Locate & Terminate (Col./Morph/ask)

[Col. Jessup]

It had been about 17-hours since Col. Jessup arrived on the continent of Kouchi, and now he was searching the city of Acera for the pawn shop Roll had told him about. He was still dressed in his field uniform, because he had a feeling he was going to end up in combat sooner or later that day. However, it was a little hard to tell if it was day or night now that he was underground; in fact he wasn't entirely sure it was even the same date as when he came into Acera.
Benjamin wandered around The Burning City, not knowing where to go exactly, so finally he started asking one passerby after another if they knew of a pawn shop run by a black fellow and shape shifter. It was about an hour later that someone finally gave Ben some useful information. The civilian didn't know who owned the place, but he did know of a pawn shop that was only about half a mile away. The Colonel thanked the man, and then headed in the direction the passerby had told him to go.

"This must be the place Ms. Glitzar spoke of." Benjamin said as he looked at the sign for the shop that read: "Morph's Pawn Shop". With a calm and rather blank look on his face Col. Jessup entered the shop with hopes of finding the shape shifter called Morph.

[Morph]

A little bell rang upon the Colonel's entrance into the shop, ringing out with a melodious chime to alert the owner of the place and the people who worked there with its sound. There was no line or detector to be seen, however; the bell was undoubtedly enchanted to ring when people stepped through the door.

The shop was filled with all sorts of stuff, with one of the walls being littered with shelves that carried volumes of books, comics, manga and encyclopediae. On a hat stand in the corner tricorners, bicorners, caps, cowboy hats and bowler hats hung, as well as a duo of trench coats next to an old duster. Close to it, on the side from the middle a rack stood with glass casing, shielding small items of mostly simple jewelry of bronze and copper with semi-precious gems. The other side of the shop was even more haphazard-looking, as the wall bore an arrangement of medieval weapons, going from dao to naginata to rapiers and sabers and even a glaiver. A threesome of bows stood against the wall as well next to a ton filled with dozens of arrows. On a rack close to it small vials and bottles stood, fastened with rubber bands to their place, within them coloured liquids, some of them appearing to boil with no outer heat source whilst others appeared to glow softly.

The counter was at the far side of the shop, a good twenty feet away from the door, with behind it a few more shelves with books and bottles and a way to the storage area, covered by a purple curtain. On the counter a large blob of black goo lined with red and purple glowing lines like veins lay spread out next to the counter-bell, bubbles forming and popping on one end as if it was breathing in and out.

[Col. Jessup]

Col. Jessup looked around the shop a little, just moving his eyes to see the various types of items the store had to offer as he walked straight for the counter. As he neared the front counter he noticed a peculiar creature, or object; really Ben wasn't sure what to call the goop that was laying there next to the bell.

~What the devil is that?~ He thought to himself as he stopped at the counter and stared at the goo. ~Whatever...~ He thought with a shrug, and then quickly rang the bell and moved his hand away from the thing on the counter.

[Morph]

The goop on the counter stirred after the Colonel had rung the bell next to it and the bubbling end rose up, having stopped bubbling and it twisted around as if to look at the man that had entered the shop. It rose up and moved over the counter as the "head" moved investigatingly in seeming curiosity.

The purple curtain moved away, briefly revealing the darkened space beyond as a young man stepped through, hardly of the age of twenty, and his green eyes sparked curiously when they took in the sight of the potential customer. He ran a hand through his semi-long auburn hair as he took place behind the counter. "A good day to you sir." He greeted Jessup. "Is there anything I can be of service with, anything you would like to purchase?"

[Col. Jessup]

As the strange entity started to move Benjamin grabbed his gun, but didn't draw it. If that bizarre goo continued toward him he would most likely shoot it; no way he was going to let that thing get on him. Suddenly the Colonel's attention was redirected when a young man came out to the counter, and started to ask if he could be of assistance.

"It's not exactly an item that I'm looking for." Ben said calmly as he stared at the man behind the counter. "Are you Morph, the owner of this shop?"

[Morph]

When the man mentioned he was not looking for an item, Morph refrained from making a pouting face. He was rather disappointed at that, but why would the man enter his shop if he wasn't even looking for something? Sadly, that question was answered immediately when the man asked further in regards to his identity. It was rather suspicious, and if he had been able to he would have given an avoiding answer, but he was the only other person here and he was the owner of the shop and the shop was called Morph's Pawn Shoppe, so it would figure that he would be Morph.

Coincidentally, he was. His mouth momentarily became a straight horizontal line as he looked at the man. "Why, yes sir, I am." Morph answered with a nod. "But from the looks of it you're not from the Aceran troops, so you must not be here to ask for a delivery of goods..."

