Episode 1: Descent

[Tomas]

Kwok's thoughts on the location of the others was never sound to start with.  In the past he'd had more then one problem figuring out where to go to find anyone.  And now was really no different.

He did manage to find most of the people.  Well, most of the overweight people, anyway.  Blinking and gazing around, Kwok began trembling in fear.  He'd ended up in the gym, and the morning aerobics class was going on.  All of those globs of fat bouncing up and own, up and down....  Kwok fell down in a half faint.  This was just too much to bear.

***

As Ling let Serafita lead his mother and her into his room, she reached into her pocket and turned on a small device.  It was a useful little thing that the secret weapons department had created.  It would jam all forms of electronic communications.  She always kept one on her, as she was sure Taka would do something stupid with the security setup, like put cameras in her shower.

***

Tomas yawned as he sat at a terminal in the Command Center.  His fingers lazily pushed one button after another as he scrolled through a copy of the building's floor plan, trying to find his room.

When muttered curses reached his ears, he looked back over his shoulder at what was going on.  Taka and Tallan were standing beside a different terminal and muttering about something.

Tomas watched with amusment for a few more moments before going back to his search.  He didn't really want, or need, to know.

[acetalon]

"Dammit, she must have found out about the shower camera!"  Taka cursed.  

"What?  How could you do something so vile as that without telling ME!"  Tallan cried out, glaring at Taka.

Taka smirked.  "Don't give me that.  I know that you're just after the footage."

"Damn straight I am!  Hook me up Taka!"  

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but she probably removed it from the security vault already."


Tomas ignored the two and continued to scan the pages lazily.  He was probably getting warmer.  Warmer...like in Meg's nice warm arms...

Tomas smiled.  Meg was pretty cute, maybe he should go visit her soon.  There were no other pressing matters to attend to.

[ling]

Ling cleared her throat once more and saw Sera and his mother turn to face her expectantly.  She vaguely remembered having conversed with the elder woman on the phone sometime once long ago: there had been at least ten girls in the background, none of them were clothed, and Serafita was having some sort of fit.  The details had grown hazy, but she remembered that she'd lied through her eyeteeth.

Smiling she said, "Well, welcome."

The woman forced a grin to her pretty face.  "Yes.  It's a...um, lovely building you have."

Ling puffed up with pride.  "We had it built a few years back after the company really started to gear up."  She took a step back, and picked up the copy of The Kama Sutra that had been out on Sera's desk idly, not really thinking about it but knowing that it HAD TO GO AWAY before his mother could see it.  Some part of her desperately wished to be telepathic, so she could signal Sera to go and hide his crate of contraceptives while he had the chance.  "What should I call you, Mrs...?" Ling trailed off.

The older woman hurried to reply, "Oh, you can just call me Lilith, dear."

Ling's eyes bugged at that, but decided to forgo the screaming and cross-wielding to just back away three steps.  "Lilith, eh?" she said, shaky, glancing in between the woman and her angelic son.  "Not...THE Lilith, are you?"

Sera's mother smiled graciously.  "Oh, no."

Ling breathed a sigh of relief: cameras in showers, technology scramblers, prostitution services, weapons labs, and perverse subordinates.

The last thing that she needed was the vindictive first wife of Adam.

And that's when Sera piped up.

[Tomas]

Scrolling thorugh yet another map, Tomas grinned as his name came up.  "Ha ha!  Found it!"  There it was, 10th floor, west side.  After a moments thought Tomas grinned.  that would give him a pretty good view.  Then, curious, he looked at his neighbors.

Meanwhile, Taka and Tallan, having gotten bored at looking at static had come over to where Tomas was.  "So," Taka said, "you found it, huh?"

"Yep."

"Who you living by, anyway?"  Tallan hoped it wasn't him.  Or perhaps, he thought, he should hope it was.  He was sure Tomas could introduce him to some willing ladies.

Tomas stared at the monitor blinking.  "My room is next to Sera's.  There's someone named Steph on the other side."  Tomas frowned as that named sounded familiar.  He shrugged it off though, if he couldn't remember then he'd never dated her.

"Sera's room, eh?"  Tallan and Taka looked at each other before grabbing Tomas and lefting him out of the chair.  "Come on," Tallan continued, "lets check out your room.  It could be interesting."

