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

First instinct of the ex-marine was to observe the area and attempt to find any possible areas of attack. The shrubs worried him as he knew a hostile could hiding within them waiting for the right moment to ambush their young charge. Watching each individual carefully, he wished he was nestled within the comforting frame of a Hostile power armor with it's suite of sensory equipment that would make observation much simpler.

'Looks like it's eye-ball Mark I' thought Dex as he waited for Kurt or Nacon to give them some sort of order. Spread out, Observe, anything that would give the NCO some indication of how he should be reacting. Finding himself near Dick and Francine, he watched them both for a moment to see how they were faring in a possibly hostile environment.

"Damnit!" Dick cursed under his breath as he moved to follow a few meters behind and to the side. His head was on a swivel noting what he could see, but worrying more about what he could not as he worked to keep his emotions off his face. "This girl will be the death of us all," the chemist thought to himself with a sigh.

"Hey." Kurt had appeared next to Dick, as if from thin air, but really from within the confines of the armored car he was in. "I appreciate you wanting to look at everything at once, but for now we're all going to assign ourselves to a sector."

Kurt turned towards the group. "Vel Steyr's gonna make sure that the little princess doesn't get popped up close, but it's our duty to secure some semblance of a perimeter. You've all got the required comms." Kurt brushed his hand against his left ear to discreetly refer to the earpiece within it.

"I want Dex and Kira to tag behind the two of them. You will watch their backs and move to support Francine and Dick on their flanks, as needed. I will be floating around to coordinate the other guards. They're stationed at various spots in the park. Our group is the little girl's last line of defense, so if anyone gets past the other guards, expect a pretty nasty fight. Do not make it so fucking obvious that we're guarding her, while still maintaining your positions."

Kurt turned towards Nacon. "I need a dedicated driver for the girl. If she comes under fire, Vel Steyr will rush her into the car while we provide protection for their escape. Since you're not exactly the fastest walker-" Kurt held his hand up slightly to indicate 'no offense' here "I need you in the vehicle as an insurance if the driver happens to be rogue and gets the drop on Vel Steyr."

At that, Kurt did a quick scan of the immediate skyline. "Be on the lookout for sharpshooters, but they're not the worst threat. I don't want some little fucking old lady asking the princess for the time then stabbing her with a tipped umbrella or some shit."

Kurt lit a cigarette with a smooth and quick motion of his hands. "If anyone gets too close, issue an initial verbal challenge. They keep coming? Present your fierarm. ANYTHING fucked up happens, you report it to me. Use one or two syllable words. If you see someone with a gun, shout "GUN" and immediately engage the target. Those that are not engaged should move to support or scan for other threats"

"Stay vigilant, and stay alive you fuckers." Kurt started walking away towards one of the outer positions at that time. There was a slight breeze that cooled him under his clothing. "Fucking Vel Steyr. I should never have given him my armor..." Kurt muttered under his breath.

Amy waited to be directed specifically like the others but by the end of Kurt's orders, she just assumed that she was on perimeter, which suited her fine: she wasn't keen on dealing with an unruly teenage girl on her first day out while trying to dodge both literal and figurative bullets. She put some considerable distance between herself and their young charge, keeping them in sight but a good eight to ten second sprint away.

She took a quick glance at her surroundings and began to take what appeared to be a leisurely stroll through the park: a buisnesswoman relaxing and taking in the artificial nature between contracts. In reality, she was of course keeping a close eye for suspicious activity, somebody paying a bit too much attention to their group or a rendezvous point of some kind for a group.

She made a mental note to laugh about the absurd excess involved in building a park like this later.

Dick sighed when Kurt showed up, but relaxed what he could. He then looked around the park to see where he could set up in accordance with the boss' orders. "Got it," the chemist replied, before slowly making his way to the spot, seemingly, casually looking around.

"No problem" replied Dex as he fell into step far enough away from Vel Steyr and their charge. Close enough he would be able to assist, though with his casual gait and distance, he had no doubt that Kira and himself would look like two coworkers on their lunch break. Or should someone feel the need, a couple taking in the nature of the park.

Doing a quick mental check of his equipment as he walked along. 'Knife. Check. Silver Special. Check. Backup .45. Check.' Thought the man, content in the knowledge that as long as any possible attackers didn't attempt a long shot from a rooftop, he would be able to provide adequate assistance should Kira and himself be needed.

Fian let himself be dragged along by the arm to the Ice Cream man. Something is extremely fishy about this entire situation, he refused to believe that this was the first time Leona was out, she was taking this too well, and if this wasn't some kind of special occasion surely she didnt need an ad hoc security detail from Nepleslia's finest sneaks for escort. Something that Nacon or his powers to be have conviniently forgot to mention is going to happen, the ex-Master Chief knew it.

