Zelek scrawled in his finest penmanship, a look of diabolical madness set the tone for his features.

Dearest Kitra,

It seems like it has been ages, I write to confess I have finally seen the error of my ways and realized I am the fool you've always known me to be. I miss the way you hair bounces when you laugh. I miss the way you look into my eyes and see so much more potential than I do, or ever did. I'm writing to let you know that I have changed. Dday put my life into focus for me, as you know I help protect the town, I protect people. its odd to think that it took something of this magnitude to make it possible and while I know you must be skeptical, I have to see you again. I long to make up for time lost and wasted. please meet me at old time square, if you brought someone along to ensure that I am not up to any of my old tricks, I would understand wholeheartedly. if you can give me one last chance, you will never have to give me another.

sincerely,
-Zelek-

The last of the ink was flicked from the quill with a wicked smile on his face. he sealed the letter with red wax and handed it to a rather spry young woman, All he had to do for her was, to hand over the item of her choosing that he promised upon her return, of course she must prove to him that the letter was safely delivered, he would accept a snippet of her ginger locks.

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The girl ran quickly and steadily toward the bone fortress, her mutation afforded her great stamina. instead of movement burning energy she produced more with every step. this energy could be poured right back into movement or out of the palms of her hands in beams. she survived this wretched world for a reason.

She stepped eying the man at the gate, medium height, scaled, cold black eyes.

"I've a letter for Kitra." the girl spouted out. What kind of man served the amazons? Much less survived them?

"I'll ssee to it that it iss delivered." He replied just as coldly, his hand already securing several shurikens.in case the girl was trouble.

"I need proof. a lock of her hair.." the delivery girl refused.

the lizard rolled his black orbs and pulled a strand of his hair from beneath the hat on his head, it quickly changed to the color of the amazon in question and cut the lock of his hair off and offered it to her.

'It iss the exact color, I asssure you." he held out his palm and received the note. a wrap on the gate and a message sent to the closest girl inside would let the woman know of the letters arrival.
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The girl returned with her lock of counterfeit hair, Zelek cunningly convinced her that he must be under ground to find the materials that he needed to acquire for her prize and she could accompany him if she must. slowly the spider and the fly made way to an abandon section of subway tunnels, oddly sealed on both sides. the area was free of paper, ink, and every other material that he personally didn't exude control over, it was his lair, his domain, his place of entertainment.

the girl seemed to suspect something was suspicious just as it was becoming too late. A thought of his blocked her throat with earthly debri. as she struggled choking he held her hands flat to her sides and entombed her body in stone up to her navel. she could let her energy go, if she wanted to blow her own legs off.

'You will sate me until she falls for my trap. Don't worry I am a gentle soul." he whispered in the dimly lit cavern. his teeth sank into her shoulder and he enjoyed the taste of her terror.

Dearest Kitra,

It seems like it has been ages, I write to confess I have finally seen the error of my ways and realized I am the fool you've always known me to be. I miss the way you hair bounces when you laugh. I miss the way you look into my eyes and see so much more potential than I do, or ever did. I'm writing to let you know that I have changed. Dday put my life into focus for me, as you know I help protect the town, I protect people. its odd to think that it took something of this magnitude to make it possible and while I know you must be skeptical, I have to see you again. I long to make up for time lost and wasted. please meet me at old time square, if you brought someone along to ensure that I am not up to any of my old tricks, I would understand wholeheartedly. if you can give me one last chance, you will never have to give me another.

sincerely,
-Zelek-


All Kitra could do was blink a few seconds before looking up at Allison. "Thanks for bringing me this." She then looked down at the note again. Unless Zelek had gotten his memories back, which she was sure one of the Abyssi would have told her in their fight just a few days ago. There was no way the current Zelek would send something this sappy. Well, if it was before the uh, end of the moderanized world, then she would have believed it full heartedly.

But Kitra was definetely suspicious. Of course he would state that she would be skeptical, who the heck wouldn't? Kitra shook her head and sighed, too much was wrong with this note. But the little meetings they had during these past few years, even if it was just fighting, made her miss him.

