Arachnos & Akkarin ?

[Lu]

Lu entered the base quietly, her soft shoes making little noise on the floor. She was looking for some where quiet to practice her forms, and to think. Glancing around she quickly established the base was empty before centering herself in the large corridor. Closing her eyes she strecthed, checking her run here had really warmed up her muscles before taking the primary stance and beginning to work through the forms she used as part of her training. The familiar moves allowed her to mull things over in her mind while her body worked...

'So, Arachnos were after the FA where they?'

'Why?'

'Akkarin hadn't been seen for a while, is that related?'

'If not, do coincidences like that really happen?'

Her stance shifted as she moved on to the next form, her eyes becoming unfocused.

'What has the FA as a group done to warrant attention from Arachnos, or are they just after individuals?'

'Was it related to the weapon Volt had mentioned the other day?'

'Was it anything to do with the FA clones that had been trouble in the past?'

'Had any FA members done anything else specific that would irk Arachnos?'

'Given they hadn't exactly publicised the threat from Arachnos, did that mean the group somehow felt it deserved the focus?'

Spinning, she brought out her sword and began to work throguh her weapon sets.

'Who could she ask?'

'No one in the FA, that would imply she didn't trust them, or might sound like she was accusing them of bringing it all on themselves.'

'That leaves Arachnos.'

'If she started in Bloody Bay, she might find some one who might talk.'

'On her own, or should she take company?'

'Alita was new, maybe she would help. And Sam might, if she asked carefully.'

As she finished, she was breathing quite heavily and her back felt damp from the excertion, but satisfied she had determined a course of action. She would get in touch with Alita and Sam and suggest her plan. Then maybe they could find out a bit more about why Arachnos wanted the FA and perhaps why Akkarin was missing, and maybe where he was hiding. Smiling she wandered into the bar to grab a quick drink of water before heading out for the run home to get changed.

[Lu]

"Nothing!", the bag swayed at the impact from Lu's fist. "Absolutely nothing." she said, hitting the bag again with a thud, working out her frustrations. She had been out all weekend but none of the criminals she had sent to the Zig knew anything about either the Arachnos interest in the Alliance, or Akkarin.

Relaxing, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly before launching a series of devastating attacks on the bag.

Breathing heavily, she watched the bag as it settled back into place, the weight of the bag quickly reducing the sway she had caused.

Maybe she should have asked Ves, she smiled wryly at the memory of the meeting. He had been hard work. If he had given her his name earlier, maybe she would have had a chance to ask him more about what was going on. He might have had some idea. But his disappearing trick had put paid to that.

She slammed her elbow into the bag before spinning round it and launching a kick at the back, sending it spinning round on its chains.

She let out a low chuckle of self disdain "I must be losing my touch, it shouldn't have taken me that long to get his name out of him". She much preferred gentle persuasion to force while she was still assessing the target, but maybe next time she would have to put more effort into it. The threat of a little pain often worked wonders when extracting information from people.

Grimacing the walked away from the bag and headed for the changing rooms and showers. The threat of pain hadn't worked on getting information from the criminals she had tackled at the weekend. She shrugged, it all seemed to have gone quiet, maybe Arachnos had lost interest. And no one seemed overly concerned about Akkarin. In fact Richard has mentioned talking to his brother, who had said 'Rin would be back in a couple of days. She'd better get back out there then and try to earn a little more prestige for the Alliance. If she earned enough, maybe it would expunge the stain left by the lies published in the press before Christmas. And if she worked hard, hopefully she would be good enough to qualify for full membership.

*****

Climbing out of the shower she donned her leather trousers and armoured top and set out to send some more reprobates to the Zig, courtesy of the F.A.

[Lu]

Lu rolled over and thumped the pillow in frustration. There was no way she was going to get any sleep tonight with all this stuff going round in her head. What was it they said, if things are troubling you before sleep write them down. She shrugged and went to find a pen and piece of paper. Siting back in bed, the covers pulled up so just her arms and head were out, she started scribbling down her thoughts.

Sam missing - kidnapped - Who? Andrew? Richard looking, has lots of help.

Kit missing - with Sam? Even more help, Bester helping too!?

Akkarin - missing? - No one worried? - how can a Vampire have a sister? - Did she say Akkarin was with his brother?

Volt - Traitor? - Arachnos? - Has he murdered Akkarin? - Was he telling the truth? - How do I know?

Trust - who can I trust? Who can I ask about it? Where can I go?

The Alliance - is it? Where is the team? Who really cares about it? What about everyone else? Where is everyone?

Josh - Is he really cut out as a Quarterback? Can he handle the pressure?

Gaby - Will she get the cheer right for the game on Saturday?

She flung her head back, writing it down didn't feel like it was helping. It just meant she had to think about it all a bit more to put it into words, and it was all questions.

Sighing she put down the paper and pen and curled up, trying desperately to go to sleep and forget about all the questions, at least for a couple of hours. Coaching tomorrow was going to be hell if she didn't manage to get some sleep.