Hades smiles at the question. His ribs were aching a little bit after the ride. Evidently the lady was not used to riding motorcycles. "No we are not going to fight. You may have started that bar fight and blamed me for it but I might have inadvertently dragged you into something deeper. So.. I guess we are even.We should see to that cut of yours, and I am guessing that your ribs ache rather badly. If they are broken I have the equipment to set them. Come."

With that Hades let the lady into his safe house. He led them into a room that was well equipped to handle all but the most serious of medical emergencies. He gestured to the cabinets. "Let me know if you need any help. I am medically qualified." Well he was, and to be honest had far too much experience in medical matters. And he figured that as they did not know each other very well she might want some privacy especially if she needed to set her ribs.

Pausing at the door he turned and said. "I am going to fix some food, would you like some?" Then almost as an after thought he said "By the way what should I call you? Now that you know my name and I am no longer "Baldy"". He awaited her reply.

> "No we are not going to fight."

She let herself sag then. Good. Even better that he gave her a quick recap of what they'd just been through. Noel wasn't sure what the greater danger he'd roped her into might be, but... well, future Noel could worry about that one.

> "Come."

She followed him. It might seem weird that she trusted him, but she hadn't tasted a single lie thus far.

"So are you somebody's stunt double or..." or did she even want to know? Noel pushed the flyaways from her face that had plastered themselves to her sweat. She was going to need a shower.

> "Let me know if you need any help. I am medically qualified."

"I am not." She inspected the spread all the same. If things looked even the slightest bit used, she could see how it was used previously. Though medical equipment was usually well cleaned. Noel poked at the flap of cloth at her shoulder and looked back through the cabinet of supplies. She would need a shirt too. After that shower.

Food? Noel still felt queasy. After that passed, maybe she'd want some, but for now. "Maybe just water? Please." The please might have been an afterthought, but at least she'd remembered to tack it on.

> "By the way what should I call you?"

She'd already turned back to the medical cabinets so he didn't get the full force of her odd expression. In answer, she pulled back the sleeve of her left arm and showed him the first tattoo she'd ever gotten. It was a black tattoo on her wrist. Serif font. An inch or so tall. "Noel." That's all it said. And that was that. She went back to her poking about. Once he was gone, she would get that shirt off and see what she could do.

Hades could she that Noel relaxed once reassured they were not going to get into physical conflict. She was a curious one. Durable, and not too bad of a fighter. In all that combat he had not seen her kill a single person. All of her strikes had been clean, too clean. That spoke of training, that spoke of very very good training. That she displayed such a high degree of accuracy and proficiency even while slightly intoxicated spoke volumes for the actual skill she could bring to bear when completely in her right mind and sober. A fact that Hades filed away.

>"So are you somebody's stunt double or.."

Hades laughed at this comment. "Think special operations, black ops, that kind of thing, and you wont go too far wrong." Well firstly that was not far from the truth. Secondly Hades wasn't not one to brag. He was one of the most successful Hit-man/Assassin in History, and that was based on the hits that people knew about, which was less than an eighth of his real count, but Hades was not one to brag. He was the best, not the most well known and wished to keep it that way. To be honest he did not think about it very much. He enjoyed the challenge of planning a hit, to test his skill, to hone it, to learn, to evolve to ever increase proficiency. Never did he feel the need to brag or compare himself with others.

>"Maybe just water? Please."

"Sure, although once your stomach settles, I would suggest some sustenance before you rest." It actually sped up the healing process, Hades knew this from medical studies and from personal experience. Also He had a sneaking suspicion that the Davronski's might make a move soon. that is what he would do. Strike while the prey is recovering. As soon after he has reached a place of perceived safety. That way one has a high chance of catching him off guard.

>"Noel."

Hmm, Noel, Hades rolled the name around in his head a few times. Noel was turning out to be a rather intriguing woman. She was beautiful, but that was of marginal importance. Hades was currently more interested in her character, skills and mutation. All good things to know if said person may soon be embroiled in another fire fight. From what he observed in the alleyway, Noel had some kind of memory mutation. Those moves with the cloth were common enough, but at least one of them had only been invented while he was in training, and was never spread outside. So unless she was of his age, she had picked it up from him. Also the way she used the cloth, it was almost as if she had been taught the theory but had never applied it. Oh well.

