"Have either of you ever been to Frostfall? Business, personal, doesn't matter."
Asad nodded, while waiting for Bryan to finish.
"Can't say my time there was as exciting as O'Lafferty's, I was stationed there for a few weeks about, oh I don't know, ten years ago?" He smiled slightly. "Slight recon, nothing major, things have probably changed a lot since I last visited, but I doubt the weather has."
He shivered just thinking about it.
"We'll want to wrap up warm commander, and I mean really wrap up, especially at night."
Sprout rolled his eyes, "Sure, sure, ya' prude!" After being served a beer by the barmaid, Sprout snatched it off the counter and took a large swig. Holding his stomach, he reeled back before belching loudly. "Whoops!" He laughed.
Putting the bottle to his lips once more, he scanned the room to see the bar had grown significantly more crowded since they first arrived. Girls were out and about now. Girls. It was then that Sprout released he really needed to pee. Like, right now, "Don' mind me. I'll be right back! Gonna go bleed the lizard!" He hopped off the stool, balanced himself against the bar and started for the bathroom.
A slender black woman with an afro had just appeared from upstairs as Sprout was opening the bathroom door. He glanced back at his new drinking buddy, Tobin and then to the girl passing him by, "Wait." He muttered in her direction.
She stopped and looked to him with a beautiful, charming grin, "Well aren't you the cutest thing ever did see!"
Sprout blushed and chuckled, "Yeah, well yer purty cute too, Missy. Anyways, I was wondern'... ya' think ya' can give my older brother a good time this evenin'? He's had a purty rough week an' he could use some time with a fine thin' like yerself."
The woman laughed. Her grin grew ever larger, "Awwwww, he's a lucky man if he's got such a cute lil' brother out pimpn' for him. Sure, I'll see what I can do." She looked Sprout over once more, noting his drunk state. "Good luck in there, okay?"
Sprout nodded and gave a half-assed salute, "My thanks, ma'am!" Sprout proceeded to stumble into a stall and struggle to do his business.
The woman he'd solicited sauntered over to Tobin, the same grin on her face, "Word from your lil' brother is you're look'n for some company tonight. Because he's so cute I reckon I can give y'all a discount. What do you say?"
Rodrigo was unamused. In a low growl he commanded, "Again."
Silo scoffed, "Breaking your own rules this early?" Without a second thought Rodrigo turned and slapped Silo across the face. The rings on his fingers cut through Silo's flesh.
Shaking the dull pain from his hand, Rodrigo spat, "It's not your turn to speak. Now," He turned his attention back towards Aesop. "Pull the trigger again."
Elizabeth screeched in terror as the door came crashing down. A tall, imposing man stood in the doorway.
"I'm here to get ya. Just come with me, I'll have you back to your families in no time. Now she looks concussed--"
The firefight continued to rage in the distance, but it was louder now. Was the fight coming to them?!
"Ohhh, fuck! Lady Elizabeth? We need to leave. Now. There are people coming. Very dangerous people. Led by a very psychotic man. They catch us, they'll make you one of them, 'cause you're young. Lady... Josephine there, they'll kill. She looks about thirty. You need to come with me. You ever heard of Father Austin and his child army?"
What in the world was he on about? Elizabeth couldn't make sense of the situation. Too much information in too short a window of time. She had a thousand questions, but time enough for only one. She clutched Eddie's arms, her eyes wild and her lips quivering, "What about the Priest?! What happened to Florian!?"
Tsubaki stared blankly at her men as they described their experiences in Frostfall. Nothing she didn't already know, but asking again would help fill in any gaps she may have had in her memory. Once they were done she nodded, "Thank you. Considering the two of you have been there you will have to take special precautions in concealing your identities. If anyone recognizes you it may compromise the entire mission. Now..."
Slouched over, Tsubaki fingered through a binder in her lap before finding the documents she was looking for. After a quick scan of its contents she turned back to her men, "Once we reach the dome we're to set up shop in an inn on the outskirts of the city. We have a contact there, Jacob Skinner; he'll have the whole place on lock-down. An inn all to ourselves. The peace talks are planned to start in precisely 50 hours, which doesn't give us much time to prepare seeing as we're still roughly 38 hours from our destination."
Flipping through the pages once more she she nodded to herself upon finding what she was looking for. Removing it from her binder she gave the document to the pair at her back. It was a bio of a Frostfall noble with a series of pictures attached by a paperclip, "This man is the key to our entire operation. Jerome Carthage, a low-ranking member of the Ivory court in Frostfall. He's the fall guy, for lack of a better label. A few weeks ago he met with who he believes to be a representative of the Wilks-Vine family to arrange the assassination of Vasa Bejic. Once our operation is complete and Vasa still lives, his supposed deal will be made known. Both sides will be made to believe Carthage contracted Wilks-Vine to eliminate the bandits."
"Must have been the parts.... must have been the parts... must have been..." Spoke Hannibal as he repeated the same five words over and over again, at one point he even began to drool a little bit, the spittle coming from the right hand corner of his mouth was creating a relatively "clean" line through the dirt and grime that Hannibal's face was covered in.
Viola let out an annoyed sounding huff as she stood up from the chair and unbuckled her body armour, placing it on a nearby table. She then went back to the bedside and knelt down next to Hannibal; part of her would dislike herself for doing this, but if it got him out of his delusional slumber, then it was a necessary act.
"Rise and shine, Mr. Hannibal, rise and shine. Wake up. McGregor is here to see you, and he isn't very happy, in fact, he is very unhappy." Viola then delivered a quick slap across both of Hannibal's cheeks to make sure.
As the youngest of his children ran ahead of him Oliver suddenly patted his father on the shoulder, holding the guitar. Austin laughed and said "I didn't forget it on purpose now just doesn't seem the... oh why not." He gladly put the strap over himself, holstering his shotgun as he began strumming his guitar. "Its not a true battle without theme music."
Oliver looked to his father with childlike glee as he split off with another group. With half the forces split both had the same tactics; youngest at the front, eldest in the centre and marksmen at the back. Austin calmly played his instrument as maidens soon came. Their hesitation at seeing children was their end. Austin laughed as they stepped over their bodies, knowing he was perfectly safe. However, not every maiden had the compassion of the others.
Strutting down a long hallway, music echoing around the bulkhead of the ship, three maidens stood in at the end. "What are you to do boys?" Laughed Austin. "Murder children?"
The answer was a gunshot. Austin watched in horror as a young girl at the front died before his very eyes. Austin charged into a nearby bedroom as a firefight ensued between his beloved family and the maidens. Slinging the guitar over his back he could hear the screams of his family, "GET IN HERE NOW!" He yelled at the top of his lungs, his voice wrought with fear. The youngest ran into the room, covered in the blood of their brothers and sisters as those at the back must have found cover elsewhere. Austin himself was nearly brought to tears as he saw them.
"Daddy.. they... they actually shot!" screamed a boy as he cowered in the room."
Austin was shaking with rage as he readied his shotgun, he could hear them encroaching upon their position. He waited until he could hear footsteps behind the door and he unloaded onto his opponents. The door was torn to pieces with gunfire and as the maidens were ready to shoot, Austin suddenly barged right on through the door like a rhinoceros, surprising his opponents and distracted them as pieces of the door went flying towards him. Using his strength Austin pinned one to the wall with only his body weight as he took out the other with a blast to the stomach. The man he had pinned shot down the corridor as he struggled to get out from behind Austin's surprisingly intense strength. Austin let the man go but swiftly cracked him in the jaw with his shotgun. The man went tumbling but he reached for the shotgun trying to wring it out of the Father's grasp. Austin let him but the second he let go of the shotgun he gripped the man's throat tightly and kicked him in the groin with such speed and strength his pained screeches echoed around the bulkhead. The maiden dropped the shotgun, and Austin went to town on savagely beating the man to death.
