RP: Bastardpiece Theater [Bastardpiece Theater] Act I: First Steps

A new entry's personal introduction to Dex garnered an are you fucking kidding me reaction from the pharmacist in the form of a silent face palm. When the bikers started up, both his hands found his head and cradled it. "Oh fuck off," Dick muttered to himself, noting he may need to worry about a weapon soon.

Once Amy interjected, he was already resigning himself to having to fight; but when the bikers only got worse he looked up at her as an inquiry to if that was her best plan. "Kayla's going to kill me if this fuckfest doesn't," Dick thought to himself, "and I haven't even had a damn drink yet. What is this world coming to?"

The chemist started running through cenarios on how many more of the dirtbags present may join in when mercs joined in. "Note to self," he thought as his eyes rolled, "Get your hands on a non-monogrammed pistol for meeting fuckups like this." Dick stood up waiting for the the fight to actually start when the Delsaurian hustled them out - a move he was glad to have an excuse to do.

The pharmacist was however, not so impressed with being called bottom of the barrel; but since the lizard got them out of that tight situation and seemed to be their contact, he was willing to let it go. "Call me Sarin," he responded to Nacon's introduction, "Sounds like we won't be missed."

The events unfolded and the little Delsauiran had it under control before the marine could even reach to his belt for his knife. As the three of them sat in the back and the sounds of the ensuing brawl could be heard. "Pleasure to meet you. Name's Dex." Replyed the man while he hunted down another cigarette from his pocket. "Was that charmer in there one of yours?" He asked the Delsaurian with a curious glance.

"I aplogise, I am late."

Fian mumbled his excuse as he showed up at the door, pulled out a chair and sat down at the conversation table in one motion. The mid-twenties black haired Nepleslian wore a form fitting grey T-Shirt, a dark orange jacket wrapped around his waist and brown cargoes and shoes. His boyish looks was on the wane from age and the exposure from the fires of war and the ice of a backwater planet that warranted a garrison, and like other many things, he couldnt care less about.

Fian assumed that if the organization that sent him the invitation was here, then there is already a net excess of caution and sneakiness that the Vel Steyr rectified by being the least subtle about his entry. Besides, judging from the various characters of the people he was now sharing the table with, that organization was recruiting people based on a varied skillset instead of simply being sneaky. It is very hard to be sneaky in a multi-ton 8 foot tall walking suit of metal.

That is him, a Power Armor pilot, currently sans-Power Armor. It is the first and last thing he knows, even if he doesnt know what to do with the rest of his life, or why did he decide to show up for this somewhat dubious offer.

"Mr. Vel Steyr, veteran PA Pilot at your service." Fian announced himself, confidently. "Are we all waiting for someone?"

"It was nice to meet you too Amy! Don't feel bad about it if you do though - I've had worse first meetings in my life, believe me," the little Delsaurian explained, resting his scaly hands on his belly. "First time I met Nepleslians, they were doing strafing runs on our village," he went on to say, chuckling at the memory.

Despite the suddenly sharp, dark turn in topic, his good mood kept right on up however. Nacon was already heading away towards one of the cars in the back lot of the bar as he talked away with the group of humans. "Sarin?" the Delsaurian asked Dick, stopping to turn and look at the man, head cocked to the side in curiosity. It was only for a moment he paused in what looked like adorable confusion, but his upbeat attitude went right on. "Sure thing boss! I'll go ahead and call you that then Dick!"

"Not my problem if someone isn't happy they get you passed over to them instead of the capsules, nope!" he kept on waddling along. Nacon started to answer Dex with a shrug. "Eh, he'll likely be the guy leading our little mercenary group, though, we're expec - ah! There he is!" the Delsaurian smiled, gesturing towards the new arrival. "Just expecting you really - there might be others, but I don't think they're interested in the merc business as much as they thought they were." As he finished speaking for a brief moment, Nacon then frowned as his green eyes took Fian in.

"Huh. That's strange," the Delsaurian remarked, rubbing a scaly chin with a free hand. "If I didn't know better...I'd say he's considered good looking by human standards. Very." He shrugged. "Oh well - if we're using code names like our friend here - " Nacon gestured to Dick, "I'll call you 'Pretty Boy' I think." Looking up and to the side, he went deeper into thought however. "Or maybe that Yamataian word for it instead...nnnnnope! Can't remember right now!"