She looked up and smiled ruefully at Allison, "Sorry I didn't realize you were still here." On a whim Kitra handed Allison the note and waited while Allison read it before speaking again. "Would you perhaps like to go with me?" Kitra cleared her throat hastily, "However it more then likely is a trap." She frowned before speaking again, "Sometimes I wish I could completely stamp out old feelings."

Kitra smiled at Allison, "I will be leaving in an hour. If you wish to come with meet me in the common room." With that Kitra turned and strode to her room. Once inside she shut her door and started loading up her weapons. A few small daggers hidden in a well padded bra, which had little straps sewed on to hold said daggers. Her metal bo strapped to one inner thigh and her wooden dagger, which she had carved herself about a year back when they had found an old tree, strapped to the other thigh.

Kitra rummaged around in her small chest of clothes before letting out a small, "Haha!" As she pulled out a dark green skirt that went a few inches below her knees. Next she used her powers to gather all her paper she had available in her room to her. She had it wrap around her legs, hidden beneath her skirt of course. Her arms and torso where next, after they were covered with paper, the paper was hidden under a lavender shirt, which was then covered by her faded, but still dark green, trench coat.

Kitra then tucked her two bone daggers, that Isabel had kindly made for her, in wrist sheaths that were hidden under her coat. Kitra felt ready, still confused about the note and all but she was still ready to face Zelek and figure out what the heck he wanted. With that Kitra headed to Maxine's room only to find her gone. A small frown appeared on her face before vanishing. Kitra then wrote a note to Maxine stating that she and possibly Allison headed out to old time square. Once that was done she went to the common room.

Allison wasn’t entirely sure whether to be offended or not. Really, did Lady Kitra think she was going to let any of the Amazons walk into a trap on their own? Even if it was only ‘most likely’ a trap. The note… Allison couldn’t really guess anything useful from. ‘Zelek’ apparently liked flowery language, and knew, or had known, Lady Kitra. Allison didn’t know them, however, so couldn’t really make any guesses of her own, and would have to rely on Lady Kitra’s opinion, at least until she could actually see ‘Zelek.’ And Lady Kitra was suspicious. Though not suspicious enough not to go.

Emotions really were a pain sometimes.

Allison was waiting in the common room for Kitra half an hour later, with every inch of skin covered in bands of different colors of ink. Not at all something she’d prefer to have created; the pattern was basic, simple and not particularly nice looking, but she’d had to get as much ink into her skin as possible in a short amount of time. Most of the ink was hidden beneath her clothes, though her arms and face were still bare; even if she’d still had her sleeves, she wasn’t wearing them when anticipating a trap and fight. The ink that didn’t fit into her skin was stored in an old plastic bottle, tied to her waist in front of one of the talon blades, almost filling it. Allison was not leaving behind any ink at all.

(Except for the tiny bit she’d used to write a sappy note to Aura in the table. That wasn’t very much, and should be obvious enough not to need mentioning anyway.)

By the time Kitra got there, Allison’s hair was braided, and she was busy fitting the bone claws onto the tips of her fingers, having to try most of them on multiple fingers before figuring out which one they fit on. They could be a bit of a pain sometimes, mostly in that they limited how well she could use the talon blades a bit, but they were useful; more primal, and thus more intimidating, then the talon blades, and not something that an enemy would necessarily be looking out for. Besides, Allison wasn’t leaving any kind of weapon behind, any more than she was willing to leave behind ink.

Once Kitra got to the common room she noted that Allison was there. And quite the colorful site too, she sort of looked like patchwork inking. Which made sense to her as Allison's powers dealt with ink. She shrugged and continued forward, she was pleased to see that ink wouldn't be Allision's only weapons. Isabel had made her bone claws, which looked rather evil and cruel, despite being bone white.

Kitra smiled at Allison,"Nice weaponery, ready to go?" Once she received an answer she strode out of the bone fortress. She was pretty sure the only means of transportation for Allison was Queen Maxine's paper dogs. Kitra could have flown there using just two pieces of paper under her feet. However she didn't think that was an option for Allision. Kitra pulled several pieces of paper out of her bag. Once free of her bag she dropped them, however they never touched the ground. Instead they formed into a large white carpet of paper. Large enough to seat two.

