The Aristocracy

[Morpheaus]

“Honor amongst thieves.”

A saying… no, a promise, that was set down ages ago. We who deal in the shadows for anything that might gain us power, wealth… but under the safe guidance of honor and trust, to show that even under the most deviant of cause, there can be stability. We are the Aristocracy… an order that has survived catastrophes that most nations have not.

...Our ignoble order has long since become bogged down in an outdated and superfluous bureaucracy: the greed and motivations of generations long since turned to dust have set the burden of duty and culpability upon our shoulders...Qui bono? Who benefits...

Certainly not you or I, not our brother’s and sisters, none of the progeny of the Aristocracy have done for ourselves, it’s all for them, the ruling body of the Aristocracy, the Initiated. Ten men and women who hold the proverbial knife at our throats while reaching into our pockets to snatch away influence, infamy, and most important of all...wealth.

Each of you—of the old or new—has felt it: the subtle pang in your heart, the yearning for honor among thieves, and the coppery taste of resentment on the tip of your tongue. But despite your feelings you hold to the old traditions and swallow your pride. That ends tonight.

Among you walk those of us with the means and the will to sweep away the oppression of the Initiated. Three of us, the Progeny, have gathered together to show you the way. The ten are now nine and among the Progeny walks a man with blood on his hands...


Rules are as follows:
1. No God-Moding or Power-Playing
2. Literacy is a MUST.
3. No one-lining
4. Keep everything within the boundaries of the Moderators’ forbearance.
5. The password...Just answer a question for me, “What’s the price of your loyalty?”
6. No superpowers, magic, demons, or any of that jazz. We're set in the modern day.
With some differences...Lord knows I don't care to be a strict on geography. Be reasonable.
7. Behave, be good, be nice. Keep each other involved.

This is a collaboration between Kegan...err...RainFire, and myself. The two of us discussed and hammered out most of the details this evening and are in the process of arranging a third member to complete our progeny. The storyline is pretty self-explanatory, but there is a lot of room for backstabbing, subversion, deception, and general unscrupulous behavior. You’re free to all yourselves with each other to oppose or support us, but try to remember that it is the responsibility of each other us to add to and enrich the overall storyline. Stay close and communicate with each other. Kegan or I will start once we’ve reached...say...seven members. There is of course room for more.

[Morpheaus]

“This is all beginning to become more than a little frustrating, Maddox,” purred a velvety voice through the ear-piece of Maddox’s mobile. “You told me you-“

Rolling his eyes, Maddox fingered the Velcro-strap across his collar and waved the phone from side to side miming his face in a comedic caricature of an obnoxious monologue. “-That I had things well in hand, yes, I’m aware of what I said. I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t mean it. Time tables get pushed back. Nature of the beast kind of thing, you know. I’m afraid you’re going to have to learn to roll with the punches on this. My hands are tied—by you as I recall—what more do you want? This is a large scale operation to execute on such a small timeline. 42 hours, not even two days. If you nine want-“

“We are the Ten, Maddox Harris,” hissed the voice. “And you don’t ever forget that.”

Fastening on a set of night-vision goggles, Maddox blinked experimentally and glanced to the left and right. Rule one of this profession: know your resources. “Based on that ‘statement’ may I safely assume that a replacement has been selected?”

“Again you overstep your boundaries, Harris. But alright, I suppose that’s a fair enough question. No, we’re at a crossroads for the moment. And you’re well aware of why that is.”

“Yes ma’am, I do,” he replied, taking the hint and slipping into the role of a good servant.

I know that you’re all stricken with paranoia. Terrified that the next person to slip into that empty tenth seat will be the person responsible for that vacancy.

The words were there, floating through along the synapses and perching themselves on the tip of his tongue. He savored them but also maintained his silence. His irreverence was characteristic and generally disregarded; however, a line did exist, clear as day, saying Do Not Cross, and he was perilously close to stepping over it. Time for that later, he counted on that fact and anticipated with such fervor he could almost taste it—like a subtle, sweet honey.