"Well, nice to meet you Noel. I will leave the water outside the door and a set of spare clothes. I will be in the next room down the hall if you need anything."

He suspected she might, judging by the pounding that her ribs had taken, but then again Hades had learned to never underestimate the stubbornness of people. he set went to the living room, pulled out a smaller medical kit and rapidly and expertly patched up his cuts then proceeded to cook a quick dish of asian fried rice. Soon the comforting aroma filled the kitchen.

Black Ops? It was the first things that didn't taste of the full truth. Hades didn't have a military bearing. Not exactly. Something to think about.

He was courteous and gave her space, promised to bring her some things she needed. It was sort of strange. Did most people make instant allies like this? He seemed... kind. Well, at least polar. Brutal to his enemy. Protective of his ally. He probably wanted something from her.

One thing at a time.

Once she was sure she was alone, Noel took a moment to let herself hurt and explore her current limitations. She bent forward, lifted her arms, and tested her range of motion until it hurt. She was not pleased. She'd been incredibly sloppy.

Noel peeled her button up shirt off and shimmied her stretchy tank down rather than lifting her arms up to get it over her head. She had to find a mirror to properly inspect her cut. The wound was long, but most of it had stopped bleeding. It seemed deeper at her shoulder than at her neck. Probably didn't need stitches. Probably. Noel cleaned the cut with alcohol and antiseptic then closed it as best she could with butterfly closure bandaids. She plopped a large adhesive bandage on her shoulder where the blood was still seeping out and called that one good.

The bruising... Noel explored her ribs tenderly. As far as she could remember there wasn't anything that could be done if the ribs were cracked. If broken, they'd need to make sure the pieces weren't shredding her on the inside, but she felt that she was moving too well for anything to be really broken. She decided on some tiger balm. Noel had to dig for it, but she did find some. Anybody who came home with regular bruising kept some of the stinky ointment on hand. Especially ninjas.

Her clothes were so much scrap. Her bra strap held on by a few strings. Her shirts were bloodied and ripped. She kept her under tank (it was only missing one shoulder and minorly bloodied), but discarded the rest into the sink and doused them with hydrogen peroxide, not sure why, but that's what people did.

She needed to make a few notes on her phone just in case, but overall Noel was feeling a bit better. The memorymancer pat the back pocket of her jeans and hesitated. No phone. She checked all her pockets. And all around the room. She dashed out of the medical room so fast, she kicked right into the water Hades had left for her. "Crap." It spilled right onto the shirt she scooped up. Another button up. He'd taken her soreness into account, no doubt.

Noel was only half-way into the new, though damp, shirt when she found the kitchen area. It smelled awesome and did make her reconsider his food offer, but there were more important things afoot. "I need a computer." She held her side and grit her teeth as she tried to shrug her way into the damp shirt. "Need to remote wipe my phone. It's not here."

As Hades cooked he mused over the day's turn of events. To someone who did not know Hades they might view his actions as strange, almost bi-polar. While it was true that Hades did not grow up with what most people would call morality or even to some degree humanity, he did live by a code. In the Merc/wet work/elite assassin circle, most members of said informal group at least knew of if not had encountered each other. There was a unspoken code. As long as your hit was not the other person you left each other alone. If you had the same hit, anything was game. If neither of those situations were true and you encountered one in need or ended up fighting alongside each other, it was curtesy to extend the basics to the other. I.e shelter, food, access to medical supplies and sometimes even the chance to re-arm. After all, they were all where they were because of skills and contracts and clients were fickle things, one day you might be enemies, the next contract might have you working as a team together.

