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RP: The Wayward Business Negotiations (Ep. 2.2)

Easy marks; easy pickings. Pass up the hard marks; go for the easy swipe.

The tram released a deluge of bodies as it stopped at the station. Tram passengers were usually the least aware of their surroundings for the first few moments after stepping onto the platform; always concerned with schedules and arriving on time, not necessarily their wallets and valuables. It was common for many businessmen to pass through this station, often coming and going from their place of employment. Well off businessmen that stood out like a sore thumb in their freshly pressed suits and briefcases.

She had her hood up, of course. Not that it hid her horns, but it hid her face which was just enough to thwart most facial recognition programs. Her long coat obscured most of her tall frame as she walked along with the crowd, seamlessly submerging within the flow of bodies. She had her weapons ready to draw at a moment's notice, but such common theivery was beneath her; it lacked challenge, lacked daring. Where was the fun in forcing someone to give you their valuables when you could simply spirit them away and have them be none the wiser?

Ash saw a particularly well dressed businessman with a pair of large black wings folded behind his back. One of those bird-people that could sometimes fly. Eleslians? Alezianz? She couldn't remember the exact name of the particular species, for it mattered not. She navigated her way through the crowd, formulating her approach to the bird-man; his large wings would present a problem if she went in from behind. The front would be less of an obstacle, but then the risk at revealing her face was greater. She approached the bird-man slightly behind his left shoulder and bumped into him.

"Ooof. Sorry!" she said, her right hand discreetly reaching around him to brush his rear pants pockets with her nimble fingers. She instantly put up her left hand apologetically.

"Sorry sir!" she said . She moved away from the man, continuing her path through the sea of people to an alley not far off the main road. She stepped out of the crowd and took a casual right turn into the alleyway. She shuffled an object out of her right coat sleeve and onto her right hand; a leather wallet. She quickly placed the stolen wallet into a pocket on the inside of the large duffle bag that was drawn over one shoulder and across her chest.

"Thank you, Mr. Bird-man," she said quietly to herself, a grin forming on her lips.
 
After all the excitement in Sector 4, Adiel's brain was a little scrambled. Furthermore, he was on the lookout more so for beefy thugs rather than scraggly urchins. That's why when Ash had bumped into him, he hadn't immediately noticed such a textbook move. He'd done it several times himself, after all.

"Watch where you're going." he grunted at her. She walked off, and he rolled his eyes. Such was the way of lower class creatures. However, after the encounter, he couldn't help but feel as if something was off about the vagabond...

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...Slippery little wench!"

With a frustrated growl, Adiel turned on his heel, and managed to catch the hood with horns protruding. He watched from afar as it disappeared into an alley. He then stormed off after her. He stopped at the entrance of the alley, and silently peered around the corner. There she was, with his wallet. He watched her stuff the fine piece of leather work quite roughly into a filthy bag. That alone made his feathers flutter with rage. But, he was a gentleman, and gentlemen were gentle.

Calmly, he stepped into the alley, walking up behind her. No need to draw his gun. Pickpockets hated confrontation. His mere presence would probably be enough to coerce her.

"Pardon me, miss, but I believe you have something of mine," Adiel announced coolly. Then, his eyes narrowed, and his voice took a darker tone. "Give it to me."
 
She heard footsteps behind her, much closer than the crowd.

The horns of an Iromakuanhe served more than simply an aesthetic purpose; they functioned as an extention of their rather basic ears, allowing the Iromakuanhe to better hear in lower range frequencies. But the most important attribute of an Iromakuanhe's horns at this moment was the ability to better hear sounds behind them.

Such was the way that Ash heard Adiel approaching down the alley. She whirled around in surprise, not really expecting her mark to come after her. A glimpse of pale skin could be seen beneath her hood and a mouth that previously displayed an expression of surprise slowly smirked up into a grin. A faint hint of florescent blue eyes stared at Adiel from the shadows of her hood.

"You look well enough off. I'm sure you could spare some KS for a needy woman, bird-man. Not like I'm gonna steal your identity or anything," she shrugged.

"Well, not permanently. Just long enough for a couple thousand. So why don't you go turn around and forget this ever happened. You can call station security if you want, but I'll be long gone before they get here." She pushed back the side of her duster to reveal a pistol strapped to her left thigh. She placed her gloved left hand casually on her hip just above the pistol grip.

"Don't do anything stupid. No one has to get hurt today, bird-man."
 
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Adiel chuckled. It was humorless, signifying a great feeling of annoyance. It might have surprised Ash a little to see that no, he wasn't all that scared of her gun.

"Bird-man? Cute," Adiel chided, gazing over her with calm eyes and a small, malicious smirk. "Fair enough, you've won. Not worth dying over."