[Col. Jessup]

"No." Col. Jessup replied simply while shaking his head. "I've been traveling the world for a while now, searching for someone. For about a year now I have wandered the earth in search of shape shifters." He stated, his voice very even, as usual. "But, I've been looking for one particular shape shifter. I have reason to believe that's you, Morph." The Colonel's voice changed just a little when he spoke the name; he sounded as if he was trying to hold back a great deal of contempt. "So, I'm going to give you a chance to tell me what you might know about the attack on Cpl. Jessup's company. If you answer truthfully, saying you know nothing, and I believe you...then you'll be fine. However, if you lie to me I won't kill you." Ben paused shortly, his voice still very calm. "Instead I'll take Roll, and dump her in the middle of the Shadowed Bogs. Then we'll see what you have to say." The marine folded his arms, still seeming completely at ease. "So think carefully about how you answer me, Morph."

[Morph]

Morph's face contorted, his left eye twitchingly narrowing as his jaw dropped and his right hand was raised with a pointing finger upwards as he bore that curious and questioning look of downright awkwardness. "How..." He then managed to utter after he had stood still for a second or two like that, silent, "how do you know Roll?" The shape shifter then finished, lowering his hand to have his finger point at Jessup. His head tilted slightly and he raised his brow as he looked at the Colonel curiously. How did the man know his sister? And did he even know the relation between the two of them? The man certainly appeared to be a bit cruel and dark and twisted inside; behind those eyes of his lingered the soul of a man who did not like to be played around with, that much was sure.

But what was that the man had said again? He had been looking all over the world for nearly a year, looking for him? That was most odd, he had never attracted the attention of a villain before. In the Beta it had always been the others around him. Too bad that this time it appeared to be no more than a lowly military guy of unspecified ranking... he had almost hoped that whomever had ranked even above Kuro would barge into his shop and shout out a personal vendetta against him. Hoped, yet keeping his fingers crossed, knowing he wouldn't be much up to the challenge as he was. Besides, he was more of a lover than a fighter, and he wasn't even much of a lover. Heck, what was he?

Plainly said, he was Morph, and he appeared to be in deep shit right then.

[Col. Jessup]

"How I know your sister is for me to know. Just remember, I know where she is, what she looks like, and I have connections that would allow me to do many things to her." The Colonel said evenly. "Now Morph, tell me what you know about the attack on Cpl. Jessup and her company." He asked firmly, but he still sounded completely calm. ~Come on shape shifter, tell me what I want to hear.~ Benjamin thought as he stared into Morph's eyes.

[Morph]

"Look, man," Morph said with his hands raised up in front of him almost protectively as he let out a small sigh, "I don't know who this... corporal? I don't know who this corporal is that you are talking about." He said, before his tone became more firm and he looked the man into the eyes as his brow furrowed. "But if I were you I'd revise my strategies. Barging into the place of a stranger and asking for things he doesn't know and to top it all of threatening him even before getting answers typically won't yield the best results." The shape shifter straightened his back, and meanwhile Ike made a blubbery noise and moved his 'head' in almost threatening motions, jabbing it in Jessup's direction until Morph put his hand on the creature. He briefly looked at Ike with a smile before returning his gaze to Jessup and his expression hardening again, although being softer than before. "Look, I'm sorry about your sister's death, but there's hardly a thing I can do for you in regards to that."

[Col. Jessup]

"She wasn't my sister." Col. Jessup replied calmly. He didn't know what made this shifter think he was related to the woman, considering he never stated his name, but he wasn't about to give this guy any information about himself. "Listen, Cpl. Jessup was someone dear to me, and she was attacked and killed by a shape shifter who was known under the name of Morph, and also Shifter. So far, you match the description best. However," he sighed lightly, and then slipped his left hand into his pocket. "You don't seem like a killer to me. If you are lying to me you very good at it, but I really doubt you are. Nevertheless, you haven't completely cleared yourself of suspicion just yet." Ben turned around and started to slowly walk toward the exit. "Meet me in Newdam in two days. Come via ship. A man with one eye will meet you there. You will receive further instructions from him." The Colonel opened the door and turned to look at Morph once more. "If you aren't there before sundown in two days let's just say your sister will be feeling quite uncomfortable."

[Morph]

As the man spoke to him, Morph's facial expression kept changing, mostly incorporating frowns, raised brows, stares and narrowed eyes. Me, a killer? Psht, that man is outta there. He thought to himself. "I'm no people-killer." He stated rather bluntly, as it were a matter of fact, and it was rather close to the truth. Really, those few people he had slain in combat could either be counted as truly evil-to-the-core monsters or total nutwacks that had challenged him for a duel to the death--most likely to slowly worm their way out of the afterlife sooner or later so in the end, there were no true lethalities on his name that bore people's names. Only monsters.

He gave the man a questioning look as he turned to leave, stopping at the exit to look back a final time. "And what exactly do you plan on doing there and then? I could fairly easily hide my sister from your evil clutches and just not show up." He said daringly. Beside him Ike moved from side-to-side vigorously.

[Col. Jessup]

"No." Col. Jessup said firmly as he stared at Morph. "Because I already have someone watching her." He said with an unchanging tone. It was, of course, a lie, but there was no way Morph would be able to know that. "So, just do as I say." He said, and then exited the building.