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Pandora's Box; No blue people allowed.
Topic Started: Jan 29 2011, 02:10 PM (3,717 Views)
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Native Son

The next morning

Jimmy's crew was certainly an odd looking bunch, seated there at that booth in the little diner not far from the warehouse that they had found the day before. You had Ronnie in a green and white football jersey and all those tattoos, Nick and Derrick still wearing their black fatigues (and Derrick noting with no small amount of consternation that Jimmy had him boxed in; no doubt that was deliberate), and then Jimmy in his silk shirt and slacks, and a pair of alligator boots that probably cost more than everything else combined. He still wore his expensive shades, despite having been seated at the table for some time now, and he hadn't stopped smoking since they'd gotten there. Looking at all of them together, it didn't take much to realize that this was a criminal gang getting ready to go out and do criminal things.

It wasn't long before their waitress arrived carrying a tray full of food, followed by another with a second tray, and she began passing all the plates around, going counterclockwise. Nick had a T-bone steak cooked medium rare, with eggs sunny side up, bacon, sausage, hash browns extra crispy, some biscuits and gravy and half a grapefruit. For Ronnie, a quadruple stack of blueberry pancakes topped with more blueberry and some whipped cream, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, the other half of the grapefruit, and "one of those little boxes of Sugar Flakes." Derrick had initially insisted that he wasn't hungry, then when essentially ordered to get some food, settled on a simple ham and cheese omelette.

"You fellas sure are hungry," said the waitress, a pretty young redhead with a nametag that said Darlene.

"Oh, these boys have been up all night drinking, they've worked up one hell of an appetite," Jimmy replied.

"And how 'bout you, you sure I can't get you anything a little more substantial?" she asked as she set down his breakfast, merely a bagel with cream cheese.

"No thank you, sweetheart, you just keep that coffee flowing and I'll be just fine." Jimmy was openly flirting with her, and she flirted back as she refilled his and then Nick's coffee cups.

"Anything else I can get you boys?"

"Just some hot sauce for the eggs," Nick said.

"More toast," added Ronnie through a mouthful of pancakes.

The waitress smiled and hustled off to the kitchen, leaving the boys to enjoy their breakfast. A few bites later, they spotted Grace come through the door and Nick waved her over to their booth. Jimmy had sent her off to do some recon after Nick and Derrick came back from the meeting, but not before she'd snatched up the card that Luciola had given them for their stipend. Judging from the two armfuls of shopping bags, the brand new black leather coat and designer sunglasses, and the red streaks freshly dyed in her hair, she'd mostly just been out spending their money. Not that the money mattered. For a guy like Jimmy, six thousand was pocket change. It was the liquor tab on a Friday night. But it was the way she did it so flippantly and without even asking... it pissed him off and drove him wild at the same time.

"Should be enough left on there to cover breakfast," she said, handing the card to Jimmy. "Oh my god, give me those." She yanked Jimmy's shades off his face just as he was about to take a bite out of his bagel. "Don't be That Guy."

"I thought I told you to get supplies."

"I did." Grace grabbed a chair from another table and flipped it around, settling in and taking one of Jimmy's cigarettes, lighting it with what looked like a brand new lighter. "I ordered a dozen cases of ammunition. They should be delivered to the hangar probably around three or four this afternoon. You'll have to sign for 'em." He was giving her that stern father look, but unfortunately for him, she was much better at playing the sensible wife who never loses an argument.

"We don't need any more guns Jimmy," she said, grabbing a piece of bacon from Ronnie's plate. "You can only fire two at a time anyway. And we've already got as much food as we can carry on that ship, so don't give me that either. You want more guns, you get 'em yourself."

"Hair looks nice," Ronnie said.

"Thank you, Ronnie. Oh hey, check out my boots!" She propped up one of her feet onto his lap. "Stingray."

"Sweet."

"Sorry to interrupt here ladies, but did you actually do any recon?" Jimmy said. "Or did you just spend all day shopping and getting your hair done?"

Grace turned back towards him and gave him a vicious little sneer, one that he sadly was intimately familiar with. "Jimmy, I did more recon overnight than you've done your entire life." She took a manila folder out one of the shopping bags and was about to open it before Darlene the waitress reappeared with the requested toast and hot sauce.

"Can I get you anything hon?"

"Just a glass of water, thanks," Grace replied, politely smiling. After the girl vanished again, she went on with her presentation.

"First up, we have Captain Alexander Powell," she said, showing them the first photo. "Runs a fairly modest salvage business with his sister and employs a small crew. Here's his sister," she showed them the second photo, the girl in the wheelchair that Nick and Derrick had seen at the meeting. "Her name's Hannah, and from what I could tell, she appears to be at least partially blind. There are three other members of his crew, two men, one woman. However, I only caught one name, which was Sam, and I have no idea if that's one of the men or the woman." She showed them another picture, this clearly taken from a bit longer range showing the two men standing outside a docked ship.

"Now that is one raggedy-ass lookin' piece o' space junk," Nick said as he studied the photo. "They actually fly around in that thing?"

Once again, Darlene returned, this time with Grace's water. She also refilled Jimmy's coffee, for which he gave her a big smile. She returned the smile and threw in a wink for good measure, then headed back to the kitchen. Grace watched her silently until she disappeared into the back.