Reaching into his pocket, the Delsaurian pulled out a set of keys and walked right up to what had to be the cheapest car possible. "Sudden deathmatch for shotgun anyone?" he asked with an open, sharp toothed smile.

Amy regarded the newcomer. The nickname was certainly appropriate- she had to admit that he wasn't hard to look at- but a pretty face didn't necessarily mean he was a good pilot. Well, at least he wasn't starting barfights she thought with some self-depreciation.

"Welcome, Mister Vel Steyr" she greeted, the formal sounding name leaving something of a bad taste in her mouth; it felt like chewing on plastic. "Or Pretty Boy, as the case may be" she grinned a little, much preferring the nick name. "Don't worry too much about being late. The only thing you missed was the start of a that racket" she thumbed behind her at the sound of the loud altercation, a loud sound of crashing glass and a thump on the door punctuating the gesture nicely.

"I'm Amy. The big guy with the square jaw over there is Dick, or Sarin or whatever. The bigger guy is Dex, and I'm not quite sure who the third one is, just that he doesn't seem to like being looked at funny" she motioned towards Kurt.

With introductions mostly out of the way, she looked at the car and then at the others. "If you boys want to fight it out for the front seat, go for it. I'm fine in the back."

"I figured I had to think of something," Dick replied to the Delsaurian over his choice of moniker, "I wasn't sure how much people needed to know, so I opted for less since it's easier to give than to take." When the ex-marine came up as the likely leader, he relaxed a little until the loud one showed up.

Dick grinned at Nacon's choice for Fian, debating whether or not to mention it; but when the cheep car was presented he could only shake his head. "Speaking of Yammie," the pharmacist trailed off recognizing the branding. He had heard about the company, how they were setting up subsidiaries and shops everywhere they could. The variety of products they were coming out with also put them on his radar to see if medication were a section of their offerings, just in case he needed to order in some to remain competitive.

"This thing is going to get cramped quickly," he sighed after Amy indicated her preference, "Though, having narrowly avoided one fight, I'm not too keen on another so soon." Dick then looked around at everyone, trying to get a sense of what arrangement would not be as precarious. Another sigh came as he realized this would be much tougher, until he got back to Fian. "By the way Nacon," the pharmacist grimaced, still in thought, "the word you were looking for is bishounen."

"Very funny." Fian 'Pretty boy Bishonen' Vel Steyr replied sarcastically as he followed the group to the car park lot.

Fian swore that he has seen single occupant PAs larger than this car before. He'd fight for the front seat if he didn't know these people but,thanks to Amy, now he do. Either way, nobody was voluntieering for shotgun either, contrary to Nacon's expectations. Between seizing the oppurtunity and staying with the herd, as usual Fian picked option C, something that furthered the agenda for the common good.

"I presume we will have to put the biggest guy, Dex, in the front to maximize the amount of space in the back. And considering none of us are ID-Sols, I think we can squeeze three on the seats. The last person will have to sit on a lap." He then discreetly put one hand on one of the back door handles, just so he would be gauranteed a seating spot, he had lost enough masculinity for one day already.

"Pleasure to meet you, Fian. Always good to see another marine." replied Dex with a chuckle as he took a heavy drag from his cigarette. Seeing the car, he shook his head in disbelief. 'How the bloody hell do they expect to get all of us in this fucker?' thought the man. Almost as if Fian had read his mind, a plan for how to get everyone in the vehicle came to fruition. Another could of smoke filled the air as a chuckle escaped Dex's lips. "A gentlemen in a merc den. Can never go wrong there." joked the man. Dex had been observing them all since he had arrived. Fian had the air of authority about him. 'Probably an NCO. Maybe a chief.' thought the man before shrugging to himself.

"We should probably get moving. I'm sure we have something important to be doing." he finally said as he waited for the others to embark the vehicle.

"Alright Pretty Boy, quit your stalling and get in the car." She opened the door. "I don't much fancy taking the chance and ending up with one of you six foot burly men sitting on top of me, so we're about to get to know each much better, Pretty boy."

