Old Flames (ID)

[ParamountKeymaster]

"Espionage in Void City. Stolen technology of unknown purpose." The older gentleman adjusted his glasses and ran a hand through his short white hair. "I've said it before, I'll say it again. We are not a conspiracy theory tabloid. We can't write a story based solely on mad ramblings and speculation. When people start getting murdered, then we'll print it in Lacuna."

"But Mr. Warden, people are getting murdered," Max insisted, offering her editor-in-chief a small handful of papers. "There were reports of a strange man in a black hat and cloak carrying the dead body of a man in a white lab coat out of the back alleys. Sources say the victim's name was Jack Wexler. He was an intern at Mexus. There were apparently no witnesses to the actual murder; no one knows how he was killed or if the man in the cloak was even the one responsible."

Mr. Warden's tone was firm but gentle as he continued, "That's interesting and all, it really is, Max, but if you haven't noticed, alley fights and underground activity are not exactly novel concepts on this island. Just tell me... what do you know for sure?"

Max sunk in her chair slightly, thumbing through her other notes. "Well... nothing concrete... but considering the reports of strange activity at Mexus's facility and the murder of one of their employees in the same morning, clearly there's something illegal going on behind those doors, right??"

"Max..." Mr. Warden looked to the young journalist like a father delivering bad news. "Listen. You're a good writer. You have a lot of talent and you've sold a lot of stories. But you've gone back to this well time and time again and come back up with nothing. I admire your persistence to find and print a good story, and I agree with you that Mexus is shady as all hell, but I don't wanna see you waste your career chasing shadows."

Slowly, somewhat dejectedly, Max turned away and stared at the floor.

"But... I'll tell you what. If this means that much to you, look deeper into it. If you can come back with solid evidence of Mexus's activities –and I do mean evidence, not word of mouth– I'll see what I can do about printing it."

And just like that, her perky smile returned. "Yeah! Yeah, okay, I will! You can count on me, sir!"

With newfound passion and excitement, Max stuffed her notes and her journal into her tote. Then she marched out of her editor's office, bound and determined to hunt down and uncover the biggest story of her career.

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"Okay, now just tell him to make a left at the next light. It should be two blocks down on our right from there," Lydia instructed as she observed the cityscape that William saw through the windshield of her car.

She had to admit, the closer they got to their destination, the more apprehensive Lydia became. Part of her wanted to be amused by the irony of her steadily growing party's relationship, but more than anything else, it just felt... awkward getting Max involved, and not just because of the breakup or even their miserable last encounter.

"Now promise me you'll stick to the plan, alright?" she insisted. "She can't know I'm here. For all intents and purposes, I'm being held for ransom. Make sure Ryan has the routine down too."

[DanteMGalileo]

"Okay, Ryan. Lydia says make a left at the next light."

William's legs were pulled close to his torso in his seat, clearly not comfortable with this car contraption. "Remember. Lydia's being held hostage. ... Hey, I'm curious. wouldn't she recognize your car? How do we explain that? What, did we steal it?"

[ColArana]

Ryan grumbled a little as William carried on his one-sided conversation. Well. A conversation that Ryan could only make paltry guesses at, based on William's responses. And in any case, he'd already spent enough time around William to note that his responses didn't always correlate exactly to what was told to him. It was great when he relayed some of the conversation but otherwise, a touch frustrating. Like riding next to someone who never got off their phone, and forced to listen to their side of the conversation. But he'd said nothing. Lydia probably needed the company.

Every so often though, William piped up with instructions. Like now. "Got it." He stated. "And understood. Not saying a word about the little miss's current situation. ...Er... Well. I mean..." Probably should have worked on his word choice there. Damnit. "Turning left!" He blurted out in an attempt to quickly shift topics there, and pulled a hard right around the intersection. He drove straight through for the two blocks and then pulled up along the sidewalk. "This the place Will?" He asked, glancing over. Mental note. No more referring to Lydia now, as if she were right next to him, inside Will's head.

[ParamountKeymaster]

Max stepped out of the Lacuna Chronicle's office building and onto the sidewalk, looking up and down the street and taking a deep breath. She had to stop and really think for a moment how she was going to go about this. The chances of her getting into Mexus were likely going to be nonexistent in this situation, and she'd certainly have to watch her step knowing that a member of their staff had been murdered and the killer could still be out there, keeping an eye on Mexus and all those involved.

Well, perhaps the first step would be gathering deeper insight on the murder. If she could find some eyewitnesses, maybe some footage of the encounter, she could start tracing back to who the culprits were and why they would want to attack Mexus.

After adjusting the tote bag slung over her shoulder, Max turned and started marching towards the Plaza, a bold grin apparent on her face.

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"Yep, this is it," Lydia stated as Ryan pulled the car closer to the familiar building where the newspaper Max wrote for operated out of.

She screwed up her face somewhat at William's questions about them being in her car. "Uh, yeah, no, don't tell her you stole it. You guys are just my drinking buddies and you're borrowing it so you can get around and save my life faster. ...What? It's not technically a l- W-Wait!"

