Exodus: The Assassin's Path 84 Seeing is Believing

Quinn peeked out the door of Fora HQ, Mojo and Leah were looking over his shoulder. "Sweet mother... where did all those people come from?" Quinn noted that most of them were NPCs, but there were hundreds of heroes in the steadily growing crowd.

System Message: Fora has temporarily been zoned as a non-aggression territory.

Leah followed Quinn as he shut the door and walked back to the conference table, he brought up the outside crowd on the hud 3-D map. "Quinn... who are all those people?"

"Well... am guessing they are curious about the first Cultural Enhancement built in TAP." Quinn sat down, continued to watch the hud, "more than 3 thousand."

"What does Non-Aggression territory mean?" Mojo had her faction hud up, but there was no information regarding it.

"It means no pvp or assassinations are allowed in the territory until it is lifted, it is usually done during Guild events meant for recruiting." Quinn shook his head in disbelief, "with that many random heroes running around, we'd be in serious trouble if our enemies mixed in among them."

Mojo brought up her hud, Tal's faced immediately popped up. "Hey Mojo, what's up?"

"How close are you to finishing the shields and stealth engines for the Academy?"

Tal glanced over at Remmy who must have been behind her, "the shields are ready, we've had to modify the stealth engines because of the size of the Academy."

Remmy's face squeezed in beside Tal's, "end of the day and we'll make it disappear."

"Good. Very good, thank you both." Mojo cut comms and turned toward Quinn, "we have been getting thousands of inquiries regarding the Academy. There are many things we need to figure out."

Quinn noticed his mail icon was blinking, "I know. Let's tackle one thing at a time. First will be staff, and Curriculum, then we can move on from there. Excuse me for a moment." Quinn stood up and walked away from the table. "Open Mail."

TAP MAIL

Subject: Offer... Sender: Nuna Bori :Attachment:None

Subject: Academy Position... Sender: Kora Scasa :Attachment: None

Subject: Experiment... Sender: Cookie :Attachment:None

Subject: Dean of Students... Sender: Exodus Educational Affiliation :Attachment: None

"Open first mail."

Quinn,

I've decided to accept the position of Quartermaster that you have offered me. I've started a halfling alt named Nuna, she's a production character, carpenter class. I'd like to do some of the building for the supply depot myself, you've seen the Exodus Academy Supply department? That size will be perfect, and hub access to the inventory.

Nuna,

Quinn glanced toward the far end of the warehouse, it was unused and could easily be sectioned off, it would be perfect for she needed. "Perfect Nuna, I'll let you make what changes you need."

"Open second mail."

Quinn,

I received an offer from Anna Li. I want to bring three instructors with me, with the understanding that the Martial arts curriculum is set up by me and I head the department. If these conditions are okay with you, then I will accept the position.

Kora,

"Perfect, this will be a good fit. Open third mail."

Q,

The experiment regarding the Kubrite pin was successful. I was unable to recover my character after falling off the rocks with a pin inserted into my hand. The game menu stated that the character is no longer playable. I deleted it immediately and started this new one.

Cookie. (Onion)

Quinn whistled under his breath, "open comm-chat Tal."

Tal's face smiled at him, "heya hun."

"I know you are busy, next project for you two is to research Kubrite. We need to know everything we can about it." Quinn was uneasy with this sort of unknown, it made him feel exposed.

Tal nodded, "Okay hun, love you."

"Love you too Tal," Quinn cut comm, "open 4th mail."

Q,

We are aware that you've started an Institute of learning within the TAP community. If you are intending to open up enrollment to the rest of Exodus or become part of the Virtual Schools Program, then certain guidelines must be followed. Please have your institutes Dean contact me if this is your intention.

Vice President, Virtual Schools Program

Zara Deshi,

"Hmm... Guess I'll have a chat with Pops, he's the most qualified to do something like that."

Quinn walked back toward the conference table, Leah and Mojo were talking by themselves. Quinn was nearly there when both of them suddenly stood upright, their faces were frozen in shock, both their eyes slowly turning completely dark blue.