Lifting him easily off the ground he flung him down the corridor from the way they came, and the moment he hit the ground Austin already had the man back up, slamming his face against the wall before throwing him against the adjacent wall and repeatedly forcing the back of his head against it until his skull cracked. Still alive, Austin threw him onto his stomach and mounted his back before digging his middle fingers into the man's eyes until he could feel the blood ooze from them. The man did not beg for mercy, he supposed his captain would be proud of that. But Austin was not one to respect an opponent in any state. Finally aiming to finish him off, he stood up and stomped his skull into a thick, gruesome paste. The father frothed at the mouth as he stood over the man beneath him, his hands covered in his blood from his eyes, when bullets suddenly flew past his head. Austin looked up to see his marksman aiming to which he turned to see two maidens now on the ground. One of them ran up to him and said "Father... are you-"
"I'm fine. I am..." Austin shuddered as he spoke. "I've wasted too much time on this pretender, this dog!" Austin kicked the stump of the maiden's neck. "We uh... we..." Austin forced himself to regain his composure, he needed to be strong for his terrified children. "We need to find some engineers and keep them alive, even if they are pretenders, just for a short while. We need to bring this ship off the ground and into the sky. On me... the children remain at the back." It was then he realised his guitar was severely damaged. He sighed out his frustration, focusing on that and ignoring his grief. Every maiden would feel his pain. Every single one.
===============================================
Aesop winced as he saw Silo's face cut with Rodrigo's rings, but as he turned to him and said"Pull the trigger again." For some reason and he didn't know why, Aesop just began laughing.
"Hahahahahaha, you fucking child." Aesop put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger once more, laughing while he did. What was happening to him? Even he didn't know but his worries were being pushed away, like they were being stored into a box and hidden away under sixteen feet of ash. If one of them was going to die today, then maybe the two maidens could at least play a game of their own with Rodrigo.
===============================================
Alex had been in the shooting range ever since she had heard the news about Austin in Feroxi. Her aim was already impeccable but she wanted her skills to not just be top notch, she wanted perfection. She didn't even know if he was planning something against her, but her paranoia of hearing about him again had done more than set her off, it had her over the edge. She was having moments of trouble controlling her rage, nearly taking it out on her officers as horrible as that is. Sometimes she couldn't even keep her hand steady as she aimed. She wasn't just angry though, there was fear also, not for herself but of all those he could hurt. She could handle herself and she was stronger now than she ever had been before. But what about all those in the city? How strong were his forces now? What of the elderly he would no doubt slaughter? What of the children he would no doubt kidnap? What about her son?
"Why's he called Austin?" Alex turned her head to see her deputy standing in the back of the room. He was a tall, stocky Hispanic man with an extremely thick accent.
"Not now Vidal." Replied the sheriff as she continued to shoot the paper targets.
He walked up beside her and picked up a pistol as he also began shooting at the paper targets, talking over the gunfire he said "I know you're kid's name's Austin. Does that have something to do with it?"
"Vidal I'm serious, shut your fucking mouth or I wil-" She was interrupted by her deputy.
"You can't take out your past on the force its not right." He took a large risk in cutting her off and he knew it.
Repeatedly pulling back the trigger she emptied her gun but kept firing long after, letting off the sound of dull clicks of the barrel before she slammed her gun down onto the table. "That man is a fucking murderer and he ruined the lives of everyone I know! Excuse me for having some fucking anger issues but he killed so many people that I loved. Jesus one of my best friends became an alcoholic because of it!"
"Didn't he abandon you though?" Vidal asked.
She began reloading her gun and answered "Yes he fucking did. He's a fucking bandit now so, eh no big loss, fuck 'im right?"
"Is that what you think about us too?" He said, more as an insult than a question.
Alex sprung to life and pinned him to the wall yelling "You KNOW that's not true! I don't. Have time. For cowards. And traitors!"
"Oh but you have time to treat your workforce like shit?!"
Letting him go she responded "Get the fuck out of here you're suspended."
Vidal merely looked at her and sighed before turning to leave. However, just before he left the room she said "His real name is Peter Wayworth. I don't know why he calls himself 'Austin' now, but when I was pregnant that's the name I wanted for my son."
"So... he named himself after his own so-"
Snapping at Vidal with her face crimson red with rage, veins thick under the blood pressure "MY AUSTIN IS NOT HIS SON! He is MY son and only MY SON! I dunno, maybe he misses him and that's why he named himself Austin too. Maybe he wants to kidnap my son and call him 'Austin jr', maybe he thought the name Peter sucks and thought that Austin was way better, I don't know! But I do know that if you ever call him my son's father ever again I'll put you in a cell with all the people you arrested yourself. You're not suspended. Now out of my sight." Vidal shook his head and left as she returned to her target practice. 'He'd never understand. What would he know his parents were Banditos. Even if he's not then... he's still a brilliant deputy. God dammit Alex, you need to get a grip.'
=============================================
"Rise and shine, Mr. Hannibal, rise and shine. Wake up. McGregor is here to see you, and he isn't very happy, in fact, he is very unhappy." Hannibal heard a voice and in his dream state he could swear he saw the Gunslinger who had arrested him and started all of this, as everyone who he had seen the past few days stood behind her, all of them pointing guns at Hannibal and ready to fire when-
"Ahhhh!" Hannibal shook awake as a hard slap was delivered across his face. "Wha... wha?" He questioned as all the colours were beginning to come into focus. "Ah please don't hurt me I'll finish it off you... wait... where am I?" In his delusional state, Hannibal truly had no idea what was going on. That was until he looked to the side to see Viola Greaves kneeling next to the bed. "Oh no... I'm going to jail aren't I?"
"Ahhhh!" Screamed Hannibal as he reeled from the slap, he still looked a little disorientated, but at least he was awake, which made Viola breathe a sigh of relief. "Wha... wha?" He then asked in a dazed and confused state, no doubt everything was still blurry for him.
"Ah please don't hurt me I'll finish it off you... wait... where am I?" Hannibal then said, sounding very much scared at the thought of dealing with McGregor again. It was at that moment that Hannibal caught sight of Viola. "Oh no... I'm going to jail aren't I?" He asked. Viola took the opportunity to stand up, grabbing the chair from earlier and sitting backwards on it, her arms crossed and resting on the head of the chair.
"Well not at this exact moment Hannibal. Besides, given the state that I found you in, I'd doubt you would last long in jail." Viola remarked as a moment later, a knock came at the door. "Enter." The door opened and in stepped the innkeeper.
"I've just managed to get in contact with a local doctor Miss, he should be around to look at the gentleman's injuries in about... ten minutes or so."
"Thank you." The innkeeper soon shut the door behind him.
"Now then, whilst we wait for the good doctor to arrive, how about you fill me in, on what exactly in hell got you into this state in the first place Hannibal. I presume, given the nonsense you were spouting when I found you, it has something to do with the bomb that McGregor was building and the parts you were delivering yes?"
"Um..." was the only word Hannibal could really say. He was truly exhausted, having been running for hours and thoroughly dehydrated, but he spoke anyway, what words he could. "Um... well um... first I need to know where I am. Tell me, did you see a building blow up or hear about a building blowing up? I need to know I'm away from there." He panted slowly as he spoke, not a hint of subtlety or any clear indication of what the hell he had been up to.
Lilith closed her eyes, her elbow on the counter, she rested her cheek on her palm. The bar was starting to pick up by the sound of it, she could hear the mass distortion of prostitutes plying their trade, laughter, belching, glasses chiming, all in all it was just giving her a headache.
'What the hell is wrong with me?'
Drinking wasn't working, smoking wasn't working, these were things she could usually count on to loosen her grip on reality, make everything a little less shit in the world.
'Maybe I don't get to escape any more, maybe it's time I grew up.'
"Hey hun?" Lilith opened an eye to see the barmaid looking down at her from across the counter, "You okay hun?" Lilith remained silent, glancing to her side, Axel was busy drinking, belching, talking. The dwarf seemed amicable enough, and seemed genuinely charmed by the boy.