In this particular case, Hades had brought Noel back with him for a few reasons. Firstly, he was curious to know if there was a reason behind the bar fight, secondly now he had seen it in action he was curious about her power, if it was what he suspected, she might be useful in a personal quest of his. Then during combat, she had aquitted herself well. She was well trained, and disciplined. Even in her semi-sober state she had the discipline to not kill, he hoped she would have no qualms to kill when the need arose but that was another matter. She seemed to know her limits, evidenced by the simple fact of when she chose to switch weapons and other clues that Hades observed. Then she was professional, bruised rib and not a word of complaint. Finally the fact that she was attractive did not hurt matters. In fact in some ways she was beginning to remind Hades of some of his fellow tradesmen. That is why he extended her the same access to the basics. If she showed by her actions that she did not understand or respect the unwritten rules, well, Hades regard of her would go downhill very fast from there.

Hades turned as Noel emerged trying to shrug her attractive frame into a now sopping wet shirt. The end result was that she actually looked more attractive than before.

Hades by this time had changed into more relaxed clothes, cargo pants, t-shirt and a hoodie. The sleeves were pushed up so he could cook, revealing a yellow wristband that was given to him by a friend. Upon hearing the request he pointed to a monitor and pullout keyboard tray set into one of the walls.

"Help yourself."

Elsewhere. Agent 5 from Cell 2 had retrieved the cellphone of the female last seen in the company of the target. It was currently in a docking station with the hacker of the team trying to gain access to the information stored within. So far they Hades a name, Noel Gage. A quick search through their databases revealed a current address and that her employment was listed as "Security Guard". They also obtained an e-mail address. Suddenly the phone when into emergency erase mode and despite the hacker's best efforts he was not able to retrieve any additional data. The data they had was deemed sufficient and Cell 2 deployed shortly afterwards, heading for the address listed. [OCC: up to you whether Noel sees that they have her address and started to gain access to her phone, also feel free at this point to Gmod Cell 2 into doing something that might make Noel stay, i.e destroying house/ kidnapping roommate etc]

Following the tracker attached to the motorcycle had led Cell 1 to a house in a gated community. Once the tracker ascertained that the targets had not left the premises, he radioed back. Cell 1 geared up to deploy.

Unaware of the forces being deployed against him and his new found companion. Hades once again offered Noel food then settled down to eat.

Noel took command of the computer keyboard like a starving man might take command of a sandwich. The light of the screen felt like it was singing her corneas and sent her eyes into a rapid back and forth, but this was important.

She'd always been rather good with her hands, a first adopter with new technology, and a natural with her smartphone. It was her lifeline. Photos, numbers, names. Literally everything about her life was carefully documented. She couldn't lock the phone for fear that she would forget how to unlock it. She'd been meaning to upgrade to one of those fingerprint phones, but.. well, it just seemed like so much marketing right now rather than actual, reliable security.

Quick fingers brought her through a version of the browser that wouldn't keep cookies, onto the internet, through her password protected cloud backup, and straight into the GPS locator and remote wipe functionality of her phone.

The phone was a few blocks from the bar. South. And moving.

Her blood ran cold. She was almost certain that they'd ridden north.

Noel hit the emergency remote wipe and trusted the software to handle itself. She turned to Hades, expecting him to be hovering. The memorymancer caught his eyes and realized her mutation was actively making her pupils shake so she re-directed her focus to his lips and talked toward his chin like that was perfectly normal.

She opened her mouth, but found herself hesitating. She just didn't want to spout out her every weakness to a guy, a dangerous guy, she'd just met. "I..." She rolled her lips in on themselves, a nervous habit that could easily lead to lip chewing.

"Oh hell, I don't even know where to start." Noel all but fell into a chair at the table and then winced out her regret. "Someone had my phone. GPS had it heading south. I erase memories and that's a power that cuts both ways. My backup, my life, is documented very carefully so I can fill in the holes." She tapped her forearm through the damp sleeve to indicate her tattoo. "I have to be thorough."

And now her mouth felt like it was full of sawdust and her head was throbbing full throttle. And somebody had her phone. "I'm not worried about the data I lost. I'm worried about how much somebody saw in the time between when I lost it and now."

Hades considered what Noel had said. Noel, he rolled the name around in his mind, it was a nice name. Out loud he said, "Can you give me the phone number?"

