What has happened to Volt?

[Lu]

(( Okies, this plot has been brewing for a while so I thought I would put something up on the boards. There is loads of info to publish, but I'll leave you with this to start with. Hope you enjoy it))

Lu slammed her elbow into the face of the soldier, sending him flying across the floor as she pan round and halted the tip of her katana at the throat of his young colleague. "Go on, resist arrest, make my day", she said, her voice dripping with malice as she watched him fumble for his gun. Suddenly her face lit up with a maniacal grin and she said brightly "Actually, I think I'd quite enjoy that. Do you think any of you will resist today? You're more than welcome?" She whirled her weapon round, neatly slicing the insignia from his uniform before returning the tip of her sword to his throat. The young man looked up at her with abject terror in his eyes and he dropped to his knees, throwing his gun away as he did so. Lu huffed, disappointed and slapped a Zig teleport patch on him "Get out of here you wimp. Maybe when you get out of the Zig you should look for another occupation."

She wandered over to the other soldier who had been knocked out by his bone shattering impact with the floor. "Damn, now that's no fun", she said as she pressed a Zig teleporting patch to him arm and moved on, stalking through the base, keeping her eyes open for more council goons. A malicious smile grew on her face as she spied a group of four men clustered together. They were always braver in groups, maybe this group would provide some resistance and give her the excuse she wanted to hurt them just a little. It would serve to take her mind of other things.

*****

Her lip curled in derision as she looked round at the scattered remains of the robots used by the council soldiers. AI units were never going to be a match for an intelligent, functioning person, particularly when they announced their presences by a constant beeping, making it almost impossible for them to launch any sort of surprise attack. This was proving too easy. Her eyes darted round the room, wary that it could be a trap, her body tensed, muscles ready to react to anything. After all, she had been making life uncomfortable for these council fools for a while now. It was just possible they might have decided they had seen enough of her and perhaps intended to trap her down here, in this forsaken hole they called a base.

Or maybe Volt had organised something to get rid of her, now she knew his secret. It would be just like an Arachnos flunky to get her when she was tired. She grimaced and shook her head, trying to drive the thought out. She wasn't going to be afraid any more. She had the ability to be in control. No one was going to make her feel fear again. Blinking at her own thoughts she stopped suddenly, stock still. Where had that thought come from? She wasn't afraid of Volt.

Saviour! The name flashed through her mind and she cringed mentally. He had brought back so much fear for her. made her feel like she was still a child; young, vulnerable while he took advantage, while he took what he wanted. People had no right to be like that. Was that how Volt was feeling now? The real Volt, not the imposter who was hanging around at the moment. Anger flared within her. No one should be made to feel that way. She had to find Volt. he had given her membership of The Alliance, he was a fun guy to be around and could have become a good friend.

351 had details of the flat he was using in Founders Falls. She could get the information from the base and go find the false Volt and make him tell her were the real Volt is, even if she had to drag the information out of him by his fingernails.

[Lu]

(( Hmmm, on re-reading this post it doesn't seem entirely relevant to this plot but it was when I first started thinking about it so I think I'm going to leave it here.

Apologies for the rambling nature of the prose. This one was kind of thinking and waffly, I wasn't in the mood to cover action or to much angsty stuff. ))

Lu curled up on her sofa, her legs tucked under her, nursing the comforting mug of hot chocolate she held. Here eyes were unfocused as she stared at the blank piece of paper she had resting on the arm of the chair. She felt as though she had been through the wringer almost constantly for the past week or so. There was so much going on in her head, it didn't stop when she slept and the nightmares were getting worse. Either she was seeing Alita viscously tortured and killed by some vampire whose face she never saw, but she was convinced it was Arketh. Or she was reliving the abuse she had received as she was growing up, only sometimes it was Saviour's face and not his. Recently she had also been dreaming about Volt being trapped and alone, help in the stunning Arachnos lightening.

Images rolled around her head as she sat there in a dream, the chocolate in her hand going cold, tears running unchecked down her face. She felt trapped and alone. Knowing she couldn't prevent Alita from joining them in the hunt for Akkarin she couldn't admit her fears to her, tell her about the dreams. Lu knew Alita needed to help needed to go up against the vampires to beat her own demons, she could only support her and try to keep her fears to herself. She hoped the necklace she had bought Alita would help keep her delicate neck safe from the vampires' sharp teeth. Lu didn't want to drive Alita away by smothering her, or being over protective so she tried to give her the space she thought Alita wanted or needed to work through the things she needed to. She wanted to show Alita how much she meant though and smiled through the tears as an idea came to her. She would need to ask Sam if she could get into the garage without Alita knowing, then maybe she could prepare a surprise for her.