Looking back up at the waitress, she smiled wearily, "I'm fine thanks, just a little tired is all." The bar maid nodded at Lilith's glass. "Nah, I think I've had enough, just not my day I reckon."
'Not my week, more like it."
As the barmaid sauntered over to another patron, Lilith closed her eyes once more.
'When are you going to stop feeling sorry for yourself? The kid was sent away by his mother, away from everything he knows, and look at him, he's handling it far better than you are, you stupid girl.'
Her brain had a good point, curse that clever *****.
'You never had a mother to miss in the first place, so it's not like you know what you're missing.'
She reached to her tin of cigarettes, resting a hand on it. 'Why bother? You know they're not working any more.' With a sigh, she conceded that point. Powerless is the word she would use. Powerless to go back to the Maiden, powerless to do anything but run away. She wondered what the others were doing, Pixie, Ruffles, Warren, Aesop, Cranston and the rest of the crew.
"Florian." She mouthed quietly, a shy smile curling the corners of her mouth. Her daydreaming was interrupted as the boy hopped off his stool.
"Don' mind me. I'll be right back! Gonna go bleed the lizard!"
"Lovely." Lilith replied, rolling her eyes. As the boy tottered off, she leaned back slightly, stretching her arms out in front of her, cracking her fingers outward. "Bleed the lizard, Christ." She put on a mocking version of Pixie's accent. "I'mma hev ta start re-edumacatin' the kid, Pixie done gone goofed his mouth hole." She chuckled to herself quietly.
Sighing exasperatingly, she slouched over onto the counter, burying her face in her arms.
"You okay there lil' lady?" She turned her head, looking up at a rather ruggedly handsome man. "You don't look like ya having too much fun."
Lilith pulled her head up, resting her cheek on her palm, "Well, I'm not in a boozing mood, and the working girls aren't exactly my type." She tilted her head, a small smile on her face. "So no, not much fun." The handsome man chuckled, leaning against the counter.
"My, my, that's a real pretty voice you got there. Not from around here I take it?" The man wasn't exactly subtle.
"Damn, the cat's outta the bag." The man continued to chuckle.
"Them's some pretty nasty cuts and bruises you got there, I hate to see that on a woman, 'specially one as nice as you." This guy was a real charmer for sure. 'Kinda like Sprout, 'cept the kid is young and stupid, so he has an excuse.'
"You should see the other guy." She was getting a lot of use out of that line, didn't feel as good to claim when it wasn't true.
"A fightin' girl huh? I like 'em feisty." He leaned in close. "How's about you come tangle with me and my two buddies over there?" Lilith followed the man's gaze to his lesser attractive companions in the corner. They raised their glasses as they noticed her looking over.
Lilith raised an eyebrow, meeting eyes with the handsome man once again. "I think you're confusing me for a whore." She shook her head gently. "I don't work here, I don't work anywhere." The man frowned, "Who said anythin' 'bout whores? Why don't you come on over with me, we'll treat you right." Lilith narrowed her eyes, "Why don't you go and sit back down." The man took on a more threatening look.
"I wasn't askin'." He whispered, a dangerous edge to his voice.
"Neither was was I." Lilith's piercing blue gaze unmoving.
For a few heart stopping moments, Lilith thought he wouldn't back off. "Pfft, fine, whatever *****." He lifted his hands, shrugging his shoulders. "You're a fuckin' mess anyway, you'd be lucky to get with a guy like me." Her eyes didn't move from his back until he got back to his two friends.
Lilith furrowed her brow as she heard the man talking in the background "***** didn't wanna party." This was replied to by disappointed groans from his companions. "Probably for the best, mangy little thing when you get up close."
'Mangy?!' Lilith had been called a lot of things in her life, but mangy? She had never been called that, not even when she was a little orphan girl walking the streets for charity.
She clenched her jaw. Maybe that was what she needed, she had tried to convince herself otherwise, but maybe a good throw down was just what the doctor ordered. Lilith got the barmaid's attention, her eyes were now wide and enthusiastic. "Can I have a bottle of the cheapest wine you have please?" The barmaid smiled, "Outta ya slump now huh?", Lilith grinned "You could say that, yeah." As the waitress sauntered off to get the wine Lilith unbuckled her holster, piling it next to her cigarette case and lighter.
Looking down at her chest, Lilith quickly undid the top most fastened button, showing Sprout killing amounts of flesh. Lifting the twin cherries over her neck, she delicately piled the chain next to her holster. "Close your eyes Maribel, you probably shouldn't see this." She whispered lightly.
As the barmaid returned, Lilith took the bottle. "Could you do me a favour? Could you keep an eye on my stuff until the kid gets back?"
"Sure thing hun, have fun." She winked at Lilith, who returned with a huge smirk, "Oh, don't worry, I'm gonna have lots of fun."
Lilith got to her feet, bottle of wine hanging casually from her grasp as she sauntered over to the corner where the handsome man and friends were sitting. One of them caught a glimpse of her and alerted the others to her approach.
Lilith put on her best 'come hither' look, or the 'Pixie Maneuver' as she liked to call it, placing a hand on her hip as she stood at their table.
"So, finally come to your senses huh, lil' lady?" The handsome man grinned as he got to his feet, standing a few feet taller than Lilith, he was definitely the strongest out of the three.
Lilith took a step towards the man, running a finger slowly down his chest. "I sure did, handsome."
With one quick motion, Lilith spun on her heel, smashing the bottle of wine across the man's head. As the man went tumbling across the table, women gasped and shrieked while men swore and cheered.
Holding what was left of the broken bottle in her hand, her body wine spattered, Lilith let a wicked grin cross her face as the two remaining men quickly looked at each other.
Moving her head from side to side, she cracked her neck."You wanna fucking party, wankers?" She roared as she smashed the bottle remains onto the floor. "LET'S FUCKING DANCE!"
Patrons in the immediate vicinity backed away, thankfully giving her space to maneuver as the two men got to their feet, their friend still dazed on the table.
"*****!" The first man roared and he attempted to tackle Lilith, she sidestepped fluidly, tripping the feet from underneath him as he went sprawling across the floor and into the crowd of spectators.
The second man approached Lilith on her left side, opting to throw punches instead, Lilith raised her arms into a fighting stance, and weaving around two incoming strikes, she moved through the third, grabbing the man's wrist, she planted a swift knee into the man's groin, then as he doubled over, she kicked his foot from beneath him, as the man went to one knee, Lilith twisted the man's arm behind his back, her other arm around his neck. "WHAT'S THE MATTER?! AM I FUCKING YOU TOO HARD?!" She screamed into the man's ear. Releasing her choke hold, a sickening crunch followed as Lilith brought her fist down onto the man's awkwardly placed elbow joint. The poor man screamed in agony as Lilith kicked him onto his front, taking a few shards of the broken bottle into his belly.
"Look out!" Lilith heard someone shout, just as a chair broke over her left shoulder. Crying out in pain, exacerbated by the previous injury, Lilith stumbled, grasping at her shoulder as she turned. Doubled over slightly, she smiled painfully, "You just had to hit the left one didn't ya." The handsome man had gotten to his feet, holding what was left of the chair in his hands. "*****! CHEAP WHORE! What the fuck is wrong with you?!" the man waved a hand at his fallen comrade, the other had just gotten to his feet and was now slowly approaching her.
Lilith chuckled, closing one eye as she winced painfully. "What? You don't like it rough? I thought you said you liked it rough?" Lilith heard a few cheers from the crowd. No signs of the boy yet.
The man approaching her lurched forward, with her left arm all but useless, Lilith stepped to the side, ducking under a punch, she thrust her hand upwards, jamming her palm into the man's throat. A gurgled gasp sputtered from his mouth as he recoiled backwards, grasping at his throat, he struggled to catch his breath. For a brief second Lilith thought she had collapsed the man's windpipe, thankfully, he seemed to recover quickly enough.
A bead of sweat trickled down her temple, her left arm hanging loosely, she was in no condition to even start this fight, let alone carry on with her shoulder the way it was.
