RP [Phoenix Team] - Do It Clean

I've got a handful of this
What do I do with it?
I've got a barrel of this
What do I do with it?
I do it clean, I do it clean
Echo & The Bunnymen - Do It Clean

>START!

CORE, Traveller, Sargasso, North Shore, Hawthorne's
The sounds of cutlery clinking against plates, glasses colliding in hushed cheers, and quiet conversations about this and that were being passed around at Hawthorne's. Founded a few years ago by the chef of the same name, it was intended to be a classy experience for those who came by. Twelve floors up from the ground where the riffraff got the bar and pub experience, the restaurant was where the cream of Sargasso's affluent North Shore congregated.

This made Luca and Yttrium stick out like sore thumbs as they shared a table with the mayor of Sargasso, Rex Bannerman. A portly fellow in his sixties with silver hair and sporting a trimmed beard with licks of brown hair still visible, Rex held himself quite high as he cut through a steak, gazing at Luca with eyes a faded green, like valuable banknotes. A small cluster of scar tissue was visible from under his beard, passing through his lips and ending under his nose was visible. A reminder of his previous work in the Defence Directive.

"So I hear you're trying to put a crew together, Mr. Pavone," Rex spoke affably in a deep voice before taking a bite of his steak. Luca hadn't ordered anything, and shuffled in his seat with his arms crossed, letting silence hang in the air while Rex chewed and swallowed his meal, meeting Luca's cold stare. "Come now, don't be like that," Rex tried to nudge his guest "most people are pretty happy to rub shoulders with the mayor, especially all the tech startups and investors."

Yttrium particularly - her thigh armour slightly unfolded to form an additional two pole like legs sat with her knees against her elbows in what she considered the cramped confines of the Hawthorne out of concern she would break one of the chairs. She watched the two converse - particularly un self-aware of the way her knees sat open and the nature of her physical form.

"For which we're truly thankful, Mayor Rex," her tone followed apologetically as if to silently elbow Luca in his ribs. "The goal would be to... Shall we say, solve problems. The nature of those problems would be those other organisations lacked the specific expertise to deal with, or the determination or resources -- not financial resources mind you -- but the connections and such."

She spoke now like she'd given a pitch before, the flow and timbre of her voice explaining as much as her words did:

"We'd be doing a lot of jobs law-enforcement's red tape wouldn't allow for, and bounty hunter's single mindedness would rule out - but it would be a lot more than just catching strays. A general toolbox for Sargasso, and Traveller, so to speak." Rex was nodding along with the Gynoid's words.

Luca straightened his back and broke his silence. "I'm all for solving problems as my colleague is suggesting," there were many incidents around Sargasso he could name which were mere 'problems' to him, "but I don't need your financial assistance directly."

Rex raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Who else can you go to, then?" He said, fencing with his fork towards Luca. "I know Proctor is trying to put the lid on vigilantes and restrict the flow of problem solvers like yourself and the Gynoid."

"Really, all we'd need is some disused land or an old building - just to borrow. Its fairly obvious I'm a bit stronger than a human so I'm capable of doing heavy lifting work and he has enough experience building to fill in most of the gaps. Unlike him, I don't need to sleep, either. The rest, we'll figure out on our own."

Luca's elbows clinked against the table before he crossed his arms over the placemat, "I've already got a place, Longhands let us have one of his warehouses, remember?"

Yttrium slowly turned her head, somewhat surprised. "That old place? It should be condemned..."

"It's better than my bathtub, and its inconspicuous," Luca outlined.

Tannerman saw fit to intervene at the mention of the trader of the many and varied. "Johnny Longhands works for you?" He seemed quietly surprised.

Luca shrugged. "I helped him chase down cargo way back when." He exhaled before continuing. "I have the feeling there'll be some strings attached if I work with you. Name 'em," he asked.

The mayor clinked the tines of his fork against his plate, looking at the minimal ceiling before settling his gaze on Yttrium. "For one, we need to keep this deal under the rug from the general public. You're still a hero."

Yttrium made a motion along her tear-duct with her metallic fingers: teeth sliding from one side of her eye along the other like the teeth of a zipper as she mimed the sound - her eye disappearing behind it - freehand thumbs up.

"Second," he said, flashing a smile at Yttrium, "you'll have to be on a lead, so to speak."

