Welcome to Gaia! ::

<<
As the cab pulled away, Diablo pulled in. The automated gates opened with a dull whine and Bronzed drove up to the front door. Hopping off his bike, Bronzed trotted up the stairs and pushed open the front door. The Politician was waiting in the main room, looking as displeased as one can while wearing a clucky, face-concealing mask.

"You're late."

"I had some unexpected difficulties," Bronzed muttered.

"What kind of unexpected difficulties?"

"The Pasty kind. I ran into our albino friend and lost track of Super Duper Broadway Man during the fight." He shook his head, "And now, I'm going to need the rest of tonight off."

"Why? You got a date?"

"I prefer to think of it as damage control..."

Afterwards>>>

Previously

I suppose it's my own damned fault for thinking this place would be harder to find Mother Superior thought to herself as she approached the gates to The Politician's massive headquarters. She eased on the accelerator, and then braked as the not-quite-black-and-possibly-Native-American-or-Arabian entered the gates to the manor. She pulled the White Miata off the road, as a cab passed leaving the area, and left a red/orange rubber glove on the antenna as a sign that the car was not in working order but efforts were being undertaken to correct this, and set about casing the manor's defenses. She surveyed some guards and decided that this man was definately a "bad guy" in the James Bond sense of the phrase, and should be one full of powerful weapons which could be effectively used by good people with half-way-decent aim.
After a while, a motorcycle roar hearkened the opening of the gates, and Mother Superior decided to get close in order to sneak in after the vehicle had left. In doing so, something hard and heavy hit her head and she fell unconscious with the distinct thought that she was probably going to wake up either A: stuck in an airplane about to crash, in a car plunging underwater, in a holding tank underground, tied up over a tank of sharks or piranhas, or tied to some sort of conveyor belt that would be bringing her slowly towards some sort of cutting aparatus. One thing she was sure of, however, is that she would wake up. It would be very much against what she knew of this Politician thusfar for him to merely shoot her and have it over with.
In this she was entirely correct.

"You'll find my methods have their perks...” The Politician turned to face this stranger, only to discover it was no stranger at all. "Ah, Stone. It has been a while." The Politician's voice suggested that this might not have been such a bad thing. Suddenly a group of minions burst through the front door. They carried a woman's body with them.

"Boss!"

"What is it, thirty-five?"

"I'm twenty-"

"No, you're thirty-five,” The Politician countered smugly, "I just had you renumbered."

"Oh..." Minion twenty-four thirty-five looked quite disappointed by this as he continued his explanation. "Minions nine, fourteen, and I were outside patrolling the gate when we saw this street performer tap dancing outside the gate-"

"Street performer?" The Politician mused over this for a moment. Then, it hit him. "This street performer didn't happen to be covered in glitter did he?"

"Actually, yes." The Politician smacked his masked forehead as the minion continued, "But that's not why we're here. You see, that man took a cab and left as Commander Bronzed came in. Then, this other car pulled up and this woman here jumped out."

"So you caught her trying to sneak in and knocked her out?" The Politician was pleased that his minions had finally gotten something right.

"Well, not exactly. You see, she heard Commander Bronzed coming back out, so she waited by the gate to try and sneak in. When the gate opened, she hit her head on it."

"Wait, doesn't the front gate open inwards?"

"Yeah, that's what I thought. I'm really at a loss as to how she pulled it off."

"No matter, ready my tank of piranhas!"

"Uhh... Actually, sir..."

"You forgot to feed my piranhas, didn't you."

"...Yeah..."

The silence that had fallen over the manor seemed to press down on everyone within. A tumbleweed bounced between Catherine and The Politician. Suddenly, there was a loud chirp as a cricket decided it was safe to come out of hiding. Pointing his finger at the bug, The Politician called out, "There it is!" One of his minions raced over and slammed his foot down, ending the insect's poor, insignificant existence. This event also, according to Chaos Theory, would cause a monsoon to strike Japan.

"Sorry, we've been trying to get that bug for weeks," The Politician finally returned to the conversation. "Would someone get our clumsy friend an icepack?" As a minion raced off to the freezer, The Politician walked over to Catherine to get a better look at her, "And what can I do to help you?"

Stone spoke up, "You haven't exactly proven yourself. How can we know that this offer is worth taking?"

"Knocking yourself out shows foolishness, not initiative." Even with his mask and voice changer concealing his emotions, The Politician was clearly amused. "You are right in one thing, the debt of the Catholic Church is not something to be tossed aside." The Politician paused in thought.

"Sir! The calculations are complete!" A minion (number 17) burst in the room. Looking at the gathered crowd, he realized something important must have been going on. "Sorry, am I interrupting?"

"Yes, you are. It's a welcome interruption, however," The Politician sounded quite pleased. "Have you isolated the resident left-wing frequencies?"

"Yes, sir. Shall we tune the device's wave emitter?"

"Of course." As the minion left, The Politician turned back to Mother Superior. "I apologize for the interruption, but you have my attention now. What exactly do you require of me?"

Stone barked at the politician, "What can we do for her? Suddenly this dame shows up all ‘the Church can owe you one,’ and you get misty eyed! You are getting soft, old man,” he used the term in very mild endearment. “How is she going to help us out?"