All Hell Breaks Loose, Part Three

Dechs Kaison strolls through the thin crowd to find a place at the bar of Decent, turning his back and leaning against it while he casts a lazy glance around the room. Jade was either here or on his way, and Dechs would need to spot him immediately.

Reprieve sends one of the serving girls over with a flick of his wrist and a point so that he can keep doing the inventory.

As the girl approaches Dechs, he makes a slight shake of his head to send her away, his eyes behind mirrored glasses still sifting through the crowd. No time for distractions. Not yet.

Reprieve nods his head to the techno beat as a gorgeous redhead takes the stage. He finishes up his inventory and hands it over to the girl standing next to him, the look in her eyes pleading for him to "please notice me so I can get a promotion.” He smiles at her, and sends her to make the orders, turning to take note of who is in the club.

Jade wandered into the club, walking up to the bar, taking in the familiar surroundings, nodding to the two at the bar, “Hello Stacy, Ari.”

Stacy smiles. "Hello Mr. Chrystopher. Nice to see you again."

Jade flashed her a charming smile, “Likewise.”

Reprieve discreetly motions to Dechs when Jade walks in, "Hello Jade, it's been quite a while."

Jade turned his attention back to Ari, “Yes it has. I've been away on business.”

Stacy slides by Ari without touching him, a slight frown on her face. Gone forever, except if Dani was dancing so of course when he does come in, he gets in the way and checks up behind her. Irritating man.

Reprieve nods, "And you've had some work done, I could swear you look younger than the last time I saw you."

Reprieve leans forward on the counter to talk to Jade, and let Stacy pass

Stacy makes a rusty nail and slides it to Dechs. He had seemed so sensible at their first meeting but then he'd let his head get turned it seemed. Magic was a pain in the ass. Anybody with any sense would stay far away from it. It seemed Dechs lacked sense after all.

Jade returned Ari’s question with a neutral smile, “I hope business has been good?”

Reprieve laughed. "Very good."

Jade nodded. “Glad to hear it.”

Dechs Kaison turned around to face Stacy, "Thank you, Stacy. Nice to see you remember."

Stacy smiled "I try. I hope things are good for you tonight?"

Dechs nodded and took a sip from his drink, casting his gaze back towards the middle of the room.

Stacy busied herself with busy work while she listened in as best she could. Nightclubs sucked for eavesdropping but her lip reading skills weren't too shabby.

Reprieve pointed over his shoulder to a poster with Dani and her work schedule. "Have you seen her yet? She's the most amazing dancer I've ever had on that stage."

Jade glanced over to the poster, “Not yet. I shall keep it in mind.”

Reprieve flashed him a grin, "Just don't ogle my wife too hard."

“You? Married? When did that happen?” Jade blurted out, incredulous.

Stacy paused for a moment...then cut a lime really hard. Damn him. Damn him all to hell.

“A few weeks ago. We kept it quiet, and private.”

Jade chuckled. “I'll be sure to send a present by.”

Reprieve flashed him that grin again, teasing. "And I'll be sure to have the detection and diffusion spells ready."

Jade shrugged his shoulders, “Really? I have the utmost respect for the institution of marriage. Just have no interest in doing so myself.”

Dechs Kaison polished off his first drink, sliding the glass back towards Stacy, "You sure got dolled up tonight."

Stacy finished that bowl of limes and wiped the counter. "Everything else was dirty." She grinned at him as she put the bowl in the cold well.

Jade flashed her another charming smile. “You should see her when she wants to go all out.”

She flashed that megawatt grin at Jade. She didn't know him too well but hey, he had money and maybe a partial interest in Descent. Maybe. The damn title lines on this place were a mess. She made a mental note to see the lawyers about exactly how the place was divided and who held what.

Reprieve smiled. "I didn't think I would be doing so again, but the right girl can change any man’s mind."

Stacy looked up at Jade. "Two times this week. Now granted I make awesome drinks but I'm betting it's the dancers you're coming by to see, hmm?" She winked.

Jade smiled back at Stacy, responding to Ari. “I have yet to meet a woman that could do that.”

He turned his attention back to Dechs, studying the unfamiliar man. “I don’t believe we’ve met.”

Dechs Kaison looked over at Jade, then nodded and gave a faint tip of his fedora. "Name's Dechs. Did I hear your name was Jade, correctly?"

Reprieve nodded. "Dechs Kaison, Jade Chrystopher. Jade, Dechs."

