Ladder Of Ambition (Morri) [F]

[The REAL Joey]

As the doors to her own homely den of sorts opened up, she was greeted by the incessant chomping of Porky engorging himself on a particularly messy bit of steak. "Oommmf.... Nom... Well, well! If it ain't lil' Sharada and... Mmm... Looks like she made it back from the circus of freaks h'oink, h'oink." His boom of a welcome back was enough to startle a number of faces in the area which had bulked up in size from whence Sharada had left. Amongst them were Royce and Schnell who were standing by a familiar pile of crates. The ones she had been assigned to fetch. Deep in conversation, Royce was puffing away on his cigar as he grinned cockily. Evidently, some plan or another was coming together. "So with these little bit of junk, you sure the prototype will be up and runnin'?" Picking up one of the cell batteries on top of the crate, Schnell's glasses reflected ominously, obscuring his eyes as he examined it intently. "Oh ja Mein Fuhrer. I can revise ze schematics to use zese as ze new power source. In theory, ve should now have an extended use time..." Taking out his cigar and letting out a chimney like billow of smoke, Royce laughed in his gravelly tone. "Heh heh heh. I knew there was a reason I kept a brains like you around Schnell. Get the revised prototype up an' runnin' and we'll begin our new test phase." Leaving the scientist wunderkind to it, Royce turned around and noticed Sharada's presence.

"Hmph, well done toots. Seems ya pulled through with those freakshows. So whaddya think? Much more cosy in this group, eh? Hahahaha!" Passing his eyes over her with scrutiny, he leaned forward as he breathed the smoke through his nostrils. "Say, I might make you the official ambassador over to that group. The last one we sent didn't come back in one piece..." Uncertain whether he was merely joking or not, he swiftly moved on to other areas that were more pressing. "And why the hell are ya loiterin' about here, eh? Ain't you got some stupid trainers to be stealin' from? That no good fink Cletus botched up his target and i'm not in the mood for another one going tits up. Get out there and catch me some rarity or another!" Biting down on his cigar, he turned on his heel and moved off to his office. Disappearing out of view, the gluttonous voice of Porky rung out. "Nibble... Snarf... Mmm. Dis some good steak. Phewwwwww-eee. Say little lady, you been feelin' any quakes lately? Damn floor keeps shakin'!" Going back to the rest of his steak, the gourmand appeared entirely taken with his meal. Only when he had stripped every last scrap of meat from the bone did he respond back to her. "Weeeeell, best go and help out Schnell. He's cookin' up some top secret new designs h'oink h'oink h'oink." Sliding out of the table he was at, the portly fellow wobbled off towards the group's science lab.

[Morrigan]

Now surrounded by familiar walls, Sharada halted at the entrance, slumping her shoulders tiredly and breathing out a huge sigh of relief. Whilst she probably annoyed Tobias more than once, she figured the visit hadn't been all that bad. If she were to go back, atleast there were atleast a couple of faces she could approach, namely Garcian and a perhaps Coyote. Straightening her head back up, the brunette heard the sound of furious munching, the cause being all too obvious. Spotting Porky sitting close by, the corners of her lips curled happily. Out of everyone who could've possibly welcomed her back, she was pleased it was this grossly chubby Rocket. Whilst others would probably look to him in disgust, she found him the most approachable, even if watching him eat was a little gut churning at times. Ignoring the other grunts around, the brunette waltz up to him, placing her hands on the edge of the table he was sitting at and leaning toward him slightly, "You really weren't kidding when you said they were freaks. But it wasn't all too bad. The shipment got over here okay, right?"

Hoping to chat with him a little, a certain authoritative voice caught her attention, smoke rising eerily around him as he conversed with an equally unique voice. Looking across her shoulder, Sharada's icy blue eyes focused on the pair, just barely catching what they were talking about. She had to admit, it was odd that they had this many batteries but if Schnell was involved, it was bound to be something complicated. About to turn back to Porky and question what was going on, she caught Royce's line of sight as he turned, her face flinching as she was reminded of how much he resembled Joe. Removing her hands from the table and turning to face him properly, she stood straight as he moved in closer, a hand raising into a salute to show him some respect. "Thank you very much, boss!" Laughing nervously at his words, she lowered her hand and nodded her head, "Of course, sir. I prefer to serve under you. That group is... Odd, to say the least." Remaining still as he leant closer toward her, his smoke tickling her own nostrils, she fought against the urge to brush the smoke away with her hand or sneeze, yet replied to Royce as soon as she could. "Ambassador? Well, whatever you command me to do, sir! I don't think they were too hard to handle."

