Exodus: The Assassin's Path 85 Missing Songbird

Quinn pulled up his hud and was looking at the sign-up list. "That is less then I thought, the Silverleaf women aren't interested in attending?"

Guest List: Mojo, Leah, Tal, Pops, Ren, Ro-Ro, Jinn, Anna, Em, Lara, Robin, Wren, Thrush, Lark, Remmy, Onion, Craven, Daze, and Grace.

Leah shook her head, "they are observing a special ceremony, Quinn, none of the Silverleaf sisters will be in attendance." Leah loved traveling into Quinn's world, it made her feel like a hero. "What will they be serving at dinner?"

"I heard it is strictly a seafood menu." Quinn closed the hud and leaned back in his seat. Leah had talked him into taking a train ride, they had the entire train to themselves.

The Fora engineers had been working hard on utilizing all the track they had nabbed from Covenant. They were able to create a large ovular rail line that started at Talia station, headed south to the recently started villages of Q-Town and Innisfrae, then turned westward toward a third future settlement site that hadn't been named yet. From there they headed north again and created a fourth stop at Fora HQ, before finis.h.i.+ng back at Talia Station.

Leah leaned her head against him, the breeze from the window causing her red hair to blow against his cheek. "I've never really had any seafood."

Quinn was amazed that a country that was essentially Florida, would have no fis.h.i.+ng industry. There were no fis.h.i.+ng villages and no real supplier of seafood. Talon had been the only settlement in Fora and was located in the north central part of the landma.s.s. "Who came up with the name Q-Town anyway?" He hadn't been there when the vote for the settlement names had taken place.

Leah shrugged, "I don't really remember." She slid onto his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck. "You should make some fis.h.i.+ng quests perhaps. The halfling race has the fis.h.i.+ng ability, I bet they would do well."

Quinn could spot evasive maneuvers when he saw them but decided to let it go, "an excellent idea. We could even offer other incentives. Hmm... that gives me an idea."

"Oh? Anything I can help you with?" She rotated slightly so she was straddling his lap, her arms resting on his shoulders.

"Eventually yes, the first part needs to be done in my world." Quinn rested his hands lightly on her hips.

Leah took a hair band that she had around her wrist and tied her red hair up. She leaned forward and kissed him, her lips lingering long enough for her tongue to dart out. "Quinn..."

"Yes?"

"I know we haven't set a date yet, but could Mojo be in our wedding?" She moved her hips slightly, her green eyes watching him.

"Sure, it's up to you who you want with you."

"No, I mean in our wedding. You could marry us both at the same time." The Redhead pursed her lips slightly, "Ren said it would be like a double wedding."

"That's not what double wedding means, that would be two grooms and two brides."

Leah nodded, "so, just a little different. I'm asking if you would be okay with that?"

"I don't mind if that is what the two of you prefer."

"It was my idea actually." Leah placed her forehead against Quinn's, the tips of their noses touching as she brushed her lips against his.

"End of the Line!" Soji yelled as he opened the door to the car they were in. He glared at Quinn before turning around and leaving.

Quinn watched him go. Why does that little gnome seem to dislike me?"

Leah slid off his lap with a reluctant sigh, "he is sweet on Remmy."

Quinn laughed aloud, "of course he is, she's super cute."

Leah nodded, "right... and you are the biggest obstacle to him and Remmy getting together."

"Okay, I'll lean on Remmy a bit, try and smooth things over for him."

*********

"Quinn? Did you see the seating chart?" Tal strummed her metal toes on the carpeted floor of their Ravenwood bedroom. It was a virtual party, so of course, she used her TAP avatar.

"You could just make another avatar for social gatherings." Quinn was searching his hud for the list.

"Is my metal leg going to stick out too much?"

Quinn stared at Tal, she had found a long sleek red dress that was backless and was a bit low cut. Virtual fas.h.i.+on was very popular. "Right...can't speak for the women of course. However, none of the men will even notice your feet while you are wearing that dress."

Tal smiled, her pretty blue eyes bright with humor, "so it's good then?"

"Found it!" Quinn showed her the list that Em had forwarded to him.

Tal glanced at it, quickly finding their table. "Good, Leah and Mojo are with us."

"Yep, so is Carmichael and Evelyn Sova." Tal smiled at her finance, "isn't that the cousin that Em beat up?"

Quinn laughed and nodded, "one of them anyway, knowing Em there might have been a few others. They were quite mean to her when she was younger. Evelyn is my aunt, but I really don't know her."

