few more questions. If you please. One is Mr Toran a spiritualist? Two with you gone is there any possibility that he can continue creating this drug?"

Aodh waved his hand away "I've only ever heard of one way for a Quincy to lose their powers and your story is...going to take time to process. You want my honest opinion Mr Laurent? I think you are careless, foolish and perhaps even arrogant to believe you could do the things you've done without repercussions."

Shaking his head he shrugged. "I also believe you've been through situations I can not fairly judge. I don't care whether or not you're a Quincy, I'm not leaving you here. You will be safer in the Wolfenstein Castle."

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Total WC: 3442

Pursue the records? Though a sound plan, and one that he greatly appreciated, Raph wasn’t exactly chomping at the bit to do a further inquiry into anything his mother had been doing. Besides, he already had the entirety of her research on an encrypted hard drive, but best not to mention that. The quincy probably wouldn’t take to kindly if they knew that a normal human had access to some of the most controversial research that one of their kind had done. He might bring it back after a little while, but it would be with as many files removed as he thought he might need.

Aodh’s question was one that Raph had imposed on himself many times: ‘why? Why had he not truly received the powers of the quincy as his mother, and his brother and even his father had?’

“My mother was indeed a quincy, but to be perfectly honest I can’t tell you why it is that I don’t exhibit the power, why it took more prodding to get it to appear. What I can tell you is that the power that I have now you might consider a mutation of the standard quincy abilities, instead of the spiritual element, I’m manipulating the physical.” He shrugged, levitated his chair and himself into the air, and then touched back down after a few shaky seconds. “Like I said, I don’t know the why’s of things, I just know that it is what it is.”

Raph chuckled a bit. “Intellect and desperation are unfortunate friends. The results of their cooperation are rarely, if ever a good thing, and oftentimes can have disastrous consequences. The same was, inevitable with me. Though I certainly regret making the damn thing, since it almost killed me, it did provide wonderful research material, allowing me to feel the power that a potential hollowfying could have on a mortal body. Spoiler alert, though, not worth it. If that’s what a Fullbring experiences then I never want to know that again.”

Raph nodded, as the questions came. “To my knowledge, Mr Toran isn’t a spiritualist, I couldn’t sense any above average spiritual energy from him. Otherwise if he hired another spiritualist, someone else who could manipulate spiritual energy…then it’s possible that he could keep making this drug. That was the secret to it and you can just imagine how dangerous that would be, with something like that on the streets.” Aodh’s analysis of Raphael was…accurate, certainly.

“Regarding the circumstances, I can tell you that the most reckless of my actions, was the last one. The creation of the proto-hollow was the most reckless thing I’ve done, but again, it was still insightful in the end. Nothing ever done is wasted. Reckless, perhaps, but useful in the end. There are always consequences for the things that we do.”

Raph’s heart swelled just a bit as Aodh, said that he wouldn’t abandon Raphael, though as he was still under the effect of the drugs things were still a bit hazy. “You don’t know how much I appreciate that. It’s good to hear that someone is concerned...” Raph stopped for a few minutes and took a breath then looked at Aodh. “So, what’s the next move?”

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Total: 3878

He listened to the man although he seemed to develop a momentary tick as Raphael once again used his powers for no real purpose. However when the man mentioned that the creation of the proto-Hollow had still been useful in the end the man could no longer hold his tongue. Forcing down his anger he remained calm and simply shook his head slightly.

“Nothing ever done is wasted.” he repeated with a raised eyebrow. “I am sure that is a term beloved by tyrants and dictators alike.”

Sighing he shook his head “There are always going to be acts that should never have been attempted and which are inexcusable and pointless.”

Waving that aside he refocused on the matter at hand, the Sternritter hadn’t flown across the Atlantic to argue with a man he barely knew over a topic that he didn’t have time for. Folding his arms he frowned at Raphael. “What is the next move? Well that would be up to you, wouldn’t it Mr Laurent?”

Aodh had his own views on the situation but at the end of the day they were neither his concern nor those of the Order, at least not yet, however Raphael was incredibly tied up in the events occurring here. Hell he was responsible for them at the end of the day no matter what this businessman Mr Toran had done or however unethical he had been at the end of the day it could all be traced to Raphael. So, at the end of the day, it would be up to him to decide how to proceed.

“We can either go straight to the plane I have ready, leave this country and go back to Germany were you will be safe. There you can meet Her Majesty yourself and discuss matters with her.” he said holding up one finger.

“Or you can choose to deal with this Mr Toran directly. Revenge, justice or perhaps even just an actual meeting. However you with to meet with him.” Aodh added unfurling a second finger.

“Or, maybe, you want to directly deal with this drug issue you’ve left behind. Perhaps you would like to make sure your drugs don’t ruin the lives of any other citizens of this country?” he added unfurling a third finger.

“Or maybe you have some other priority you’d like to see to.” he finished off while holding up a fourth finger.