Yttrium could sense Luca rankling at the thought from where she was sitting. "Let me guess - nothing that benefits you can be targetted, even if it is damaging the town." He put his foot down against the carpet and leaned back into his chair. "I'm not your goon, Tannerman."

"Not at all, Captain," Tannerman replied, somewhat insulted that Luca had jumped a gun, "but we do need to keep an eye on the collateral damage ... It makes it harder for me to justify your ongoing presence to the constituency." He looked down at a datapad he left on the table, bringing up an image of a burning van left on a highway, with a large red smear disappearing under it as Police were cordoning the area off.

The two looked at eachother. Yttrium and Luca were intimately familiar with this event.

"Perhaps our first job should be to get to the bottom of this event that has tarnished our fair town," Yttrium said. "The possibility of a criminal scene setting up residence in a flourishing colony like Sargasso must be stopped before it becomes a permanent fixture, you agree, yes?"

While Yttrium was looking at Rex and explaining this, Luca kept his gaze fixated on Yttrium - something she said earlier wasn't lining up. "I thought they were after you for a debt, or something." Rex tilted his head.

"You clearly misunderstood. Now then; Is there anything further you'd like to discuss Mayor?" Yttrium replied. Pigment along her hip next to Luca's face shifted slowly, spelling out some simple words like a crude child's drawing:

Don't sour this. Luca raised an eyebrow, and scowled as he held his tongue.

"I do have one request before I give you the go ahead on the support, though," Rex replied as he fiddled with his datapad, "a lead on some non-local criminals down in Southern Palms. If you two are as hot as you sell yourselves, this should be no problem, should it?" Luca knew that a lot of Rex's voters came from that neck of the woods as Rex bought a few pictures up on hologram, sliding it into the middle of the table.

In the images was footage of the Drill Derby, where vehicles propelled by corkscrews ripped through a large stretch of barren land in Sargasso's south "I've had some outrageous allegations of match fixing reported to me by the Sports Ministry." A video played of two drill tanks approaching the finish line.

One of them suddenly appeared to malfunction, losing its corkscrew and veering away from the chequered hologram, letting the other win, and the rest go right on by. "The department has been having trouble getting an investigation staged due to a lack of evidence to get warrants, and I'm convinced someone's paying people my department to turn a blind eye."

Luca looked at the files, placing his finger inside the holograms and switching to an image of the malfunctioning drill tank in for repairs at the pit stop. "Go on," he said, a grin turning up on his face.

Yttrium bent forward, particularly curious about the images - taking very careful note of what she saw as she loomed over the other two. Rex continued, smiling as he saw the duo's interest pique. "I take the Drill Derby very seriously, and I can't let it, or my department fall into disrepute." He clasped his hands together, resting them on his chin. "If it can't be cleaned the right way, I'll let you and your friend here clean it up the best way you know how."

Luca dismissed the holograms and nodded. "Sounds like a plan. When do you want us to move?" Yttrium's gaze didn't lift, shifting through the photos. Something had evidently caught her eye. Luca raised an eyebrow. "Hm? Notice something?"


Sargasso, Southern Palms, Drill Plains
The answer was that evening, while a qualifier race was running for a match tomorrow. The smell of octane, burning machinery, upturned earth, and oil was thick in the air. With minimal armament on him, Luca and Yttrium found themselves behind the pit area, looking on from behind some cargo containers together. Luca peered around the corner, as Yttrium's face peered a couple of feet above his. Inside the pits, drill tanks were suspended on enormous hoists as pit crew were working on them, pulling their engines open, cleaning parts, replacing busted ones, and waiting for the 3D printer to finalise that gasket or rod.

"Looks pretty busy," Luca pointed out, looking for anyone who seemed out of place amidst a pit stop.

Yttrium seemed to be positively vibrating - eyes shifting rapidly every few seconds, turning about - determined to get a look at everything. Unfortunately she'd gone to the length of wearing her old armour, trying to conceal her identity once more as a machine - seemingly a person made of blocky metal parts.

"You're telling me. Isn't this pretty forward of you?" her synthesized voice sounded, peeking at him behind a metallic visor.

"Well, if I wanted to tell someone to throw a match, I'd give them a day's warning to think about it," he said, taking mental notes of the twelve pit crew he could identify from where he was watching, pointing at each one with the Grapple Stunner, and painting a chevron over their heads with small holograms close to his face. Yttrium had the chevrons broadcast to her too, letting her keep tabs on the crew as well.