Kitra lightly grabbed onto it and pulled it down so it was about chair height. Concentrating, she changed the density of the paper to match wood, once that was done she sat down upon it. She grinned up at Allison, "Its quite safe I can assure you." Once Allision had sat indian style on her flying paper carpet, or perhaps showed Kitra a means of her own transportion, they were off.

Not too long of awhile after they came upon the meeting place. It was Times Square, well the crumbling ruins and a mere echo of what it used to be. Kitra looked around carefully and noted nothing out of the ordinary. She hrmphed audibly and lowered her paper carpet a little below chair height and motioned Allison off. Once she was off, Kitra hopped off and the paper dissambled itself and flew back into her bag. "Well Zelek. Show yourself!" Perhaps Kitra said that a bit tartly, however she was pretty sure that this note of his was a way to lure her out and well. Kitra shuddered inwardly while her eyes scanned the area around them, waiting to catch movement.

Sitting indian style, whether it was on flying paper carpets or not, wasn’t Allison’s favorite method of transportation. It was, however, the most practical option; even if she could have kept up with Kitra by running, she didn’t want to go into a potential fight tired. Or looking tired; there was always the option of Zelek deciding whether to attack based on whether they looked easy to beat. And the option of tripping over a rock and breaking or twisting an ankle or wrist… no. Paper carpet it was, even if it made her legs vaguely stiff and asleep.

Fortunately, enough things caused that that Allison was fairly used to dealing with it; once off the carpet, she stood as normally as she could, but holding every muscle she could tense for several seconds before relaxing it. A few repetitions of that would mostly take care of any discomfort the trip had caused, without making it obvious that there was a problem to begin with.

And Allison was very concerned with appearances, in this instance, on the chance that they would encourage or deter Zelek from attacking. She had on her jeans, tennis shoes and sleeveless shirt, her hair was pulled away from her face, and she eyed the area with a blank expression, turning halfway away from the direction Lady Kitra was facing and folding her arms.

They were prepared, and they outnumbered Zelek, Kitra’s paper was sort of wood. And this time, she actually knew they were meeting a potential enemy. If nothing else, they ought to be able to get away again on that paper carpet.

He had picked time square because the ruble piled oh so high in this area, but miraculously left the majority of the intersection clear, the insane amount of minerals he had to work with here was just amazing.
He had set up a few surprises for the young women that he anticipated but he would only lead them to those if he thought he would need them. He watched from his perch in the ruble, he wasn’t quite foolish enough to face all of the amazons at once and he had considered the possibility she might bring them all, she still might have, but he didn’t count them among the subtle type, they would be here by now if they were. Also he was counting on his ploy working, he assumed she would be embarrassed to tell her sisters in arms how much she wanted to return to him.

He surveyed the other woman, the ink manipulator. Delicious, a pair of red heads all for him, though with the Amazon’s red heads were the majority it seemed to him. He watched a moment more and slide down from his perch.

“Sorry to keep you waiting Kitra, you aren’t the only one that needs to be cautious” he showed that his hands are empty.” I lack premade weapons, but fear I can’t dispose of my mutation, so I have made myself vulnerable as possible.” He smiled as he set a basket down on the ground. He pulled the blanket from the top of the basket, and settled it on the ground in front of them. He then pulled a large wooden stake out, handled with a piece of cloth and set it in the middle of the blanket, whoever wanted it could grab it and stake him at a moment’s notice. “I brought some, wine and some food as a peace offering.” He glanced to the other girl. “You are welcome to break bread with us to if you like.”

Kitra had blinked when Zelek popped up out of nowhere but that was the only reaction she gave outwardly. Inwardly she was annoyed that she hadn't spotted him but then again, he could manipulate minerals. She eyed him as he came forward, he looked well enough and his face seemed to be full of innocence. Of course that was alarming in itself. No one could change that much for the good in the few but long years after dday as Zelek had put it.

