dualismail | (no subject)

[ A beanie, they make hipster robots...

Well he didn't exactly know what Connor was, but his demonic senses were high enough to know he wasn't fully human, but he can almost never tell a clone. So, fun times.

In the meeting place, which was simply another empty werehouse, theres just so many of them! A tall young man steps forward with a hoodie up, but it doesn't hide the loose silver fringe of hair sticking out. ]

I am glad you both came. I do apologize for the strangeness of all of this, but me coming out at all is a dangerous task. For that I must state first, secondly, I wanted to also apologize for not getting the chance to speak to you at the meeting, Officer Anderson, I am Vergil, I work for the Malakye offically.

[Hank's been switching out his various disguises. Today he is dressed to match Connor, in the era of hipster shit from his era. A trilby, despite knowing how shameful they became (he can hide his hair in it if he fixes it up), a scarf, a secondhand blazer, all things he'll be dumping in a donation box after they leave.]

[Yeah, he knows he looks like he's a beat from saying 'Mlady to someone. He'll return to his classic hipster sensibilities once this is done.]

[So far, the guy has Maggie's approval. She's not being especially wary of him, at least.]

Malakye? [Hank asks out loud, before getting back to the traditional greeting that fucking normal ass people are supposed to do.]

Yeah, uh. Sorry. We got distracted with the tiny twat. I should have asked around some more. I did take notes about what you guys said to everyone.

[Connor is basically a hipster android, it's true. He's even wearing skinny jeans and boots.

He watches Maggie for a long moment for her reaction, before returning to the man he vaguely recognises from the first Heart meeting. But like Hank says, that was when they got into it with Mello. Most of his memories of the night centre on that.]

The Mafia family. [Annoyingly, he's wearing gloves and can't interface easily with Hank to tell him this wordlessly, so he has to lean in a little and murmur it, before moving back and addressing the Heart member.] But I guess this isn't about Madeline Madrigal, is it?

[ Vergil couldn't judge, he's a bloody hipster to. You should see him in a Fedora.

He did manage to chuckle when Hank calls Mello a twat. ]

Well, Mello is an aquired taste. I do apologize if he has been a problem. We all do our best to keep things quiet but also to help all we can. My own possession in the family makes what I do extra dangerous. That said, no, but I could help with that if you require. I called you out here to simply say bravo on your continued work. Most seem to give up by now and accept what the head is offering.

What is your position in the family?

[But then, there's an immediate question.] How many in the Malakye are like us? Originals? [Because surely, someone from the Heart would be extra careful about figuring that out. That's question one of many.]

[And of relative interest, because as time closes in? There are a bunch of teenagers that need to be safe. And if he has to hand them off to crime lords who do a little smuggling (a strong step up from MaMa), then he'd do it. It could keep them safe, if he had a direction to send them in.]

[Some tastes Connor would rather not acquire.]

You brought us here just to say we're doing a good job?

[He sounds a little amused. Though mostly just bemused. For one thing, he's not sure they've done anything yet to warrant it.]

The last time I was in a revolution, I showed up late after fighting on the wrong side. I don't want to make the same mistake again.

[He's frowning to himself through Hank's questions. When he speaks up, he's still thinking, giving his voice a faraway quality.]

Do the heads of the family have any...opinion on the Head? Or the Heart? Or anything about the city?

[If they're originals, and even if they're not, he wouldn't be surprised if all they cared about was their own operations. Angry that they turn a blind eye to the slaughter of the other originals, but not very surprised.

But if they're not originals, the Head must know where they are and what they do, and just...chooses not to care. And their 'programming' as clones is perfectly compatible with a life of crime - so the Head created perfect replicas, right down to the aspects that actively harm the city.]

I am the consigliere of the Malakye family, this was not a choice.

[ He answered Hank first before looking to Connor.]

Usually I would not, but Officer Anderson here seems to have opened his eyes awhile ago, and I want to make sure you both stay on the right path, we need all the help we can get. As for which side, take a lot around, friend, it's not hard to see which side is right once your eyes are open.

AS for the family, they fully support the Head, this is why those of us that I know to be originals and with any symbolical of power are given a mark, a mark to keep us locked down. [ NOrmally he wouldn't ever turn his back to someone, band yet he did, pulling his shirt from where it was tucked to let Hank and Connor see the elegant tattoo that looked like chains that worked up his spine vanishing under where the shirt where part of a brand could be seen. Not even all of the heart knew about the markings, but, Vergil didn't want to put his trust in the wrong people. Trust demanded trust. Dante would have muttered something like that. ]

Geez... You have got to have been here longer than a year to hit that position- [Hank is taking in all the info he can. Chains, right. A mark on their back. Something to look out for in the future. But yup, means he can't find some sort of safe place for people to hid out in with them.]

