Welcome to another excessive episode! I still am just making it up as I go. Anyway, Onward!
Leon pulled up to Elmers in his modified Cadillac and went in. He was somewhat annoyed that he could smoke so much and only hold a light buzz for a few minutes. He would have to check with NINA on that. The old man was at the counter reading an actual newspaper.
"Hey old man. Where do you get those? Didn't think anyone still read the actual news." Leon asked as he entered. Elmer looked up and ruffled his paper.
"Got a lad who prints these out for me. A little low jack but it's easier on the ol' peepers. How ya been, son?"
Leon gave him a quick and vague update, including buying the town, which Elmer seemed pleased with. Leon ordered some more nano materials and some machinery he thought NINA would be able to utilize at the house, such as large fabricators and heavy construction bots so she can practice developing the newly acquired land, as well as some new high powered photonic emitters. In passing, Elmer mentioned a strange black car that has been sneaking around town and was parked at the mini mall. Leon was intrigued and thanked the man as he placed his order. After finishing up there, he went on to the strange flower head shop and stepped in.
Two tall, pale gothic looking girls were at the counter, dancing strangely to the low etherial music playing overhead. Leon cocked and eyebrow but beelined to the counter.
"Hello! My two daughters came in earlier and highly recommended you for exotic plants."
"Coriander, yes?" The two said in sync.
"Yes, Leon." He replied. Thalia went yo the back and rummaged for a few moments.
"I am Dahlia and my sister is Thalia. We are very pleased and honored to be invited to their party and get to know our new owner."
"New owner?" He asked in confusion.
"You have bought the town, yes?"
"Yes. Interesting take." He said skeptically. Thalia came from the back with an octagonal vase with large, glowing mushrooms.
"A rare fungus from the moon Titan." She said as she presented the item.
"Very nice, ladies, thank you. What do I owe you?" He asked. The two looked at each other for a few seconds before nodding and turning to Leon.
"It is free to you, Mr. Coriander." Dahlia said.
"On one condition." Thalia said.
"We will tell you tomorrow at the party." They said together.
"Uh, okay. Thank you very much, ladies." Leon grabbed the vase and left the store, the twins eyeing with devilish grins as he walked out.
As Leon finished up loading the car he sensed someone was approaching him and turned to see a tall, skinny and familiar Japanese man in a black suit and shades make his way from a matte black pill looking vehicle to Leon and he stood to greet him.
"Greetings, Mr. Coriander." The man said.
"You. I don't like you." Leon said.
"Oh?" The skinny man asked.
"You brought my wife back mutilated. We have problems, you and I."
"Ah. I see. It was only business and I am only a mere messenger for my dragon lord. On her behalf I have come to give you and your family an invitation to meet and finish the inheritance transfer."
"Seriously? Just like that?" He asked incredulously.
"My lady has realized that her age prevents her from being as actionable as she once was and can recognize when she has reached an impasse. She offers a bargain. But it must be done within a few days." The man presented an envelope that Leon took cautiously. The meeting was planned to happen in two days.
"Will you be able to attend, sir?" The man asked. Leon gave it a second to think.
"Not likely. I have plans. Maybe another time. I'll call her when I have the time." Leon said.
"Well that just won't do sir, time is of the essence. If not, we will have to provide some incentive, then. I will inform my lady of your answer."
The man bowed and returned to his matte black hover car. Leon got a tinge of treachery from the whole ordeal and had a quick chat with NINA as he got in the car and took off back home.
"I don't trust this at all. Can you track him?" He asked.
"Of course, daddy." She answered and a small marble formed from his hand form the nano particles and zoomed off, skating an inch from the ground and splatting like a paintball onto the bumper before fusing and becoming unnoticeable as the car took off.
"That made me a bit more comfortable. I guess it's time you and I review some new deterrences and tech I've been putting off." He stated.
"As you command, daddy." NINA answered. Leon smiled.
"I have to admit, I was a bit worried having you onboard but I am very pleased with you, NINA. I apologize for neglecting you up to now."
"Never apologize to me, daddy. I am very aware of what is going on and I am very happy being your passenger until my services are required."
