The sign-up thread will all the background info and character sheets:
http://www.hbgames.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=217&t=71594

The thread for discussing things out of character:
http://www.hbgames.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=217&t=71597

Map of Hibernia:

Map of Lucidia:

---

Guidelines

• I made the world purposefully to parallel a late 19th century Europe. Technology and architecture may differ but culture, manneurisms, clothes, ways of talking, etc. are still largely the same. Your characters should act similar as if they were in Victorian Britain.
• Please use the maps, they're there for a reason! This especially applies to the map of Lucidia. It will get very confusing very fast if you don't refer to the maps.
• You must post at least once every two weeks. This is quite a generous time when you think about it, since your posts really don't have to be that much. If you don't post within two weeks, something terrible will happen to your character.
• When you start off, you must make your way to Lewis' apartment. If your character isn't from Lucidia, then they'll probably get lost, it's a big place! Maybe you'll run into another character along the way, who knows? Just find a way to get there somehow.
• If you're confused as to what's going on, don't be afraid to ask in the OOC thread.
• Try and keep things as chronological as possible. Read what others are posting and advance the story according to what's going on with their posts.
• I've created as little of this world as I could get away with. It's essentially an enormous blank canvas for you guys to paint. I have a few ideas of what will happen but I want to be surprised as to what you'll come up with. Use your imaginations when describing the setting! Don't be afraid to take the lot in an entirely new direction! Go nuts!

---

It Begins.

Today was the day.

Lewis Graham shut the door behind him, giving it an extra push to close it. Years of usage had worn away the hinges so that they were now barely functioning pieces of rust. Lewis put down his satchel on the small table beside the door and flicked on the light.

Energy flowed through a lone bulb on the low ceiling, illuminating the rest of the room. There was only enough room for a beat up dining table, two doorways on the right wall, a small space in the corner for an electric oven and sink, and a window on the left wall. Lewis glanced out the window and down at the street below. Nine floors beneath him, thousands of people milled about, towards unknown destinations. Horses pulling carriages struggled to make their way through the daytime crowd. It was always busy like this during midday, although there was a noticeable lack of men on the street. It was mostly women and children doing their shopping, or heading to work, or perhaps making a delivery. Messengers zipped through the crowd like sand in an hourglass, carefully maneuvering their bodies in a graceful, yet speedy manner.

Lewis' view was obstructed across the street by another massive skyscraper, owned by a bank. It was much taller than Lewis' own modest apartment, but still rather small compared to the buildings that loomed downtown a few blocks away. Many layers of balconies and elevated sidewalks were attached to the buildings, so that the few that opted to take a longer route wouldn't have to face the intimidating crowd below. Lucidia was one of the only cities in the world to have walkways attached to the outside of buildings, with bridges spanned across streets as if they were across a canyon with a river underneath. Some establishments had their entrances several floors up, and the only way to access them was by climbing several flights of stairs built right into the buildings themselves.

Even higher up still, Lewis could barely make out a piece of the sky. It was a bright, clear summer morning, without a cloud in sight. Every so often a glider or zeppelin would zip by, no doubt heading for the massive airship station right by Central Square. Lewis had always found airships to be fascinating inventions, and wished he had one of his own to fly.

But before he let himself be distracted by his imagination, he made himself focus on the issue at hand. Today was the day he had written on the thousands of fliers and advertisements that had been sent out acorss Libennia to come to his apartment. Today was the day he would meet his team, his partners. Or so he hoped.

Lewis did a quick scan of his apartment. It wasn't much, and it would no doubt put people off when they first saw it. Lewis considered other locations that his applicants could meet instead. The library, maybe? Williams Park? It was too late, though; they were all heading here, at that moment, and all he could do was wait.

Maybe one of them were already here, down on the ground, making their way to the ninth floor. At any moment his first applicant could be knocking on his door. He began to grow very nervous, and doubt filled his thoughts. Nobody would go for an idea as crazy as this, he thought. Who would be silly enough to want to join him? And who would believe him, anyway?

But as he started to be overcome with worry, he reached into his pocket and grasped the small, pyramid-shaped object within. Its smooth, polished surface reassured him and filled him with calm. It will work, he thought.

This will work.