“You’ve been given a deadline to complete this objective and a handpicked team with which to do it. We expect results, don’t disappoint us,” affirmed the voice. And just like that the called ended.

He sighed animatedly and slipped the mobile back into his belt. The cool night air of London caught turned his breath to mist, carrying it off in forbidding spirals, and the uncharacteristic clarity of the night air amplified the effect. A series of muted pings sounded in his ear-piece, the individual members of his handpicked team communicating their readiness. Maddox set of his own ping before padding further along the dank stones of the catacombs beneath MI5 headquarters. A smile spread across his face; if you could count on one thing, you could always count on the British to build over tunnels, even something as important as the main branch of the Nations counter-intelligence service.

Radio silence was strict after the entry point, but it still took some effort for Maddox to restrain himself from checking in on the other team members. Three of them were here, piercing MI5 security at various points to ensure as high a success rate as possible, and the other half of the team was currently—hopefully—breaching the Tower of London and liberating the Cullinan I, the second largest polish diamond in the world, from the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom. He hoped...

If he nervous, he certainly didn’t consider it unduly so; after all, it wasn’t every day that a man orchestrated what would amount to the largest subversion of British intelligence and the quite possibly the most ballsy jewel heist in modern history. He only hoped the rest of his team could be trusted to handle acquit themselves with professionalism.

“Or at least don’t turn the whole thing to rubbish...”

[Rainfire]

"What's all this rubbish?"

The voice almost pierced, if it wasn't for that rounded Cockney accent that accompanied it. He moved his hand away from the iron-barred gate that stood in front of the infamous Tower of London. He felt his hand warm back up from being pressed against that cold, rusted metal. He let the hand slip back behind him nonchalantly as his body slowly turned towards the sound of who he knew would be a guard. As he did though, the frown that had been on his face slowly turned into what seemed like a genuine smile, and his eyes sparkled with a curiosity similar to that... of a tourist.

"Why hello! I'm sorry. I was just admiring this structure. See, I'm from the United States, Pennsylvania to be specific. Me and my family just got here today and I've always wanted to see the Tower of London... and I couldn't wait. So I thought I'd take a stroll and come look." he said with that kind of dumb innocent look of a tourist on his face.

"Oh, I see then. Well, this lot's off-limits at nigh' I'mma fraid. See, we got quite o'bit of jewel in there -- a large diamond. Feel free to come back ta'morrow though. " the guard said with a smile before tipping his hat. "G'night sir and welcome to England."

The tourist smiled for a moment and nodded. "Thank you!" He waved as he slowly turned around to walk off in the other direction, knowing the guard was doing the same, only the opposite way. As he did though, he took an extra turn, and slowly slid a knife from his sleeve, turning to face directly at the back of the guard. He relaxed his hand, letting the blade fly true to its target: the back of the guard's neck. There was no sound as it went, just the sound of it digging into flesh and meat, sticking into bone, severing the brain stem and killing the guard almost instantaneously.

As he dropped, the tourist moved forward within the same motion and took his knife back from the guard, wiping it off as he did. He smiled as he bent down and picked up the keys. His eyes glittered with the success of his venture. He gave a low whistle which sounded like a bird call, signaling to the others with him that all was secure. He pushed the body slowly out to behind the bushes with his feet before returning to the gate and unlocking it.

Harper smiled for a moment before talking into the com. piece he had with him. "Entry secure, going for the diamond now." his voice rang with a slightly German accent -- his natural voice.

He stripped the Hawaiian T-shirt and Khaki pants, revealing a black cut-off that fit snuggly against his upper body, and black pants that had special pockets in them, each holding a throwing weapon of some sort -- mainly knives. He put the knife he had used on the guard back into its strap against his upper arm.

He heard a voice on the other side of the com. piece give him the go ahead -- he didn't care who it was, he just knew it was one of them... a Ten. Actually, a Nine, but who was counting besides the Progeny?

He chuckled to himself before slipping inside the gate, knowing the others would follow.

