OOC: Timestamp: Tria 25, 81380 (middle of the night) Charater: Cassandra BIC: Cassandra waited warily--she was alert. The surrounding area had the potential to be dangerous. The variety the odors, some of which were bittersweet, created a hypnotic feeling. It was the occasional unexpected noise which would keep one's mind set in reality. The location was both hostile and cozy. A strange paradox. At least this was how Cassandra felt. The two forces of light and dark that raged through her mind and spirit were suppressed by drugs. They could not control her like they used to. Before Cassandra had come into contact with Kertush, she had been a mess, unable to control herself. The deep knowledges of the magics she had learned were not meant to be contained in one mind. Psychoactive drugs made an exception to that rule, and although Cassandra was now able to contain herself mentally and physically, the magics still toyed with her perspective. It seemed she always was able to see a ying-yang. Cassandra held a newspaper in her right hand; at least what looked like a newspaper. In truth, her "newspaper" was a case containing drugs. This was a high profile case. Kertush wanted to insure that the contents of the case were delivered to the correct buyer. They were quite expensive. Wearing white clothing underneath a black trench coat, Cassandra looked out of place in the swamp. Clothing wouldn't have mattered anyways. Any dragon waiting in a swamp like this was out of place. That was the reason that this swamp had been chosen as the exchange location. Cassandra's ears perked up at the sound of a crunch. Even though she had backtracked herself and taken many other precautions to ensure that she wasn't being followed, there were dragons who made a living at stalking and stealing from drug dealers. Even worse were government officials. Loosing valuable goods as well as being captured would not make for a fun night...
There was a particularly loud squelch, followed by a resigned growl that could have boiled said mud to temperatures commonly related to a planets molten core if the pendragon making this growl possessed any talent for pyrokinesis. Finasis pulled one sopping brown leg from the muck, her long baggy pant leg dripping mournfully. She fixed the mud with an acid stare. One foot, she thought to herself, one foot off the path and this is what happens. She was covered from her knees down in brown and greenish muck that was beginning to cake on to her gray baggy jeans. She swore and resolutely vowed that the next time she visited a swamp she would wear a belt. She pulled up her pants that were about five pounds heavier with all the collected mud. She was thankful however, that some merciful spirit had convinced her not to wear shoes today. She remembered wistfully a day when she had had hundreds of others to do such a menial job for her, but her glory days were over, and now she was reduced to sloshing around in the mud. She stepped back on to a boardwalk path and looked around. This path had been made for sightseers, tourists, hikers, people wanting to see a bit of nature without getting their feet dirty. As a result it winded and twisted something terrible. It was no use what-so-ever when you actually had somewhere to go. She clamped two gloved fists, flicked her lavender hair from her eyes and walked back down into the muck, choosing a more solid path. She stalked through the swamp, making her way slowly, careful to test the ground before she walked on it. A skilled and intelligent pendragon could have made their way easily through this part of the swamp. But Finasis was not one with nature. She had no instincts to tell her what ground was solid and what was not. She hated nature. The world of pendragons she could deal with, but a world without minds to manipulate was really not worth the effort. She held in one of her wing stems a small purse which contained a large sum of money rolled into a tight ball. Not exactly the orthodox way of doing business, but it was inconspicuous. She held it aloft to keep the contents safe from the ravenous muck. The limb banged against a low-hanging branch and she let out a string of curses relating to the parents and upbringing of said branch. At least she was much closer now.
Desensitized to fear but still cautious, Cassandra flinched at the sound of someone muddling around in the mud nearby. She set the newspaper down on her feet and brought the tips of her fingers together and raised her hands above her head before whispering a few words. "Nuca na yma fesh sha pujcmatt yv medhs." The words were barely audible and once spoken, Cassandra's figure turned solid black as she became a shadow. In this way, she was able to venture across the swamp without getting herself muddy. Save the occasional patch of light cast by the moon or stars, Cassandra was able to wander around through most of the marsh unheard and barely visible. Fortunately, for Cassandra, the "newspaper" she had been holding transformed along with the rest of herself. Every once in a while, Cassandra would forget to keep in mind the objects she carried with her and she would slip into the shadows without them. Kertush disliked Cassandra temporarily altering the substance of his drugs. [It's all about quality. If one of your hocus pocus spells screws up the product for the worse, then we've got an angry customer, and next thing ya know, word spreads around and we lose precious customers...] The words bounced around in her mind, but she quickly dismissed them. She knew her own magic well, nothing of that nature could ever possibly happen. Cassandra's vision had changed to a dark hazy red when she took the form of a shadow. She picked the newspaper back up and made her way towards where she had heard the sound. As a shadow, Cassandra was able to see things that the normal eye could not see. Things that lurked, things that slithered. They watched her as she moved through the shadows. Sometimes they would strike, but usually only if Cassandra spent too much time in their realm or somehow appeared to threaten them. Most of them were like the creatures of the normal realm. Merely minding their own business and trying to survive. However, there were more dangerous things in this realm than mere shadow animals. Cassandra remembered reading stories of dark sorcerers who had attempted to move across the shadowy realm but never returned from their ventures. Cassandra smirked to herself. No other master of darkness that she had read about before knew how to wield light as well as she did. Nothing in these realms could take her down with her conflicting mix of magical talents. It would be virtually impossible. At least that was what she thought. Cassandra spotted the noisemaker, Finasis. Cassandra was new to the underworld, and knew nothing of Finasis' previous feats. Cassandra stepped onto a patch of what looked like dry land near Finasis. "Rjemd na rukc sy ni hyna jauln," she whispered as she faded back into her home realm. The ground which she had chosen to appear on held her weight, lucky for her clothes and fur. "A nice night for walking in the swamp, eh?" Cassandra spoke to Finasis. She was behind Finasis at about a 45 degree angle to the left of Finasis. Finasis appeared to look like the dragon described by Kertush who would buy the goods. Cassandra waited for the appropriate answer to be sure. Cassandra also kept her magics in mind in case this dragon was not who she appeared to be.
