RP #17- Renegatus Consultum

[MAIN STORY]

DATE/TIME: 2:30PM, Monday June 23, 2008
LOCATION: Atlantic Beach, North Carolina

[CAST]

"Here we go, mate! Ready for some hydrotherapy?" Douglas Henry Phidippidies McNamara III yelled, glancing back over his wetsuit-clad shoulder from where he lay stomach-down on his surfboard.

As one might have guessed, Steve Jason was nowhere near Philadelphia. With the United States well into summer now, the time had finally come for Steve to finally get back to a hobby, pastime, sport and indeed way of life that he'd been neglecting for the last several months. With a somewhat serious match looming in the distance- and one that he would be under a lot of pressure to walk out of the victor- and with only a limited amount of time to recuperate from his accumulated bruises and scrapes before the weekly attacks would no doubt commence again- Steve had decided to seize the moment, pick up the board, fire up the truck and head down to North Carolina for a serious session of therapeutic surfing.

Atlantic Beach had been a refreshing change from most of Steve's other surf spots in California and Australia, where countless rounds of amateurs without a clue clogged up the waves and spent more time endangering themselves and others than actually getting anything done. There was barely a soul in sight along this part of the beach, and the few people that were on the beach had given Steve plenty of space to do his own thing. Thus it was that Steve, Dougy and Kaitlyn Hawking were alone in the blue ocean, a fair distance out from the endless stretches of pure white sand. The sun was beating down from the sky above, making the air above the three considerably warm, contrasting with the cool Atlantic engulfing the majority of their bodies.

"Always." was Kate's casual response. Like Dougy, she'd clad herself in a wetsuit, but this one was much more tight-fitting and snug, and unlike Dougy's plain black color scheme, she'd opted for purple and black. She was straddling her board, holding herself on the edge of the nose with one hand, while the other ran over her tied-back dark hair.

"You bet your arse I am..." Steve affirmed from where he lay on his own board. Unlike Dougy's easy stance, he was poised almost catlike on his board, ready to spring into action the moment he had some kind of momentum. Unlike his companions, he'd shirked the wetsuit in favor of a pair of boardshorts- not unlike the kind he used for wrestling in, but these ones were more decorative- black with a lime green digital pattern overlaying them. In addition, a white sweatband was wrapped around his head just below his hairline- a tradition he'd been following for a good seventeen years now. His surfboard was also a unique one- painted pure white with two thin blue stripes on the left and right of the board. Also painted on the nose of the board were the words 'NEW WAVE' in sharp, high-tech font.

"Alright, go!" Dougy boomed as suddenly, the wave was upon them. Steve's response was instinctive- one glance over his shoulder, spotting the wall of water suddenly bearing down on him. It wasn't titanic, but it was still large enough to dump somebody and send them spiralling if they didn't catch it correctly- and large enough to ride. Steve's powerful arms suddenly propelled into motion, slicing through the water and blasting his surfboard up ahead of the wave, which continued to rise. As it rose, Steve pushed himself up into a standing position, positioning his feet on the board and holding one arm in front of him and one behind as suddenly, the momentum of the wave launched him into motion. He cut straight down the wave diagonally before arcing back up its face, sending a pattern of spray behind his board before finally, the wave broke down directly in front of him, turning into a roaring tube of white water. Without a second's regret, Steve cruised straight along it.

The roaring of crashing water filled Steve's ears now as there was nothing but crashing water all around the barrel that had just broken down around him. This was the make-or-break moment of surfing- if he went too slow, the barrel would completely engulf him and he would get bombed out by the wave. If he was fast enough, he'd shoot out of the barrel, allowing him to ride the wave to shore. He navigated the board carefully, cutting down the wave the slightest bit and relying on the momentum of the water behind him. Sure enough, the walls of water vanished behind him and he was out of the tube, riding the wave close to the shore now. The wave collapsed behind him, turning into a flood of white-wash that swept him and his board towards the shore. He gauged the depth of the water around him, then when the time was right, he jumped straight off his board, the cool water flooding around him with an abrupt splash.