[Obliviongirl13]

A shadowy figure, glided along the rooftops in the city of London. As the silhouette came to a stop, slender fingers placed a small radio into an ear. As the cover of darkness was her only defense, she moved not, and was like a statue. On her back was the ironic coffin style case for her Unique Alpine TPG-1 sniper rifle. As she listened to her contact on the other side, her eyes were like hawks as she glanced through a nearby window, realizing that there were a great number of civilian witness' that might have to be taken care of. But that would be too much work for the organization to clean up. Too many people to keep quiet. So Amaia just stood there, a gargoyle in disguise. As she reached up for her binoculars, she got another incoming transmission.

"Nightingale. You've been re-assigned to a new location. Your current mission has been terminated. I've been informed that you need to go to the Tower of London. It seems someone might need your help. Report there in 10 minutes."

Static was all she heard after that. Nightingale was her code name, only those who were in higher ranks knew her real name. The cool night air brushed against the nape of her neck as she slid from the roof tops. Amaia made her way down to the streets and maneuvered her way through the twisted streets of London. No one took mind of a girl dressed in black with a coffin case on her back. These streets have hosted murderers of all kinds and now a days they host those of different ethnicities and styles of clothing. Though murderers still roam the streets of London, it doesn't bother Amaia, because she knows that they are next on her list.

The Tower of London was the resting spot for jewels. Something that was worth money, and money was good. Amaia always thought of herself as some kind of cat woman. Intrigued by the old comic stories about her, Amaia took on some of the tricks that cat woman used.

She made her way around the right side of the Tower, and she looked for an easier way to get in that just rather using the front door. As she pondered this, she realized that she wasn't alone. She looked at a body that was lying in front of the door, as she noticed that a gate was ajar. At this, Amaia smirked and she followed whomever it was inside. She pressed her lips together and made the call of a nightingale, the sound reverberated around the open hallway. Knowing that who she was following would know that it was her. It was almost like her calling card.

[Koinu]

"Well if this isn't just a bunch of cheese creampuffs."

Cheese creampuffs, if you couldn't tell, are the nastiest food items in existance. Nicia should know. Her so called masters asked for it constantly. But enough of that. If you caught on by now, you could tell the situation was all together rotten. Currently, Nicia Kamber was on a mission with two others to relieve London of a rather large diamond. A Crown Jewel in fact. Not an easy job, but the outcome would be worth it.

Being the scaler that she is, Nicia took to the Tower of London's side. She already made it half way up. The others should be working with their own ways to get inside the tower. All she had to do was find the right window and wait. But already she began to worry about the others. Nicia hadn't seen hide or hair of her two cohorts since her climb. The worry was not for their safety but her own. Nicia never find herself able to trust outsiders. It took a lot of convincing from The Progeny to allow herself to work together with them.

"Idiots. They better be at the jewels when I get to the top. This is why I rather work with kin!"

Deciding to be pissed later, Nicia continued her climb up. With her years of experience, she had little trouble in finding the window. And there she waited. She merely had to get the jewel from her cohorts and hop, skip, and jump her way out of there. Only she could be quick on the rooftops of London. But boy. Did waiting suck. She almost did not hear the signal, a bird call. Finally! The goons decided to start!

[Wallflower]

"Piercing MI5? Really? The Ten couldn't give me a harder job? Goddammit..."

Jack didn't exist. He wasn't real. He was a shroud. The sound behind you at night. It was was he did best. Jack Napier was a sneaky person. He always was, ever since he was born. He could always be counted on to walk into anyplace, right in front of the guards' eyes, without them even knowing. It was necessary. Even though he could hold his own in a fight, Jack much rather preferred to snoop around. It basically stems from a childhood want to be a spy. As Jack recollected these memories, he smiled. Oh, how it would be to be young again. But instead, Jack was here. Doing... Whatever he felt like, really.

