#Crecia Glowstone

[whiskeyworen]

Cyrus - Caveat Venditor

Cyrus and Alice stood at the bottom of the Tribune's Walk in the Blood Citadel, patiently waiting. They had an appointment, but it seemed that the appointment had been delayed slightly; apparently a good amount of the Dragon's Watch guild had shown up to talk to their contact.

He rubbed his nose, thinking about that particular guild. It was made up of all the Commanders from the Pact. Or were they former Commanders? Did they even work with the Pact anymore, or were they free agents now? Heck, had they ever been in the command structure to begin with? He'd heard some rather remarkable and terrifying things about that group.

It's not every day you pass in the hall with half a dozen of the most powerful people in Tyria.

A small yawn drew his attention, and he glanced over at Alice, who demurely covered her mouth. At his raised eyebrow, she shrugged and chuckled. "....it is a bit boring being here."

"I suppose." He admitted. Glancing around, he caught one of the nearby guards staring at him. "....Problem, Centurion?"

The guard said nothing, but tensed a bit. Both of them could see his fingers flex, the sharp claws at the ends of the gauntlets singing as they brushed each other. "....Just wondering why the Imperator wants to see a pair of humans."

There was a breathless pause, before Cyrus replied. "For one, it might be above your pay grade Centurion. Don't you think?"

It was clear the charr didn't like to hear that, as those slowly flexing claws began to form a fist. Alice picked up the slack and added "We're merely part of a merchant guild. Perhaps the Imperator wishes to order some specific personal goods? Ones that are...off the record?"

Her tone of voice implied several things, the most important being What the Imperator wants the Imperator gets, and you will not question further. The Centurion seemed to pick up on that, as he made a dismissive huff and turned away, keeping his back to them.

"....Pleasant fellow." Alice remarked, rubbing her chin. She shot Cyrus a glance and winked. He could only chuckle silently. Alice was very very good at sarcasm these days. It was... actually relaxing for him. There was a kinship of thought there.

Before Cyrus could say anything though, whether a joke or anything else, the enormous iron doors swung open, disgorging a rather large group of people. Stomping ahead in a grumbly glower was Tribune Brimstone, followed closely some of the Commanders. As in, 'Commanders of the Pact', Commanders.

Commanders of Dragon's Watch, Commanders.

Of the Commanders trying to keep pace with Rytlock, a couple seemed to be trying to calm the charr Tribune down. All the others seemed to be either deep in thought, or had a resigned, long-suffering look on their faces. At least... on the faces he could see.

That was the thing about the Commanders; except for the newest ones to join, most of the old-blood Commanders -- the ones from the Zhaitan war -- were incredibly hard to describe. They had tremendous presence, a literal aura of power that made you want to step back and stay out of their way (unless you were stupid), but they were otherwise non-descript. Most of them wore helms or masks that hid their true features, but it was rumored that there was at least two or three Commanders from each major race.

One of the newest Commanders was a recruit named Duncan, a man the others had encountered during the hunt for Balthazar. He was Elonian-born, and still looked out of place among his guild; his desert garb and casualness seemed at odd with the others.

It was Duncan who paused for a moment as the others passed, and looked over to Cyrus and Alice. He gave a bit of a tired shrug, and thumbed up at the open doors at the top of the walk. "....Looks like he's all yours. Might wanna be careful though; that Bangar seems to be in a bit of a rotten mood."

"Much obliged. We'll walk carefully." Cyrus nodded respectfully. "Not to be forward, but I hope in the future I can do business with or help Dragon's Watch, in some way."

Duncan blinked, surprised. "Oh!... Well, we normally get stuff from the Pact but... I'll mention it to the others.  When things calm down." He looked them both over, frowning. "...Do I know you from somewhere?"

Alice answered for Cyrus, saving him from having to make an excuse. "We regularly deliver materials to the Vigil, and to Lion's Arch. You may have run into us there? We're usually docked at Dock 43. We have a few contacts among the Orders, so..."

The Elonian Commander crossed his arms, still mulling their appearances over. "... Hey, were you also involved in our assault on Kourna? And when we took down Kralk?"

"We were. Most of my team was on the ground in both cases, though I was on my ship during Kourna." Cyrus frowned at the memory. "I couldn't go fight on the ground because of being human. So all I could do was fire on plague ships along with the pirates."

