RP: ISC Phoenix [Interlude 4] - A Hard Day's Night

Vincent watched as the convulsions ebbed and then returned in full force, sending the sniper's looted corpse rolling across the floor. Unashamed of his soon-to-be moved actions, Vincent remorselessly pulled back the hammer on the Hand Cannon and shot thesniper five times, killing him just as surely as his poison pill had.

Returning his hand cannon to his pocket, he scowled. "Cain happened." The soldier growled, squinting a bit. "He spilled a little then killed himself."

"...a little bit of personal profit..."

Click to expand...

Arin KNEW this new poker player Luca and co had found was bad news. She made mental note to get to future loot first next time. Also, the idea of a 'vacation' seems to be disappearing fast with the mention of Cain and co and of Vincent noisily venting the former sniper's cranium. The Representative slowly lowered her camera, things were getting less fun, and the horrible poison-pill plus handcannon overkill event was too disgusting to snap, the assassin's face was now simply unrecognisable!.

If she had jury rigged a lightbulb to her head, it would have suddenly lit up. Checking to see if no was looking at her general direction, she quietly withdrew herself back to her hotel room.

"Whoa, whoa whoa!" One of the policemen asked as he he dodged the blood splatters of Vincent's handiwork, "I didn't like him either but that's no way to get rid of him!"
"We can still get his prints if they're on file," The other one observed grimly as he hauled the body bag away.

Meanwhile, Luca nodded at Enzo as he inspected the rifle from a distance.
"I suppose scrounging a pistol isn't that much of an issue, I think it'll come in handy," He nodded knowingly, "As for the rifle, well, my resident Sniper already has something with a bit more kick, so you can do as you please with it."
He then turned to Jim and gave him a pat on the shoulder, "I'm a bit pissed off too, but hey, such is life. Hopefully they'll get the idea."

As Arin was heading upstairs, Mel was heading downstairs to investigate the commotion, she had her Revolver-Rifle-Railgun ready to go. She had her scope polished and a shot ready.
"What the bloody hell just happened?" She asked in her Delsaurian drawl, whilst spotting various sniping spots and digging herself into a comfortable position. Luca filled her in on the details, and decided to get back up, "Not a moment's peace here, eh mate?"

"Fortunately the police look like they're on alert. That'll discourage any others from making a move for now," Luca observed as he walked towards the hotel, "Now, where did I put my swim trunks?"

Mel nodded and headed back to the hotel, somewhat disappointed that there was nothing to shoot. However, a swimsuit store nearby got her attention, she entered and came out with a bag and a smile on her face, then got back to the hotel.

Luca came back down in a pair of black swim trunks and his hairy physique. Mel had come down in a white-striped single piece swimsuit, and occasionally drew comments from hecklers that was too strong-looking for a woman. She confirmed their queries by punching their lights out.

John had decided to follow suit with burgundy swim boxers and a beach ball the size of his head, and his sunglasses. Hitori had also come down wearing a two-piece swimsuit.
"Do you always wear those?" She asked as she looked out onto the beach. The white sand and clear, warm water was very promising.
"Yes I do, why?" He responded.
"Nothing." She shrugged.

"Now, race y'all to the beach!" Luca laughed as he got a head start on the others.
"OI!!" Mel yelled out as she started her sprint.

Okay then the captain is crazy! Thought Zeta to herself. Someone just tried to shoot his head-off and here he is getting ready to go on a beach now. Okay all is good, now sniper is dead and with some luck nobody will try to kill Luca today. But she will have to get somebody to taste Lucas food for himself. Okay Paranoira kicked in again!

Luca was in crowd so she could let him be for a minute and stop by a swimming shop. Leather jacket is not good on beach.
She looked through the swimming suits finding something she would like. A little time on beach should actually get her mood up! Especially when there is no driving for now. In the end Zeta choose sky blue bikini. It suited her well.

Zeta run in her room quickly and found out that Arin moved in with her, but only her stuff was there. Maybe she was in bathroom. Zeta quickly changed into swims, took a towel and went for the doors. Then she turned back, took second towel and covered her pistol with it. You never know, it might come in handy.

When she got out Luca was already running for a beach. A perfect target for a sniper. Ahh don't think like that! She told to herself in her mind. Captains said it is time to relax. So while guarding him Zeta will try to relax. With that though she smiled and started running to her captain. Let's see who will be first on the beach.

Seeing that everybody had begun their vacation, Vincienzo went to take care of his own business. He made his way up to his room to fill his bag with his new loot. These are the things he had in his bag when he left the room: all of his loose gun parts, the disassembled sniper rifle, the sniper's communicator, and an extra belt. He kept his Type 29 under his left arm, and the holdout pistol wedged into the back of his pants. He lit another cigarette as he exited the hotel, hitting the streets.