"Excuse me... pardon me. Sorry!"
Michael was making his way through the metropolis to the location specified on the flier. He had picked up a map at the train station, and was attempting to wend his way through the crowd as quickly as he could, without bumping into people. Unfortunately, it had been years since he had last lived in a crowded city, and he was having little luck.

He was following Talbot street, and had quickly decided that the map he had picked up was insufficient for the task at hand. However, he thought he was nearing his goal, since he had just entered a residential district, and the address was for an apartment.

Knowing that a significant amount of travel was probably going to be involved, Michael had made arrangements to store most of his belongings with his family, and all he had with him were a few reference books and tools that could be carried in a satchel he had over his shoulder.

╒╕▄╒■╕▀╘═█╕ Azthec ╒█═╛▀╒■╕▄╒╕

Luke was into riches. Luke was into sticking it to the government. Well, the Norvian government, at least. But that didn't stop him from snooping in the bags of his carmate on the train to Lucidia. The old man had nothing useful on him, save for a tourist flyer and and a map of the city, both of which Luke placed in his carry on bag. Luke traveled light, never needing much in terms of clothes or trinkets. His line of work kept him well fed, well clothed and always on the run. The train was getting ready to pull into the station. The attendant opened his car door and told him and his sleeping carmate they were ready to disembark in 5 minutes. Luke thanked the lady with a trademark grin. She blushed and left.
Luke stood, tipped his cap to the sleeping man, and exited the car. He was hoping to make a quick exit of the train before any oddball authorizes showed up who might recognize his face. Just because the country he stole and ruined thousands of coins worth of merchandise and the country he was in now where bitter enemies, didn't mean Luke was safe from the Norvian pigs. Politics was not his strong point. The doors to the train opened, and Luke exited, holding onto his cap and shielding his eyes from the bright light. "Time to stretch my legs. These train rides take it out of you." He stood in the middle of the open train station, steam billowing all around him, and began to stretch his legs and arms. He was a nimble and athletic man, no need to sprain anything if an officer asked him where he got his nice watch or where he got his necklace or anything else Luke had on at the time.
But he looked around. This land was one of peace and happiness, no need for anyone to worry about some bandit who mostly stole from the Twin Empires. Well, mostly.
Luke began to walk out of the station, reading the map he took from the old man in his car and hoping to see something exiting. It had been a while since his last job: A rather large painting from a Norvian Museum. He had worried about trying to steal from the place again, because last time they had caught him and nearly took off his head. He cringed at the though and rubbed his chin. "Not my beautiful head....."
He walked along the road, taking in the sights and sounds. He thought about stealing a juicy apple from a stand along the sidewalk of a building, but decided he should pay. This was a peaceful place and he was not a wanted criminal here. No need to start on the wrong foot. He bit into the apple and looked at the postings near the stand. A flyer stood out to him.
Help with a job? Now taking applicants? Hm.
Luke bit into the apple and thought for a moment. What mostly interested him was the address, which he noted on the map was close to a bank. Why not take a poke around, maybe see what the job was, and maybe take a look at this bank while he was around. "Just to see what we're dealing with. Just to look. No touching." He said to himself, ripping the flyer off the wall and taking it with him. He began to follow his map toward the address listed for the job, cutting down Talbot street. He tossed the apple core to a trashbin and held the map with both hands in front of him and walked.

It was a frenzied scene in Central Square, even more chaotic than normal. Civilians stopped and stared; street vendors pointed and screamed; even the pigeons turned and cocked their heads at the grotesque shape of some creature centered in the crowd.

Sheryl Rolsmede growled. Why couldn't these people leave her be? She stretched her metallic fingers, staring at the sharp, stainless claws protruding from her knuckles. Of course. She was an abomination, a cybernetic organic horror, a mishmash of human and robot that never should have survived to see the light of day. Covered in metal plates from her neck down and scars and burns from a bombing in years past, she was an ugly sight to behold.

Striding through the parting crowd, the tall figure looked down again at the ad pierced in her claws. "An expedition to the other side of the world!" it promised. Espisaea? Sheryl wondered. Home? Well, no matter the country, it was worth a shot. And it was her only chance, for the guards had already pushed her away from the airships.

With this faint hope glimmering inside her plated chest, she continued down the road onto King Street, oblivious to the surrounding pandemonium.

Cecile went through, walking normally around. This was no new place to her. She has lived in Lucidia ever since she was only ten years old and she knew the city well. There she was, thirteen years have passed and she was still living in this city where she had lived to see some happy times.

