Black Coats: Volume 1

Right, introductions, she supposed that Karina didn't do a good job of introducing her to anyone, she kind of introduced her to Koa and then walked off. "Well it looks that he doesn't really need my help anymore." Dawn sighed to herself when she saw Koa taking charge and commanding that they were done with all the chatter and it was time to move forward. She would introduce herself to other people as the time came, for now as long as they all could work together for a while then it would be fine. "After you, leader." Dawn motioned for Koa to lead the way. What she was even meant to do here was another mystery that she supposed that she would figure out as she went. Though she didn't know how long she could be here, she worried about someone coming looking for her. She would deal with that when the time came though, there was enough of sitting around home and just waiting for things to happen. Seeing what Karina managed to do for herself, Dawn took inspiration from that and figured it was about time to move forward with her own life, and this could be the first step to it. ​

 

​

"Whot?!- Finlay doesn't charge in without thinkin'!" He stood stern for a moment before chuckling a bit. "Haha, okay okay, Finlay most of the time charges in without thinkin'- But most of the time it works!" He grinned. "And how can yah expect me to be quiet when amongst my comrades! I'm the DYNAMIX Viking! Not the indoor voice viking!"
Lynn looked over to the rest of the group. "Will you just listen to me! You can't go in there without hearing me out first!"
"Aye, and what makes you think we need yer help?"
"Because I have this!" She said holding up a tattered old book.
"Oh.. a book. Right. That's gonna help a ton!" Finlay replied sarcastically.
"I'm serious. This book holds the key on finally getting rid of Nequa!"
"Don't be playin' games with us lass-"
"I'm not! Look!" She opened the book to a small page with a 12 sided circle. "Nequa was banished the first time to the void with the help of the 12 children of Cosmos! Since Nequa couldn't be destroyed by natural means, the warriors of light banished her to the void." She skimmed a few pages ahead. "She was supposed to be locked there forever under the guise of the void's guardian; Krowley." She showed an artist sketch of a youthful man with white hair. "I don't know how she did it... but she must have gotten rid of him and managed to escape." She closed the book and held it under her arm. "Please... you have to let me come with you... I know the Red Society's members better than any of you, and I need to avenge my sister's death. If I can help in the banishment of Nequa maybe her death won't be in vain. And we have to do it soon...." She quickly opened the page and turned to one of her bookmarked pages. "She's trying to return to her full power. Once she does, there's nothing we can do to stop her. She'll become an immortal god." She opened a page showing 5 swords. "The swords of Honor, Power, Ruin, Truth and Heroes... And then there's the final piece she needs, but... someone ripped out that page." She closed the book before looking up. "Are you sure you;re all prepared for that?"

 

Lynn nodded. "Brace yourselves. Hotel isn't known for his leniency..." she said, before leading them onward.

Meanwhile, back in Nequa's lair...​

"****!" ****!" Alex said, punching a wall. "Nequa's gonna kill me. Stupid friggin... AAAHHH!" He said, angrily punching the wall again.
"Probably, yeah." Luther replied, leaning across from him. He seemed distant and uninterested.
"Easy for you to say, you got your target! If I'm going down for this, I'm gonna pin it on your gal pal! She's the whole reason I got screwed over!"
"Oh right, yeah I'm sure Nequa will just let you off the hook if you tell her 'oh it wasn't my fault'" Luther replied.
"Oh go eat a-" Before Alex could reply, Nequa strolled into the room.

"Boy boys, play nice now... You keep trying to hurt my hideout, I might get angry," she said, her helmet removed to reveal Aqua's face.
With a small gulp, Alex nodded. Nequa then turned her attention to Luther. "So from what I've seen you got rid of the small one I take it?"
"That's right. I imagine it would've been a lot harder without the element of surprise."
"Naturally, I'm sure taking out a little girl must have been hard work for a man of your talents Victor," she replied with a hint of sarcasm.
"Not so much her as the giant ice golem next to her. Didn't really seem the type to fall for a feint."
"So it seems..." Nequa turned back to Alex. "And from what I saw X-Ray, things got a little out of control on your end."
"It wasn't my fault!" he blurted out. "Fox girl got-"
Nequa raised her hand to silence him as she stared with her bright glowing eyes. "When we make mistakes, we don't make excuses... We make adjustments. Foxtrot is sitting with the Black coats as we speak and that could work towards our advantage. Besides, I'm not going to kill you just yet," she playfully tapped his nose. "Your tracking ability is almost invaluable to me. And to ensure it doesn't happen again, I'll make sure you and Luther stay well acquainted with each other." She turned to Luther. "Is that a problem?"