"Seriously Jimmy?"

"What? She's a good looking girl."

"I ain't saying she ain't pretty," Grace was giving him a different look this time, one that spelled far more trouble. "She's a waitress in a diner."

"Hey now, don't go knockin' diner waitresses," said Nick. "Some of the wildest nights of my life have been spent with diner waitresses... and it weren't always the young and pretty ones neither."

"Mhm, true that, brotha," Ronnie said, giving Nick a fist bump.

"See?" Grace said. "I expect that shit from those two. But you, you're Jimmy Vega, you're criminal royalty. You-"

"I wouldn't say royalty, necessarily," Ronnie said, cutting her off. "I mean Henry, now Henry's royalty. Jimmy's more like nobility or something... like an earl, or a count."

"Or a duke," Nick chimed in.

"Yeah! Not a Prince of Crime, but more like Duke of Crime."

"You guys have no idea what the difference between any of those terms is, do you?" Jimmy said, glaring at both of them.

"Yeah we do..." Nick shot back. "Like uhh... a duke is in charge of a duchy..." he said, pronouncing it "doochie."

"And a count is a nobleman who's also a vampire," Ronnie said so confidently that it was almost easy to believe him.

"Yeah, see Jim, we know stuff," Nick said proudly.

"I stand corrected."

"Look, prince, duke, whatever," Grace said. "The point is, you're a big name. There isn't a bounty hunter in the galaxy worth their salt that doesn't know who you are. You can buy and sell every one of these small time losers out on this job. You can have any woman you want, you have this woman right here," she said, pointing to herself. "And yet... for whatever reason, you insist on running around banging strippers and waitresses."

"She's got a point, Jim," Nick said. "How many girls you know who are smokin' hot, and can put one between your eyes at a thousand yards? Back where I'm from, we call that a keeper."

"See? Thank you, Nick. Glad someone around here knows how to treat a lady."

"Hell yeah, man," Ronnie said. "You know what they say, put a ring on it."

"Alright Nick, please stop him before he starts booty dancing again."

"Can we please talk about the goddamn recon?" Jimmy nearly shouted, but loud enough for the tables next to them to hear.

"Whoa, okay," Grace said, smiling at him now, but still giving him that look that let him know he was a dead man walking, so to speak. "Time for some decaf there. But yes, let's talk about that. Now as I was saying, Powell and his sister run this little salvage business. Squeaky clean record, not even so much as a paperwork violation. Now, while that might make him seem like too much of a boy scout for our purposes, I believe he'll be the easiest out of anyone to get to."

"Well, sickly girls like that will always need medical care," Jimmy mused while looking over the photos. "I'm sure he wants to give his sister the best that money can buy."

"Exactly." Grace took out another photo, this one of the man whose face was swathed in bandages.

"See! What'd I tell ya?" Nick exclaimed, pointing at the photo. "That's him!"

"Ho-lee shit..."

"You two know this guy?" Jimmy asked.

"They call him the Hardcase," Nick explained. "S'posed to be an urban legend, some crazy fucker bent on revenge against God knows who and killing anyone who looks at him funny. But me n' Ronnie saw him with our own eyes. It was about what, four, five months ago?"

"Five months." Ronnie nodded, swallowing another mouthful of food. Grace grabbed a piece of toast and spread some grape jelly on it while listening to the story.

"We were out at this station near Taurii, there to boost this little cargo shuttle. Nothin' special, but a nice little payday. So we're out in the hangar, and we hear this dude yelling and screaming, and then what sounds like someone fighting. So we go over there and look, and man, he's just beatin' the fuck outta this dude. Me n' Ronnie hid behind some crates so he wouldn't see us, but man, he was just goin' off."

"And you could tell after a while that this dude was dead," Ronnie said. "I mean, he was on the ground and he was not moving. But he must've been pissed at this dude or something, cause he wasn't satisfied with just beatin' him to death, he just kept on wailin' on him. And just yelling and screaming... I couldn't really make out what he was saying, all I could hear was just 'Motherfucker!' over and over again."

"Without a doubt, the most vicious, savage beating I've ever seen someone give to another human being," said Nick. "And I swear to God, the only reason he stopped was cause he got tired." He shook his head, looking at the photo. "Man, this job's gonna be real fun," he said derisively.

"Oh, you haven't even seen the rest of his crew." Grace took out the shot of the girl. "They call her Surprise. See if you can guess why. And this little piss-ant here is named Kroy. He's obviously scared shitless of the other two, and I'd say he'd be the easiest to get to, but he's too much of a coward. Wouldn't waste my time.

"Now these grand champions here," she said, coming to her last set of surveillance photos, "these guys are a disaster. The girl is named Kaori. This one is Valdius," she said, pointing to one of the armored figures, "and this is Istus. He doesn't talk apparently. She's a registered hunter, but there's not a whole lot of info about her. Just a name, vitals - though notably lacking a DOB - and contact information. The other two appear to be either bodyguards or babysitters, probably both. Now, out of all of these groups, they are without a doubt the best equipped, and they might even give us a run for our money. However, based on how seriously the seem to be taking this whole endeavor, I'd say they're probably more of a danger to themselves than any of us. But I could be wrong."