Her father had died about a year ago and left her alone, leaving what was left of his fortune to her. But why would she need a large fortune? She lived alone with no absolute goal in her life. Maybe she sometimes thought about her older brother, about whether if he was alive, and if she could find him one day. But could it be?

As she walked through the Marlborough Street, her eyes caught the ad on the wall. She stopped a moment to read it, and her mind was refreshed with excitement as she did.

"An expedition to the other side of the world, a journey beyond your dreams!"

How wonderful could it be? That could be a new challenge, couldn't it be? She had some useful combat skills and some history knowledge due to her long studies of wars and fights. That could be something to her side. And maybe, just maybe, she could find out something about her lost brother?

She read the address carefully and after she had kept it well into her head, she then began going through the city for it, for she knew the directions well.

(This post assumes my character has been approved since it has been a few days since I altered my sign up. And Devy has been online allot since then. So if it hasn't been approved, sorry.)

Tech was fast asleep in the cockpit of remembrance when a nightmare awoke him.

"Damn, gotta get that stuff outta my head. Well I suppose I had better get going. A city this large has got to have some worthwhile 'goods'."

He jumped down from the cockpit and went to the side of the plane. He opened up what appeared to be a small cargo hold. It contained various tools and wires, completely normal to passers by, but this was not a normal cargo hold. He looked around and when he was sure there was no one around, he pressed a button on the side and a whole new compartment opened. It contained various weapons and other gadgets and gear.

He took a small knife from the compartment and put it into a sheath on his ankle.

"'Always keep a knife on you' has always been my motto."

He took various other things and put them into holsters and pockets. He also took a sheet of paper with some things written on it.

"Sheet of contacts and safe houses, always have this on you in a city like this."

The list is as follows:

Luke James: Fence
Talbot street, house 5.

Lucy Jones and Samantha Smith: Information brokers
Regent street, House 3 and Royal avenue, Apartment complex 3, apartment 4. Respectively.

Tomas Brian: Black market contact
King street, apartment complex, apartment 2.

Charlotte Abolt: Parliamentary associate
Queen street, house 6.

Elizabeth Jordan: Laboratory associate (For a price, prototype technology can be "acquired")
Marlborough street, apartment complex 2, apartment 5.

Safehouses:
Talbot street, house 9.
Robson street, apartment complex 1, apartment 9.
Falcon court, House 4.

"Well, thats that sorted. Lets close up here, and then go and visit Mr Brian."

He leaves the platform where his plane is located and made his way out of the airship station, towards talbot street, on the way off the airship station he spots a few likely looking targets for pickpocketing, a wealthy looking old woman, a proffesional buissness man and a snooty young rich kid.

"Perfect" Tech thought to himself, and proceded to pick the pocket of two of them, the third boarding the air ship before he had his chance, he maneged to steal from the rich kid and the old woman, making 200 [insert currency here] and a necklace and a gold pocket watch.

The neclace had two med sized diamonds and 4 large rubies.

"Well then, off I go" Tech thought to himself.

"The apartment was down the next block," Mr. Bauer thought as he continued down the ruined path.

He was in the south of the city, south of where the dreams of men lived and flourished. Here, men did not prosper and dreams were not abundant. It was rare to find hope, broken away by the weary and tedious years of hard labor and poverty. Men here were broken. Men here were slaves of fate. They had no chance. They weren't born with a chance, they were born with a hammer and a work hat. They were weeded out. Some died from starvation. Others from disease. Only the few survived. Only the strong survived. And he strong would eventually grow weak. The hope beaten out of them, life was just a string of hardship.

Knowing the area fairly well, Petrus a shortcut through the alleyways to Kingstreet. It was hard to breathe. Smog enveloped the area. There was no sign of life in these alleyways except for the rats and oversized insects that lived there.

Upon arriving to Kingstreet, Petrus headed north to the apartment.

Luke sat on a bench on the sidewalk near the apartment building the flyer had directed him too.
He was examining the crowd walking the busy streets on his way here. People minding their own business. They where hard working, for the most part, honest people.
He looked to the sky for a moment.Save the bastards of the Twin Empires.... He opened a newspaper that had blown by and began to read it for anything interesting.