Flinching back as he suddenly burst into a more serious tone of why she was still hanging around, the hair stood up on the back of her neck. "M-My apologies. I'll be leaving soon." Bowing her head and torso as he turned on his heel to return to his office, she didn't lift her head until she was sure his footsteps had completely gone. Eventually peeping up, she sighed once more, "Ahh Master Royce, you are so fierce and--" Pausing abruptly as the sound of scoffing continued, she had completely forgotten that Porky was still close by. Blinking, she raised her hip and sat on the edge of the table, looking down at him closely "Looking pretty good there, Porky. Ooh, the steak looks tasty too." Grinning teasingly, she raised her eyebrows as he asked a rather odd question. "Quakes? I don't believe I have." Falling silent as he swiftly returned to his food, she turned her head away, looking to the floor which had apparently been quaking. Perhaps it was due to Schnell's experiments or even Cletus just being a block head. Suddenly staggering forward as Porky lifted himself and shook the table as he stood, Sharada rather smoothly landed on her feet herself, looking at him expectantly as he dropped a bit of information. "Ooooh?" She questioned but not having much luck finding out more as he began to waddle off. Puffing her cheeks, the brunette wasn't going to give up just yet. She wanted to know about these batteries, if it was something big and dangerous, Joe needed to be informed immediately. "Hey, wait up!" Easily catching up with him, Sharada walked on a little ahead before turning to face him, "Let's spend a little time together before I head back out to the field. I'll help you, help Schnell, okay?" Smiling, she walked a little closer to him as if trying to win him over, "I'm part of this team too, so even if it is top secret, it wont exit my lips~"

[The REAL Joey]

Sticking a finger or two in his open mouth, Porky tried to find the source of the irritation as it appeared some of his meal had become stuck between his teeth. Eventually finding it, he did his best at removing it. All the while talking of course. "I dunno Sharada, we'll jus' see what Schnell's got t'say." Finally finding the source of his annoyance, he pulled out the would be trapped string of meat and devoured it back into his mouth with a gulp. As they headed over, Porky popped his head into the lab quarters and yelled out. "Heeeeeey Schnell! Little miss Sharada here wants t'help out, h'oink." His loud boom of a voice was sudden enough to make a huge clang of metal sheets topple over and cause a rather indignant yelp from a heavily accented voice. "Youch! Of all ze incompetence... Hargh..." Entering in with Porky, the two could see where Schnell was located. Surrounded up to his knees in a load of metal files, he straightened his glasses and sighed. "Get to vork. I vant ze materials melded according to ze revised schematic."

Grunting as he looked to one of the work benches, Porky picked up a welder's mask along with a backpack of fuel and a blow torch in his right hand. "Quit yer whinin'. All ya gotta do now is let me work mah magic, h'oink." Flicking the mask down, Porky began engineering the plans. Rubbing his bruised head, Schnell seemed lost in thought. "Ze mobile snag machine... Zese batteries... Improved design... Gah! Do I look like some sort of grease monkey dummkopf?! I work miracles in SCIENCE! Not zis mockery." His head looking up, he realised Sharada was indeed standing there. "Ah Fräulein. Guten Tag to you." Letting out a weary sigh, Schnell appeared to be under a significant amount of stress. The scientist wunderkind had seen much better days. "If zat Royce vasn't so pushy with zis gizmo or zat tech... Maybe I vould develop better uses for zis group!" Glaring over to the corner, a number of blueprint sheets and some unfinished gadgets were just sitting there on the table. "Royce's current masterplan is zis... Snag 'EM machine as he calls it." Making a rather bitter emphasis on the them part of his sentence, Schnell elaborated a bit further. "So ze man hails from a far corner of ze vorld and scuppers zis wunderbar technology. Zat some how means I must be ze one to craft it." Procuring a rather jaded cough, it appeared Porky had stopped his welding to disapprove of what Schnell had said.

