RP: ISC Phoenix [Mission 9] Enzo's Lady of the Night

He simply stood there behind cover and out of everyone's view for a moment, staring at the wall with intent. Smith was dazed and confused, not from the concussion of the antimatter and burst of energy. It was part of it, yes, but really, he stood there, asking himself 'Why?' While working on Dawn Station, none of this troubled him. Yes, it bubbled up from time to time. Maybe it would be a cute - yes, he finally admitted it, they were F*ckign cute, and if not that, sexy - neko walking down the streets, maybe even in one of those uniforms he liked, the ones that...

He stopped and bared his white teeth at the wall in rage, front kicking it a few times until the metal dented, knocking himself back on track.

Or perhaps it would be merely him and a buddy from work talking about times gone by. 'I'm only Twenty Effing Five years old, and I'm thinking about "Times gone by"? What the hell is this? Why now?!' The sound of gunfire, and finally the gurgling of a man's throat blossoming in a fan of blood brought him back again. Smith took a deep breath, made sure his glasses were still tinted so they didn't notice the tan so easily, and simply walked out into the open, standing near the handrails with his hands behind his back. He surveyed the carnage below; these cops didn't have packs on their Impulse armors. Otherwise, the Phoenix crew's rounds would have never even touched the plates.

"It looks like everyone's fine, though Enzo is stunned." He spoke towards Luca down below. "I don't see...Naoko, but I assume she's fine as well." His darkened glasses merely gave a glint as he turned his head slightly towards Zeta. "It is entirely possible to set the Impulse Armors to detonate now that their owners are dead, but anyone with Mark 1 Eyes will still be able to observe the Lady of the Night, even after powering down."

A slight hint of amusement surfaced as his lips quirked ever so slightly in a smile, hands moving from behind his back to grasp the railing. "A pity the Lady of the Night is not a stealth craft."

Zeta took her chin deep in though. "Well how about this, we detonate Impulses when they are too far to see. Wouldn'T that work. I just want to do this without bloodshed and that it would seemed that Enzo is dead. Although it would be certainly more fun if they tried again." She said and looked at others. Maybe she was finally spending too much time around Luca.

Combat was such an evanescent thing, there and then gone. Take the scuffle on Enzo's ship for example: in thirty seconds, almost a dozen individuals died. Uriel was pondering this amidst the thrum of his adrenalin-laced pulse. Reloading his weapon always seemed to be a good way to calm down, the rote procedure returning order to his mind.

Thumb the release, flick the wrist, dump the shells, then one, two, three, four, five, six bullets. Give it a spin to check for a jam, then another flick of the wrist to shut that baby. It had a soundtrack of its own. Tick. The break unlocks. A shower of metal on metal rings like little bells. Each fresh round whispers softly as it enters its new home, shick. Then the cylinder spins like a top on a board game- a most dangerous game called Russian Roulette- and finally snaps shut: zzzzzzzick.

Uriel no longer felt the beating of his own pulse. He had been listening to the planning and plotting, but was uninterested. In fact he was beginning to feel quite apathetic over the whole situation once more when he noticed out of the corner of his eye a very... colorful room. A full glimpse and he realized it was the "scene" Luca and the raiding party had stumbled upon, although far less gruesome- dessicated parts were no longer floating around. That didn't make it any less WRONG.

Despite Luca's grip on Argent, the man was soon torn from him and violently thrown to the floor. A big Elysian boot applied pressure to his chest, slimming his airways oh so slowly. The barrel of the Tiger's Tears was poised over the center of the corrupt cop's face. "I will ask once- and let me stress ONLY ONCE. I hope I have your full attention: What is the name of the man that made that 'mess' in the other room? Think carefully, because if you utter the words, 'I don't know,' or anything similar, you lose." Uriel punctuated these words by cocking the hammer. His tone of voice was raw anger for the first time since joining Luca's little mercenary band, and his visage was one of great distress- also a first.

"That's just as ruthless as me, you rogue," Argent mouthed off to Enzo as he suggested to just mutilate whoever was on hand and pass it off as themselves, "Shall we take turns calling the kettle bl-ACK!!"

Before he could finish his sentence, he found himself in the grip of what could be described as an Avenging Angel. "Wait!" Was all that Luca was able to get out of his mouth before Argent found himself slammed against the ground and given the treatment he truly deserved. No more banter, no more pissing about, and just cutting to the chase.

Having a weapon pointed to your train of thought would do two things, speed it up or send it grinding to a halt - then send it into overdrive to crash and burn. In Argent's case, it was the halt-crash-burn routine. His breathing shortened and his face was welling up in sweat. If he kept it up, he could make a living watering gardens (if he survived).