Even so, she couldn't help but grin, this was what she wanted, this was what she needed. As both men recovered, they both lunged towards her, she managed to avoid the first, but the handsome man managed to grab a handful of her hair, and pulled her into a choke hold. She cried out as the pressure on her shoulder built, The other man stood over her, smiling wickedly, "Got ya now *****!" white light flashed before her eyes as the man slapped her hard across the face, splitting her still healing lip. "Whaddya got to say now?!" Lilith choked slightly as she caught her breath, spitting a mouthful of blood in the man's face.
"I know a woman who hits harder than you! Fucking try me, *****!"
"What about the Priest?! What happened to Florian!?"
As if on cue Florian rounded the corridor, nearly slamming into the door frame with how fast he was going. His eyes instantly locked on the bounty hunter and his mind raced with panicked thoughts of what to do next. It all fell out from under him though, once he saw Josephine slumped down like a corpse.
"No." He whispered, rushing to her side. He thanked god that she was still breathing and Elizabeth still safe. "You." He growled, turning back on Eddie. "What did you do?!"
Eddie's head snapped up at the Preacher's voice, and he straightened from where he'd been crouched. "I didn't do shit, I found her like this. But that isn't important right now, these two need to get as far away from here as possible, you understand me?"
She's hurt because the ship crashed, you made the ship crashed which means you caused thi- NO!
The sound of gunfire and screaming was getting louder and there was at some pragmatic wisdom to the hunter's words. Florian would have to reign in the urge to punch the man in the throat for later.
"On that we agree at least." He grimaced, scooping Josephine up as gently as he could. It would help keep his mind off of temptation at least. "We need to open the hangar."
Eddie nodded. "Let me carry her, Preacher. I can do it over one shoulder. If you got a gun, now's the time. I'm not asking you to fight, but I want you looking like ya can."
In an undertone, he asked, "you ever heard of Father Austin?"
Florian was reluctant to hand her over and his mood soured further at the mention of Austin. ["Aaww crap!"] Florian spat. "We need to move fast." He shuddered, glancing Elizabeth out of the corner of his eye. Why couldn't it have been normal hunters or Dio's troops? Anyone would have been better than this.
"Stay close to me." Florian told Elizabeth, unholstering his gun. Warning shots, that could work right?
Eddie took the girl and slung her over his left shoulder, holding her steady with a grip on her ankle. Unholstering his gun, he moved out into the corridor. "Kids to this guy means anybody under thirty. Still plenty of guys I ain't got no problem killing, but lots of people I--" someone ran around the corner they'd been coming up to. A kid, maybe thirteen with a revolver in his hands. He looked up at Eddie. Eddie looked down at him. And then booted him in the chest, sending the boy careening into the wall. When the revolver spun away from the child, Eddie shot it, rendering it useless. "lots of people I'm doing that to. There's a couple of breathers in my coat for the two ladies."
"Well that's something." Florian flinched as he felt the impact of the teenager slamming into the wall. He'd live at least, though Florian had to fuss around as Josephine was left to swing around like a ragdoll.
"Um..." Was the only word Hannibal said at first. "Um... well um... first I need to know where I am. Tell me, did you see a building blow up or hear about a building blowing up? I need to know I'm away from there." He then added, panting slowly as he spoke, whether Hannibal was directly or in-directly involved with this, Viola would find out in due time.
"I don't know whether to say that this has been fortunate for you or not, but I have been busy for most of the day, in fact, I've been busy for the last couple of days. You see after my business with you had been concluded, I had been hired by someone acting as a representative for a Noble to look into a problem they have been having lately." Viola responded, deciding on how much detail she should give about her recent contract with Basilio.
"In short, I have not heard about a building being blow up, nor have I been near the vicinity of any building being blown up; so you must have being running from a fair distance to end up here. So count yourself lucky. At the moment, you are currently in a room I have rented out that is acting as a base of operations for myself whilst I am working for a client here in Feroxi. Does that answer your question Hannibal?" Viola asked in a slightly stern voice.
'Two escorts?' The sister's brow furrowed. This might be tricky, but still doable. She waited precisely 10 seconds after the drunk protege and his two guards left through the front doors, before following. The trio were still in sight when she exited the building, making their way down the street passed the rank upon rank of limousines that had pulled up along the sidewalk. Quickly, she set off in pursuit, before darting down a side alley that rose tall and dark where the enormous Herbert Russell building shouldered up against another, far less remarkable high-rise office block. Circling round the back, the sister set about making herself up as she walked along. First, shrugging off one of her heels, before artfully tearing her dress, across the bodice and clean through one shoulder strap, letting her hair down as she did so. As she was doing that, she smeared her back over the dirty brickwork on the wall to her right, as if she had been forced up against it. At the same time, she scraped her knuckles and the tips of her fingers across the rough bricks too, wincing a little as they bloodied. Lastly, when the end of the alley was almost in sight, she removed one earring, and after taking a couple of deep breaths, stuck the hook into her lip and the gum beneath, pulling down. dropping the earring in the alley, she rounded the corner back out onto the street.
What emerged was a young, beautiful woman, clearly in some distress, her eyes full of tears as she stumbled back out onto the street. Her make-up ran, as did the blood leaking from the corner of her mouth, down onto the front of her dress that hand to be help up with one hand to cover her modesty. A hand scraped bloodier still by some kind of struggle. In her flight, the woman hobbled right into the protege just as he was about to step into his limousine.
"Oh! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean..." she squeaked, before fully taking in the sight before her, of a man expensively dressed, about to enter such as flash auto-mobile, flanked by two bodyguards. Her chain of thought could clearly be seen through her shining, hopeful eyes. Somebody important, somebody powerful, who might just be her salvation tonight.
"Oh please sir!" she grovelled, shakily bringing forward her hands as if to rest them on his chest, only to draw back at the last moment. "I-I shouldn't be a bother I know, but please help me! I'm all alone, and if he finds me again I don-I..." her ramblings were cut short by a frightened sob, as her eyes locked pleadingly with his.
The security offices were four floors up in the West Wing, a fair 10 minutes walk away from the main thrust of the party, once taking care to avoid cameras was accounted for. Still, the Gentleman had made it here without fuss. One last camera covered the door. Disabling it would have been all to easy, but sloppy as well. The longer this went without anybody suspecting something was amiss, the better. Ideally, 'longer' meaning, 'not until The Gentleman was several time-zones away'.
Crouching down around the corner, The Gentleman unfastened one of the cuff-links on his dinner jacket, before tossing it down the hall, where if landed muffled on the thick carpets. When he twisted the cuff-link that remained on his person, all the lights down the corridor guttered out. A few moments and a muffled voice behind the door later, and a slightly podgy security guard emerged, to go stalking the opposite way down the corridor muttering something unkind about the maintenance staff. Still in darkness, The Gentleman crept down the hallway, picking up his discarded cuff-link as he went, and slithered through the door before it had fully closed.
Once inside, The Gentleman strolled over to the desk, with the monitor resting on it now casting the only light left in the room. Bringing up the guards e-mail and entering the password (another gift from one of Amy's sisters), The Gentleman scrolled through until he found the most recent outgoing message, to the address only used by the micro-chip implanted inside Sirus Dickens' skull. The pass-code now committed safely to memory, The Gentleman too care to leave the display exactly as he had found it before leaving. As he rounded the corner, whistling an old, merry tune to himself, The lights flickered back to life, and the camera was once again greeted with the view of an empty corridor and a closed door. A few minutes later, the security guard would be returning rather confused.
*****
Back at the party, not more crowded and raucous (by noble standards) than ever, The Gentleman found Meredith and greeted her with a rather relieved smile.
"I swear," he said to her in his put-on tones "You need a bloody map to find the loos in this place!"
Leaning closer, he whispered in her ear "Your turn."
