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“Hello, Alex,” she smiled, grasping the offered hand with a firm, but gentle grip as she shook it. “Pleasure to meet you,” she told the woman, before looking around the table, “And the rest of you as well, of course.” The redhead relaxed slightly secure in the knowledge that the mission could move forward without the blonde vampire becoming a liability to the group and trying to stop them. In fact, having her along would probably be quite the asset if they ran into danger or perhaps just in general, given the special talents most of the undead had.

Sitting back, she listened as Alex told of having friends on both sides and wanting peace. Amalea was rather unsurprised that the woman was familiar with both groups, given her seeming friendship with the pair of males and her own nature. The peace was a bit surprising, though really not for one that had interest in both sides. No one really ever wanted to see their friends get hurt, after all. The female nodded slightly at Mike and Anemoi’s comments about having heard of it. She wasn’t overly astonished at the news. It had been quite a big deal in the city at the time, no matter who you might have been. Unless they were newer to Harper’s Rock, the redhead had counted on most knowing who they were, at least in passing. All she was trying to do currently was gauge people’s reactions and knowledge.

Waiting a few moments for the others to speak if they wished, she looked around at each of the gathered people, “Emmanuel Broussard, leader of the group, and the majority of his followers, were as most of you are aware, killed in that takeout. Part of the building exploded and collapsed at that time as well and it has remained unknown what is buried or still remaining in the building. This morning, I came across a message, heavily encrypted, between a pair of thugs from across the pond. It seems that there was more going on in that building than any expected.

“The group that the pair is involved with is planning to come to Harper’s Rock to retrieve something very important and valuable. I fear if it falls into their hands, chaos will ensue. I’d like to take a team in and try to retrieve before they do. Unfortunately, they’re well-trained, so that works against us. What works against both groups is the fact that there seems to be indication of heavy testing of some sort that was run in the facility, so who knows what we’d be walking into. “

Alex gave "Red" a warm grin as the human went ahead and took Alexandrea's hand, then gave her a proper handshake. If the woman did know what Alex was, she took it in good stride.

Everyone took a seat, and "Red" began to speak about the reason why everyone has gathered together. One eyebrow grew steadily upwards on her forehead as Alex realized she had accidentally stumbled into something important. For once her nosy nature had paid off.

Her excitement vanished quickly, replaced with concern and she frowned. Looking around at the group of humans, Alex debated outing herself to the lot of them but held her tongue for now. Turning instead to Mike.

"How many of those robots have you got Mike? And how attached to them are you? I'd hate to see anyone get hurt but I agree with Red that whatever it is that this group is after, we can't let them get their hands on it."

Alex thought about the battles she had fought with the people in the sewers, she won against most of them, unless they were naked. The rumor was that they were Europeans. If they were part of the same group Red spoke of, these humans were in for a hard fight if they didn't get in and out of that Broussard place quickly enough and got caught by the group from 'over the pond'...

Mike listened intently, his mind thinking off on what could be at that building and what had they been working on. With this city it could be anything dealing with vampires or zombies, though he figured there were even worse things that he hadn't seen yet.

He wasn't sure how much good he'd be, if he just spent a little more time on learning to defend himself. But that's why he brought Windy along.

He turned his attention to Alex when she asked about how many robots he had. "I.." he started but a voice sounded from his bag. "Don't you dare include me."

Mike sighed, "Wouldn't dream of it.." he muttered. "Anyway, I built that one, that night you found me at that one area. He was designed to pretty much not to come out alive. He was made with the basics of what I needed for the testing. There's only one I'm attached to and its not nearly finished.."

"That hurts my feelings."

Mike jiggled his backpack to shut up the robot. "I have a few that do various things because I'm testing stuff. Suppose they'd be good for some distraction or seeing if there are any traps." he said.

He looked at the group, mainly Red. "How soon you are we going to do this?" he asked, he looked at Alex again. "I'd have to swing by and pick up the robot army."

"I'm not dying for you!"

Mike dropped the bag on the floor, "Son of a.." and Mike cut it off my kicking the bag. "Man I hope I finish my other robot soon. It won't be rude like that one."

Anemoi listened to the talk. He wanted to know what they were working on in that place. It could be a plus that it had something to do with vampires, as in a weapon against them. He smiled for a moment then it faded, hearing the annoying blonde speak to Mike. Mike was speaking about his robots and that annoying little ball in his bag kept speaking. “I say we throw that thing at the first trap we see.” He grumbled.

He leaned back into his chair, crossing his arms. “I’m in. Sounds like a good cause. And the sooner the better before someone else gets to it. Whatever it is.” He replied. “When we leave?”

