Breakdown (Invite Only)

[mugenginga]

(OOC: Continued from "I think we should call it Your Grave". You need permission from me and Jilak to join, but you can ask one of us and we'll discuss it.)

Zero seemed grumpy. He didn't reply to Mal's brand of wit about the ghosts or his continued references to Reavers. It caused the walk to the hotel to be quiet. Zero was somewhat grateful Mal was respecting the silence.

Mal probably saw the hotel before they got there. Be blind if he didn't. Whether or not he knew it was a hotel... well, it wasn't like he hadn't seen hotels, you know? It did look more like it belonged in one of the core planets of the Alliance than anything else, but the city already did so why not? Zero walked up the few steps leading up to the building and pushed the door open without saying anything.

It was somewhat late at night. There wasn't anyone in the lobby aside from the clerk. There wasn't even a doorman. Zero reached into his pocket and pulled out the gold card from before. The clerk gave a noncommital greeting as he walked up.

"I assume you want your own room?" he asked Mal. This marked the first time had spoken in a good twenty minutes. An idiot would be able to see Zero was mulling over the thoughts in his head. He planned on asking for a room with access to a computer for himself. He needed to do "diagnostics".

He'd decided he knew what the problem was... but he wanted to be sure before he acted on it. Trashing some of the Island's data network seemed a good idea righ tnow, as well.

[Jilak]

Not much of a talker, that Zero. Whatever was troubling him, Mal decided not to push. After all, losing the only person he knew on this 'island' after not even an entire day? Yeah, bad idea. Mal'd probably be dead by nightfall.

On the other hand, the sentient virus' silence was to be expected. Even excluding what had happened at the bar, it was to be expected. As a fellow named Badger once said: "But I think you're still a captain. A noble man in a den of thieves." Only, in this situation, Zero was a homicidal virus in a den of heroes.

Mal was shocked from his thoughts when Zero asked him if he'd want his own room. He started to decline, but reconsidered. Perhaps the other man just needed to be alone for a while, search his soul or, in this case, his programming. Plus, it would give Malcolm some time to mull over his own situation. Problem A being 'Where the hell is my gorram crew?'

"Yeah, figure I should take my own cabin for the night." Mal responded.

[mugenginga]

"Two rooms, and make sure one has wi-fi," Zero said, not remarking on the 'cabin' line. After all, the man had said he was a spaceship captain.

The clerk took the card and swiped it. Zero was turning to Mal to say something when the clerk cleared his throat. Zero turned back to him with a bored expression and the clerk held up the card. Zero glanced at the screen and scowled. He shook his head.

"Try it again," Zero ordered.

"Sir, I-"

"You probably swiped it to quickly," Zero said with a flat voice.

The clerk sighed and reached to swipe the card. Zero kept his eye on the clerk, making sure he was focused on the machine. He reached up with one hand and touched the device. He seemed deep in concentration and a small bit of of distortion danced on his fingertips as the card was swiped. The clerk blinked as it came up approved this time and scratched his head.

"I'm sorry about that sir," said the man.

"Get your manager to check into it. It probably has a virus," Zero said.

"I assure you our virus protection is fully up to date."

Zero shrugged, "Just give me the keys."

The clerk handed Zero the keys, telling him that both rooms had Wi-Fi access. Not that Mal would know quite what that meant. It was more than possible that the Earth that Was had possessed the technology, but Mal likely wasn't a history buff. And the Alliance would have a far more advanced system under a different name. Zero walked away from the counter, expecting Mal to follow. He turned towards where he expected the man to be, holding up a key. Of course, if Mal wasn't there he wouldn't be able to say what he wanted.

[Jilak]

Mal had followed Zero after the encounter was done, having watched on with interest. The man by no means understood Zero's powers, but what he COULD gather was that if even a small card trick was hard, the fan was sufficiently covered in excrements.

"Fancy accommodations here. Better'n what I'm used to, I can tell ya that. But she was home." Mal stated, glancing around.

Oh if only he knew the dangers that lay there-in...

[mugenginga]

Zero gave no response to Mal's snark. Before, he'd seemed amused by it. Or at least tolerant. Right now, Zero seemed pretty bothered. The way he handed the key to Malcom was a bit rough. The key had the room number etched onto it. If Mal didn't know enough about hotels to catch onto the importance of that, Zero didn't care.