From where he was standing, he was doing most of the crafting. "Yes, yes, vhatever. Hmph." Looking at one of the gadgets on the work table, he laughed. "Ze snag 'EM machine has hit a brick vall of late. Only vith ze cell batteries have ve overcome a problem. Before? Ve vorked on the idea of a grappling hook! Ridiculous!" Shaking his head at the early prototype design, he had a stroke of enamour over his face at the evolution of the design as the last gadget seemed to be an odd sort of gauntlet. Cumbersome, large and clearly not optimised for out on the field. "Ve shall have our glory..." Shifting his reflective glasses at Sharada he coughed. "Better you not mind. As it stands ve are fine here." Noticing an alarm on his watch, he clapped his hands at a break of freedom from this folly. "Aha! Ze caged rats require zere nutrients. Coming vermin..." Stepping off, he left Sharada alone with Porky busily working away and not a focus on her at all.

[Morrigan]

Grinning cheerful as Porky seemed neutral to the idea, she eased her speed walking into a casual stride, staying a little behind the gluttonous male as they approach the lab. Stopping just before the automatic doors, Sharada walked to the back of Porky, leaning forward and peering over his shoulder as his voice boomed out to alert the thin scientist of their presence. "Hmm? Was that?--" Blinking her large eyes, the female flinched back slightly as they were welcomed with a rather dramatic set of crashes, a oddly accented voice following swiftly afterward. Knowing it had to belong to Schnell, Sharada hurried into the lab with Porky, waltzing in front of him as she turned her head frantically, trying to find what caused the noise. Sure enough, her gaze settled on a rather pitiful sight of the blue haired male rubbing his head comfortingly, metal files surrounding him. "S-Schnell! Are you alright?!" In a way, the brunette wasn't actually too worried. The same sort of thing happened when the two of them first met, he was so deep in concentration that the mere glimpse of her almost sent him into having a heart attack. Who knew how high he jumped after hearing Porky's boom of a greeting.

Heavily sighing, he was luckily still the same old Schnell and not hurt too much, as he was give to give out orders. Turning back to Porky, she waved her hand nonchalantly to him as he plodded off to complete his designated job. Whilst he sorted out his gear, Sharada approached Schnell and the mess which surrounded him. Bending forward to lift up a single folder, she straightened her back quickly as he greeted her after a bit of a grumble. Tilting her head with a smile, she replied back calmly so not to hurt his head much more, "Hey Schnell, are you alright? You look so tired... Perhaps you should have a rest." Listening closely to his words, she somewhat understood his plight. Clearly he wasn't enjoying the order he had been given from Royce and so, he was in a foul mood. Subtly laughing off Porky's abrupt interruption, Sharada shook her head. "Ease up, Schnell. Royce must have some trust in you to push you so far to make this thing. I remember the Snag 'em machine though, he used the prototype on that pack of bikers, right?" Tilting her head back, she smirked more cockily, "Get this done and I'm sure you can put your brains into something you want to do."

Filing the lone folder into the shelf, she shrugged her shoulders loosely as she was told to not bother getting involved. Nodding her head, she decided it would be best to comply, "Alright, I'll head off. Lemme know if you need anything to eat or something." Turning on her heel as his alarm rang out, she waved her hand above her shoulder, "Have fun~" she purred, listening as his footsteps faded off. Turning to see how Porky was, she didn't quite fancy approaching him whilst he held the giant blow torch. Starting to walk out, something the scientist had mentioned earlier was still bugging her. Turning to where a number of failed prototypes and blueprints sat, she couldn't help but change her course. Walking on the tips of her toes to try and silence her clicking heels, the brunette couldn't ignore this intrigued feeling. Approaching the table, she scanned her eyes across the grappling hook's blueprints.

Quickly looking up, she noticed Porky's back was turned to her on the opposite side of the lab and Schnell was no where to be seen. Rolling her eyes around, she searched for the nearest security camera, she needed to angle this right... By stealing these blueprints and taking them to Looker, he could atleast work out the base of Royce's prototype machine. Swiftly sliding the gauntlet like gadget onto her own hand and sliding the blueprints up into the other, she was quick to take off. "Tsk, this thing is heavy..." If she was caught, then she would merely show her interest in trying the item out before returning it. But incredibly, she managed to slide right out of the doors. Looking from left to right, there was not a familiar soul in sight, just the odd nameless grunt running whatever errands they had. Sliding past the people, she hurried toward the squad's elevator. It was time to visit her favourite biker gang once more.

- End.