[But now he has to be up front, too.]

You're right I can't sign on with the Head. There's not anything even remotely 'greater good' about that thing. It's the worst kind of empty. But right now, I can't be on the Heart's side, either. Maybe you guys should have talked your top ranks into the trust demands trust thing before the last meeting, 'cause they're fuckin' really looking for you. They didn't give a shit about the mayor's stage. They didn't give a shit about the train station bombings. They barely came up in conversation.

But that big fuckin' flex with the power? They're really after you guys now. It was too much. Your leaders threw you all under the bus.

[He can't overstate how hard they're looking. But now that he's gotten that part out.]

Do the other people that are originals with the family know that they're pretty much fucked? Or is it something the others keep to themselves. [It seems like they would, what with the tattoo, but he has to check.]

[Much longer than a year. The Head must know Vergil's alive - he still has the chip in his head, surely.]

You have a crime family to keep you hidden. [To a certain degree. He stares hard at the chain-like motif wending its way up towards an actual brand in the skin.] Most of the rest of us haven't found anything like that - we're at the mercy of the city and we need to survive the year without the Heart putting us in danger every time it tries to convince us it can win a revolution.

[Not all of the Heart are consiglieri for the crime families - but nevertheless, they've all survived for a while, even with the Heart's reckless methods.]

There's a difference between being the right side and being the good side. That's what I'm still not sure about.

I have, nearly two years in fact, though I have had this job since not long after I arrived. They needed a programer, and from there they pulled me further up, this was not a choice.

[ He sighed some. ]

We don't have leaders, Officer Anderson. We all choose to do what we do as a unit. We did what we must to try and save those we can. All of us may not always agree but we have fail safes to keep everything in order.

With all due respect, we are all fucked, sir. There is no getting around that. If we do not rise up, the head will kill us all and replace us all, I know you don't agree with how we work, but beleive me, it's for the best. I've seen terrors like this since I was a child, and I would rather face down a demon king again than this horror we live around!

[ A bit of desperation was in his tone, like an old wolf sensing his end, even if he didn't look older than twenty two at best. ] I have a crime family to watch every step I take. That is not hidden it is being a prisoner. But let me tell you this, Connor, your focusing on the wrong thing, Think about what Officer Anderson just said.

As for good and bad, there is no real good or bad, only survival and extinction.

Well, then you all were in on a bad decision. You didn't trust us. Decided to put on a big display. And when it's all said and done, it'll be a waste. You locked us out of a lot. And I don't know... I think I'd respect you guys more if you could admit you're capable of fucking up.

[Because, to be honest, he thinks they might have closed too many doors with what was done. They're never gonna be able to access locks the way they did the night of the blackout, and they could have accomplished that by just telling them. Worse, now those young kids that the Head's been grabbing won't trust anyone but themselves. Squall's friends. He's really worried about what's going to happen to them.]

I'm actually on Connor's side with this one. I know what he means, but I got a feeling that I'm not gonna talk philosophy here. [Even in, to him, survival isn't worth it if it doesn't come with some sort of respect.] But I don't think you really get it. They're really looking for you. If you have any ounce of self-preservation, you'd get out of this city now. If you have any info on us, and if you care about any of us getting found out for just talking to you, I'd wipe it, too. 'Cause they're not gonna stop.

[Sure they've already lost some people that might be able to tell the Iterations some things. He's hoping there's some sort of glitch, that if the Head takes people sooner than a year, there aren't clear memories or something.]

So... Arkady mentioned something to me. She had some bad vibes at the park. Like, a lot of 'em. It got me thinking, that there are three places in the city that never move. When I was on patrol, some blocks would be different every day, buildings would be a street off or something. Except? For the Zoo, the Park, and our dorms. There are a lotta people killed, but it's not always at the park. So why would most of the bad memories be there?

Is that where they're stored? Is the core of the Head, some big component of what he actually is? Is that under the park?

Either you don't have leaders... [He sounds very sceptical.] Or you only have four members and only two of them do the talking.

[From Connor's angle, it sure as hell looks like Marie and Mello are the leaders, with Vergil either thinking he has more power than he has or preferring to sit behind the throne and not on it, as it were.]

I'm not focusing on the wrong thing, I'm telling you my position. I won't fight for the wrong people - I don't support anybody putting themselves at risk for a group that would hurt innocent people just to draw attention. Or that risks its own potential recruits' lives just to prove a point.

There are better ways to do this. [He even sounds slightly pleading, and doesn't much like it.

He's glad for Hank having more concrete questions - and he finds himself looking curiously at Vergil as well. He didn't know about any bad vibes, but he's been using those three stable areas to find his way in the city for months.]