He tossed it down on the bench in frustration. Nothing of interest. He looked at the crumpled flyer that had caught his attention before.

A journey to the other side of the world.

Luke thought for a moment. He weighed the pros and cons of joining a team of people looking for....whatever it was.... and having the SHARE the findings.
The Luke remembered his morals. He wasn't in this business of moving things for his own personal gain. He took what others were not using. Or didn't need. Or where oppressive people he just wanted to mess with. That painting from the Muesum...that was a doozy.Oh well, who knows if the group would want his services anyway?
Guess there was only one way to find out....

Luke stood and made his way into the apartment building and to the address on the flyer.Nearing the door, he would take his hat off and wait a moment, unsure if anyone else was inside or not....

Tech walked off the air ship station onto Talbot street.

"Hmm, Mr James resides here." Tech thought.

Tech wandered off down Talbot street towards house 5, paying no notice to passers-by. His thoughts keeping him company. Or to be specific. His memories,

"29. 29. 29!"

Tech then gave a sharp intake of breath. "Oh god, that bastard. How I hated him. Hm hm hm hm, I enjoyed killing him."

Tech glanced over his shoulder, "House 5, good."

Tech knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" A voice came from inside.

"It's me, Tech"

"One moment" The voice said.

Tech heard the sound of a key being turned in a lock.

"Come in" The voice said.

Tech walked through the door into a shabby room, a desk and two chairs were all that decorated the grubby floor. A single door at the back of the room was the only thing that added to the dirty walls.

"Mr James, how are you?" Tech said.

"Fine, fine. Now, what are you after. A chat, or business?" Said Mr James.

"Business, two diamonds, four rubies. Medium and large respectively." Tech said.

"Lets see"

Tech reached into a hidden pocket and pulled out the aforementioned gems.

"Hmm, interesting. I can give you 4000 for the lot."

"Wait, 4000? You serious? I was expecting about 800. 4000! How come?" Tech said in amazement.

"Well, there hasn't been much business across the board. Here in Lucidia, hell, all of Libennia. Too many of you getting caught. Which means." Mr James said before he was cut off.

"The price goes higher, supply and demand." Tech interrupted.

"Yeah. Here's your money."

"Well I best be off." Said Tech.

"Good bye."

Tech left the house and mad his made his way to Marlborough street.

Sheryl froze as an indignant voice rang two stories up to her metal ears. "Oi! Madam! Yer s'posed to be using the staircase--"

The young man stopped, his gaze frozen over the brutal scars covering the cyborg's face. "Bloody--" he finally uttered, as his eyes took in the metal limbs of the half human, half robot hybrid.

Sheryl Rolsmede continued climbing, ignoring the protests of the policeman below. The towering figure was too tall to fit into the small stairway of the dingy apartments, so she had found a solution: up the metal steam pipe. The long tube, easily grippable with her strong claws, conveniently extended all the way up to the balcony of the 9th floor. This shortcut up, albeit dizzying, was much quicker than taking the normal arduous route across dozens of bridges and sidewalks and stairs.

And she would have made it, too, if not for that damned policeman: a simple officer patrolling the area who just happened to look up as he passed by. Glancing down again, she noticed the man had pulled out his weapon and was running towards the stairwell. She growled. These people never learned. She sped up, climbing quicker and stronger. She was on the fourth; the fifth; the sixth floor. Taking another look down, she saw that the officer was closer now, yelling up at her. Up to the seventh floor; the eighth floor. She could hear his footsteps now. He was running across the 8th floor bridgewalk toward the final stairwell, still yelling at her. As she heaved herself onto the final floor, her destination, she extended her claws, turned toward the door, and swung-- only to stop her fingers inches away from the face of a different man.

This was not what Lewis had expected.

He stood, facing Sheryl for several seconds, in awe of her estranged appearance. He had seen machinery build into the human body before, robotic hands and legs being fairly common. But this woman was different. It seemed as if half of her body was made up of all sorts of contraptions, skin replaced with sheets of metal and joints replaced with gears and screws. He wondered for a moment whether she was even human at all.

Sheryl pushed past Lewis and closed the door. She glanced at him, and looked around the apartment. Lewis, still in shock, tried to make sense of the seemingly impossible body. Her left arm had no hand; instead, a grotesque cannon-like object was in its place. Each step she took caused audible strain to her legs, corresponding to the sound of metal in motion. Rivets and cogs were strewn across her back haphazardly, each coodinated to a specific action. Each movement she made was controlled by the various engines attached to her body, in a way that was disgusting and beautiful at the same time.

