The Importance of Hope

[Zex]

i go to the the rebel base when i hear that hope wants to talk to me. i see her in her room packing her stuff. i walk up to her and sit on her bed.
"are you going somewhere hope? can i come too?"

[Peter "The Owl"]

Peter, leaning against the wall behind the door, opens his eyes when Zex enters the room. He resists the urge to draw a weapon. This was probably one of Hope's "friends". He didn't look like much, and he wasn't human. Two strikes against him.

The Owl says nothing, but keeps his eyes open and one Zex.

[Zex]

i notice some guy by hope's door. he is looking at me funny.
"what's the matter earthling, first time seeing alien or somethin'?"

[Peter "The Owl"]

"No." Peter stays where he is and continues to watch Zex with his stone cold eyes. Peter's eyes convery no emotion, like a doll's eyes. The only movement he makes is his fingers, slowly drumming against his arm.

[Zex]

i turn to hope and then back to peter.

"my name is Zex, are you a friend of hope's too?"

[Peter "The Owl"]

"In a manner of speaking." Peter looks at Hope. "This is one of your friends? I assume he is more dangerous than he looks."

[Cat]

Cat looks over at the man who just showed up."uhh....i saw him fall....and...thats it..."She mumbled to him before turning to Ceph.Her hand found the shuriken on Cephs back and she gently pulled it out.

[Kaieka]

Walking along the streets of Moscow, I watch each passerby. People trying to get home, pulling up their collars as barriers against the cold, biting wind. Most look haggard and bedraggled. It is as if life ate them alive and then spit them back out to try to carry on with what they have left.

Watching these people, I can't help but wonder if they enjoy the lives that they live. In the cold outside, I don't see many smiles. Most people's eyes are squinted to the wind, heads bowed down, trying to stay as warm as possible. But when they finally get home, do they smile as they warmly greet their families? Do they think that the long, hard workday was worth it? It doesn't seem like their could be much purpose in a life like this, slaving away all day long just to make ends meet, and at the end of a short life... they are only rewarded with the coldness of death. Such short lives these humans live, in a blink of an eye, they are gone.

My life trundles on, a beggar wrapped in the shroud of years, begging for a little scrap of happiness from life. Life, the elitist that she is, walks by in her high heels with her nose in the air, pretending as if I don't exist.

There are scraps of happiness to be found though, if one knows where to look: the ecstatic feeling of taking someone's life into you, the pop of fangs through firm skin, the thickness of warm blood on a cold night, these are things that bring a trickle of happiness in. Just thinking about it takes a little bit of the depressed haze away from my mind.

Now, surveying the stragglers heading home takes on a whole new light. As each one passes, I do not imagine the weariness of their life, but the imminence of their death. I can almost feel each body pulse with life as it walks by me on the street. I know what lies beneath the surface of those bowed heads and hunched shoulders... the very essence of life, and I am much intrigued.

[Meg]

Meg rubs the back of her head."w-where am i?..."SHe asked Allen before standing up.

[Hope98]

"That is Zex, he is a friend of mine and has been useful in other ways. He is very intelligent and has helped repair and invent things." I explain to Peter. My packing is done. Lemminkainen and Kinyo-bi are waiting for me in the lobby.

"Zex, we are leaving for Lapland, but you are welcome to come along. I will be leaving in just an hour or two."

[Simona Weil]

I return to the anarchist house. These dark feelings just keep chasing me, but since I can not identify them and pair them to experience or life, I ignore them.

I walk up to James, who sits casually in the kitchen, oblivious to the world and the people who exist outside of him. I hand him the chocolate chip cookies.

"There you are, James."

I stand there a moment and consider the movement.

"I will be going to Helsinki to teach a class on anarchy, if you wanted to help the movement you could teach something on Machiavelli. I read "The Prince." Of course I disagree with it entirely and find the whole thing negligent of people and their rights, but whatever floats your boat."

[Peter "The Owl"]

"We're gathering killers, not programmers." Peter looks at Zex, lights flashing dimmly on the lenses of his glasses. "I don't see anything deadly about him." Without expression Peter turns towards the door, coat billowing as he turns and walks, "Keep him out of the line of fire. I'm going to check of anyone tracking us."

[Fei Fong Wong]

Having recovered my strength since my last Id rampage, I make my way towards the rebel base and knock on the door.

[Hope98]

"I think that any one stronger than the average human soldier can be useful in some small way. Zex is fearless and has attacked and killed regular human operatives. You should not underestimate someone just because they are small."

I would say more but there is a knock at the door. I wish Calithin was around.

I go to the door and see that it is that mecha pilot rebel.

"Can I help you?"

[Peter "The Owl"]

Peter says nothing to Hope and walks away without turning to listen. He never estimated anything. Fighting humans was not going to be their problem. They would be fighting, along other things, clones of the most powerful evil beings in history: Lin-sat and Lady Violet.

Such strength could not be understood by someone who hadn't faced it. Peter's hand strays to his chest, lightly touching over his heart. Long ago he had fought with Violet. And lost.

He knew what they would fight. But it was impossible to convey that knowledge to anyone else. Power like that had to be seen to be believed.