[Nexus] MagCave VII: Rest for the Wicked

[Terumitsu]

[The Lime Room -> Somewhere Inside?]

The Riss working on the mundane array of what could probably be thought of as something related to a solar panel set down her tools and cleaned the oil off of her hands. "In that case, we need to relocate slightly." she said although 'slightly' was perhaps not within the same frame of reference that Sophia had. Then again, not being necessarily tied to a single perspective did tend to distort one's perception of exactly what 'local' meant. In any case, the shifter would find the muse beckoning for her to follow to the cave's garage bay with hardly any preparation or fanfare.

At the very least, Sophia might be getting shown some places of the cave that she might normally ignore due to her assumed lack of experience with automotives and similar things... And at least she would be allowed to play with the radio of a particular aircar that looked to be more like a half-finished restoration project although the interior was at least rather nice. She might wonder why there wasn't any signs of making it actually go, though, despite the the muse apparently having no trouble getting to do what she wanted...

Still, the shifter would be the one who would need to come up with a topic of conversation unless she felt like plastering her nose against the windows as the aircar flew off towards it's destination.

[happyturtle]

Front Door

Welp, the morning after the star-gazing, Happy went home, the better to change clothes and then go back to sleep in a proper bed for a few hours.

A few days later, Invictus arrives.

*knock knock knock*

[Lord Magtok]

Front Door

Hrm. Should Intrepid answer the door, or Magtok? Should he act like he knows her, or is there enough attention from the Empire on him right now that he shouldn't take that kind of chance? As much as he might be in the worst kind of trouble right now, he wouldn't want to sabotage the secret identity thing for no good reason.

...

Pfft, the MagCave is incredibly isolated and completely under his control; he'd know if anyone was watching, wouldn't he? And Invictus's presence would've already ruined things if that was even remotely a concern. Stop getting so worked up and paranoid over every little thing, Magtok, you'll be fine.

"Just a minute!" he answers over the intercom, trying to remember where he put that costume in the first place. Was it with the suits of armor, or the robes? He hopes it isn't being washed right now; that'd be absurdly inconvenient.

[happyturtle]

Front Door

"Well hurry up! We're probably late already!" Invictus calls back.

[Lord Magtok]

Front Door

"Late for what?" Intrepid questions, slipping his helmet on and adjusting his voice modulator as he steps outside. He'll be another moment; still has to put these gloves on and make sure his belt's secure, but at least he's out and (mostly) ready now.

[happyturtle]

Front Door

"Rescuing you at the Park. Though I guess a prison break out scene would be fun too," Invictus says.

[Lord Magtok]

Front Door

Intrepid plants his feet on the ground and shakes his head.

"'Rescuing' a clone isn't going to get the MagMarts back open, Happy." Those MagMarts were what kept his enterprises in business, thanks to some sketchy financial trickery I might explain at some point in the near future.

[happyturtle]

Front Door

"... But we're still doing the rescue, right?" Invictus says.

[Lord Magtok]

Front Door

"Not if I'm to successfully negotiate for the stores' return, and keep enough money flowing to not go broke and slowly die off from lack of clone funding." Intrepid frowns. This would just irritate the Empire further, and then where would he be?

[happyturtle]

Front Door

"Oh..." Invictus seems to deflate a little. "... I guess that's me out of ideas."

[Lord Magtok]

Felandria nods.

I'm getting very used to weird.

I'm also itching for some action.

"Yeah, I can imagine. There hasn't been a whole lot to stomp into the curb lately, though." Magtok tries to think of some convenient targets for Felandria to punch in the face, but nothing immediately comes to mind. Marcy's always a nice, deserving target, but with his defenses being what they are, would it really be worth the effort?

"There's a Sith academy not far from here you could probably rough up a little, though."

Front Door

"Same here. Honestly, I don't actually think I can talk them out of letting the stores go. Not after all the bad blood on both sides. If this doesn't work, I don't really know what to do next." Intrepid frowns. He can't just let them drive him out of the safest commerce center of the Nexus, but at the same time, anything resembling full-scale war would just kill him even faster.

[happyturtle]

Front Door

"Um..." Happy - and it does seem to be Happy now, shifting out of the Invictus look (though still in the Invictus costume) - "...Shell corporation? Isn't that a thing? That... businesses do to avoid governments and taxes and stuff?"