"Okay..." Jimmy said, looking over all the photos again. "Okay. So we put some names to these faces, we got a little background, and... looks like we got our man. Go find this kid Powell, bring him to me. We should be back at the ship by the time you get back."

"Sounds like a plan. I will see you guys later then." Grace packed up her folder and stuffed it back into one of her bags. "Bye Ronnie," she said, giving him a hug and a kiss on the cheek, then doing the same with Nick before gathering up her bags to leave.

"Hey!" Jimmy shouted, just as she was walking away. "Forgetting someone?"

"Oh yeah." She dropped her bags and slid into the booth behind them, and without warning enthusiastically threw her arms around Derrick from behind, nearly causing him to choke. "Bye Derrick!' she said, giving him a great big smack on the cheek and eliciting an absolutely priceless look on his face.

"Now wait a second-"

"You can just go flirt with Little Miss Greasy Spoon back there, kay?" Grace spun on her heel and headed out of the diner, leaving Nick and Ronnie howling like a couple of frat boys.

"Hate to say it Jim," Nick said with a grin, "but you're definitely sleeping alone tonight."

....................

About an hour later, Grace was standing outside the Persephone and banging on the hatch.

"Hey! Anybody home? Open up in there!"
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“So if you’ll just let me remove the bandages, we can begin.”

“Go ahead.”

The doctor began unravelling the bandages from around his face, returning a few scrapes of pain every now and again where fresh scabs had come off with the bandages. Finally the last of the bandages came loose and fell to the floor.

“And there we ar- Oh my… Y-you didn’t mention the damage was this extreme! Its going to cost far more if you want the whole thing fixed.”

“I don’t. Like I said earlier, I just need a new eye. Nothing else.”

“Hmmm, well the damage around the socket is really quite extensive. You’ll certainly need some synthetic muscle to hold the thing in, and depending on what kind of prosthetic you get you may need new eyelids on that socket too.”

“I want a vat grown replacement.”

“Well in that case you’ll definitely need new eyelids, unless you want to come back in six months and get another replacement. We may also have to grow the eye if there are no matches in storage. That can take around a month.”

“Fine just give me a goddamn mechanical one. Whichever gets me out here the fastest.”

“Well it just so happens we got a new shipment of CR-20-20s this morning. We can fit you with one today if you’re willing to pay our expr-“

“Yeah fine whatever; just put the damn thing in.”

---

Kroy was back on the ship, cleaning out the kitchen unit with Book. Book, along with Ellen and Sid had been ordered to stay on board for the duration of the stay to make the gang seem smaller than it was. Ellen and Sid were in a bad mood about it… Kroy would be too if he was forced to stay cooped up on the Fame, and if he thought being in a bad mood wouldn’t piss off the Hardcase. Book didn’t seem to care though. Hell, he didn’t seem to care about anything. He didn’t care when he had to stay aboard the ship, he didn’t care when he had to clean to the kitchen unit, he didn’t even care that one time the Hardcase forced him to throw those people out the airlock.

Maybe he was simple? He almost never spoke, and when he did it was usually only one or two words. He sure looked simple, and it sure explained why he wasn’t scared of the boss. Maybe there was some wa-

“What’s this?”

Book had wedged his arm around the back of the unit. With a grunt he yanked it free, bringing forth a small cloud of greasy dust. With his hand open, what he found appeared to just be a small lump of grease. After wiping the object with a cloth, it appeared to be plastic… An I.D card perhaps? Without saying anything, Kroy snatched it out of his hand to get a better look. Book didn’t complain, as usual. After washing it under the tap, it turned out to be a shuttle pilot license for an Alan Sigler. The picture seemed to be fine, and it didn’t look familiar. Was it the Hardcase? One of his aliases? Or just one of the previous owners of the Fame?

Of course on the off chance that it actually was the Hardcase, he threw the card back down the side of the unit. Kroy knew how paranoid the boss was, and mentioning something like this could potentially result in his death. For all he knew he’d stumbled across the boss’s identity, which was supposedly something he went to great pains to disguise.

Probably best to just forget about the whole thing.

---

Surprise had been sitting in the waiting room for the past half an hour, making a tiny house of cards out of coasters again and again. Thankfully she’d been able to spend the past few hours at the restaurant down the street, waiting for the boss to get his new eye put in. Her eyes hadn’t taken too long to put in, although she simply had her old eyes switched for new ones instead of one put in a socket that’d been empty for god knows how long… Plus she didn’t have to have a bunch of synthetic muscle attached to her sockets either. She could be waiting in here for quite a while.

Or not.

The surgery door opened and out he came, looking the same as usual… Save his face. Now only his right eye and cheek were bandaged, leaving the horror that was the rest of his face exposed. Surprise nodded to him, and searched through her pack for what she was supposed to bring.

“Boss.”

“Give it here.”

She passed him the cheap ski-mask she’d bought earlier, which he gingerly put on, wincing as he disturbed the bandages. As before, only his left eye was visible.

“Huh, with that mask and your height you just look like the muscle.”

“Wasn’t I already, on top of being the boss? If I wasn’t then who was? Sid?”