**********

The Obreen Virtual Estate was apparently a mirror image of the actual one located in Staten Island. A s.p.a.cious dining room seated nearly a hundred guests when full. Quinn and his group had made the transfer from their Ravenwood home.

"Goodness... I'd heard the resemblance to Gus was uncanny. You have to be Quinn, I'm Evelyn Sova, your Aunt." An attractive woman with shoulder length brown hair approached him as soon as he found their table.

"Aunt Evelyn?" Quinn smiled and gave her a polite hug. "Very nice to meet you. This is Talia, Mora, and Leah."

Mora was wearing a short black dress with spaghetti straps, her white hair was up and she wore a simple beaded necklace. "Nice to meet you."

Leah smiled and hugged the older woman, "Aunt Evelyn? You are so pretty."

Evelyn smiled politely at the Redhead. Her entire family had been warned by Mike Obreen, under no circ.u.mstances were they to offend the Virtual Guests of Quinn. Evelyn was curious about the nephew she had never met and his friends. "Thank you, dear. I love your hair."

Talia stepped forward and hugged Quinn's Aunt also, "it is nice to finally meet you, Aunt Evelyn."

Evelyn hugged the tall blond, her brother had made a point of letting her know, Talia was just as stunning in real life as her Avatar. "Please everyone, just call me Evie, this is my son Carmichael."

A slim young man with short brown hair and average height nodded his head slightly, except for the height, he looked a lot like Quinn. "Nice to meet everyone." He tried not to stare at the women at his table as they took their seats and picked up the menus.

"Quinn, would you order for me please?" Leah had never tried anything on the menu, but she trusted Quinn's judgment.

"Me too, Quinn'lkah." Mojo set her menu down, her lavender eyes staring at Quinn.

"Okay," Quinn brought up the table hud and ordered Chilean Sea Ba.s.s for Mojo and Halibut for Leah. "Hmm..lobster for me." He leaned over to see what Tal was ordering, she had also chosen the lobster.

"Quinn... people are dancing." Leah noticed that nearly all of the Songbirds had already been asked to dance by someone, even Ren was out there. "Ren's a good dancer."

Talia laughed, "I made her take dance lessons until just before her accident, she hated it of course."

"Cruel torture for sure." Quinn felt himself on edge for some reason, a feeling that always seemed to predict something bad happening. He had felt fine until they were all seated.

"Dance with me please." Tal stood up and stood next to his chair, she ignored the look he gave her and waited patiently.

Quinn stood up and grabbed her hand, as he escorted Tal to the dance floor, he noticed two men approaching the table. Leah and Mojo joined them on the dance floor in a slow waltz.

Tal leaned closed against him, most of the men would have been too short to dance with her. "Something bothering you Little Q?"

Quinn nodded as they began dancing. "Feels like something is off, but I can't figure it out."

Leah left the dance floor abruptly, a few moments later Mojo did as well. Quinn noticed the two embarra.s.sed looking men who were left in the middle of the dance floor. "Wonder what happened?"

They danced through two songs before Tal decided he had done enough, they were walking back to the table only to be intercepted by Leah.

"Would you mind if Quinn danced with me also, Tal?"

Tal smiled and released Quinn's arm, "he's all yours hun."

Quinn was going to refuse, but the happy look on her face made him decide against it.

Leah leaned against him as they started to dance, "thanks, this is so nice."

Quinn watched Tal go back to their table. "What happened with your other dance partner?"

Leah blushed slightly, "he was holding me too close, I didn't like it."

"This music is made for waltzing, some touching can't be helped."

Leah melted against him and tucked her head under his chin, "I guess I only want to dance with you, Quinn."

"Fair enough," Quinn danced a few dances with Leah and was about to go back to his chair when Mojo approached and asked to dance.

"Poor Quinn," Tal was laughing at him as Leah sat down.

"He hates it right?" Leah could tell that Quinn didn't enjoy dancing as much as she did.

"Yep, guess so." Sometimes Tal would forget that Quinn was only twenty.

Mojo and Quinn had just finished their second dance and were walking back to their table when Robin approached them.

"Commander, Lara Sy isn't here."

Quinn looked at the table where the Songbirds had been seated, the sense of wrongness that he had felt earlier came back strong. "I thought she was planning on coming."

Robin nodded and followed them back to their table, "she definitely was. "

"I'll look into it right away." Quinn sent her back to her table and then sat down.