Luther gave Nequa a small smirk and a shrug "Not for me, at least." He said smugly.
Alex grimaced in his direction.
"Speaking of which, I owe you a keyblade don't I?" With an effortless wave of her hand, Luther received his keyblade. "How is it like?"
"Hm, man you can really just pass these things out, can't you?" Luther said, examining the blade up and down
"Little foxtrot will get hers in due time. For now, I have a special recon mission for the two of you... I want you to find our little mole in the SOS group."
"Oh? You really have ears everywhere," Luther repied.
"Where they matter," she chuckled.
"What do you want us to when we find him.. or her? We don't even know who this mystery person is," Akex shrugged.
"They're my lucky charm I guess. Everything's gone according to plan with this person. When you find them report back. Just recon. Understood?"
"That's a little vague. I'm all for finding them, but how are we supposed to know who it is, or even where they are?" Luther added.
"I suppose that's fair," Nequa shrugged. "The one you're looking for is named..."

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

[VOLUME 1]
- CHAPTER XII -
DEARLY BELOVED​

Lynn had led the group to Manson Manor. The Mansion was enormous. She turned to the rest of her group. "Find the portal back to the realm of light. That's our only job. I don't want anyone else to die here..."

 

Dawn found herself sitting back and listening to the conversations back and forth and the awkward arguing of the group. She kept her mouth shut and just listened before following them through the portal, into the manor that they were apparently heading to. "If we just need to find this portal, should we split up into smaller groups, survey and meet back. If we come across someone we don't engage as to not pick a fight we can't win? I get the sense that some of you might be confident in your skills, but I don't think it is wise to test them here, this isn't our territory it is someone else's." Dawn pointed out as she looked back to the others, her mind working, thinking about how they were to go about this. "Well shall we?"​

 

Lynn took a small dark piece of charcoal from the ground and began to draw a crude blueprint of the manor on the ground in front of them. "The house is very large, but there are three main sections to the building." She quickly circled the areas she had drawn. "On the basement floor, there's the laboratory. It's as advanced as the one where you were fighting Nequabots. HOTEL is very secretive, so we never really knew what ending up happening down there. We might be able to use something down there, so it's worth a look. Who knows what he's experimented on..." She circled the next main area on the first floor. "The main floor is simple enough like any mansion. Large staircases and marble floors and such. One thing that could be of usefulness is an orb Nequa asked him to keep. We CAN'T leave without getting this orb. It's the key to her defeat." She the circled the top floor of the building she drew. "Lastly is the Hangar on the roof. If there's any place that could show where the gateway to light is, it's there. Not to mention we can nab a vessel to travel from world to world." She dusted the dirt off her knees before looking to Koa. So how do you wanna split it up, leader?"

Elsewhere...​

Vanitas walked through a corridor of darkness with Ventus limply hanging over his shoulder. He quickly through the boy onto the ground with little care or worry as he walked towards a man he was meant to meet with. The man in front of him was Sho Minamimoto. "What the factor took so long? So did you get what I asked for?"
Vanitas tossed the small portable drive at Sho as he caught it in his hand. "More trouble than it's worth," Vanitas replied.
Sho quickly lifted up up his glove to reveal a watch before plugging the drive into it, he writhed in pain for a moment as if someone just pricked his wrist. His eyes went from their normal state into flashing bright blue numbers of ones and zeroes. Taking quick exhale, Sho was relieved. "There... that'll stop those pesky yoctograms from tracking me." He placed his glove over his chest again before explaining himself. "Soon as Megumi found me out, I had to make a quick exit. So long as I'm code though, no one from that garbage world will be able to find me," he slyly cheered.
"Don't care," Vanitas replied. "Do you have what I asked for?"
Sho smirked before holding a small orb of darkness between his two fingers. "Took a lot of tweaking, but I managed to zone in on the high frequency of the darkness from this thing...." Sho was holding in his fingers, the Remnant. The same energy that corrupted Aux and gave him all that power. Sho placed the small piece on the tip of his thumb before flicking it at Vanitas. "Don't see how it's much use to you. Once you form with your better half, that thing is Zetta useless."
Vanitas looked at the orb before looking back at Ventus. "His body remains, but his heart left his body. It's the only reason I haven't re-fused with him yet. All I wanted to do was forge the X-Blade... And now I have no choice but to find another way to do that."
Adjusting his hat, Sho began to walk off. "Well, good luck with that. If you don't mind, I'm going to enjoy the the magic of Taboo psycho-animation!" His hands quickly glitched as he walked off.

