====THE PRISONER IS GONE==== __**OH NO**__\\ Ace or Ari wanders in for a prisoner check\\ Ace or Ari skips over to stove and peers down "is all well down there Rikki?"\\ Ace or Ari frowns in consternation "Cherri are you sleeping?"\\ Ace or Ari slides down with snacks and arms including a balloon saber from the coliseum and of course the bubble gun\\ Ace or Ari slides down and not seeing anyone around sets the food aside to start a frantic search, hoping her prisoner is okay\\ Ace or Ari wades around "Rikki? You here, you are okay right?"\\ Ace or Ari, after a thorough seach concludes Rikki musta been rescued, OH NO!!!\\ Ace or Ari sees Styx playing on the ramparts and scowls up at him, "You are not a good guard!"\\ __**SIGNS**__\\ **AH**\\ Ace or Ari hangs a poster, on it is a rendering of Cherriki Ten with the bold letters WANTED, below the picture reads: reward all the cookies you can eat!\\ Magical Love Gentleman Ghostface Koalah yawns widely, & stretches, glancing at the poster with interest.\\ **CC**\\ Maddeningly Cherriki Ten rushes into Cybercity, laughing madly, "They'll never think to look for me here!"\\ Maddeningly Cherriki Ten dives into a pile of scrapmetal and hides.\\ Maddeningly Cherriki Ten winces, "Ouch, ouch, owie!"\\ Ace or Ari hangs a poster, on it is a rendering of Cherriki Ten with the bold letters WANTED, below the picture reads: reward all the cookies you can eat Contact Ace with information!\\ Maddeningly Cherriki Ten peaks out of her hidey place and grumbles at the scratches. She spies the poster, her eyes drawn to the word Cookie.\\ Maddeningly Cherriki Ten looks at the picture and rubs her chin, "My, my but this pretty little thing looks awfully familiar."\\ Maddeningly Cherriki Ten gasps as realization hits, "That's me! Oh no, she found out I am missing!"\\ Ace or Ari trudges into Cyber City again, rechecking the outposts for a certain sneak\\ Ace or Ari sighs, still nothing, she's gotta be somewhere! She looks at the people around and points to the poster "Have you seen her?"\\ Contestant Yuki Looks down at the human and shakes her head.\\ __**WISE PARTY - SHES GONE!**__\\ Ace or Ari runs in and stops short "Um Hi, um, I just...Calli! Rikki escaped!"\\ Ace or Ari pauses "I uh, sorry I interupted you all"\\ Sergeant nush says "ooh but evil is sooo fascinating. always been. look at mankind. I mean, I mean... well, were would we be without evil, right?"\\ Paste-pot calliaphone gasps! Ace, here! She looks round for someone to hide behind, and realises she's too late for that. So she gasps again, more theatrically this time. "Escaped! OH NO!" she widens her eyes.\\ Lieutenant Badass Unfairlady smiles "No, please, no need for excuses. Do sit down for a bit, glad to have you over."\\ Warrant Officer Alexander Quandle backs up Unfairlady. "It's true. Crime can and often does pay. That old chestnut Crime doesn't pay is just a platitude. Like Bullies are always cowards.\\ Ace or Ari smiles uncertainly "Um thank you, hello I am Ace...this place looks neat"\\ Warrant Officer Alexander Quandle "There's nothing that people are so good at as deciding what they want to believe and then finding excuses to believe it. I'm sure that that's what 90% of so-called rational thought is used for."\\ Sergeant nush slams her glass on the table, in agreement. "Of course crime pays! sssometimes, ssome people pay for the crime, right? quite much. I hear.\\ Paste-pot calliaphone is caught between boggling at Quandle - he uses lotsa big words! - and trying to look like she has no idea about anyone escaping or how they might've managed it.\\ Warrant Officer Alexander Quandle "Hello Ace! Pleased to meet you. Please sit down. Would you like a drink? We were just discussing how good this sunshine is..." he gets a glass and is ready to pour at Ace's say so.\\ Ace or Ari's eyes widen "you have sunshine? to drink?!"\\ Ace or Ari whispers to Calli "I think someone musta helped her"\\ Lieutenant Badass Unfairlady nods at Ace. "Yep. A darn fine drink it is, too. Triple distilled. Nice ta meetcha too, by the way, Unfairlady's the name."