starbeast (starbeast) wrote in olympian_rewind, @ 2011-04-09 20:39:00 |
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Entry tags: | atlas, natal maltose, npc |
Who: Atlas (Natal Maltose) & Freyra w/Freyr (Janelle & Jarrod Delmar)
What: SERIOUS BUSINESS
Where: Atlas’ truck house in The Everglades
When: Recently
Warnings: None.
“Local homeless man wanted for questioning by the MDPD for this and other mysterious property destruction incidents,” Janelle recited from memory now as she stared out from the passenger side of the modified camouflaged painted van through the Everglades. Her tone dripped with irritation and fury, “‘Natal Maltose is believed to be armed and dangerous,” warns Sgt. Bartholomew Gallows. “If you encounter Natal Maltose, do not approach him. Dial 911 and let the MDPD handle the situation.’ Sgt. Gallows has another thing coming...”
“Yes, you mentioned that already, Sis,” Jarrod replied softly, keeping his sister in sight even as he drove. Her tone wasn’t lost on him. Her narrowed features and furious tapping wasn’t either. He took a deep breath as he shook his head. She appeared so angry and he knew she would but... he knew it was more than that and brought the van to a complete stop. “I’m not driving any further until you calm down.”
His words did little to calm her but it did deflect her fury onto him, “You better move this van because I will not be calming down until we reach...”
“He’s fine. Maltose and the tree are both fine,” Jarrod said firmly but softly as he rested his hand against his sister’s cheek. “You worry too much about all of us.”
Gently, she rested her hand over his, closing her eyes but only for a moment. Just as quickly she tore it away from her, “Move this van. Now.”
Jarrod merely nodded. That was as calm as his sister was going to get without seeing things with her own eyes. Not that she was going to be very calm after that either. The van moved once more.
Atlas was at the center of a rare confluence of events. Not only had he been holed up inside his truck house for an extended period of time, he was also busily at work typing up his paperwork. The Israelis were almost out of his hair. This decision was predicated almost as much on their actual readiness as Atlas’ mounting frustration with dealing with them. When they were gone, Atlas was done, and he needed to make sure everything was in order before then.
Atlas’ hands hunted and pecked at the keyboard. He had had the humans’ computers explained to him, but he had ignored everything except the essentials. As such, his typing was far from excellent, and the going was slow. Sun streamed cheerily through his window, but frustration still grew within him. When it became intolerable, he would look at the little sapling sitting on the table near his small printer. It was enough to keep him going. For now.
Distraction, however, could not be warded off forever, especially with Atlas seeking it desperately after a point. When the noise of a truck engine drifted in through his window, Atlas’ work was forgotten in a moment. Atlas watched as an odd-looking jeep pulled up in front of his truck house. He continued staring at it after it stopped, waiting to see who would emerge.
The van was put into park and Jarrod leaned over to his sister, "See, he's fine."
"Shut up," she replied immediately. Those were the last words she shared with her twin before throwing open her door and leaping out of the van with a rolled up print out of the Miami Herald in hand.
At least her full storm ceased three feet in front of Atlas. Actually facing Atlas, she now wondered if he even knew what kind of trouble he had brought upon himself. Her anger bled away from... at least from the height of its intensity. Her voice even managed to sound calm, "Do you realize the human authorities are looking for you?"
“No,” Atlas answered honestly, confusion tinging his voice. He leaned out of the window to better face Freyra. Something was bothering her, but that was nothing new to Atlas. “Should I be? Is this some new test for me and my trainees?”
Atlas frowned. He tried to determine whether such sabotage would seem logical or illogical to the witch, or whether she thought in such terms at all.
Janelle let out the longest sigh she could muster. He didn’t know. Not one bit. He was sitting out in the middle of the Everglades with no idea that the humans were looking for him... Of course. Just of course. She just handed him the rolled up print out.
“I remember that picture,” Atlas said, pointing to a picture of him in a loose fighting stance. “Not that one.” Atlas pointed at the other picture, where his face was obscured. The first photo had been taken while he was fighting with the short-lived FUC. That had been fun.
Under Freyra’s intense glower, Atlas halted his trip down memory lane and began reading the article she had thrust at him. He mumbled the words quietly as he read.
“Read more about the new commenting system on MiamiHerald.com,” he finished. He looked at the page for a moment before turning to Freyra. His face was screwed up in confusion. “What is this?”
"Long story short. The Humans took a picture of you as you destroyed their drone. Then they cross referenced it and now they are looking for you. Around here." There. That sounded like a summary she may have given at a council meeting so she was relatively certain that it would work for Atlas as well. She crossed her arms over her chest, "You can't stay here. Not until Jimmy finishes smoothing this over and Harry and me program a new drone for them."
She couldn't help but shake her head, "Why did you even destroy it?"
Atlas could see the picture of himself in the paper he held, but the situation still didn’t make sense to him.
“How did they get this picture?” Atlas asked nonplussed. “And what did I even destroy? I’ve been here, watching those Israelis like a goatherd watches goats. I haven’t even seen any other humans in weeks. Months.” He hadn’t even visited Wisdom in that time. He had been less isolated on his mountaintop.
“I was less isolated on my mountaintop!” he added for good measure.
Now it was her turn to be confused. She even turned to shout the question that plagued her mind to her brother in Elven. He merely nodded as he kicked his feet up on the dashboard of the van as he waited. Yes, she had indeed said “drone”. That meant the Titan either was terrible at connecting dots or didn’t know what a “drone” was...
Janelle’s anger was quickly cooling into frustration. She had to believe the latter. A being that had spent eons watching stars had to be better at connecting dots. “The drone took the picture before you destroyed it. Drones are pretty much flying cameras that the Humans fly around. Sometimes they attach weapons to them...” Making them the coolest, deadliest toy in existence but she kept that opinion to herself. “And before you destroyed theirs, it took a picture of you. So they know you did it.”