Happy, don't try to tell Magtok how to run a business. You're the meatshield. Just go and hit what he tells you to hit.

[Felandria]

"Yeah, I can imagine. There hasn't been a whole lot to stomp into the curb lately, though." Magtok tries to think of some convenient targets for Felandria to punch in the face, but nothing immediately comes to mind. Marcy's always a nice, deserving target, but with his defenses being what they are, would it really be worth the effort?

"There's a Sith academy not far from here you could probably rough up a little, though."

Fel raises an eyebrow, curious.

Sith?

What's a Sith?

No Siths where she's from.

[Lord Magtok]

Front Door - Invictus

"A shell wouldn't make half as much as the real thing, and even if it did and didn't cost me even more, the Empire would start to figure things out when I inexplicably fail to be dead. Honestly, I'd rather just depose the **** out of Vyrn, but I can't think of a good way of doing that." I'm not entirely convinced by Magtok's explanation of business. He's not really the most savvy business owner, but rakes in enough dough that it doesn't really hurt him as much as it could.

Front Door - Felandria

Mag shrugs. "A space wizard specializing in telekinesis and electricity spells, who fights with a laser sword that can cut through anything. The ones with red swords are Sith and evil, the other colors are Jedi, who are supposed to be good or something. It's the swords you really have to watch out for; their other powers aren't half as deadly as that thing."

[happyturtle]

Front Door - Invictus

"Why would you be dead?! We can find a different source of funding," Happy says. "How much does it cost to keep a clone alive anyway?"

[Lord Magtok]

Front Door - Invictus

"A lot. I also have to keep the MagCave going, though, and keep everyone fed, and make sure the Magbots are all operational, and fund VIGIL if nobody else can do that, and-"

I'm going to interrupt our cyborg here, because most of what follows is just excuses and griping. You don't need expensive gourmet dinosaur food to keep VIGIL and the MagCave operational; he just doesn't want to be seen buying the cheap stuff. A new Mechalomania isn't a necessity either; it's just something he'd like to have, because fighting with a giant mecha is really cool and stuff.

"I can worry about all of that later, if the negotiations go badly. We're already in costume; let's go beat up some pimps or clobber a mugger or crash a Halloween party or something." Attending yet another party whilst disguised as your more heroic alias, Mags? If you don't get some more onscreen superheroics in, people are going to think that's the only thing you ever do as Intrepid.

[happyturtle]

Front Door - Invictus

"Okay, but it needs to be something good, because my player is seriously lacking in the motivation department lately," Invictus says, as Happy slowly morphs her features back.

[Felandria]

Front Door - Felandria

Mag shrugs. "A space wizard specializing in telekinesis and electricity spells, who fights with a laser sword that can cut through anything. The ones with red swords are Sith and evil, the other colors are Jedi, who are supposed to be good or something. It's the swords you really have to watch out for; their other powers aren't half as deadly as that thing."

Felandria's eyes widen.

They sound dangerous.

Still, it wouldn't be very superheroey of me to go attacking them before they do anything.

[Lord Magtok]

Front Door - Felandria

"They might not be doing anything right now, but killed a member of Vigil and raided Skyside, if that makes any difference." Magtok offers with a shrug. He didn't know the Jedi very well, so the death doesn't really affect him. Someone will probably resurrect him or something anyway, right?

[Arkhosia]

Door

A doorbell sounds, which is of as it is quite loud and not the tone of Magtok's doorbell.

[Lord Magtok]

Door

A doorbell sounds, which-

That's ordinary enough, nothing spectacular about tha-

-is not the tone of Magtok's doorbell.

Wait, what? What manner of witchcraft is this?! Who is ringing a doorbell other than Magtok's own, right outside his house? Why would they, how would they go about such a thing and what could they possibly seek to accomplish by doing so? This is shenanigans, absolute nonsense, the first step in an elaborate scheme or death trap or doomsday plot meant to bring about the end of mankind! Why, Magtok should march right out to this mystery interloper, laser cannon at the ready, and-

.

Oh. Yeah, I suppose that is kind of an overreaction, isn't it? He simply answers the door like a normal person instead, poking his head out to get a glimpse of this unknown visitor.

"Hello?"