She opened the car door Vel Steyr was leaning on and waited for him to climb in before sliding in over top of him. More bothered by being forced to lean over to not hit her head on the ceiling than the sudden close personal contact, she shifted, trying to find a comfortable spot. She poked her head out of the car and called out.

"You guys going to get in? If you don't hurry up, I might have to start expecting tips."

Dick smirked at Amy's initiative and waited while the she and Fian got into place. "Coming right up," he replied flatly as he made his way around to the open door and got in. Once situated, the pharmacist gave an apologetic grimace to the power armor pilot for squishing him in some, then called out, "Ok, next!"

After the others had climbed into the car, Dex flipped the seat back and pulled himself into the small vehicle. Continuing to puff on his cigarette, the marine kept an eye out around the transportation for anything that seemed out of the ordinary.

The Delsaurian tunelessly hummed to himself as he reached into his pocket for the keys, the humans with him idly chattering amongst themselves.

It wasn't until Nacon clambered up onto a stack of phonebooks and cushion, sticking his tail through a crudely cut out hole in the seat, that he gawked at what he was hearing. Quickly turning his head around, a single reptilian eye looked over his shoulder at the group, darting in between them all - he quickly rapped a claw against the taunt, paper thin durandium roof to catch their attention. "Hold on, I thought we only have 4 of you humans?" He asked. Worried, Nacon went on, "Unless you Nepleslians can turn invisible like a sand lion, my eyes must be going bad or something!"

The truth was, though Kurt was still very fresh in their memories, he wasn't there.

Turning back to make sure the rear view mirror was just right, he went on, "No big deal - I would have just had one of you be in the trunk like a corpse instead," the lizard remarked. "Always a little drama when Nepleslians have to sit on each other - even more when Yamataians involved." He finally shut the driver's door and slipped the keys in as everyone else got seated. "Drama often leads to fighting - that's really, really bad for a flimsy, cheaply made economy car," the Delsaurian lectured them, wagging a scaly finger at his passengers. Turning the keys at last, the car came to life!

And sounded utterly pathetic for a car.

In moments however, they all left the seemingly underground bar and went up a cement ramp - right into a dark, gloomy but busy street. Cars of all makes and models, including low floating hover vehicles and even somebody's APC, all cruised alongside as Nacon gunned the puny 2-stroke engine of his Coupe. Meanwhile, higher above them in the smog choked skies, various high flying hover cars and even the occasional small fighter craft or air-bike busily went about business.

Even as gunfire erupted in the gloomy heavens above - a fly by shooting catastrophically ended as the gangsters were shot back at. Their pimped out hover car was riddled with bullets before careening out of control before smashing into one of the sharply jutting sections of the neon lit mega structure known as...

Funky City!

Nacon kept right on happily driving as though nothing happened, going so far as to activate the window wipers and fluid to clean off the fresh ash and bits that sprinkled down onto them from high above. A faint 'tink-tink' could be heard as grit peppered the paper thin roof. "Great, I'm tempted to wash it again," Nacon noted, grinning as though it were a joke.

Police sirens quickly faded off into the distance as he turned off the main street and hit one of several smaller branching ones, finally ending up in front of a rather dingy looking apartment. The Delsaurian brought it to a rest here, attracting the hard stares of a few of the seedy, dour residents that loitered about - he quickly remedied this by raising a three fingered fist and sticking out the second digit. Needless to say, they looked away or bugged out.

Turning back and around in his seat, Nacon looked at them all, "Now, is there anybody here not interested in getting in on this mercenary gig?" he asked seriously. "There's lots of cash involved, especially now that the war's tide has turned, but still plenty of danger - if you want out, between now and when we go into my apartment is when you got to say so," he explained, opening the door and hopping out.

"So, any takers?" the little Delsaurian eagerly asked, rubbing his scaly hands together.

Amy facepalmed at Nacon's observation and at the sudden movement of the car after the observation.

"Alright, sorry Prettyboy, but that's enough of that." she slid over him and into the adjacent seat while the Delsaurian carried on with his eerily cheerful explanations. She finished and looked up in time to see the sign for Funky City.