\\ Sergeant nush waves a bottle at the newcomer, spills some, waves a bit more carefully. "good stuff, puts hair on your chest, this"\\ Warrant Officer Alexander Quandle sees Callia's confusion and wonders which of his words was long? Thinking back, he realises that platitude is quite a long word, but he lets it pass for the moment.\\ Ace or Ari smiles "hello Unfairlady" she looks at the kitty with a slight frown "I don't think I want a hairy chest"\\ Paste-pot calliaphone anxiously peeks inside her disgusting tie-dye-top. no hairs there. nush must be mistaken. phew!\\ Warrant Officer Alexander Quandle realises that he hasn't introduced himself. How rude! "Forgive me. I'm Alexander. Alexander Quandle. here have this." and he thrusts an unasked for glass of sunshine into Ace's hand.\\ Ace or Ari accepts the drink and sips "wow, that is tasty stuff, hello Alexander"\\ Warrant Officer Alexander Quandle "So who's this, um Nicky did you say? They've escaped have they?"\\ Sergeant nush says "just a metaphor, no worry. A meta for something with apples in it. triple distilled in front of the barn."\\ Ace or Ari looks at the exit "I gotta go find someone though" she digs in her bag "got a poster here" Wanted Cherriki Ten, Reward is all the cookies you can eat and there is a sketch\\ Ace or Ari adds "when I find the person who rescued her they are gonna get bubbled!" she swings the bubble gun in an elaborate arc\\ Sergeant nush asks "is it good they escaped? or were they the bad guys?"\\ Paste-pot calliaphone edges behind Unfair.\\ Sergeant nush says "I see"\\ Sergeant nush asks "where did he escape from?"\\ Lieutenant Badass Unfairlady tries to puff up so she can help hide Callia. However, she's quite a small person and doesn't manage to do much in the way of providing a hiding spot. Ace or Ari frowns "she busted out of the castle"\\ Warrant Officer Alexander Quandle asks "Which castle would this be then? Why were they being held there in the first place?"\\ Ace or Ari gulps down the rest of the sunshine "I should let you party though, 'member, cookies if you catch her!"\\ Ace or Ari stops "Castle Hendrix on the Beach, she was supposed to help me with plotting, I'm evil you know"\\ Warrant Officer Alexander Quandle realises Callia's discomfort, and wonders how he can help. Nush seems to have a good idea. Ply this Ace person with booze until she forgets about this escapee.\\ Sergeant nush draws near unfairlady, putting an arm around her shoulder. The brains she ate lately in NP added quite much. . . hiding space.\\ Warrant Officer Alexander Quandle says "Here, have some more sunshine." He refills her glass, the third in as many minutes.\\ Sergeant nush says "oooh plotting? you are evil too? wonderfull! maybe we can help plotting? I LOVE plotting. can we plot?"\\ Ace or Ari blinks and looks at the drink "but, I shoooould go, is your party" she spins to point to everyone there. Ari is a light weight\\ Sergeant nush says "let's drink to that! To plotting!"\\ Sergeant nush says "oooh pleeease can we plot? ooo let's!"\\ Lieutenant Badass Unfairlady glances sideways, in approval at Nush's maneuver and waves her lass around. "Sunshine. . .ain't no sunshine..when, erm, when sunshine is gone?'\\ Paste-pot calliaphone peeks out from behind the nush-Unfair shield, and tries not to catch Ace's eye. the guilt that's written all over her face is just a tiny bit too easily-readable.\\ Lieutenant Badass Unfairlady waves her glass a bit more. "Really, Ace., please stay! The more, the merrier, they say? Something like that. Anyways. Have some more sunshine."\\ Sergeant nush starts rubbing her hands together. "well, first we drink a bit more. then we plot a bit. then we can have dinner, drink a bit more, splash in the pool, and plot a bit more. how does that sound?\\ Warrant Officer Alexander Quandle "It's our party, and now it's your party as well! You can't leave yet, you haven't had your sunshine yet!"\\ Paste-pot calliaphone says, "d-dinner? sou-sounds good." then she gulps. "pool? uhh, you got any waterwings?"