He took over the keyboard and brought up a program tapping in the number and activating sequences. "This is a tracker and data logger. If anything at least we will know where they end up." Hades could not be sure, but he had his suspicions. It was time to bring Noel up to speed on things and find out if she would turn out to be an ally or an enemy. "Why don't you grab a drink and some food if you want, and come with me to the living room. I suspect we have much to talk about."

The living room was a comfortable but simple affair, decorated in a slightly Japanese styled. Hades waited until they were both seated before looking at Noel straight in the eye. "Noel, I need to ask you a few questions, after which I will do my best to explain what is going on and answer any questions that you may have." Usually Hades would go first, it was easier to build trust that way but considering the circumstances Hades needed to know that Noel was indeed an ally and at least a brief knowledge of her abilities and skills if they were going to get out of this alive. He pressed a button on the table and behind him a projector started playing a short looped video. It was the security camera feed from the bar, showing the glass flying out of Noel's hand, hitting the biker and then Noel pointing at Hades.

"Firstly, was that intentional, perhaps I should be more direct, Did you come with the intent to harm me? Secondly, I know you are skilled with the sword, but, as much as you are able to can you describe your abilities as a memorymancer?"

Hades casually began to eat, all the while he was ready to respond to anything. He would have preferred a less direct approach but if his suspicions were true, and evidence was mounting up, then they had precious little time if they wanted to stay alive.

Noel moved to see what Hades did with the information she supplied for him. She was having a good run of things lately. She even remembered her current address. She knew that she should probably start taking notes now.

> "Why don't you grab a drink and some food if you want, and come with me to the living room..."

Yeah. They had plenty to talk about. Like his ninja prowess and the fact that he could swallow a sentence like "I erase memories" without flipping out like so many others. He also worked hard for eye contact despite her trying her best to evade it. Not personal. Not even an evasion, but people really didn't like her after she'd applied that memory power to them.

She chewed these thoughts and more over as she went to inspect the kitchen fare and decide if she could stomach it. He didn't seem worried about her being in his space. Like at all. Noel decided that rice was probably as safe as it got for upset tummies, but she would definitely need to rinse her mouth. She got as far as turning the water on before she realized that her hands had touched his keyboard.

The memorymancer glanced back at Hades over her shoulder. She could have some answers now...

She licked the pads of her fingers and focused. Sure, she would get memories centered around the hands and that was a bit disorienting at times, but knowing what a man did for a living with those hands was invaluable.

Memories poured in. She saw plenty of technology. He was no slouch in that department. And weapons. And blood. So much blood.

Noel stumbled at the kitchen sink with the water still running and memories slipping equally fast through her mind. So many memories!

The oldest. She tried to hone in on it, but it was slippy and dim. And old. Not Sebastian old. That had given her a migraine only a unicorn could heal, but this... she rinsed out her mouth with water and hastily shut the tap off. It wouldn't stop the mental connection she'd made, but it did help her stank breath.

200 years, she decided. He was something on the order of 200 years old and he was an assassin. Suddenly nervous and feeling quite inconsequential, Noel scooped out some fried rice for herself and filled a cup. Her hands were shaking as she sat in the living room with a man that could kill her 50,000 different ways.

And he had video evidence of her in a bar starting the fight.

He had said they were good. That they wouldn't fight. That hadn't been a lie, at least not at the moment he spoke the words, he believed them. Now...?

"If I didn't see the video, I wouldn't believe it myself." Despite the fact that she was intimidated to New Jersey and back, Noel found the footage fascinating. Did she move like that? Why was she even in a bar to begin with? "I have no memory of this event. Uh, but that's quite normal after a fight." She met his eyes for a brief moment and then focused on his ear. She gave that ear some sincere eye contact as she huffed out a breath and reminded herself that a fight was not what this assassin was after at the moment.

A residual echo of some altercations where Hades had used his bare hands to squeeze the life out of someone flicked behind her eyes.

Had to be careful.

"I don't drink." She could say that because she believed it to be true, she'd never drunk a drop in her life... that she could remember. "Uh. Under normal circumstances. Usually. Ugh." Noel put down the drink and the rice and pressed the palms of her hands into her eyes. It didn't really help the shaking or the headache.