“Good point.”

“Right. Well I’m gonna’ go back to the ship and get hammered, take my mind off the pain this new eye is giving me. Tell the others that if they disturb me then I’ll take a blowtorch to them.”
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The siblings sat on the bridge looking towards one of the displays; on it at the moment was a picture of one of the crews they had seen during the meeting.

“so this is interesting” Hannah said leaning back in the Pilots seat getting comfortable as she pointed to the screen it changed to a close up of one of the men in black fatigues “this one is a registered bounty hunter, pretty standard stuff, former military, but nothing really worth noting” she reached over and tapped a key “except that this one here is Nick Scanlan. He’s a criminal, not big time but not someone you would expect to be working with a bounty hunter.”

“We’ve dealt with the type before, nothing to be concerned about” Added Alex crossing his arms as he leaned against a console glancing towards his sister who grinned a bit

“Who’s that man behind the curtain you ask?” she tapped the keypad again bringing up an image of Jimmy Vega. “Meet Jimmy Vega…our contacts place him somewhere in the mid level of the hierarchy of crime. Not near the top mind you but ambitious and clever by all accounts.” Hannah sighed a moment shrugging “however Scanlan’s presence does not mean Vega is involved, only that he could be”

Hannah changed the screen displaying an image of the hardcase and crew “everything I’ve heard about this one is unsettling, when I reached out to our friends about him they all said to be careful”

“He looks pretty beat up, what his deal?” Alex said not seeing much to be concerned about on the surface.

“people call him the hardcase, I couldn’t find a real name for him anywhere, nothing for a facial scan to find when the guy hasn’t really got a face, at least not the one he started with” Hannah shivered a bit at the thought “ruthless, brutal, and sadistic are the three most common words used when people talk about this guy, all I can find is reputation and rumor, and it’s all bad” she smirked a bit “the good news is that if what I’ve heard about his temper is true then it will be a snap to push him into making a mistake, just be careful with him”

“and these three I have no idea” Hannah said as an image of Kaori and crew came up on the screen “A real comedy of errors. They appear well outfitted but that’s about it, what you see for information up there is what we have, no one we know has dealt with or heard of them before and no one has any real information on them”


-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

A few hours later Hannah sat at her workbench with sundry electronic components scattered around quietly working when a small alert popped up on the screen next to her showing the image of a woman at the hatch banging on it


"Hey! Anybody home? Open up in there!" coming through the small intercom


“The hell?” Hannah reached picking up a small radio “Mike? Can you see who’s at the hatch?”


“Sorry Hannah, up to my neck in drive core at the moment, Where is Sam?” came the engineer’s response


“Out getting supplies” she tapped her chin a moment, she knew her brother was busy as well “ Cat…you have a moment to see who is at the hatch?”


“Uh…sure” Cat set the gun she had been cleaning down and stood picking up a rag to wipe her hands on a bit, she couldn’t very well say no after all “ on my way” she said tossing the rag on the table as she started towards the hatch. Heavy boots could be heard on the decking approaching the hatch before it opened .


The mess of red curls had more or less been tamed into a thick braid, she wore combat boots and a flight suit with the sleeves tied off at her waist for the moment, a pink t-shirt with an exploded view of a rifle of some kind printed across it was the nod to her sense of style.

“can I help you?”

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~The Boss~
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Native Son

"Hi!" Grace said as the hatch flew open. Standing before her was the girl, the one member of the crew she hadn't seen yet. Bingo, one more face. Now she just needed a name. "I'm looking for Alexander Powell," she said. "Is he here?"

She took a few moments to study the girl standing in front of her. Like the rest of the crew, she was quite young. Grace guessed about twenty-three, give or take a year. Pretty, too. Not like goddess beautiful, but the type who actually looked attainable. There was a definite tomboyish vibe that she gave off, despite the pink shirt, which had the effect of taking what might otherwise be an average beauty up a notch or two.

Oh yeah, Jimmy would be all over this one.

She noticed the tattoo on her arm. Felix the Cat with a sniper rifle. On Grace's arm, there wasn't anywhere left to tattoo. Not unless she wanted to start inking up her hand.

"So you're a sniper," she said, smiling at her.

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The Fethiye: an outdoor market of sorts in the deep slums of Bellingham targeting the comers and goers of the local ship port. Almost like an old fish market, it consisted of dirty salesmen trying to sell the same “priceless, one of a kind, items.”

The band of Projects felt nearly naked as they swam through the sea of people armorless. The brothers at least had the advantage that their armor was an exoskeleton of sorts, but Kaori’s tapped directly into her spine. It was her spine, really.

“I know we’re trying to blend in and all, but this is just stupid.” Kaori complained as she fussed with the gray turtle neck. The sleeves were cut off, making it easier to deal with the beating heat, but the lump of fabric around her neck covered the green armor surrounding her throat. The metal around her neck connected to a series of outstanding nodes making up a green and purple metal spine visible from the outside. Validus eyed up the lumps under the cut off sweater.