"That's good to know. And if you have any suggestion, ideas or need me to be aware of something, let me know. If we are to be in each others heads, it would be good to watch out for each other and keep each other alive. Trust will be extremely important from here on out."
"Then it would be a good time to tell you we have been targeted and we have a group on an interception course." She answered.
"Great. Do we know who?" Leon asked.
"The Coalition. There is a arrestor transport and six power armor escorts." NINA said.
"Man, those guys are rough. They've been gobbling up all the military contracts since they reorganized." Leon groaned.
"Thank the UNGlobal. They gave "The Black" jurisdiction to police for them. Apparently they are becoming human purists and aren't kind to people with mutations, modifications, magic or psychics., though they employ them to hint their own." NINA said.
"Do we have anything that can block their sensors?" Leon asked.
"Some, but there isn't a way to block psychic detection." Answered NINA.
The car started acting funny and control was taken by the arrestor transport. The six suits of flying armor surrounded his car and looked in at Leon. The armor itself was shiny black and the helmet had a skull motif, while the bodies had wings on the jet pack and on the ankles. They each carried a long, menacing rail gun. The onboard communicator lit up. Leon connected the call. A gruff voice came over the intercom.
"This is a Coalition police action. We have commandeered your vehicle and will be escorting you to the Chi-Town mega city. You are being detained for questioning. Remain in your vehicle until docking where you will be searched and processed." The man didn't wait for an answer and disconnected the call.
"Daddy, I can block their control if you'd like."
"No, lets just see where this is going." Leon didn't want trouble so he went with the twenty minute flight. He called Miki and Vera to let them know what was happening but not to tell anyone else until he can call them later and to have Gig and Shawna ready themselves and used the rest of the time to go over NINA's new discoveries. Most were knew meta materials, weapons, liquid processors, micro fabricators and synthesizers and a multi-spectrum energy emitter. Leon was entertained with the task, coming up with ways to integrate it with the current tech, as with the Tesla ray, photonic emitters and micro particle accelerators.
He also learned that NINA could make changes to his gene coding on the fly. He mulled over some ideas, but decided against making any physical changes and definitely restricting the girls from abusing that, though she noted that Nila and Sunny had already tested it out but Leon would be happy with the changes. NINA also noted that that strange ship they took from Typhon had a starnge bio-organic compound that could be beneficial. Soon enough they had reached the outer limits of the city and decided to finish their session, which NINA was most pleased with.
The Chi-Town complex, while still under construction, was massive and built on the outskirts of the rubble of old Chicago, which had now become a suburb of the new structure. It was over five miles in diameter and a mile high. It had forty levels above ground and looked like a giant half of a traffic cone, though it had large blocks still under construction. Around the structure were makeshift homes and tents, open air markets and body chop shops for cybernetic enhancement. The government offices were the only fully completed aspect and was on the half built rooftop.
The weather around the complex was hazy and constantly overcast, mostly due to weather modification that kept the solar radiation from being too intense for its citizens to work outside for lengths of time. It slowly swirled around the whole city and suburbs for miles and was unpleasant to observe but the people had gotten used to it.
The vehicle was slowed into a large, heavily guarded hanger. As they passed through the opening, Leon felt his connection to NINA get cut off, as well as all the communication with the nano particles in his body and he immediately felt the weight of it on his body. Not enough to cripple his movements, but enough to know he had around a hundred pounds of dead weight his muscles had to accommodate for. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Miki's floating cameras appear then fall to the seats and floor of the car.
"NINA? This can't be good." Leon thought to himself. The door was opened by a armored man that had five prongs jutting back from his skull helmet. "Out." He said and Leon complied, struggling a bit with his newly acquired weight. Behind the soldier there were four huge dog men in spike covered armor bearing a insignia that matched the soldier. The Doberman had pistols, the bulldog had vibro-claws, the pit bull had a shotgun-looking weapon and german shepherd had a heavy machine gun. The all started growling once the smelled Leon, which made him uneasy.
"They only get jumpy when they smell psychics. I would advise against using them here. We tend to not let them leave alive." The soldier said in a tinny voice through his helmet.