"Well, those efforts were appreciated, my friend." Duncan slapped his shoulder in camaraderie. "I'll definitely mention it to the others. But you better hurry before Bangar gets all pissy."

With that, he said his goodbyes and ran off to catch up with the rest of his guild, while Cyrus and Alice started to walk up the Walk.

"...He was a nice guy, for a Commander!" Alice mused.

"Yeah. He didn't have that same aura of 'stand back' that that Norn in his guild did."

"He was also pretty cute..."

"Alice.... please don't hit on the Commanders..."

At the top of the long iron ramp, they stepped into the Blood Imperator's personal office. A broad view of Grothmar Valley, and all its emplacements was easily viewable from that office. It was the perfect place for an Imperator to command his troops.

Bangar wasn't alone in his office, of course. There was a pale-furred charr there as well, but Cyrus had no idea who she was, nor any interest. Instead, his eyes were on the back of the proud-looking, heavily armored Charr standing before the porthole windows.

Neither he nor Alice announced themselves, nor did Bangar turn around to greet them. Instead, after a few tense moments, the pale charr coughed into her hand, before making an introduction. "Imperator Bangar Ruinbringer, the representatives of the materials guild have arrived."

"Thank you Crecia." The Imperator replied courteously, before turning around. He seemed about to greet them, but his eyes narrowed slightly as saw who was standing there. "...I apologize; I was of the understanding that you had a charr team member. I naturally assumed you would have sent them instead to treat with me."

"We do have a charr on staff. But she is..." Cyrus paused, looking for a term. "Persona non grata in her Legion. A Legion who's Imperator is also present, and down on the fields right now."

"Oh?" Bangar seemed amused. "This is a problem?"

Alice nodded. "She is of Iron Legion. I'm sure you're well aware of Iron Legion protocols for those who leave disgracefully."

"Ah yes, I can see the issue." He chuckled darkly, eyes never leaving them. "Hmmm... So Smodur isn't fond of her then?"

"Iron Legion Protocol." Cyrus replied flatly. "No weakness in Iron. And those Smodur deems weak are defects in the Iron. You make Iron stronger by stripping out the defects."

"That does certainly sound like my old...friend." Bangar chuckled ruefully, prowling out from around the desk. Both visitors noticed how proud, and sure-stepped his gait was. He could have cleared the desk in a few swift steps, but he took his time, paws clasped behind his back. "I wonder how many loyal warriors he's put to the sword, all because they disagreed with his tactics?"

Cyrus offered a dismissive shrug. "Not my particular concern, nor that of my crewmate. But in any case, she won't be participating in the ...festivities." He gave a handwave at the semi-organized chaos of the Charr Legion gathering. "There's only one reason and one reason alone she'd ever come down, and I doubt you would ever want that to happen. It might... bring ruin, if I may use a pun."

That made the old charr's ears twitch, and his lip quirk in a bit of a smile. "Well now, I agree with that. It would be such a shame if the fun was disrupted by less-than-amicable contact."

"Then perhaps we should get to why you requested our presence?" Cyrus asked. He pulled an asuran dataslate out of his belt and flicked through it. "We recieved your initial request. Supplies and the like. We offer a fair deal because of ease of transport, but we have strict limits on what we transport. We just wished to make a final confirmation of the items before we begin anything."

Bangar's smile widened, though the expression didn't match his narrowed eyes. He picked up a sheaf of paper from the desk, making a show of sliding an armored claw down it, as if reading it for the first time.

It took everything he had to keep Cyrus from rolling his eyes. Come on... he thought in exasperation. Like you don't know what's on your own request forms. You can play this up all you want, but it's all so fake.

"....Ah yes. Here it is." Bangar pretended to 'just' find the particular line. He didn't read the sheet aloud. Instead he let the silence linger.

Cyrus had seen power plays like this before. Bangar wanted him to react, whether it was to ask what the request was, or to show impatience. Anything. It was a way of showing dominance. A way to show who really was the Big Dog.

He had absolutely no interest in playing along, so he merely stood there, waiting patiently, with his usual empty, tired expression. Occasionally, he flicked a tab on the slate, opening up other windows, other files. Two can play this, old man.

Eventually, Crecia coughed into her fist again. Bangar's superior smirk faded slightly, and he seemed to rouse himself. "Oh, terribly sorry. I believe you wanted to know what the order was? My deepest apologies. I was lost in a train of thought for a moment there."