Finasis was in sight of the meeting place a short distance away. Only a few more minutes in this never ending nightmare of mud would come to a temporary end, until she was forced to trudge back the way she had come. She thought about asking her contact how they had gotten there, and if they minded giving her a ride. She realized disapointingly, that they most likely had taken a one-pendragon means of transportation, small hover unit, wings and the like....no freaking limos out here. As she let her foot down with a loud squelch, she heard a voice behind her. Finasis was not one to be startled. True, she got as surprised as anyone, but her facial features and body had a terrible inability to express such an emotion. She did not even flinch, or twitch at ear. Instead she turned her head cooly around (as best as she could knee deep in mud) and gave the pendragon behind her an inquisitive glance, as if simlpy to say 'Yes? Did you need something?'. Only after this did it occur to her to wonder who this pendragon was and what she was doing there. She turned to face the pendragon and brought herself out of the mud, on to the solid ground that seemed to have materialized like an oasis beneath this pendragon's feet. She folded her wing limbs, keeping the purse hidden behind her back. <span style='color:purple'>"It would appear so,"</span> she mused. That had been the greeting she was instructed to listen for, just in case there were other random pendragons floating around the swamp. She wiped a lavender bang out of her face and smiled in a resigned way, repeating what she had been told to reply, <span style='color:purple'>"This night is good as any for a stroll, but the swamp does seem rather welcoming tonight."</span> If mud and bugs and destruction of a perfectly fine pair of pants is welcoming, she thought. She eyed the pendragon, wondering where her purchase was held. She had contacted Kertush after learning of his dealings and quality of products. She needed a large assortment of medicinal drugs, slightly...modified. This was the first of those shipments. Also, she wanted to establish friendly dealings with Kertush, as she planned on needing his assistance in the future. The drugs were intended to be almost identical to various existing mecidinal drugs, except that their side effects and harmful effects would be much more common and extreme. When she had all that she needed, what thugs she had would raid a hospital, replace the medicine, and watch as the hospital's reputation and credibility plummeted. And then, just as it was about to crumble into dust, Finasis would make an order from Kertush for ligitimate medicinal drugs, and sell them to said hospital with her guarantee that they would not be contaminated. Then, the hospital would buy from her with her slightly higher prices, and not their previous supplier. She would supply them with drugs, obtained from Kertush, making a good money flow for Kertush, and herself as the middle-man.
Cassandra smiled. Things seemed to be running smoothly so far. The sound of a reptilian snapping its jaws shut on unsuspecting prey could be heard not far from where the two spoke. Cassandra was unfamiliar with the sound, but could tell that it was not dragon-made. Otherwise, she would have suggested that the two move to a safer place. "I personally came out here to read.. Do you like to read?" she asked casually glancing down at the newspaper she held before looking back to Finasis. Finasis had already given the proper first response, Cassandra waited for the second. The situation at hand was stressful. In addition to keeping an ear and eye open for intruders, Cassandra was not entirely sure that she could trust the buyer. Kertush had warned Cassandra that the buyer was new and new buyers sometimes tried to steal the drugs without paying, or not pay the full amount. It was not unlikely that a buyer would attempt to kill the dragon selling the drugs either. Nevertheless, Cassandra had been trained to deal with stress, and more importantly, she had been trained to not show signs of stress. Cassandra attempt to be subtle as she took in a deep breath of air and let it out. If the buyer felt that she was weak or nervous, the odds of being attacked increased. While waiting for an answer, Cassandra glanced to the left and then to the right. She quickly scanned everywhere, looking for any potential danger. Her eyes told her that she was safe, but her instincts told a different story. She had felt a large bug bite the front left side of her neck as she had glanced to the right. As she reached up to feel her neck with her left hand, she found not a bug, but a small shard of steel. As she pulled it out, her vision darkened as did her strength. "Gojda sha gyetymt," she quickly muttered as her legs collapsed under her. Cassandra had used her mastery of light magic to cleanse her body of any poisons. As she rapidly rose to her feet, her strength and vision returned. Cassandra clutched the newspaper tightly in her right hand and instinctively moved her hands out to either side of her body, projecting a dark aura to deflect any further attacks. She was able to cast her spells without speaking, but they drained her body much more than if she merely spoke while casting them. However, by not speaking she was more unpredictable. If she wanted to be even more unpredictable, she could cast spells without making any body motions. Because the dart had struck her when her eyes had glanced away from Finasis, Cassandra suspected that Finasis was the attacker. "You made a bad choice trying to double cross me," said Cassandra breathing rapidly. A shaft of light appeared in her left hand as she walked towards Finasis. Cassandra pointed the magical blade at Finasis' throat. Cassandra wanted to wait and see what Finasis would say before deciding whether or not to kill her. Finasis' response would allow Cassandra to determine whether Finasis was the killer, or whether there was a third dragon involved in this scheme.