Soon, he reached a pawn shop nestled between a gift shop and a liquor store bearing the beach's name as its own. A small bell rang as he entered; but the tired looking woman behind the counter didn't even look up from her magazine as he walked in. Enzo took stock of the store, his eyes sliding across the merchandise in a methodical fashion. There were tons of weapons, all locked in display cases. There were also aisles upon aisles of useless trinkets and electronic devices. After a quick study of the store, Ezno approched the counter, clearing his throat to get the woman's attention.

"Bathrum's nixt dough-err." she said, her drawl pushing the syllables out of her mouth sloppily.

Enzo narrowed his eyes before dropping his bag loudly on the counter with a grunt. Hearing this, the woman sighed, lay her magazine on the counter in front of her, and looked up at him. Enzo smiled when she did this and said, "Why, hello there, Miss Sunshine," he jeered, "I see you've noticed me here. I've come to make you an offer of fine wares. You will not be disappointed, lady: I gots lots of stuff in this bag."

One after another, Enzo removed the trinkets in his bag and laid them in a line on the counter.

"I got dis nice sniper rifle, custom made," he started, pointing to each product as he mentioned it; his cigarette swinging around in his mouth, "I also gots working parts for a GP-13 and a Standard Energy Pistol, as well as a charging station for the latter. Now, here's what I'm looking for: I need a flick-knife-- not too fancy, preferably spring-assisted-- and I'd like two holsters for pistols. One to fit a Type 29 and another to fit a snub-nosed forty-five automatic."

He slid his money card onto the counter as he finished, "And put the change on my card."

The woman blinked at him for a moment before sliding the parts back towards him. "Sir, I jest cannut sell there here gun parts. They's not of any use to mah custuhmers. I can give you 500DA for this here rifle. It's mighty fine, If I do say so mahself... An' I reckon' I do. But we do have a lot of holsters in stock here, yes sir. An' I got a lil knife to setcha up alright. Spring loaded, like ya like. It'll be abowat... I reckon fortee dee-ay for them holsters and I'll let this here knife go for twenny-sicks dee-ay. That leaves ya... eighty, niney, hunnert-sicks outta fibe hunnert... That'll give ya three-hunnert an niney sicks dee-ay."

Enzo nodded and pushed the rifle and money card towards the cashier, stowing his weapon parts back into his bag. The cashier took his items and walked into a door. After a magic minute, she came back with the gun holsters and the knife, his money card slipped into its pocket clip. After a thorough appraisal of the goods, Enzo replaced the money card and began re-arming himself. He buckled his extra belt around his waist with the holdout pistol hanging down over the front of his thigh and traded out holsters on the other belt he was using as a bandolier under his left arm. Finally, he clipped the knife to the side of his pants, sticking out of his cargo pocket. By the time he had finished, the cigarette in his mouth had burnt down to a smoldering butt, which he tossed to the sidewalk as he exited the store.

When he had finally reached the beach, the others were all playing around on the sand. Fighting the urge to light yet another cigarette, Vincienzo dragged a chair over near the other crew members and sat down and propped his feet up on a rock. He then set to shamelessly eyeballing all the women in Luca's crew as they enjoyed themselves on the beach.

"Aw, what could it hurt?", he asked himself, finally lighting another smoke.

"...A loud gunshot was heard today at the..." the view screen at the place the assassin picked played out while he secured his food. to go of course since the last thing he wants to do is reveal his face on the sake of hunger.

With the bag of cheap, almost stale food by his side, he had one more shopping trip to do before he would find some spices to steal to eat his food. As he walked to his next destination, he kept in mind his mission, If tonight I plan to approach the hotel, I would need a couple of things. While I may regret I don't get the toys the big time hunters have, the hunt is always more exciting when using what little you have.

Though this is big game, this Luca should not be undervalued, even if he is a fleshling.

Jim cringed as he saw Vincent blow the dead assassin to bits right next to him, showering him with small amounts of blood splatter. He sighed at Luca's comment, silently agreeing and hoping for the best.

Following, Luca, Jim made his way to the beach in white swim trunks with blue polka dots adorning it. Once back in the water, he reclaimed the inflatable shark he had bought for 13DA. It doubled both as a lounge float and a lifelike shark, although it did have googly eyes.

Robert cringed at the bloody mess that Vincent made of the assasin. Then he limped upstairs after his boss and changed over into his trunks and layed out on the beach in his full scarred glory. "Beautiful day ain't it boss?". He asked Luca casually pretending not to notice the disgusted stares he was so used to getting.