“I still think you should have worn a jacket. You have bumps all down your back.” He commented.
“Dagh!” Istus grunted in agreement.
Kaori wrapped her arms around her waist and groaned. “How long do I have to be like this?”
“Probably until we’re done getting all of our supplies together.” The brothers were a little more used to being out of their armor, it only took a few minutes to take it off, Kaori had her armor built into her at a young age, having the spine replaced every so often to keep up with her growing. She was built for flexibility and stealth; the brothers were built simply for strength.

Unlike Kaori, they had been grown in a lab. Isuts, the larger of the two was the prototype. Sacrifices were made in order to ensure his speed, strength, and physical ability. Because of this, his mental acuity and speech were lost. Validus, a clone of Istus, was the perfect model. Smaller, not as strong, but his strategic ability far surpassed that of other projects. The link between the two brothers was inseparable; their brains were networked through a control module, hearing each other’s thoughts as though they were their own.

Kaori was born naturally, but adopted into the program, literally, from an orphanage. She became a Project at the age of three. Her body had been reshaped and reformed with countless surgeries and implants; most of her structure was made up of metal and synthetic replacements. Her flexibility was beyond normal to the point of grotesque. The sacrifices to her were in stability and maturity. Without someone to control her, Kaori was unable to make moral decisions and became wild and unpredictable.

The three, as well as many other Projects, had freed themselves from the army that had created them. Their brains were no longer a part of the Project network. Many of the Projects had gone back to fight the government that had created them, but Projects like Kaori, Istus, and Validus, had gone off on their own in an attempt to separate themselves from what they used to be.

“What do you think of the other crews?” Kaori questioned.
“I don’t know. Hard case is most likely going to be a problem.” Validus sighed. “I think we should check out a stall to see what we can get for rations.”
Istus shook his head violently.
“Calm down, kid! The food on this planet isn’t that bad!” Kaori punched Istus in the arm, he shyed away slightly, giving her an annoyed scowl.
“He means Hardcase.”

“Oh.” She felt a little embarrassed. “I’m sorry, big guy.” She rubbed his arm where she punched it. “What about that guy who came in with that dame in a wheel chair? What’s up with that? They’re bound to be the first ones out!” She laughed
“No.” Validus sighed again.
“No?”
“Most likely they can be the most dangerous. Odds are they have a great crew, but I bet she’s a great thinker, most people like that are. I bet they brought her in hoping people would underestimate them.”

Kaori scratched her chin as she contemplated a can of carrots.
“I bet everyone will attack them first though.” She countered.
“Most likely,” Validus responded “But they probably have a good team of fighters to back them up.”
“So then we take them out when they’re licking their wounds.” Kaori put the can down with a thunk.
“No, we avoid them at all costs.”
“You’re just saying that because you feel bad that she’s disabled, I say they’re stupid for bringing her along, she’s probably completely useless, most people like that are.” Kaori whined.

“Noghd!” Now Istus punched her in the arm, sending her back a foot. Kaori glowered at him as she rubbed the now forming bruise on her right arm.
“I’m sorry… I don’t mean you.” She stepped away from the giant cautiously.
“Yes you did!” Validus slammed down the can he was holding, making the clerk jump from his chair. “Kaori, go take a walk.”
“But I-“

Validus’s hand tightened around the now crushed can of what looked like black beans. Kaori’s shoulder’s drooped as she stared hopelessly at the brothers.

“Fine.” She growled, backing out of the stall they were in. She turned her back to the stall and stomped out into the crowd, blending herself in with the herd of people walking around aimlessly as though they were cattle.

Validus took the broken can to the clerk. He wiped the black mush on his hand off on his pants before fumbling in his pockets for money for the ruined can of beans. “It’s ok, Istus, she’ll learn. Just ignore her.”
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“Hey Boss. Like the new look!” Ellen nodded to him as he ascended the ramp onto the Fame.

The Hardcase grunted in return and carried on walking. He could tell that being forced to stay on the ship had left her in a bad mood. Of course considering how happy she usually was, her ‘bad’ moods were about as bad as a regular person’s good mood. Her constant happiness was the main reason she was the person who annoyed him the most. The Harcase had it on good authority that she was addicted to several kinds of narcotics.

“Oh yeah boss, we got the visual data from the eyes of Surprise! She got a good look at all your competitors, and we did a background check on most of them and-”

“I don’t care.” He carried on walking.

“Huh? This is some pretty important stuff! Could help you when you face these clowns!”

The Hardcase turned to face her, his one uncovered eye staring her down.

“Like you said, they’re clowns. A bunch of idiots who have no idea who they’re fucking with. One of them has a cripple on their crew… I mean seriously? What good is she gonna’ do?”

“I… I uh guess you’re right.”

“Did you figure out which ships are our enemies?”

“Ah yes! The team with the…uh… ‘cripple’ have a-”

“I don’t care. Just set up the stupid cow in the purple and green and the cripple’s frequencies on the messenger. I’ll record a message in a moment.”

“Yes sir!”

---

It’d taken him a lot of nerve to do this. Being sent on a errand run to pick up a few supplies seemed like the perfect excuse though. He sat in front of a computer screen, in the Bellingham public library.

>Search: Alan Sigler

Sweat furrowed his brow. If the person he was searching for was in any way related to the Hardcase, and he found out about it, he’d be spaced for sure… Or worse.