Her mind drifted around ideas for Alita; picnics, tools, long rides out of the city on a motorbike, relaxing massages....

She founder herself smirking as she thought of the fun she and Alita could have. Events had been conspiring against fun recently, with Akkarin and Saviour and Volt. Lu resolved to retrieve the fun and find some way to make Alita forget her vampiric worries, at least for an afternoon.

In the mean time, she had some planning to do to find Volt. If she could get the false Volt on his own in his flat, she hoped she could find out from him where the real Volt is. Just in case she didn't make it though, she wanted to write down everything she knew so far. She would send it to Kat to let her know what was planned. Biting her lip, she wondered if she should also send the information to Alita with some explanation. If Arachnos had managed to subdue Volt, what chance did Lu have against them? She knew she had to try, but also that it was going to be risky. Putting aside her now stone cold drink she picked up a pen and wrote a list of all the things she had noticed there were evidence Volt wasn't the real Volt.

*** (( List documented in next post, didn't want to crowd the thinking bits with it )) ***

She looked at the list thoughtfully, trying to figure out what the false Volt would be capable of, where might his weaknesses be? Would his lack of speed help her in any way?

Mulling it over in her mind she put the paper to the side and started writing a note for Alita. She could get 351 to deliver it to her via email if Lu didn't make it back by a reasonable time.

[Lu]

(( Lu's list of evidence that Volt is not the real Volt. Sent to Kat and Alita (Ali will get a covering note via a PM that I have yet to write.). Whether they choose to distribute it more widely is up to them.... ))

VOLT MASTER - Not himself - Evidence

Cigarette smoking - Volt now smokes, he didn't used to before. Commented to Alita and Johnny that he found it unpleasant even to he near people who smoke.

Armoured Suit - New Volt said he had never worn an armoured suit and that he might try it sometime. But undercover Arachnos uniform is an armoured suit (I think).

Electricity Levels - Lower now than before. When Kat suggested he get more electricity from a trip to Terra Volta, he refused! Before he has gone for a refresh, just for the buzz.

Attitude - Before he was friendly, and even flirtatious, happy to tease and be teased. Now he seems positively antisocial and down right nasty at times.

Undercover work - He was very circumspect about his undercover work before, trying to keep it quiet, but he was flashing around an Arachnos lighter the other week quite happily.

Akkarin Rescue attempt - Volt didn't turn up for the rescue. I am sure he would have done before.

Disappearance after Short - When he was fixed enough for the med porter to deal with him, he disappeared, but he didn't go to the base. 351 records show he went tot he Rogue Isles - signal lost some where near Grandville.

Lost Com Unit - Didn't say how or why, just got a new one from Kit.

Sleeping - He is not sleeping in the base like he used to. According to 351's logs he is staying in Founders falls (how is he affording that?)

[Lu]

"Nothing!", the bag swayed slightly as she hit it.

"Absolutely nothing!" the chains holding it in place creaked in protest at having to move.

Slamming her elbow into the bag she spun round it, launching a vicious kick before returning to punching it, trying to work out her frustrations.

Lu had been searching for information on where the real Volt might be, if he is still alive. She had managed to get into the flat in Founder Falls where false Volt was living while he wasn't there, but it had been a fruitless endeavour. There was nothing about the real Volt there, only evidence to prove to her that the current Volt wasn't the right one. It had been like walking into a spider's den. Her skin crawled just to think about it and the bag received another series of buckling blows. There had been all sorts of Arachnos paraphernalia, the lighter she had seen false Volt using at the statue was only a tiny example of the items she had seen. The one that worried her most had been the radio. Although it could have been just an ordinary FM radio, she would have been surprised if Arachnos wasn't using it to help communicate messages to false Volt. But there hadn't been anything there that might lead her to where real Volt was.

She hated feeling as though she wasn't getting anywhere, hated this feeling of uselessness. She had asked Ves if he could find out anything in the Rogue Isles. After all, he lived there, he should have some contacts that might be able to find out what was going on. Red hadn't mentioned anything either. She wondered if he had discovered anything? If not it was time to act, time to stop pussy footing around. If no one else could find any information the stealthy way that left one option. She felt her lips twisting into a malicious smile, she would have to find fake Volt and beat it out of him.

The idea left an oddly satisfying feeling in her gut and with a final wallop of the bag she headed to the showers to change before heading to the FA base to leave a message for Kat about her lack of information. She grinned, then she would over to the mansion to see how Alita was getting on with her new car.