Jun didn't feel the need to answer to that question. Was she stupid? Of course he hadn't been to Frostfall. In addition to being the youngest of the four, he was probably the least experienced when it came to the different regions of The Rock. Hell, that was one of the reasons he had left Mugunghwa-i in the first place. Still, there was naught to do but listen to the Commander's rundown of the mission and continue driving. Part of him wondered when he would be able to take a break, another part of him berated himself for thinking such thoughts. Nevertheless, he was human and couldn't drive continuously for over thirty hours straight. He didn't want to sully his mind with thoughts of the other men and their stories of their last stay in Frostfall, particularly Bryan's - a soldier wouldn't do that. A soldier would just concentrate on the mission ahead of him. 'Freshen up at the inn and prepare, then cause some chaos but leave Vasa alive. Simple as.' He summarized mentally. Just more politicking...
***
Micky found the underbelly of Feroxi just as uncomfortable as that little grave he had spent some time in once. It was, in short a pit of snakes. If only the more civilized sections of the dome city were a tad less constricting. Apparently there had been an explosion and the authorities had been shaken by the event. 'That's the problem with those sorts, lie low and those coppers would gradually pick up dirt on ya, but shake the hornet's nest and they're all too happy to make ya life miserable. Nah, that applies to both sides.' The fugitive thought. At least he had made it this far... No. It was just delaying the inevitable. In fact, he could hear footsteps, and from the sound of them, whoever they belonged to was very near. Wait; Micky knew that methodical pace...
"Been a while. Heck, I'm surprised ya still alive. A bit cooked, though. Why don't we finish it off, eh?" The familiar voice said.
Micky was paralyzed with fear, in a flash a memory surfaced, a memory of the same man standing over him with nothing but disappointment in his eyes. If Maria was his guardian angel, then this man... was his own grim reaper!
"What's wrong? You were a brother to me, y'know." Another taunt.
At least the man had the decently to step into a little patch of light, but Micky knew that face already, and his manner. As theatrical as always. Micky couldn't help but hate those smug assertions of his, present and past. Maybe that's why he decided to take a little extra cut every once in a while. Yes... Micky's 'sins' all be blamed on that smug grin.
'Oh, what's this? Is that a frown, Mr. Brightside?'
"But ya know what? Now you're just a corpse." The bandit growled, "And I get to be a little rough with corpses..."
His approach was a faster than Micky anticipated.
First was the headbutt.
Choking came second.
Thirdly, Micky discovered new ways his limbs could bend, thanks to that bandit.
Then he realised that his murderer really didn't have any scruples at all.
Finally, Micky's heart stopped, and so did his screams.
"We're just about ready to go. Try to put that away fast, alright?"
Vergil nodded, pulling the tab and trying to down it in one go. Seemed things were starting to pick up,he'd probably scout first and come back with news or something. Probably going to shoot the place up that very day, or if they died they could rig it and smoke em out. Make an enemy for life, sure, but damn would it be dramatic.
He made his way out after finishing, finding the big guy who found him earlier just sorta.... loitering. "Heeey." Vergil tried, making Warren's eyes snap up. He looked very much like he hadn't slept last night. Vergil just shut up and pushed past him, though the scarred warrior followed behind.
"Are you... alright?" Vergil asked, receiving a quick bark of laughter in response. He hoped he wasn't ALWAYS like this, otherwise he wouldn't have many friends at all. Though he seemed to know Lilith, at least. If she hadn't shot or punched him, he was likely an okay guy. Maybe. He seemed a bit happy killing, earlier.
"I'm kinda fucked at the moment." Warren finally replied, looking around. Vergil let that lapse into silence as they found Ruffles, with his doohickey, doing Radio things.
"Who the fuck is Scars?" Warren asked, looking at the machine.
________________________________________________________________________________________________ Tobin
"Word from your lil' brother is you're look'n for some company tonight. Because he's so cute I reckon I can give y'all a discount. What do you say?"
"... I'm not sure how to tell you this, but I don't have a little brother-" Tobin started, glaring up the stares. He worked as a mercenary, and he HATED when people tried to skimp on payment. He assumed it was worse for whores, why try to pay em less when you have the carbon after all? It was just frustration, and it's not like he DIDN'T have a source of income.
He tried to keep telling himself this as he turned down the advances of cheap sex.
Then things started to hit the fan, with the sound of glass breaking and cheers from a crowd. Tobin turned towards the danger, hand on his holster. Sounded like a bar fight, but one could never be too sure. He tried jumped off the chair, heading towards the noise, when he heard that accent,
"LET'S FUCKING DANCE!"
"Oh for fucks sake." Tobin muttered, pushing past the crowd, looked like two fine and one over the table, he took the bottle. Handsome guy, looked like a bit of an asshole though. Not as handsome as the dwarf himself, he had to say, smiling. She managed to put up a decent fight, up until one cheated with a chair. Tobin sucked air through his teeth when he saw that little maneuver, still not taking action like the passive waste he was. He figured he'd jump in when things got too bad.
It was when she got into the choke hold that Tobin stepped up, pulling out his pistol and reverse gripping. Shooting was not an option, but he had another idea. He whistled as he approached, getting behind the man. Good of him to be too focused in the choking to notice him wind back his arm, and swing forward with all his might.
A loud SMACK filled the air for a second, as the pistol butt connected with the back of the man's knee, bending him over backwards, he even obliged to let the little lady go. Tobin holstered his pistol with one hand, using his free to grab him by the neck and sweep his legs, bringing him down to the floor. Hard. He dropped his pistol to the ground, though, but didn't really care. To finish the man off for now, he merely stomped on his face, making a sickening crack as he felt his nose break underneath his boot. He wiped off his boot on the floor, guy looked unconscious or wished he was. He bent over, picking it up as he began talking to the surprised last man standing.
"Right, two of us versus one of you, Slap-Happy... Maybe 1 and a half. Don't make me up my body count."
Ruffles looked up. "White guy? Has a line down his face like this?" Ruffles ran a finger down his fact from his forehead to his chin, perfectly centered." If you ever seen him shirtless, has uh... tally charts up his arms and a game of Xs and Os on his back? Real name's Dale Duncan, apparently." With that, he returned to his radio.
"Hey butt-head, answer me. I'm talking to you. If you guys are just sat around sucking each other's dicks over there, I'mma be pissed."
Sprout spent a good, long while in the bathroom. After standing in front of the toilet for a few minutes he found himself on his knees, vomiting into a bowl of his urine. He really was a lightweight. Needless to say he was a tad distracted while things got loud and bloody outside. As he began washing his face off in front of the bathroom mirror he heard the cheers and cries of an excited crowd. What could be happening out there? He slapped his face a bit in an attempt to sober himself up and found he'd already managed to puke most of the delirium out of his system. Another wave of cheers rang through the brothel as he stepped out of the bathroom.
A large crowd was gathered around the center of the room. Instinctively, Sprout shot a glance over at the bar and noticed Lilith wasn't there. Then he noticed the barmaid's expression.
Fuck!
Sprout sprinted across the brothel and pushed his way through the crowd to find two unconscious men on the floor alongside a badly beaten Lilith, "LILY! What---"
"Right, two of us versus one of you, Slap-Happy... Maybe 1 and a half. Don't make me up my body count."
The dwarf had apparently made a move, though Sprout wasn't quite sure which victory was his. A third man, likely in league with others, stood his ground, "I ain't steppin' off against no fuckn' midget!"
Before Sprout could butt in the doors swung open and two large, rugged men rushed in, "The fuck is going on in here?!" The pair stood no more than a meter from Lilith and stared down at the aftermath of the bout, utter shock painted on their faces. "Jack," One of them looked to the third man, opposite Tobin. "What the fuck happened?"
Jack, trembling, shook his head, "It was that ***** and the midget! They fuckn' jumped us!"
*****?
Though he appeared calm on the outside, something deep within Sprout sparked to life. Something primal. Something dangerous. And it spread like wildfire, "You're telln' me some fuckn' ***** and a dwarf took them out?!"
"Yeah, fuck man! That's what happened! That fuckn't *****---"
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" The bar went dead silent as every eye in the room found their way to Sprout. Walking past Tobin, he stood between Lilith and the two newcomers. "DON' YOU FUCKN' CALL 'ER A ***** AGAIN!"
