INT. LIVING ROOM - HEADQUARTERS - NOVEMBER 21, 2019 - 8:30 PM
King casually pokes around on the fresh beef steak Tatiana cooked with the clean silver fork, not even taking a bite. He uses the fork and lifts the bottom part of the steak to see the grease and the same juicy texture. He then raises his eyebrow before looking at Johan and Cassandra, both staring at him antsy. He then hears someone's throat being cleared on his right, as he carefully turns to see Tatiana, tying up her long hair whilst wearing an apron, also giving him an antsy look like the two young ladies.
Tatiana raises an eyebrow at the raider, "What? Never seen a beef steak before?".
King sighs as he sits properly and cuts piece then eats it properly. For a man leading a rowdy gang of bikers, at least he has some etiquette left behind inside him. "Psh - YEAH, I mean, it's a STEAK! It ain't rare back in Tokyo. I just lost it's taste."
He smirks smugly at Tatiana as the raider takes another bite, trying to hold his excitement on how delicious it is to be back eating proper food and not the rotten-looking street grub he picked off on the desolate streets of Tokyo. Granted it was high on protein, but that was mainly bugs, rats and cold noodles stored in old vending machines and raided convenience stores.
"Completely lost your taste. Yeah, right . . .", Johan replies with playful skepticism, while Cassandra is stifling her laughter. King clearly sees them and grunts in response, the three then continues to go on with their breakfast, while the brawler younger sister is flipping patties while playing on her phone with one hand, and still be able to eliminate the enemy players.
As they eat and drink, Johan slowly puts her spoon and fork down and glances at the empty seat, where Alo is supposed to join them for dinner. Her expression slowly changes to concern, curling her lips inside, and stares at the plate blankly, thinking about Alo.
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INT. QUARTERS FLOOR
After the dinner ended, the trio went to the elevator so Cassandra and King can be accomodated by their respective rooms, although for one, they could've used the stairs but so far, they're few so there's nobody even bothering to use the elevator except for Alo, who is using an excessive amount of power to transport from one floor to another 24/7, that frankly, may hurt Johan internally if they were paying electric bills which they are fortunately not.
As the elevator doors open slowly, the three are greeted by gusts of cold air flowing past them, Cassandra feels a chill under her robes and tries to embrace the cold as she thinks about harnessing it's natural element some time later, while King's eyes went wide in reaction and immediately wraps his arms around his waist, and his teeth are shivering by the sheer intensity of the cold. Johan turns to the two and turns, and nudges her head at the hallway.
Hearing the raider's mild displeasure of the several airconditioners around the floor, Johan sighs behind them, thinking she may need to adjust the temperature around here since the airconditioners are connected in one thermostat. ONE THERMOSTAT! In her free time, she questions who on Earth would install a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning and connect it to one thermostat, which is in the Central Command floor. Even a place like this has it's faults and if an improper HVAC system could result in several consequences. But for now, she needs to accomodate the two newcomers in their rather bland rooms.
Casssandra catches up to Johan and walks on her right as she looks around the hallway, hey eyes catching the seemingly invisible decorations, or this entire building was a one big abandoned research complex before the owner found it and cleared everything, not even bothering to do ANY sort of designs. "So how many rooms are in this floor? This kinda looks like one of those endless pasillos you see in the movies."
Johan tilts her head towards the sorceress. "First off the architect who arranged the rooms never should've done this, the rooms are basically right next to each other 8 bedrooms and 4 guest rooms. 4 and 1 on each side. The bedrooms are the same, and I've seen boot camps similar to this one so far. As for the storage rooms, eh, pretty much useless since we all cleared the junk inside long time ago."
King also catches up at her, walking on her left, although his back is hunched over and still hugging his own body to gain warmth against the cold roaming around the hallways. He raises an eyebrow, " 'So far'? You mean you don't know this place?"
Johan shrugs her shoulders collectedly, "Honestly, I just came here few months ago, when I helped Alo deal with Keith, a smuggler and the killer of his parents. Richard knew Alo couldn't survive on his own back then, so he shares some of his energy and made me into who I am . . . um, no changes, but you get what I mean.", she stops at the two white metal doors, adjacent at the doors is a light-grey metal door centered between it, the two also halt and glance at the doors. King places his palms on the metallic surface only to flinch back at the even-colder temperature, indicating the airconditioners are continuously keeping this room extremely cold. "Anyway, I'll have to end it here. You can pick up any room you like. If you want find me, I'll be in my room. It's just right over there, you'll see a poster and feel free to knock."
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Cassandra gently grabs her hands and bows at the archer, "Thank you, Johan. Good night, you two - AH!", she smiles but the door automatically opens, shocking Cassandra for a moment. She then turns to Johan again, pointing at the opened door, speechless.