"It's quite alright, Imperator." the bespectacled human replied, adjusting his glasses. Much to Bangar's annoyance, the adjustment tilted the lenses in just such a way as to catch the sun's rays, hiding his eyes. "I understand that happens to all of us who live to a ripe old age."

That rankled the Imperator; Cyrus could see it in the way his fur wanted to stand up. It must have taken quite a bit of self-control and willpower to only let it rise a little, and Bangar hid it well by shifting his weight. "So I'm given to understand. Luckily Charr live significantly longer than mere humans."

"And may you continue to have a long and illustrious life, Imperator." Cyrus smiled benevolently. "Now, as to your order?"

"Ah yes. That." The Charr warlord idly tossed the sheaf of paper aside. "Crecia will have all the details and numbers, but sufficed to say, I'm looking to purchase various goods. Food. Metals. Wood. Various sundries."

Cyrus nodded. This was no surprise. He'd expected an order like that, and it did match what was on his slate. Even if Bangar was being very vague about it. "That won't be a problem, I believe."

"-- machined parts, large and small. Rifles, pistols, various weapons as outlined in the order..."

That set off an alarm bell in Cyrus's head. Something was off; there was metal in the order, but not machined metal. Especially not weapons. They had a very strict policy about the sale of weaponry. This was an unexpected wrinkle; a glance at Alice confirmed it. "... With respect, Imperator. We do not provide machined goods, especially wargoods. We supply the materials, but it is up to the clients to turn them into the finished goods they desire."

"Oh, but these are for the continuing days of the festival!" Bangar spread his hands magnanimously, indicating their surroundings. "Charr festivals are unlike lukewarm human festivals. We revel in proving ourselves in things like the Ooze Pit, in our target practice on the firing range. We gain camaraderie by facing down dangerous beasts alongside our fellow Legions." His smile curdled a bit. "We even have... music...of a sort... that the younger Charr work out some of their frustration with."

That made Cyrus smile a bit. "Oh I'm very familiar with Heavy Metal music. Rather a fan. I'm going to be getting a copy of Metal Legion's album, once I sell them an audio recorder unit."

"Of course, to keep the festivities going, we require those supplies. Rifles and parts for the shooting range. Spare swords and other melee gear, as well as armor, for the Ooze Pit contenders." Bangar offered a cool smile. "Gladium can hardly prove themeselves if all they have is their bare claws."

"That may be so, Imperator..." Cyrus nodded reluctantly. "But as my companion stated, we do not provide those particular goods. We can supply you the materials to make them, but it is up to you to forge them into what you need. I understand that the Iron Legion Imperator is here at the festival as well?  Perhaps you can make an arrangement with him?"

The chilly smile on Bangar's face got a little bit colder. "It is always such a pain to deal with Smodur. There's always a give and take."

"Then I'm afraid you are quite out of luck." Cyrus turned and began to leave. "We'll fulfill the order as best we can, but weapons and armor are not part of it."

"....I knew I should have been dealing with your Charr crewmate." Bangar muttered, deliberately loud enough for everyone to hear. "Humans always retreat, backpedal and decline. You're so weak."

Cyrus had his hand on the large iron door, when he heard that. He paused. Beside him, he could hear the leather of Alice's gloves squeaking as her hands tightened into fists. "Is that what you resort to, Imperator? Racial insults?"

They both turned away from the door, and reapproached the self-satisfied Imperator. Off to the side, Crecia was pretending not to see or hear anything. This wasn't something she wanted to be part of.

"Why don't you tell me what you really want then, Bangar?" Cyrus asked softly, but with venom in the last word. The drop of the honorific was important. "I somehow get the feeling your request is a false one, to cover up another."

"Oh, so the human has some nerves. Good. Maybe this won't be a waste." The Imperator spoke theatrically, stepping behind his desk and sitting down. When he was good and comfortable, claws steepled in front of him, he indicated the humans. "...I want your airship."

The silence was long, and loud. Crecia found herself holding her breath; she knew nothing about this request for an airship. What was Bangar doing? Trying to cause an incident? Another one?

"....I'm afraid I didn't quite hear that." Cyrus admitted. He gestured mildly at his small, human ears. "Humans have rather poor hearing. Perhaps you could speak a little louder?"

"...so those at the back can hear?" Alice muttered, expression hard.

