A Dark Night in the Big Apple

[Sai]

It was dark here... the exact kind of bubbling cesspool of human filth and evil that the heartless were drawn to. Not a night passes in this wicked place where someone's life isn't taken, or someone dies in the streets without anyone to offer them a helping hand. Here, the alleyways were as dark as the human heart, and that is where evil bred like the thousand and one whores that walked these dirty streets with no consequence for the vile, wicked things they did behind closed doors. This was a world of death, of evil, and of darkness unlike anything seen anywhere else... But hey, that's New York for you.

In one of these festering, grime-covered back alley hellholes, the darkness would become tangible, a swirling mass of inky black that would produce a portal to another place. And from it stepped someone who clearly did not belong. He was tall and slender, wearing silver robes and a crimson scarf over his features. With a flick of his hand, the portal would dissipate... just in time for the rain to pour. Lucky for him at he wore a wide-rimmed hat. Stepping forward, he took in the massive buildings and artificial, if somewhat superficial, lights of the city. These would do little to illuminate the coming events...

"You..." a voice behind him gruffily demanded, followed by an odd sensation in the small of his back. "Give me all your money. Now!" it demanded.

Now... when being threatened from behind, there are a few options available to you. One was to comply, which this metallic-robed man would not do. The other is to forcefully twist your body, throwing the weapon off-target and simultaneously putting yourself out of harm's way. This, however, is a very high risk move. In order to pull it off, your assailant needs to feel he is in control. So, slowly, the scarfed man lifted his hands, generating a sense of false security...

...before doing just that. With a sharp twist, he was able to disarm the mugger. Quickly, he grabbed the man's arm and used it as leverage to slam the thug into the brickwork wall nearby, knocking him unconcious. Standing over him, the scarfed man seeme so calm... uncaring...

"Nice moves..." another voice, deeper down in the alley. It prompted the man to look up, and see several others, armed with bats or boards, stepping into view. "But there's only one of you, ese'...."

Silence a moment as the rain poured down. The man in silver sighed softly, then pulled out a small length of wood from his jacket and pointed it at the men approaching. "I don't have time for this..." he muttered, and in a blazing blast of light and sound... six men would be dead, cooked by the heat and intensity of a lightning blast they never expected.

Sai stepped from the alley, slipping his wand in his jacket as though nothing had happened. Apparently, this didn't register to anyone else either, as a scantily clad woman under an umbrella would approach him as he attempted to walk away, asking if he was "looking for a good time."

"Hardly..." he would mutter, walking past her and enduring her curses and insults. Not far from here was the New York Public Library... but he would stop in mid-stride, feeling a strange tug. Looking up... he watched the skies. Something... was coming.

[Shego]

[glow=green,2,800]-GAUuuUuu-KUuUNK!!- sounded the ship as it made its way through the stratosphere, a bright red ball heading towards Manhattan. A crashing ship! Within the Heartless' hold she would be holding Wall-E, possibly doing its trade mark "WHOAAAAAAAAAAAA" with him.

She would gasp a little, seeing nothing but buildings bellow, and looking over to Oeilvert, "OH NO!" she whimpered, "Attikin's Nobody is in trouble!" She hovered over to the control center, and looked about BEFORE pressing buttons, and worked at a fast speed to balance she ship.

80,000 feet before crashing....40,000 feet before crashing... 9,000 feet before....... ALL systems stable.

The forward thrusters of the ship began to work, and the massive escape pod would slowly make its descent, landing perfectly in a strange, dark park. "Oooh~" The woman would gasp, looking at their surroundings through the glass, "... are we home? It doesn't feel like home... OH!"

The heartless ran over to Oeilvert, nearly pouncing him, "Attikin's Nobody, are you hurt??" she would look him over, before her eyes catch glimpse of Wall-E, "your companion cube seems fine too..."[/glow]

[Oeilvert]

***From The Emerald City, in The Wonderful Land of Oz***

For the duration of their travel from Oz to Manhattan Oeilvert had been in a silent panic, gripping tightly to the arm rests of his seat; he maintained a close eye on Wall-E, who sat straddled between the black, evil arms of Ms. Go; a problem she presented, but Masheck Octavian would deal with her later.

Right now they were about to crash land. The sorcerer's eyes widened and he drew out his wand and directed it at the control board, ordering it to stabilize, but watched it have no effect. Instead Shego's Heartless tried the random button-mashing once more and, soon, the ship made its light, safe descent.

When they landed, Ms. Go had approached him and, in anger he thrust his hand forward and grabbed her neck, squeezing tight; with the other he pressed his wand into her forhead and shouted at her.

"You fool! Do you not think before you act? You could have seriously injured my companion!" With any luck she wouldn't fight back, having seen this man as someone very important to one of her associates. "What do you have to say for yourself!?"

[Sai]

Sai watched with mild interest as a craft made its way across the sky and lighted gently in Central Park. While it had nothing to do with his immediate goals, the appearance of strange craft just as he was about to make another step in his quest for the notes was... concerning. Besides, it wasn't a tremendous detour, Central Park. Sai cut across the road and made his way into the densely-grown municipal nature preserve.

