RP: Taking It Back [Time-out!] New Players, New Problems

"Ah, the simple pleasure are enough to satisfy an old soul like me." Archie replied, releasing the handshake and gesturing to the back of the truck. "Mister Canterbury, after you." he said simply.

Archie turned back towards the front of the truck and Ally, his eyes on the sky. With the rain moving in riding on the back could turn out to be a miserable experience indeed. He turned to Ally and gestured with his chin.

"Best you ride with Sam for now, we'll stay in the back." He said, cautiously moving to make his own ascent up the back of the truck.

Alexis hopped up in the cab, cradling her rifle between her legs, but something stopped her from closing the door.

The truck was too warm for her; the air was stuffy, like the vehicle had never been aired out. And the world outside was little more than a mixture of grays and browns, hardly worth her attention. The coming rain, well, that was almost alright.

She had a jacket from the submarine - one of those heavy, all-weather jackets that the sailors wore. It was a little big for her, but it was at least rather warm. And the rest of the guys were sitting in the bed of the truck, weren't they?

She turned and glanced back through the window.

Then, turning to Sammy, she kissed his cheek quickly and said, "Hey, thanks. I'm alright. But, like, I guess I've changed my mind about riding up here."

So saying, she got out, and climbed in with the rest of them, settling on the wheel-hub across from Archibald, with her hands shoved in the deep pockets of the all-weather jacket, and her gun cradled against her legs.

Blue-grey eyes flashed a silent explination; but that was all, before the girl buried herself in the high collar of the jacket.

Jack sighed, muttering an inaudible 'beats walking' as he pulled up the hood from his cloak. He didn't mind the rain at all, and if anything the ex-ganger actually welcomed it.

He climbed to the back of the truck by himself, taking a seat right next to the exit. He checked his weapon, carefully holstered on his webbing and made sure the safety was on, then putting it back again on its place and looking around as Alexis climbed onto the back a few seconds later.

Hey, if the day really turned out to be good he might actually have the chance to blow up something.

Raven climbed himself into the truck, setting himself up in a manner that would allow him to pop up to fire at any opposition forces that attempted to attack him or any of the others in the vehicle while en route to their destination.

Archie looked across at the girl before settling back into his own seat. He'd never been a family man, in fact if he ever visited a shrink he'd probably be categorized as one psychotic order or another, but perhaps he felt a small twinge of stupid pride for the girl. Of course, she might have caused herself some misery but still.

He turned to the others outside the truck. "You lot make sure Alex doesn't get himself into any more mischief, got it!" he said lightly.

Sammy sat behind the drivers seat for a moment with a bashful blush on his otherwise stoic face. Two shaky fingers reached up and touched the spot where Alexis had kissed him on the cheek. It was the first time another person had touched him since the bombings, except for the occasional sharp slap from Lyle Clemente. His eyes wandered to the rear-view mirror where Alexis and the others were sitting and his hand wandered in tandem to the ignition. The truck roared to life and within moments they were puttering along, passing by Alex, Lucas, Chrys, and the street vendor as Archie's words echoed over them. Lucas waved in affirmative to Archie and started walking after Alex, who had already begun following the street vendor who was now their guide.

The truck took a wide turn onto a service road and the trip began with a sharp gust of wind. In the distance, they passengers who took the time to peer over the cab would notice the silhouette of the junkyard looming as a nebulous mass on the horizon. They'd also hear the sound of soft 'relaxation music' pouring from the window-- especially Rennik, whose skull carried the soft tones quite nicely.

-----

"How long have you been keeping shop here?" Alex asked, closing the gap between him and the merchant. "I have not seen your booth in the area before."

"Hey, yeah!" Lucas added as he came alongside them, "And what's your name, too? I wanna come back sometime an' buy more stuff!"

Alex sighed at this, but made no comment.

Caffran climbed in the back seat of the truck and situated his straight-silver so it wouldn’t poke him in the back. When they started moving, Caff leaned forward and asked, “Hey Sam, what did you do for a living before all this?”

Nika glanced back at the man and his compatriot and offhandedly remarked, "I have been here long enough... and my name is Arina, Arina Lounaeva." Nika pulled out a file and began to clean dirt from her nails. "I haven't noticed you here before either. What is really going on? Your supplies; they are not... typical." Nika grinned dubiously back towards the men following her.