Leah's food had arrived while Quinn was still out on the dance floor, the look on her face told him she loved it. "Lara isn't here?"

Quinn shrugged, "guess she changed her mind at the last minute."

Tal glanced at Mojo and then Leah. "Lara wouldn't do that."

Mojo seemed to think about it for a moment, "right, Lara wouldn't miss something like this. Not when it had to do with Quinn."

"Quinn..." Leah didn't finish her sentence.

Quinn sighed heavily, "I'll go see what the hold-up is."

Quinn stopped by his dad's table and took a minute to explain things. Gus was well aware that his son has close ties to the virtual community. His dad also knew Lara fairly well, she had laughed at all of his jokes. "I'll be back later if I can, if not then I'll make it up to you guys."

Quinn logged in through the TAP portal in Exodus and then directly to HQ in Fora, where Lara had been seen last. He entered the bunk area and galley of HQ, most of the Songbirds stayed here full-time. "Open comm-chat Lara Sy."

System Message: Lara Sy is unable to reply.

He searched the area Lara stayed in for clues, and couldn't find anything. "After this, I'm going to let them have the upper floor of the Songbird Tavern, this place is way too cramped for all of them."

Quinn took a moment to get geared up and took the gate back to Exodus, "I can only think of one thing."

"Sorry, we are closed." Jezebelle turned at the light knock, she had just closed up shop. Very quickly the knock became quite loud. Finally, she had enough, "listen jacka.s.s, I'm closed!"

Quinn stood in the doorway, looking at her through the small opening. "You were... now you are open." He pushed the door open despite her blocking it with her body.

"Quinn! If you don't turn around right now!" Jezebelle hadn't realized he was such a bully, she did know about his habit of acquiring things that belonged to other people, "fine but if you take anything I'm going to get even!"

"Stop, please. Sit down and help me, I need your a.s.sistance." Jezebelle could tell he had something serious in mind and didn't come here to steal her drawings again.

Quinn took a seat on the patient chair, "Lara Sy has gone missing."

Jezebelle leaned back against her work counter, "Nightingale? What do you expect me to do about it?"

"Let's not pretend that you don't have a connection to the things you draw, you popped up the moment I pretended to put those dragon wings on Scorch."

"Wait, you were pretending?"

"Of course, why would I want a winged horse when I have a Gryphon? I wanted to speak with you."

Jezebelle crossed her arms in front of her, "you really are a piece of work aren't you?"

"Back at you, going to help me?"

"What are you paying?" Jezebelle watched him carefully, she didn't trust him not to steal anything, but his sense of friends.h.i.+p ran deep.

"Will this do?" Quinn placed an item on the counter.

Royal Gryphon Egg

Embryo: Legendary

Description: A Black-winged

Royal Gryphon.

"Done!" Jezebelle s.n.a.t.c.hed it off the counter before he could take it back. She placed it in her inventory and then took out her Golden Book.

Quinn watched patiently as she paged through the book. "It was a Nightingale perched inside the capital letter Q."

"I know Quinn."

"Just point me in a direction, Zeb." Quinn geared up as she was searching for drawing, he was wondering what kind of abilities she had. If she could find anyone she drew on, then having a tattoo parlor at the Exodus entrance was a total scam.

Jezebell carefully cut out the drawing of the nightingale perched on the Q, and laid it on the floor. "This is a one time deal Quinn. This will make her tattoo disappear."

Quinn nodded, "no worries. I'm a reliable friend, I only need one chance."

Jezebelle used her hud and brought up a map, "she's in the southern part of Pern."

"Pern? Not good, that means..." Quinn opened up his hud and sent Leah a quick mail. She wouldn't get it until she came back to Ravenwood.

Leah,

Lara is in Pern, I'm going after her. Come to the tattoo

parlor with back-up. She'll help you.

Quin.

Jezebelle looked up from the glyph she was drawing on the floor. "You could just take the portal to Pearl, and travel to her location on Gryphon."

"Would take too long, close as you can please." He watched as the glyph began to glow.

Jezebelle stepped back and motioned him forward, "step on the glyph, good luck Quinn."

"Send the others after me when they arrive." Quinn stepped onto the glyph and disappeared from the parlor.

"Are you deaf Quinn? I already told you that her tattoo will disappear, I'll have no way to do that!!"

She watched as he disappeared, shaking her head in frustration she reached for her golden book and then stopped. It was gone. "Quinn you b.a.s.t.a.r.d!!"

caution.