Jinx sat quietly, listening, as her mind raced, trying to put the pieces together. Vampires, really? It was sounding like something out of a bad novel. While a small part of her mind thought that it was at least plausible, the sane, logical part wanted to dismiss the group entirely.

Vampires don't exist. Just like ghosts, just like zombies, just like Frankenstein's monster. They're just stories people tell to scare themselves and each other.

Obviously the Broussard weren't vampires, but they must have been into something deeper than Jinx and her superiors knew. Perhaps Emanuel Broussard began to use some of the "product" himself; LSD could have that sort of effect, no? Actually, no. It would have that effect, but the kingpin's profile painted him as far more cautious than that. More likely someone on the inside had drugged him. There is no such thing as vampires!

Still, if they were going to Broussard's hideout, she might be able to find out who really killed him, who was trying to get on top, so that the task force could take them out before they filled the underworld power vacuum. She would find his killer and then get out of this creepy town and back to Vancouver for a much-needed vacation.

She nodded, her expression serious. "I'm in."

It was quite the bombshell she had dropped on the gathered group, she knew, but they had a right to know what was going on. It was the only way for them to make an informed decision and she didn't want to take people in who were unaware. The experiments were a wild card, there was no way around that - as were these European hunters. Taking persons and putting them in a situation without any info, however, was a recipe for disaster. This mission had a very good chance of going pear-shaped from the outset and the redhead saw no reason to tempt fate. A little information would go a long way in attempting to keep people safe.

She knew Alex would probably be the safest of all of them, unless the hunters showed up and recognized her for what she was, given she had a set of advanced senses and abilities at her disposal. The rest of the party was going to be in a fair bit of danger. She could only hope they each had a good bit of common sense and some skill with a weapon. There was no doubt in her mind that both would be needed before this mission was through. Retrieving the scroll would be an amazing thing, but keeping it out of the hands of the hunters was far more important in her book. She couldn't and wouldn't trust a group of unknowns with this kind of information. There was no telling if and how they'd pervert it to harm the supernatural inhabitants of the city.

Watching Alex carefully, she caught the change in the woman's demeanor. Of those gathered, she was fairly certain the blond would be the most familiar with the Broussard place and understand the dangers this venture entailed. She had been wondering if the vampire had read between the lines of what the redhead had not said to draw the correct conclusions, when Alex had fired off a round of questions directed at Mike. She could think of several uses for robots and had to silently praise Alex's line of thinking. Lea had to bite her lip, however, to keep from laughing at the conversation Mike had with what she could only guess was a robot in his bag.

"I don't want anyone getting hurt, if we can manage it," she supplied, "With that in mind, the sooner we get over there, the better. We know there's others who want this item and I'd be willing to bet they'd stop at nothing to get it. I'd also hazard they wouldn't care about a body count." Taking a moment, she looked at each in turn, "That's on top of any experiments, too. Getting in and out as soon as possible, as quick as possible, is our best bet."

Glancing at the doors to the library, Alex wondered if she had to wait much longer until the sun set. She didn't want these humans going ahead without her, and not just for altruistic reasons. Sure, she did not want to see anyone of them get hurt... well, except maybe Windbag... and she liked humans.

But she was a vampire. If whatever was hidden in the old Broussard place could affect her kind, Alex wanted to know. Not to mention their might be some money to be made off of this once all was said and done.

Rolling her eyes as Mike and the little ball of rudeness exchanged words, she shook her head. If the other robots had as big a mouth as that one, they would do more harm than good.

"Where do you need to go to gather up this 'Robot Army' of yours, Mike? And I do hope that those were built with mute buttons..."

Anemoi and the other human woman... was it 'Jinx'? spoke up to say they wanted in on the action and Alex pressed her lips together, not sure how well she could protect too many humans. Then she brightened, as she realized that with Windbag along, her task would be much more simple. Just shove him in the way of anything dangerous and then get the other humans to safety.

Amalea wrote:"I don't want anyone getting hurt, if we can manage it," she supplied, "With that in mind, the sooner we get over there, the better. We know there's others who want this item and I'd be willing to bet they'd stop at nothing to get it. I'd also hazard they wouldn't care about a body count." Taking a moment, she looked at each in turn, "That's on top of any experiments, too. Getting in and out as soon as possible, as quick as possible, is our best bet."

"I understand you want to hurry and I have to agree. However... if Mike's little friends can help our chances of avoiding traps, we should consider taking the time to retrieve them. Also... " Alexandrea paused and gave Red a meaningful look. It hadn't been said out loud but Alex was sure that the woman knew exactly what Alex was. Jinx... Alex didn't think so.

"I have a friend. Like me. That we can trust to help us, if you would allow me to contact her. I feel that with her skills and mine together, we could do a lot to help keep all of you, I mean all of us... safe."