That was a lie. In that wallet was the only cash money he had available: 3000 KS. He wasn't worried about his identity. He'd already frozen his assets and made it near impossible to steal his identity. Only the greatest of hackers could do so, and they might not even want to, given his reputation.

'This... changes things...'

In an attempt to lower her guard, Adiel slowly raised his hands, a sign of surrender. Then he slowly turned and began to walk back to the street. He took two steps, then in a lightning-fast motion, reached into his jacket, drew his pistol, turned on his heel, and pointed it straight at Ash's chest. His thumb came up and cocked the hammer.

"Haven't you ever learned to never judge a book by its cover? Not that it really matters..." Adiel asked smugly with a sigh. Once more, his glare became dark. The way he gazed upon Ash was like the way one gazes upon a cockroach before stamping out its pathetic existence. Uncaring. Unremorseful. Cold. It was clear that the "bird-man" wasn't playing around. It was also clear that he was many things, but certainly no business man. He would shoot her, and have no problems doing it.

"Perhaps I didn't make myself clear, wretch," he spat darkly. "Give. Me. My. Wallet."
 
"This is becoming a problem," thought Ash as the man got the drop on her with his own gun. She slowly raised her right hand and slowly inched her left hand away from the pistol at her thigh.

"Wow. Honestly did not expect that from you."

"Not sure if this is worth dying over. Really. But 3000KS; that could get me onto a ship and out of here."

"You can have your wallet back, just take it easy. Just give me a moment and I'll get it for you." She slowly lowered her hands.

"I'm going to get it out of my bag here..." Her gloved right hand went to the opening of the duffle bag. She peered at him with her dark blue eyes, estimating the distance between the two of them. She held his gaze for a moment before glancing at the opening of the bag. She was trying to remember the exact location of the dumpster bin behind her she had seen earlier. It couldn't have been more then twenty or thirty feet away. Ash glanced back at him and held his gaze, not blinking. She slowly moved her gloved left hand over toward the duffle bag to dig out the stolen wallet.

And then in a lightning-quick movement Ash reached into her coat under her right arm and drew a .45 pistol, pulling back the hammer as she did so. She was moving immediately, dashing off towards her right as she fired a shot in the man's direction. She had to find cover, and if she was fast enough she might just make it behind the dumpster bin.
 
Adiel was still recovering from the shock of her sudden movement. In the sudden adrenaline rush, everything slowed and became surreal. Somewhere far away he heard a loud explosion, whose sound he'd known so well that his body had created an automated response to it, much in the same way track runners could start running before their brains registered the signal to start.

In a blur of motion, Adiel turned to the side, expanded his wings, and pushed hard, while at the same time jumping backwards. The combined forces of both actions were just enough to get him out of harms way. He felt a warm heat graze past his nose, as well as the odd sensation of the bullet moving the air around it.

Time resumed its normal pace, and he bounced along the hard concrete, coming to a rest against the brick wall of one of the buildings. Dazed, his body moved on autopilot, forcing him to crawl hurriedly on his hands and knees towards the inviting shelter of a recessed doorway.

"Damn!" he grunted as he stood up and pressed himself against the wall. He peered around the corner and took aim towards the blur that was Ash. With one hand he fired twice.

Damn! Damn! Damn! This was all going to shit! He hadn't come for a firefight! He needed to leave! He needed to retrieve his wallet and leave before the security force or any of Chase's goons showed up!
 
Ash was runnning. She booked it as hard as she could, her hood falling back and revealing her short black hair. She slid on the ground to get behind the dumpster bin, one round from Adiel whizzing by her head and the other impacting loudly on the steel dumpster.

“Herdtitan dung!” she exclaimed, slamming her back up against the dumpster. Ash waited for just a moment before blind-firing her pistol once over the top of the trash bin, attempting to fire in the last location she had seen the Elysian standing. She then was back on her feet and running once again. She reached the end of the alleyway and then took a left out into the street. While she had a decent idea of where she was, she really was not paying attention to what street she was now currently sprinting down.

"Gotta get away, put some distance between him. The money is more important than finishing him off right now," she thought. "Who was that guy anyway? Not some businessman, obviously."

She kept her pistol out as she continued to run, forgetting to holster it as she gritted her teeth and sprinted as fast as she could.

After sprinting down three blocks she ducked into another alley, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she breathed hard from exertion. She peeked around the corner behind her to see if she was followed, but after seeing no one she holstered the .45 under her arm. She drew her laiz pistol from her thigh and removed the safety, quickly holstering it afterward. Ash exhaled a big sigh of relief and tugged her long coat back into place.

"What a day," she muttered. She glanced around for a street sign in order to determine her current location.
 
