RP: Bounty Hunts [Interlude 1] A Minor Bounty

[Foxtrot 813]

== "Iron Ferret Lounge" ==

--- Two Days After ---


Two knocks sounded on Nicholas' door as Desmond hit it twice. The bounty hunter then took a step back from the door, taking a deep drag of his cigarette as he waited for the other crewmember to answer.

A few seconds later the door would cycle open, revealing Nicholas, dressed in his normal attire. Behind him was his desk, with scattered papers, and datapads. He looked Desmond up and down, "Need something Desmond?"

"Yeah." Desmond said, stepping into the room. He examined the piles of paperwork that were in and then looked at Nicholas. "You got any... Part time jobs available?" He asked, leaning against the open door.

Nicholas looked back at his desk, "I've pulled some local jobs off the net. Quite the variety." He scooped up a datapad and handed it to Desmond. "That's the list I've pulled so far."

The datapad had a small list of bounties, organized by payout.

"How do you get this so fast?" Desmond said as he took the proferred datapad and examined it, going through the bounty lists. The bounty hunter checked each one of the jobs, and then his finger rested on one particular bounty, tapping it twice.

"This serial killer. Any leads on him?" He asked Nicholas

"I got an idea where he was last, and what he looks like." Nicholas replied, "Interested then?"

"Yeah." Desmond said, scratching the stubble that was irritating his face with his gloved hand.

"Well, you got it. All the information you need is on the datapad. Condemn it to memory, because I want that back."

The datapad had a picture of a dirty blond male Nepleslian. He had a aged face, with some scars. He had a short-haired beard, which covered his chin. His dark brown eyes stared directly at the viewer.

"He looks like a nice chap." Nicholas supplied, "He was last seen in the darker parts of town.

Desmond stared at the information for some moments, committing it to his memory. He took another drag of his cigarette, staring at the photo and then got up. "Right." He said, before walking out of the room, where Haures was standing.

"Let's go, Haures." He said to the lizard as he strode out.

Nicholas waved as he returned to figuring out who had attacked them. Haures plodded along beside Desmond, tongue sniffing around.

== Maharombi ==


--Some time later--


Desmond stamped down on the cigarette butt as he finished it. He looked around the place where he was in, your average run-down, unsafe and unclean part of the neighborhood. The buildings were cramped with one another, barely giving room for a single car to pass through, and several power cables snaked their way from one building to the other, some of them even holding some clothes that were left out to dry. All in all, most of the buildings weren't over four stories, with the occasional taller building rising from the sea of concrete like some sort of pylon amidst the others.


The bounty hunter had ditched the thick jacket and the sweater because of the climate, and instead was just using a black T-shirt under his vest. He started looking around the place as sweat trickled down his face, one hand near the holster for his pistol.


Haures head-butted Desmond's leg, looking up at him. I don't like it here , he seemed to say.


The streets had a few inhabitants, lurking in the shadows of the buildings. Desmond could feel eyes on him, from the buildings and the alleys. The overall presence of the area was dark, depressing, and had a sinister element, as if everyone there wanted to do the duo harm, and that wouldn't be far from the truth.


Desmond still had a little longer to go before he'd reach where the target was last spotted, and move on he did.


The bounty hunter advanced through the alleys, now keeping his hand on his pistol, ready to draw it. This was the bad part of town, but it wasn't as bad as the 'bad part of town' from Nepleslia Prime, no matter how short his stay there had been.


Constantly scanning his surroundings, Desmond continued to move through until he found the last place where his bounty had been located.


As Desmond made his way, he could see figures lurking in the alleys, staring at him. Haures bared his teeth at anyone that seemed they might make a move. About a hundred feet from the location, Desmond would hear a yelp of a Nepleslian man, and the growling of Haures, which prompted him to turn around and draw his sidearm.


The bounty hunter took a crouching stance and pointed his weapon to where the noise had come from. He was pretty much done with playing this game with the locals, if they were going to start chasing, he'd give them a very good reason not to.


Desmond would see a man standing behind him, fearfully looking at Haures. Haures was growling with his teeth bared at the man, and would jump on him on command. The other man was unarmed, or so Desmond could see.


"Umm... sir... I... we..." He stammered.


"You what?!" Desmond asked, keeping the gun trained on the man.


Desmond would feel a distinct pressure on the back of his neck, "Don't mind him." The man in front of Desmond smiled slightly, "We need everything you got."


The new arrival behind Desmond supplied, "And no funny stuff either."


Haures turned his head and saw Desmond's peril, and looked at him, awaiting some sort of signal.


Desmond started to raise both of his hands, looking at Haures. "Bite then, eh?" He said to whoever had the pistol pressed against the back of his neck, hoping that Haures would understand the cue.


Haures leaped forward, bringing the man in front of Desmond to the ground, and latched his mouth onto his neck. The man screamed. Desmond would feel the pressure retract as the pistol entered his peripheral vision, as the man tried to get a clear shot at Haures.


As that happened, Desmond attemped to grab the pistol with one hand, and the forearm with the other before he pulled, trying to topple the man behind him.