Being dragged out of the Command Center by the two, Tomas could do only one thing.  "Sure, why not."

***

"She's the only Lillith I've met."

Giving a frown, Lillith looked at Serafita.  "Hush now, dear. "  Turning back to Ling, she said "So, child, what do you do here?"

Ling blinked twice and swallowed.  "Oh, a little of this, and a little of that."

"Really?"  Lillith smiled slightly at the girl.  "And what does my Serafita do for you?"

"Not as much as I wish." Ling muttered before slapping a hand over her own mouth.  She gave a sudden giggle, tryign to cover it up.  "oh, well, he's one of our...special employees."

Still with the same smile, Lillith raised an eyebrow.  "And what does that mean?"

[Kwokinator]

Kwok staggered through the hallways blindly, a hand on the walls to keep himself balanced and upright.

"Must... rid... self... of... horrible... imagery..."

"Bouncing... fat... slobs..."

"Horrifying... visions..."

***********

Tallan's eyes practically glowed when he looked at Steph's door after they got to Tomas' room.

"I wonder if she wants a good time..." he grinned.

"Knock it off, Tallan," Taka smacked Tallan on the back of the head. "Let's check out Tomas' room.  You can continue your Holy Grail of Perversion later."

************

"Umm..." Ling hesitated. "Do you know what we do here?"

"No," Lilith said softly.

"Well..." Ling uttered slowly. "We have... uh.... special... clients with... needs that need to be fulfilled.  Sera is one of the... special employees that go to, umm, fulfill that need."

Lilith blinked.

"What?"

[acetalon]

Ace quirked an eyebrow at the stumbling Kwok.

"Kwok, you didn't go dipping into the industrial strength viagra again, did you?" Ace asked, shaking Kwok a bit.  "Snap out of it!  We've got work to do."  

"Horrible..."  Kwok was practically frothing at the mouth.  

"Yeah, whatever.  And goat sex isn't?"  Ace retorted sarcastically. "It can't be worse than that, could it?"

[Tomas]

"Hey!"  Now that, Kwok thought, was offensive.  "The goat enjoyed it!  And really, it was pretty good.  That goat liked to bounce."

Ace gagged at that and stumbled against the wall.  He really really did NOT want to know that.  Silently he cursed himself for even bringing it up.

"Say, Ace, what happened to the others?"

Ace, slumped down against the wall, unable to stand as images of Kwok with that goat came back to him.  "I don't know.  Try the apartments on the tenth floor.  That's where Sera's is."

"Right."  Pushing away thoughts of fat people bouncing, Kwok forced himself to stumble down the hall and into the elevator.

***

Lin blinked twice.  "Umm...well...umm...our special employees, umm...help people who need to be helped.  Like the Salvation Army, but...different."

"Ah," Lillith smiled, "so you do charity work."

"Yeah, that's right."  Sera nodded his head.  In wasn't the exact truth, but the exact truth could be painful.  "Umm...we do other things to, non-charity stuff.  But I'm in...uh, the charity division."

Lillith reached out a hand and patted her son on the head.  "Good for you, dear.  Its nice to know you're helping the world."

"Uumm...right...hehehe"  Ling really hoped that this conversation didn't go any farther.  And when was Serafita going to get rid of that box of condoms?

***

[acetalon]

"Kwok, why are you dragging me along?"  Ace asked stumbling forward as he tried to dispel all thoughts of that cursed goat.  

"Because.  I need you."

"As a shield when whoever it is you are going to piss off gets mad?"

"You wound me, Ace.  Its more of a decoy kind of thing."

"..."

*************

Sera looked around, but couldn't find a single place that he could hide the condoms.  Ling almost growled in frustration at the sight.  She very subtly glared at Sera, all the while looking towards Lilith, and also just as subtly gestured towards the bathroom.

Sera got the hint and ducked into the bathroom.  

Ling breathed a sigh of relief.  Now she could talk in peace and he could dispose of them in peace.

In the bathroom, Sera's hopes plummeted of finding a decent place to hide the box.  The bathroom had been emptied prior to his mother's appearance.  It was completely bare, and he didn't trust tossing the box in the bathtub.  