[Arkhosia]

Doorstep

A sleeping 5 year old Alexis is upon the doorstep in a basket.
With a note.
"Hey Magtok, I kinda need you to babysit Alexis cuz my usual sitter suddenly turned into a bird yesterday apparently. And yes, I'm not here because I knew you'd deny it if you had the option to!
-Sincerely and with ulterior motives,
Caelynn.

[Lord Magtok]

Doorstep

Must be a hell of a large basket.

"Curse you, Caelynn. Curse you and your family and your house and your neighbors and your city and your friends and your church and-" Magtok goes on like that for a while, stepping back inside as a pair of Magbots bring Alexis in behind him. At least it's sleeping, though. No need to entertain or feed or pay much attention to it at all, for now.

[Arkhosia]

Doorstep

Must be a hell of a large basket.

"Curse you, Caelynn. Curse you and your family and your house and your neighbors and your city and your friends and your church and-" Magtok goes on like that for a while, stepping back inside as a pair of Magbots bring Alexis in behind him. At least it's sleeping, though. No need to entertain or feed or pay much attention to it at all, for now.

Caelynn has an odd sense of humor. And what did her house and the Church of Subgenius do?
After a few minutes, Alexis wakes. She's dressed in a black skirt and pale pink hoodie, With socks on. She's holding a plush ferret, and yawns.
You're Magtok, right?
She asks somewhat warily.

[Lord Magtok]

Foyer

"I am. Did your mom say when she'd be back from...whatever it is she said she'd be doing after leaving you here?" Magtok tries to come up with some sort of mocking guess as to what the catgirl could be up to, but nothing at all comes to mind. If she has any embarrassing hobbies, or well, any hobbies at all, he doesn't know a thing about any of them. Huh, that's surprising, actually. He figured he knew her better than that.

[Felandria]

Front Door - Felandria

"They might not be doing anything right now, but killed a member of Vigil and raided Skyside, if that makes any difference." Magtok offers with a shrug. He didn't know the Jedi very well, so the death doesn't really affect him. Someone will probably resurrect him or something anyway, right?

Well, if they killed a member of VIGIL, that does make a bit of a difference.

Congratulations on all that, by the way, kinda neat that I'm in with two of the leaders.

[Arkhosia]

Foyer

"I am. Did your mom say when she'd be back from...whatever it is she said she'd be doing after leaving you here?" Magtok tries to come up with some sort of mocking guess as to what the catgirl could be up to, but nothing at all comes to mind. If she has any embarrassing hobbies, or well, any hobbies at all, he doesn't know a thing about any of them. Huh, that's surprising, actually. He figured he knew her better than that.

Um... About 8 pm. She has a few job interviews I think.
Alexis answers.
Do you have any food?
She inquires, rather hungry herself

[Lord Magtok]

Front Door - Felandria

The cyborg makes a face. "It's more of a tragic accident than anything else. I was supposed to be HALO's intelligence director, and when there was nobody left to step up to the plate after Tobias vacated, I foolishly gave up on what could've been a totally fun job of secrecy and double-agents for the reams and reams of paperwork that comes with responsibility and upholding an image as one of the Nexus's great leaders."

Looks like he's not exactly as enthused to be in the position as one might've thought. Of course, given his past as a supervillain, it's only natural he should find such legitimately-obtained power, influence, and control abhorrent and uncomfortable. What good is power if you can't abuse it for your own selfish gain?

Foyer

"No idea. What do babies even eat?" Magtok asks, innocently enough. The stupid fool, he just called a five year old a baby! There's no way this could possibly end well for him.

[Arkhosia]

Foyer

[COLOR="#FFD700"]Im not a baby! I'm 5 years old! I eat the stuff you eat. I'm guessing./COLOR]
Alexis doesn't know if Magtok, like, drinks motor oil and eats plastic wrap!

[Lord Magtok]

Foyer

"Junk food and alcohol? Your mother ought to be ashamed of herself," Magtok kids, before snapping his fingers and pointing at one of the droids. It steps through a portal, and comes back with a box with some local pizzeria's logo on the top.

"I've got plain slices in there and 'everything on it' ones. You can pick whichever kind you want, but one of the options is for wimpy babies who like to disappoint others, and the other isn't plain," Magtok says with a grin, as the Magbots provide paper plates and seats for the both of them. C'mon Mag, she's only five. You can be a little gentler with the teasing.