Information Super Highway (attn Mischa)

Tobi was not, technically, supposed to be here, but standing around waiting for a package seemed like much less work than troubleshooting the new database. To be fair, there was also a mild amount of sincere curiosity, some little spark that never fully went away when doing something for the Highway, even when it was just hanging out to pick up a thumb drive. He leaned against the front desk, speaking quietly to the receptionist and trying to get a respectable view down her shirt. This was surprisingly easy from his angle but, to his disappointment, there wasn't much to see. Eventually he gave up and since the woman behind the counter, who looked about thirty but could be older, actually had work to do, he settled for surfing around on his laptop while he waited.

Mischa Karnovich 17 years ago
The black Ford Explorer drove slowly up the driveway towards the guard station. The tinted windows and shadows cast from the overhanging trees make it difficult for the guard to see who was behind the wheel and the driver seemed in no hurry to wind down the window as the vehicle pulled up alongside the station.

But the window slowly came down and the driver offered a thin smile from crimson lips, a smile more disconcerting than reassuring.

The guard tipped his hat as a matter of courtesy and forced himself to smile back at the attractive, dark haired woman dressed entirely in black.

"Welcome to Shady Pines. Name and identification please."

She handed him a blank white plastic card with a black strip. No name, no identification. Nothing. The guard took the card and ran it through the scanner. He let out a premature sigh of relief as no warning signs blared at him from the computer screen. But the sigh died in this throat and he swallowed with some difficulty at the computer readout.

The guard hastily handed the card back to her, as if afraid he would be contaminated by it.

"Thank you Ms. Karnovich. You may proceed. Temporary parking is to the right of the main building."

"Spasiba, tovarisch. Remain vigilant."

The window closed and the driver nervously wiped away the sweat from his brow as the Ford Explorer passed through the gates.

Mischa didn't care what the file said. Probably nothing good, or perhaps too good, judging from the nervous look in the eyes of the guard. Shady Pines. A sanitorium no less. The choice was either inspired, or insane. Assaulting the place would be a nightmare, defending it would be a challenge.

Mischa parked the Ford Explorer, picked up the package, got out and locked the vehicle. She was already thinking of vantage points, fire zones, and containment areas. A place like this was a survivalists dream.

She ignored the surveillance camera's as she passed through the entrance and turned to the reception desk. A young man with unkempt coppery red hair and brown eyes seemed engrossed in the contents of his laptop, while the receptionist appeared to be typing away at her terminal. Mischa had half expected a pair of guards posted at the entrance.

"Good day."

Mischa politely addressed the receptionist.

"I have private delivery of package for Mr. Tobi."

Mischa put the large package on the counter, but made no move to remove her hands.

"To be handed over personally."
Tobi Emiliano 17 years ago
Tobi looked up at the mention of his name, having been engrossed in a cool but only loosely proven scientific article on black holes for the past several minutes. Looking the dark haired woman up and down, he wondered with an evil little grin whether he'd been very good...or very naughty. Either way, she looked like the spanking kind. And not the type to be on the receiving end of said spankings, either.

Realizing he should probably claim his package (and didn't -that- bring a whole series of childish thoughts to mind), he shoved off the counter and made his presence known.

“Heh, just Tobi is fine, really.” Turning toward the receptionist, he blindly held out one hand for the package that should contain the thumb drive. “Can we borrow your chair for a sec?” Realizing that was spectacularly rude even for him, he ended with a sheepish 'good kid' shrug that was sure to get her to comply. She did give him an odd look before getting up and nodding to the domchick, but she didn't seem too pissed off.

'Looks like you guys found each other; I'll just get out of the way.'

Tobi watched her walk away for a moment before bringing his attention back to the very important business of investigating deliveries.
Mischa Karnovich 17 years ago
Mischa wasn't here to question why Tobi had a delivery, it was something that she didn't need to know.

"No signing or anything so trivial, Tobi. Package is from kin in New Jersey."

Mischa pushed the package towards Tobi with both hands.

"And please be knowing, that I do not require tipping."

Mischa's lips parted in a polite smile as she stared at the young Tobi. Mischa frowned for a second and then offered him her right hand.

"Please forgive me. I am Mischa. Mischa Karnovich. And I hear Nachton is interesting place to be."
Tobi Emiliano 17 years ago
Mmm, that whole Russian accent thing was hot. Tobi wondered what he might be able to get her to say without getting his ass kicked, but he’d have to get to know her a little better, he thought, before he could calculate an exact ratio on that.