"I said... I want your airship." Bangar scratched an itch on his neck with a single claw, looking at them a kind of annoyed, tired distraction. "I have need of an airship, and as yet the Pact will not sell me one. As I mentioned before, I hate having to deal with Smodur, so making a purchase through him is not possible. And here you have this lovely, powerful airship just floating near my Keep. Forget the order of weapons and armor; I want to procure your ship."

"That ship is NOT. For. Rent." Alice hissed, stepping forward. Only Cyrus's signal stopped her from crossing the line.

"...as my companion has stated, the Forsaken Aspect is not available for 'renting'. Nor is it available for purchase." He shook his head. "I'm afraid you'll have to go through proper channels if you wish for an airship from the Aerodrome. My understanding is that it'll be a long wait, since the last few conflicts have depleted the fleet a fair bit. There might be a line."

"Then....perhaps I will just take this... Forsaken Aspect off your little human hands then." Bangar replied magnanimously, tapping his index claws together lightly, so the armor sheathing them tinged and sang. "You no longer have to worry about having a ship, and I will have an airship. Problem solved."

"Are you threatening me and my crew, Bangar?" Cyrus's eyes narrowed sharply. The rage he was feeling wasn't the scalding hot of wrath. It was as cold as winter ice and intensely focused. He didn't even need to look at Alice to know she was feeling the same. Maybe even more. The sheer gall of this charr...

"Oh, no. Nothing of the sort. I'll ensure that they're escorted off safely once my team has secured the vessel." The Imperator was looking quite proud there. Like the cat that ate the canary.

Cyrus's laughter broke that expression immediately. That was not quite the response he was expecting. The human was actually laughing at him! A deep, rolling, belly laugh!

"You... are laughing. At me." Bangar pointed out flatly, fully confused.

Cyrus took his glasses off and wiped his eyes, shaking his head. "Oh that is a good one, Bangar. I didn't know you had a sense of humor like that."

"....Humor?"

Clearing his throat, Cyrus turned to Alice, his eyebrow raised. "Well?"

"A moment." She closed her eyes, and when they opened again, they were glowing blue with flowing script. "....Intruders detected on lower hull. They are trying to cut in through what they think is an aft access way near the engine of a standard Tyria-pattern airship. A moment. They have just used a breaching charge."

"What is she--?" Bangar began to ask, his confusion deepening. The voice coming from the petite woman was sharper, colder than before. And what was that he could see in her eyes?

"...They have gained access to the hull. Permission to engage?"

Cyrus nodded. "Non-lethal. Subdue, tranquilize them, and administer standard procedure."

What only the crew of the Aspect knew was that 'standard procedure' was a concoction Tenna had developed after the war in Elona. It was a heavily concentrated, modified version of Iboga venom that would effectively erase at least twenty four to forty-eight hours of a person's short term memory, replacing it with hallucinatory imagery and some rather nasty dreams. The reason it was 'standard procedure' was that it was to be used to mind-wipe anyone who got access to the Aspect without permission. You could not spy and report, if you could not remember the last few days. There was more than one Inquest team now laid up with personal trauma from whatever the 'standard procedure' showed them when they tried to get on board.

Whoever was on the team that Bangar had apparently sent, they were going to have a bad time very shortly. Not only would bulkheads start closing around them, but they would be swarmed by Watchwork creatures, kept busy until the Watchknights appearred under the direct control of Aspect itself. Under its guidance, there was no way the breaching team would ever realize what they had just gotten themselves into. They definitely wouldn't remember it, anyway.

"Once they are captured, just airdrop them off the ship." Cyrus told her tiredly. "I'm assuming they had parachutes or gliders. If they don't, have a cheap one strapped on. Doesn't have to last long, since they're just heading to the ground."

"Understood." Alice blinked, and the glow in her eyes was gone. "....You have no idea how much this annoys me, Cyrus."

"I have an inkling. I'm not happy myself. They punched a hole in my ship and attempted to take it." He shook his head and looked at Bangar pityingly. "We're quite done here. Your team will be returned unharmed, and as far as I'm concerned, this never happened. If you choose to press it, that will be to your detriment. The first thing I'll do is cancel the entire order. You'll get your gold back, minus the cost of the damaged hull plating...but you won't be doing any more business with us. Ever."

"Just like that." Bangar replied. "Just like that, you walk away? You deny me the goods I request, deny me the airship I need, and then you walk away?" He growled. "Who the Flame are you people? I didn't see her pull out a communications device! Who the Flame was she talking to?"