They have also conviniently forgot to mention that his scope of bodyguard duties now include compensated dating. Sure that being this close makes it a lot easier to stand in the way of incoming fire, still, he is twice this girl's age (rounded up), and she is getting a lot bolder while Fian is worriedly wondering what the pair of them looked like to everyone else, especially to this Ice Cream man.

"A-ah." He stammered a little, at this distance he could see the seller's hands in his peripheral vision while looking right into the man's eyes. Thats what they taught him in CQC, your opponent's eyes betrays his thoughts but if the Ice Cream man was doing the same he would notice that Fian is quite a bit embarrased.

"Give the young miss something with lemon in it would you? For the hot day." He asked, while fishing out his DA card with the arm Leona was hooked on to so that he would at least have one hand free, even if this meant he wouldnt get a stick or cone of his own in this heat. If there was a breeze, he didn't feel it, couldn't feel it.

Fucking Kurt, maybe Leona should have taken a liking to him.

As Amy leisurely walked, the rich fat man being ticketed earlier wheezed past her, equally obese dog in tow. He briefly collapsed onto a bench, wiping sweat from his brow before glancing at the icecream truck. "Sure boss! Just let me put all these down for the girl first," Nacon jovially replied to Kurt. "Can't have the princess angry after all." As the little Delsaurian took his first steps away, he suddenly stopped and turned his head about to bring a single eye on Kurt. "Oh! I forgot - Kira is our vehicle expert!"

At that, he went to the freshwater shores.

Almost as though the fat man were bracing himself for a fight, he grimaced and fought to stand back up from the bench, now ponderously making his way over to Leona and Fian with his dog. It was just about then that the ice cream man nodded at the young body guard . "No problem! One Lemon Sorbet coming right up," he replied, flashing them both a bright, All-Nepleslian smile before turning around to open the freezer and begin scooping.

"What's....with all the f*ing...suits?" the pudgy man wheezed to himself, making his way closer to the ice cream truck. Though Kurt was right to spread everyone out as best he could - his efforts were already hamstring by the uniforms they were ordered to wear. As he continued to trudge closer , a very familiar voice chattered over Fian's earbud.

"You don't look genuinely happy - she's going to pick up on that you know," Nacon's voice remarked. Off in the distance, the Delsaurian was setting up the fishing spot as a lone duck floated in the water not too far off shore. "Oh! By the way - fatty in workout clothing closing in on your seven. Nine meters and closing very slowly - Dex and Kira are there though." By now, he had passed Amy and was just reaching Dex and Kira who watched over the other pair's rear as they got frozen treats. The stun-gunning from moments ago was really making it hard to get over to the ice cream truck - his hand was outstretched like a man reaching out to a mirage in the desert!

At the same time, the buff park cop off in the distance was starting to take notice of Francine after having filled out the rest of his incident report. Since she was off to one of the 'left' side of the group, he didn't seem to take notice of the group as a whole, but instead singled her out for whatever reasons he had. Brushing his hair back with a hand, he confidently sauntered over to the redhead with a smile. "Hey babe, what'cha doing here in the park today? Just enjoying the scenery?" he asked in a friendly, playful tone, hands on his utility belt.

Dick, meanwhile, was having a hard time finding the best spot to watch his area. The ice cream truck blocked off Leona from any threats coming from his own direction, but it would also block him off from being seen and helped if he wasn't careful either! He needed to find a better angle, and fast. Why? The old lady feeding the strange, mutant bat-pig-pigeon things was constantly cooing and talking to them.

It was just F*ing creepy.

*****

Kurt spotted a plainclothes man not too far away as he ventured to one of the other positions. Though he was rather relaxed, leaning against a tree, smoking a cig while reading his datapad, it was perhaps clear to him that this man was just plain hardboiled. This man was middle aged, bald, and with a long scar on the top of his head - none of that mattered of course. Rather, what did matter, was that seasoned look Kurt got when the man looked up from the device in his hand.

"Hmph," he snorted, derisively grinning.

Kira moved with Dex. She did not like the situation too much. Those suits they wore were really nice and all that, but it made them stick out as a sore thumb. They might have wear body armours and machineguns and at least they would scare any wanker off.

Then there was the park, sure the treetops covered them well from sniper fire (unless someone used thermal scope, which on the other hand would give sniper trouble to recognize his target), but otherwise it was very open location. Anyone could approach Leon without to much trouble as her bodyguard could not really react until something happened.

Kira was not jealous of Fian's position, because it sucked. He got the worst job, because in the end he was right by their treasure. On the other hand it was Kira's and Dex's job to cover Fian's back and Kira wanted to do the best job possible.