The silence hung in the air awhile longer, but was suddenly broken by the combined laughter of the two men, "You fuckn' kidding me with that?! You're just some stupid punk! Go home 'n suck your mommy's titty. I bet the ***** misses you somethin' fierce!"
The other man smirked, "Yeah, she wouldn't wanna have 'er kid witness what we're 'bout to do to this ***** here! She's gonna be nice n' sore after---"
Three teeth shot across the room, embedding themselves deep within the wood bar as Sprout's fist collided with the man's jaw. The second man reeled back in shock as his friend was lifted off his feet and sent crashing against the far wall. Sprout wasn't particularly strong, but he knew how to fight thanks in no small part to the woman who raised him.
Sprout stomped down after the blow, and dropped into a judo stance. These men had at least 50 pounds or more on him. Catching them off balance was the key. Not moving from his position, the man opposite Sprout looked to his friend slumped on the ground, "GET YOUR ASS BACK UP! WE CAN'T LET THIS LIL' SHIT INSULT US LIKE THIS! YOU," He shouted, looking to the man he previously called Jack. "Put the little man down. The kid's mine!"
Without wasting another moment, the man lunged forward in an attempt to overwhelm Sprout with his superior mass. Poor decision. If he had had any martial discipline he'd know not to rush headlong into a stance such as that. Sprout did little more than sweep his foot across the floor, catching the man's ankle as he closed the gap between them. Caught off-balance, the man staggered forward opening himself up for a counter attack. In one fluid, swift motion, with his other foot, Sprout stepped forward and shot his elbow out, meeting the man's nose halfway.
A tremendous crack boomed from the man's face as he was sent toppling backwards onto a nearby table, flipping it on its side. Despite the force of the blow, Sprout knew the man had enough rage within him to brush off the pain. He wouldn't give him that chance however. The crowd cheered louder than ever as Sprout closed the gap between them, kneeing him in the ribs while he struggled to get to his feet. Reeling backwards from the force of the blow, the man found himself pinned against the wall with Sprout's hand wrapped around his neck. Disoriented and grasping frantically at his hands, he could have easily broken the grapple given enough time. He had superior reach and strength.
Sprout wouldn't give him the time he needed, however. A savage, fast punch hit him like a bullet in the cheek. And then another, and another, and another, until finally the man's arms went limp at his sides. Sprout dropped him to the ground and looked at his bloodied, broken hands. He'd nearly broken them on the man's face.
"LOOK OUT!" The barmaid called out.
Sprout caught a glance of another attacker in his periphery. The man he'd downed earlier was on his feet once more and charging at him with a knife. With precise timing, Sprout spun around, grabbing the man's forearm before he could land the blow. The man's own momentum was used against him as Sprout shot his elbow out once more, this time slamming against the man's throat. The collision swept him off his feet. His head hit the ground hard. Sprout could swear he heard a crack. It was hard to tell over the sound of the cheering crowd.
Content with the knowledge neither men would be getting up anytime soon, Sprout walked over to Lilith and started lifting her off the ground. Propping her up on his shoulder he whispered, "It's okay, Lily. I gotcha."
Tobin felt his eye twitch with rage, this guy couldn't be asking for it any fucking harder. He took off his coat and hat, throwing them to the crowd for now. He smirked as he dropped into a fighting stance, this was NOT his specialty. He felt the pistol bounce on his hip as he practiced footwork, he could just sort of end it right away if he wanted to. But, that was a bad idea, he knew in his heart of hearts.
"The fuck is going on in here?!"
More of the dipshit brigade barged in, looking about as meat headish as the ones they had just taken down. The dwarf sighed, one was risky, 3 was fucking suicide. Tobin reached for his revolver, he'd end this if they tried to gang up on em.
"Jack, what the fuck happened?"
'And now I know his name.' Tobin sighed, that made murder hard. They went into intense dialogue as Tobin took it out of it's nice leather holster, checking the ammo. Wasn't smart enough to load it with rubber bullets, of fucking course. This would end poorly-
"THAT'S ENOUGH! DON' YOU FUCKN' CALL 'ER A ***** AGAIN!"
'Damn, kid.' Tobin thought the kid was full of fire right then, but it seemed the thugs didn't quite catch that. They tried to let their bark do the biting, but Sprout managed to impress Tobin again, connecting fist to jaw. He almost took the guy the fuck out, it looked like. Alas, they had a brawl on their hands...
"Put the little man down. The kid's mine!"
"Rawr." Tobin said, grinning. One on one again, and now Tobin had a weapon. He flipped it, ready to start pistol whipping at a moments notice. Jack looked a bit apprehensive, more paying attention to the kid and his fights. Tobin couldn't blame him, kid WAS full of fire, and he burned those thickies. Tobin backed up a few steps, moving in front of a pillar. Jack snapped to attention, charging the dwarf.
Tobin kept up appearance, moving out of the way of the pillar at the last second. Jack followed, tackling the dwarf to the ground with a grunt.
'Fuck.' Tobin thought, simply. He had no idea why he thought that'd work, honestly, but it was worth a shot. Jack pinned him to the ground with a knee to the chest, and punched him upside the head. He saw stars, and was hit jerking his head to the left, he could feel the bruise being made. He quickly moved his arm to block the next one, using his other to pistol whip the man on the thigh. He yelped in pain, and Tobin swung back for another one, in the ribs. He heard a smack, but not a crack as he rolled off in pain.
He took a few desperate gasps of air as he rolled to his front, keeping his eyes on Jack. He must've hit him in the lungs. He took the chance to lunge at him, pistol first as it connected with the bigger mans temple. He crumpled to the floor. Tobin lifted him up by the shirt, and gave a quick right cross to his cheek to make him stay that way.
"Alright... alright, I'm fucking done here." He looked around, most were watching Sprout fight the two men, and win. Still, a few cheered for Tobin, and tossed him his effects back. He nodded a quick nod of appreciation, donning his hat and draping his coat over himself.
Lilith's vision began to grow fuzzy as the choke hold began to take it's toll, she clawed at the man's arm with her right hand, her left hang loosely by her side.
Gasping for air, her vision began to darken, and for a brief few moments, she passed out. Then as if all the blood in her body suddenly rushed to her head, she roused, taking a huge breath, she coughed and sputtered, falling to her knees.
Disorientated, she glanced behind to see... was that a dwarf stamping on the handsome man's face? Lilith laughed in amazement, wincing slightly. What was his name again? Tobin? As Tobin stood beside Lilith, she nodded at him appreciatively.
"Right, two of us versus one of you, Slap-Happy... Maybe 1 and a half. Don't make me up my body count."
Lilith managed to get to her feet, she grinned through clenched teeth. "Hell yeah." She muttered enthusiastically.
"LILY! What---"
"Axel?" She whispered, the vigour falling from her expression slightly. A Familiar face pushed its way to the front of the crowd of spectators. Gritting her teeth, Lilith forced her gaze away, no, she couldn't see him, not if she wanted to keep fighting, and boy did she want to keep fighting.
"I ain't steppin' off against no fuckn' midget!" Lilith grinned, "Judging by Mr Handsome there, he's gonna be the one steppin' off of you!" She clenched her fist, her eyes burning.
'I'm gonna fuck you up so much.'
Just then, two huge men came rushing into the bar.
Lilith laughed nervously. "Hah, okay, I've changed my mind." She whispered to herself. Things looked like they could very ugly, very quickly. They appeared to know the men involved, as they began questioning the last one standing.
"Yeah, fuck man! That's what happened! That fuckn't *****---"
Lilith felt sick to her stomach as she heard a familiar voice echo throughout the room.
"DON' YOU FUCKN' CALL 'ER A ***** AGAIN!"
Concern replaced Lilith's smirk as the boy rushed to stand between her and the two huge goons.
"You fuckn' kidding me with that?! You're just some stupid punk! Go home 'n suck your mommy's titty. I bet the ***** misses you somethin' fierce!"