Finasis sighed as the second phrase was said. This really did seem childish to her. Standing out in the middle of a swamp, playing these silly games. At one point in her life, she had been a very attentive pendragon, trained to notice every detail of her surroundings, of the other pendragons in it. At one point, there was a chance she might have noticed the slight change in her acquaintance's mood, int he way she became suddenly more alert. But years of ordering others to do such work had made her go soft, and she was as oblivious to her surroundings as a bush. That was not to say her reflexes and instincts for the job were gone, she simply had to think about them to put them into play, they did not come naturally. For example, if she had been listening for the foreboding sounds, she would have heard them. But alas, she was too wrapped up in the childishness of the game at hand. She was about to open her mouth with a petulant response when a rather strange bug, quite resembling a dart went whizzing by her nose. He brain tumbled with several accurate responses to such a dilemma, but before any of them had a chance to be put into action, she was at magical sword point. She growled at her contact and knelt down on the ground, muddying her knees, making herself into a smaller target should another dart be sent in her direction. <span style='color:purple'>"Reading the newspaper makes me happy, may I take a fucking look at it,"</span> she said the appropriate reply angrily, <span style='color:purple'>"Look, you simpleton it wasn't me. I'm not stupid enough to double-cross a trained deliverer."</span> She usually hired her own trained thugs for that sort of thing. She lifted the money from behind her, lifting her skeletal limb to quickly offer the bag to Cassandra, and pointed to their right with her paw, <span style='color:purple'>"Here is the money, just calm down. I think the projectiles came from that way. Now stop pointing that thing at me, and allow me to find some cover, or I will make sure your employer hears you harassed a client."</span> The threat was worth a shot. She had no relations with Kertush just yet, and her reputation was shot, and it was barely likely that her word would be believed over one of his people, but she could not help but forget temporarily how far she had sunk in the last few years.
Cassandra said nothing more, but held on to both her sword and newspaper. Before making the trade, she wanted to find whoever had attacked her. "Ellonemusa sha tfung!" shouted Cassandra. Everywhere in the swamp to where her voice echoed was illuminated by a yellowish light. There in the now dissipated shadows about 20 feet behind Finasis, a darkly clothed dragon was kneeling. His entire body was covered in dark clothing including his face. His outstretched left arm had a mini-cross bow attached to it. He clenched his fist and triggered another dart to be fired. Unfortunately for the assassin, his dart ricocheted off of Cassandra's shield. Cassandra hurled her sword at the dragon who just barely rolled out of the way in time to save his skull from being pierced. He ran into the swamp just as Cassandra's light spell began to fade and the swamp became dark again. "We don't have much time before he decides to strike again," whispered Cassandra in a hurried voice. She took the money bag from Finasis and began to count the approximate value of the money inside. "You're good," Cassandra spoke after briefly confirming the validity and amount of the money she had received. She placed the newspaper where she had taken the purse from. As she had moved the newspaper towards Finasis, she had opened it, revealing many drugs, before closing it. Off in the distance the sound of helicopter blades could be heard. [What is that?.. Could it be officials? and if so, how did they find us?...] the questions troubled Cassandra. Perhaps the assassin from earlier had not been working for himself... "I've got to get going, take care," Cassandra finished before beginning to walk away.
Finasis swiveled to the direction of the attacker, ready to attempt to avoid any more darts. She assumed that they were poisoned, otherwise the attacker would be dubed a right idiot for thinking a dart was a sufficient weapon. Cassandra was doing splendidly in this situation, and Finasis was happy to let her and her nifty spells go right along doing their thing. She was content to let her do all the work, seeing as Finasis would not have much to add. Finasis smiled as the attaker ran into the swamp, and stood up, atempting to brush herself off. She uttered a sarchastic thanks and snatched the offered newspaper in one of her long limbs, barely peering at the drugs inside. She felt a slight pang of regret, for Cassandra had not been meant to take the whole purse. Finasis had planned on taking the money out first, before offering it to her. Finasis had not, apparently, been versed in the necessity of carrying cases when doing such a switch. The purse had been made of silk, and sewed exquisitely to allow for a secret pocket incase something need to be hidden from sight. It was a very expencive purse, a keepsake from her glory days. Fortunately Finasis had not hidden anything in the pocket recently, so it was only the purse that was lost to her. She made a mental note to simply use a plastic bag next time. Then, Finasis heard the helicopter blades. She thought enviously at first that it was Cassandra's pick-up. Finasis was about to ask to join her, avoiding the long treck back through the swamp. However, this fantasy crumbled when Cassandra took her leave in a different direction than where the sound was coming from. Finasis bounded after her. <span style='color:purple'>"Wait one moment,"</span> Finasis said angrily, <span style='color:purple'>"I wont permit you to just leave me!"</span> She cast an ancious look in the direction of the helicoper, wondering how they had been found, if she had been double-crossed. She had guessed, as Cassandra had, that these were the authorities. She had no desire to be caught once more.
