1.6 - High-Speed Stabbing
thenew
#1 Masters of the Bazaar Fan
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[X] Offer your hand to the Emperor. (You will follow Penguin Logistics and continue Code of Brawl. Emperor will like you considerably more.)
1.6 - High-Speed Stabbing
Now that you think about it, maybe the hospital isn't that good of an option. You have no documentation here, and you're not sure if they'll even be able to treat you. Perhaps this Sora girl is a better option. So, you reach out with your hand.
You and the Emperor shake hands… flippers, in his case? Then he points towards the back of the vehicle. "Let's go, boyo. We got to go get my revenge!"
Right now, you're reminded of the Case of the Left Finger. Once again, you're doing a job for someone that's very… eccentric. That's not bad, actually. You like eccentric people. If you didn't, you wouldn't be leading Turbulence Office. You're glad they're not the Index this time, at least. Working for the Index is never a good experience. Leaves you with this sort of... feeling of existential strangeness. Like you're being watched. Oh well. Time to go.
"I- I don't know if this is a good idea." says Bison.
No, you are pretty sure this is an excellent idea. Car chases are always great. As the car comes to life, and the six of you dart towards the Syndicate goons, you let out a chuckle. Even though your stomach may be holding more blood then gastric fluid right now, the situation is pretty good. You've been promised healing, and you're in a high-speed car chase. This is probably the least exertive situation you'll be for the rest of the night. All you need to do is deflect a bullet or two and Penguin Logistics will be fine.
You breathe deeply, as you get closer and closer to the escaping Syndicate members.
"Do any of you have a sword, here? I think I'll need it. " you ask.
"Of course we have a sword! Texas, get' em one! And Exusiai, pass me my Lil' Homie." says Emperor.
Texas, one hand still in the steering wheel, slightly unsheathes her blade. It shines for a brief second, and then another blade falls from the sky, right next to you. You grab it by the hilt before it can pierce through the truck. It's a saber, and doesn't really look like a very good blade, but it'll do for now. Exusiai reveals a... you think that's a semiautomatic pistol? There is something strange about the way it looks.
When Emperor fires his gun, there is no muzzle flash. In fact, there is no light and no noise at all. A rubber projectile flies out of the pistol towards the Syndicate vehicle, and nails one of their windows. It shatters ...wait, that bullet wasn't nearly as fast as a regular bullet should be. You take a better look at Lil' Homie, and now that you do so, you start to notice something...
"Is that cardboard?" you ask him. "That's a clever way of getting around the regulations."
Exusiai's eyes shine with excitement. You know that look. It's the same kind of look Emil gets when he's talking about the brand-new gun he got from a new Workshop. It's the kind of look he had when he explained how his Anti-Blue Ammunition- which he apparently bought specifically to get around the Blue Reverberation's bullet-deflecting skills- worked. No one did really get it, but it was nice to see him so excited talking about his interests.
"You're kind of a team mom, aren't you, Sieg?"
You blush behind your conical hat. Thankfully, it obscures your face, so no one saw you do so.
"It is made of cardboard, yes! Made out of forty-two layers of high-grade cardboard, glued with the best industrial adhesive in the market, and powered by the finest rubber bands that money can buy! It's an absolute masterpiece!" says the angel. She'd have continued, if one of the mooks hadn't tried to shoot her mid-speech. Your arm blurs, and you deflect the bullet before it even reaches the vehicle.
"A slingshot weapon? What's the maximum velocity?" you might commission one of these, then. If it can afford such power... these finest rubber bands might be more expensive then bullets, though. But it would possess the advantage of silence. Silencing guns is a big no-no for the Head, but slingshots are perfectly legal... this would work on assassination missions, specially if you replace the rubber projectile with something to deliver toxins or poisons.
"Around 76 meters per second in average, but Lil' Homie has reached projectile speeds of-"
"Texas, drive closer! Let mister merc here hit 'em with his sword." interrupts Emperor. "We're going for the confrontation! After it, Exu! Blow their tires!"
"Blow their tires with rubber bullets?" asks Bison.
"You can't use live ammo in downtown Lungmen. That's the law." says the rapper penguin. "But the king has spoken- let his will be done."
You grin. That's quite an impact her gun can muster. As Texas accelerates and you moves to the side of the Syndicate's car, you hold onto your sword.
And then, you cut.
The strike shears off half the vehicle's roof. The blade shatters into pieces right as it slices through the metal. Your enemies are now completely exposed- and Exusiai taxes advantage of that almost immediately, nailing them with precise headshots. Texas starts to drive away right as the vehicle spins out of control. If this continues, it'll crash headfirst into the railings. The two Syndicate goons will be turned to paste, and well, you can't interrogate paste. So you jump headfirst into their car.
At the moment, both of your vehicles are crossing an overpass above some particularly busy-looking streets. There's not that many people here in comparison to the average Nest. The risk of widespread civilian and property damage is minimal. Fuck it, you're going to get healed by this Sora girl anyway. Time to go a little fast. Your bandages will probably need to be replaced after this, but...
"...It's not like you care." says the Voice, perfectly echoing your current thoughts. She sounds smug, for some reason. Like she'll use this information later. You're not worried.
The world slows down. Lech could do better- he has time manipulation to rely on instead of pure speed. So you need to do this quickly. You grab the first Syndicate member- the driver- by the neck, and toss him off the car, right into Crossiant's arms. You do the same to the second in the backseat. There, done.
