~~Narration~~
Animus, Armstrong, and Theo make their way back to the alley they originally started in. Vegas is sitting by the car, nursing his bruised ribs, and looking distinctly unhappy.
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~~Narration~~
Animus, Armstrong, and Theo make their way back to the alley they originally started in. Vegas is sitting by the car, nursing his bruised ribs, and looking distinctly unhappy.
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Theo doesn't like very agreeable either and not just because of the large wet spot and smudges on his shirt.
"Vegas, I want you to go back to the Museum. Tell Starling we met an insane self designated protector of the ley lines. He attacked us for examining the runes. We chased him down and questioned him. The lines are apparently being drained of energy by some group, we don't know who. From what I could interprit it sounded like they might be in control of several major intersections of lines within the city.
"Animus or Armstrong, if you want to go with if him and give a discription of what you saw, that would be helpful. It might be a good idea to report this to the Ladder as well." He waited for confirmation before going on.
"I plan to keep mapping. I want an accurate picture of the layout of the lines as fast as I can get it. Once I'm finished I'll come and give a report." Theo went to the trunk and began getting out his bike.
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~~Narration~~
Animus and Vegas agree with the plan, and leave.
Armstrong continues to do her mannequin impression.
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Theo began walking his bike over to the place they had been fired upon. He checked around for the books that had been dropped, as well as the bag for his sack lunch.
He suspected Armstrong wanted to clean and shower and it might be a good idea to see if that wouldn't calm her down some.
"You can go change if you want, hopefully there won't be anything more today that can't be handled alone," he told Armstrong. If there was he was going to have to check to see if this ley investigation wasn't cursed by Fate somehow.
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~~Narration~~
The finds the scattered library books, and collects them. Idoru, by William Gibson. Hostage to the Devil, by Malachi Martin. STD LEX, by A.O. Kime. Ley Lines and Earth Energies, by David R. Cowan.
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Armstrong follows Theo. "I've dealt with worse things in Highschool. I survived that, and I can survive this. But have you never seen a Horror movie Apotheosis? When People go off alone after an inititial encounter, something else happens. I need to introduce you tvtropes some day." Besides, Armstrong thought to herself, if someone else attacked you you'd probably try and heal them for some strange reason.
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"Life isn't a horror film. Narrative expectations can't be expected to apply." He sounded a little on autopilot as he checked book summaries, author descriptions, due dates, and flipped quickly through the text to see if there were any obvious notes in the margins. The first was second in a trilogy of cyberpunk dystopia novels, the next was by a former Jesuit priest and so on.
"Besides, more harm has come when there are more people around. Though with only two people it might only disable vehicles instead." He looked up from his study. "Is there is there a trope for that?" He looked up a little expectantly.
There were several reason Theo didn't want Armstrong along. Firstly was the smell, which would only get worse as the day went by.
Next was his concern for her sanity. If the runes were maddness causing, as the old man's conversation had suggested to Theo, then futher study might push her further down a slope she might already be on.
Third was the concern for his own mind. He currently had several streets worth of strange sigils in his head with the ability to remember with very good clarity. Armstrong said the formula was a distraction. Theo knew he would involuntarily look for the hidden piece beneath even if he didn't want to. Stuff would pop into his head, it had happened before. Armstrong potentially had the cipher and if she told him it... well that's where his concern lay. In the outcome of that possibility.
The following concern dealt with speed. He would be faster alone by bike than with her.
Lastly, Armstrong seemed in a very bad mood.
He found it very unlikely she would actually leave. He actually shared her view on going around alone. It seemed true though, the larger the group he went with, the more violent a situation tended to be. Alone he just had hostile conversation. Large groups were battles for survival. Two people might only be limited to property damage.
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"It's called the Inverse Ninja law, and I can read between the lines Apotheosis. Have fun." Armstrong stalks off in a huff, muttering about people and their foolish pride and not accepting help when it's offered. Once she gets out of sight, she tears a hole in the universe and stalks through into her bathroom at the sanctum.
Huffy Math Pirate Princess Form ACTIVATE
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Despite having made Armstrong angry, more angry anyway, Theo was slightly relieved.
"Now the question is will anything happen before I head off?" It seemed the question wasn't entirely retorical. Theo waited several seconds, as if expecting a reply, glancing around.
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~~Narration~~
Silence is Theo's only answer, although his imagination plays all sorts of Rorshachian games with the drool-stain left on his torso.
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