"You are asking if I targeted you. I did not. I work in protection for chrissakes." She dropped her hands and did her absolute best to keep her power on its leash as she gave Hades the eye contact he seemed to crave. She was honest and direct. "I blamed you, another anomaly for my behavior which is equally inexcusable. If you'd been a normal man, God!" He would have been killed. She would have been killed.

Noel chewed her lip and tried her best to think of what he needed to know about her abilities. "Psycometry and erasure. And lies. I... taste lies."

As Noel entered the room, she seemed more on edge, more nervous.

>"If I didn't see the video, I wouldn't believe it myself. I have no memory of this event. Uh, but that's quite normal after a fight."

Hmm, that was...unexpected but Hades was prepared to wait before rendering judgement.

>"You are asking if I targeted you. I did not. I work in protection for chrissakes. I blamed you, another anomaly for my behavior which is equally inexcusable. If you'd been a normal man, God!"

If Hades had been normal, if he had been normal, well he would have died long ago. He was never sure what mortals meant when they said the word normal. Alot of the time what they defined as normal, was unfocused chaotic, without rhyme or reason.

>"Psycometry and erasure. And lies. I... taste lies."

Ahhh HA! Very interesting. While Hades knew that he was at least more than 100 years old. He had always suspected memory tampering. That along with god knew what else had been done to design him and his brood of efficient killers. The injections, the fuzzy spaces in memory, the dreams. The dreams had started again. Dream that Hades had verified himself. How could he possibly dream about a historic event that he knew nothing about and have it be 100% accurate, with additional details as to what really happened. He had even dreamed vividly about fighting along side a Chinese emperor and could recall the names of the soldiers and captains. A large sum of money and a few years later, the researchers he had hired verified his stories. How could he remember the names of more than 20 foot soldiers in a vast Chinese army, people who were so insignificant that they did not even get a foot note in most historical records, his dream was verified from old old family records. Either the memories were from someone else or... Hades mentally stopped the train of thoughts. Regardless, if they both came out of the current situation alive and IF Noel was still alive and IF she was still interested in helping him, he might make some headway as to who he actually was. But that was beside the point now. As she had said the words Hades observed her face, looking for micro expressions that would indicate lies. He found none. Satisfied he broke eye contact and collected his thoughts.

Out loud he said. "Thank you for being honest with me. One more question if I may, when you say Psycometry, would I be able to say think specific thoughts while touching an object, hand the object to you and essentially leave you a message?"

If that were true that would be very very useful indeed. Switching off the video he continued. "My turn. From what you have told me and your change in body language I suspect you may know a little of who and what I am. Allow me to clarify." He took a breath before continuing.

"In short, Noel, I am an assassin and hit-man." He paused for a second then decided to throw in. "As well as a mutant."

He picked a point slightly above her head so as not to be distracted by her face and continued. "I specialize in every thing from information extraction (torture), object and personal extraction to assassination and more. I have been doing this for a very very long time." Well either way that was the understatement of the year. If his dream were.. well just dreams, then he was probably more than 100 perhaps 200 years old. If they were not....he could be in excess of 2000 years old, well that was the Qin dynasty he remembered fighting alongside. As for his history it would have to wait. Hades had realized that in the haste to excape he had not scanned his bike for tracking devices. It was too late to change now and it would be more productive to bring Noel up to speed for a variety of reasons.

"Along they way I have made a number of enemies." That again was an understatement."Among with is a family or company called the Davronski's, they are Russian based organization, doing contract hits and the like. They typically operate in teams of 5 or more and are well trained and equipped. I had hoped after the events 5 years ago that they would think me dead but I suspected that I was spotted during the fight." He paused to take a drink of water.

"The Davronski's do not often allow mutants in their ranks but they have been known to collect them to try and create serums that would allow all of their troops to temporarily have the same power, like the drug M but mroe focused."

"They might have been here on a job or specifically searching for me but now I suspect that we are both on their radar, me for obvious reasons and my powers and you for both your possible connection to me and your powers."