The world returns to its normal pace right as you leap back into the car. All the girls see is your form blurring as two goonies appear right inside the truck's back. Bison nearly falls flat. All the girls and the penguin do is slightly raise their eyebrows. The Syndicate's car slams into the railings with a loud crunching sound. If there were people inside, they'd have either died instantly or get thrown off the overpass. Good for them, you guess. They were very lucky that you are in a good mood right now.
"Well-" you say, as the car decelerates, with Texas trying to stop it close to the wreckage- "Who's in the mood for some interrogating?"
You don't think that someone with a beak can muster a grin, but Emperor's body language conveys a wide smile anyways.
From a long distance away, everyone can see that there's an absolute clusterfuck happening at the overpass. And, what do these Lungmen citizens, witnessing the crash, think? They have been hardened by the exposure to the underworld activities that permeate the city. They are fully aware of their consequences. So, what is the first thing they decide to do?
"Woah! What's happening up on the overpass? A car crash?"
"Doesn't seem like a regular crash. Let's go check it out."
"Another street fight? Count me in!"
Lungmenites have a reputation for having an abnormally high tolerance for insanity. You can't live in this city and not have it. What, roughly a year ago, Wei Yenwu tried to orchestrate the genocide of the Infected population in the city, and the average Lungmen citizen doesn't think any worse of him for it.
Well, that might be blamed on the virulent hatred many Terran people have for the Infected. But the fact remains that Lungmenites have a high tolerance for weirdness, and when confronted with a bizarre situation, their first instinct is apparently "hey, let's see where this goes!"
At this moment, there is another person who is looking. She recognizes the situation immediately. She has just purchased quite a few finballs, and they are quite tasty. (To those who don't know it, finballs are fishballs, but not fish balls because this is an alternate reality can you can't use the word fish.) She was looking forward to just wandering around, finding stuff to eat on the stalls that dominate this city on the Sauin holiday. Seems that's no longer possible.
"Oh... so soon?" says the Fallen Sankta known as Mostima. "Looks like I'm on the clock already."
"Hey, hat guy, gimme five!" laughs Exusiai. You give her a high-five.
Crossiant is staring at the wreckage and at the two Syndicate goons you snatched up. "Pardner, I ain't going to complain' about you helpin' us." she has a concerned look in her eyes. "But weren'tcha cut up real bad? Bleeding all over the baws' couch and all?"
You are, in fact, cut up really bad. The internal bleeding has worsened. But you're not all to concerned about it. They did see how extensive your wounds were, and if this Sora can heal you from that state it can heal from this one. Besides, you've toughened out way worse stuff. Through your carrier, you were cut, stabbed, hit with electrical blasts, had your arms submerged in acid acid, set on fire, carved up with a spoon and drowned in blood, choked, poisoned, hit with blunt weapons and at least a dozen different Singularities, and even tossed off a cliff once.
You'll bounce back, you're sure of it.
"I'll be fine. Been through worse through my career." you answer. "Well, I suppose it's time for the interrogation, right?"
The Emperor has a cigar in hand. You don't know where he got those. Maybe there were some in the car? Yeah, probably. For some reason, Emperor just makes you tense, and one rule of being a Fixer is that, if your instincts warn you about someone, you take them seriously.
"Yeah. Don't get me wrong, I still want my revenge for my records, and little man, I'm going to get it. But that can wait now. We gotta shake down these two for-" says Emperor. He doesn't have time to complete the scene.
You hear the sound- a gun firing. Not a rubber bullet- a real one. Aimed towards... the car? No. The fuel tank. You cannot allow it. You broke your new sword later when assaulting the vehicle. It was apparently some sort of disposable Singularity weapon, which Texas can create at will. You're not sure if you can deflect another one with the remains of it, but you'll try anyway. You toss the broken weapon directly into the bullet's path. It ricochets off the low-quality metal... is it even metal? And then hits the floor of the overpass.
A sniper? Nothing's stopping him from firing again.
"Texas, I need another sword." she nods, and another sword falls from the sky right into your hand. "Sniper over there. Take cover."
You take a look at the direction the sniper came from. Even your augmented eyes cannot pinpoint anything there. Whoever made the shot, they've already fled.
"A sniper." mutters Bison. "Dammit."
"Well, we gotta get somethin' out of these guys now, baws. What do we do?" says Crossiant, pointing at the unconscious mafiosos.
Emperor stops smoking for a second, and looks at Texas. "What'ja got, Texas?"
The wolf-haired girl takes a cigar from a pack- no, that's a stick of chocolate, you just got it wrong.
"I think we should take them back to the bar. We'll be safer there, and we can rough them up without any risk of permanent damage, not with Sora there. We'd be safer."
The penguin looks at you. He wants your opinion, too?
[ ] Agree with Texas. (You will take them to Emperor's bar, the Ends of the Earth. Well, it's not really Emperor's bar, but still. You'll get a more complete source of information that way. You might be vulnerable to attacks on the path there.)
[ ] Disagree with Texas. (You will try to wake them up right now and "ask" for info. They'll be in a worse condition to answer, but you'll get your info right here, right now. Penguin Logistics will go along, but they'll like you less.)
[ ] Write-in. (Present another option that Sieghart could propose to Penguin Logistics.)
Character Sheet Unlocked: Texas
Character Sheet Unlocked: Exusiai
Status of Self and Allies:
Sieghart: Considerable blood loss from exertion. Hopeful for the future.
Emperor: Emotionally distraught by the loss of his vinyl records, but calmed down a little by now.
A/N: Aaaand I'm back! What did you guys think of our first sidestory? Is the character of Sieghart fun to read about so far?
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. No dialogue, tho. Is it canon? *shrug* You'll have to wait.