Steve's feel touched sand, and he used that footing to launch himself up into a standing position, the water now coming to his knees. Kate had already worked her way onto the shore and was sitting and breathing heavily- while Dougy, on the other hand, lay completely sprawled out in the shallows, coughing and spluttering with seaweed somehow wrapped around a great deal of his lower torso- much to the amusement of one Sergei Volkov, who had spent the entire time simply standing on the shore. Sergei hadn't even gone in the water and wasn't even dressed for swimming, clad in a simple white t-shirt and cargo shorts, having been content to watch the whole time.

"What happened to you?" Steve raised a brow in curiosity, staring at his bedraggled, hog-tied best friend as he struggled to get out of his plantlife imprisonment.

"I don't freakin' know! I was riding the wave, doing my usual stuff, when all of a sudden it just burst up out of nowhere and became a thirty-foot freakin' beast and dumped me! I got completely blasted all over the entire ocean floor before managing to swim to safety. Only then did I realise that my legs had been completely tied up!"

Rather than comment, Steve simply looked at Kate to verify the story.

"It was the same size wave as the one the rest of us rode. He tried to strike a pose, slipped, fell off his board, got thrown across the water and ended up getting blown into the shallows by the whitewash before screaming about a giant squid trying to kill him before he realised it was actually just seaweed." she answered.

"That was not what happened!" Dougy protested. Steve simply shook his head.

"Not the giant squid story again, Dougy. Didn't you use that to try to explain why you were late for school back in the day?"

"It worked, didn't it?"

"You got suspended."

"Well there you go! I got a day off school out of the deal! But anyway, I could have sworn it was a giant squid. I'm positive. Damn thing tried to leech me. You got a knife, mate? I need to be cut outta this."

Steve nodded at that, reaching into the pocket of his boardshorts and producing a Swiss army knife, which he quickly flicked the blade on before making his way over to Dougy and sawing away at the kelp that bound him, being careful not to actually cut his friend. As Steve cut, Sergei simply replied in a somewhat cynical, doubtful tone.

"A giant squid. During this time of the year. In shallow water. Without anybody else seeing."

"Hey, shut up, Sergei! At least I had the balls to go in the water!"

"I can't swim." Sergei replied flatly.

"No way. No freakin' way. How can you not swim?!?"

"I never really had a reason to learn. I didn't grow up in a hot coastal country like you."

"How can you hang out with the Sunset Crew and not know how to swim? That's it, I'm teaching you. Maybe not now, but soon, I will." With that said, Dougy worked his way to his feet and made his way over towards the small area on the beach where all of the crew's equipment was. As soon as he reached it, he eyed up a small pit that had been dug in the ground- and had been filled up with water- and promptly flung himself into it with a splash. Kate followed shortly after, rummaging through her own bags, which left Steve and Sergei on their own.

"Do you have a moment?" Sergei asked.

"Sure. What's up?"

"I wanted to talk to you about your... new tactics. There are a few things about hiring mercenaries that I think you need to know. It probably would have been wiser for me to tell you about this before you got them to take care of your business, but..." Sergei spread his hands out in front of him, "...I didn't know what you were going to do until you did it live on television. So now's going to have to do."

"Let me guess..." Steve predicted, "You were one?"

"Actually, no. But I've spent a... certain amount of time being involved with them in various shapes and forms. Sometimes aligned with them. Sometimes aligned against them. There are certain things that you need to know if you're going to continue working with them. I think the most important is that- well, you cannot rely solely on their sense of loyalty."

"I thought mercenaries were pretty damn loyal if they wanted to continue to get paid."

"Only for as long as you're the one who pays the most. Some mercenaries are honest- if you buy them, they stay bought. But a great many others will work for whoever pays the most, and that means that if somebody's prepared to pay more, then you're in a serious world of trouble. Bear it in mind, Steve. You might not be able to afford what they're asking."

Steve laughed shortly at that.

"I've got a lot more money than I think you realize. Appearances can be deceiving."

"If you say so. Secondly... you have to be very, very careful that the people you're hiring won't be conflicting with your other... potential allies. From what I've seen, these Cartel guys have their own goals and aims here too, and that might put them at odds with your allies. Given that they're now formally known as being in your pocket, you'll have to be careful you don't wind up in a situation where they're going up against someone who's also against the Pantheon. Aurora Snow, for one. Possibly Rachel Stevens for another. You have to be careful those people don't fall into your private army's sights."