Then for some strange reason, Lilith felt herself smiling again.
'Did he just call Meredith a *****?
From that angle, she could just see the side of the boy's face, see the look in his eyes, she could almost see the fire ignite in them.
'Bad move tough guy, very bad move.'
"Yeah, she wouldn't wanna have 'er kid witness what we're 'bout to do to this ***** here! She's gonna be nice n' sore after---"
And just like that, the man might as well have signed his own ass whooping. The boy rushed forward and commenced a serious beatdown. Lilith watched in awe as the boy dispatched two men, two men easily a third heavier than him. She glanced at Tobin as he commenced his own little beatdown. Lilith grinned, returning her attention to Sprout, mimicking his moves with her good hand, sound effects and all. She breathed in through gritted teeth at one particularly nasty blow.
"Oooooh, ouch!" She proclaimed, laughing.
Her heart almost stopped when the second goon produced a knife, "No, no, no, that's not fa-" Her worries were ill-founded it seemed, as Sprout flipped the man over like he was nothing.
"DID YOU FUCKING SEE THAT?!" Lilith shouted at the unconscious handsome man by her feet, kicking him hard in the side. Feeling light-headed, Lilith let herself fall onto her arse. "Wooo!" She fell gently onto her back, kicking her feet in the air and punching the air with right hand. She breathed heavily, glancing to her side as Tobin wrapped up his little skirmish. Grinning like it was nobody's business, Lilith let loose a satisfied sigh, propping herself up with her arm as Sprout approached, helping her to her feet.
"It's okay, Lily. I gotcha."
"Do you know what you just did?!" She hooked her good arm around his shoulder, bumping her head playfully against his. She released the boy, and took hold of his mouth tightly between her fingers, squishing his cheeks as she pulled his head to face her. "Do you even know?!" Lilith couldn't believe it, she just watched a fifteen year old boy destroy two fully grown men. And a dwarf! There was a dwarf too!
Lilith's face beamed with excitement, she hadn't felt this good in a long time, her smile was the real deal. "You just Pixie'd those wankers!" She clenched her teeth, shaking the boy's face "Oh god I could kiss you!" The boy's eyes lit up instantly. "But I won't! Because fuck you, that's why, woo!" She released the boy's face and gently tapped his cheek.
There was a fighting dwarf! She couldn't believe it!
Austin pulled a radio out from his robe. "Oliver!"
The reply was muffled with gunfire, "Yes dad!"
"I'm going to split up my group, keep the youngest at the back these pretenders are animals!" Austin spat out. "They don't care abou-"
"I know I know they've already killed so many of my brothers and sisters!" Oliver replied in a panicked tone.
Austin breathed out trying to hold back his emotions. 'Hold it together, be strong for them.' "Kill whoever's fighting you and send the youngest back to the hangar, its safe there."
"Yes father." Replied Oliver as he continued his firefight.
Austin stomped his way through the ship as he sent out his eldest to run on ahead, keeping the youngest behind them while he stayed at the back, he needed to survive above all. The world would be lost without their father. Suddenly he heard fighting up ahead and he charged up to meet them.
=========================================
Hannibal listened to the bounty hunter, sighing in relief as he heard she didn't know about an explosion. 'That makes things easier.' "Yes... yes it does. Um, for the bomb well I... After I was arrested in Fyrestone McGregor told me that since I would probably be released before him that I had to finish the bomb. I didn't want to but he said if I didn't he and the gundersons would kill me." He stopped a moment to catch his breath. "So I, I, I ran all the way here to find his labatory," he didn't know how to say that word, "and I tried to finish it. I don't know how long I was there for, a few days at least. I had no idea what I was doing and I didn't even want to do it but I didn't want to die." He then breathed in deeply as the next sentence he said had absolutely no pauses, speaking as fast as he could. "The lab was in one of those buildings with small garage storage thingys and gangsters took over and turned pretty much all of them except the one I was in into a drug lab and I couldn't leave cos they'd kill me and I had only dirty food to eat and I was breathing fumes from the bomb and then one of the Gunderson brothers came in, I didn't know his name, and his men were fighting the gangsters and he found me and beat me up and was going to kill me and he said he killed McGregor for some reason then a grenade was thrown in and blew up the bomb which then blew up a drug lab and another and another and another and another and another and I ran away and I think they all died and-" Hannibal had to stop as he had no breath left in his lungs. He realised this was probably incredibly hard to follow (and harder even still to read) but he had to get all his words out. It was here he realised he was sat up and hunched over, he got a little bit excited.
"Um... I know you probably want to kick my head in but, could I just have some water please? I haven't drank in about a day."
Sprout lit up for a moment at the prospect of getting a victory kiss, but his hopes were dashed away in short order, even before Lilith had said anything. He knew better by now.
"But I won't! Because fuck you, that's why, woo!"
Sprout rolled his eyes and offered a halfhearted laugh before shooting her a stern look, "Enough joken' 'round, Lily. Laugh too hard 'n ya' might open up yer stitches again. Ya' need ta' take it easy 'n rest now." He explained as he guided her to the stairs, the crowd still cheering.
The barmaid approached them before they ascended to the second floor, "Is she okay? I've got---"
"No, sorry, but I reckon we're fine. Just... keep people away from the room, alright?" He gave her a worried grin. She nodded and let them pass without further delay. It was a hassle getting her up the stairs and he practically dropped her on the bed as they entered the room. Exhausted, Sprout slumped down onto the floor, allowing his neck to go limp. Resting the back of his head on the bed he looked at Lilith in upside-down vision. "Need ice 'er somethin'?"
Rodrigo's eyes went wild. Without a moment's hesitation he drew his sidearm and fired at Silo. The bullet buried itself deep into his kneecap. Silo's calm demeanor shattered as he screamed out in pain. Rodrigo adjusted his aim, now pointing at his head. His eyes on Aesop the whole time, he spoke to his subordinates. "Clean the wound. As soon as he's stable we'll start this again." He grinned at Aesop. "I expect they'll be more cooperative next time."
Rodrigo stormed out of the room as a few men fell in on Silo, tending to his wound. Two banditos--including the large, scary one that had been guarding Aesop all night--threw Aesop down to the floor and started savagely kicking him in the ribs. A mild bandito punishment for his slander.
Elizabeth couldn't believe what she was hearing. Florian was willing to work with his enemy? Was this "Father Austin" really that much of a threat?
"Stay close to me."
Doing as instructed, against her better judgement, she followed close behind and berated her supposed savior, "Wait, hold on! What's going on!? Who are you working for and where are---"
"Kids to this guy means anybody under thirty. Still plenty of guys I ain't got no problem killing, but lots of people I--"
Kids? Wait, what?
As if by providence, the obvious answer to her question was laid out before her. They'd crossed paths with a child soldier. One look into his depraved, desperate eyes told her he was nothing like the boy she'd seen earlier. There was something entirely different behind those eyes. The Captain's son was no monster. Not like this boy.
Thankfully, Eddie chose to subdue him in a nonlethal manner. She wasn't sure she could stomach seeing a child cut-down in front of her eyes. Content with his defeat, Eddie moved forward with Florian and Elizabeth in tow. As they descended the stairs to reach the hangar the sound of battle became deafening. Rounding a corner, they came upon a grizzly sight. A whole hall filled with fresh corpses. Those of children.
Elizabeth clutched her mouth in an effort to muffle a scream that never came. There were no words... no sounds she could make to describe the despair she'd lost herself in. This was evil. Pure and simple. And then it dawned on her... this was a common site among the ghettos of her own home. This was the fate of those less fortunate.
Had she the time she would have crumpled to her knees and cried her eyes out. Sadly, they had enemies and they were closing in fast. Trembling, Elizabeth only managed to mutter the words, "It-It's not fair...."
"Oh please sir!I-I shouldn't be a bother I know, but please help me! I'm all alone, and if he finds me again I don-I..."