>Alan Sigler: Co-Founder of the Hanged Men mercenary group. Murdered Alexei Williamson (Other co-founder) to secure dominance of the group, and was in turn murdered by Alexei’s wife. Was wanted for the following offences before his death:
Seventeen counts of murder.
Four counts of attempted murder.
Eight counts of vehicular manslaughter.
Twenty eight counts of armed robbery.
Three counts of driving while under the influence.
Thirty six counts of destruction of public property.
Two counts of public urination.


Kroy breathed a sigh of relief. This Sigler fellow was long dead. If he had anything to do with the Hardcase, it was irrelevant now.

---

“Is it all set up?”

“Uh… it is now!”

“Good.” The Hardcase stepped forward into camera range, and removed the ski mask. The bandages over his new eye soon followed.

Someone gasped. Maybe Ellen. Probably Sid.

He could see his face on the monitor. The battered stub of his nose. The uncovered metal plate in his skull. His prosthetic metal jaw with no lower lip, attached to his face and neck with dull pink artificial muscle. The faded burns covering half of his face… his eyes: One normal… and the other… lidless, open wide like a loon, held in place with more tacky artificial muscle, and glinting in the dull light like the cheap metal it was.

And of course, the countless scars covering everything.

“Begin recording.”

The Hardcase grinned, looking even more demented, and leaned towards the camera.

“This is the Hardcase. I know we didn't get to talk much earlier, but I just thought I’d give you all a fair warning before we begin. You get in my way... and I will fuck you up! You wont walk…Or roll (he chuckled to himself at this) out of this alive. Give up now while you still have the chance!”

“End recording.”

“So this’ll be sent to the crew with the invalid-”

“The crew on the Persephone.”

“And the the girl with the stupid armour and bodyguards?”

“That’s correct.”

“Good. As long as it doesn't get sent to that other crew. We’re going to have to take them far more seriously.”
Edited by SaintlyTurkey, Oct 6 2012, 03:48 PM.
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“I’m looking for Alexander Powell…is he here?”

Cat studied the woman quietly a moment before reaching over and pressing a button on an intercom.

“Is the captain available?”

There was a pause before a voice came over the intercom in reply

“He is at a meeting, should be back in 20” there was a click and a pause “invite our guest to wait in the galley if they like, I’ll give him a call….find out what this is about”

Cat looked back towards Grace a moment pausing a moment, she knew full well that Grace had been able to hear the exchange over the intercom, there was that moment where she made up her mind as to whether or not she should restate the question that was still hanging in the air, in the end she decided not too and stepped aside indicating Grace could enter before starting to lead her towards the galley.

“So you’re a sniper” came the comment from the visitor

“mhmm…” came her quiet response as they entered the galley

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-


“Alexander!” came the greeting from the large man in an expensive suit sitting at the table, the man stood spreading his arms wide as Alex quietly stood being searched, the body guard already held his pistol and there wasn't anything else hidden on him. The man smiled as Alex offered a hand before being pulled into a bear hug the man settled at the table speaking with a thick Russian accent.

“sit sit! It is good to see you my boy, you are doing well? You look well” Alex sat down and accepted the coffee that was set in front of him “you sister is good?”

“She is as good as she ever is when planet side” he said taking a drink from the coffee

“Ah yes….she is feeling the weight of this world more keenly than the rest of us, but she is strong where it counts” the man said pointing to his temple before settling back and looking across the table towards Alex, neither were the sort that would normally work together but the universe had a way of making strange allies, Alex had done the man some rather serious favors, as well as proven reliable when the work was on the level.

“So…too business” the man said with a smile pointing at Alex “ I like doing business with you, we can be open, the people listening do not care about what Alexander Powell does because he is not doing anything worth hiding” the man laughed “I spoke with my friends about the computer this morning, very pleased with your work, I knew they would be but you know how these things are, people like me are not used to working with people like you, trust is……abstract”

Alex smiled a moment “Respect less so, you are good to work with Sergey, you know my rules, and that’s why we haven’t had any problems”

The Russian grinned at Alex “a man of honor is a rare thing in my world, now…what can I do for you? I’m afraid I don’t have any work that you would accept otherwise I would have called”

Alex shook his head “I’ve got a job, that is what I am here about in a way” Alex said reaching into a pocket and pulling out a piece of paper and sliding it across the table. “There is a doctor, best in his field, who has developed a treatment that may work for Hannah” he said quietly looking towards the man across the table “he is…difficult to get in touch with” Alex took a drink of the coffee that had been placed in front of him. “This job goes well I will be able to afford the man’s service” he took a breath “I want to meet him first, you understand I’m sure. The rest I’m sure we can work out on our own”

Sergey studied the piece of paper and listened to Alex for a while, the smile had been replaced by a much more serious expression “you need my contacts to find this doctor, who hides for his own reasons” he said, being a man used to people trying to listen to what he said “this is not a request I expect for you Alexander, you know what you risk?”

“This is for my sister” replied Alex as if it explained everything

Sergey leaned back and took a deep breath “for you I will do this, I expect nothing back, you have earned this favor and more in my mind” the man studied the young captain a moment “I think I know where your line is now.”

Alex looked to the man a moment “My Line?”