Calculating the trajectory, angle, and speed of the craft was pretty simple for the Nobody, having studied numerology, physics, and statistics all at various points in his past. This made finding the craft itself little more than a matter of putting the right numbers in order and coming to a result. There were several people already gathered around the craft, which had not opened just yet. Fortunately for Sai, he blended quite well here, as there were many street performers who had dropped their act to see what this thing was.

Stepping up, he watched as stunningly... nothing happened. Several moments passed, and almost everybody left. Those that stayed behind were more interested in their own affairs than the craft, which had been written off as "some stupid publicity stunt or something". Sai, on the other hand, was a bit more focused than that. Pulling out his wand, Sai pointed it at the ship and willed the barometric pressure inside to force it open...

**Sai has learned the spell OPEN***

What came next... was a mystery even to him.

[Shego]

[glow=green,2,800]"Ow ow ow ow!" Ms. Go yelped and whimpered, her eyes half moons facing downward, resembling a sad, hurt expression ,"Wh-why are you being so mean?!" she sniffed, flailing her arms to bat his own away. "I'm going to tell Attikin's on yo--"

Just then, the pods doors opened, and the figure that rested there confused the heartless. She now looked from Oeilvert to Sai, and back to Oeilvert, "I didn't know you had a twin..." she blinked, gasping, "Can Nobodies have twins??" she pinched a nerve on the green mage's hand, in order for him to release her, and hovered over to Sai, her eyes round as she starred into his own, ".................hmmm...."

She leaned down to rest her head on his chest, listening in before looking to him, "Hey! You are a nobody too! You ALSO look a lot like Attikin's Nobody... Atticus is my Heart--" she sighed happily, before blinking a moment, "OH!! I remember what I was supposed to do! I was supposed to find HeartSteel!" she face palmed herself, "Oooh.... Shego's going to be sooo angryyyy..." she paused, "sort of."

The heartless stood up and looked between the three of them, "Any of Attikin's Nobodies and companion cube know where I can find some?"

Sweet, innocent Ms. Go.... only a threat when something precious was threatened. Maybe it would be a good time to play along? Not only that, was Ultimecia right in the end? Was Masheck meeting the witches?[/glow]

[Secondary Characters]

Wall-E had screamed and flailed and shook so much that his speech wind-up key was depleted and his motion key was about halfway. When they landed, he fell from Ms. Go's arms in a pile of shook-up parts, looking relieved to be on solid ground once more. He slowly got up, shaking his head a bit to see Oeilvert acting... maybe a tad harsh to the scary lady.

Then the door opened, and Wall-E rolled behind said scary lady instinctively. She was out of there in seconds, however, leaving him waving his arms after her in a "come back" sort of way. Shyly, Wall-E tapped his fingers together, then rolled to the door to peek out. There was another Oeilvert out there! He blinked, perking up a bit and looking back to his companion before pointing out at the other wizard! Apparently, he as as shocked as Ms. Go!

[Oeilvert]

At her mild attack the sorcerer released his charge and watched as she sped out the opening doors; he shook his head. That woman's attention span was...limitless.

"where are you go--" he called, but was cut off by the sight of their new destination and the silver-garbed wizard whom Shego'd taken a slithering liking to. He slowly stepped from the ship, grabbed Wall-E and set him on the ground beside him and held his wand firmly in his grip. Cautiously he stepped forward and dipped into a low, grandiose bow.

"Oeilvert, Prince of Oz. You must be the king of this place, then?"

[Sai]

Sai was about to attack when the heartless leapt at him. In fact, the second she had her head to his chest, he had his wand to her temple. Strange that she wasn't attacking... why was that? The mysteries would unfurl one by one in Sai's mind at the mention of a familiar, haunting name... Atticus.

Things began to click over in his mind. Atticus. It meant that whomever this was, they had contact with his heartless. Further, she mentioned the names Shego and Heartsteel. Shego he had run into, if only passively, at the Collosseum... and if she was now split in two, that meant that this referred to this creature's nobody. The fact that she was looking for heartsteel as a heartless raised his suspicion that Shego had in her possession at least one of the Keyblade Notes, as the notes he just got from Kuja hinted at it.

So, a plan began to form. If Shego had notes, that meant that he'd have to visit her very soon. So, why not let this thing lead him to her? Sure, he'd have to take advantage of her innocence, but without a heart... it wouldn't exactly make him feel bad.

Then, another wizard stepped out of the pod. This one was clearly still whole, which was completely strange considering he was in the ship with a HEARTLESS, but whatever. He introduced himself as Oeilvert, a prince... and then confused Sai for a king. Odd.

"Sai... in name and title. It means 'learner'..." the nobody muttered, glancing over. "I'm no king... just a scholar along the path... and speaking of..." he now looked to the Heartless, slipping his wand away to pull out keyblade notes number 13.