Luca folded his arms as he looked down at Argent, "I'd answer the question if I were you."
"Well, there was this woman-" Argent blurted out.
Unsatisfied with the start of the answer, Luca pointed his HHG to Argent's groin, "Uriel, you're aiming at the wrong head. He doesn't use that one for thinking," He pulled the hammer back, "Give me a name or your gene pool excursions are going to be cut short."
"FUCK! Okay. She was a stone cold killer if I ever knew one. I could just tell. She had blonde hair, big hips and average tits," This prompted Luca to fire a shot, not at his groin, but at the space between his legs.

The muzzle flash and residue from a HHG are just as bad as bullet itself, anecdotally speaking, searing and burning occurred around his pants and the heat alone would hurt like hell.

"I'm not interested in the measurements!" Luca said.
Argent caught up without missing a beat, "What I mean is, she looked -motherly-, and it just felt wrong. She looked one way, but felt ... like death on legs."
"I don't fucking care! What was her NAME!?"

"Her name was Yuki!"

Luca blinked momentarily, then took a step back, uncocked the HHG and put it in his holster as a flood of memories came back to him. Yuki. He thought she was behind him on Drift - a player of both ends of the fence and possibly the deadliest woman to Mr. Pavone - and also the most helpful.

Without her, the Drift resistance would've been a disaster - even though the crew were to believe that she was responsible for the invasion. However, this was not the case, since she'd met him in person and told him the real threat - a fact that was hidden by the captain to his crew for some time. As for who she worked for...

"I am not at liberty to discuss that, Mr. Pavone. All I can tell you is that you and your crew are up against a much greater threat."
(( Rest of post here: viewtopic.php?p=79751#p79751 ))

Click to expand...

...it was a mystery of the grandest degree. SAINT? IPG? Herself?

"He's spoken his piece," Luca said, sitting down on something he could sit on, and putting his face in his palms in thought, "Release him. We'll dump him at the relevant authorities. As for the medics... ugh, you guys handle it. I can't think properly... blast the impulses..."

He made a large exhaling sigh, overwhelmed by the information.
"You look pale." Argent said, tilting his head in concern.
"Piss off."

-

The senior doctor on duty found himself cut along chest, and as he was keeling over to succumb to the pain, the kick to Ashleigh's chest sent her flying across the room, and into the supply cabinet with a crash.

The remaining Medic, Stibbons had put his hands up in self defence, using a doctor's bag as an improvised shield.
As Naoko made her spiel, Stibbon's survival instinct kicked in as he looked to his superiors and knelt down to inspect the head doctor and apply a pressure bandage to the cut before standing up and moving over to Ashleigh, who was breathing heavily and coughing blood. Never a good sign.

He then turned around before tending to Ashleigh and asked: "What are you!?"

Robert released the officer that he held at Bladepoint. He picked up the weapon that the officer dropped and tossed it down the hallway away from anyone still alive. He patted Uriel on the back as he walked past the tall angry man. "Good for you. You put the fear of your God in that asshole if nothing else." he said in passing while hurrying up to Luca. "So who do you think she is that he was talking about back there Boss?"

"Muzukashi..." Naoko murred as she twisted to drop from the wall, landing approximately on her feet amid the distended medical equipment. She stood, clearing some of it away with the side of a foot. Then, Naoko approached. She didn't sashay, because to do that would have taken conscious effort - no, the Nekovalkyrja had a grace about her that was more than human. She smoothly transitioned from the space she had occupied, to the space near the medic, until all she had to do was look up and there he was. If she had sneezed, it would have gone right in his face.

"The easy answer is; I'm Naoko," she said sweetly, "I'm a nobody. Demo, anata wa... You are a doctor. You work for the Nepleslian government. You have access to the criminal database infrastructure." She grabbed his shirt and bunched it in a grip of iron, giving him a slight smile. In retrospect, this was something that Naoko really did enjoy doing. No future, no past - just the thrill of the moment when she held life and death in her hands. Today, it was a medic. Tomorrow it was going to be the stupid bastard that had attempted to brainwash her and cultivate her into a mindless underworld killer fucktoy.

"Let's trade. If you give me your passcodes and network information, I'll make sure nobody else dies here today."

Her grip tightened just slightly.

"If you don't, I'll just kill you and take it from your friends while they bleed out. Deal?"

Uriel gave a quiet grunt of agreement to Robert then lowered himself just a couple inches, crouching with all his weight on Argent's chest. "Consider yourself lucky, you mangy... fuck." It was a strange word for the Elysian to utter and left a foul taste, but he couldn't think of a better descriptor at the moment. And without further ado, bashed the man on the crown of his skull, incapacitating him.

Then he turned to the Captain and awaited Luca's response to Robert; the Patrician also wished to know the answer. In the meantime, he made a silently promise to never say fuck again- it just didn't sound right coming out of his mouth, and was too much like the worse half of Enzo.