Johan raises her hands and grows a nervous smile, "Whoops. Forgot they all open automatically."
"Ahh right, right. Well, good night.", she enters the room and door automatically closes behind the magician, leaving King and Johan in the hallway.
Johan glances at King, not shivering in the cold and standing upright, currently scratching the back of his head with his head hung low. "Is something bugging you?"
King's eyes remain on the floor and lets out a tired sigh. "Nothing. It's just . . . I don't know what to do on the next day, and another day, and the day after that and whatever day it is. Your hologram of a boss just poofed himself out and we're left on our own here without giving out something important beside that one speech. From seeing magic first-hand to thinking about Nazis coming back, it's all going too fast. And you're getting this from a guy with an armed sentient superbike."
The bespectacled analyst crosses her arms, looking at grey-metal door, "Y'know, I also wasn't sure I'm good enough to be like this. But after that mission at the harbor, bringing down the fat lard, it kinda gave me something to live with what my ordinary life couldn't. A purpose. You do have that. We all have that."
He frowns and leans against the wall, his back embracing the cold walls whilst his tired eyes lock on the floor albeit uncertain, "Even when I joined the gang for good, I still have my doubts in me. Like I said, I could always use a vacation. - ", He massages his head with his left hand and grunt, " - Or I just need some shut-eye." He walks to his room right next to Cassandra's, but stops and glances halfway at Johan behind him, "What about Alo, is he gonna be alright?"
Alo. After the disappearance of Richard, Alo immediately left the Command Central quickly as soon as Richard disappeared, by the looks on his face, he also didn't know about it. Nobody saw Alo's face after that, not even Tatiana yet something prevents her from taking care of her brother. Either way, Johan remembered there are cameras installed around the Headquarters just for security purposes and they are all tied to the Central Command Supercomputer which makes sense instead of the entire cooling system into a thermostat. However, she accessed the previous camera footage during the event but only found him within the Quarters Floor, looking down as he clutches his left hand, presumably that weird chrome insignia his little sister threw at him. Afterwards, he slowly, goes into his room and locks himself inside. Johan tried to access the camera feed inside Alo's room but somehow it was gltiching out, perhaps . . . no, Alo's too lazy to break it. Maybe she needs some shut-eye too.
She exhales drained sigh, still gazing at the emptiness in front of her. "I don't know. It's not normal for him to be like this."
King averts his stare from her, hiding his face. "Then make him normal . . . Good night.", He ends with a worried tone before he walks away as the doors behind him closes.
Johan walks away from the rooms and stops right in front of Alo's door. Still smelling horrendous, hard yet familiar stench of his beer, she purses her lips and sluggishly raises his knuckle against the door, however she closes her eyes and gives up her initial choice, taking a step back from the door and eventually head to the elevator and presses the 2nd Floor.
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INT. KING'S ROOM - 9:00 PM
As King takes a step forward, the fluorescent lights snap on from above. He stares at the ceiling and gradually sees his own ivory painted bed, along with the dull white walls, closet and nighstand and the window wall where he can see the wilderness, as he approaches the window, he can see specks of yellow lights sparkling outside and the more he moves closer, the more the light starts to become abundant.
Finally he stops at the very wall, and places a finger on the little light, only to see it move and flies away; a firefly. The firefly flaps its wing and joins among its species, glowing together in harmony. The raider ponders about his life as he continues to gaze at the Appalachian nightscape, how he wants to live a life like this with his brother and the gang. He could've spent all this time, watching this beautiful scene all the time filled with peace and serenity, instead of watching the endless carnage and destruction his enemies have wrought, and even he feels guilty about the loss of the innocent, having shed pints of blood on his hands too. In the end he's no different than them.
King frowns at the sour pasts in his head, hoping there was something he could forget it all, and sits on his bed. As his butt pressed on the comfortable foam, his eyes widens his eyes at the rather superb bed. He tries to rock it back and forth to check it's durability, "Hmmm, solid and comfy at the same time. Not bad at all."
He smirks as he goes down and looks underneath the bed to see nothing but the neat floor, no cobwebs, no pesky pests that will crawl and shit on his face while sleeping, just the metal bedframe that keeps the intact.
He sits back on his bed and takes something out of his coat; a picture frame of him and his brother holding Japanese saké bottles, both of them wearing Roaring Dragons outfits and behind them are the city lights of Tokyo before the war escalated further. He places the picture frame facing the bed, beside the alarm clock and the lamp.
Taking off his overcoat and his entire clothes during the fight, tossing it inside his empty closet, he changes to a red tank-top and a pair of boxers. King ultimately lets his body engulf the soft foam as he glances at the ceiling light, dimming as he dozes off to sleep. "We're a long way from home, brother. Hope you're looking out.".