But maybe they could, well she was sure they would find out soon enough. Kitra eyed the stake that Zelek had set down on the blanket he had just spread on the ground, "Why the change in heart Zelek?" Kitra eyed him, eyes full of curiousity, but with none of the zeal and lust she had had in them just a few years back. She had changed, for better or for worse. As Zelek answered she gracefully sat on the blanket, indian style yet again.

"So how did you manage to make wine? Or find it for that matter?" Kitra had tilted her neck up to keep an even eye on Zelek. Granted she was aware sitting on the ground wasn't smart, however she did want to give him a chance. A small one for her to possibly believe he may have actually changed. Or had gotten much worse and darker and just had hidden it better. In a more conversational tone she spoke again, "How are things going in the town?" She trusted Allison would do what she felt proper and wasn't worried on what she may or may not do.

“...No, thank you.” Allison had let herself turn, quickly, to face Zelek when he appeared, and left her hands near the talon blades. He had invited her along more or less as a guard, after all; there was no point in pretending not to be suspicious. And Allison was suspicious; the stake seemed to be important, but one weapon didn’t guarantee anything. And, for that matter, it could easily be fake; Allison wasn’t sure if Celeste would have been willing to make a fake stake look real for Zelek, but she’d certainly be capable of it. Or it could be hollow, and filled with something he controlled, so he could steal it from anyone who tried to use it. Allison could think of plenty of ways for the stake itself to be a trap.

And for the food… Allison wasn’t an expert in poisons, but she’d had some interest. Anyone with basic knowledge would have no problem finding plants that could kill or make a person sick, or even just make them hallucinate or become sleepy to make them easier prey. Plus, old world specialty poisons might be harder to find and get ahold of, but some certainly must still exist somewhere. So while Allison wasn’t too surprised that Lady Kitra accepted the offer, she certainly wasn’t going to accept it herself. Instead she stood behind Lady Kitra, her feet half on the edge of the blanket and half off of it, and waited. If nothing else, this should be an interesting conversation to overhear.

Alas, she wasn’t in love with him anymore, that look of awe and admiration was gone, but then again she was still here wasn’t she.
He nodded to her first question, expecting it. He wasn’t about to tell her some awe inspiring tale of seeing the light, he wouldn’t be able to keep a straight face. “Logistics initially, I can’t bloody well dine on every one I meet these days. Human’s were so numerous back then that running around sating my wonton hunger didn’t seem like such a crime. But these days, well, this city might be everyone that has survived.” He put his hands up as if to signal his surrender. “I know, caring if the world survives seems an odd thing for me to say, at least it should seeing as we haven’t talked in awhile, but I’ve been working hard to stop and control my urges. They wouldn’t let me stay in town if they knew I was a danger, they might try to kill me, even if I have built the walls around them. In short, all the death and destruction have made a better man of me, If not a perfect one.”

“As you know of course wine is stored in cellars. I may have found a cellar that was completely intact. It has helped with my old habit, from blood to grapes I suppose.” He smiled lightly. “Look at the vintage, this bottle would have been priceless back then, now though so fool would stumble upon it and not even realize the vintage they were drowning themselves in.”
“Good, Things are going very well in town. We could always use a few more pretty faces if things ever get to intense down in bone town. If you ladies ever needed my services, I’d be happy to offer some accent to all of that ivory.”

Zelek looked up to the woman covered in ink. “The bottle hasn’t been opened if you’d prefer something I couldn’t have tampered with.” The cork, seal and label were all in place. “Or not if you don’t , again I understand. I just have little to offer and have asked much. Either way I appreciate you accompanying Kitra out here.”

He looked back to Kitra. “How have you been, is there any way you would consider reconciling our differences?” That last line almost made him feel bad.

Kitra snorted as she listened to Zelek. He sounded half believable, "If you can build the walls around them then you can certainly tear them down as well." She nodded at his finding the wine cellar, of course he would answer logistically. Well, that is if he was actually all about being logistic now. She had noted Allison standing behind her and was grateful for it, though she didn't show it outwardly.