In retrospect, one would go about his mission fairly straightforward: break in, don't raise any surveillance, and eliminate his sector of any guards so that response time to the alert all the way on the other side of the city- that was where the other team came in- was slower. Much, much slower. One should handle this professionally, and with a certain veneer that was evident in his line of work. Instead, Jack handled it in a... Well, in a 'Jack Napier' fashion. He jumped off of a rooftop, landing directly in front of the entrance to the headquarters. He stepped inside of the door, and closed it. Once it was closed, he jumped onto one wall, and then kicked off of it to the other, grabbing a pipe on the ceiling. He then pulled himself up, and wrapped his legs around the pole. It was at this point in time that he began slowly squirming his way through the headquarters, looking for guards.

Oh, yeah. That was how Jack worked.

About thirty minutes, and several hidden dead bodies, Jack started to get nervous. He was doing his part, but what about Maddox? Where was he? Jack felt his radio move slightly in his ear. Radio silence was imperative, which meant that Jack would have to fly blind until he found Maddox, but until then, Jack had no idea what was going on. Wait, get a hold of yourself, goddammit. Maddox is a professional, and so are you. Hell, everyone on the team is. You guys are doing fine, Jack thought. His instincts told him that everything was all right, as well.

Jack, however, couldn't help feeling that there was something fishy going on...

[Spyells]

Mark walked out of the London Heathrow Airport and took a look around. He had just arrived by private jet. A friend of his that lived in London was here and Mark had been flown into town to help with an operation. Mark walked out the doors of the airport and went over to a black car with tinted windows that was waiting for him. Mark was wearing a black suit and dark shades. He was also carrying a suitcase. Everything he was going to need for this mission was inside. Mark hopped inside the car and the driver drove away headed to his friends headquarters.

Mark was from Los Angeles, California. He had been living a life a crime for a few years now. After his father had died it was the end for Mark. He knew that there had to be more to life than what he knew and he was desperate to find it. His mother committed suicide not too long after Mark was sentenced to prison, and he had no other family members.

The police, the interrogator, and even the guards over his jail cell had told Mark that he would never be anything. Even one of the guards had the audacity to say that because Mark was black it was in his nature. Mark was angry and with his only phone call he dialed up an old friend of his. He had met Christopher during his days as a gang member. Christopher was British and he had connections. He helped Mark escape from prison. Now that Christopher had helped Mark, it was Mark's turn to help Chris.

Christopher had his sights set on a crown jewel in the Tower of London. Mark knew that this would be easy for him. All of the skills that he had acquired in the last few years would detest to that. The driver parked on the street. Mark got out and walked over to a man who wasn't standing too far away. The driver drove off and Mark was left standing by Christopher who was only a block away from the Tower of London. Christopher had blond hair and blue eyes. Right now his blue eyes were covered by shades and he was also wearing a black suit.
"Are you ready for your mission?" Christopher asked in his British accent.
"As ready as I'll ever be." Mark responded.
"The plan is for you..."
"I know what the plan is." Mark said cutting him off.
Christopher smiled.
"Well then, I don't want to hold you back. Go ahead and do your best."
Mark watched Christopher walk over to a limo that was waiting for him. Chris hopped inside and gave Mark a wave. Then he rolled up the window and was gone. Mark turned his sights to the tower and began walking there at once. This was going to be easy.

[Obliviongirl13]

Amaia looked unamused as she made her way past the security. There were cameras, motion sensors as well as the laser's that would trigger the alarm if tripped. She was very flexible and could move like a cat, but what she couldn't do was find the others. She took out guards that she had come across one by one, until she reached the room with the Diamond in it.

"Somethings... not right."

She knew that this was too easy and that she was informed that there were other people here as well, but would she have to fight them for what she needed? Seconds on the clock were the only ones that knew.

Scanning the room, she noticed a shadowy figure moving about, the silhouette looked male but she couldn't tell who it was. She exposed part of her body to the moonlight that had softly poured into the room. Amaia's appearance was that of a dark child of the night. She wore a loose long black leather trench coat that had split down the back and flowed behind her in two pieces. It had a silver insignia designed by herself that was tribal but distinctive. She wore a tight black shirt and a pair of skin tight black pants to finish off with a pair of high heeled boots with belt adornments on it.

Her red lips pursed as she slipped back into the shadows waiting and watching for those who would soon expose themselves to her.