Sheryl, noticing the silence, turned to face Lewis.

"H-hello, I'm... Lewis," he squeaked. "A-and you are?"

Cecile walked through the King's Street, following the directions that were given on the ad. As she walked, she thought to herself, was it really smart to do what she was going to do? She knew that this is most likely dangerous, but she also thought of the adventures and news things she could see.

She reached the building where the apartment was and observed it. It was huge. But no wonder. The apartment was on the ninth floor. Cecile thought to herself, Alright, here we go.

She went in, and began to climb the stairs, up by up till she reaches the ninth floor.

Luke knocked and would attempt to enter the apartment after noting the metalic woman entered. He would have waited a few minutes, of course, noting the cannon on her arm. Best not to cross her he thought. He removed his cap and opened the door. His face beaming that 'Hey, I'm cool' smile of his.

EDITED/Amended: His smiled dropped when he saw what appeared to be an officer of the law in the room with two other people. He put his hands up and frowned. This wasn't good. A sting? No, it didn't look like it. He wasn't walking into a drug house was he? Luke may have been a criminal but he was a higher class of low life, a professional. He had a gun inside his jacket, but reaching for it may have been a bad idea. He had a set of knives in his boots, but the time it would take to react and not get his face blown off was to great. He relaxed, and kept his hands up, and waited for someone else to make a move.

Tech walked down Marlborough street calmly, deep in thought.
(For clarity, the following is a memory. Until stated or the action is contained within: [].)

"29, you OK? Get up" a young girl's voice rang out.

"31, I'm up, I'm up." Tech said as he opened his eyes, a redheaded girl of about 6 wearing a light brown dress stood at the side of his bed.

Tech sat up and suddenly his left shoulder exploded with pain, Tech quickly grabbed his shoulder. "Ahh!" Tech yelled,

"29, you OK?" 31 said, worriedly

"Yeah, the pain's gone now. I better get dressed." Tech said with a smile. He got out of bed and walked to a wooden wardrobe, in side was a collection of shirts, pants, shoes and boots and overcoats. Tech chose a dark grey shirt, murky brown pants, knee length hiking boots and a jet black overcoat. Tech also opened a drawer and pulled out a pair of goggles and put them on his forehead.
[A clothing trend he kept to this day].

"OK, lets go!" Tech said exitedly. The two of them rushed down a coridoor to a large room filled with desks.

A man at the end of the room said "29, 31 your late. Again."

"Sorry Mr Aboden (Ah-bo-dh-en), I slept in again." Tech said sheepishly.

"It appears that you need an alarm clock, 29. Later you will have to make one. Now, take 31 and proceed to the sparing area, takedown's will be on the agenda for now. Afterwards, 29, you will need to go to mechanics, 31, you will proceed to seduction." Mr Aboden said sternly.

Tech and 31 proceeded to the sparing area where the class went well. After about 2 hours the lesson had ended and Tech and 31 went to the classes they were instructed.

"See you later 29." 31 said. As she walked down the hall.

Tech turned and went down the opposite end of the hall to go to mechanics.

"Hello 29, glad to see you made it. We just have to wait for the others and we can begin." A young man said.

A couple of minutes later some other children came into the room.

"Today everyone we will be making a small spider like contraption. First take your boiler chest piece and..." The man droned on but tech was listening carefully and built the spider according to the instructions he was given. [Tech reached into his pocket and pulled out the very spider he was building that day, he looked at it and gave a small sigh].

After the class Tech wandered out and into the canteen for lunch. "29! How was your lesson?" It was 31.

"Fine, and yours?" Tech said with a smile.

"OK, I guess, I didn't understand much but I was told I would when I was older." 31 said.

The two of them went for lunch and that was all Tech could remember.
(Memory has ended.)

By the time Tech had gathered his senses he realised he was at the King street turn off. He walked down it towards the apartment complex, policemen were all around the apartment talking amongst themselves.

Tech only caught bits and pieces of what was said, "Huge....metal plates.....claws, huge claws."

Tech walked past them and went inside the building, he went to the second apartment and knocked on the door. "Mr Brian, its me, Tech."