"Its good to know I'm still a pretty face." Kitra suddenly grinned, "Actually all of us in the bone fortress are quite beautiful and sexy to be honest." Kitra took the bottle of wine and gently riggled its cork from its top. Thankfully it didn't foam or spill over. She sniffed it appraciatively, "It smells wonderful." Then she eyed Zelek thoughtfully, "You forgot glasses."

While she waited for him to fix that little problem her eyes slowly eyed Zelek fully, though her attention wasn't on him. It was more so on the surrounding area, which had them at a huge disadvantage. Minerals everywhere, though she was sure he didn't expect her to have a paper skin. Kitra blinked a few times and eyed Zelek again. "Truly what are you after? Are we to be meals that can walk and talk and entertain you?"

The conversation was certainly interesting, though Allison was less sure what else to think of it. The process of Zelek’s apparent… improvement? Redemption? Whatever it was, it seemed plausible. Much more so than anything else that didn’t involve mind control, really.

But at the same time, how do you trust someone who admits that he’d have eaten you recently, that it’s wise for you to be suspicious, and that he stopped eating people only because of “logistics”?

Of course, Allison could also just be stuck on the “eating people” part. It was a bit hard to consider that completely logically.

The wine, at least, she could figure out a response to. As if alcohol didn’t have enough of an impact by itself to make a difference, especially to her. Her ink didn’t ever work on instinct; alcohol might very well be enough to keep it from working at all. She still relaxed slightly, smirking. “Oh, well, wine. That has no effects of its own. No, thank you though.”

The amusement might have put Allison off her guard some, but it didn’t make her stop thinking. Logistics just seemed like such an insecure thing to base her life on, even if she knew it was--technically--a better argument than any emotional ones. Emotion tended to prod people to action or restrain them much better than intellect did, most of the time.

Of course, it was probably pointless anyway. Allison remembered seeing a few times what scientists estimated was the minimum number of humans needed for the population to recover and not die off from inbreeding; presumably the same limit would apply to mutants, and either way it was many times more people than were in the town. Not that the town was the limit of people who’d survived anyway; ignoring other continents and (what once were) states and countries, just within contacting range were the Amazons, as well as Celeste and her people, the Death Pit, and several scattered farms. And there were always travelers and traders wandering around.

So really, enough people had survived, they just weren’t all in the town. A lot more than enough, in fact, if the number of survivors in New York at all resembled the number of survivors elsewhere. They’d just need to all gather together and stop being enemies, or at least enemies that were willing to kill each… other….

Oh, that was not a good thought.

Allison waited barely enough for Lady Kitra to finish speaking, but didn’t wait for Zelek to respond. Instead she focused on him, eyes narrowing into something barely short of a glare. “You said the townies limited you. They wouldn’t let anyone kill them, obviously. Are they so protective of others, too?” Of outsiders? Of enemies they’ve tried to kill before? Of us?

“…Lady Kitra, I think we should leave now.”

“Tearing down the walls would get complicated with all the other mutants there, I doubt they would just sit back and watch me do it.” He shrugged. “You know very well exactly what I’d be up against and seven good reasons why that wouldn’t work in my favor.”

“Oh, yes. You ladies keep the town guard warm at night, if only in their dreams.” He smirked. “ So I did.” He pulled metal out of the air around him and formed three chalices, not giving up on the fact the other woman might come around. “That bottle of wine is more than two centuries old. It should be fantastic.”
His features slumped as she asked. “Perhaps with enough time, you can come to trust me. to find that I am after you, but not in the way you imagine.”

“Too true, Ink. But if I had found a cellar of full of Soda or pineapple juice I would have coming baring that instead, I simply thought to share the bounty I have found, neither of you has to drink a drop. Again, I fully understand.”

He looked to the third wheel and corrected her. “If you knew Jorge, Gina, Aedus and the Ssyn brothers you would know how wild that accusation sounds. They don’t want anyone dead. They are protective of outsiders, and if you think that the reason there hasn’t been any deaths between the Amazons and Jorgetown is a spot of good fortune and luck. Well than you don’t know much about battle, Those brutes of ours can lift the fallen sky sky scrapers. Eruption can function in a mode of lava Jorge could drown most he comes across. Gina could easily drop boulders on your heads.” Technically Gina would have to settle for large rocks, but it sounded good.