\\ Sergeant nush's eyes are burning now. "we, we, we can plot in the pool, smoking cigars and drinking from these nice glasses here, like really BAD people!\\ Ace or Ari takes more sunshine "but sssshs loos, gots to be caught!"\\ Paste-pot calliaphone hears a familiar sort of sound. oh yes, it's the sound she herself makes when she's getting plastered. coming from Ace! she perks up, grinning a little.\\ Lieutenant Badass Unfairlady waves her hand around, sloshing some of her drink. "No worries, my friend, there's aaaaalways tomorrow."\\ Warrant Officer Alexander Quandle says "Or even better, we drink and plot a bit more at the same time, and at some point we get order some dinner in, and go for a splash. All the while drinking plotting and smoking..."\\ Lieutenant Badass Unfairlady starts singing something unidentifiable, refilling her drink. She looks at it dubiously for a moment, then downs it.\\ Lieutenant Badass Unfairlady looks at Alexander, puzzled. She wasn't aware there was plotting available for drinking. MAybe it's better then sunshine and she should get some?\\ Warrant Officer Alexander Quandle says "Nush? Did you say you had some cigars? That would make a welcome change to all these filthy cigarettes which is all you can normally find to smoke."\\ Warrant Officer Alexander Quandle giggles as he catches Unfairlady's eye and reads her mind. The sunshine is starting to go to his head a little. Drinking plotting! Lovely idea!\\ Sergeant nush grins. She scavenges in her backpack and produces a box. "now we have all the paraphernalia of plotting ready."\\ Ace or Ari nods "plots rr good, I likey this sunshiney stuff too. My plot mighta failed cause I gots no magicks annnymoooore"\\ Sergeant nush says "no, wait, if you have plotting, don't drink it! don't waste such a rare and valuable thing! I mean, honestly, when did you meet some decent plotting lately?\\ Paste-pot calliaphone drains her . . . [unknown]th glass of the good stuff, and wobbles out from her hiding place. she attempts to regard Ace speculatively, but in fact just goes cross-eyed.\\ Lieutenant Badass Unfairlady looks at all the bottles carefully, spies no "plotting" so she just refills her glass with sunshine. Whoops, spilled a bit. Made a small hole in her boot.\\ Sergeant nush nods to Ace. "How can we help? here, have a cigar. maybe not all is lost, who knows? if people are willing to plot properly, not drink it away (she glares at AQ and U), we might have a good plot yet"\\ Ace or Ari wobbles to her feet "gotsta get my magic back"\\ Warrant Officer Alexander Quandle says "Good point Nash! I mean Nush!" he giggles again "Don't waste good plotting! Nush knows what she's on about. Aakil, how do you feel about being part of a good conspiracy?"\\ Sergeant nush starts to wander if one could bottle plotting, not for drinking, but for later use. . .\\ Aakil frowns slightly "We are already part of a massive one, I suppose its safer to be part of the plotting of one, get a bit more information"\\ Paste-pot calliaphone is getting bolder, as Ace gets drunker. to be fair, she's not exactly sober herself. she says, "oooh can i has a cigar?" and then, "where'd you last leave yer magics, Ace?"\\ Lieutenant Badass Unfairlady starts mutterning to herself about plotting, conspiracies, them, us, sunshine, OleMan, untrustworthy bottles and glasses that get emptied of their own accord and god knows what else.\\ Sergeant nush puts an arm around Ace, waving a cigar expansively with the other hand. "Ace, dear, if we can help, please tell us how, but now c'mon, tell us about the plot. we are eager, we are agog to hear more.\\ Paste-pot calliaphone says, "uhh, you okay there Unfair? y'sheem a little . . . y'know . . . muttery."\\ Ace or Ari frowns "In the dunge- um uh guests roomses an' she was frreed an' no one is returrnin her for coooksies!"\\ Sergeant nush waves at the box on the table "everybody, please, enjoy. here", she turns to Ace "this one has sour cherries in it!" as she pops open another bottle.\\ Paste-pot calliaphone blinks. did she just hear that right. "Cherri wuz yer mag-hic?" oh oh callia what have you done?