Home sweet home, she thought idly as the debris cloud from the shootout rained on them. She didn't expect her old crew to be a problem- the city was massive afterall- but she did make a mental note to keep on her guard in case Nacon inadvertently took them into their territory. She wasn't too worried about it though as in criminal underworld of Nepelesia, her former associates were at best small fry who had been lucky to pass under the radar of larger organizations for such an unusually long time.

She looked around, trying to see past the two men seated beside her. From what she could see of the outside, it was a familiar environment. Run-down buildings, a mix of both predatory and desperate looks on the people, this was home to her.

Of course, not literally, there were hundreds of slums like this across the city of varying degrees of destitution, but that was part of the reason why she was here: to leave them.

"Not a chance."

Dick moved over so that Amy could get a seat, though the gee forces were a little fun at first. The gunfire wasn't as much of a problem for him, though he flinched a little at the explosion then rolled his eyes as the ash pelted the car. "It's a beautiful day in the neighbourhood," he smiled ruefully, then replied to Nacon's joke, "Power sprayer should be fine, the flames should have taken care of everything else."

Once the car stopped, the pharmacist looked around and sighed again. He wasn't particularly in love with places like this; especially the time he had to walk into one to find his sister. A solemn look crossed his face as he remembered the rain falling that day, the cardboard box Kayla was huddled up in, how skinny she was starting to look.

When Nacon's offer of a way out came up Dick remembered that fateful night Kayla picked him up from the drunk tank. "What the fuck is wrong with you!" he remembered her saying, "I only have one brother left and you're pissing your life away on bar fights?" He bit his lip as the memory continued, "I don't know what is needed to get your head back together, but I want the big brother I remember back." A tear ran down from his eye at those words, "And if you really need a fight, sign up for fuck sakes!".

The chemist then looked back at the Delsaurian with renewed resolve, "You're not getting rid of me that easily."

"Whoa, hey-!" Fian gasped in surprise as he was pushed in and then made a car seat of. Not that he was disagreeable to this (very much), not that statistically speaking he didn't know that there was roughly a 1/3 chance of this happening, it was just that it was quite literally years since he was this close to a feminine form. In a semi-panicked state, the Vel Steyr remembered that the last two times something like this had happened, both at critical junctions in his career, things (through no fault of his own) didn't go very well for the femme fatales in their immediate future.

But he calmed down when it was discovered that Kurt wouldnt be joining them and Amy shifted over to an empty seat. Now, thinking about it a little further, there were a number of factors that could differenciate this incident from the previous two, he hoped he was wrong about his initial assumptions just as he was wrong about assuming Kurt was coming. He decided to keep these thoughts to himself.

"Oh, it is just the five of us? Sorry, My mistake." He apologised politely, with a hint of flusteredness.

During the journey, the Marine watched the carnage bemusedly. It was amusing to think that as a soldier of the SMoDIN, he had pledged to defend with his life these very people against the bad guys from outer space, when these people are actually too busy killing each other to care. However, judging from the looks of the other people in the car including himself, it really isnt the whole of Nepleslia that people fight for, but their own little piece of it that they call home, maybe a home that cannot be paid for with just cash, but also in blood.

So it was appopriate for Fian to ask, when the car stopped. "If not just money, what else is in for us?"

The marine sat in the vehicle as he listened to the small exchange in the back seat. Glancing back to look at the woman, he gave her a wink. "If it's too crowded back there you can always sit up here with me." he said before popping another cigarette into his mouth and turning back to look out his window.

Hearing the gunshots above them and the sound of the roof was peppered. Glancing over at the Delsaurian's comment, he shook his head at his ever cheerful demeanor attempting to discern how one could do that after all the trouble they had caused him. "Nothing like making a bit of money." answered Dex as he climbed out of the car, blowing a cloud of smoke into Funky City's grungy air.

"Sounds like it could be fun. Only problem is gear. Unless we all have armories hidden in our pockets... It's not gonna be a very long run as mercs." he finally pointed out. He had a few thousand DA left in his account. But that was it. Plus the way the IPG made it sound when they contacted him, there would be no direct involvement by their department.