Hades awaited her response. He suspected with what he had seen so far that she would not freak out but one never knew. Aside from her sword training, the only thing that he know about her experience was that she worked in security, which while might well be challenging was a far cry from the world of assassins and hit-men.

He turned pensive, no doubt thinking over their previous contact and re-examining their communication. Had he lied to her? Had she lied to him? In Noel's experience, killers were often polar: wholly liar or brutally earnest. Hades seemed to fall in the latter category.

"I have the capacity to lie," Noel pointed out, "but not without consequence." Besides, she did NOT want on this guy's bad side.

"I've never tried a mental message as such, but you could touch an item and talk to it. Put it to your lips, even, and I wouldn't miss what you've said."

> "In short, Noel, I am an assassin and hit-man. As well as a mutant."

With her forewarning, Noel was able to nod along as if this were a normal, everyday confession. Her power in conjunction with basic logic could confirm. "You don't get a name like Hades for winning "lawn of the week."" Definitely a killer and a mutant. She didn't fail to notice that he didn't supply what kind of mutant he was. Unfair since she'd been pretty much forced out into the open, but... well, she was rather at his mercy for the time being.

"One thing I need to know," before she could eat and now that he knew roughly what she could do, "can I trust you?" He had a personal moral code. Maybe even honor. She could tell based on his actions.

Everyone will betray you eventually. She had that tattooed on her skin as a truth she'd learned the hard way. So she had to mentally append 'for now.' Because tonight wasn't over. Because he knew the threat she'd fallen into and she didn't. Because he held the keys for surviving this.

Could she trust him?

She would measure his answer with her power and then ask for pen and paper.

>"You don't get a name like Hades for winning "lawn of the week."

Hades smiled wryly at the bad humour. Noel was alright so far in his books.

>"One thing I need to know, can I trust you?"

Hades turned over the question, could she trust him? He considered the question and it implications. Hades was a man of his word. Most of the Assassins/ merc groups around knew that. So if Hades said he would kill a target, it would get done. Finally he replied simply "Yes, you can. On that note, can I trust you? With your power you could easily learn so much, no memory is completely safe from you, no thought or idea. So I also ask you the same question, can I trust you?"

In Hades experience there were a few types of people, the most common were the sort that you could trust to some degree. The more rare were those that fell into the two extremes, either those thet were completely untrustworthy or those that in some way were like him, once they had made up their mind became terrifyingly loyal. That was also a bonus for thoe few that Hades considered friends as he was immortal.

Noel procedded to ask for a pen and paper, which Hades found slightly old fashioned in this day and age of technology, but then again you cannot hack a classic. He produced the requested items from a drawer in the table. At the same time he started to concentrate his thoughts while sipping from his drinking glass. He did not slide it over to her yet.

****Thought Message****
"Noel, if you are getting this message do not react in any way. Behind you there is a row of decorative bamboo. In the center there are four sticks that are taller than the rest. The top of the tallest one is the hilt of a straight double edged sword. The next tallest one is a katana and the two of the same height are Japanese short swords. There are a set of daggers under the table, you can reach for them without moving. Davronski will have the place surrounded, attack on my mark, show no mercy."

****Thought Message End*****

After completing his task he awaited her response. Was she trustworthy? If not would it be better to split from her now, ask her to leave before she learnt too much about him. With her poer she could learn so much about him and the secrets that he kept and do so much dammage to so many that Hades considered friends. If she lied, he might consider drastic action.

It made her think better of him that he didn't simply answer her question. He considered his words and what they might mean.

> "On that note, can I trust you?"

She gave him the same courtesy. Would her actions endanger him? Would she choose a path that might put them at odds? "I try to live my life honestly and focus on the positive. That's why I went protection rather than..." She made a motion with her hand to indicate Hades and the way he'd chosen to expend his energy. "Years ago, things might have been different here, but I'm finding a more diverse definition for what makes a person good." And maybe that was a very girl answer, but it was a very personal and honest one for Noel. She wanted to be good and for so long she thought that had meant lawful.