Adiel pressed himself further against the wall just as two more shots came. They went horribly wide. Quickly he looked around the corner just in time to see the little beggar dash out of sight. He snarled and ran as well, but when he came to the entrance of the alley, he found that he was too late. She was gone.

Thinking quick, Adiel ran back into the alley and hastily chucked his suitcase into the dumpster. Then he ran as well, ignoring the crowd of people that had stopped and stared. Eventually he slowed to a walk, and kept his eyes peeled for Ash. He checked his watch once more. Six hours.
 
Ash walked to the end of the alleyway towards the street, realizing it was the same street that the tram station dumped people out onto. She peeked around the corner, glancing left and right down the street and looking for anyone with feathered wings on their back.

Seeing none for the moment Ash started to cross the street, jogging to get out of the way of a passing Cub Sedan.

"Time to hit up Nic to sell some salvage and then head back to Sector 4. DawnSec will probably be here soon with all the shooting," thought Ash.

She was about twenty-five feet away from another alleyway and would soon disappear from the street.
 
That's when he saw her. Darting across the street just a little bit ahead. Adiel shoved through a group of people. He ignored the curses and shouts, and broke into a full sprint.

"Get back here!" he roared at her as he slid over the hood of a car that had stopped in front of him.
 
"Dung..." said Ash, her eyes widening at the Elysian sprinting after her. And then she bolted into a run again, sprinting with all of her might down the alley. Passing some trash cans, she tipped those over into the alley in an attempt to slow her pursuer down. She moved in an erratic path in an attempt to remain a difficult target.

Ash sprinted around a corner to her right, only to come to a dead end.

"Dung!" she exclaimed. She backtracked to the alley and continued travelling down it, only to come to the loading dock of a building. While the dock was currently unoccupied, outside the building a collection of crates and cargo containers sat waiting to be loaded. Breathing hard, Ash hustled towards the containers, hoping she could lose her pursuer in their midst.
 
Adiel ran into the alley after her, easily sailing over the trashcans. When he rounded the corner and cursed silently when he came upon the maze of cargo. He slipped out his pistol and slowly crept into the mess.

He'd considered letting the pathetic creature live. But now, in his rage, he was determined to pay her back for the annoyance she'd caused him.

Silently he walked through the labyrinth of containers, gun in hand, turning this way and that. This was a dead end as far as he was concerned. Only one of them was leaving, and he intended for it to be him, with his wallet of course.

He was just thankful they hadn't attracted the wrong kind of attention with their deadly dance.
 
"Okay, okay. Think. You can still survive this. Might be time to let the wallet go though," thought Ash. She pulled out the wallet and glanced at it, noting the amount on the KS card again.

"Three-thousand KS. I guess it's not really worth dying for. But he probably will not let me just leave at this point..." And that was when a plan began to form in her mind.

Ash took the wallet and found a suitable location between two large cargo containers. She tossed the wallet onto the pavement in an obvious location and then with a running leap proceeded to climb up the side of one of the cargo containers, unintentionally creating a fair amount of noise as she did so. She continued to climb up another cargo container and then went prone, confident that she was not visible from the ground. She pulled out a small metal cylinder from her duffle bag and tossed it against one of the containers adjacent to her position, making a loud metallic clang.

"He seems pretty confident. Lets see how well he fares in an ambush," she thought, drawing her Laiz pistol and holding it ready in her left hand.
 
The clang caused Adiel to quickly turn his head in the direction of the noise. Slowly, he moved that way. He held his pistol before him, ready to pull the trigger at a moment's notice.

Up ahead, lying on the ground, was his wallet. He beamed with elation. But then, he noticed a piece of scrap lying nearby. It seemed... out of place.

"Clever, thief," Adiel whispered to himself as his blue eyes began scanning the area for hiding spots. This was some sort of trick, he knew it. It was all too good to be true. With that amount of money, no lowly pickpocket would simply give it up. It probably figured he'd swoop in and take the bait, and happily receive a bullet in the back. "But not clever enough."

Adiel backed away from the area and disappeared from sight. Then, ever so slowly, so as not to make noise, he climbed atop a cargo container as well. There was another stacked on top of this one, and so he climbed even higher. He scanned once more for the thief, and spotted her below, on another cargo container. He snarled a little when he realized he was right about the "ambush" scenario.

He could've simply drawn his pistol and ended this, but he wanted to do it quietly, to avoid attracting any more attention. So, Adiel leaped from the container and spread his wings. He glided towards her, and refolded his wings once he was directly above. Down he fell, ready to slam into her and grab her gun hand. The plan was simple: wrestle away her weapon, pound her to a pulp, and then end it all.
 