The man lurched forward from the pull, falling to the ground, landing next to the end of Haures's tail. His pistol was now in Desmond's hand. The other man was still struggling against Haures's jaw, though noticably weaker. As the man hit the ground, Haures smacked him in the head with his tail.


As if to add insult to injury, Desmond got up and then punched the fallen man on the neck. The bounty hunter got up, 'confiscating' his would be assailant's sidearm and pointing it at him.


"Tough luck." He said, pulling the pistol's hammer back,"You have two choices now, you can either help me find a friend of mine, or you can have a bullet for dinner. What's it gonna be?"


The man glanced at his friend, who was now not moving anymore. "I'll help you, who are you looking for?"


As the man complied, Haures released the other man's neck, and blood streamed freely, while Haures's maw was coated with blood. He growled at the other man, opening his mouth.


Desmond made a jesture for Haures to stay put, and then crouched next to the man. "Name's Black Johnson, quite famous around the neighborhood." He said, and then pressed his pistol against the man's kneecap.


The man gulped, "You mean, why are you looking for HIM? He's..." The man paused, "You don't want to find him."


"He's nothing. You tell me where I can find him, and I won't bust your kneecaps." The bounty hunter said, pressing the pistol harder against the man's kneecap, his face now a mask of anger.


"Okay, Okay, Okay!" The man spilled out, "They say he's hiding out in an old storage facility. It's about five minutes from here..." He pointed, "In that direction."



"You better not be lying." Desmond said, pressing the trigger, feeling the recoil of the gun. He couldn't afford that guy running off and telling everyone that there was a new person looking for Johnson, or even telling the serial killer himself. "Because if you are I'll come back for your other knee."


"Come on, Haures." The bounty hunter said as got up, holstering his pistol and then taking off in the indicated direction.

 

[Foxtrot 813]

Desmond would be undisturbed further, the potential dangers had parted for him. He would eventually arrive at a broken-down warehouse. Maybe some time ago it stored cargo from the spaceport, but now it was condemned to fall apart. The windows were broken out, and those that weren't were stained a dark brown. Some of the broken windows were boarded up.


Desmond had arrived at the front of the warehouse, and an obvious entrance was the front door. If he could scale buildings, he would have been able to enter through some of the higher windows.


He could enter from the front, or see if there was another way.


Haures looked around and tasted the air, thumping his tail on the ground.


The bounty hunter unslinged his shotgun, loading a fresh beanbag round throuh the ejection port, wheighing down his options. Only a madman would go through the front of a warehouse that was being occupied by a serial killer, so he circled around it, motioning for Haures to stay put.


Haures thumped his tail once more, and started to scan the area, while staying put.


Desmond would find a side door on the right wall, and another on the left wall, opposite side. There was another large door opposite of the front door. A ladder was attached to the middle of the length-wise walls, allowing access to the roof. There was also a sizeable hole on the left wall, which wouldn't be hard to go through.


Another option was a small crawlspace that led into the basement of the warehouse. Both Desmond and Haures could fit into it.


The bounty hunter proceeded where his pet was and called it back before proceeding through the hole in the left wall, shotgun held at the ready as he passed through the pile of rubble and into the warehouse.


Desmond would find that the inside of the warehouse was three things. It was extremely dark, with shafts of light filtering in from the broken windows and holes in the wall. It was also crowded with junk, piles of it. Finally, it was quiet, dead quiet. Noise from the outside ebbed in, but noise from the warehouse itself was non-existent.


Haures had some troubles following Desmond inside, but made it without hurting himself, or getting stuck. The lizard bumped his head against Desmond to let him know he was there.


Although light was little, Desmond could make out pathways cut into the junk, veering off into all directions. There was a ladder as well, that offered a way onto the catwalks above.


"Stay." Desmond said to Haures, keeping the shotgun raised as he moved towards the ladder. The bounty hunter kept looking between the ladder where he was heading to, the junk on the floor, and the pathways inside the warehouse, careful not to make any noise.


As Desmond climbed the ladder, near the top, one of the rungs fell loose as he laid his foot on it, clattering down to the piles of junk below. The sound echoed around the warehouse, fading away, until the silence resumed.


It rolled next to Haures, which he promptly picked up with his mouth, and put it on one of the junk piles.


Otherwise Desmond made it to the catwalks with no problems. He scanned the area around and below him, half standing, half crouching as he tried to make any sense of the darkness inside.


Below him, the junk maze, as random and haphazard as it was, the paths seemed to all lead to the center, another junk pile. Nothing of interest was present otherwise, no light, no sound, no movement.


The catwalks spanned the entirety of the building. It wrapped around the outer edge, and criss-crossed the the empty air in the center of the warehouse, those being suspended by old metal ropes. The centermost catwalk nearly touched the top of the center junkpile.


The bounty hunter kept to the edges, not wanting to expose himself. He walked with his back against the wall, facing the inside of the warehouse. Now it was just a time to track down his bounty. Since the element of surprise was already lost, he couldn't just lie and wait for him.


It would be a few minutes before something broke the monotony of the room. It was sound.

 

[Foxtrot 813]

Desmond would hear the yelp of Haures, followed by junk being moved around, a scuffle. A few seconds later, the sounds stopped. It was silent once more, but the bounty hunter was already moving.