So she accepted her paper and slipped down to the floor so she could use the coffee table as her writing surface. Then, starting with her address and a brief summary of events, she outlined what she would need to know from today should she loose any more memory. It was brief but descriptive. She was practiced at it.

Once she was done, Noel asked Hades to write his name at the bottom and she jotted down a quick description of him to follow. She folded the paper and stuffed it in her pocket, but froze with her hand still in her jeans.

She noticed two things. Her inner-pants holster was missing and there was already a folded bit of paper in her pocket.

>"I try to live my life honestly and focus on the positive. That's why I went protection rather than..." She gestured to him. He would give her that. That was ignoring the many lives he had saved stopping terrorist plots, preventing deadly attacks. To be fair he had also taken his fair share of lives. Hades was not concerned with what most people would think as morality. He did however put much value on a persons integrity and strength of character.



>"Years ago, things might have been different here, but I'm finding a more diverse definition for what makes a person good."



Hmm so she was not as narrow minded as most that he met. That was good, her answer while perhaps not answering the question completely did come from the heart and was sincere, Hades could respect that. His opinion of Noel was increasing slowly the more he learned about her....



As Noel started writing on a piece of paper, Hades who was not at all confident that his


mental message would get through also took a piece of paper and began to draw. One does not


leave the transmittion of such valuable tactical information to a completely untried


method, especially if the foe one is going to meet will be very skilled and outnumber you. He rapidly sketched the locations of the hidden weapons and Noel's position in relation to them, he also sketched the outline of a number of daggers that were hidden under the table. Under the sketch he jotted a few notes for Noel. Firstly enemy weapons would most likely be coated in a paralytic so one nick, just one cut and it would be game over, secondly to destroy the note after she had read it and finally not to react until he gave a signal or they were attacked.



After she had asked him to sign her piece of paper Hades casually slid his drinking glass over to Noel. Indicating with his eyes that it contained something for her. When she appeared not to get the message he calmly slid the illustrated piece of paper towards her. He had just heard a sound. He suspected that even now a Davronski cell was seathly entering the house.



****Elsewhere****

Aisde from body shape they were dressed identiacally, their faces hidden behind featureless masks. 12 of them there were, two posted as snipers and the rest close combat experts. They had two objectives, to victiums to capture alive if possible. They two victiums seemed unaware taht anything was amiss. The snipers were in position both as a last precaution if the targets should run and also to act as lookouts incase any enemy reinforcements arrived or the situation changed. What were they doing? Writing letters? The leader signalled that they should wait and observe the situation more closely before attacking. It would do them no good to be too hasty and stumble into a trap. There were many legends surrounding Hades after all and no small number of people and groups had "dissappeared" while seeking to deal with Hades. Also this new target was an unknown. They settled down to wait. They were patient hunters.

Wait. What? Noel looked from his glass back to Hades. He knew what that meant right? Indirect contact was as good as guaranteeing she would get information from him.

Then he slid her the paper.

Now? The word was on her lips, albeit soundlessly. Like. Right now?

Okay. So suddenly not speaking was probably just as suspicious as speaking, but suddenly Noel couldn't quite remember what they'd been talking about. "Uh. I found a note here from before. Hold on." She took a swig of his water as she fished out the note, not sure what he wanted to tell her from that, but... his note indicated weapons locations around the apartment and now that she knew about the Davronskis she could dip into memories about that.

Her eyes went a bit vague as she essentially downloaded heaps of information.

This apartment had layers. Weapons stashed all over. Had she the mental capacity to comment on the information overload, she would have realized all over again just how dead she would have been if Hades had wanted it to be so. She learned about methods. Specific Davronskis he'd clashed against. And just how large a scope they really had.

Goosebumps marched up her arms even as she finished fishing the paper out of her pocket. Noel spilled the cup onto Hades' paper. Oops. Not really.

"I uhm..." Her head was aching and it took her a moment to focus. It was her handwriting. Just some notes on the trial and its result and her resolution that it would no longer matter if she drank alcohol or not. It could even been a convenient excuse if she needed it so she was going to try it now. "I think I was at the bar because I got fired. Or restructured. Mundane, really. Heh." He didn't have to see the note, but if he wanted to she would pass it over.