Rennik did indeed carry the soft tones of the music nicely, and was well on his way towards a nice nap. His dreams were filled with faceless suits and fedoras, saxophones and machine guns.
It was a good dream.

Alexis poked out of the high collar of the weather coat, and watched Archie, just a shock of undone silver hair and a pair of cobalt, uneasy eyes.

He was very different from the people around him, Alexis thought - the rest of these guys were goons, just street thugs hired on to fill out Alex's rank structure. Hell, she didn't even recognize half of them, because she hadn't been at the meeting; she had chosen not to go. Hadn't even bothered. Though, now that she looked back, it didn't seem like such a bad idea missing that particular meeting. Alexis found it hard to relax her shoulders; this was not company in which she wanted to be found, and for once she felt it. It made her uneasy and unsure, too much for her to sit comfortably, so she hugged the gun and curled a leg, with it. The music seemed so out of place.

Alex had hit that feeling home, of course. The sudden realization that any one of these guys could beat the shit out of her, or probably worse, was not something that she had considered upon joining.

Ah, but wasn't it a fine ideal, she chided herself. Going off to a little war to free everybody, riding around on a submarine where the hot water only worked half the time, when she could still be home in her apartment selling guns to blockheads and making money on stocks. These guys were all the same; even Chrys was no exception, though somehow Alexis tended to put her in the same category.

'sept for that guy, of course.

"Hey," she started quietly, but the wind and the crunch of the tires and thrum of the engine threw her own voice back at her, making it sound weak and worthless. So it died in her throat. That thing that she wanted to say. Suddenly she just didn't want to look at any of them, so she tucked herself back into the collar to ride out the wind.

Well, it had sounded pretty stupid anyway.

Archie was watching the rear of the truck as they moved, his rifle sitting ready on his lap. He wasn't watching for anything in particular, just keeping his eyes open for anything interesting. When Ally tried to speak he looked over momentarily to see she'd ducked back down into her jacket. He turned back to his post, watching the asphalt lay out behind them.

Sammy leaned back in the cab so his voice would carry through the window as he replied to Caffran, "You know Dalton Auto and Aeromotives?"

He called out the back window, eyes still firm on the road ahead of them. "That's all me baby. Almost two-hundred dealerships all over the city, all owned by me, mostly operated by me too. Uh, y-you know, until this happened. Now there's three. I think."

As the truck came closer to the junkyard, the lane markers disappeared and the service road became slightly bumpy. Rennik's head patted softly against the glass as they crossed over the poorly-maintained corridor; beneath the passengers, the truck's suspension squeaking noisily as it took up most of the work. The air was seemingly somewhat thicker here, as well, the businesses being mostly repair shops and parts suppliers. The towering skyscrapers of inner-Funky City were becoming hard to make out through the approaching rain and the advancing silhouette of the Junkyard.

"What about you guys?" Sammy asked, taking a corner slowly in the lumbering truck, "What do you guys all do? Uh, y-you know, if y-you d-d-don't mind me asking..."

None of them would be able to hear the rattling of the pill bottle that was filling the cab at this point.

-----

"Such curiosity in the face of an NMX insurgency." Alex responded. Lucas had since wandered back towards Chrys, with the tiny Luca Pavone peering out of his chest pocket. Alex, however; maintained a casual pace with Nika, preferring instead to ignore Lucas and his antics.

"What if I told you, and then a few squids were to knock down your door tonight while you sleep?" Alex suggested. He was still sizing the woman up, "Or what if we are working for the squids and we are actually here to knock down Tillman's door? Have you ever spoken with a brain-slave, Arina Lounaeva?"

"I shoot people, that and sometimes bring them in for questioning but mostly just the shooting part. I'm a bounty hunter and a mercenary what more needs to be said?" Raven replied as he checked his small arsenal of weapons again and double-checked his armor straps.

Jack couldn't help but to grin at Raven's comment then directing his gaze at Sammy. it was a rather disconcerting grin, the kind that reeked mischief or that someone wouldn't give to a cop when pulled over. Not really being the kind of person to brag about what he could and what he couldn't do, partly because it had gotten him in trouble before, he finally settling for a simple "I blow stuff up." Mumbled as the truck rattled.