"Relax a little, Robert!" Luca said cheerfully as he tried to tug-of-war the inflatable shark out of Jim's hands, "We've got bodyguards, the Police are behind us, and I'm sure things will turn out fine. That reminds me, Zeta, Vincent, Vincen-"

He stumbled on his words, lost his concentration on the Shark and fell into the water. He swam back up and blinked, "Enzo too, You've done an excellent job, have a word with me later on!"
He then continued the tug-of-war with Jim. Mel had decided to get in on it as well.
"OI!" Mel yelled out as she tried to wrestle it out of the guys' hands.
"I wanna play first!" Luca retorted.

Hitori and John were lying down on the beach and working on their tans.
"Eyein' the ladies, eh?" John said to Enzo as she laid out a magazine detailing the finer points of the female anatomy, space navigation and basket weaving, "I don't blame you. I sneak a peek myself. That's one of the reasons I have these glasses."

"And the other reason?" Hitori asked as she looked over at him, trying to get a good look at his eyes. However, they were obscured by the thick frames on the glasses.
"None of your business," John grumbled.

Meanwhile, closer to the Hotel, Sebastian was half-asleep on a banana lounge with a newspaper which had a half-completed crossword over his face. A few words he couldn't figure out had put him to sleep.
Anna had procured a bit of literature, reading it and supervising the crew.

"Nothing ever seems to faze him," Anna observed as her son, who was recovering from injury, doing impromptu skydiving beforehand whilst avoiding getting killed - and acting as though nothing happened, "Do you think we've bought him up right?"
"Believe me," Sebastian replied as he recalled his quick fight in Tami, and seeing his son get an NSP to the shoulder, "He's more than capable of handling himself. Speaking of which, whatever happened to that Lorath we picked up a while ago?"
"She's still in our ship, recovering slowly I think her wounds will be taking their time, unlike some people..."

Further horseplay had resulted from the swimmers, ranging from splashing to pulling underwater.
"OI!!" Mel yelled out as she came back up and dunked Luca.

Meanwhile at the other hotel, the cleaner was having a field day. His regimen would occasionally include blood stains, but none as the one he was mopping. He just ignored the volume of it and got on with it, cleaning diligently.

During which, the Worst Band in the Universe had come up with a new gimmick for tonight. They were talking it over backstage at the Forty-Five Star Hotel.
"How about this - He's beyond cool, but he acts like a fool, kickin' ass with his badass crew." Edge blurted out as he got it down on paper.
"You might be on to something, keep working on it," Stretch rubbed his chinfluff, "You were there, after all."

Okay Zeta has to admit that this is fun too. Water feels realy nice and it is fun to watch others fooling around. Zeta smiled as she watched The Battle of The Shark. Mel's joining turned the tides of battle. How do they say it? When two fight the is laughing?

Zeta quite wondered about her captain. How can Luca do this all? Someone tryed to shoot his head off and here he is playing like ten years old. Zeta was almost jealous at him for that. True she is relaxing now but she could never unwind like he does. Pistol tugged in the towel was an evidence of that.

Zeta thought for a second about joining the brawl but three is a crowd already. Hmm she could go for a swim again ot maybe try to ger a tan. She also wondered where Arin is. She could use a little fun on the beach too. Well Zeta could go get her, couldn't she? A little stroll on the beach and she is at hotel. That guy in the coat will guard Luca meanwhile. Zeta stood up and went for the hotel. Buying herself a hot-dog in one of the stand along the way. It was surprisingly tasty. Maybe she could buy Arin one too?

Well they can geto en on the way back. But suddenly Zetas chain of thoughts was broken by a sound of motor. Not very strong motor but a motor. She looked that way and saw guys speeding it up along theb each on the beach buggy. A little four wheel machine was throwing sand all around and people were jumping from its way.
Zetas lips changed into wide smile. Look like there is other form of fun she can have and it suits her tastes so much.

Jim scuffled with Mel and Luca for possession of the large shark floaty, and inevitably flipped it over. Bubbles escaped from under the shark as Jim glubbed, air escaping his lungs. Pushing off the ground, he used his head to make the entire thing fly into the air, out of the grasps of the other two. Jim was enjoying himself quite a lot considering they had a price on their heads.

Enzo waved at Luca when he mentioned his name, but quickly went back to other things. He leaned over to John and tapped on a picture in his magazine.

"Now, that's a fine specimen right there." he began, "Got a nice fat bottom on that one... Yes, very beautiful tone, too. And look at that fine, strong weave! What is that, a Lorath Orchard Basket? It's very nice, isn't it? That naked broad's pretty nice, too."