\\ Ace or Ari blinks at nush "supervilaniny blunder, revealin' the plans!"\\ Ace or Ari nods glumly to Calli "need her to make ev'rything worrrk!"\\ Paste-pot calliaphone is impressed. Ace must'ha read all those Study Guides for the Fast Track Supervillain that callia herself stood on in the library to reach the comic-books shelf.\\ Lieutenant Badass Unfairlady blinks all around in total misunderstanding. She's about to reassure Callia she's fine, just fine. It all comes slurred. She blinks at her drink and tries to remember how many she had.\\ Warrant Officer Alexander Quandle "Tha's right. better on the inside. Have some more sunshine sir." and he pours Aakil a glass before helping himself to a cigar.\\ Paste-pot calliaphone says, "oh, uhm, thassreallytoobad. she, uh, did she mag-hic herself free?" her voice is as carefully nonchalant as she can manage.\\ Paste-pot calliaphone hoiks up a chair and tucks it behind Unfair, at the ready. just in case.\\ Ace or Ari shakes her head "sommun saved 'er!"\\ Warrant Officer Alexander Quandle sees that Unfairlady is wilting a bit, and suddenly becomes all concerned. "AreyoualrightthereU? Youveadalongdayandallthat."\\ Sergeant nush smiles widely to Unfairlady, and starts to hum a reassuring tune. "oooh let's plot agaaain, like we did lasst summer\\ Lieutenant Badass Unfairlady glares at her glass that doesn't deign to answer this simple question. It seems to glare back. She's suddenly struck by an idea. Might give in under torture, the nasty bugger.\\ Aakil accepts the new drink with thanks, sipping lightly, ensuring he doen't drink to much. One must always remain clear headed\\ Paste-pot calliaphone says, faintly,"oh." and then adds, "terrible. y'can't trushtanyone nowadayshcanya?"\\ Warrant Officer Alexander Quandle "Wellisunthatwhatsuperherodo? Avetobefoiledsoaycanescapefermerdastardlyplot s?" He is now using extremely long words, but only because his slurring rolls all his small words into one.\\ Ace or Ari nods "hadda be an inssides job too! She wuz hidened!"\\ Paste-pot calliaphone opts to have another drink, and attempts a cigar. there is a small period of struggle while she figures out the mechanics.\\ Paste-pot calliaphone hears that, and gulps. she busies herself with the cigar. "ohrlly?" she says.\\ Ace or Ari nods "waaaaaay baack waz she! Not 'lot go dere"\\ Warrant Officer Alexander Quandle tries really hard to control his speech. "I mean. Isn't. That. What. Supervillains. So? They. Have. To. Be. Foiled. So. That. They. Can. Escape."\\ Ace or Ari counts on her fingers "Davewazwitme, an then Rikkiwhosewaslokkedup an, an, you and ozzer GERMans"\\ Warrant Officer Alexander Quandle is rather pleased with himself for managing to pronounce clearly. "Then. They. Form. A. New. Dastardly. Plot."\\ Paste-pot calliaphone sits down on the chair herself. this is all getting a bit confusing. she puffs on the cigar, blowing out a cloud of smoke to hide behind.\\ Ace or Ari looks at Alex "notnice ta foiled me! It waz hard ta thinkups a plotting!"\\ Aakil thinks he knows the culprit in this situation but is resolutely quiet, he has yet to discern the why of it\\ Paste-pot calliaphone realises Ace is counting suspects. uh-ohhh. she looks round, and says, "i rlly oughtta be pushin' along . . . " and starts edging toward the door.\\ Sergeant nush turns drunkenly to AQ. "great party, but I am properly sunshined. sunshone? anyway, we will plot too, someday, right? now I think I have to collpse on that floor space over yonder\\ Paste-pot calliaphone puts on a sudden burst of speed, and sprints out, running slap-bang into her cart. when she has picked herself up, she tries again, getting into it successfully this time.\\ Ace or Ari waves to Calli "if'n yooz catch Rikiki or her 'leaser, gluegun dem"\\ Paste-pot calliaphone calls to Quandle, through the open door, "igottarun gottabeshomplace. thankyoufor the PARTEEE an' all the chocoshunshine! hope Unfair'shokaytoo." and she reverses into a tree. [[An Adventure in Villainy| Back to the Beginning]]\\ [[Adventures in Villainy 6|Chapter 6]]\\ [[GERM Villainy]]