Otrov

BEEEEEP!

One of Eddie's closest computers screeched loudly as John, Robyn, and the redhead herself all stared at the picture of Otrov in silence. She looked surprisingly... normal compared to what John had imagined her to be. Unfortunately, imagination was his only tool for this. He couldn't remember what she looked like when he had first met her, even though he had been standing in front of her for a good long time when Michel had initially attacked, but for some reason... he had never actually tried looking at her. Neither had Robyn as it turned out. Somehow, the two of them had both skimmed over Otrov when they were trying to inspect the fighters that Michel had brought with him.

Despite what he had been told about what the Cabal did, Otrov looked like she wouldn't hurt anyone. He couldn't imagine the woman in the picture to be any kind of kidnapper, slaver, or murderer. She looked... happy. Her features weren't sunken or sullen or dark in anyway that he could find that might match the evil stereotypes that he usually found in movies or games. Instead, her facial features were angular and prominent with high cheekbones and a soft but squarish jawline. Her thin eyebrows and sapphire blue eyes remained locked and frozen with the camera that took her picture as the three of them stared at it, but the knowledge of what it was that this person had done let the girls shake off their confusion and surprise like they were simply shedding a coat. They were used to dealing with people like this.

John still couldn't get over the fact that she didn't look like a part of the Abyss.

BEEEEEP!

Eddie's computer screeched again.

"How do they do it?" John asked finally once the redhead began moving again. Eddie quickly turned away from the screen and set her tools down. The panel that had been left open in Robyn's prosthetic arm was quickly closed up with a couple flicks of her fingers and left to sit while she began moving across the room to the computer calling for her attention.

"Do what?" Robyn mumbled halfheartedly. Her focus wasn't on John or trying to make sure that his questions were answered, she simply continued to stand there and stare at the picture of Otrov with her narrow amber eyes. Without the weight of her other arm attached to her body, John began to notice just how much more the blonde woman seemed to fidget and constantly try to adjust the straps of her custom sports bra like it was somehow always out of place.

"Get Mana. How do they extract it from the people that they kidnap?" he said and only continued to look at Otrov’s portrait long enough to take a picture of it for his own phone. At the very least, if he wasn't going to help them fight her, then it might be a good idea to know what she looked like in case he stumbled past her on the street.

BEEEEEP!

"Mana tanks. They put you in one and it just sucks it out of you," Robyn said, skimming past all the truly important stuff as if that was enough. A thorough explanation was too time consuming and she had work to do. Instead, she finally looked away from the picture left on the screen in the furthest corner of the room and turned to Eddie again. The little redhead was bouncing slightly as she stood on the other side of the room. The keyboard she was using clicked noisily for a couple more seconds and then stopped abruptly as the alarm going off on it was silenced. "Can you track Otrov? Find out where she lives?" Robyn asked Eddie, and the redhead quickly shook her head.

"If she lived in Springfield, it might be easy enough; the Order of the Golden Rose would likely already have the information and we could just go and get her... I don't think she lives here though..." The room quickly went silent again until Eddie noticed that Robyn was staring at her expectantly. "... so no, I don't think I can locate her." There was a pause as Eddie frowned at something on her screen, and then she murmured something just barely loud enough to make Robyn frown in turn. "Tracking her is probably going to require some footwork, Bluebird," she said, and John furrowed his brow.

"Bluebird?" he repeated and turned to look at Robyn. She stiffened under his gaze, a hint of red filling up her cheeks when she heard him speak, and then with a curt, deep tone, she told him to shut up. Frankly, 'Bluebird' wasn't the only name that seemed out of place to him. Eddie was quite clearly a woman, and yet he had never heard of a woman with that name before. "Why do they call you Eddie?" he asked, but Eddie still didn't look away from her computer. When she didn't answer at first, he simply just cast Observe on her.

Eda Zoe Deeley
Level 5 Techomancer
<Eddie>
113/113 HP
RP: +54
Effects: None.

"I prefer it over Eda," she muttered simply and began tapping at her computer again. John was a little surprised to learn that, at least when compared to all the other women he met at random, Eddie seemed to at least like him a little bit. When no one said anything again after a long moment, she spoke up for a second time. "Sorry, I just... someone is trying to track us." That got Robyn's attention.

"What?! How?!" the blonde said. Her eyes went wide and she quickly shifted over into one of the other nearby coves to grab something that John identified as a replacement arm for the one she regularly used.

"It seems like something that was set up to track anyone who searched for a key phrase- or in this case, a name." she gestured over to the picture of Otrov, Alanah Walsh, and then resumed typing at her other computer. "It's nothing to worry about. A normal attempt to track us wouldn't even work while we're in this barrier, and Cassandra helped to secure us against scrying magic before sh-" she paused, and the computer started beeping uselessly again. "... before she was taken." Her voice got softer and softer as she continued to speak, until her words were no louder than a whisper at the end. She muttered back and forth with a screen for a couple of minutes while Robyn slotted a new arm into the socket at her shoulder, and then, finally, Robyn stepped out to grab the keys to her car.

"I'm uh..." Eddie called out to Robyn before she could completely leave the basement. "I'm just gonna... stay here... and try to trace this little trap back to its source, I guess. In the meantime, you could always try checking the local... froyo and liquor shops... I'll send you a list of all the other places you can check, but chances are that we are going to have to move again if we want to try and find her."

"Sounds good. Come on, John!"

"Excuse me..." John said as he and Robyn both began walking back to her car, the Deuce. Robyn didn't answer him. "Hey!" he snapped finally and tugged Robyn to a stop before she could enter the vehicle. Even with his strength, she barely moved when he touched her. "I'm not driving around town with you to help you find some kind of Cabalist. I helped, and now I want to get paid, like you said!" Robyn merely regarded him with a scoff.

"I'm not paying you jack for that crap," she grunted, and with a sharp pull, she stepped out of his reach and opened her car door.

"Crap?! You wouldn't even know who Otrov was if not for me! You owe me!" he exclaimed. Her metal hand tightened almost imperceptibly on the car door before she stopped herself. John quickly assumed that she would have put a horrible dent in the vehicle if she had truly tried to squeeze or push on it with that arm.

"I don't owe you anything!" she snapped, and her arm made a sharp winding noise as she turned to point it at him. "You stole from us, remember? Karma's a bitch." On that note she lifted one foot up and began to get into the car before she stopped again when she saw the look on John's face. A part of him figured that he must have seemed pretty pitiful because Robyn didn't seem like the type of person to change her mind or go out of her way to help someone. "Here's a tip for you, Kid."

"I'm not a-" he started, but he didn't get very far before Robyn interrupted him.

"The next time you want to make a deal with an Abyssal entity. Make a fucking contract," she said and then slammed the car door shut behind herself. A moment passed, then the window rolled down, and she peered out of it at the Gamer. "If you really want to get paid, get in the fucking car."

John didn't even realize how hard his hands had been clenching into fists until he heard her say that. The idea that he should have insisted upon being paid crossed his mind for a moment, but... for some reason, his thoughts shifted away from that. Instead, he started thinking about how much more he could have earned if he did help them find Otrov, and whatever anger he had been holding onto was just... temporarily forgotten. With it gone, he reluctantly crossed over to the other side of the car and got in.

"Welcome to the Frozen Flame."