Jade nodded to Dechs. “That is correct. Procurer of the rare and difficult to find.”

Jade pulled a card out from his breast pocket, with his name and a symbol of an emerald, holding it out to Dechs.

Dechs took the card, smiling at the man’s proclaimed title. "Oh? I'll have to keep you in mind next time I need something."

Jade nodded again, flashing his usual charming grin. “Please do. I come highly recommended.”

Stacy started on some lemons, focusing on her work or seeming too. She eased closer to the conversation.

Dechs tucked Jade’s card away into an inside pocket, then began fishing for something in another, “Perhaps I can return a favor. I run a hospital and research facility for anyone ... more than human.”

Reprieve walked down toward Stacy and whispered, "Why are you doing something any of the other girls can do?"

Olivia Chrystopher suddenly appeared behind Jade, her demeanor enough to alert anyone who knew her that she was not quite in her right mind. Her eyes were alight from within, burning with a deep green fire, and she had a twisted, maniacal grin on her face. Casually, she lifted a hand to seemingly 'push' at the air between them, throwing him bodily into the wall across from her as she sneered, "Hello, Daddy."

Damn the man! Here she was trying to be subtle and here he comes to loom over her! She whispered " Go away! " She was about to say more when all hell broke loose. She whirled and hit a few buttons on a hidden panel, herding the staff towards the offices and safety with a few shooing motions. "Offices people, let's get a move on!”

Dechs tried to react as fast as he could, flicking the business card that he was getting ready for Jade towards Olivia’s face, and took quick steps towards Jade. "Get down!"

The casting of magic instantly attracted Jade’s attention, using years of instinct to put up a prepared instant shield. The shield flashed with the impact of energy, but not enough as he found himself lifting off his feet, flying into the wall behind him.

Reprieve abruptly felt Olivia's presence as the alarms inside Descent started to go off, several sections with security barriers dropping to keep customers safe as hidden exits open for them. He hopped the bar as he began to speak a binding spell directed at Olivia.

Jade picked himself up, looking bewildered. "Olivia?"

Bodies were flying but the staff was evacuating smoothly when Jade suddenly hit the wall, blocking Stacy's exit. Luckily she was bringing up the rear and so the only one in any danger. She cursed and looked for a way out.

Dechs got between Olivia and Jade, closing his eyes while he said, "I’m going to have to ask you to calm down."

Reprieve motioned with his hand for Stacy to get down.

She frowned at him but she sort of did what he asked. He was right, in this type of fight she was way outclassed. Still, she, summoned what she called her pet and started moving away from Jade.

Jade teleported to the other side of the counter, getting out of Stacy's way.

Olivia's own shields easily deflected the card tossed toward her face and absorbed Reprieve's spell as she strode toward Jade angrily. "All those times I didn't -please- you by showing any ability to do what you could do..."

Stacy couldn't help the relieved smile that broke out as Jade teleported out of her way. She immediately tried to sneak to the stairs.

Reprieve cursed under his breath and started to speak another spell.

Jade laughed, his eyes igniting with fire of their own. “Please me? I thought I taught you how to throw a better spell than that!”

Dechs grabbed Jade by the collar and tried to drag him back enough to stand between the two again. Staring him dead in the eye, he said curtly, "You, get out. There's more behind this than you know."

Olivia murmured a few arcane words meant to melt Jade's defenses away and add his power to her own. "And how disappointing I was when you had to let me go into the Fortunata program! Let's not forget that!"

Jade looked at Dechs, green electricity arcing across his eyes, as thrust his arm out toward Dechs, releasing a blast of force with it. "This is a family matter!"

Dechs drifted yards back as the bolt hit, falling to a knee. "No it's not. Something else is at play here! You need to trust me, and there's no time!" He then turned his attention to the door as a large robot bearing the Kaison logo inscribed within a Spade came lumbering in. He mumbled under his breath, “Couldn’t have gotten here a moment sooner...”

Jade sneered at Olivia. “And yet, here you are, still smaller than me.”

Olivia sent a stream of green energy directly at Jade's chest after Dechs was out of the way with the intention of pushing him back again, this time causing pain as well. "Am I too much like my mother? What did you DO to her, hmm? Where is she buried?"

Jade shook his head to clear it, growling back, “She left because of YOU!”

The invisible shield around Jade flashed again, sending Jade back into the bar, stunned by the strength of the attack.