[Koinu]

Aha! Finally, after what seemed like hours of waiting, one of the cohorts arrived at the top of the Tower. Amaia. If Nicia could trust anyone, Amaia had a better chance than anyone else. But what was she doing?! She was supposed to get the diamond and hand it off to her. Don't screw around with Nicia. First lesson with working with the Minature Menace.

If you want something done, sometimes you have to do it yourself. Reaching into her pocket, careful not to snap the rope that was carrying her, Nicia took out a blade. It was not any ordinary blade. It was not used for battle but for break in. Nicia's blade could cut through glass like butter. She sliced a circle, five or six inches in diameter, into the window. As the glass circle flew forward, Nicia quickly grabbed it.

When Nicia looked back up from the quick save, Amaia was gone. Drawing her hand back inside, she tried to search the room but couldn't see any trace of her. In a desperate moment, Nicia tried to wave every corner of the room to her. Making quick motions, gestures, and diamond shapes to get the point to Amaia. She dared not make a sound. For all she knew, Amaia was not the only person with the diamonds right now. More waiting. Great.

"Come on Amaia. Hurry the hell up. The guards switch shifts soon. I gotta get back to base within the hour. Damn, I should have stayed in Greece.."

[Obliviongirl13]

ooc: ^_^ thank you for noticing me. =3

Amaia noticed Nicia's irritation, a smile slid across her face as she watched the small little spit fire cleanly get the diamond. Her orders weren't to retrieve the Diamond, but only to help those who needed the help. Red lips once more pursed together as Amaia let out a high pitched and barely noticeable nightingale call. Her call could only be heard to those who had heard it before or had extremely good hearing. Amaia was letting Nicia know where she was.

As she appeared out of the northern corner of the room, Amaia shifted her eyes towards Nicia.

"Its the old Indiana Jones trick, you have to have something of equal weight value to take its place. If you don't the alarm will trigger."

Amaia's voice was smooth like velvet and as she spoke, the words from her mouth were at a dull whisper knowing that any second, a guard could come down the hallway.

"Nicia, do you have anything that is of equal weight?"

[Koinu]

"Right because I know exactly how much the diamond weighs. Just here. I was given this before I left. Guess its your exact weight."

Nicia dug through her pockets once again. This time she brought out a bag. She had little idea what was inside for she was told to not open it for whatever reason. She tossed Amaia the bag before digging again. Cursing and murmering where she put it, Nicia let out a sigh of relief. She placed two pieces of an item that was once whole. She also tossed them to Amaia.

The two items were two halves of a fake diamond. Stealing is one thing. Replacing the real thing with a copy is another. The fake would at least give the thieves time to get out of the country before the nitwit guards could discover the fake. Carved by the best of the best, the fake diamond was nearly identical to the real one. A Kamber speciality. For years they stole from their heartless bosses. And about just as many years did the Kamber bloodline replace the treasures with fakes. Few living souls can tell the difference between a real treasure and a Kamber replacement.

Nicia started to make preparations for heading back down. She gazed over London rooftops, picking out ideal ones to visit and ones to avoid. After making her route via house tops, Nicia turned her attention back to cohort Amaia. All she had to do was put the bag inside the diamond and put the halves together. The diamond was theirs tonight.

"If I recall, this didn't work for Indy either. I hope for your sake a boulder doesn't come crashing on your head."

[Obliviongirl13]

ooc: This was actually quite hard....>.< I don't even know If I got that right. Sorry for stealing things from Mission Impossible...>>

Amaia grabbed the bag that Nicia had thrown through the window to her. As she picked it up, she went towards the Diamond case and examined it. As she did, she took out what seemed to be a small black box, ornate in a gothic style. Amaia opened it and took out a bit of the powder and blew it off her palm. The red lasers were quickly picked up and she placed the black box back into her pocket.