"Holy shitballs..." Quinn grabbed Leah's arm, "Leah!!"

"Quinn? I see the fountain." Leah seemed to hear him, but her blued eyes stared off into the distance.

Quinn felt panic starting to rise up, "Mojo?" He placed a hand on the dark elf's shoulder, "what the hell is this?"

Mojo's voice was calm. "We are fine Quinn, leave us here and go to the Ravenwood fountain at once."

"Right away." Quinn ran to the Alcove and went through the portal to Ravenwood. Stepping through he noticed right away the presence of a third black panther, this one was staring at him.

"Oh, it appears I was mistaken, I take back my comments about your ears." Belle was sitting with Yaya on the edge of the fountain.

"What's going on here?" Quinn approached cautiously, he stopped when two of the panthers trotted toward him, pushing their heads against him. Right away he noticed the change, one had green eyes and the other lavender. The third approached slowly, its eyes were the same blue as the Ravenwood sky.

"I can see you, even though I am still blind." Belle's face said it all, she was stunned beyond words to see anything.

The third beast stood on its hind legs and pushed a wet muzzle into Quinn's face.

Quinn put a hand on either side of the animal's face and peered into its eyes. "I'm going to inspect, please excuse me."

Mali: Shadowfiend

Pet Type: Feline, Primal

Bond-Ability: Vision Transference

Description: Only one of the bonding

abilities have been uncovered.

Yaya approached while Quinn was looking at the beast, "it appears to be a shared vision, whatever the pet sees the owner sees also."

Quinn turned back toward the other two beasts, the green-eyed one licked his cheek. Quinn stared at it, slowly its green eyes faded back to the darkest blue. Right away Quinn's hud dinged at him. The Apple princess's face popped up on his hud. "You okay Leah?"

"Yes we are fine Quinn, I could see everything that Jali looked at." Leah had taken a few minutes to figure out how to look around, and then how to disengage it.

Mojo's face squeezed into the hud, "Quinn the scouting potential of this is amazing. We couldn't hear anything though, perhaps more practice?"

"So everything is good? Damn the eye change freaked me out." Quinn walked over to Belle and took a seat next to her. Her eyes were still the darkest blue. "How'd it start?"

"I was here in the fountain, listening to Mali play with her siblings." The cat in question approached and stared at Quinn.

"Siblings?" Quinn had found all three in a silver container that his mom had stashed in the Black Box.

"Yes... I'm not sure how I know that, but they are." Belle faced Mali, "so... that's what I look like. Could be worse, anyway... as I was listening I just thought how nice it would be to see them play."

"And then you were seeing things through Mali's eyes? How long before I came through the portal was that?" Mali kept nudging him with her muzzle, her purring sounded like an idling motorcycle.

"Immediately." Belle smiled at him, tears flowing freely. "Can I go to my tent? I really want to look at my sisters."

"Yes of course." Quinn turned as Leah and Mojo arrived through the portal. They both had big smiles on their faces.

Belle returned their smiles, "My sisters had told me that the Apple princess was beautiful, but I didn't imagine this. So this is what red looks like? Lovely."

Leah blushed prettily, her freckled nose wrinkling slightly. "Thank you, Belle."

Belle climbed up on Mali, "Quinn... anything you ever need from me, no matter what it is. I will certainly do it."

Yaya shook her finger at him, "within reason Quinn! Don't have her doing your laundry or anything like that."

Mojo was petting Bali, "my bond with her has gotten stronger. They are indeed siblings, three sisters."

Quinn had no experience with pets. "Explore this bond-ability, it can only make us stronger."

Mojo nodded, a smile on her face as Bali nudged Quinn. "She really likes you."

Leah nodded her head, "so does Jali. I wonder if they are affected by our feelings."

Quinn frowned at the two of them, "so if I make you angry, these two animals are going to chase me around?"

Mojo nodded, "yes."

Leah nodded, "count on it."

Quinn scratched Bali behind her ears. "Hmm... I wonder if shadowfiends taste good?"

Quinn opened up the faction hud as he headed towards the portal.