Cassandra's ears perked up at the sound of Finasis' voice. "Wait one moment, I wont permit you to just leave me!" Cassandra turned and looked at Finasis with a look of bewilderment. "Well... alright then, come on; but try to keep up." Cassandra broke off into a light jog as she finished speaking. The helicopter was getting closer and Cassandra knew that its thermal scanning would not miss Finasis or herself. Cassandra pulled a cellular phone out of her coat as she ran. She dialed in a number to contact Kertush. "Hello?" asked a voice on the other end. "I finished business and the customer is with me.. However, we are being followed by some bogeys. I'm gonna ne-" Cassandra was cut off by static. "Hello?" As the static cleared Cassandra heard a voice. "This is Special Agent Simons speaking on behalf of the government. We've intercepted and blocked your phone's signal. We will find you shortly and place charges on you for illegal drug trafficking. Do not attempt to escape." After the dragon on the other end hung up, Cassandra threw her phone off into the swamp. If the government had intercepted her phone call, then they were no doubt using its internal GPS system to track her location as well. The only advantage Cassandra had at this point was the fact that her phone call to Kertush had been abruptly ended. Kertush now knew that Cassandra was being followed, so he would send some of his men to come find Cassandra and her customer, Finasis. The only trouble is that Kertush's men had an entire swamp to search and by the time they found Cassandra and Finasis, it would probably be too late. It was also not unlikely that Cassandra and Finasis would not be in the swamp by the time Kertush's men arrived in the swamp. The sound of the helicopter was very close now. Using advanced tracking technology, the pilot could see exactly where Cassandra and Finasis were heading and estimate how much farther ahead of him they were. Only seconds remained before the helicopter would catch up to the two. There was no time to cast any spells and none would work. Even Cassandra's trick of escaping into the shadows would not prevent her from leaving a heat signature which could still be used to find her, plus, lights from the helicopter would undoubtedly shine upon Cassandra and force her body back into the physical world. Cassandra sped up her pace and looked back over her shoulder at Finasis. "I'm open to any ideas." Cassandra focused her attention back forward.
Finasis ran after Cassandra with enthusiam. She had been mentally preparing a speech in which she explained the intricasies of loyalty. For example, it was Cassandra's duty to make sure that all deals when smoothly for the customer, as a loyalty to Kertush, and that Finasis's loyalties extended only as far as snitching out on Kertush and Cassandra if Finasis were caught. She was glad she did not have to sink that low. She thanked the heavens that Cassandra had a back-up plan, but her hope took a freefall as she heard the intercepting voice from the other line. Her face fell, and she began to panic. <span style='color:purple'>"Great, great. Just what I need!"</span> she hissed through clenched teeth, she turned away from Cassandra and mumbled curses beneath her breath, fists clenched. Then, she turned back when Simons had been silenced, and found Cassandra had run off into the swamp. Finasis sprinted after her, her back limbs clenched to her back. As she ran she made a mental note to pay the pendragons she sent on this sort of pick-up more money in the future. She was please to find, however, that her brain was still functional, if not more functional under stress. Her brain was wizzing, trying to think of a way out of this situation. They were using infrared, that was obvious, they would also be surrounding the area. She wondered if it would be better to make a run for it, or count on Kertush and his people on being able to fly in and rescue them. <span style='color:purple'>"Alright,"</span> she began through her heaving breaths, <span style='color:purple'>"We have to find a mud pool, not the quicksand sinky sort of mudpool, but a safe one, mind you."</span> She hoped that Cassandra would have some idea of how to find such a feature. <span style='color:purple'>"If it is large enough, our body heat wont be visible. The bigger the better, because in a small pool our body heat will warm up all the surrounding mud and we will be visible. And not one that is too clear, we need a really muddy one. Water transfers heat faster than mud. And we need hollow reeds, like in the movies..."</span> It was the first thing she could come up with. She did not know how Kertush would be able to find them if the authorities couldnt, but her fist priority was not getting caught. <span style='color:purple'>"Or instead of the reeds, if you have any coldening spells for our heads that would be nice..."</span>