Sergey nodded and chuckled a bit “that catalyst that would make you forget your own rules” he leaned forward a moment speaking quietly “and I feel a great swelling of pity for any fool who crosses that line” he laughed as he leaned back “you are a good man Alexander, you take care of your sister, and I will make this thing happen for you. Now, I have business you do not wish to hear so I must ask you to depart, give your sister my best”
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Alex stepped out onto the street considering his meeting with the Russian before turning down to head towards his ship

“Powell you slippery SOB”

He winced turning towards the source of the voice

“Frankie remember we are in public…..you have to behave”

The other captain stormed towards Alex “ you stole that salvage right out from under…”

Alex smirked “it me Frankie, think about it. The owner gave us the beacon information, we went straight there, simple as that” he said looking to the other man “now calm down, I’ve got a job to get too, if you’re lucky you won’t have to compete with me any more after I’m done with this one.”

“get spaced Powell” came the mans words at Alex’s back as he walked along

“always a pleasure Francis….have a nice day”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Sometime later Alex was making his way up towards the Persephone, Hannah had messaged him about a visitor, though was lean on details.

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Kaori slumped into the oversized pilot’s chair, it was obviously special made for Istus as it dwarfed her completely. She bit at her nail as she clicked away at the keys on the console in front of her. The screen flashed orange; they had a message.

She leaned forward in anticipation, feeling slightly light headed as she opened it, expecting to see an old friend like Dahak. A grey circle swiveled quickly as the message loaded. Perhaps it was Seraph, she messaged him weeks ago and was still waiting for a response.

Hardcase’s disfigured face filled the view screen, Kaori recoiled, making a face like she had been drinking lemon juice.

“This is the Hardcase..” the recording began.

“Ugh!” Kaori cringed. “So much for eating lunch today…” she complained to herself, holding onto her stomach.

“…I just thought I’d give you all a fair warning…”

This was starting to take a more serious note faster than she wanted. They hadn’t even left port yet and people were already making threats. Her face pinched together into a scowl. Something about this guy worried her, she knew deep down he would try the best he could to make good on his promised. He was a serious threat.

“Give up now while you still have the chance!”

The computer beeped twice, signifying the end of the recording, Hardcase’s face stayed frozen on the screen. Kaori opened a com channel.

“Validus, we’ve got mail…”
“Oh? Anything exciting?”
“Only if you like hate mail…”
“… That bad, huh? Who did you piss off now?”
“Something ugly.”
“We’ll be back in a minute, just sit tight.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Josephine’s feet sat propped up on a stool, covered in a soft blanket. She sipped her tea staring out over the skyline.

“Are you worried?” Luciola sat down next to her, offering a plate of warm pastries.

“No, we’ve got some keepers, I think.” She took another gulp of the warm, brown, liquid. It was sweet, but the slightly bitter taste of over brewed tea snack it’s way in. She pursed her lips together as she stared at the biscuits.

“No thank you.” She sighed. Her butler nodded, taking the plate back to the kitchen.

The old woman closed her drooping eyes, feeling her age weight down on her. She would be out there if she could, it wouldn’t be the first time she’d been out there. She reached her bony fingers over to the end table to her left, lifting the lid of a small box. She ran her finger across a cold twisted piece of metal and closed her eyes again.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The girl’s eyelids felt heavy, far too heavy to lift, but she tried anyway. No avail, she felt weak and blind.

She was wrapped in something, something scratchy. Nothing below her neck seemed to really be completely there. She felt like an unfinished puzzle sitting abandoned on a table.

An eyelid lifted, then two. She didn’t know this room. The ceiling and walls seemed to be made of the same material, some kind of peeling white paint. She turned her head to the left, a table sat next to her. It was cluttered in blood red cloths and oddly shaped scissors.

She reached out a numb hand and fumbled at the metal tray on the table. Her hand grasped something, something cold and slimy. She pulled it up for her heavy eyes to see. The girl squinted, straining her eyes to see through her grogginess. It was a crushed piece of metal, it looked like it had been a cylinder of some type with a rounded head, now it just bubbled up in weird places.

“Doesn’t seem so scary now, does it?”
The little girl started at the stranger’s voice.
“You took quite a large bullet, but it seems like you’re going to be ok.” She lolled her head over to see who was talking. An older man with a mustache that looked like a broom sat across the room from her.
“Where am I?” she choked out the words through her dry throat.
“You’re in a medical base. You’ll be fine.” He walked towards her and grasped her hand.

“What about Daddy?” she started tearing up. The doctor paused for a moment, his eyes shifted to the side.
“I’m sure he’s fine.” The doctor lied.
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Not much of a talker, this one, Grace thought to herself. She wanted to say something to the redhead, hint at her own prowess as a sniper, but she decided against it. Instead, she just smiled like she knew something that the other girl didn't.

She followed her terse hostess into the galley and settled into a chair at the table. Twenty minutes, they said. She'd best get comfortable. But rather than reading a book or finding some way to occupy herself, Grace just sat there. Or at least that was how it looked. In truth she saw it as yet another opportunity to gather intelligence. Simply observing her surroundings could tell her a lot of stuff you couldn't learn by reading a file.