Dropping his hand back down to the arm of his chair he shrugged slightly. “It is your choice Mr Laurent. This is not Order business however as per my Queen’s directive I will assist you with whatever actions you wish to take before we leave so long as it doesn’t cross into an area that I find to be too unethical.”

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WC: 463
Total WC: 3905

Raphael listened, though barely, as Aidan scolded him for his hasty, admittedly reckless, actions. There was more to what he did than Raph felt Aidan could see, but it was not Raph’s place to say anything that might contradict with the man. The quincy was quick to lay bare three specific objectives, all of which had their merits, but of the three separate possibilities, it was clear to Raph that only one was the most prudent right now.

He was finally becoming more lucid, and thus as he heard each option, he ran through the pros, cons and overall tactical importance to each one. It made him chuckle on the inside. It was almost like strategizing for a war.

“In short order, going after Toran would be the least advisable move at this point. Scumbag as he may be, he’s still got quite a bit of money and, most importantly, leverage. I don’t trust that any meeting with him, while I am like I am, is going to have much of an impact on anything. And, as much as I would love to just get the hell out of here, I think that before we leave, I should at least try to clean up part of the mess.”

His mind raced, trying to think of some of the best places where the drug would spread, those best places for the underworld. He looked around the room and saw a few pamphlets, then motioned for one with a finger. It lifted from its place and flew over to him. He walked over to the bed and unfolded it on the bed itself.

“The most important thing in this fight, is going to be a momentary precaution. We won’t be able to kill the entire virus, so instead we’ll have to instead take the factories. If I remember correctly, from back when I used to walk the city a few years ago, the most important areas are near this bridge,” he gestured to the east side. “This warehouse on the far west side, and finally, strange as it is to say, the business district. These are the main distributors. If we can disrupt distribution in any one of these three areas then the other gangs will have a pissing contest to try and decide who’s going to take this place over next. Even with Toran involved, gang operations don’t change all that much. We could probably leave them alone and just have them fight over one another, but when there’s a big gang war there aren’t as many sales that go on. Given that Toran is backing them I’d say that its possible that we might run into spiritualists working at any of these areas.” He looked at Aidan. “Now, I’m not the greatest strategist, but I’d say that if you wanted to be as stealthy as possible, then the warehouse at night would be good, otherwise the bridge would be a good one. If we want to send a message, though? The business district, would be the best. My personal pick would be by the bridge at night, so that no one knows until its all said and done. Would that work for you?”

Words: 528
Total: 4406

Aodh crossed his arms and watched with a blank expression as Raphael responded and put forth his own plans. He didn’t interject, didn’t disagree and didn’t argue. This was not his land, the events here were not his responsibility to deal with and the man in front of him was not one of his soldiers. The only duty the Sternritter had in this place was to take Raphael home and in truth he had been a little… free with the truth earlier in their conversation. Freyleif had given no specific orders for Aodh to help the man, only to bring him back to Germany which he would of course do.

But Aodh knew that if the man just left things here then what he’d done, what he’d been through, it would eat at him. He needed a satisfying conclusion to his story, an ending he could live with if not exactly be pleased with. So Aodh would offer him his services and quietly provide his power to assist the other man so long as things remained reasonable.

Once Raphael admitted that he should indeed sort out the issues here the Irishman allowed a faint smile to touch his lips. He was pleased that his companion had chosen this path, it spoke of a sense of responsibility about the man which Aodh could respect.

“This is your issue Mr Laurent, your problem to correct and as such the choice is yours. However your plan seems reasonable to me and I trust your knowledge of the area and the activities of this criminal better than I.” he responded with a reassuring nod. He wanted to show the confidence he held in the other man, to reassure him that whatever his choice that Aodh would have his back.

“I’ll start of warning you that my general skill level is… restricted compared to what you might sense.” he said holding up his left hand to show the white archery glove. “A Sanrei device. It limits my ability to manipulate Reishi and as such, as a Quincy, my overall power is vastly lessened. However I can knock non-Spiritualists out without harming them as I did the police.” he stated.

Smiling slightly uncrossed his arms. “However I am sure I can still deal with the majority of the Spiritualists we would ever come across. Unless they are considerably stronger than yourself then I won’t have any trouble.” he added. It might sound arrogant, to say that even only being able to access a very small portion of his power still made him stronger than Raphael but it was the simple truth. Aodh was simply dealing in facts and wanted Raphael to have all the knowledge before they set off after all it would be he who would be calling the shots.

Standing up Aodh nodded. “If that’s everything then I’m going to go lie down. It won’t be getting dark for a few hours. Feel free to order food or grab some shut eye on the couch. Everything’s being charged to the Order so go nuts.” he stated with a soft chuckle.

Turning the Irishman wandered over to the bed and dropped down onto it before closing his eyes. He went silent, unmoving and his breathing was slow and steady. By all accounts he seemed to be asleep almost straight away.