“Flying camera?” Atlas asked incredulously. He knew what those two words meant, but not jammed together like that. He shook his head, clearing it of the nonsense humans had built. “The only flying thing I’ve killed recently was some big, annoying bug.”
Atlas paused a moment, then growled angrily as realization hit him.
“How was I supposed to know the humans had a ‘flying camera’ that looked and sounded like a big bug?” he asked peremptorily.
It actually looked like a big bug? Hmm, if it did, these Humans are both more creative than I gave them credit for and even more ridiculous. Bugs don’t come that big anymore. I’ll give Maltose this one for now. I like his way better. “Well,” she began, taking the pause to both run her fingers through her hair and fix it back behind her ears from where it left when she flew out the van. It also gave her a chance to think about Atlas’ question. Technically, it had been her shortsightedness about not looking into the Miami drones and the possibly of them crossing yet another male in her little clan that would whack it out of the sky with some sort of projectile. But she would never admit that, “it is news to us as well until this decided to come up. Harry will be prompt to debrief us once he goes over the new drone we have to give them to replace this.”
The fact that Atlas may not know she was talking about Heimdall did not matter to her. She crossed her arms once again, “Regardless, they have your photo and for now, you’re a wanted criminal. This area will be filled with nosy Humans sooner rather than later. I’m not saying you can’t return here but for now, until Jimmy clears this up, we need to leave this area and evade them. A confrontation is with them is not worth the trouble it would bring.”
“Whatever,” Atlas said magnanimously and shrugged his shoulders “I’m done with the Israelis. They’re out now, but you can pick them up here in a day or two. I’ve seen all I need to evaluate them and taught them for as long as I can stand to. I’ll take my house and go.” He studiously left out where he would go. He would eventually leave Miami, but there were people he needed to see first.
“They can consider evading the authorities until we pick them up their final exam.” Janelle likewise shrugged and then put her hands in her pockets. If they couldn’t avoid the MDPD then they definitely would just find themselves blown apart in the number of armed conflicted they would promptly be sent to overseas under the employ of Ridgekeep. “You shouldn’t have to go too far. Just out of the Everglades as that is where they are searching. We should be able to sweep this under the rug rather quickly.” It would be amazing how easily events would probably disappear when charismatic Baulder spoke to people with check to balance police department budgets in one hand, identification stating they are working for the “interests of national security” in the other and a new drone in the truck he came with.
Atlas smirked. He knew the “authorities” wouldn’t find the Israelis, but it was fun to pretend. His smirk quickly faded, however, and Atlas became thoughtful.
“I will leave as soon as we’re done talking,” he said without his usual mocking tone, “and before I crush any more bugs, I’ll make sure they aren’t some human contraptions.” Atlas couldn’t quite bring himself to apologize to or thank Freyra for the trouble he had caused her and the work she was doing to protect him. Doing as he was ordered without complaint and an oblique promise not to do it again would have to suffice.
Doing as he was ordered without complaint? Any form of promise not to do it again? Janelle couldn’t believe how easy this was. Clearly, for the moment, she had forgotten her fury all the way to Miami and didn’t consider any annoyance she might encounter on the way back. No. She wasn’t looking the gift horse in the mouth. It was too novel and she was too appreciative for it. “Good. I will inform you when it is clear to return. Try to stay under the radar until then.”
Atlas’ smirk returned, and he chuckled as if he found Freyra’s request amusing. His period of contrition had not lasted long.
“Don’t worry,” Atlas said boisterously. “I’ll use this time to visit with friends.” It sounded innocent enough, but Atlas’ intentions weren’t quite so pure.
“Try not to get your friends in trouble. You are still currently wanted,” Janelle warned but that was all. She wasn’t his mother and even if she was either she doubted he would alter whatever plans he currently had. She doubted he was even talking about an actual friend. His “don’t worry” conveyed it all to her.
But no matter. She shrugged, “I will be in Miami until Jimmy clears this up. If you do get yourself in more trouble with the humans, call me or my brother.”
At that, Jarrod honked the horn of the van and waved. Not that he shifted from his lounging at all.
Mirth danced in Atlas’ eyes at Freyra’s words, but he kept his laughter to himself, this time.
“Good to know,” he replied, “but I don’t plan on getting in more trouble with the humans.”
Not while there are much more fun targets to get in trouble with, he added silently.
Janelle shook her head and resisted the urge to throw up her hands in further display as she turned from him, “I don’t want to know, Maltose. I just don’t.”
As soon as she turned and began to head back to the van, Jarrod kicked his feet off the dashboard and revved the jeep-van back to life.
Atlas spared no time watching Freyra’s retreating back. He leaped into the house portion of his truck house and began putting away his paperwork and his computer setup. Freyra herself had told him to leave now, and Atlas wasn’t saddened to put his boring duties aside and follow orders.
Just being a good little soldier, he joked to himself.
Leaping back out of his house, Atlas found that Freyra, her brother, and their odd truck were out of sight. Atlas felt relieved at their absence. He would never put it past the witch to follow him. He pulled himself up into the cab of the truck portion of his truck house and put Freyra out of his mind. Atlas felt he would never get the hang of this “driving” business, and he wouldn’t start his truck without running through the directions on how to start and operate it several times. Completing his ritual, he turned the key and put the truck into gear. The truck rumbled off through the swamp towards Miami, and soon the marsh returned to its desolate silence.
Summary: Freyra storms out to Atlas’ truck house in a rage. He has another thing coming if he thinks he can cause trouble without raising her ire. What? He did it by accident? Will Freyra’s anger hold in the face of a confused and contrite Atlas? And just where will Atlas go now that the humans are hunting him?