And as a last thing, those bastards did not let her drive those awesome cars on the way here, which pissed her off the most. At least she smiled as Nacon mentioned that she was The driver.

A fat man with a pug was the closest possible danger at the moment. Kira liked pugs, but she was a bit sorry for the obese dog. Poor critter got stunned mainly as their owners problem. Kira's eyes under the red-tinted glasses scanned the fatman, looking for possible gun under his clothing. That was hard, fat people had advantage concealing weapons. Then there was the fact that there were more weapons on Nepleslia then people. Any self-respecting individual older then 6 years owned at least a pistol.

Kira put one hand casually on her jacket, ready to open its button and reach for her .45 under it. It would be fast, she was sure of it, but first she needed a reason. It was more likely that the fat guy wanted to reward himself for all the trouble with his exercise by eating a bucket of icecream. Or he could be very clever hired gun. If he was a hired gun then he most likely knew about her and Dex.

Kira watched him carefully, paying attention to her peripheral vision, but the fatso was now the problem. She did not really care about her own security, since it was Amy's and Passionate Dick job to cover her. There was also Kurt who watched everything. Kira only had to focus on her close surrounding and Fian's back.

Dick had his head up checking around when he finally made it to where he needed to be and soon noticed that he could hardly see anyone from the group. The man sighed as he looked at the broad side of the ice cream truck only to stiffen when he heard the odd cooing from behind him. the chemist turned to see an old lady feeding some kind of possibly avian monstrosity and shivered.

The thought of "Fuck you guys, I'm going home..." ran through his head once as the pharmacist tried to process what the hell the, apparent, animal was, but knew better not to act on it. Thus, in the interest of his well being and his mission, Dick made his way back from the lake to angle himself a better view of Kira and Dex. His next move was going to be to find some high ground, but he then noticed the excessively adipotic man getting close to the two directly covering Leona.

When he saw Kira's hand come up, Dick turned around to walk a tiny circle. "Kira, are you thinking of Mr. Marshmellow?" he asked, checking again as they came into his view on his little circle.

Unbuttoning the first button of his jacket so he could get to the holstered Silver Special under his arm should one of the individuals around them make a move. "You alright there?" whispered Dex to Kira as he looked up and saw Dick had subtly made his way over. Since the question was directed at Kira, he said nothing opting instead to watch the area around them.

Glancing back at the rather hefty man and his equally hefty canine, Dex pulled a cigarette from his pocket before lighting it and exhaling the smoke away from them. Hearing Nacon over the earbud warning of the dog walker closing in slowly at nine meters, Dex casually turned, "Fat boy isn't making much progress." mumbled Dex into the mic as he watched the man out of the corner of his eye.

Fian could hear the labored breathing, the folds sweat soaked fat rubbing against each other with each pudgy step in great clarity thanks to his bio-mechanical contribution to the Nepleslian heritage of self-augmentation. People with cybernetically enhanced eyes always tell him they have seen things that cannot be unseen, well, this was something the Vel Steyr cannot unhear anytime soon.

Still, it wont do if there was a potential assassin in close proximity at more than one of the four cardinal directions at once. The fat man had not breached the perimeter yet, but his intentions had been made clear. Leona needs to move from this Ice Cream truck, and fast.

"Is-Is there something you would like to see, someplace you would like to go, Princess?" He said with slightly forced smile. Fian didnt see any point in discarding the socially akward facade that made Leona beeline to him in the first place, it was easy to do because part of him felt exactly like that, but he did add a choice of Nacon's language for endearment's sake.

Maybe she gets a kick out of this.

She absolutely hated situations like this... Fran could already see his eyes drifting to places beside her own, bringing a frown to her features. She stuck her hands into the jacket's pockets, puffing it out slightly to hide her figure... or at least as much as she could considering it was a good fit.

A brief glance relieved her trailing position in the group had become a severed relationship... she was outside of the formation, then again rushing off to join it could be compromising.... so instead... she knew she'd have to make some kind of conversation with the meat head that was now staring at her expectantly. Sometimes she hated being the gender minority....

"That isn't a crime right?" She said in a small scratchy tone while puffing out her cheeks in annoyance as she turned to face the man... who was nearly a full head taller then her.

As the lemon sorbet finally came into Leona's grasp, she mischievously eyed Fian as she very deliberately licked away. "Hmm...mayyybe?" she teasingly replied to him. "Is there something wrong?" their princess asked him, once again licking at her ice cream with a steadily growing smile.

