Captive Talk

JP with Jaxx and Cindy

Tunnels under Paris
About 7 AM

An unconscious Jackal was eventually brought back to the room, however when he was put back on the bed he had occupied later he was kept in chains.

Some French man mumbled something in Latin.

Some food, fresh water and tea was delivered to the room by servants who quickly left, locking the door behind them.

Lily waited till the kidnappers left before she quickly rushed to check on Dr. Jackal. He looked dead asleep but his scent was a bit different now. He had an odd chemical smell on him as well as the hint of blood. Lily checked Dr. Jackal's arms and eventually found the origin of the smell. From what she could see, someone did a poor job of of poking the good doctor with a needle to inject something into him as well as remove his blood. The big clue was was the bruise on the good doctor's arm as well as the blood stain left behind. It was a relief to his the good doctor's breathing as he was obviously drugged into a deep sleep. She was worried what her captors had planned for them since they now have Dr. Jackal's blood. Out curiosity she began to examine the chains on Dr. Jackal since it didn't make sense to use chains to stop Big Red. She wondered if magic was involved.

Wayne looked over at his daughter, and the man who was unconscious and now chained up. He poured himself some tea, as his mind wondered what was really going on.

Almost an hour later was a visit from a French man - who said some Latin words as he held Dr. Jackal's chains. Then he touched Jackal's head for a moment.

The French man turned to Lily and her father and said. "Tu devrais me remercier d'avoir tenu l'autre moitié du docteur à distance." (You should thank me for keeping the doctor's other half at bay.)

Lily wanted to respond to the French man but held her tongue as she stared daggers at the French man. She didn't want to reveal she knew French just yet since her captors might drop their guard and boast of secrets in French. She replied in English, "Will you still be just as brave when he wakes up and starts looking for you?"

The French looked as if he wanted to laugh. "You think my or any of our deaths matter, in the grand scheme of things. You think you can fool me into believing you do not speak French. I know better. You are upperclass - you are pretty much all the same. Sent to boarding school where you would have been taught French until you were fluent in it. Perhaps you learned Russian as well but being you are human and not Eldren it is not a guarantee you bothered with it. Your father knows French, as well. I knew without him ever telling me. Because all upper class boarding schools are similar. You are just barely better than the Eldren." The Frenchman had a sound of almost repulsion on voice at the word Eldren.

Lily smirked as she replied, "Funny you say that. The last mage you all sent tested that theory and well....................well he wet himself before he ran for his life. It wasn't hard to find him.......................well what was left of him anyway. I am curious if you will soil your britches during your final moments." Lily raised an eyebrow at the French man as she maintained her serious expression.

"Yes, Vincent, I believe was his name." The Frenchman shrugged as if the now dead mage didn't matter at all. "He was a mid-level mage. Nothing compared to what I am capable of. I believe your friends Lady Elizabeth and that guardian of hers - Mr. Sung are mid-level are they not? Maybe, you should be concerned for them."

Lily replied, "You remind me of the giant in the story "Jack and the Beanstalk". He believed he no equal either.....................well till Jack changed all that. You proclaim you life doesn't matter, but is that really true? If its all pointless then why bother to go through all this? Why not just kill yourself now? Its rather sad to die a pointless death and having no one miss you."

"Death is not pointless if it is a means to an end. Those that die in the process of gaining the true way of life are not pointless losses. However, not everyone sees the true way, not even all the members of the Children of The Sea," The Frenchman explained.

Lily crossed her arms in annoyance as she listened in silence. Then she replied, "Well your so called religion sounds more like a cult and a short lived one at that. How can you recruit more fools to exploit when you are all suicidal? Most known cults just trick people out of their money and free labor. Your group act like that crazy group that hope to die so they can get 72 virgins in the afterlife. However one has to wonder if there really is a 72 virgins waiting for them and even if there is..........are they 72 attractive virgins? What if they are 72 old, dirty, fat pervy guys who no one wanted? I bet that would be a sore sight to see. Have you considered your afterlife may not exist or even worse it could be a contradiction?"

"My religion is over a hundred years old and the way of the future. I am not sure what you consider short lived," The Frenchman, had let her just go on. "It perhaps does not matter because you would never be admitted by she who made the God's who walk among us, but the true believers will be with her upon death. The Arundan have been joining her for time immemorial, no one calls them a cult." The Frenchman shook his head as if Lily was a lost cause and then left without saying another word.

Wayne continued to sip his tea, before he spoke up. "A lot of things are not adding up. However, I do not believe I have the right to ask considering all the secrets I have kept from you."

Lily crossed her arms in annoyance then exhaled as she replied to her father. She said, "You are correct father. I am grateful you finally opened up to me despite our current conditions, however your poor choices has forced me to make hard choices as well. Should I open up to you on any of those topics it would result in making our lives worse should we survive this ordeal. I am sure my allies will rescue us however the less you know the safer you will be." Lily looked at her father with a condescending sneer and said, "I wonder if this is the first time you have been in this position before. So what is your take on being helpless and powerless?"

"Kidnapped yes. However, when I was under the thumb of my father I was powerless." Wayne responded. "I have been powerless to stop certain events from happening. I do not believe that anyone doesn't have feelings of being helpless sometimes, no matter how it might not seem to be the case."

Lily cocked her head to the side as she looked at her father with a puzzled expression. She replied, "You are awfully calm all things considered. You are up to something, aren't you?" Lily was a bit worried her father made yet another blunder.