Dechs closed his eyes for just a moment, the robot behind Olivia raising its right arm and firing a plasma blast at her back while Dechs shouted, "Hey, Gooky! I know you're in there..."

Reprieve finished his spoken spell as the air began to burn around Olivia with Arcane energy, arcs of mystical lightning encircling Ari's fists as he fights to get her attention.

Stacy frowned mightily. Lightning meant at the very least electrical repairs and at the worst, a bar fire. She thought really hard about getting another job. Something without meta class humans hanging around all day. Reprieve knew she wouldn't make the millions she was making at Descent elsewhere.

Stacy could have sworn Ari was reading her mind from the look on his face. He knew money was her weakness, she knew it was her desire. She made more money than she'd ever made in her life here but she also knew it would still roll in from here no matter where she worked. After all she owned part of it.

Olivia's protective spells were enough to handle one, but not both attacks, and the energy that hit her in the back caused her to stumble a few steps forward. She turned her attention toward Ari, glaring at him. "You want to help, my dear? It's growing up on HIS overprotective little island that's made me so wary of people like YOU and Derek! I can't trust any of you, really, and it's because he---"

Jade started to utter arcane words, drawing energy around himself, moving his hands in quick, well practiced motions, pulling the bar free from it's anchor with invisible hands, hovering it overhead.

Dechs passed his glances from Jade to Olivia and back to Jade, then the wide eyed look of 'Oh shit' flashed across his face for just an instant as he realizes what is really going on.

Olivia looked up at the bar and used that 'pushing' motion to toss it back. "Not now, Daddy. Adults are talking.”

As soon as Stacy saw Jade rip the bar up into the air, she shrieked, "Not my bar! It's real teak wood!"

Jade redirected his attention to the robot behind Olivia, willing it off it's feet and toward her.

Reprieve conjured a protective barrier between Oliva and where Jade and Dechs were standing. "I see this for what it is, Olivia. You're juiced up on power that isn't yours. You've -never- been a match for me before."

The large robot teetered once to avoid the pull, but failed and started sliding towards Olivia. Dechs shouted, “Damnit Spade, smack her while you're there!” As he blinked, the robot took a haphazard swing while Jade pulled it into range of the sorceress.

Reprieve began to throw attacks at Olivia, to distract her as he silently weaved separate binding spells for each ankle and wrist.

With Olivia’s attentions on everyone else, the robot slammed into her back, catching her by surprise. She finally moved from where she was obviously a sitting duck - into the robot's second haphazard attack – and was knocked to the floor momentarily. "I'M BETTER THAN ALL OF YOU! I don't get caught up in your petty bullshit!"

Stacy stood frozen. In her head she was running a mental tally of the cost of repairs so far. A very large tally. With extra thrown in for mental anguish. Olivia's words made her lose count. Money is petty? No, money's never. Dirty sometimes but never petty. Oh wait, Olivia wasn't talking about money.

Dechs smirked, mostly to himself, as a pair of smaller robots arrived to help him, these bearing the corporation logo inscribed within a heart.

Reprieve glared daggers at Jade as he changed the protective barrier, constricting it as it flies toward Jade like a net, directing his voice at Dechs. "Jade's starting to feel like her. Keep him busy while I see about stopping her."

Reprieve turned and yelled at Stacy, "My office. Box from Sabine, go get it."

Jade drew more energy to himself, the energy coalescing around him in green tendrils of electricity, his eyes nearly emitting a green hue. He looked around at everyone, seemingly calculating his strategy, then taking all that energy and just letting it burst forth in pulse of electric energy.

Stacy shot a glare Ari's way then turned and ran like hell. Flo Jo herself couldn't have done better and that's even while she was wearing heels and a mini skirt. As soon as she hit the offices she started frantically searching. The man was a pack rat sometimes. "Box..box...where's the damn box??"

Olivia floated up into the air, putting her feet under her as soon as she could while she put distance between herself and the robots. "I'm SICK of being the good, obedient daughter! You NEVER cared about me! Only you're stupid reputation!"

Dechs jerked harshly at the EMP, writhing for a moment, then mumbled as he muscled through obvious pain and simply threw a right hook at Jade's jaw. "Why the hell am I even trying this?"

Jade's head jerked to the side as the punch connected, using his years of experience to keep his focus, and continued to mutter arcane words, letting more energy flow around him.

The largest robot crumpled to the floor, inactive from the EMP. The two smaller bots seemed to have been hit, but only slightly. They fidgeted, but recovered quickly.