---------------------
WC: 555
Total WC: 4460

As Aidan spoke, Raphael couldn’t help but feel that he had a strong sense of duty. It wasn’t unlike many other quincy he’d met before, but at the same time, worried him somewhat. It was always something that he was concerned about, the same way that he often felt about the Shinigami. Focused on duty, focused on their mission, and far more powerful than the average human. To make matters worse, the quincy, also, were a military organization, had access to safehouses and installations around the world. He would have to make sure to remember that.

The man warned him that Raph might sense more power than the man generated, before holding up a glove. Raphael didn’t say a word, as the man explained about his Sanrei glove, something that Raphael was already somewhat familiar with, but he didn’t want to say anything. Nor could Raph deny, as the man continued, that this quincy would be greater than most spiritualists that they would encounter. The general spiritualist would probably be a little weaker than Raphael himself, but overconfidence could prove to be a downfall. Though it was more than obvious that this quincy was stronger than Raphael. Some training, should hopefully shake the rust off of him.

Aidan laid down on the bed and Raphael found himself at somewhat of a crossroads, after all ‘going nuts’, as the man had said, wasn’t exactly Raph’s style. Instead, Raphael sat down on the floor, crossed his legs and levitated. With a single gesture of a finger, the pamphlet that had been on the bed floated to him and a second one joined it and unfolded. A few seconds of concentration and both had changed them into paper dragons.

With a bit of focus, one chased the other, then the dance would reverse and the second would chase the first. Then they simply spiraled around, circling one another in a continuous dance, and he was reminded of an old story of two dragons battling one another to prove who was stronger. He directed them around the room, causing the two to ram into each other, slicing at each other with paper claws, flying up down, over the bed, below the table and around the chair before stopping in front of him. They simply fell to the ground, before lifting back up into the air along with a nearby chair. The chair fell apart, pieces orbiting around him before coming back together. It was probably an hour of this before he finally decided to simply lie down, and get some rest for what was coming. He was snoring, before he even hit the ground.

It was probably four hours later, though he was awake in three, that Raphael and this man that had been sent to assist him arrived where Raph had planned, and already ahead of them were ten men. Each one was armed with an automatic weapon, not that that was of any concern to the two of them. Raph, after all, could move bullets with his head, hell even rip them out of the other man’s hand, and Aidan? He was too strong to be affected by something like that. The only real concern was two men standing near the large crates. One was tall, only a bit taller than the normal people and he was a bit stronger than the guys with the guns. Then there was a second man, shorter, but far stockier in build, this one was undoubtedly physically stronger. Spiritually, though, Raph was probably superior, regardless he’d rather not take a punch from the guy.

“Ok,” Raph said, turning back to Aidan. “From what I’m seeing, there are really only two guys to worry about and they’re the ones all the way over there, by the crates. I’d say you could take them easily enough. I’ll take out the gunmen, and you can engage as you see fit. Once I’ve finished with the gunners, I’ll do my best to assist you against them. Sound like a plan?”

Words: 670
Total: 5076

Aodh lay awake, albeit with his eyes closed, he could sense the erratic bursts of energy emanating from the other man. The man’s casual use of his powers bugged the Quincy, it spoke of arrogance and a lack of responsibility. There was a toll for such things, a danger in their use, one could tired themselves to exceptional degrees especially a Spiritualist as weak as Raphael. Then there was the fact that spiritual expenditure, all exertion of spiritual energy no matter how weak threatened to draw Hollow. Maybe now not, power left a mark on the area but later those beasts could come hunting. By then the Spiritualist would be gone and the monsters would instead turn their attention to the defenseless and the powerless. It disgusted him really. He had met Quincy who were the same, they’d casually just use their powers for the most moronic of situations. Lifting things with Reishi strings when simply picking it up would suffice.

The Sternritter was subjected to not only having to sense the constant use of spiritual powers for about an hour but also the thumping about of objects the man was manipulating with his telekinetic abilities. A final thump accompanied by snoring alerted Aodh that the other man had fallen asleep. He half-wished he chosen to just leave with Raphael straight away. The man was irritating to say the least but he had to stay until the man cleaned up his mess, it was his responsibility after all. Not a duty in the way Quincy viewed their roles in the Order but his simple obligation as a human being to do what was right.

And in that Aodh would help.

The Irishman got up and walked past the man, there was no chance of him getting any sleep now and so he silently left the room. Going for a walk Aodh let himself cool down, he didn’t want his impatience with this man Frey had sent him after to get in the way of what they had to do. During his walk he purchased a book, Metro 2035, Aodh hadn’t had the chance to read it yet. Returning to his room he read in silence until Raphael got up.

“Rise and shine Mr Laurent.” he noted drily without looking up from the pages.

Closing the book and setting it aside he followed Raphael to the location he had planned out. He waited in silence waiting as the Spiritualist give his plan. Without a word Aodh held out his hand and let the bow flicker into existence. The lesser weapon felt wrong in his hand, he missed his silver longbow but with his powers as restrained as they were he had no chance of forcing the O’Mongan weapon into existence.

“I see no problem with your plan Mr Laurent, I will provide assistance as required from here.” he assured the man.

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WC: 480
Total WC: 4940