"Holy shit," Was all that came tumbling out of Jimmy's mouth when he heard the unfettered vocal wrath of Vincent. Luca was wide-eyed, too, and John had to adjust his glasses accordingly.
As for Vincent, all he could see was a faint heat signature where the Neko was. He started seeing it run across rooftops and further towards the heart of the station, but as it started to slow down, its heat signature started to fade, eventually disappearing completely.
She could've been anywhere at this point.
"Remind me never to piss off Vincent," Luca thought aloud as he unwrapped a small lollipop and put it in his mouth, sucking away, "Ever."
"Dully noted," John nodded his head.
"Jim, Mum, get to his wounds ASAP," He directed as he got a message, he took a quick look, "Enzo seems to have found something, Zeta, report back and follow me."
Luca followed the trail over to where Enzo was, skirting through some of the more innocuous aspects of the market, weaving alongside food vendors, brewers, clothiers and paraphernalia craftsmen/women.
The captain inspected Enzo's handiwork, with the familiar scent of Enzo's cigarettes pervading the area.
"Hm, he looks agitated," Luca commented as he pointed to the man's bleeding eyes.
While the sniper was blind, he wasn't deaf. Between winces of familiar pain, he groaned, "This, isn't the first time, this has happened."
Luca glanced to Enzo, then shrugged, "He must keep soul backups or something," He turned back to the sniper, crouching down and getting to face level with him, "Alright, I'll cut you a deal - you tell me who sent Yuki onto me, and whoever else she's working with - and why she's after me,"
He then put his finger to his chest, poking him in the ribs, "And if I like what I hear, I'll get your arse to a hospital, otherwise," He jabbed him in the chest with the rest of his hand, "We've got our own brand of medicine. Deal?"
He was thinking about a response, with a large frown on his face, but still in pain from losing his other eye.
"Enzo, give him a cig," Luca nudged him in the leg.
-
Meanwhile, the vendors that tended to Panther, even though they'd seen their share of weird folks, Panther was somewhere on the top of that list, and a few were happy to make this known to the Kohanian.
"Is that a suit you're wearing, or?" One curious, suit-wearing freepsacer asked, pointing as politely as a freespacer could to the Kohanian's facial features, "That isn't a suit, isn't it?"
"I don't think so," Another Freespacer vendor selling adventuring gear seemed to frown in his suit, "This is a new entry. Must consult Polysentience."
"He's a Kohanian, sorta like one of them 'furries', but the real deal," A Nepleslian shopper, who was in the same store chipped in, "Look 'em up."
"What are furries?" The freespacer asked innocently, "Must consult Polysentience!"
It was up to Panther to discover what 'furries' were, if he really wanted to know. As for gathering information, he was able to come up with these relevant tid-bits, "...as a matter of fact, I have seen some shifty folks hanging around the Grinders, Empress-kissers, mostly."
"There are a few bars around town that the mercenary types like, such as the Fat Neko by the shipyards, the Tumbling Stubby near the square and the Crater Nadir Bar further in. We only tolerate them since the militia presence there is strong."
-
Jimmy and Anna had bought packs of first aid medicine along with them, and had gotten to Vincent and the others quickly.
"Whoa," Jim said as he he inspected the wound, "This is a first."
"Not for me," Anna said as she motioned for Vincent to come along quietly, "C'mon, we'll get that bullet out of you, pump some painkillers into you and you should be good to go in a few," Anna then gave Arin a nudge with a smile as she started to move Vincent back towards the Phoenix, "Thanks for keeping an eye on him, hun."
"Just like old times, huh?" Sebastian grumbled, cracking the knuckles on his cybernetic right hand.
"Cloaking devices are usually restricted technology," Echelon was quick to point out, "This further confirms either illegal activities or previous governmental ties."
"This is turning out to look worse than that night in Kennewes when I was 20," Sebastian cursed, growling with a deep rage which only experience grants.
"I dunno," Jim added as he treated Vincent's wound with an antiseptic, and small, localised doses of painkiller, "We've been through a lot, too."
Anna then got a pair of tweezers and a knife, slowly and steadily working the bullet out of the wound, then wedging it out and letting it fall into a container. She'd later discard the bullet in a medical waste bin.
"There," She said as she dabbed more antiseptic on, put a little more painkiller in, bandaged the wound tightly, and then gave Vincent a cigar to ease the pain some more, "That'll do for now."
Jimmy then turned to Nyezeh, taking a glance to Vincent, "Even though, as a medic, I should be giving the best advice for long term health, I don't think we have the luxury of time at the moment." He made a quick inspection of her remaining wounds, then nodded, smiling affirmatively, "My regenerative painkiller cocktail's negative symptoms should've passed over by now, and it shows!"