It was nice for Enzo to receive a complement on his ruthless nature. He smiled while the whole mess was spilling out in his ship, which he was incredibly glad to have back, by the way. It seemed everything was falling back into order for the vagabond, and so he slunk over to Argent and slipped his arms around the now unconscious man's chest, hefting him up from the floor. With a mighty grunt, Enzo dragged the crew's latest prey over to the oft-unused engineering console and plopped him down in the chair, cackling a little as he allowed Argent's head to smack into the side of the seat on the way down.

Just to be safe, Enzo locked the engineering console with a quick password he just made up on the spot and began the process of tying Argent up with his own tie. He even hummed a little tune while he worked. After finishing the last knot he stood back to survey his work for a moment before plopping into his own seat and scooping up his long-missed ashtray. One lit cigarette later, he finally broke his humming to say his piece.

"I wanna keeps him 'ere to cleans up what mess he mades in the bedroom, fellas." Enzo seemed to be in rare form tonight, "I gots a hunch he'll be willing to clean it up if I locks him in the room with a couples trash bags and some cleanin' shit."

Zeta did two steps forward wanting to scare crooked cop so he would piss himself but angel was faster and put him to sleep. "Hell, angel. Couldn't you let that bastard be. I wanted to scare him a litte. Or maybe cur a few pieces." She then turned to Luca. "Hey captain, you think I could spend some time alone with the cop? I promise he will survive. Enzo could go with me to make sure. Angel too." She said.

"I seriously doubt they'd be able to 'try again' Miss Five." Smith replied, now climbing up to stand on the handrails. He soon leaped down to their level, landing on his two feet, cushioning the impact by going into a roll before standing up to brush off any dirt or grime acquired on his uniform. He continued to speak with a calm and level voice. "More likely, there's just a few stragglers to deal with. Noncombatants if we're lucky. Cops with guns if we're less so." Smith paused. "More power armor if Luck hates us."

The Origin Representative then pulled out his 17mm, twisting and pulling the knob on the Peashooter back to move the chambered round into the magazine. He smoothly swapped the antimatter out for normal rounds before holstering it again, walking casually into the depths of the police ship. "You're welcome to join me if you're eager for the possibility of more Ma'am."

Smith promptly entered the Police vessel with absolute silence, not so much as a single footfall audible despite the normal walk.

Zeta looked at Smithy. "No thanks but be careful. And I really want to scare him since guys like him tends to try and get revenge. We have enough people like him. So I just wanted to make him think I would cut his balls or something. Or cut his balls or something." Zeta said back to Smithy and shrugged.

Uriel turned an angry eye toward Zeta- but none of the anger was for her, fortunately. "Scare him? I'd much rather you castrate him and leave him to bleed. God knows he's probably raped a woman or two in his day. And while we're on the topic of punishment and vengeance, I fully support Mr. Bortelli's plan. Throw the scumbag in the room with a trash bag and lock him in. It's the least he could do before I send him packing to the Pearly Gates."

Zeta calmly looked back at Uriel. "Yes I could do that, but like I said I don't do cold blood murders. And Captain gace use clear orders that this piece of excrement is to stay alive. And when Captain give you order you don't question it, you do what order stated. I though you were in military Angel you should know this better then me." She said with calm voice.

He nodded. "I was and I do. Very clearly. Doesn't change the fact that my feelings on the matter are both vehement and adverse to the Captain's decision. I will express them in the hopes he comes around to my way of thinking, but outright disobedience is beyond me."

Silent pseudo-rubber soled footsteps lead Smith down and into the Police ship. By now, he had already drawn out his 10mm pistol, holding it in his left hand. In his right was the larger 17mm pistol. The Origin Rep knew that this wasn't enough to tackle a Power Armor, but he had something far better than any weapon; words. Matthew Smith wasn't the best mediator, but when it came to driving a bargain, he'd strip them of everything and their clothing.

'Damn. If I didn't choke earlier, I could have done that to It during the hemosynth deal.' he thought. A little something reminded him that it was probably for the better that he didn't try though, successful as he would likely have been. 'Crossing one of those isn't worth it.' Smith mentally sighed. Soon enough though, he could hear. He could smell. Whimpering. Crying. Metal in the air - blood. 'The hell?' The one way tint appeared on his glasses again, obscuring his eyes as they narrowed. He neared. Could hear them speaking.

'Naoko.'

Whatever It was up to couldn't be good. But he had to stay calm; they were technically on the same 'side' after all. He steeled himself and casually walked in - he wasn't prepared for what he saw. "Miss Aihara." he managed to speak normally, desperately trying to keep up the facade.

"Just what are you up to? And without any...attire?"

"Rob, do you remember that woman from Drift, blonde, leggy, and managed to shoot out Vincent's legs from some distance away with twin HHG's?" Luca told the blade-happy mercenary as he heaved a sigh, "It was her."