Before Anemoi might get his hopes up, Alex sent into his head.*Nope, not Kira. No way I'd bring her anywhere near you.*

Mike debated on throwing rude robot on the first trap as well. He grinned at Alex when she said Robot Army. "The only reason that one is like he is was because I was practicing programming and AI, granted I have no idea why he ended up the way he is. Most of the other ones all have a different function I was practicing and only move." he said. "I keep them stashed at a run down warehouse. Just have to go by and put them in a bag."

He looked from Red to Alex, "Maybe we can meet up somewhere. Two groups, one can help get the robots then we meet up and move forward with this." he said. He looked to Alex again when she spoke of a friend like her, he certainly hope that her friends were all human friendly. Not all vampires would be too happy about a group of humans going after something that may work against them.

Anemoi listened to Red talk then Lexster asked Mike about his Robot Army. Did he really have an army? He spent all his time making them, he wouldn’t be surprised if the young man did indeed had an army. Then she went on to talk about a friend like her, he had gotten his hopes up that she meant Kira but became rather disappointed with the message to his mind. He didn’t want that woman whispering in his head. He leaned in close, “But my dear sweet Kira and I would make a good team. Why must you try to keep us apart?” he said softly. He laughed, he was trying to annoy her and he was sure he was saying the right things to do so. “You bringing that other blonde then?” he asked.

He leaned back, “I’m with Mike. How about we meet between the compound and Redhart Arena? Something like that. I’ll go with Mike to get his little friends, head there and we can start this thing.” He said.

No one asked his name, so he didn’t bother to give it. As it was, half of the group seemed halfway lost in their own conversation at first, anyway. That was fine by Dex, though; it gave him the opportunity to quietly observe for a bit before giving away much of himself. They were a unique bunch, that much was certain.

“Red” seemed more or less well informed; at the very least, she knew what she wanted to find. Dex was less keen on the “team” aspect of this whole operation than she was, but he kept reminding himself that going it solo was just going to end up getting him killed.

“Jinx” played the part of ditzy blonde to the hilt, and played it well, but there were still tells here and there, if you knew where to look. Her eyes were focused, calculating. Her trip over the chair had the same practiced, injury-free landing as a comedienne’s pratfall. She put a lot of effort into appearing less capable than she was…and whatever her reasons, she was studying them all just as Dex was.

Mike was a little harder to pin down. He acted like a kid who just came to serve his curiosity and sense of adventure…but from the comments his companions were making (not to mention his talking backpack), it seemed almost like he was some kind of tech-genius, complete with a pintsize refugee from a webcomic for a sidekick.

Anemoi (Ανεμοι? It sounded Greek, sure, but what kind of a name was “Winds”?) seemed vaguely disinterested in the whole affair, Rebel Without a Cause style, and was probably only there at all because a friend asked him along. That said, it looked like his disinterest was at least partially an act, though his reasons for wanting to explore the Broussard place were his own.

The vampire was the one that concerned him the most, though. “Red” may not have come right out and told the group exactly what they were looking for, but Dex had seen the files himself, and he didn’t trust a vampire to just let them get away with a ritual they could use to taint the vampire food supply. This “Alex” acted friendly as could be, sure…but what was to stop her from using the group to find this ritual, and then just kill them all and take it? He’d kept the table between the vampire and himself, just from force of habit, and most of his attention over the course of the conversation was spent watching for anything threatening. Vampires, after all, don’t generally give a lot of warning when they’re done pulling the wool over their prey’s eyes.

The conversation developed around him, progressing from discussion of Broussard to serious talk about gathering a “Robot Army”, and again Dex found himself considering how, if he just went it alone, he might not have to rely on tactics that felt more at home in a comicbook. He felt himself brought finally into the conversation proper, though, when the vampire made another suggestion:

Alexandrea wrote: "I have a friend. Like me. That we can trust to help us, if you would allow me to contact her. I feel that with her skills and mine together, we could do a lot to help keep all of you, I mean all of us... safe."

Oh, no, he thought. One vampire is already a giant murderous accident just waiting to happen. Two is just an unacceptable risk. And that’s not even considering how the Euros view these things.

“I’m sorry,” he said, no longer letting himself just blend into the background of the conversation, “but that just sounds like a bad idea all around. The European folks we’re hoping to outrun here take a rather dim view of…people like you.” He gave the vampire a pointed look, one Alex would easily understand to say I know exactly what you are. “They like those who associate with such folks even less. I’m pretty sure a pair with your ‘skills’ would be more of a liability than anything if we end up in a confrontation here. Personally, I’d rather not be shot if I can avoid it.”

Or bled dry, he added to himself.