OOC: I hope you understand my delay of posting between getting back from vacation and getting back into school. I should be back to normal now, though. Finasis' spontaneous thinking was encouraging. Maybe with a little bit of luck, the two of them could make it out of this ordeal without being captured. "The mud sounds fine," replied Cassandra quickly without wasting any time. "Quickly, follow me. I think I remember where I saw a mud pool a while back when I first came here." The sounds of insects and other wildlife seemed to fade away as the ominous whirring of the helicopter blades became louder. [We barely have any extra time...] Cassandra was borderline of being panicked, yet she was able to keep herself maintained as she made a quick dash twenty feet from her current position to find a mud pool. Perhaps it wasn't the same one she had been thinking of originally. The entire swamp looked the same. What difference did it make though? It was big and murky, perfect for hiding in. "Forget the reeds, just hold your breath like your life depends on it...--it does," Cassandra spoke rapidly before walking into the mud pool, taking care not to disturb the pool too much. Even without their sophisticated technology, the government agents could take notice of tell-tail signs which could give away Cassandra and Finasis' hiding position. The muddy water was cold. Cassandra shivered slightly and took in a deep breath before submerging herself. Hopefully whatever valuables Finasis had used to pay Cassandra with for the drugs would not be ruined by the water. The mud pool was much bigger than Cassandra had thought. She couldn't see, but her limbs were able to explore and give "sight" to her so that she could tell the approximate size of the pool. It was big enough to hold about four dragons of her size, although, doing such a thing would be a bit of a squeeze. Nevertheless, Finasis would be able to fit into the pool with ease. The biggest question at hand was whether the two would be able to hold their breath long enough to evade capture. Cassandra already felt the mild tingle at the bottom of her lungs. Cassandra knew from experience that the body of a dragon was capable of going without a fresh breath of air for a somewhat long time. As an amateur at holding her breath, she suspected that she could last for about two minutes before darkness would begin to shroud her vision. If she wasn't out after two and a half--no three minutes at max, she would certainly black out and drown in the pool. Assuming that the officials would not take such a long time to search the area was a gambit. However, Cassandra had no other choice. Cassandra knew that she had the willpower to push her body to its limits in this mud pool. She just hoped that Finasis had that same discipline.
<span style='width:100%;font-weight:bold; font-size:10px'>Out of Character</span> <table class='ooc'><tr><td>Rarg, I understand. ^^ I will probably do the same thing one of these days.</td></tr></table> <span style='color:purple'>"Thank goodness,"</span> she muttered under her breath. She was no expert at assessing the closeness of helicopters (for most experiences she had with helicopters she was usually the one in them) but she could tell by Cassandra's speed that they did not have much time. She was glad they would not have to wander willy nilly to find what they were looking for. Finasis was getting angry rather than afraid at the approach of the helicopter. Fear was not something that came by her easily without being overshadowed by her anger of who and what was causing that fear. So it was with a grimace and not a face of fear that Finasis saw the pool they were headed for. She tucked the newspaper under her shirt, hoping that this would be enough to save what she had come here for. As she approached the pool and heard Cassandra's words, she cursed. She was about to ask if Cassandra was sure she couldnt just whip something up when the other 'dragon was under the surface. Finasis began to lower herself angrilly into the pool, making sure not to disturb the surface too much. She swam occationally, but she had little experience holding her breath. She was still in shape, and Finasis hoped that physical condition and lung capacity went hand in hand. With a deep breath, her head went under and she pulled her extra limbs under as well, clutching the newspaper to her chest. She knew from experience that she was a rather bouyant pendragon. Using her extra limbs she held on to some vines sticking out of the sides of the pool to keep herself from floating up. She tried to make herself as still as possible. Finasis did not know how long she could remain under here. She was sure though she would be up before Cassandra, if not simply pass out from the effort of trying to match her. If anything, her desire not to seem weak compared to another would help her to stay under longer. Maybe a minute and a half at most. Two minutes she figured would be pushing her estimation of herself. Once more she grew angry, not frightened. She would make note to train her lungs once she got out of this. At least if she passed out her body would float to the top and the authorities might find them in time to save her life. This thought comforted her. She heard the sound of helicopter blades over head. Hopefully, they were passing by without notice.