Sera had one last idea, but it wasn't one that he would do in any sane situation.  It was the kind of thing he'd never consider doing in a hundred years.

With an audible sigh, Sera popped open the box and started unwrapping each individually wrapped condom.  This wasn't gonna be comfortable.

[ling]

Now, Ling had been witness to a lot of questionable things since her reign at Jailbait Inc.  In fact, she'd incited many questionable things since she'd signed that contract with her ex-boyfriend regarding profit margins and certain 'protection fees.'

Still, the slap of polymers in the bathroom where she knew damned well Sera and a box of condoms were occupied was not comforting in any way, shape, or form.  Lilith was beginning to look more and more anxious: if she had the super hearing that her son did as a side of effect of being, well, ex-divine, anyway, then she must have been hearing the same thing.

And since Ling wasn't one to burst into song or dance or do something desperate like render Serafita's mother unconscious for the duration and go beat the fallen angel in question into an unrecognizable pulp, she did the next best thing:

"So," she started, forcing the smile to her face, "why exactly are you in town?"

[Tomas]

"To visit my son, of course."  Lilith gave Ling an almost suffering stare.  "He never calls, never writes, never visits home.  I was beginning to worry."  She turned her head to the bathroom.  "And that doesn't sound good."

Ling gave a slightly nervous laugh.  "what Serafita does in his bathroom is not my concern."  Under her breath, she added "unless I'm there."  Her voice picking up again, she continued, "I'm sure its nothing bad, though."  That was a lie, and she knew it, but it wasn't like she could say anything else.

***

Tomas gazed around the room and whistled.  "Wow...its actually furnished."  His whistling took stopped as he frowned.  "But not as nicely as my apartment."

Taka kicked Tomas in the leg.  "Just keep rubbing it in and you're gonna find your access card releases the Hounds."

Tallan frowned.  "Hounds?"

Taka shrugged.  "Yeah, Ling said she got them from some court settlement.  They got brought in one night last year.  Real uggly things, too."

[acetalon]

"But really, an apartment?"  Lilith asked, looking around the room, but not quite ignoring the sounds from the bathroom.

"Oh, yes.  All of my close employees are given an apartment such as this as a bonus, in case of late night shifts and such.  Just one of the many benefits in being an employee here."  Not to mention, Ling thought, the business that occurred mostly during the night, but that was beside the point.

 "He must have quite a job to have been given this place,"  Lilith commented.  Indeed, for an apartment it was quite luxurious.  No doubt this was Ling's doing, for she herself spent many sleepless nights in his room.  With him of course.  Ling forced a laugh, silently cursing Sera to hurry up and finish what he was doing in the bathroom.

Sera opened the door, red faced with a slight expression of pain and embarassment.  He laughed nervously.

"Sorry I took so long.  So, mom, now that you've seen where I work, what would you like to do now?"

"Why, see you work dear.  What else?  You haven't shown me what you 'do' for a living down here."  She smiled.  "Would it hurt you so much to spend some quality time with your mother, especially after you haven't contacted me in years?"

(WHAT?!)  Ling almost shouted.

[Kwokinator]

The Round Robin must live! ^_^

--------------------------

Sera's eyes widened to the size of dinner-plates.

"Umm..." he fiddled as he thought of a way out of the situation.  Having his mom watch him... "work" would be a bad idea. "That's not really a good idea, mom..."

"Yes!" Ling chirped in, desperate to get Lilith's mind off Sera's profession. "Wouldn't you want to get to know your future daughter-in-law instead?"

"Future daughter-in-law?" Lilith questioned, raising an eyebrow.

--------------------------

"Alright, deco-err... Ace," Kwok turned to address his... comrade as they arrived at the tenth floor. "Taka's or Sera's?"

[acetalon]

Bah, its your fault it was dying anyways.


"Taka's?"  Ace looked around.  Taka's room was up here?  "Kickass!  Lets go to his room.  I'll bet he's got a shitload of cool gadgets!"

-------------------------------------

"A-anyways, you can't.  See me work, that is.  I've got the night shift.  Sorry mom."  Sera laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck.  He just hoped she wasn't as perceptive as she normally was.  He also damn well hoped that she didn't notice how much he was fidgeting from the discomfort in his pants.  He knew his mom best, what being her son and all, and his hopes fell as she looked at him suspiciously.