After a short conversation about the finer things, followed by a slightly longer conversation about the dirtier things, Enzo and John were both laughing as they parted ways, Enzo heading for the mini-bar stationed at the beach. The bartender was an older man with a cybernetic arm, preforming Bartender Idle Function #4: wash the same glass over and over again. He sat the glass down on the bar when Enzo approached and smiled.

"I thought I was gonna be cleaning that glass until the band started to play, pal." he said, leaning on the bar, "What'll you have tonight?"

Enzo smiled back and flicked ashes onto the sand before he ordered.

"I'm in a nautical mood, I guess. Give me a glass of rum."

The bartender nodded and poured rum into the exceeding clean glass in front of him. Enzo nodded to him as he took his drink back to his chair, saying out of the corner of his mouth, "Put it on the tab for room 49-2."

When he got back to his chair, he began to tinker with the weapon parts he had in his bag. After messing around with the screws and such, he managed to build a little sculpture of a cat out of the parts. Proud of his creation, he sat it on the corner of the chair so it could look out over the sea before leaning back again to enjoy the last of his cigarette. He turned to Robert as the echos of a sand buggy filled the beach from the distance. "Those are some nice scars you've got, guy." he lifted his shirt before continuing, "Check these out-- Got this one fighting pirates, this one in a bar fight, this one from crashing an airbike and this one... This is actually from when I fell down because I was drunk. Yeah, that's not as impressive as the other ones. Either way, it's good to see another man of the world, no doubt working for Cap'n Pavone I bet."

Enzo leaned forward with a smile and an outstreched hand, "The name's Vincienzo Bortelli, Vinny, Vince, Enzo, whatever you like."

Vincent, meanwhile, had lumbered off back to his hotel room. After the encounter in the hotel he wasn't leaving anything to chance. Even the war-bred Zeta, supposed to be a hardened eat-danger-shit-bullets type like himself, had succumbed to the tide of merriment and fun-having that had overswept the crew. Vincent, however, hadn't. In lieu of the sniper's assault, the mercenary had begun fortifying his hotel room, hiding weapons and ammunition around the room before setting up his Deviance on the balcony outside his room, loading a drum into it and leaving it propped against the railing.

Once he was done with that, the hulking ID-Sol sat down on the edge of his bed, refilled the empty chambers of his Hand Cannon, and returned it to his holster. Pulling on his ballistics mesh vest and, over that, a rather cartoonishly-overlarge cotton button-up shirt, Vincent pulled the shirt-tails out far enough to conceal the holsters on his lower back where the Hand Cannon was holstered. Pulling on his aviators and hat, the ID-Sol headed out of his room, locked the door, then set the pitfall trap on the front doorstep, careful to leave a memento for the maids to avoid it (he'd already lost one down the rabbit hole), then set out for the Merchant's District.

Sitting far off and observing the merrymaking group was a figure in shades, cap, stick in mouth and a gun. Though a few things must be clarified: The stick was the remains of a half-eaten popsicle, the gun a pansy ESG concealed carry with the safeties on and in addition to the first two accessories, Arin also wore a zipped up olive fisherman's vest over a bright yellow Hawaiian shirt together with oversized khaki shorts and moccasins. The assassins looking for one of Pavone's associates, a woman in an orange NAM uniform and heavy gear is only going to find average ambiguous surfer dude with old camera. Having fashioned a zoom lens earlier, she fired off a few more shots.

Having left most of her junk and Fabricator back in the hotel room, she now didn't feel 'weighted down' by the job and was enjoying the natural kinetics of Nature, pressurized exhausts replaced by the gentle wind, grinding gears by the flowing waves and other mechanical moving parts by the swish of the palm trees.

She wanted to get back to the group but approaching Luca would be a dead giveaway, perhaps hanging out with Vincent or Zeta would be a compromise. Before she got to doing this however Arin was ambushed by a number of women in bikinis her age.

"Hey boy, wanna buy us a drink?" one of them hooked her arm over the Representative's.

"Ah, sorry girls. Ah, I'm already taken." Arin stammered out, not comfortable with lying, but not ready to drop her guise so soon. Her response was met with a ferocious tug which knocked her off her feet. The whole thing concluded with the tomboy being dragged off to the nearest bar by the arm, sleeve and collar.

Oh, this was entertaining. Rumors that Luca had land, accompanied by the impressive 50,000 bounty. That much money was a tempting target, but after seeing this. A small grin appeared on the face of the slimmed face Yamataian as he thought about the fun that he was about to have. Luca Pavone, mercenary, hero. The grin widened momentarily, taking on a feral quality. Victim.

