~I~ {Am} ~Human~ // [Kaelen]

a modern-day warrior, mean, mean stride
today's tom sawyer, mean, mean pride
though his mind is not for rent, don't put him down as arrogant
his reserve, a quiet defense
riding out the day's events, the river

"Legume, get your diminutive posterior out here!" I yell back the hallway of the dilapidated old house, not rewarded with a response. The roll of papers tucked under my arm is the reason I'm taking the chance of stepping outside my own door even though it's barely after sunset, the brilliant seeds of a plan that could solve the entire Moreno conflict before it ends with bodies piled in the streets.

(The monster at the core of me purrs contentedly at the idea, only quieting when my sadistic imagination turns the faces of all those bodies into Aurora's, Ella's, Colt's. The prospect of death and carnage isn't worth the collateral it demands.)

Just then, an unearthly wail rises up below my feet, followed by a muffled tide of cursing. Found him. I have to open a few doors to locate the basement, but I find the old staircase soon enough.

"I'm in the middle of something, you might wanna come back later," a voice rises from the dank darkness of the cellar as I descend, mingling with a grating symphony of mechanic banging and scuffling. I almost don't want to know what the little rodent's up to down there, but whatever it is, the war effort is more important. The stairs creak even beneath my scrawny weight in a way that's not too different than my own house, and as I reach the bottom I can see Bean hunkered down over some cannibalized contraption on the table in front of him, narrow shoulders stiff with concentration and maybe even a little annoyance. "Look, I'm not much for conversation at the moment, so just come back in a couple hours."

The look on his face is going to be priceless, so rather than replying and identifying myself, I just stand there with a smirk growing quietly on my face.

"I'm not fucking kidding, so seriou- Oh. Dempsey. Uh, one sec, let me finish up here…" The midget genius drops all pretense of snark when he turns around to see who he's been snapping at, a delicious look of almost terror-flitting across his features before he decidedly covers for it, puttering around and shoving a pile of wires at me before settling against his workspace with a shit-eating grin. "What can I help you with, Boss?"

"Nice to see you as well, Legume," I drawl, leaning against one of the creaky wooden beams holding up the ceiling and glancing around. Despite much of the mechanics being ghetto-rigged, for lack of a better term, Bean's got quite an operation running down here. I'd been right to trust the intelligence behind his eyes when he told me that he could make anything that I had the imagination to dream up. While I hold the vast majority of the world in the cold disdain that colors everything from my words to my glares, I do have a sort of grudging respect for intellect, as rare as it is. That respect and that respect alone is the only reason I didn't put the little shit in a sleeper hold for sassing me. The flickering fluorescents overhead catch on the tin-can medals that Ella so carefully crafted for me, the heralds of a de facto General trying to cobble an army together out of derelicts and vagabonds the way that Bean makes machines sprout up from trash and spare parts. While my control complex isn't quite as bad as it used to be, something about having someone call me Boss makes a smug feeling of satisfaction settle pleasantly across my consciousness.

"I need several things from you," I say pointedly, offering Bean the rolled-up schematics and giving him a few seconds to scan them. "Namely, a number of contraptions that go 'boom.' We're raiding the Moreno place this weekend, and it's my full intention to light the bastards up like a high school pep-rally bonfire. Although admittedly, the explosives are mainly for diversion purposes. I've got something else that's trickier. Little side-mission I'm doing on my own, so I'd appreciate if you could keep your mouth shut about it when the others are around."

Grabbing the papers again with no real mind for courtesy, I rifle through the stack until I've found a relatively detailed blueprint of the Moreno mansion that Beryl was able to draw up, having been there for so many parties. I dodge around Bean until I'm close enough to spread the paper out across his worktable, weighting the corners with half-finished machines and bundles of wire. The outlines of walls and windows have already lined up in my mind like chess pieces on a board, but the fault in my strategy lies in the periodic red marks that indicate keypads for the Moreno's brand spanking new electronic security system. Fingers tracing over the crimson line next to the front door, I frown, the gears in my mind whirring in time with the ones on Bean's projects.

"I need something that can hack a security system. A good security system, because if the Morenos bought it, then it's probably top of the line. While the Angels are setting off the IED's and the whole house is all up running to their windows to see what's going on, I need to get in without an alarm going off." A spindly digit jabs at the window that leads into a pantry (the yuppy sons of bitches have a walk-in pantry), before traveling left and drawing an invisible circle around the red slash by the back door to the house a few yards away. "They've only got exterior keypads on the front and back doors, so that's our only access point. I don't want to waltz right in the door, too big of a margin for error. I need something that can break into the system here, and keep it non-functional until I can crawl through this window here."

I can already see the curiosity sparking behind Bean's eyes, silently asking why I'd stick my neck that far out by actually venturing into the enemy stronghold. Unbidden, the most vicious sort of smile blooms on my lips. "I'm going to hide in that pantry until everyone goes back to bed, and then I'm going to take a nice sharp sword, go upstairs, and take out all the kingpins while they sleep - Mama, Papa, Elspeth. With them out of the picture, this whole thing will be over before it even starts."

I saved the most controversial bit for last, the one potential blip on the radar that could send the whole plan down the toilet, but even now it doesn't worry me too much. After all, what sort of soldier disobeys his commander? The malicious grin widens across my face as I turn in Bean's direction, finally handing back the bundle of wires he shoved at me a few minutes ago.

"And you're coming with me."

what you say about his company is what you say about society
catch the mist, catch the myth
catch the mystery, catch the drift
the world is, the world is, love and life are deep
maybe as his skies are wide