He slid the package closer to him and smirked, keeping eye contact as he responded to her comment about not requiring tipping.


“Pity.”

And then, charging forward as though he hadn’t just said something ambiguous yet somehow outrageous, he took her offered hand with a pleasantly boyish grin.

“Nice to meet you Misha; Tobi Emiliano at your service.” Okay, that ‘at your service’ business was a laugh, but he figured it was just an expression. “And yeah, Nachton’s pretty cool…you sticking around?”

He was, in truth, asking for two reasons; if she was parking in Nachton she’d need to get settled in, and if she was moving on it would be good to see if there was anything she could traffic.

While waiting for her answer he picked up the package and glanced down at it. No markings, good. Then he looked up, feeling in his pockets for his leatherman to cut through the tape.
Mischa Karnovich 17 years ago
Mischa nodded in agreement.

"Da, I will be staying. As they say in Americanski crime film, this is where the action is. Tobi Emiliano."

Mischa stumbled slightly over the pronounciation of Tobi's last name, and not because her English could use improving. Emiliano was an well known family to work for. To have them heading up things in Nachton would make her stay interesting to say the least.

Mischa watched as Tobi inspected the package with a critical eye and then began searching his pockets. The inefficient secretary obviously had nothing on her desk to slice open the package with, and Tobi's hands were otherwise occupied with the contents of his pants.

Sighing softly, Mischa extended her right hand, flicked her right wrist back gently and smiled as the slender blade slid quietly into view from the concealed forearm mount. Carefully removing the blade, Mischa flicked it in a quick motion and caught the blade end between two fingers. She offered the handle end to Tobi.

"Will this satisfy your requirements, Comrade Tobi?"
Tobi Emiliano 17 years ago
Before Tobi could get to his leatherman Mischa was pulling a knife out of who-knew-where and handing it to him with a sharp efficiency he was beginning to associate with her overall demeanor. Shrugging, he accepted the offered handle and even remembered to say thank you before hacking through the packaging.

“Oh, that’s cool, lots of action here…”

Hmm, that came out wrong. He tried not to snort at his own joke and plowed on ahead.

“You pick a ward yet?” It occurred to him a second to late that she could very easily be military, and he covered by adding on to his question. “…or are you crashing with the Legion?”

There was no direct indication that she was with the Legion but they weren’t usually obvious about it for…well, obvious reasons.

In the course of their conversation he had dumped out the thumb drive and stuck it into the port on the side of his laptop. Now while they chatted he would confirm that the expected files were there, but after that point he’d need to get a little more privacy to continue his assignment.
Mischa Karnovich 17 years ago
Mischa's crimson lips parted in a bemused smile as she stared at Tobi.

"I am not picky, Comrade Tobi. In this place I suspect one bed looks very much like another."

The smile faded somewhat as Mischa considered the contents of the Ford Explorer, and her tone went from light to dead serious almost immediately as she spoke again.

"For safety reasons I wonder though if you have a secure workshop or other designated facility. The 'equipment' I have brought with me could prove dangerous in the hands of the young and/or inexperienced."

Mischa touched the fingers of her right hand in turn to highlight each item.

"Demolitions and explosives ordanance, small and heavy arms and munitions, melee weapons, and equipment and tools for maintenance and creation of above."

Mischa rested her fingers back on the counter.

"Oh, and I'm not associated with the Legion, Comrade Tobi. Will that be a problem?"
Tobi Emiliano 17 years ago
Tobi shrugged at Mischa’s remark, agreeing with her assessment overall and thinking he would probably be much the same way if he didn’t have people to tell him where to stay. He sure as hell didn’t want to worry over which bed to sleep in and he could understand not, as she said, being picky.

“Yeah, you’d be right…I guess it’s just down to who you want to sleep with.”

He must be having a slow day, he reflected; it took him a minute to catch himself that time. “Er…share…space…shit, you know what I mean. Anyway. Yeah.”

Listening absently to her laundry list of terrorist gear while he checked the files on the thumb drive, he thought over where he should send her. To the offices, obviously, but who did he know over there?

“There’s some labs in the other building and a mess of storage space, but I don’t know what’s spoken for. Thanos would definitely know where you can set up and if he’s not around…actually, just a sec and I can go over there with you, I gotta borrow some space myself.”