Without saying a word, Zero turned and headed down the hall. He was walking a bit fast. He didn't want to deal with any further conversation from the man. In truth, a bit in the way of unfriendly feelings had developed towards Malcolm. Zero knew the frank way the man had spoken had caused the issues with his programming. In fact, Zero felt a little under the weather. Viruses could get viruses, sure, but not this virus. He scowled and sped up again. He'd access the connection of the room as soon as he got in.

[Jilak]

At the very least, Zero hadn't felt the need to stab Mal. and really, the man's current actions were to be expected. Mal wasn't exactly up to date with all this 'virus' stuff(though perhaps Kaylee would have been), but he had a feeling that, whatever was wrong, it COULD be unrepairable. He didn't expect it to be, but he recognized the possibility. And then Zero could just be out of practice, as he'd said. It was plausible, Mal supposed.

The captain walked to his own room, whistling a bit as he went. The captain was greeted to the best sight he'd seen in a while the second the door opened.

A bed.

[mugenginga]

Zero placed the key in the door and turned it. He opened the door in a violent manner and didn't seem to care about the slam it made when he closed it. He walked over to the bed and set down. He lifted his hand and stared at it for a few moments. He looked like a child trying to move something with their mind for his focus, and it took several minutes of doing that before he finally began to disipate into digital distortions.

"Can't say I'm happy about this... but damned if anyone else in this universe would even have a clue where to begin," Zero managed a smirk despite his annoyance, "I do hope you're not up to anything with your 'daughter' there, Susan..."

The first half of the sentence was slightly distorted, the way a talking computer program might be. From that point it got a little more distorted. The name was almost indistinguishable from electronic "noise". Zero finally broke up completely into distortions, which seemed to dissipate into thin air. A few people connected to the internet via the hotel's wi-fi at this hour would be finding their computer infected with a virus at best. At least one completely fried itself internally.

[Jilak]

Unfortunately for our good captain, there is no rest for the wicked. And, as Malcolm's profession is usually described as particularly unlawful, you could say that the man himself was quite wicked. However, the point is, it was not a few minutes before a knocking came at his door. He rose to answer it, and was treated to the sight of two fellows in suits. Wearing light blue gloves. And shades.

"The front desk says we can find a Mr... Malcolm Reynolds, here?" The one to the right asked. They ALMOST looked like twins of each other... or clones...

"Well, I suppose that depends on who's askin'. What brings ya here, gentlemen?" Mal asked, throwing on a smile. But it was all show, he knew that. They were talking with their eyes, not with their words.

"Where is the rest of your crew?" The one to the left asked, quick, to the point.

"Crew? Reckon I don't have any idea what you're talkin' about. Just a simple traveler landing on this here island, same as you boys. Maybe we could discuss this over a cup of tea?" Mal asked, gesturing to the room. Truth was, his gun was out of view, on his nightstand. And it wasn't like he could grab it NOW without looking suspicious.

"We've also received other odd readings. Are you by any chance traveling with a malicious program? One that seems to have become sentient?" The right one asked.

"Furthermore... where is the girl known as 'River'?" The left one asked, inching closer to Malcolm.

And so the charade was over. Malcolm lunged at one of the men, getting a good punch in to his jaw. However, the other stabbed something in his neck... and then everything went black. The two grabbed him, dragging him out.

[mugenginga]

For the first ten minutes or so, Zero had found himself rather amused at Jayne's ranting. The man was far too easy, considering what Zero had seen of the relationship he had with Mal. He would have thought Jayne would have expected a good badmouthing. After all, according to Mal it was Jayne's fault he was there at all. Once the ranting began to annoy him, he just tuned it out. He did rather well at that, and as far as he concerned there was little more than a hum walking beside him for the next two hours.

If Jayne wasn't to busy complaining, he'd see the city well before they actually got there. Zero had said they were going to Void City, but he hadn't mentioned the size of it. Perhaps Jayne thought they were going to the outskirts, or it was just a stop on the way. Zero gave no such indication and headed down one of the streets... by this point it was possible Jayne was getting nervous. The place still looked like it belonged on one of the core planets, after all.

[Jilak]

Jayne was indeed getting quite nervous. He almost looked like a deer caught in a headlight. Well, a deer with a gun. And a goatee. But still, looking around every corner and holding his gun at attention, it was a wonder how Jayne got ANYWHERE. But hey, at least he hadn't actually shot anyone... yet.