"If you can help me find more of these... I can help you look for your heartsteel sample..." he said calmly. He left out that he was Atticus' nobody, but seeing as she pretty much already pegged him as such... no reason to go into it.

[Shego]

[glow=green,2,800]The Heartless' eyes grew round and childlike at the sight of the note. "Oh!" she gasped, holding it in her hands, "Wow! you and Attikins are SO much alike! He's looking for these too...sort of." she pouted, reaching up to scratch at her cheek, "... I think."

She watched him with a strange, shadow smile, "Sure, Second Attikin's Nobody twin~ I'd love to help you." she hovered over and cuddled him a little before handing him the note, "but...." she looked about at the dark place, "...where are we? It feels almost as dark as The Dark Margin where all my family is, but.. not. It's close, but I can still sniff hearts around."[/glow]

[Oeilvert]

Masheck folded his hands together after he stood back up, staring at both Nobody and Heartless while they discussed notes and HeartSteele. HeartSteele!? he thought, looking down at something glimmering, fastened to his cravat.

Later...let's study them more before relinquishing such items.

"Are you speaking of Keyblade Notes? I daresay I had a few at one time...unfortunately the Wicked Witch of the West took them from me and handed them off to another horned hag at her castle."

[Sai]

There are times when Sai was thankful he couldn't feel. Had he expressed his surprise at this new information, it might have given away his intentions, which he did not want to happen. He instead looked to Oeilvert calmly and nodded. "You don't say..." he whispered... thinking. "Was this 'horned hag' named Maleficent?" he asked, trying to pin where other notes were hidden. If this was true, he'd have to face off with the witch in order to get the notes from her in the future as well. Two very powerful green women... What would Daphne say about this?

Looking to Ms. Go, Sai nodded softly, thinking before speaking. "And to answer your question... close. It's New York City. I need to check the library before we begin, if you'll follow me..." he said, then started walking, looking over his shoulder to the odd group.

"I would suggest you come along... evil things happen to decent people in the shadows of this town..."

[Oeilvert]

"I was barely conscious while they conversed, but I think the hag goes now by a new name. Meadow Dale, or something. I am not sure, actually. But Elphaba did refer to her as Maleficent before, yes."

And when he suggested they follow the Nobody he collected Wall-E in his arms and nodded. "Very well. Perhaps this mystery is all intertwined and, if working as one, we shall soon come to...a break, of sorts."

[Secondary Characters]

Wall-E blinked a bit as Oeilvert lifted him. He looked around a bit, much more accustomed to roving around on his own, but still thankful to have a friend. He looked between the three others, wondering where they were going. He'd been to the New York area before, but it was a ruin where he came from. Looking at this place, it was so busy... different.

He waved a little, trying to get everyone's attention before tapping on his chestplate where his name was. Again, his voice was gone from screaming so much, so he had to rely on the little sign to introduce himself as Wall-E...

[Secondary Characters]

In this dark, cold place, evil had found a home. And while most evils took the form of one man killing another... the one that had been watching was a different kind all together. This was the kind that despised humankind, and worked to acheive a perfect, final solution to the staggering infection that was its continued existance. This... was the gargoyle kind.

That's not to say that there weren't some do-goody types among them, but this femme fatale was certainly not one of them. This lithe, toned female was undoubtedly more the kind to rip one's throat out than wish them a good day, and so with crimson eyes, she watched when the wizard made his appearance, having been drawn to that alley by his sudden and spectacular display of killing prowess. But of course... she still wouldn't trust a spellcaster. That had proven nothing but hazardous to her in the past.

So, she stayed away, tucked out of sight on the rooftops and observing as he made his way toward the library. Interesting that he would be going there... Lucky for her, a streak of light in the sky would distract him from his clear objective. Probably calling in more mages to do his dirty work. That was fine. She would probably be done before he got there anyway.

You see, this demonic woman had discovered a terrible secret. A copy of a book, long thought forgotten, had been recently donated to the New York Public Library by one philanthropic man calling himself MacBeth. This book contained magic spells from a time before history and was being studied there. Prior history with MacBeth, however, alerted the sleek female gargoyle to the fact that it was a trap, but the fun thing about knowing it's a trap is that you know how to prepare for it.

While the silver-garbed one moved away, several bookish creatures would appear behind the woman, each one marked with a symbol of the heartless. Demona slowly turned around to face them, a smirk playing across her lips. "Come on boys..." she spoke, her voice sultry, yet dangerous. "We have a book to check out..."

With that, she spread her wings and kicked into the air, gliding to her destination... the New York Public Library.

[Shego]

[glow=green,2,800]Along the way, the heartless found herself between the two men, holding at each of their arms lovingly, in her confused delusions. She would humm happily, watching Wall-E every now and then, "OOoh, you have a sore throat there? I can try and fix you later." her eyes formed upward crescents, noting that she was happy.

"So, anyway~ I was... supposed to get something important." she seemed to loose track of her thoughts, yet again... perhaps, she has gotten used to Shego always being the brains of the operation... she frowned a little, "It's to help my Attikin's...but... now I can't remember..." [/glow]