With that rambling incoherence out of the way, he managed to pop the drive and stick it in his pocket before closing up his laptop and grinning.

“Totally not a problem if you want to stay civilian; if your gear and…” he made a vague gesture “…stuff is any indication, though, you might find yourself getting recruited.”

With what he thought was a charming wink, he spun around the counter and made to go.

“So you want to check out the labs now then?”
Mischa Karnovich 17 years ago
"That would be most welcome, Comrade Tobi."

Mischa smiled and held out her hand.

"And if you are finished with my blade. Would you kindly put it back into me."
Tobi Emiliano 17 years ago
Tobi blinked stupidly at Mischa’s request, taking a second to parse the slightly off phrasing before slapping his palm to his forehead.

“Yeah I guess you’d want that back.”

Come to think of it, he supposed maybe the receptionist would like it if he cleaned up the remains of the packaging instead of leaving a mess on her desk. Eh, screw it, she’d live. He reached over the counter to pick up the knife, gripping it as one might a mouse’s tail, and dangled it handle down over Mischa’s hand.

“Sorry about that, guess I was thinking about too many things at once…”

With the knife returned, he led the way to the double doors that opened onto the garden path, though he did so with considerably less flair that before.

“Doesn’t really matter which way we go; this is just a little bit shorter of a walk.”

Yeah, he’d counted the distance; the difference was negligible but hey, a shortcut was a shortcut.
Mischa Karnovich 17 years ago
Mischa refitted the knife into the harness and nodded silently at Tobi's explantion.

He followed the young man through a pair of double doors that opened out onto a garden path, something that Mischa wasn't expecting to see in this place of steel and concrete.

"What is it you do here, Comrade Tobi?" asked Mischa as the pair passed along the garden path.

Mischa would have plenty of time to familiarize herself with the building schematics later, right now she was interested in her new found kinsman.
Tobi Emiliano 17 years ago
Once he was certain Mischa was joining him, Tobi flopped along at a leisurely pace, kicking his long legs in front of him in a slow inelegant gait. To her question, he responded with the easy joke first, while wondering if he was supposed to call her Comrade Mischa.

“Whatever my mom tells me?” Chuckling once and looking down at the gravel, he shoved his hands in his pockets and went on. “Naw, I do help my mom out with some database stuff and try to do my part to keep the network up though. Plus a little black hatting on the side,” he added with a wink “and my sister and I take Highway jobs as they come along.” Gee, when put that way he hardly sounded like a slacker at all! Really, he had tried to come off as casual about the whole ‘son of the Alpha, next in line, has important parents’ thing, but he was a little curious about how Mischa might react to the mention of his mother. Most people had an opinion on her one way or another.

“So what about you? Er…I guess you build bombs and stuff?”
Mischa Karnovich 17 years ago
"Bombs and stuff?" Mischa remarked with a smile. "You could say that."

"I do very select Highway jobs. I tie up the loose ends. And it pays well too."

((ooc - sorry sick atm with cold))
Tobi Emiliano 17 years ago
Tobi might have said something along the lines of ‘I believe I just did,’ but he chickened out at the last second, thinking that witty banter wasn’t exactly his thing. Instead, a simple ‘oh, yeah’ would have to suffice.

The office buildings soon loomed large in front of them as they walked along the pathway, and Tobi picked up his pace enough to be able to get the door for Mischa. He wasn’t normally so thoughtful and mentally patted himself on the back for thinking to do something halfway gentlemanly.

Here the security was a little tighter, or at least more obvious, with guards in clear view and everything but the immediate foyer pretty much closed off. Fortunately few doors were closed to Tobi Emiliano, and even the ones that were just required a little more work to get around.


“I guess I could have called ahead…shouldn’t be a problem though.”

Still holding the door, he waited for Mischa to go through before following behind her.
Mischa Karnovich 17 years ago
Mischa wrinkled her nose slightly at Tobi holding the door open for her. From experience it was very easy to slip a knife into someone's side while they passed by or quietly plant a bug on them.

"Thank you Comrade Tobi, but there's no need to stand on ceremony."

She gently ran a finger along the side of his cheek as she passed by.

"But the gesture is appreciated."

Mischa waited patiently for Tobi to follow on through the doorway.
Tobi Emiliano 17 years ago
Tobi would be the first to admit that he was pretty clueless when it came to girls, but that finger on the cheek thing had to be a good sign, right? Still, she’d told him to knock the chivalry shit off at the same time, though she’d been nicer about it. Maybe she was all liberated and stuff. That would make sense. In any case, the unexpected touch intimidated him enough that he only managed a squeaked ‘okay’ in response.