"No, not really. I mean even if I had planned something I wouldn't risk your life by attempting it." Wayne responded.

Lily sighed at his response and replied, "Sorry father. I am still getting used to acting like my dad again. Its been a few years so its somewhat awkward. So if we live through this what are your plans?"

"I probably will go back to England. Run my businesses." Her father paused. "I would like it if you were to come back with me. I could show you how to run the business, if you want. I want you to understand it is an offer not a command, if you choose to have nothing to do with the workings of the business I will understand."

Lily shrugged and pondered the idea a bit. Naturally she would need to discuss it with Lady Elizabeth in private and without her father being all the wiser. She replied, "Well lets put a pin in that for now since are still stuck in this seedy place. I doubt our kidnappers will just let us walk out of here freely. I wouldn't put it past them to kill us in the name of their psycho evil god."

"They like to talk, a lot about their religion. It sounds like they believe the Arundans are Gods, and that they've twisted the Arundan beliefs to suit their own. They worship the same God - or more like Goddess the Arundan do." William stated. "Like I said, if you ask some of them they will tell you anything about their religion."

Lily looked at her father and was not curious what her devious father had learned about their captors. She looked at the good doctor once more before she checked on him. While making sure Dr. Jackal was okay she whispered into his ear that she was here for him. Then she asked her father, "I see. So what did you discover about them?"

"Besides, what I just said I think there might be factions within the religion. Some of the people I have met have an aire of money about them. Others do not. The Frenchman who was just here, Mr. Benefil is how people address him, is an empirical mage, which means he underwent some expensive training, yet he seems to hate the wealthy - all wealthy. I believe he might have come from a working class background, perhaps had a benefactor." Wayne looked at his daughter, wondering what her take on this information was.

Lily pondered her father's words as she rubbed her chin. It seemed oddly familiar since she saw a similar pattern in her boarding and finishing schools. Everyone wanted to fit in and make connections to increase their self worth in one way or another. Some wanted more money, some more power, some more influence and some were hoping for a friend or two. Lily on the other hand had to give up on all that as she merely went through the motions and stayed neutral. She even had to avoid the bullies picking on the less fortunate girls in the bathrooms. Of course found ways to balance things out by leaving a lit cigarette outside the bathroom to attract the staff and other odd tricks to expose the bullies. But none the less what her father said made sense about splinter groups in one big group. Perhaps they could use that to cause some chaos if need be. Lily then asked, "So by chance who is in each group?"

"I can't be sure. The Frenchman's loyalties seem obvious but the rest.... I really wouldn't know. I believe Lamaire - the doctor is loyal to the main group. However, I have also met his father. So Lamaire is likely generational. They have money, I can tell that much." Wayne explained. "I haven't met many others."

Lily cocked her head to the side as she was confused. Then she asked, "That part confuses me a bit. Any organization made requires money to keep it going. However it doesn't make sense that they can keep funding this group if they keep dying for their cause and spend a ton to do their mad science experiments. Surely even you got curious as to how they continue their finding under such conditions."

"They must have deep pockets." Wayne was now wondering if there were people with deep connections involved. "I have been curious but haven't been around anyone willing to tell me, yet." He had only gotten kidnapped about a week ago, though time was difficult to keep track of in here, Wayne was certain it couldn't be much longer. He had learned quite a bit in that time.

Lily paused as she had a terrible thought. She looked around and listened to see if anyone was around outside the door. Once she felt it was safe to speak she whispered to her father, "Has it ever crossed your mind as to why we were both kidnapped despite knowing next to nothing about this crazy group? What if they kidnap wealthy people and extort them for their money then dispose of them when they are poor? If so your money is the only reason we are still alive right now."

"I do believe my money might be why we're alive but if a number of rich people got kidnapped would it not make the papers? Maybe, we are the first in their plans but if so who are they trying to get the money from? They have not asked me for access to the funds." Wayne thought for a moment. "I wonder if that was their plan but something or someone has gotten in the way?"

Lily crossed her arms as she ran a few thoughts into her mind. They had been after he for quite some time now. However now that they had her what could make them hesitate to extort her father? Lily then heard Dr. Jackal snort a bit and mumble something odd in his sleep. She was curious about what he said then realized she was looking at the answer before her. That evil doctor was after the good doctor's research and now he had the man who created his research. It was now all so clear. The evil doctor wanted to make Dr. Jackal give up his knowledge so the evil doctor could capitalize on it. Once he was done he would most likely turn to Lily and her father for their money. Lily seemed stressed by this as she muttered, "Bloody hell. If I am right we are small fish compared to the good doctor. Once they get what they want from him we will most likely be next."

"Perhaps. However, if they keep him sedated all the time will it not be difficult to get him to talk. Maybe, they need something else from him?" Though not knowing about Dr. Jackal's other half, meant Wayne was left just wondering. "Maybe, he was awoken when he was taken out of here. Still, you know him, is your friend the kind of man to give up secrets?"

"Possibly true." Wayne said. It all just conjecture as they really didn't have all the information, but .... "It makes sense." Which it did. It seemed to tie together some loose ends.

Lily sighed as she checked on the good doctor again. She looked at his chains hoping by chance she could figure out how to get them off but sadly she lacked the tools and knowledge on that subject. If only she could send a message to Lady Elizabeth to warn her of what was going on. Lily very concerned on how things would play out.