"You don't suppose it'd happen, would you?"

"It's hard to say. And if it does happen, you might be forced into making a hard decision- one way or another. Like I said, I've seen a fair bit of mercenary operations and it does happen. Obviously you haven't got a problem paying them, but that's not the only moral dilemma you might be faced with. So I'm..."

Sergei was suddenly cut off then by his phone, which he'd left lying on his towel next to his bag. Steve had assembled a number of PDW contacts, and he'd assigned each one an individual ringtone to properly identify who they were before Steve could even get a good look at the screen. Thus it was that 'Misery Business' by Paramore suddenly started blasting out of his phone's speaker system.

"Speaking of potential allies and team mates..."

"You're going to have to take that, I assume..." Sergei guessed. Steve replied with a simple nod, causing the Russian to give Steve some space, slowly making his way back towards the assembled gear to rejoin Dougy and Kate. Once he was in motion, Steve unflipped his phone and raised it to his mouth, speaking in a somewhat neutral, business-like tone.

"This is SJ."

The voice on the other end was familiar. Steve hadn't actually heard it over a phone before- he'd either heard it in person, or he'd heard it on Disclosure recordings. Nevertheless, he knew that voice well, because he'd already been doing a few case studies on its source- seeing just what she was capable of, working out how best to work with her, scouting for any weak spots that he might have to try to cover for.

"Hi. It's Rachel Stevens here. We're tagging next Disclosure?"

"Oh, I know. Believe me, I know. How are you, Rachel?"

"I'm alright, thanks. I'm glad I finally got a hold of you... I've actually wanted to get a hold of you, but none of your Philly contact numbers are working."

"Yeah, I'm actually not in Philly today. I'm in North Carolina. Getting some surfing done. You didn't need to see me urgently or anything, did you?"

"Not right away, but are you gone for long? I mean, you'll be in back in town a few days before Disclosure, right?"

"I'll be back tomorrow morning. Don't worry, I certainly have every intention of catching up to get a game plan going. This is one match that I sure as hell am not going to lose if I can possibly avoid it."

After replying, Steve finally lowered himself from his standing position, first squatting before dropping into a sitting position in the sand. The heat from the sun suddenly felt a lot warmer as it came down on his arms, back and shoulders- not an unpleasant feeling at all, in fact it sent a flush of relaxation around his muscles, looking out over the quiet, calm ocean as Rachel replied.

"Neither am I. I'm not going to lose to Christy again if I can help it. And I owe Ebdon for screwing me out of my matches too. I definitely agree with you, I'm not losing to either of them if I have anything to say about it."

"Hah. You won't have any opposition on the Ebdon front. I'm just as eager to get my hands on him as you are. I've... had about enough of his imperious attitude, and I think it's about time I showed him how much he should be worrying about me. And to be quite frank with you, there are several threats, veiled and unveiled, that he made to me that I intend on making him regret. And I still owe him a beatdown for the week before Aversion Therapy..." He paused, then let out a short, harsh laugh, "and I think it's about damn time I cashed in."

"Yeah, I'm not too surprised you want to get your hands on Ebdon. With that said, I have to ask... what about Christy?"

"What do you mean, what about Christy?"

"You're not going to have any problem fighting her either, are you? I know you don't like the Pantheon, but I know you don't exactly feel that way about Christy. I just want to be sure you aren't going to have any problems if you have to fight her, that's all."

That question was always looming- and to be honest, Steve was glad his team-mate had been the one to ask it rather than the snooping reporters or PDW crew. At least Rachel had an actual vested interest in Steve's attitude to this match, and Steve actually had to respect that need to make sure that the team was at its best shape. Steve probably would have done the absolute same thing. If it were just some mud-racking journalist, he'd probably have told them straight up to get lost, but Rachel certainly deserved to have any worries she might have had on the subject laid to rest. So he assumed a pleasant tone before responding.

"That's a fair thing to be concerned about. Let's face it, there's been some stuff on TV that might have you thinking things."

"Oh, I don't mean to accuse you or anything..."