Inside the building, it was busier than he had expected, though the reason for that became apparent a moment later, when Thanos appeared from the left hallway. The intensity seemed to pick up a little when the Jiro was around; he currently had a woman chatting at him from both sides and a man trying to keep pace with them but trailing behind, a three ring binder open in his hands.

There wasn't nearly so much fanfare for Tobi, which he didn't mind at all. A couple of people in the lobby raised their heads but they seemed to be paying more attention to his companion than to him. He was glad to be pretty much past that awkward stage where new people tried to figure out if kissing his ass got them anywhere. Most figured out pretty quickly to just act normally around him; it wasn't like he was Sarkis -yet-, after all. And there was so much give in the succession that there was a chance he might never assume that duty.

He should be so lucky.
Thanos 17 years ago
Thanos nodded and smiled as his staff briefed him on what he had missed while on his recent trip, registering everything as the two women fired off endless commentary. For now keeping up was all he could expect to do; once he actually got to sit down he might be able to start delegating. He wasn’t in the greatest mood; on the heels of one trip it looked like he’d be making another. He should be near Vaughn right now, not thousands of miles away in some godforsaken…

He interrupted his own thoughts at the sight of Tobi, number one slacker of Vyusher R’asa, and just the man he needed to see. As much as he hated dealing with the little (well, not so little anymore) punk, Emiliano Jr. could help him out. Holding up one hand to stop the incessant chatter, he told his staffers he would be right back and walked over, his eye contact signaling his intent. There was a woman far too attractive to be with Tobi standing nearby, and Thanos could only assume they were together on business.


“Tobi, I’m glad I found you.” He never would have found the brat if he’d been searching for him but that was another story all together. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the post it with a username written in mechanical pencil on the back. “Could you add him to Cobain for me?” Tobi, in a move that actually bumped the kid up a few notches in Thanos’s book, had named all of the servers after dead musicians.

Turning to the tall woman, he tried for amiable and managed a warm neutral while he waited for Tobi to make introductions.
Tobi Emiliano 17 years ago
Thanos seemed to be making a beeline for him, and Tobi cursed under his breath. The Jiro only wanted to talk to him when he had some stupid job to do.

“Sorry, I gotta talk to this guy…”

’This guy’ just wanted some piddling little task done, just as Tobi had predicted, but he sucked it up and took the scrap of paper. He’d do what Thanos asked…when he got around to it.

“No problem,” he said with a shit eating grin. “Oh hey, this is Mischa; she just got here from…Jersey, right?” The package had come from Jersey but he supposed there was no telling where she had come from. “Mischa this is Thanos. You have any problems here in Nachton, you go to him.” His grin still firmly in place, he turned back to the Jiro, wondering if that would be enough to get him to leave them the hell alone.
Mischa Karnovich 17 years ago
Mischa did not comment at Tobi's apparent discomforture around Thanos. Was there some rivalry or jealously that kept the two men at odds, or was it mere position and power? Mischa wondered who pulled the strings to what around this place of steel and concrete, but now was not the time for such questioning.

So Thanos was a problem solver, that was interesting. But what sort, she wondered.

Mischa offered her right hand and kept her eyes focused on Thanos.

"
Privyet, Comrade Thanos. I am Mischa Karnovich. And charming Comrade Tobi is quite right, I am newly arrived from New Jersey. Here to join our kin in this interesting place."
Thanos 17 years ago
Thanos wondered what it would take to get that stupid grin off Tobi’s face, but for the moment could only meet it with a dead pan stare before pleasantly greeting Mischa.

“Welcome to Nachton, Mischa,” he said, shaking hands firmly. “And thank you for answering the call.”

Vaughn and Loretta had spent a great deal of resources on getting the word out that Vyusher R’asa were needed in Nachton and most kumpanias had responded in good faith. He didn’t see any reason to ask pressing questions about her plans while in the city; if she didn’t have a purpose here already, she would soon enough. Tobi, he thought, must be helping her get settled in; that would explain why she was hanging around with him…of course, there was also the possibility that she just hadn’t spent enough time with Tobi to find him completely obnoxious.

Thanos gave it another ten minutes; that ‘charming Tobi’ comment –had- to be dry sarcasm.