That was when she heard it, that faint rustling sound. The sound of displaced air as if something was falling towards her. She curiously glanced over her shoulder and yelped in surprise as the Elysian was plummeting down almost right on top of her. She quickly rolled over to her right to avoid having her torso crushed. Keeping a firm grip on her laiz pistol, she stopped her roll and trained her pistol onto the bird-man with both hands. While she could have easily fired at him and ended it, she hesitated instead.

"What are you doing? Are you going to kill him just because you took his wallet? This is not you anymore!" she thought to herself.

"Just take your wallet and go!" she shouted, exasperation creeping in to her voice. Her deep blue eyes were wide and at this range, Adiel could see the black slash tattoos that cut vertically across each eye.

"I'm not a killer. Just leave me alone!"
 
There was a crack, the distinct retort of a slugthrower, not those modern energy based weapons, and it was followed by a ting as the bullet struck the container and bounced off. "I found him!" Shouted a voice as one, then a hand full of thugs came around the corner, all armed and ready for a fight. The man that Adiel had escaped from before made his way to the front "You messed up chicken wing, we're gonna roast you now." He pointed his pistol forward as the others lifted their weapons and began to fire in Adiel's direction, not caring that Ash was in the crossfire.
 
Adiel starred at Ash for a moment. Tall, black hair, blue eyes, chalky skin. He was practically looking at his twin sister, you know, minus the horns. Quite an oddity. His train of thought was interrupted when the slug hit the container. He snarled quietly when he realized who it came from.

"'Chicken wing'?! Really?!" Adiel spat and instinctively dropped to the ground as the bullets started flying.

"Sorry, am I being too forward?" he chuckled at Ash when he realized he'd landed right on top of her in a more... intimate position. All of the romance, however, was lost when he grabbed her shoulders and rolled them both away from the thugs, and right over the edge of the container. There was a feeling of falling, and then Adiel had the wind knocked out of him as he landed on his back, with the weight of Ash adding to the impact.

"Change of plans, thief," he wheezed from below. "Introductions are in order! I'm Adiel, your new best friend, if you want to get out of this alive..."
 
Needless to say, Ash did not expect the sudden appearance of several armed individuals, nor did she expect them to start firing at both the bird-man as well as herself. It was more likely they were after the Elysian, but she was apparently being seen as an accomplice. The Elysian ducked under the incoming shooting, conveniently landing right on top of her in a compromising position. While Ash admitted to herself the man was pleasing to the eye, she was certainly glad their skin was not touching, as she really did not want to establish an empathic link with this man that she barely knew.

Her grimaced response to the Elysian's question was simply, "Quite."

And then suddenly they were rolling and falling off of the containers onto the asphalt. Fortunately for Ash she landed on top of the Elysian, but unfortunately for Adiel all 73kg of Ash landed on top of him. She pushed herself back up, using his chest to steady herself which certainly did not help Adiel to catch is breath. She quickly leapt up to her feet when she realized she was straddling him in an awkward fashion.

"Ashtoreth. Call me Ash," she replied, extending her right gloved hand to help him to his feet. She still held the laiz pistol in her left hand, but it was not pointed at him.

"It seems we have a common enemy now. If you have a plan, let's hear it," she said, brushing a lock of black hair from her face.

"But first things first; we get your wallet back," said Ash with determination.
 
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If not for the pain and shooting, Adiel would have laughed himself hoarse at the absurdity of the situation. Instead, he took her hand and allowed himself to be pulled up. Once up, he fished out his Zen .45 and checked the clip. He had three shots left in this one, and eight in the next. If they wanted to engage their new enemy, he'd need to somehow acquire one of their weapons.

Adiel dusted off the breast of his jacket and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Smart girl, Ash," he complimented as he poked his head out from behind the container. He ducked back in as several bullets pinged off the metal. "Yes, we must first get my wallet back. That is essential. Then, we kill-slash-evade our pursuers. I, personally, am going to board the first ship out of this cesspit. I have no friends here. Staying would be suicide. You, on the other hand, can round up your Blood Wolf compatriots and do as you wish."

He'd lied about his real reason for leaving. If Ash decided to sell him out later, he didn't need every criminal with a grudge knowing that he was on the Anbruch. Also, if Ash betrayed him, she was probably going to come back with the Blood Wolves, a group he'd never dealt with directly, but that he could easily recognize by the tattoos.

"So, if there aren't any more questions, shall we begin?" He asked with a smirk before leaning around the corner, aiming for the first thug in sight, and firing.
 
"No. I am no longer one of them," she said with a frown.

"I have nothing tying me here," said Ash, gripping her laiz pistol in both hands.

"If you have a ship out of here, I'm coming with you!" She dived across the corridor between the two containers, taking up a position adjacent from Adiel. She peeked out from behind the container and fired several shots from her laiz pistol at the first goon she spotted, the energy weapon sending bright purple beams towards her target.
 
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