Forty-five seconds had passed since Cassandra had submerged. Her lungs were very uncomfortable. An achy-burning feeling rippled across her chest and back. No other bad signs though. Five seconds later, the muddled noises of the helicopter blades passed overhead and began to immediately fade. Cassandra's lungs wanted air, but she had a different desire--the desire to stay hidden long enough to insure that capture was completely evaded. Cassandra counted to twenty. Surely the search party had passed by. Cassandra shot up from the muddy water, gasping for air. So focused on breathing the humid swamp-air, Cassandra did not notice the sound of footsteps surrounding the mudpool. Six armored dragons had formed a ring around the mudpool and were aiming high powered automatic rifles: three at the pool and three at Cassandra. A dart stung Cassandra. She only had to glance at it briefly to recognize it. It was a type of tranquilizer, only instead of knocking the victim unconscious, it temporarily removed the victim's ability to use fronima. Cassandra was certainly not helpless without her magic, but such a fight against six well armed agents would be near impossible. Even with Finasis to lend a hand. Even had her magic not been removed, a fight at these odds still would have been dicey. Several more similar darts were fired into the water. One of them would no doubt strike Finasis and disable any control of magic she possessed, if she possessed any control at all. What mistake had the two made?... Cassandra only had to ponder the question briefly before remembering that the thermal scanning of the helicopter would see places where living beings had previously been. The ground under her feet had taken in small amounts of heat and slowly released it over a period of time. The thermal scanning could see this heat and effectively see footprints leading right into the mudpool. Cassandra was furious. In her rush to find hiding she had overlooked such a simple fact. The sounds of the helicopters which had faded for a brief amount of time now came back, ready to pick up the new prisoners. One of the six agents threw a capsule towards the mudpool. Before hitting the water, it exploded and a net jumped into the water. The large net engulfed both Cassandra and Finasis before knotting itself up. The fibers that made up the net were nano-fibers, nearly impossible to snap by any means at all. When the helicopters came overhead, a platform was lowered into which Finasis and Cassandra were moved into. The platform raised the net containing Cassandra and Finasis into a small metal compartment at the bottom of one of the helicopters. A small cell for transporting prisoners. The cell was somewhat small. However, it was large enough to give both Finasis and Cassandra comfortable breathing room. The cell was brightly lit also. However, Cassandra was not sure where the light was coming from. It appeared as though she was inside of a giant metal box. The entire room was completely bare Once Cassandra and Finasis had been involuntarily moved into the cell and the door was sealed shut, the net dissolved. Everything had happened so quickly from the capture to the move into this cell. Cassandra paced around the perimeter of the cell. She was not sure what to say about this. She had been taught about situations in which she might be captured. She had been told to look for anything which could offer means of escape, but the empty metal box held little promise of escape. Although, on the bright side of things, neither Cassandra nor Finasis had been stripped of their clothes or the articles in the hands or pockets. Somewhat unusual... "Well.. Well, well... What now?" Cassandra asked the question just as the helicopter took a lurch forward towards who knows where. She felt a slight throb where she had been hit by the dart. She pulled it out of her arm. The tranquilizer could last from one hour to as long as forty-eight hours depending on the dosage. Either way, she had a feeling that the cell she and Finasis were in was magic-proof.
Finasis was rather proud of herself as she floated there. Her plan was working, and she was lasting at least as long as Cassandra. She had forgotten to start counting when she sunk in the pool so she had no idea how long it had been. She knew her panic would only make her heart-rate increase and that consequentially she would need more air. So she held on to her feeling of pride and contentment to try and slow it. When Finasis was really beginning to hurt, and she could almost imagine falling asleep in the muddy water, she heard the sounds of Cassandra surfacing. Finasis followed quickly. As she swam up she felt a sudden puncture in her leg, but she did not stop to find out what it was. She had gotten in the pool a few seconds after Cassandra, and surfaced at nearly the same time. As Finasis wiped her muddied hair from her face and eyes her already damper mood sunk even lower. <span style='color:purple'>"Bugger,"</span> she said angrily. She was wondering how they had found their hiding place when a net fell on the two of them, and they were hauled up into the awaiting helicopter. She felt like flinging insults and threats, but instead she gritted her teeth and set her face with a stony angered expression. When they were finally deposited in the cell, Finasis stood and brushed herself off angrily. She took the newspaper out of her shirt. Other than a few muddied stains it remained dry and intact. Content, she folded it up and put it into her one of her many pockets. As she did she noticed that there was a dart sticking from her leg. With a roll of the eyes she pulled it from her leg and tossed it to the ground. She recognised the type of tranquilizer and gave a mental applause to whoever had thought of this. She also noticed that neither Cassandra nor Finasis had been searched. She mentally took inventory of what she had in her pockets. She had a fountain pen, a pad of paper which was ruined by mud now, a paperclip, a few loose pennies, and a small pocket knife she had brought incase there had been any trouble. Not exactly a treasure trove, but it was better than nothing. She also took inventory of what they had in the cell. Barely anything except a metal bench firmly attatched to one wall, and two fronima tranquilizers. At least it wont be too long a ride, Finasis thought, otherwise we would have other comforts as well in this cell. Whatever they planned would need to be relatively quick. They would not have a chance to scratch their way out of this metal box with a knife. She sat on the bench and watched Cassandra pace. Her empty wing limbs stretched out against the wall lazily. As Cassandra spoke, she sweeped her gaze across the room and noticed that there was a small mechanical window inside which there was no doubt a camera. <span style='color:purple'>"Whatever we do, let us be discreet,"</span> Finasis said, motioning her head to the camera. With a flicker of amusement, she noticed that the camera hole just might be large enough for a pendragon to squeeze through, that is if there was anywhere to go. She pulled the knife from her pocket, positioning it so that the camera could not see it from that angle. <span style='color:purple'>"Well this is what I got in the way of things to help us out. What have you got?"</span>