“I don’t doubt the amazons prowess and that there would be blood on both sides. But to say they don’t care is an overstatement. To say they have tried to kill you, is nonsense. Abyss would personally have my head if I harmed his daughter in law or his adopted little sister. The Ssyn brothers miss you all, I think they have more family there than they do in town. If you made an acceptation to your no men rule they would solidify the Amazons claim to unequaled power.”

He Addressed Ink’s last statement to Kitra. “If you would like to leave I won’t stand in the way, you’ve let my eyes behold you during peace which is more than I deserve perhaps another time?”

Kitra listed quietly as Zelek went on about the town and the amazons. It was really nothing new to her. "Maxine doesn't want men there, unless they wish to be our slaves." Kitra grinned even as three metal chalices appeared out of thin air and her mental alarms went nuts. She poured small amounts of wine into two of them and handed one to Zelek.

Kitra looked up at Allison, "We will leave in a minute." Kitra looked back at Zelek and raised her chalice, "To another meeting." She took a small sip and smiled. "Not bad." As Kitra stood she took another small sip. Her expression turned murderous, "You haven't changed you..." Kitra trailed off as the chalice slipped from her hand and her body plummeted towards the ground.

Alright, the Abyssi objecting to harming (many, anyway) of the Amazons was a fair point, though Allison still wasn’t convinced that the rest of the town would object to the death of people they’d tried to kill. The Abyssi’s interference could be enough to prevent deaths… particularly with that void. It wouldn’t really make sense for a place like the town to advertise that they didn’t care about the deaths of outsiders, though, so it might be reasonable that Zelek simply didn’t know.

…That would be amusing. If every one of the town leaders thought they were the only one who didn’t care about outsiders’ lives, and kept pretending in order to keep from disappointing the others….

Allison settled, though she kept frowning at Zelek, folding her arms as she watched. She tapped the bone claws lightly against her arm, partly fidgeting and partly reassuring herself that she did have weapons. Convenient, ready to use ones, too. And more waiting.

Weapons weren’t enough to keep the wine from being dangerous, though. Allison had no idea what exactly had made Lady Kitra collapse, or what exactly it had done for her, but she’d have been quite sure it was Zelek’s fault even if Lady Kitra hadn’t managed to say half of something accusing. The claws from her left hand cut four shallow scratches in her upper arm as she unfolded her arms and lunged, aiming to land on Zelek and slash at his face and eyes at the same time, and hopefully roll off and away as soon as that was done. It was never wise to get stuck next to an enemy who could manipulate something.

Allison didn’t know enough about drugs or poison to know what had been done to Lady Kitra, much less how to help her. Revenge, on the other hand, she was more capable of.

Zelek was a little surprised by Ink’s attack, she didn’t even give him enough time to laugh at Kitra’s fainting words. She also didn’t use her power, she only attacked with her physical ability, from what he could tell she was a close range fighter, but that was his domain as well, still he preferred his mind games.

She pounced on him like he was some unaware bird that fell victim to a cats deadly hunt. He fell back trying to avoid the talons she favored, still he would gain some wounds temporarily as she dug into his cheek below his eye on one side and slashes across the other. His arms flailed to gain control of hers. He took both of his legs and attempted to lock them both around one of hers, if he could he would attempt to pin her if he managed to gain control of her limbs. Blood ran from his cheek and his eye burst into pain, even as it stitched itself up.

He had emptied all three of his thralls this morning, in preparation of this fight, his body was quick to heal and he would be replacing the three with much more dangerous game.

‘You might want to reconsider. If, that is you want Kitra to survive this ordeal, I am the only one that knows what poison is in her and where the only antidote is. The clocks ticking on her life. Most importantly, I am the only one that could get to it, even if you found out.”

Would she fall for his bluff? Would she sacrifice herself on the off chance he’d change his mind and let them go? Or would she realize how hopeless this was once she realized the ground was rising all around them. Once the stone encased them if she killed him, they’d all likely suffocate.

“Another scratch and I’ll let her die.” He announced callously.