"We almost there yet?" Jayne asked, after looking down yet another corner because he'd heard a cat.
--
Back in the hotel, the two men had finally left Mal. After the camera had been shot out, they'd had a conversation.

"Are you certain the device will be okay? His body may reject it."

"I checked and double checked our calculations. It is working to full. They shouldn't be able to detect it until it's too late..."

"And what of the virus? What do you plan for him?"

"All will be revealed in time, brother. All in time."

Mal, however, had been out for this. He was just beginning to come to, actually.

[mugenginga]

All this brought the amusement back to Zero. Once again recalling what Mal had said, it was likely Jayne suspected this to be a place infested by the Alliance. Mal hadn't liked the large city for that fact, and it was when they'd reached the city Jayne had begun jumping at his own shadows. Zero smirked to himself and kept walking. Every once in a while he'd "jump" and look to his side, just to fuel Jayne's paranoia. The man really was far too easy.

Zero paused and looked at Jayne as he asked his question. He lifted up a hand and pointed towards easily the tallest building in the city, "That skyscraper is the hotel. Five minutes, tops."

He turned forward again and walked. He considered a thought that came to his mind. The only reason he had any hesitation was it seemed rather immature. He gave a glance back to Jayne. If the man held his gun any tighter, there was a chance he might leave a mark in it with his fingers. He looked forward again and the smirk plastered on his face went right into evil grin. He shook his head and straightned out his expression before.

"What the hell was that!?"

He swirled around, causing his hair to twirl with the motion. He pointed at nothing more than a trashcan. His expression gave nothing in the way of indicating it was a simple prank. His eyes were wide and a bit of the color had drained from his already somewhat pale skin. If he was reading the man right, the reaction would be priceless.

[Jilak]

Jayne was a 'shoot first, ask questions later' man. As such, he ended up shooting a small building. It seemed to be a store of some type, although what it sold Jayne couldn't be sure. The place looked like it had seen HELL prior. And it was one of those mom and pop stores, to boot. And the owner? He seemed TERRIFIED, moreso than Jayne felt was normal after your window'd been riddled with holes. Then again, Jayne was Jayne. So his definition of 'normal' wasn't the same as anyone else's.

After all was said and done, Jayne realized that Zero had taken advantage of his paranoia. And to be quite plain, Jayne was not amused. If it had happened to, say, Simon, it would have been hilarious. But it had happened to him! Jayne Cobb, the hero of Canton! The man they called Jayne!

"Gorrammit! All I see here is a ruttin' shopkeep, you were screamin' like you'd seen a Reaver!"

[mugenginga]

Zero made no attempt to hide his amusement. It was quite possible had he tried, his face would have exploded. He was clutching his chest with one hand, using a lamp post for support with the other, and laughing his damn fool head off. It was quite possible he was laughing as hard as Jayne had been when he first got a look at the white haired pretty boy. This was more of a laugh than Jayne would have had himself had he pulled the prank on Simon... he probably wasn't amused.

[Jilak]

"Well ha ha, joke's on you. I just didn't like the color of the building's all. And weren't we gettin' to the hotel. Mal could be in serious danger." Jayne remarked, face reddening a bit. In truth, it wasn't that he thought Mal was in danger. It was that he wanted to get out of this city as fast as he could. Because truth be told, the shopkeep could've been one of the Alliance. It had taken all of Jayne's willpower NOT to shoot the man.

"And you just keep... being non-threatenin'." Jayne addressed the fellow in the shop, continuing towards the tall building Zero'd pointed out.

[mugenginga]

Zero's laughter had faded to amused chuckles by the time Jayne spoke. He almost started up again when Jayne convinced no one that he hadn't reacted to Zero's action. What prevented him was the comment about Mal. Jayne's reaction was still funnier than all hell, but he had a point. The issue was whether Mal would even be there anymore or not. Oh, and that he actually cared one way or the other. That part was probably the bigger issue.

He straighted up and frowned as he headed after Jayne again. He sped up a bit so that he was in the lead again, doing so in a manner that Jayne would find hard to miss. He'd considered bumping the man on the way past, but decided that would just cause another fight. A few minutes later the group got to the hotel, and Zero trotted up the stairs. He stopped at the door and turned back to Jayne.

"I'd tell you to put that thing away, but the way you're compensating doesn't make that seem very possible. At least don't hold it like you're about to shoot someone's head off," Zero stated. It was more than clear he disliked the "thing".