Lydia anxiously leaned closer to her monitor, just barely making out a blonde mop and white jacket among the small crowd walking up and down the sidewalk. "WAIT WAIT THERE SHE IS, I JUST SAW HER OUT OF THE CORNER OF YOUR EYE! HONK THE HORN, TELL HIM TO HONK THE HORN!"

[DanteMGalileo]

"... Did I see her last night too...?"

William nodded to Ryan, trying to forget that he had a miniature person inside him. It was just him and Ryan. No third person in sight. Totally normal, right? Right? Right! "Honk the horn! Remember, if she asks, we're just drinking buddies of Lydia and we borrowed her car to save her. ... Ho! There she is!"

By Uranus' severed ballsack... this is gonna end poorly.

[ColArana]

Ryan didn't even have time to think. He just followed the instructions he had been given and his palm hit the horn on the car, giving a loud blaring sound to alert Max. He rolled down the driver's side window, and extended an arm out, trying to hail Max over to them. Trying to make it clear that the horn honk was for Max specifically, and not at anyone else in the area. "Understood. Sorry Lydia, from this point forwards, I'm gonna be talking like you're not here." He answered back to Will/Lydia quietly. Under his breath.

Ryan definitely recognized Max. This was definitely going to end poorly. He remembered the particularly loud argument they'd had the previous night and well.... Geeze. They were attached, but Ryan had no idea how this was going to go down and that worried him.

[ParamountKeymaster]

Max straightened up and raised an eyebrow, her brisk pace slowing down slightly as she looked over her shoulder for the source of the horn. She quickly spotted an arm waving from the driver's side of a... silver Honda with a... very sizable dent in the back right door and a... Star Wars rebellion sticker in the back windshield- wait a minute...

"Hey...!" Upon recognizing the vehicle, Max marched over to it with a clear amount of annoyance in her face. Her frustration only mounted when she looked inside the car and found two faces, neither of which were the owner's. "What do you think you're doing? This is Lydia Pendleton's car. Does she know y-?"

Then Max's demanding expression turned to one of confusion and scrutiny as she took a moment to really look the two young men over. "Wait, you two were at the club last night. Why are you in Lydia's car? She doesn't even drive to the club, never mind let someone else drive her home! How did you get...?!"

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"Ugh... Max, shut up and listen!"

[DanteMGalileo]

"Okay, okay, I can explain."

William raised his hands, trying to look as calm as possible despite the situation. "To cut a long story short... We're drinking buddies of Lydia. Something happened to her- being held for ransom, probably- so we borrowed her car to see if we can't find any leads and or help." Said with an awkward smile. "I, uh... I'm William, and this is Ryan. Nice to meet you...?"

By the math-breaking boning of Lugalbanda and Ninsun, this is gonna end badly.

[ColArana]

Ryan opened his mouth to respond, but then Will surged ahead, explaining the situation before Ryan had a chance to say anything. Come with me if you want to live. Hmm.... Maybe not. Too on the nose for someone in my particular condition.[/color][/i] He thought, listening to what Will said, and started slightly at the casual way that Will dropped the comment about the ransom. Will are you kidding me!? That was way too informal! He thought in astonishment. But... at least he was sticking to the lie?

"I... uhh... well uh..." Beat. "Basically what he said." Ryan said in a defeated tone.

[ParamountKeymaster]

"..........................."

Max promptly shut her mouth. She stared at William, then at Ryan, then back at William.

---------------------------

Five minutes later, the three were seated outside a diner in the Plaza. Max awkwardly drummed her fingers on the tabletop, slowly soaking in everything she had learned up to this point. It was hard to tell from her vacant facial expression alone how well she was taking the information. She was keeping her cool about it, at least, but that in and of itself was also sort of the problem. If she was at all skeptical of the boys, scared for Lydia, or even slightly taken aback by the story, it wasn't immediately obvious. She was clearly trying to remain professional about this sudden turn of events.

"So... Lydia is being held... for ransom..." Max hesitantly reiterated. After a brief pause, she cleared her throat and tilted her head at William and Ryan. "On what charges, exactly? What are these people looking to trade her for?"

[DanteMGalileo]

"We dunno why she was taken," William replied, trying to keep his face level. "My guess is that her occupation had something to do with it. Honestly, I don't think the why is the biggest issue right now. Right, Ryan?" He gestured to the cyborg.

He continued, "The big problem is getting her back. See, her kidnappers need this microchip. I dunno what it does, but they're willing to trade her for that microchip." The blonde placed a hand under his chin, trying to look worried. "Problem is, that chip was stolen from Mexus this morning, so we're kinda at a loss of things to do immediately, 'cuz somehow I doubt we could pass any ol' microchip off for the one they need."

[ColArana]

Ryan gave a slow nod in response to William's words, mentally imprinting each word so that he didn't mess up the lie down the line. "I was the one who said it might have been her occupation...." He muttered, as if annoyed that William was "stealing" his idea. "But it's not the problem right now. Getting her back is. So we've been looking all over, and we remembered hearing a bit about you from Lydia once, and thought you might be willing to help us out a bit?" He asked.