"I should be the one demanding answers of YOU." Cyrus replied. "You lure us here with an order for materials, only to ask for things you very much know we will not sell you; it's in the contract details as the THIRD item. On a VERY short list. You then try to purchase my airship, as if it was a loaf of bread in the market."

He grit his teeth, biting back the things he wanted to say; he could still accidentally start something if he resorted to how he really felt. "...When I decline, you threaten to steal my ship. Not only that, but you already had a team in place to do that while we were talking. Which implies that was your first, last, and only intent. That alone blackmarks you and the Blood Legion itself against trade with us. Which, if you have any 'informants' in the Pact or elsewhere, you'll learn very quickly that you just lost out."

Cyrus sniffed in derision, waving it all aside. "As to who we are... We are merchants. Among many things. If I tell you anything more than that, then I have to have both you and your assistant there administered with the standard procedure. It is not a step I take lightly, but it at least leaves you with a heartbeat and most of your memories intact."

"You imply there are other choices." Bangar pointed out darkly.

Cyrus just sighed, and looked over at Alice, who nodded. She stepped forward, and pointed at a spot on the desk. "Tell me what that is."

"It's..." The Imperator blinked, realizing for the first time there was a red dot of light on the map on his desk. He passed a gauntlet over it and the dot transferred to that. "....it's a light of some kind."

"It's a sniper's laser sight, Bangar." Alice told him condescendingly. "Since we entered the room, there have been fourteen trained sharpshooters locked onto this office. In Elona, they call them 'Deadeyes', for reasons you can undoubtedly figure out. We did not expect to need them, but we had them on standby anyway." She glared at him. "We do our research on our contract partners. Your psychology alone required us to have 'security'."

Bangar spun in his chair, looking out the large, bubble windows. Then he glanced down at his chest, counting nine glowing dots. A glance at Crecia told him she had another two or three.

“If you so much as attempt to harm us when we leave this room, or attempt to harm us IN this room.” Alice told him as she walked up beside the chair. She reached up, wrapping a hand lightly around one of the forged iron spikes decorating it. “They will open fire. No one will know where the shots came from; no one except you, and you won’t be speaking. It'll be a tragic incident that I guarantee will be associated to the remnants of the Separatist movement from Ebonhawke, which has long since been disowned by them and is on their last legs. It'll be called a desperation move to destabilize the Blood Legion.”

“I’m fairly certain I can move fast enough to rip your throat out little girl.” Bangar hissed, still looking at the dots on his chest, before letting his eyes rise to see where the Aspect was docked out over the river outside the Keep.

Alice leaned in to whisper in his ears. “You wouldn’t even make it half way.”

As she said it, she slowly bent the spike she was holding, the thick metal groaning and whining as she warped it out of shape. She stepped away, leaving Bangar to slowly look at the manhandled spike on his chair; her glove-prints were visible in the metal, as if she’d been molding putty. As she left, the dots of light drifted off of his chest. There was no way he could know, though, that one was still trained on his forehead, since he couldn’t see that one.

“Just who in Torment are you people?...”

Cyrus was already at the door. “Businessmen and women, Bangar. That’s all. But we don’t like to be messed with. And you don’t want us as an enemy. I'd say contact us if you wish to do legitimate business... but your actions here today tell me I could never trust a word that comes out of your mouth. Just having my ship in your airspace means I have to keep everything on high-alert. You had an opportunity to make a lucrative business deal. And to have an ally that could make your supply lines shorter. Instead you chose racism, sabotage, and attempted grand airship theft. If you weren't an Imperator, you'd be in a stockade awaiting trial.”

He caught Bangar running a finger over the bent spike. “.... and be glad Alice held back. What she did to that metal... she would have done to your bones if anyone on my ship had been injured. And I’m pretty sure that I wouldn’t have been able to stop her.”

“Good day, Imperator.”

#gw2 fanfiction #Icebrood Saga spoilers #My characters #Cyrus Sigismund #Alice Spekt #Forsaken Aspect #Bangar Ruinbringer #Duncan #Commanders of Dragon's Watch #Dragon's Watch #Grothmar Valley #Blood Legion Keep #Crecia Glowstone #Caveat Venditor #Lies #Icebrood Saga #My Stories #tyrias-library