She stood there for a moment, thinking about how she could do this. Amaia took off her coffin gun case and her trench coat. Exposing her slender body she climbed up on one of the nailed down barrier posts that held the velvet rope that was a fence around the diamond case. Ever so gently, she then slithered under the glass case until she was right under it. Amaia then used one of her nails, which is being reinforced by a sharp metal, to cut a hole in the bottom of the glass case. This would deter those who worked here that anything was wrong. She thought to herself, 'I was supposed to provide gun power, but I guess this is "Helping"...'

Amaia caught the glass that she just cut, she closed her eyes in relief. She placed the piece of glass on her stomach as she reached up into the case with the fake diamond. Maneuvering ever so gently, she switched the real diamond with the fake. She took out some clear epoxy and used it to seal the glass she had cut. As she slithered back out from under the case, she exhaled a deep breath and tossed the diamond off to Nicia.

As Amaia put her coat back on and lifted her gun case she looked over at Nicia.

"Get that to whomever wanted it. I'll see you at the company party."

And just like that, she vanished.

[Morpheaus]

Arrange transportation, communications equipment, and plan out an advanced, tactically sound infiltration of two highly secured locations? Yeah, I did that. Twice...And yet here I am, sitting in an office, with my little gadget plugged into this computer terminal, stealing several gigabytes of valuable, highly classified data—and I stink of 200 hundred year old sewer water.

Maddox had been running through this same rant, as well as several variations of it, since penetrating the office of Senior-Analyst Allison Sinclair fourteen minutes ago. It was definitely a more mild rant than the one he’d uttered after slipping through a series of rather foul plumbing areas to enter the building’s sub-basement—fourteen floors down from his current location. At least the architectural plans he’d used to coordinate the mission had been accurate. And he was here, after all, with the data in hand and no complications to speak of.

The muted chirp of a completed task alerted Maddox that the decryption unit had completed duplicating the information to onto its own memory stick. With a flourish of his wrist, he deleted the original files from the MI5 server and set the computer to standby. He slipped the memory card stick into his lapel pocket and clicked on the locator beacon in his wrist-watch. Jack and Ray should—they’d definitely better be—on standby themselves, waiting to evacuate him through the exit corridor. He just hoped they’d managed to create an exit without killing anyone. Having read the psychological profiles of each team member, he very sincerely doubted it.

I’ll settle for Nightingale not shooting anyone before we all board the plane to Prague...

[Wallflower]

Jack was, in his own right, preoccupied with something. He had a guard in a full-nelson, and was making small talk with the guard. Admittedly, it was a little silly, but there was no one around, and Jack had already cleared an escape route to the extraction point, where Ray was going to be. So, until then, he was free. Apparently, the guard he had hold of had three kids, a wife, and was retiring that year. What a sob story. As Jack began waltzing with the guard, he pressed the guard's head down to shut him up. It seemed as though he did not like Jack's rendition of Frank Sinatra. Oh, well. After about a minute, Jack's beacon began blipping. Maddox was done, which meant it was Jack's cue.

"Sorry about this, but I do want you to know, I had a pleasant time with you tonight."

With one quick, fluid movement, Jack snapped the guard's neck, and made his way toward where Maddox was. It was Jack's job to be an escort of sorts for Maddox, so he was really responsible for Maddox's well-being. As he quickly made his way toward the room that Maddox was in, he grinned, seeing that the room was directly across the hallway. He walked to the room, and grabbed the handle. This part was essential; he had to beacon Maddox over, letting him know that Jack was there completely silently. With a sort of anticipated air, he opened the door, and looked inside. quickly, he saw Maddox, and waved him over.

Phase Two began here.

[Ric]

"...4, and 5."

Ray laid the two bodies onto the cool tiled floor inside the darkened locker room of the MI5 building. Maddox told him and Jack to make an escape route, but no method was instructed. Improvisation seemed to each be their strong points. He ducked out of the room, retrieving his firearm from it's holster on the way out. He made his way through the building, exiting out onto the roof top and then making his way down a ladder conveniently placed in the back of the building. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small communication devise, almost too small for his large hands.

"Want me to bring the car around?" he spoke into the device.

Parked about a block away was a sleek, black Audi S8. Armor plated, fast, fun gadgets, the works. He fondled with the keys in his hands in anticipation.