Tehatima Mori was sitting on a bench at the edge of the beach. He turned his attention back to the ice cream cone in his hand, taking a few licks of the sweet treat. Every bounty hunter and merc on the planet out to make a name for themselves and weren't taken in by Luca's reputation would be after that bounty. But he had time, only the first assassin had made an appearance. From the information he had managed to get so far, this team had done some pretty amazing things. But a certain pattern had emerged. While they had skill, there was one enormous resource that Tehatima was certain most of the other competition would overlook. The enormous about of luck that Luca seemed to have.

You just had to look at the recent incident to see it. Jumping out a window fifty stories up, landing on a balloon while avoiding sniper fire, and saving a member of the local band. Hell if this keeps up the band might end up writing a hit single about the merc for his deeds and that would show round out the luck angle quite nicely. He would probably outlast the next assassin at least. But then again, luck is a fickle mistress. Oh well, all he intended to do for now was sit and watch for now. So he sat, not a hundred yards from a cash cow, eating his ice cream and thinking about how he wanted to proceed.

The cloaked assassin arrived at the hotel, walking around it and mapping the outside mentally. Luca would probably be near the top, and his herd close by, the assassin contemplated after his circle. He then walked toward the beach on a hunch, this world is known for a few things, if the fleshlings just arrived, it probably be to the ocean.

The merriments went unmolested until evening, when the stars begun to come out and the firmament darkened. The lifeguard nearby escorted everybody back into the hotel, and sealed off the beach.

Luca headed back to his hotel room on the 49th floor, and intended to spend the rest of the evening drinking with the crew and watching the show, but first, he had to prepare for the occasion.
He kept his signature clothing on, but stripped down of all weaponry, save for his 10mm pistol with a pair of spare magazines in a hidden shoulder holster.
He also had tricks up his sleeves consisting of a pair of metal plates he'd scrounged and stuck into the padding of the giant sleeves. They'd only protect against tiny small arms fire or darts, but give him the edge in a fistfight.

He knew that keeping his wits about him would be important if he wanted to be merry and keep his head attached to his neck, he took a few tips from spy movies he'd gathered. He also practised his winning smile in the mirror.
"Sharp-dressed man," Luca quipped as he snapped his fingers and pointed to his reflection, flashing his pearly whites.

He moved out onto the 49th floor hallways and sent out a small telepathic message to his crewmembers:
Hey guys, Luca here - I'm heading out for a drink. Anyone who wants to come with me, get ready soon. I'll be waiting outside by the elevator.

And that's what he did.

Enzo had gotten a little tipsy over the course of the evening, and had finally began to sober up when he spotted Luca leaving his room. He quickly matched speed and step with Luca and caught up to him as he made his way to the elevator.

"Cap'n Pavone!", he said cheerily, "I was just thinking of lookin' for you. You said you wanted to speak with me earlier, but I had a few drinks and started flirting with this maid and one thing lead to another, and she ended up slapping me in the face, so I had to steal her purse and hang it from the flagpole. Either way, I'm here now, and I'm feeling pretty receptive: So go ahead and tell me what you were wanting. Was it directions to my uncle's place? Maybe some money for all you've done? I got a little now, I hocked some stuff... Er, what'dya have in mind?"

The members of the Phoenix were stalked all the way back to their hotel. The covered assassin kept himself on rooftops, only moving when they were close out of sight. As the night began to approach, he had decided it was time to begin climbing up and pulled out a rope and hook. From the ground outside the building, he began tying the rope on the hook, he made a makeshift grappling hook, and began to spin it.

With a toss, it reached about the first or second story, and latched onto the balcony railing. After he was sure it was safe, he climbed up the rope and made sure to not be seen easily from the window door most hotels have. He then began to repeat, planning on going like this for the next 40 or so floors.

This is great! Zeta was on fire. The buggies were just a short walk from the place Luca and others played. It wasn't even as pricey as Zeta expected.

Riding by on buggy was jsut great! Spraying sand around and speeding by the beach accompanied by the loud shouts of angry tourists. Watching shrieking bimbos jumping out of the way was just priceless.
Time was flying by like a shuttle falling into the atmsphere. She realised that is late only when she drove by the place of Lucas playground and nobody was there.

Oh crud! She absolutely forgot about captain! He wanted to go partying in the evening and she has to be there. She drove to the hotel quickly.

When she was driving by the bar she noticed Arin at the bar. There was a little mob of bimbos around her and she didn't look very happy. Okay Zeta can be a little more late. Arin is a crewmember and her friend after all.

Zeta stopped at the bar with a skid, throwing some sand on then nearest girls.
"Hey Arin you wanna lift?" Zeta asked with smile on her face.