Damned be being quiet, Desmond was already sprinting, but not back from where he came, but towards the centermost catwalk. The bounty hunter vaulted over the catwalk, landing on the junk pile below and rolled. Once he got at the bottom, he'd make his way back to where he had originally come from.


Before Desmond reached the bottom, an outlandish piece of junk caught on his clothes, stopping his descent. He was caught on his pants. Below him, the noise of something large being dragged on the ground drifted up to his ears.


The bounty hunter tugged at his pants, trying to get himself free. He ended up ripping some of the fabric, and resumed his descent to the bottom.


Desmond continued rolling, the metal junk scratching his face and exposed skin. Right before he hit the bottom, his head ran into a particulary hard piece of junk, making him see stars.


When he stopped rolling, he was face down on the ground, his head would be pounding. The noise of something heavy being drug across the floor stopped, and the sound of soft footsteps started coming closer to Desmond. The bounty hunter rolled on his back, trying to assume a crouching position as he went to draw his sidearm. The way things were he wouldn't have time to bring the shotgun up just as fast.


The footsteps would disappear, or at least, stop. It was quiet again, and Desmond was left with his pounding headache. He waited until his vision cleared out. The bounty hunter could only assume that his quarry didn't have a weapon, because if he did then he had just lost a fine opportunity to finish Desmond off right there and then.


Desmond holstered his sidearm and pulled the shotgun again, and started moving towards where the sound came from, darting his weapon left and right for any movement.


After a minute of silence, Desmond would feel his foot contact a large lump of something organic. When he hit it, it groaned softly, it wasn't a human noise. After another second, the sound of a tail thumping weakly on the ground would reach Desmond's ears. He then got on one of his knees and patted Haures assuredly.


As Desmond patted Haures, he would feel someone grab him and pull him back, and put a knife to his neck. A few seconds later a low voice, full of malice, would start talking to Desmond, "It's been some time since someone came in here, they usually make me work for entertainment, having to chase them outside. You should have left your lizard, and ran." He laughed, "Because you won't have the chance now." That made Desmond's shotgun clatter against the floor as he dropped it, looking like as if he was going to raise his hands in surrender.


The bounty hunter, however, grabbed the knife hand with both of his hands, using all his strength to keep it away from him as he pivoted to his left and attempted to throw the serial killer over him and onto the junk pile.


When Desmond grabbed the knife hand, the man brought his knee into the back of Desmond's knee, making him buckle.


He then pulled his knife hand away as Desmond fell to a knee, "Funny business, well, that won't get you anywhere around here." He laughed darkly, "Well... except a more prolonged end."


As the man talked, Desmond would see Haures shakily rise, and try his best to walk. Haures walked over to the killer, and weakily attempted to bite him. The man laughed at the lizard as he kicked it in the stomach, causing Haures to fall down once more.


"What a loyal lizard, he even tries to protect you while he's weak. I think I'll have you watch as I kill it." The man crouched next to Haures, and started running his knife over Haures's back, "Where, oh where, to start?'


Desmond listened to the serial killed intently; He couldn't see where he was because of the darkness, but he could hear him, and notice that he was still at an arm's length. The bounty hunter sprang up, throwing himself behind towards the serial killer and pushing him against the central junk pile and already reaching for his pistol's holster.


Desmond's sudden leap caught the man off-guard, he had expected Desmond to be a down for a little longer. As Desmond impacted him, he dropped the knife, which fell and carved a thin and shallow cut through Haures's side.


The killer would impact the pile, sharp pieces of metal digging into his back. He had lost his breath as Desmond rammed into him. The bounty hunter didn't let go of the initiative, he twisted his body and brought an elbow to the man's face before turning around.


The man groaned, and with one hand, clutched his newly broken nose, which was streaming blood. He threw a punch at Desmond's face with his other arm, but it ended up being batted aside by the bounty hunter, who wrapped his own arm against the serial killer's and headbutted the man, once again on the broken nose.


The killer yelled in pain as Desmond headbutted the freshly broken nose, just furthering the damage done. "Stop! Stop! It hurts..." The man yelled, but Desmond wasn't listening anymore.


"You! Talk! Too! Much!" The bounty hunter said, each word interrupted with a fresh punch, he no longer had the monotone sound to his voice, but instead he was sounding genuinely angry, or pissed.


As Desmond's barrage progressed, the man responded less and less, until he stopped doing anything at all. He wasn't conscious anymore. Haures thumped his tail on the floor weakly.


The bounty hunter wiped the blood off his face from the headbutt, then let go of the limp arm, looking at Haures. Now that the serial killer was out he didn't look so scary like he had.


Desmond procured a ziptie handcuff from the back of his belt and bound the man's hands behind his back before walking over to Haures and recovering his shotgun.


"Good job." He said to the lizard.


Haures thumped his tail again, and whimpered. The cut on his side had blood welling on it.


"Yeah, we should get you to a vet." Desmond said, and then looked over at Johnson, "After we deal with that guy. Let's go." He said to Haures, then grabbed the serial killer by his legs and dragged him away.