Stacy suddenly spied the box as she lifted a stack of papers. "Got it!" she yelled and headed back downstairs.

Reprieve was throwing arcane lightning at Olivia, while more of it continued to gather around her wrists and ankles, quickly reappearing each time she dissipated it.

When Stacy saw Ari she yelled, "Here! I got it!"

Jade dead-eyed Olivia, wrapping the air around his daughter, and pulling her through a rip in the universe to stand in front of him, greeting her with a smile. "Well, at least you get points for finally having the guts to stand up and try to take something for yourself, instead of letting everyone else dictate your life for you!”

Olivia began collecting the lightning Ari threw at her, drawing the power from his spells at her wrists and ankles as well, forming a large green orb above her head. She let Jade pull it - instead of herself - detonating it with a word as it appeared in front of him.

Jade looked surprised as the energy detonated, sending him down to his knees.

Of course Stacy had to take it to him. She moved as quickly as she could, coming to a stuttering halt when she was barely in arms reach. With the box in hand and stretching towards Ari, she cried, "Here!"

Reprieve reached out with his hand toward Stacy, magically summoning the box, causing it to fly open and compelling the wand into to his hand. He turned it on Jade first, drawing the toxic chaos energy from him.

Dechs cursed as his fist didn't seem to do anything. A force field flashed around him, deflecting Olivia's detonation. He made a move to subdue Jade, forcing fingers into his mouth, depressing his tongue. "Bite me, you sonofabitch. Can’t speak? Can’t cast your shit."

As soon as the box left Stacy's hand she turned to head to safety, hearing Dechs' smack talk. She couldn't help but think the man might be in for a rude surprise if he thought gagging Jade was gonna stop the fight.

Reprieve collected the Goqua energy from Jade with the wand, then turned the wand to Olivia to draw it out of her as well, yelling at Stacy as she departed. "Stay close, I'll need you to tally up the damage and send both Jade and Olivia the bill."

Stay close? Start a tally? What did the man think she'd been doing all along? And as for staying close, not hardly! They were throwing lighting bolts for gods sake! And the runes that supposedly kept things safe...weren't. She'd noticed that too.

A spark of energy from the beginning of a spell sputtered around Jade, as Jade’s face contorted in pain, and then he slumped to the floor, unconscious.

Olivia turned her attention squarely to Ari while reinforcing her protections. "And all you care about--" Her words were cut off with a pained cry as the energy was suddenly ripped from her by his wand, and she fell, unconscious, to the floor.

Dechs let go of Jade and flicked some of the spit off his hand, then wiped the rest off on the collar of Jade’s cape.

Reprieve set the wand back in the box and closed the lid, placing it on the bar, then looked around at the damage. "This is why I stopped letting Untruth's minions in here, at least they never tore the bar out of the floor."

Reprieve sighed, and stepped over to Olivia, kneeling down to check on her while asking Dechs about Jade. "Is he breathing?"

Dechs leaned down to check Jade’s pulse, then nodded and turned to Ari. “I'll pay my share of damages.”

Stacy peeked around the corner at the mention of paying for damages, looking mad as hell. He was damn right he'd pay his share!

Reprieve turned to Stacy. “You can come out now, Stacy. Start getting the damage assessment done. And get the most expensive contractors in here to fix all of this.”

She gingerly stepped clear. "Family drama time over?"

Reprieve turned to Dechs. "You can keep your money, I'm billing these two."

Dechs looked back and forth between Olivia and Jade. "I'd like to get them back to my hospital. I can look after them and I've got what it takes to contain them, as well as protect them."

Stacy stood there, looking as though she was about to cry. "...My poor bar...”

Reprieve shook his head. "Take Jade. I'll take care of Olivia. I think it's best if we keep them separate for now. As in, different buildings, separate."

Stacy muttered under her breath, still surveying the damages. "Give them lobotomies. Damn magic users."

Dechs nodded in agreement, then closed his eyes while the Spade robot rebooted and lumbered back up to its feet. "Get back up damnit, and take Jade with you on the way back."

Stacy looked at Dechs as he started to leave. "Don't forget the lobotomy...I'll pay."

Dechs smirked over at Stacy. "I'll consider it."

She smirked back. He thought she was joking.

Reprieve picked Olivia up and carried her through the area behind the stage.

The Spade kneels down near Jade, then activates a teleport for the two of them.