"One moment" Mr Brian said.

"Mr James said that too." Tech said amused.

"Well coincidences happen, come in." Mr Brian said.

Tech walked in and this place was much cleaner than Mr James' apartment, pictures hung off walls, the chairs were of a high quality wood, the floor was spotless and had carpeting and the celling was immaculate.

"What can I do for you Tech?" Mr Brian said.

"Anything new? I also have the pocket watch that the client asked for. Solid gild casing, perfect time keeping, only needs to be wound every month."

"Pass it here then, hmm interesting. Exactly what the client asked for. Heres your reward, 1000 estocs. On the news front, not much really. There was however something that caught my attention, a high quality knife. Some of the hardest metal I have ever seen, never looses an edge. I managed to get a hold of one, 500 estocs, and its yours. Other than that no nothing really, Except there was a redheaded woman looking for a '29' told her I didn't know any 29, of course, watch your back. Well thats about it. I still have that spring loaded leg holster if you want it, 1000 estocs."

"Ok Mr Brain, I'll take them both. And as for that woman, her name's 31, I told you about her remember?
Well see you later."

"Wait a moment Tech, a guy upstairs gave this to me."

Mr Brian gave tech a poster, "Hmm, travel to the other side of the world, treasure, and adventure. Ok, I think I will go and visit this man."

"See you Tech."

Tech walked up the stairs to the door and knocked on it.

"Come in" A voice came from inside.

Tech entered.

Sheryl stared down at the quivering, meek figure huddled below.

The man-- Lewis, he called himself-- was of average height, but a mere dwarf compared to the towering cyborg. He wore round glasses and a plain set of clothes. Despite a few grey hairs on his head, he had a youthful spirit to him-- a sort of doggedness and determination in his startled face. Although taken aback at first, he worked up the courage to speak to her, almost like she was a normal human being, and Sheryl appreciated that.

The woman raised the ad in her claws with a questioning look. Lewis nodded. "Yes. The expedition. Y-you're interested in joining?"

Sheryl nodded slowly. She lifted the paper again, about to point to a line of text, when a knock sounded. She shot a quick glance at Lewis, but it was too late.

"Come in!" Lewis called.

The door opened, slowly, squeaks interrupting an eerie silence. Then-- BANG. It slammed against the wall, sending dust into the air. As the pale mist cleared, a man slowly inched onto the balcony, pointing a Stinger toward the two interlocutors. The policeman. "Don't move," he ordered.

Lewis and Sheryl froze; not because of the weapon, but because of a shadow dancing on the wall behind the unknowing officer.

"Listen," Lewis started to say to the office, careful of not making any sudden moves. "This isn't what you think. We're not criminals!"

"This... thing is a menace!" the policeman exclaimed, point the Stinger at her chest. "What is she doing here?"

Sheryl, who remained silent, looked anxious. Lewis noticed a genuine look of fear on her face, and for a moment he felt pity for her. He needed to think of a excuse why there would be a ten foot tall cyborg in his apartment. Nobody else could know about Altus, that was certain, but what other reason would she be there for?

"She... she's my patient, officer," Lewis blurted. It was a stupid thing to say, and he knew it. "You see, I'm a mechanic, and this poor woman is suffering from a severe case of Restless Cog Syndrome. And I must fix her parts, immediately?"

The officer gave a confused look, and Sheryl began growing restless. Lewis couldn't tell whether the officer believed him or not. But before he could carry on, a figure behind the officer stepped into the room. The officer, inexperienced and scared, whipped around to get a better look.

Sheryl reacted with the speed of a cat, and with a swift blow she slammed the officer in the side of the head. His body fell to the floor in a crumpled heap, unconscious. The other two men remained frozen in fear as Sheryl stood, no emotion, as if nothing had happened at all.

"What the hell is going on here?!" Luke exclaimed.

Cecile kept walking up the stairs and soon, she reached the 9th floor. When, she did however, her eyes were puzzled by what they saw. She saw a cyborg, who looked like a woman and looked dangerous, with the cannon she had on her hand. She saw an unconscious man on the floor, dressed as a policeman, and she also saw two other men. Confused and puzzled, she froze for a moment by what she saw, questioning herself,

Is this the right place?