Richards' eyes went wide as he clutched her arms and briefly examined her injuries, "C-calm down, calm down, it's okay. You're safe now! No one's going to get you!"
One of his escorts stepped forward placing a hand on her shoulder, "Ma'am you need to---"
"Back off, you'll scare her!" The young, drunk doctor interjected.
"But, sir... we have strict orders to---"
"Fuck your orders!" Richards was steaming. Already worked up by the prospect of someone hurting this poor woman, his escort's efforts to do his job only amplified his rage. "You're dismissed! Both of you!"
The two escorts exchanged frustrated looks, "Fuck this, let's get a drink."
Once the two men had disappeared down the street Richards led the woman into the limousine. Producing a glass of water, he handed it to her and began wiping the blood from her lip with a handkerchief, "Please, drink. Tell me what happened."
"'Bout time," Pixie remarked as she put out her cigar and glanced around the room one last time. "If I had ta' spend another second shootn' shit with this lot I'd'a blow my own head off." Pixie managed to catch Amy's eye one last time before she disappeared into the crowd. Compared to her, Pixie's job would be a walk in the park. She didn't have time to pity the girl however, she had a job to do.
Upon exiting the main hall she followed a series of twisting hallways, sure to creep under the scope of any and all cameras outside of the lobby. Despite her loud and blunt demeanor, Pixie could be shockingly sly and subtle when she wanted to. This was her gig before her bandit days. Solo thievery. No support network to speak of. Getting caught usually meant death or worse, so she got good at keeping under the radar.
Normally the staff would take an elevator down to the basement, but that clearly wasn't an option for Pixie. Having committed the building layout to memory, however, Pixie was able to figure out alternative routes on the fly. Weaving in and out of the paths of security personnel and cameras she eventually found her way to a trapdoor inside a maintenance closet.
Unfortunately the door was locked and she didn't have the key.
Electric lock... pick won't do any good... oh well...
Pixie glanced around the hall one last time before retrieving a six-inch crowbar from her purse. Wedging it under the panel, she planted her heeled foot on the wall pulled with all her might. Seconds later, one of the screws loosened. Placing the crowbar back in her purse, she retrieved a lighter and placed it underneath the gap she'd made between the panel and the door-frame. With a simple flick of her thumb flames burst violently from the lighter like a cutting torch.
Fuckn' love ya', Gents.
After holding it for a few seconds she began jiggling the door handle until it gave in. Pixie snickered as she placed the lighter back into her purse and snuck into the maintenance closet and climbed down the trapdoor into the basement. It was dimly lit, but Pixie knew the layout enough to figure out where she was and where she had to go. Eventually she came upon her target: the power junction. The panel was enormous and once she'd opened it up she easily understood why. There were a lot of wires.
Pulling the manual from her purse, she flipped to the bookmarked page to ensure she knew what wire to cut, "Blue, blue, blue... ah! There ya' are!" Before she could cut the wire, however, she heard footsteps approaching her from behind. They were close. Pixie scrambled past the junction and hid behind a nearby pipe as a lone worker approached the panel.
"W-what the fuck?" He questioned, looking over the junction. Pixie studied him closely. As he fingered his radio, ready to call it in, Pixie lunged out from behind the pipe with a lightning fast right hook, fracturing his jaw on impact. The worker staggered backwards and tripped over a crate against the wall. As he fought to regain his sense, Pixie closed in and delivered another savage punch to his forehead, knocking him out cold.
"Don' reckon y'all get paid enough fer this, eh?" She mused, cracking her knuckles as she admired her work. She produced a syringe from her purse and injected it into the man's neck. "Sleep tight." After hiding his unconscious body behind a pile of crate, she proceeded to cut the wire and head out the way she came. Before too long she'd appeared in the main hall once more, looking as if she'd done little more than leave to powder her nose.
Catching the Gentleman's eye from across the room she venture over to him and whispered, "Too easy."
"Enough joken' 'round, Lily. Laugh too hard 'n ya' might open up yer stitches again. Ya' need ta' take it easy 'n rest now."
The kid was right, but she was buzzing with so much adrenaline, she couldn't stand still. As they left the bar, Lilith wouldn't stop to breathe, "...And then you were like KABOOM!" like a giddy schoolboy she continued to regail the kid's brawl "...Then when he pulled the knife, I was like 'SHIET!' But you were all like 'NOT TODAY!' and he was like 'ARGGHH!'"
Lilith carried on like this until she was sprawled on the bed, her cheeks flushed, she rested her good arm over her eyes. "Oh man, this is the best day ever."
Lilith sat up, wincing slightly. She looked down at her wine spattered shirt, "Ah shit, I really like this shirt too!" with one hand she awkwardly fastened the button she had undone earlier, she was a lady after all.
"Need ice 'er somethin'?"
She looked down at the boy's concerned face, and with a genuine smile, she rolled onto her front, squeaking with exertion as she tried not to catch her arm. Shuffling forward on the bed, she rested her forehead against his upside down head. "Tissss! I don't need ice when I got you around." She giggled as she rested her good hand on his shoulder.
"We're gonna be okay, I know that now." The kid had proven himself, more than she could have ever hoped, he was becoming more and more like his mother everyday. Lilith didn't feel like she was taking care of a kid any more, she didn't feel like she taking care of him at all, he didn't need to be cared for.
"Wait 'till the guys back home hear this, Jesus, Ruffles is gonna lose his shit!" Sprout hadn't seen her this excited and cheerful in a long time.
Her left arm hurt like hell, she had a throbbing headache, do doubt they'd get kicked out of the brothel, they had nowhere to go, and had no clue what to do, but none of that mattered, they'd figure it out. Both of them.
Lilith perked up as she heard a knock at the door, Sprout held out a hand as he got to his feet, signalling for her to stay put.
"It's me! From the bar! Er, miss, I have your things here!" Sprout opened the door revealing the barmaid from earlier, a shy smile on her face. Held in her hands were Lilith's holster and her cigarette tin, with the lighter and twin cherries on top.
"You guys, wow, that was amazing!"
Lilith grinned, "It was all the kid here, boy's a gorram machine!"
"Yes... yes it does. Um, for the bomb well I... After I was arrested in Fyrestone McGregor told me that since I would probably be released before him that I had to finish the bomb. I didn't want to but he said if I didn't he and the Gunderson's would kill me." Hannibal said, speaking at what seemed like 50 miles an hour or so, luckily he stopped a moment to catch his breath.
"So I, I, I ran all the way here to find his labatory." 'Was he trying to say laboratory?' Viola asked herself as she let Hannibal continue. He went on to say that the laboratory was stored in what amounted to a garage storage unit, and later some gangsters came over to turn nearly all but his into a drug lab, and that they would have killed him if he left.
All in all, the situation for Hannibal over the last few days was rather grim, having to live in squalor, and almost being killed several times. To think, all this came about because of Viola stepping in to save someone; her being indirectly responsible.
Did she feel sorry for those that died in the explosion? Hell no, they were drug makers/dealers, along with a few Bandits thrown in the mix, if they had been allowed to go on their way, who knows what might have happened.
"Um... I know you probably want to kick my head in but, could I just have some water please? I haven't drank in about a day." Hannibal soon asked after slowing down, with him now sitting up and in a rather hunched over position. Viola thought about the request for a moment, before standing up.
"Sure, won't be a moment. Don't go rooting about in my things, some of it is rather personal." Viola said, speaking in a rather terse manner as she went over to the small bathroom, grabbing a cup along the way. A moment later, the sounds of water running could be heard. Whilst in the bathroom, Viola removed the hairband that kept her hair in place, allowing it to fall loose.
Her mother always said that Viola looked more beautiful when she wore her hair loose, and asked why she wore it in a ponytail, to which Viola always replied; "Helps keep it out of the way, doesn't get in my face so often like this." A minute or so later, Viola stepped out of the bathroom, and walked back over to Hannibal, handing him the cup of water as she sat back down, this time the right way around.
"There you go Hannibal, drink up." She said, even somehow managing to show a small smile.
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