It explained why she had no guns. She always had guns. It was her weapon of choice before she'd ever picked up a sword.

Noel worked her fingers across the lower buckle of her gladius' sheath and slipped the remaining shoulder strap down over her arm. She slipped the whole thing under the couch, hilt next to her hand. A girl might do that to get more comfortable. Totally not because she knew it'd be difficult for her to draw the weapon in her current state. She was as ready as she was going to be without giving anything else away.

Noel gave Hades the faintest of nods.

>"I uhm...I think I was at the bar because I got fired. Or restructured. Mundane, really. Heh."

Upon hearing this Hades did not react for a moment then, he started chuckling, which morphed into a full deep hearty laugh, it was the kind of laughter that bubbles up from the deep. "So, all of this," He gestured indicating the impending fight. "Our chance meeting, the bar fight, all of this was because you were laid off." The laughed transformed his face, it brought a warmth that the world did not often see.

It was at that moment that the Davronski's launched their attack. 5 bursting through the door straight for Noel and five through the window behind Hades. It was as if a mask dropped over Hades face. All trace of warmth, joy, humanity faded away, in place was a hard face, cool, calculating, merciless. With a snarl he grabbed two daggers from under the table and launched himself at the oncomming attackers, hoping to bottleneck them. To his surprise the two attackers who had just entered managed to parry his flurry of strikes. Hades just had time to register a black cylinder poking through the window before he was blown back with a loud boom. Hade flew across the room the land with a painful sounding thump against a wall. By then more figures had poured into the room. It had been a 12 man team. two snipers on the roof and ten combat specalists, 5 for each of the targets.

Hades shook his head as the world once again swam into view. Breathing hurn, but not as much as it should. His yellow t-shirt was shredded but he saw no blood. What on earth... Ahh rubber bullets. Inwardly he groaned, they fully intended to take him and probably Noel alive for torture and experiment. Not if he hand anything to say about it. He had to slow the attackers down to regain his breath. He slapped his belt and flicked his hand out. Out shot what appeared to be a sliver ribbon. It twirled in an arc around Hades, clanging against the weapons that the attackers raised in defense. It was a sword whip. It seemed to sway in mid air like a snake before striking out at a far figure who just entered the room with the speed of a viper. The sword head pierced the throat of the attacker holding the shotgun. On the way back it slashed again at the circling attackers. From his current corner Hades spied an attacker creeping up behind Noel with a paralytic tipped dagger ready to stab her from behind. With a flick of the wrist he launched the whip towards him, turning his wrist at the last moment so that the flat of the blades hissed harmlessly passed Noel's cheek to impale the throat of the would be attacker. Having regained a measure of breath and composure, Hades returned the whip to his belt and
reached under the nearby stones to pick up a wooden rod.

The sword whip was one of two sets of weapons that Hades like to keep on him at all times, well at least one set. They were his "emergency weapons", the sword whip was called the scorpion's tail or the sword snake the other weapons was nicknamed whirlwind. Think of a standard police baton and replace the wooden cylinder with a double headed doubled edged sword similar to what is shown here. Both weapons relied on absolute precision and control, something Hades was very good at.

To say Hades picked up a wooden rood would not be entirely accurate. It was more the case that he reached through the wall into a cavity and pulled out the weapon. Unlike Noel who seemed to be on the side of the room with the most weapons, the corner where Hades had landed was rather bereft of conventional weapons and so Hades had to pick one of the more esoteric weapons that he kept lying around. At first glance it appeared to be a dark wooden rod which appeared to have a dagger embedded at each end. Behind his back and out of sight of everyone Hades pressed a button on the rod. Immediately the dagger at one end vanished and the blade at the other end slid out to become a full sword. In essence it was a double headed doubled edged sword with a transferable hilt. The hilt slid on a hidden rail so it could slide to either end or be locked in the middle to bake a short bladed staff. Bare chested and wielding this old but unusual weapon like a normal sword Hades engaged the four attackers. He spared a glance to see how Noel was doing.