Luke, still in a bit of shock, put his hands down.
"That's quiet the jab you have, ma'am." He crouched down and looked at the officer. "I don't think our friend here will be getting up for a while." He patted the officer down and took his weapons and placed them aside. Just a precaution in case the man got up again and felt like paying back the bruise he will have when he awakes.
"Now that the warm welcoming is over, I..." He paused for a moment, taking not of Cecile behind him. "Terribly sorry miss," he said, and with a wave of his right hand, hat held, he motioned for her to come inside. "I didn't realize I was in your way." He turned back to Lewis and the metal woman who incapacitated the officer. "I'm Luke. I'm uh, here for some journey or something." He smiled widely, hoping he killed some of the apparent tension.

Tech opened on of the doors in the far wall and stepped out. "Well, that was interesting. You're a Thief, you steal in big heists and you have a high class upbringing." He said to Luke.

"T-that's correct, how did you know?" Luke said astounded.

"You keep your weapons handy, your knives are in your boots, only someone who lives on the edge would do that. You didn't kill the policeman so you can't be an assassin, the only other choices would be mercenary, or thief. You threw your hands up as soon as you saw the policeman. A mercenary would not do that, so a thief you are. I could tell that you steal big as you don't have much money to spare. You're knives told me that, cheap iron. Any one would have the best weapon that they could afford. You High class upbringing was easy. You motiond for the girl to come in. Any way my name is Tech."

As Michael made it to the apartment, he was puzzled by what he saw. There were curious onlookers in the crowd below, and a strange empty area near the door to the apartment. The onlookers would mean someone had made a spectacle of themselves, while the void in the crowd would have to mean that someone, possibly the same person, had looked dangerous. Whatever the case, he was too close to his destination to be bothered about going back to his old job, cushy as it was.

When he opened the door, Michael was presented with an odd scene. An officer of the law lay on the floor, with his weapons to the side. A mechanical...something...was towering off to the side, and three other people were also in the room. Of course, the instant he opened the door, the conversation stopped, every froze, and then turned to face him.

"Well, this is odd. Are you guys sure you want to leave him there? He may have friends coming soon, who wouldn't take kindly to that. This would not be a good way to start an expedition to the other side of the world. We wouldn't even be able to get out of the city, after all."

Michael set down his bag and rummaged through it for a moment. After pulling out a small kit, he began tending to the officer's head.

"This will only take a moment. If he has a concussion, things could get ugly." He took a closer look. "Wow, that's going to leave quite the bruise. Ma'am, I assume you're the one responsible for this?"

╒╕▄╒■╕▀╘═█╕ Azthec ╒█═╛▀╒■╕▄╒╕

Luke was impressed and slightly insulted by Tech's words.
A smart menace, he thought, but certainly someone of great skill and intelligence. He did have to correct him on the quality of his knives. He produced another from his side. "I use the cheap ones there as to not soil my personal favorite. And you never know when you need to toss them or loose them. Best to not keep expensive things on you anyway." He placed the knife back and looked around. He frowned at Michael, who was tending to the officers wounds.

"This guy has a point, this gentlemen may have back up coming. I doubt they would surround the building or anything, but I can't really asses that till we know WHY he was here."
Luke raised an eyebrow in Tech's direction. "Could you shed some light on that?"

"Nothing to do with me. Try the robot. I heard people outside mention things like 'huge claws'. As for tossing them, you can pick up a set of 10 steel throwing knives for about 50 estocs. Better than cheap all-purpose iron knives anyway. And the throwing knives can be used to stab and thrust. [In norvainian] You do know you are still wanted in Norvaina? Quite badly actually. The second most wanted man. Bounty of 80,000 estocs. Be careful, we are in bounty hunter central.[In libanian] Well then, now that thats setled. What are we doing here?"

Sheryl grunted and stepped forward.

"By the looks of it, they're, ah, chasing this woman," Lewis offered.
"You haven't done anything, have you?" Tech stared menacingly at the robotic figure.

Sheryl returned the glare, before silently shaking her head. Then she motioned to the balcony, and then pointed away.

"Sorry, what was that, ma'am?" Luke asked, confused. He moved over and looked down toward the mix of officers and onlookers standing below. "Ah, them." By the looks of it, they had already sent a few men up to survey the scene. "We might, uh, want to move before one of those guys get up here. Otherwise, things may get a bit ugly."