"No, no, I know, but you're teaming with me so you need to know I can be reliable. I can assure you of one thing. Steve Jason is not governed by petty emotions when it comes to fighting in that ring. I understand your concerns, I'd probably be the same were you in my position, but you can be completely confident that you will have my one hundred percent backing and support no matter who is opposite me in the ring."

"I'm glad to hear that. We've probably got a tough fight ahead of us anyway, with the Pantheon out there. You don't think Jaxx and Payne will get involved, do you?"

"It'd be the single most moronic thing they've ever done. OK, scratch, it'd be the single most moronic thing Payne has ever done, since I'm pretty sure Jaxx has already reached the pinnacle of retardation. Nevertheless, we can't rule it out. I suppose that's one of the many scenarios that we'll have to run through in preparation for the fight. I would recommend we get together and start planning stuff out and getting a strategy going as soon as possible."

"I agree. When? And where, for that matter?"

"Basically, I can do any time after I get back from North Carolina. Multiple times if need be. I don't really do an awful lot that I can't postpone, and this can be adapted into my training regime. As for where? Anywhere that works. Give me the call some time tomorrow, and we'll get something going. Sound good?"

"Sure, sounds good to me." As Rachel replied to that, Steve's eyes looked up towards the glistening ocean. His ice-blue eyes skimmed across the vast stretches, then finally zeroed in on what he was looking for- several columns of white almost on the horizon. That meant only one thing- that the quiet period on the water was finally over, and that in a matter of minutes there would be a string of decent waves once again descending on the beachfront. He looked down at his board, feeling the anticipation of resuming his session, then nodded and replied into the phone.

"Excellent. Now, if you'll excuse me, the swell's coming back in. I'll talk to you soon, yeah?"

"Absolutely. See you later."

"Catch ya." With that said, Steve snapped the phone shut again. Not surprising, all three of his friends had been eavesdropping, watching him with rapt attention.

"So that's how you usually plan with your teammates, huh?" Kate asked in curiosity.

"No, that's just getting things in motion and getting the ground rules in play. But yeah, there's a lot of talking and co-ordinating involved. I find it's better to get on a partner's wavelength as soon as I possibly can- it makes for a more effective team, and I'm probably gonna need one this week."

"So it's going to be all business when you get home then?"

"Yep. No more fun and games or R&R when we get back."

"In that case..." Dougy grinned and raised his surfboard under his arm, "We gotta live up every last second we've got here while we can! Get the most out of it and enjoy it, cause it's probably gonna be a few days before we get back here. Whaddaya think, SJ? Up for taking on the next lineup?"

Steve felt that it might not have just been the last chance for R&R for this week- but instead it could be the last chance for fun and relaxation for many weeks to come. His brief time avoiding the Pantheon's wrath was almost up, and this time, Steve felt it would be quite some time until his next break would come. Maybe he'd come back to this beach very rarely, but it wouldn't be the same. Next time, his forehead would be stinging every time he went into the salt water as it mixed with the wounds that would no doubt be there. Getting dumped by waves would be... painful with the bruises he'd absorb. And once again, he'd always have an eye over his shoulder, or have some serious worry weighing him down.

Yes, this was one of those rare moments that had to be savored for everything it was worth. Because it could be weeks, maybe even months before Steve would have as carefree a day as this ever again. That was why he nodded affirmatively with a grin, plucking up his own board as he hopped up to his feet.

"Let's do it."

Dougy and Kate didn't waste any time, taking off only a few split seconds after Steve got his legs in motion, high-tailing it out over the sand back towards the water. Sergei watched, arms folded with a smirk as the three finally hit the shallows- the water only just touching Steve's feet and not really hindering himself as he legged it and threw his board out towards the water. The board cut through the air before splashing out a little way into the depths. Steve didn't slow or cut himself down- he just kept running, feeling the warmth of the air blast past his shoulders and arms. Soon he found his legs sinking in deeper, and thus it was that he steeled himself and prepared for the last, final step he'd have to take before getting back out to the lineup, poising his arms out in front of him to form a blade, bending his knees to prepare to spring with all his strength.

Then with a sudden intake of breath, he launched himself head-first back into the blue.