Faction Announcement: Q: Everyone is invited to attend Dinner tonight at my Grandfather's estate. I will temporarily program the Ravenwood portal to access the Obreen Estate. Please RSVP in the next two hours.

Leah caught up with Quinn and grabbed his hand. "Did Gramps mean everyone? That's a lot of people Quinn."

Quinn shrugged, he glanced over his shoulder, both Jali and Bali were back in the fountain. "Damn, is that thing a cat bath now?"

Mojo grabbed his other hand and pulled, "hurry up Quinn, I have to meet in Fenway in 2 hours."

"Hmm? What's the rush?" Quinn walked through the portal and stepped into HQ. He was immediately pulled out the door and toward the river. "Okay, where we going?"

Security Alert: Cottage Owner recognized, you may pass.

"We decided that the three of us need some bonding time." Leah smiled innocently as she dropped his hand and headed toward the back of the house.

"Don't we bond all the time?" Quinn followed since Mojo was still pulling his hand.

Mojo grabbed the bottom of his shirt with her free hand and pulled it over his head, "yes."

Quinn stopped at the edge of the natural hot spring that was part of the Cottage. Leah had already dropped her clothes and stepped in. "Right.. bonding is important." By the time Quinn had finished disrobing, Mojo had already joined Leah in the water.

Leah smiled at the dark elf and wrapped lightly freckled arms around her dark waist. "He can be resistant sometimes."

Mojo nodded and bent forward, letting their lips touch lightly.

Leah peeked over Mojo's shoulder at Quinn who was just climbing in. "Oh, my... looks like someone is ready to go."

Quinn entered the hot water and sunk up to his chin, he grinned as both women moved toward him.

Mojo pressed against his back while Leah stopped a few inches from Quinn, her full breasts floating on the water.

Leah noticed his stare, and caressed them, her fingers caressing the pink tips. "You like Quinn?"

"This a trick question? Everything about you is beautiful."

Mojo bit the back of his neck and slid her hand around to grip him gently. "Sweet words." She nibbled his ear as she guided him into Leah, the redhead moaned softly and leaned over Quinn's shoulder to kiss the dark elf again.

********

Quinn stood at the kitchen island, carefully cutting open the large hoagie buns that he had picked up from the store. Nanna was separating the different meats and cheeses onto plates. "Purple onions?"

"I'll get them." Ren had been watching Quinn cut the buns from her doorway. Ren grabbed a bowl from the fridge, "I cut them earlier when you said it was going to be hoagie day."

"Mission accomplished!" Tal stood at the bottom of the stairs, smiling at the group as she walked toward them. "The Academy has disappeared."

Quinn clapped his hand together, "the stealth engines worked?"

"Yep... we'll start on the Kubrite research right away." Tal grabbed a plate and started building her sandwich, she was still trying to decide on the kind of cheese she'd have when Jinn and Ro-Ro showed up.

"Right on time guys!" Nanna waved her butterknife at them, "Pops won't be here, he's meeting with Zara Deshi."

Quinn glanced at her, "you forwarded that mail to Pops? Thanks Nanna!"

Nanna grabbed his hand, "it's what I do!"

The rest of the group joined hands. "Thank you for the food."

"And God bless Quinn." Tal stared at him while she said it.

Quinn didn't notice as he continued to stack every kind of meat on his hoagie.

Tal leaned over his shoulder and kissed his cheek. "How was the cottage?"

Quinn barely managed to close the bun as he made his way to the table, Tal followed and sat down beside him. "It was good, the hot water is nice."

Tal nodded, "I'm sure it was."

Quinn squeezed the hoagie, not sure where to start. "How'd you know I went to the cottage?"

" They invited me too, but I was too busy." Tal smiled and took a bite of her sandwich.

"Um.. I see." Quinn finally managed to take a bite, he closed his eyes at the taste. "Whomever invented Chipotle Mayonnaise is a genius."

"Amen to that," said Ro-Ro.

"Wise words," said Em.

Tal leaned closer and lowered her voice, "this time."

Chapter end