She wondered if they had done their homework. Mostly she wondered if they knew who she was. If they did, then first off that was a dead giveaway that Jimmy couldn't be to far behind. Then again, Nick had been at the meeting, and if they knew who he was, that was an even deader giveaway.

But more importantly, if they knew who she was, then they'd know that she was one of the most dangerous individuals on this whole trip.

Before long, the man himself finally came into the galley. "Captain Powell?" Grace said, standing up and extending her hand. "I'm Grace. Come with me. Jimmy Vega wants to see you."

......................

"Ok, so here's what we do."

Nick grabbed a bottle of scotch and poured a glass for both him and Ronnie. Jimmy was pacing up and down the ship, engaged in an endless string of phone conversations with his many contacts and being generally oblivious to the world around him. The kid sat in his bunk taking apart a rifle, trying to ignore everything as usual. That gave plenty of time for the two of them to have a their own little meeting in the cockpit.

"We go after this Hardcase guy," Nick said, not too loudly so that Jimmy wouldn't hear. "We find his ship, and we hit 'em. Hit 'em hard. Take the sons o' bitches out. Send a message, we ain't fuckin' around here."

Ronnie nodded in agreement. It was hard to argue with the essential brilliance of Nick's plan.

"By 'we,' you don't just mean the two of us, right?" Ronnie asked.

"Of course not. You, me, the kid, and Grace. That's four of us, and there's only three of them."

"Grace will never go along with it."

"Why do you say that?"

"Cause it's your idea."

"Well shit, yeah." Nick sulked visibly. Ronnie had indeed exposed the fatal flaw in his genius plan, and now it was all unraveling before his very eyes. Without Grace, it would be three on three. A fair fight, perhaps, but but too much potential for one of them to get taken down before the job even started. And then Jimmy would kill whoever was left, or leave them to be killed, and he'd split. It wasn't as if he needed the job. He'd let those other idiots chase the bounty while he and Grace have sex in the pilot's chair all the way home.

On the other hand, if she went along with it, then Nick felt that the Hardcase and his crew didn't stand a chance. Grace was the best. She could take 'em all on by herself, he was sure of it. Now Ronnie was certifiable, the designated loose cannon in their crew, but he wasn't exactly a soldier. Nick's career as a Marine was as elite as they got, but even he had to admit that his best years were behind him. He'd been told that Derrick was pretty good, but Nick knew what they had in Grace, which was a whole lotta off-the-charts deadly. If they didn't have her...

"We use local guys," Ronnie said. "Find the biggest hardasses in town, tell 'em they're doing a job for Jimmy, and send 'em after the Hardcase."

"I dunno Ron, you ain't been around town much. I ain't too so sure 'bout the caliber of the local thugs, you know?"

"So what? They get killed, it's their ass, not ours. And even if they do, we still send a message: we have power and influence, and we can set the local gangs after you. We can make your lives miserable, and even if we don't kill you we can still destroy you. Now that's something that none of these other assholes can claim."

Nick nodded, then slowly cracked a smile. "That's a good idea Ronnie." He knocked back the rest of his scotch. "That's a damn good idea."

"Your idea," Ronnie corrected, raising his glass. They drank to their plan, and Jimmy was none the wiser.
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Validus tapped his finger against his chin. Hardcase just struck him as clumsy and over confident, but that combined with his unpredictability and aggressiveness, he had made it to the top of the list of dangerous players.

A clock ticked somewhere in the background while the whole crew silently went about their tasks.

“Kaori, get the camera. We’re recording our own message.”
“Yes!” she cheered, leaping out of her chair, brimming with excitement. Validus pushed himself out of the chair with a grunt.
“This is going to be exciting! I can already smell the plasma shots and gun powder!” She waved a hand at Validus. “You and are I finally on the same page!”
“Just press record, ok?”

The camera made a short buzzing sound, letting them know it had started recording.

“This is Validus. I’m going to assume you got Hardcase’s message.

“I’d like to propose an alliance, at least until Hardcase isn't a threat. We stick together as long as we can and watch each other’s backs. I propose equal exchange of goods and supplies, as well as something very special I think you’ll be particularly interested in.

"If you’re interested in discussing terms you can meet us at The Captain’s Daughter at 10:00 tonight.”

Validus reached out his large hand and stopped the camera from recording further.

“Send it to the Persephone.”
“ They've got nothing to do with this.” She complained, rubbing the palm of her hand against her eye.
“Roll out?” Validus paused, waiting for her to get the reference. “Really? You can’t tell me you didn't think that message was meant for more than just us.”

She stared at him blankly.

“Odds are everyone got it. I think now is the time to get some allies.”
“Allies are just going to make us have to split the pot, if we can even trust them to not run off with it.”
“I don’t think they’re going to betray us. We have something they want.”
“What, the warm fuzzies? Are we just going to give them hugs and ask them nicely to not stab us in the back?”

Validus was now at the doorway to the bridge. He turned his head back to look Kaori in the eye. “You remember our dear old medic?”
“Yeah, Seraph, what about him?”
“He left some things.”
"I don't know what you're doing, but I hope it doesn't get us killed"
"Heh, me too."

Kaori gave him a wry smile.
Edited by RipTheJacker, Nov 15 2012, 07:22 PM.
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