Cassandra glanced at the camera and then eyed the knife using her peripheral vision so that it was not obvious to anyone watching through the camera, what she was looking at. Cassandra, personally, had nothing on herself, save the purse containing the drug money. Being well trained in magics, she didn't usually rely on the knick-knacks that other dragons did such as pocket knives and the sort. Working for a drug lord, she carried no ID on her at all. She usually carried a blank cellphone, strictly for calling, but that had been tossed aside after the governmental agents had begun tracking it. Although Cassandra was no longer concerned with the money, but rather with her own well-being, she checked the purse anyways. Some of the material was damp, some was soaked. It would make no difference once it was properly dried anyways. No permanent damage had been done. After briefly glancing through the purse, she refocused towards Finasis. "I think you have just what we need. Excuse me, I hope you don't mind," Cassandra snatched the knife from Finasis' paws and palmed it, "but we must not waste any time." She moved towards the camera doing her best to use angles at her advantage to prevent the camera from seeing the knife. Once she was up against the wall, out of sight from the camera, Cassandra pushed the tip of the blade against the edge of the glass. There seemed to be no seem in which to insert the knife. Cassandra wiggled the knife back in forth, desperately trying to find a way to free the glass. The knife seemed to slip into a very small crevice when the chamber that Cassandra and Finasis were in suddenly rocked as if an earthquake was occurring. Cassandra steadied herself against the wall as the shaking passed. She waited as a few seconds passed. A screaming noise which was once soft quickly became louder and something slammed near the side of the chamber. The helicopter that Finasis and Cassandra were in had been hit by a projectile of some sort by the feel of things, but Cassandra could not say for sure what had happened. Something else struck the helicopter. This time it struck the chamber in which Finasis and Cassandra were staying in. A huge hole was created in the side of the chamber. Amazingly enough, no shrapnel had hit Cassandra or Finasis by the look of her. The motions of the helicopter were shaky and Cassandra had some difficulty keeping her balance. The noise of the wind whipping across the hole made Cassandra's voice sound soft as she yelled at Finasis. "Come on! This might be our only chance to escape!" Cassandra dropped the knife and re-secured the purse on her right arm before she grabbed Finasis from behind and lunged out of the hole without second thought. Using her wings, Cassandra was able to slow the decent of the two, but when they hit the ground, they still hit quite hard. Before hitting the ground, Cassandra had spun to the side so that both Finasis and Cassandra had shared the impact of the landing equally. They had landed on their left sides Cassandra let go of Finasis and rolled away onto her back, laying for a few minutes, enjoying the brief rest after such a landing. As she slowly shifted upright into a sitting position, Cassandra felt for any pains. A mild discomfort washed over the arm which she had landed on. It would soon pass within an hour at most, though. Her leg had a similar feeling. As Cassandra slowly stood up, she took a couple of staggered steps forward. She looked up for the helicopter from which the two had just jumped from, yet saw nothing. Perhaps the helicopter had been using some type of cloaking device to render it invisible to the unaided eye. Yet, Cassandra could not hear anything either. Strange, perhaps the helicopter had already crashed. Maybe Finasis and Cassandra had just narrowly avoided death... Cassandra surveyed the area around herself. She was no longer in the swamp. The two had landed on the outskirts of Bhim. A good thing for the most part. However, this late at night, without her fronima, Cassandra was only somewhat stronger than the average dragon. Most of the dragons in Bhim weren't "average either"... "If we can make our way safely into Bhim and find a phone, I think I can contact Kertush," spoke Cassandra. "Unless you have any better ideas... Either way, we must move quickly before our captors come back for us."
Finasis watched casually as Cassandra attempted to pry the glass off the camera. She wondered idly how attentive the security guards were, and wondered if they would come lumbering in to see what Cassandra was doing. She hoped not. Finasis crossed her legs and folded her paws on to her lap, letting her back limbs rest on the bench. Her head was held high, not on purpose it was just a force of habit. Finasis was grateful she had learned to fly a helicopter at one point in her life. If they did manage to escape from the cell, hijaking the helicopter would be their only course of action. But this plan was never put into action. The helicopter lurched. Finasis would have fallen off the bench if not for some quick-thinking limb which shot out in time. She grabed the bench with her arm and pulled herself back up. <span style='color:purple'>"What the hell was that?"</span> she asked wildly. But her comment went unheeded as the side of the compartment burst open. Finasis covered her eyes, but nothing came flying at her, it was all sucked out the side before it could make its way over to bother with her. She could even feel the slight pull on herself that the hole created. Her hair whiped at her face creating a world chopped up and intervaled with purple strands like tv static. She heard a faint voice, but she couldn't make out what was said, <span style='color:purple'>"What?"</span> she asked as she turned towards Cassandra, only to see the 'dragon running towards her. Finasis let out an indignant yelp as they fell from the helicopter. She watched the ground with a glare that of hatred, watching it come closer. She went limp as they hit the ground. She had read somewhere it was better to fall limp than tense, it gave you more bruises, but made you less likely to break something. She rolled on to her back, and spread out her arms and let out a groan. She strained her back limbs and lifted her limp self up to a sitting position, propping herself up as well. Her head fell back and through gritted teeth she hissed, <span style='color:purple'>"Never again. I am never doing this again."</span> She watched Cassandra stand with one eye open, the other lazily closed. At Cassandra's words she moved her head lazily back and forth, then dragged herself to a sitting position. She looked around. <span style='color:purple'>"Hey, I think I know where we are,"</span> Finasis said, <span style='color:purple'>"A couple miles that way is where we take care of some of our less shady business."</span> She stood strait, shaking off her laziness. She put a paw into her pocket to make sure her purchase was still inside, and once satisfied that it was safe, she nodded to Cassandra. <span style='color:purple'>"Alright, sounds like a plan. I know where there is a street phone from here. It might not be the closest one, but it is better than wandering around aimlessly at night. If we look like we know what we are doing, the street thugs will be less inclined to bother us."</span> She moved into the direction of the town holding her head high, her face back to its acustomed permanent expression of anoyance. Things were quieting down a little.