Chrys walked behind the Alex and merchant girl. She also now appeared to have better part of ISC Pheonix crew stuffed in large pocket of her coat. She smiled as Lucas was doing childish things. It was nice to see him like this, she liked that boy in him more then the soldier in him. When he walked back to her, Chrysanthe's hand closely find his way into his and gripped him tightly. Young Neplysian knew that she was acting like teenage girl, but she did not really mind.

"Ah too bad you gave up too soon Luke." She said and giggled. "Few more minutes of shenanigans and I am sure Mr. Stalker would explode. That would be something to see."

Caffran’s face darkened and he glared at Sam. “Dalton Auto and Aeromotives? Aye, I’ve heard of them. They sold me a piece of Feth car. So you were running that scam of a dealership? Why I ought to…” Suddenly Caffran sat back and laughed. “I’m just funnin’ with you Sam. I never bought a car from Dalton Auto and Aeromotives.” Caffran smiled at Sam and said “I designed and tested weapons for Nepleslian Arms and Munitions. You’ve got a broken gun or one that doesn’t shoot straight you bring it to me and I’ll have it fixed up in two shimmies and a shake.”

Caffran turned to look at the man next to him who said he was a bounty hunter. Then at the other who simply stated that he liked to blow stuff up. “Quite the mix we’ve got here. “ Out of habit Caff checked to make sure his revolver was within easy reach. Though a friendly guy he was also a very cautious guy and the manner of his present company kept him on his toes.

Archie looked over to the others in the truck and saw Caffran habitually check his sidearm, he chuckled softly before speaking.

"Wait until you hear some of the stories from the others. All of Nepleslia and then some more." he said, leaning back against the side of the truck bed.

Though the air was heavy with the chances of rain, and the only thing that Alexis wanted to do was stay quiet and miserable for a while, the voice of the man in the front seat of the truck was vaguely familiar to her, and caused her to take note.

"I think I've heard of you," Alexis provided, unturtling so that she could speak to the man, glancing up through the truck's rear window. "Have you ever met Foster Kees Styrling?"

After a brief moment, Alexis added, "And don't like, give him any shit, you know. He sold me my first airbike. It's a good bike."

"Talked to? No... Perhaps stepped on. As for the knocking down of door; the Mishu do not scare me... nor do you Mr. Squid agent." Nika put her file away and began to type on her datapad. "It is something you don't want to discuss, that is fine. Speaking of brains, it is something that your friend seems to be lacking in...no?" Nika grabbed a cigarette from her breast pocket and patted herself down in frustration. She shrugged with a look of frustration and looked directly in the eye of Alex and said, "Do you have light?"

"Certainly." Alex provided a battered cigarette lighter with his gaze focused on the street ahead. Just a block away and a turn around the corner sat the store he was looking for. Yet, to him, it looked like just another corner. Alex's mind wandered to Lucas, who was gripping Chrys' hand firmly and leaning on her head behind them.

"Lucas is an excellent soldier and a capable leader of men, so long as the combat is a skirmish." Alex explained, "You must remember he is an ID-Sol. Lucas is but eight years old. Despite the flash programming he received during infancy, his social skills are still very much young."

-----

"Wow, you guys all sound really tough." Sammy said to the passengers assembled in the back of the truck. "You'll be a lot better than the guys we got right n-now. Maybe even good enough to hang out w-with Lexi."

As if to punctuate the salesman's sentence, the brakes squealed beneath them and the truck came to a gentle stop. Sammy deftly slung the transmission from High Axle to Low Axle and idled into the junkyard. The spacious scrap heap seemed to stretch on forever in front of them, with cranes occasionally stretching up from the jagged horizon and piercing the gray sky. Near where they'd parked, there was a simple office with a window showing a generous view of an obese man in a jumpsuit napping in a reclined office chair. Sammy slid out of the truck and approached the window nervously scanning the nameplate.

"FOREMAN ON DUTY: MITCHELL HIGGS" It proclaimed, in bright yellow letters on a black background.

Sammy squinted in at the sleeping man and said gently, "M-m-mitch? Hey buddy. Y-y-ya wanna get up for us today, pal? We have money for you."