He then looked over to Uriel with a serious frown, blinking incredulously at an Elysian, which in appearance is supposed to be pure and angelic, swearing. The juxtaposition of crude and cultured was jarring for Luca, and he considered having a talk to him later.

Beau, the solitary policeman looked about idly and asked: "Can I go now? The game's on in a few hours."
Luca shrugged in his direction, indicating a definite maybe.
"Okay," He then walked past Argent and gave him a slap on the back, "You'd better do what they say 'chessmaster'." He didn't leave the ship yet, in case anyone had anything else to tell or ask him.
"Anyone else have anything to ask of me before I get going?" He shrugged to the crew assembled.

Argent thumped his head against the engineering console in response, clearly out cold.
"Now now Zeta, I think we all want to abuse Argent for some cheap thrills," Luca mimicked handing out tickets to the crew assembled, "Take a number and wait in line or something."

After hearing Uriel's pitch-in for Argent cleaning the ship, "Shall we give dress him up in a maid outfit to drive the point home?" Luca grinned wickedly, "Besides, wounds can recover and people can use soul transfers and backups, but nothing will ever heal a damaged ego in a hurry."

Luca rubbed his chin as he gave Enzo a nod to start getting going, "I think my dad might be able to provide the costume."

-

Meanwhile, over in the police vessel, Stibbons had responded by wetting himself in terror to Ms. Aihara, just as Mr. Smith walked in as well.
"I don't know the codes! Dr. Mackey does!" He said, pointing to the doctor whom had a scalpel cut patched over with a pressure bandage, "Dr. Mackey, do what the naked thing tells us!"

Dr. Mackey groaned and looked over to Stibbons, then down to his pants and said, without joy, "God damn it Stibbons, why does happen every time I bring you with me?" As he put his head back to look at Naoko, "Alright, nobody, A0-3F-B2-2B-63-91. That'll get whatever you need. By the way Stibbons, you're doing Laundry detail if we survive this,"

He then nodded his head over to Asheligh, who had roused from her initial knockout blow, and could smell the urine in the air mixed with the blood and the defiant voice of Dr. Mackey, "Also, attend to Dr. Ashleigh before she dies of laughter from looking at you."

"Yes sir..."

Robert grunted, obviously remembering. What the hell did you ever do to piss her off Boss? He continued walking on the police ship where Smith had gone. "Smith? Where you at? Didn't surprise attack you did they?" Robert turned a corner leading him in almost the opposite direction from the Med bay. "Smith?" he called out.

Naoko uncurled her fingers and dropped the boy rather abruptly on his ass, in a puddle of his own urine. When she turned her head back towards Smith, her hair - arrayed as it was over her shoulders like a thin veil, so low it nearly touched her ankles - got in her way. With a broad sweep of her hand, she threw it all back.

Then she smiled. With the world in chaos around her, she smiled. Like a cat caught playing with mice.

"Nothing, anymore," she said, delicately settling her hand on the curve of her hip, "How about you?"

"Bollocks," was all Zeta said and kicked Ardent in the leg. Carefuly to not broke anything of his. Then only policeman who was still here and har snappy remarks. That angered Zeta a lot. Luca said to not do anything to Ardent but he did not say anything about the cop officer laughing around like nothing happened. What a perfect thing to vent some steam off.

Zeta made two quick stepp, caught policemen by his throat and pushed him onto the wall. "You fucking bloody degenarety. You still think this is funny eh? Need to catch a game eh? Well look at me! I am laughing my nicely shaped arse off! HAHAHAHA!" She said. "I said look at me!" SHe shouted and stabbed into the wall next to his head with bakh nagh. "See we have a lot of fun here. It is great being attacked by bunch of crooks coppers. I might pee myself with joy I am feeling. You stupid wanker, you come here try to kill me and my friends and of all my captain and now when you cowardly made your way out of pinch you are making jokes! I should cut your dick off and stuff it in your mouth. I wonder who would be jolly then." She then pulled her blades out of wall and used Impulses strenght to send dirty cop up hallway towards cop ship giving him unfriendly kick in his butt along the way. "Get out of here before I snap and do something I might not regret later." She said then.

Not normally when to empathize with... well, anyone on the crew, Uriel found himself smiling briefly when Zeta gave the officer the boot. Just then, however, his own brain was suddenly struck with an idea. "No, wait! I think we have something better for him than some sports presentation." He was calm again, the anger gone, and his old rational self reinstated.

One slender finger was aimed at the retreating "pig." "He ought to help clean up too. He may not have made the mess, but he has played along with our friend Argent every step of the way. He's been involved with every part of the plan so far as we can tell, and there's no reason to let him off to a life of leisure when he's just as much a criminal. Let's put them both in there. He'll learn to make better friends in the future, I think."