Cassandra nodded. Finasis' plan was a sound one. Cassandra did not hesitate to follow Finasis into Bhim. She used all means available to her to keep her wits about her and her eyes open as the two traversed. --- Safe and sound. Nothing had happened during the forty minute walk into and through Bhim. The sounds of helicopters in the distance could be heard from time to time. However, the government had lost its trail--Cassandra and Finasis were safe, for now. Cassandra and Finasis had walked with such a posture that they were not threatened by any dragons. A little bit of luck and a little bit of knowledge of street survival. Nevertheless, Cassandra and Finasis now stood in an alley way in front of a telephone booth. One end of the alleyway was blocked off by brick, a dead end. The other end of the alley way opened up into a small park type area with a crumbling statue and some flora growing here and there. The benches of that humble place were rotted and rusty, clearly in need of repair. The alleyway itself contained the phone booth and two dumpsters directly opposite of the phone booth. Bits of paper and other miscellaneous garbage was scattered here and there in the alleyway. The walls making up the alleyway were gray brick. From a distance they might have looked like reinforced concrete. The buildings which made up the walls were abandoned and boarded up. All of the windows were broken but covered with a few pieces of wood. The sky above the two females was clear. The lack of artificial light from any nearby sources allowed the stars to be seen. The beauty of night skies like these was the type of glory that could inspire, and almost lift up the spirits a little, the urchins of Bhim. Cassandra would have preferred a cloud sky for the sake of hiding from aerial vehicles. However, as had been proven in the swamps earlier, physical obstacles meant nothing to the heat-seeing machines. Cassandra stepped into the phone booth and dialed to make a collect call to Kertush. The phone rang once before it was picked up. "This is Kertush. Who am I speaking to?" "Glazed eyes can be a sign of drug-induced stress, this is Cassandra Aeroth." Kertush let out a brief sigh of relief. "Its good to hear from you again. Presumably not from a jail, though." "No. The client, Finasis, and I are in the middle of Bhim hiding from government officials. We need to stay low for a while and find a safe place where we can hang until things cool down. In addition, my fronima powers have been temporarily neutralized by a tranquilizer." "I'll tell you what. I've got a good pal in Bhim. He is a drug salesman too, but he pretends to sell jewelery. I'll tell you how to find his shop from central Bhim. While you two are traveling, I'll give him a call so he'll be expecting you two. He'll have something whipped up for your fronima problem by the time you get there. I'm also hoping to get a few of my agents to meet you at the shop and you guys can group up and venture out of the city alive." "Alright, tell me where to go." Kertush gave Cassandra directions and Cassandra hung up and told Finasis what the plan was. "I'm thinking that we should go ahead and follow Kertush's directions. Unless you have a better idea, in which case I could call Kertush back and let him know." Cassandra looked at Finasis, waiting for an answer. Finasis had not let Cassandra down so far, if she had a different plan, Cassandra would be more than happy to take it into consideration.
Out of the wild, Finasis was begining to slip back into her calm calculating personality. Though the pospect of being captured at any moment and being bodyguarded by a 'dragon who was not under emply still did something to hamper her mood, she was getting there. She could not act too much like herself with someone who could just as well abandon her if she so felt. She had to be humble. She waited while Cassandra called Kertush, glad once more that Cassandra had allowed Finasis to tag along. On her own, she would have had to make her way to the opposite end of the island, which was where her own base of operations was stationed. There was no one who would do her a 'favor' within fifty miles. It helped to have friends. She eyed Cassandra, as she related the plan and nodded. <span style='color:purple'>"It seems like a perfectly reasonable plan,"</span> Finasis conceded, as long as this person is as loyal as Kertush seems to think he is. But Finasis had no real doubts there, only paranoia induced by the chase. <span style='color:purple'>"I think we might want to walk though. They might already have lookout warnings for us. Taxis and buses would needlessly expose us."</span>