"Wait..." Vanitas said before Sho fled. "There's another reason I did what you asked. You seem strong. Strong is what we're all about. You could call this a last minute recruitment I guess."
Sho laughed as he held his gut. "You're out of your vector! I know all about your little hellfire club. A bunch of wannabe villains. Thanks for the offer but I'll pass. Besides, joining would be subtracting from my arts and crafts time. But uhh... good luck getting members for your little club!"

"That's not what I meant. The group I'm referring to isn't a club. More like... an organization. And it includes finishing that game you had in Shibuya."
Sho turned to face Vanitas as he grinned. "Now THAT sounds like my kinda vector..."

 

Dawn nodded to the so called leader of the group. She wasn't entirely sure why she came here at Karina's call agreeing to help. Clearly she wasn't needed, and Dawn wasn't too sure about her new powers either, but she supposed anything was better than waiting at home. It scared her, to have left, but she tucked that fear deep into her heart away from the sight of the people around her. "Alright lets go, see what we can find, and don't worry we won't touch anything." After all she had started talking about the plan, she could sure as hell follow it, she didn't need to be reminded. Keeping her guard up, Dawn started to walk towards the stairs down. She didn't look forward to finding out what was in that lab, but she would do what she had to in order to get them out, then she could figure out what she wanted to do with the mess that Karina had left her. ​

 

​

Finlay nodded, before cracking his knuckles, before pulling his leg back in front of the door. With a powerful kick, Finlay pushed the doors wide open to a seemingly empty house. It was near spotfless on the inside. "Aye.... yah figure a rich man would be able to afford some service! Where's the class? Where's the mountain of ale?! WHERE'S THE MOUNTAIN OF ALE, ICE MAN?!" He yelled at Dastgir, looking around at the hallow entrance. The room was a blend of marble and varnish, with expensive looking paintings and architecture that painted the walls, His eyes fell on the elevator as he tried to kick it down. The metal clank was heard as it ricocheted his foot backwards. "OYE! What kinda door doesn't open for Finlay's boot?!"

 

​

"Well, then lets get a movin' then!" He pushed the button on the elevator and shoved Dastgir inside. "If yer such a smarty pants, then you can operate this flat ironed, cage-like beast," He turned his head to try and find Aeira. "Yah comin' punchy fist?" There was silence as she was nowhere to be found. "Punchy fists?" He repeated as the door closed in front of him, Aeira no where in sight. "Wonder what happened to the lass.. Maybe she got cold feet." There was a slight jazzy tune in the area of the elevator, before the viking turned to Dastgir. "Alright Dastgir... now whot?!"

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

BASEMENT LAB

Dawn, Melus, and Rydia were led downstairs to the sub level, with Rydia skulking the area and Melus staying suspiciously quiet. the lab was filled with many an odd assortment of gadgets and test tubes. The most disturbing parts being the human sized pods and the large containers with human hearts contained within them. Nothing much useful was there for the group aside from a pair of comm links the group could use in case they ever got separated. The atmosphere in the sub-basement felt off though.. As if someone else was there with them...

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

MAIN FLOOR

Koa, Lynn and Vallus followed the staircase upstairs. where they found a statue of a beautiful woman on the main floor. There was an essence of grace to her, looking as if she was dancing. A beautiful memory, frozen in time almost. Lynn scanned the room quickly, making sure there was nobody else there to disturb them. She moved delicately past the woman with flowers at her feet and began slowly moving objects. "I know he's hidden it somewhere in here... Everyone try moving things to activate his secret safe room. It's gotta be a book... or maybe behind a painting? I don't know..." she spoke aloud, almost discouraged they wouldn't find it. "If we don't find that little piece of magic, Nequa will be able to reach her full power..."