Luke, turning away from the balcony thought for a moment.
This little adventure to the other side of the world could get us all in to some deep trouble. He smiled. I kind of like trouble. "We have a few options. As I said, we can move before things get ugly. We could stay here and swear he tripped in the stairwell, we could also flee along the rooftops and find a more suitable location. Chances are, metalhead here,no offense, is the only one they may recognize. Dress...her... up in some normal clothes and cover her and we could probably get away. Just a quick suggestion."

"Or, we could fly her out. I have a plane. Compact could land on this balcony easy. But one of us would have to get to falcon court first house four. And open the landing pad. Hmmm. Anyone else got any ideas? Oh, and if anyone sees a redheaded woman wearing a light brown dress, tell me immediately."

Cecile was really confused now. The party she saw before her eyes were talking about the unconscious policeman on the floor, how backup might come for him, and how they needed to flee. Now what kind of trouble has she gotten herself into?

She stepped up, a bit carefully and finally spoke up, saying,

"Excuse me. I came here for this and..." she pointed to the ad in her hand and continued, "I really am confused by all these events. Could I have mistaken the place or something?"

Luke smiled at Cecile. "I think you're in the right place. I came for this adventure as well. But we have a more pressing issue. I assume one of the people here put the flyers up, and I doubt he wants his apartment ruined by the law of the city. Such animals. Hm. Yes, ideas....Hm..."

"That person who put the fliers up would be me, good sir," said Lewis, jumping in on the conversation. "And this was not how I planned this day to go."

He looked around the room to get a good lock at who had come. There was the mechanical woman, of course, and the shady looking man who had come in after her. A young man, an elegant young woman and a tall gentleman who looked to be about the same age as Lewis had joined them. He didn't know any of them, but he knew that they were now all culpable for the crime, whether they knew it or not. He wished dearly they had time to become properly acquainted, but the formalities would have to wait.

"This man," said Lewis, motioning towards the shady man, "is right, unfortunately. We can't stay here, I suppose. This is my apartment, but due to recent events we'll have to find an alternative meeting place."

"Like I said," started the shady man, "we gotta get this hunk of metal outta here. The name's Luke, by the way."

"Luke, yes," said Lewis, carefully considering his options. "You," and he pointed to the other young man now, "what was that you said about a plane again?"

Sheryl perked up and looked towards the man Lewis spoke to.

"I got a plane, all right," said the man, "and you can call me Tech. But why don't we get out of this dump first?"

"Right," Lewis acknowledged. "I have some more... adequate clothing for you, madam. Let me get it for you."

Lewis returned from his bedroom a moment later with the largest shirt he could find. Realizing immediately that it wouldn't come close to covering her exposed mechanical parts, he started ripping the shirt into bits while the others stared on with confused looks.

"This... will have to do," he said, trying with noticeable effort to conceal the various gears and clockwork that were scattered across her body. "It's good enough. Now, let's find another place to talk."

"But what about the policeman?" said the young woman. "What do we do about him?"

The policeman still looked to be unconscious on the floor.

Hearing a commotion, Petrus awkwardly entered the house only to find a Police Officer laying on the ground.

"ummmmm," said Petrus, speechless. "ummmmmmmmmmmmmmm." Petrus was petrified. "I...I...I...think im going to leave now."

With one glance, Petrus slammed the door ran as fast as he could, desperately searching for the nearest police station. He was at a loss at words. From a mechanical person to a fallen police officer, this was too much for him to handle. Hearing the commotion from indoors and the footsteps from behind, he knew he was being chased. By what? He didnt have time to look back, he continued forward.

Tech ran behind the fleeing man and grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up, clean off the ground. "You do realise that you would also get arrested for compliance, right? Since you won't be reporting it anonymously you can be considered an accomplice. Not only that you practice Norvainian customs." Tech said calmly. "Understand?"

"Yes" said the man "A bit."

"Follow me back to the apartment." Said Tech, completely ignoring the man's objections.

When the two of them got back to the apartment the group was still wondering what to do about the policeman. "I say leave him. He won't know where we've gone. And as for the meeting place, we can use my safe house at falcon court. House four. We can get there through the sewers. I directly linked my safe house to the sewers, so we can literally enter the house through the sewers. That sound like a plan?" Tech said, as though this were a regular occurrence. (It was)