As she delightedly waited for him to reply, the fat man behind her was slowly gaining, getting closer and closer with each waddling step. Leona licked her lemon treat again as the pug on the leash, leading the way, just began to pass by Kira and Dex as they talked amongst themselves, seemingly unsure as to what to do. Across from them, Dick heard a distinct, "Wark. Wark!" One of the Emu sized creatures, sporting a coat patterned like a pigeon, but with nearly handlike wings uncomfortably like that of a bat, began to curiously come his way, its serrated beak clipping at the air.

And further away, the other redhead of the group was faring much worse than Kira. "What, you mean looking cute?" the cop asked Fran. "If it were, I'd book you right on the spot," he continued, completely oblivious to how horridly cheesy it sounded. Stepping closer to her, the cop went on to ask, "So what are you doing here again? It's a nice day out, and I couldn't help but notice you were standing over here all alone." Putting his hands on his hips, he added, "It can be dangerous sometimes, yeah"

Leona took a few steps, circling him a little just after the words came out of her mouth, prodding him. Fian could now see over her shoulder as the Fat Man and Pug just passed Kira and Dex. Farther off in the distance however, he saw the decorative bush behind Amy shake, just as she herself heard it. There was something else besides Dire Pigeons here in the park, and one of whatever it was had its eyes set on the brunette of their group.

And off in the distance, the man near Kurt snickered to nothing funny at all. "Sucks to be you guys."

"You better get yourself between fatman and young lady pretty boy, yes?" Kira whispered to the comms as the fat guy passed her. Her thumb comfortably hangin on the bottom. It looked carefree, but it allowed her to open her jacket and reach for her Zen Arms quickly.

Kira paid no attention to the hyper pigeons or cop harassing frinds. In her zone was the fat-man and the ice-cream seller. They were still both potential threat and Kira was ready to do something about it, should they try something funny.

Kurt had been looking over somewhere in the distance.

Supposedly.

A particularly veteran-looking individual had attracted his attention, and while such a person would warrant Kurt shadowing him the entire time, more pressing matters were at hand.

No, not the horrific and what looked like mutated birds. It was the police officer that was occupying Kira. This meant one less pair of eyes that the group had, and consequently one less person able to react quickly if any sort of threat would rear its head.

Keeping the general location of the scarred man in the back of his mind, Kurt took off his sunglasses and made his way over to the police officer, holding his breath and running at a very brisk pace, aiming to sweat and look flustered as he approached the police officer with

"Officer! It looks like that big bird is approaching those people! It keeps snapping its beak and shit, and it looks like it might bite!" Kurt had deliberately put some "shakiness" in his voice to inflate the situation, and shot Fran a quick "get the fuck out of here" look by locking eyes with her immediately - perfectly reasonable, as someone coming up to the officer and woman would unconsciously acknowledge the presence of another person - particularly a woman.

Dick nodded about the the big guy taking his time and made to walk a small, irregular circuit when one of the damn birds took an interest in him. "Of all the things that I need to deal with right now," he thought to himself, "these damn birds are starting to take the cake." The chemist then continued on his route, attempting to avoid the bird, but tried to keep an eye on both it and the team, hoping he didn't have to shoot the bothersome animal.

The cybernetics Dex had replaced his natural eyes with gave him a quick vitals check of the overweight man. "I'm surprised he hasn't killed over from cardiac arrest by now." he mumbled into the mic as he checked where Fian was. Still with the princess but unable to respond from the look of it.

"I'll stop fat boy." Spoke Dex one more time while he casually made his way toward the man. "Hey buddy. I've been waiting for you. How have you been? The kids alright?" said Dex with a tone that would give the impression he knew the man. Hopefully Fian would take the opportunity and get Leona away from the ice cream truck and somewhere they could keep a better eye on her.

Amy watched the proceedings warily, keeping an eye on the pigeons and the suspicious fat man while trying to avoid getting tunnel vision. She continued to move her position around them, trying to make sure she was in a good position to help.

With each additional complication this was turning into more and more of a nightmare. An uncooperative charge, a large man breaching the perimeter, dangerous animals, a distracted guard- she shook her head and continued scanning.

Fian is hearing voices, a lot of voices, a lot of his perimeter is being engaged. Luckly, one of them is his good man Dex, who is tangling with the Fat Man and buying him some time. Still, he had to move her, and since she didn't take the hint and answer the question properly, the pressing problem remained WHERE and HOW? He doesn't know what this woman wants and even if he did, there was no way he could order a mafia boss daughter around unless bullets are actively flying. Nothing so far has happened that wasn't consistent with an average day in the park, save for one brat and a dozen well dressed bodyguards.

Don't fucking panic, Dex brought you some time. Get a hold of yourself!

"W-well... Nothing more than usual walk in the park." He stalled, also discreetly moving between her and the ice cream truck so he could talk to her face without worrying about someone shooting her in the back.