----------------------------------

"...I'm bored."  tomas looked at Taka

"I know."  Taka didn't look up.

"...i'm really bored."  Tallan looked at Taka.

"I KNOW."

"...I'm-"

"DAmmit, if either of you say that again I'm gonna do more than program your access cards to release the hounds."

"Then could you at least tell us what we're doing here?"

"Waiting until the decoy arrives.  C'mon, there's only one idiot missing from our group.  Who else would willingly walk into Sera's room with Lin-san AND Sera's mom?"

"...(wait, aren't there two...?)"  Tomas thought.  He shrugged and flopped on the bed.  "Wonder if this place's got room service?"  He mused, picking up the phone.  "My apartment did."

[ling]

Sorry about neglecting all of you for so, so long...

=====

Ling hadn't always been a nervous wreck around mother's of men: but her last serious relationship hadn't really involved mothers...or fathers, for that matter, and she was seriously out of practice.  Add that to the fact that despite what Lilith was saying, Ling had a strong suspicion that she was the first wife of Adam, and she had a case of willies from both that she had to make a good impression and Jewish mysticism.

She made a quick glance down to Serafita's pants and fought the urge to blanche.  She would hurt him later for this idiot-brained scheme for hiding the condoms, she really, really would.  

"Sera, dear, is there something wrong with you?" the older woman said, taking a step toward her uncomfortable-looking son, eyes narrowed in concern.  "Are you all right?  You seem to be...er, a bit...uncordinated."

"NO!" he yelled, and collecting himself, added, "No, really, I'm fine.  Just..."  Failing to think of anything good, he looked to Ling desperately.

Ling jumped in to his rescue and said, "Just a bit sick, doesn't want you to catch it, you know."  Taking a deep breath, the CEO took a hold of Lilith's arm, leading the woman toward the door and saying, "We've got loads of wonderful rooms, how about I find one just for you and have you settled in for the night?"

"But - "

"You can always see your son in the morning," Ling replied, a smile on her face, "besides, you need your rest."

In the back of her mind, she was already plotting her most valuable employees death.  Reason: total incomptence.

[acetalon]

OOC: Bah, since Kwoko has no intention of moving this forward... :p

IC: A loud ringing interrupted Ling's plans on first-degree murder.  Sera turned around, startled to hear the phone ring.  Lilith turned around at the abrupt sound and Sera spun away to hide his...secret in his pants.  He lunged for the phone.  He hoped to whatever higher powers existed that this wasn't another customer.  

"Hello? Hello?"  He shouted into the reciever.  "Sorry, I'm a little busy right now, Serafita's services are unavailable at the moment-"

"Sera?  Sera, why the hell is your number listed as room service?"  The voice on the other end asked.  

"T-tomas?"  He put his hand to the mouthpiece and looked at his mom fearfully.  She was watching him curiously.   "Tomas, this isn't the time right now."  

"Never mind.  I get it now.  I'll leave you to your 'business'.  See ya, and have fun!  Just hope your mom doesn't find out."  The line went dead.

Sera set the phone down and motioned for Ling to come over half-heartedly.

"Ling-chan, could you tell me why my number's listed as room service?"  He whispered weakly.  


**********************

Tomas set the phone down.  Well, that was interersting.  

"Sera didn't sound too good,"  He thought to himself.  "I hope he doesn't overdo it."

************************

Ace and Kwok crept up to the door.  Well, for a security chief, Taka didn't have a whole of of security protecting his room.

"Are you sure this is Taka's room?"  Ace asked Kwok, peering at him over his shoulder.

"No, but I know his room is somewhere up here.  Why not try this one?"  Kwok shrugged.

"Why not?"  Ace echoed.  He reached for the knob.

"Take cover!  Kwok shouted suddenly, kicked Ace from behind and diving away from the door.  

Ace fell rather gracelessly through the door, stumbling upon Lilith.  

He had only a split second to realize what had just happened.  First, this wasn't Taka's room.  Second, it was Sera's.  Third, and most importantly, there was company, and Ace fell upon the one who was probably the most dangerous out the the three, next to Ling that is.