Dick reached forward and popped the front seat once Dex was clear and started to make his way out of the vehicle. "I have a few things at home if we're screwed, " he interjected, "but I didn't bring them because I didn't want to walk into the bar with a large, heavy material gym bag. I figured work out details first, then go grab it once given the chance for kit-up." The pharmacist then moved out of the way to let Amy and Fian out.

The Delsaurian's green reptilian eyes went from one person to the next as they each spoke, and sarcastically rolled his eyes as Dick and Dex expressed their concerns.

He picked to answer Fian first - "It's quite simple really," the little lizard began to explain. "If you ever felt like you weren't doing enough for Nepleslia, or weren't allowed to, being a Mercenary can have it's way with scratching that itch," Nacon smiled. "Getting to choose your boss, as well as your jobs and all that. Just need to either have the right reputation, or the connections," he finished.

Walking over to the apartment and up the flight of stairs, he added down to the others behind him, "And gear? Well, don't worry so much. I'm going to be the guy managing the finer details and paperwork after all." Picking out one of the keys, Nacon opened a door on the second story and had them all follow him in - the interior was only marginally nicer than the outside, but it was comfy enough. Even then, it was quite clear this wasn't where Nacon actually lived.

As the door shut itself behind the group, Kurt locking the door, the fat little Delsaurian stretched and yawned before reaching out to a small little detonator-like device. "And now, to make sure none of the proprietary bits of our merc scheme get out - " the little device clicked in his clawed hands with a small light glowing green. "Ah, sweet silence," he remarked, the faint sounds of cheap bedsprings from the room next door, a man and woman fighting each other and weak sobbing all vanishing in an instant as a faint, faint pressure pushed on their ears. The Delsaurian put the device back down and belly flopped onto a large bean bag chair, whimsically stretching out all of his limbs with a groan.

"Ok, long story short - I'm the actual boss of our cell," Nacon explained, his eyes looking up at them all even as his reptilian head rested against the bean bag. "Kurt is my second, but will be mostly posing as our leader for all intents and purposes - he's a red herring if we're actually caught considering his actual position. And no, don't ask." The dark slits swimming in green darted over to Fian, lazily pointing a claw at him. "You too, are going to be pretending to be his second - a pretty face is perfect to draw attention away from me after all."

"As for our equipment?" he asked, relaxing on his bean bag some more and wiggling into its depths, "Well, our first will be more or less just getting our bearings - a job to gather monetary resources as well as some equipment. But! Most importantly of all? Intelligence. Knowledge is power, and we need as much as we can get if we're to even put a few drops in the bucket in Nepleslia's favor," Nacon finished.

"So, before I get into even more details, more questions anyone?" the Delsaurian asked, wagging his short tail as he laid there.

Eyeing the small reptile warily, though his cybernetics no doubt his the emotion leaving that to his other facial features. ".... So this is all for Nepleslia? No ulterior motives?" He asked with uncertainty all throughout his tone. Glancing between the others, unsure what their own thoughts were. "Let me just get this straight. You're recruiting us to be Mercs to ensure the betterment if Neplslia. Do jobs that are more than likely illegal. Work with limited equipment and outside support. Then on top of it all, you expect us to not only succeed, but beat these seemingly impossible odds?" He asked the Delsaurian as he turned his bright blue gaze on him.

Before he could even answer the man. "I'm in. Sounds like it could be fun." He said as he put a period at the en of his sentence with a cloud of harsh smoke. "But if this guy insults my ink again. We're gonna have some serious issues." He said motioning to Kurt with a thumb.

The sudden silence unnerved Amy: she didn't like not being able to hear her surroundings. Still, it was nice to know that nobody was listening in. At the mention of Nacon being their boss, she couldn't help but feel slightly surprised. It had been clear he was relevant since he was serving them drinks earlier, but Amy had assumed he was a messenger or a second in command for somebody else. She mentally shrugged and had to admit that the unassuming Delsurian was the perfect hidden boss for this operation.

She considered the call for questions carefully. She didn't really have anything that she didn't expect to be answered in the briefing soon, but she figured she should ask something.

"What should we do in the unlikely event that we believe our true affiliations to be compromised?"