"We need to find the drivers, a locker room or something." He turned around and walked to the other side of the container he and Yttrium were hiding behind, now looking at the back of a grandstand, with an entrance toward a ready area for authorised personnel. "Think we can waltz in?"

Luca waited for a reply, looking over his shoulder when he wondered what was going on. She was missing.

Already, Yttrium was stood in the ready-area. Her huge size and bulky appearance through her armour made her rather girlish pose somewhat unsettling - hands behind her back, body tilted over.

"Is that a 352 Slamhauser?? I didn't know they still made those..." her voice boomed behind one of the mechanics. They took notice of her, looking around incredulously before putting their tools down and taking notice. A couple of them resumed what they were doing after noticing the new arrival, but others watched the gynoid warily.

Casually she shifted her shoulder - the large curved flat of her left (really, more like the visor part of a riot-shield meant to face her opponent) had the words "MAINTENANCE CORE" painted across it in the same lettering as the pit-crew.

"Sorry to get here late. I'm actually part of the management team and I need to ask you a few questions to assure you're compliant with the rules."

"I - excuse me, ma'am?" One of the pit crew, identified as 'Bud' asked, wiping sweat from his brow with a baseball cap.

"It would be a shame if you were disqualified, wouldn't it?" she said in a cheerful tone. Luca, meanwhile, was watching from afar, having climbed onto the container and laying down to keep an eye on Yttrium, and look out for any new arrivals.

Bud raised an eyebrow as he examined Yttrium's metal exterior up and down. "I, uh, suppose it would ... hum. Y'ain't with the toffs up north, are ya?"

Her hands rose - slowly peeling her helmet up off her head. First, that fibre optic shimmering hair and then her face. An index finger sat over where her mouth would be.

"It'll be our secret."

Bud pursed his lips, and nudged his buddy, Larry, who took notice too. "Got us a crude here, boys!" Bud announced, introducing Yttrium to the rest of the crew, "show 'em nice like, will ya?"

In Yttrium's ear, she could hear Luca talking to her over a shortwave radio. "Well, they're on your side. Better start looking around." He said, forwarding an image of the drill tank which 'malfunctioned' to her. It was a green beast which went by the name of Goreshovels, with a red paintjob around the corkscrews. Goreshovels was resting in Bay Three, a short walk away and past two other drill tanks, Screwball and Sandworm.

As he was looking around, he noticed a thirteenth and fourteenth pit workers walk in from under the grandstand. "Got two extra people with you, behind you," he pointed out, "see who was working on Gore...sandals on the night of the malfunction and quiz 'em. If someone runs, I'll nab 'em."

Long legs took herself to the machine in question - but not first without giving the others some love (microfractures on one - and the other lacking the cooling it needed to not die within three races). By this point her armour sat chained together through drilled holes over her shoulder as she stared down at it.

"Who's in charge here?" Yttrium called out. She got a tap on the hip from behind. It would've been on the shoulder, but the person couldn't reach. When Yttrium turned around, she had to look down at a short, bald human, most likely an Oddbody with a cigar in his mouth and an unusually short stature.

"I is. Shorty." He introduced with a gravelly voice, thumbing the strap on his overalls and a puff on his cigar. "Who's this oily one to grace us wit their presence t'night?"

"'Thirty-nine' or 'Niner' will do." she took another step, clearly so much more interested in the racer than whoever she was talking to. It was quite odd, almost as if she didn't view him as a person.

"Who's this?"

Bud looked over to Yttrium. "Shorty. He's our boss."

"I was talking about this guy" she said, patting the racer - eyeing the man in the helmet - the driver. "You know him better than anyone here, right?"

The helmeted racer nodded, flipping a visor up. They were a dark skinned man with fair eyes, most likely a Greaseheart judging by the cheek structure. "Oh, Goreshovels and I go way back." He said, "I used to be a miner before the Drill Plains were open season."

"Ain't that the truth," Larry said, standing by Goreshovels and their pilot with his arms crossed and a smile.

"How far back? If that Mautaver in the bay's an original, he's the oldest here. I haven't seen one in decades."

"Two and a half. Newer model, but still close enough to the original with the kinks ironed out on the factory floor." The pilot said, nodding along as Yttrium was able to keep up with him. "Like the second oil pump on the left side engine blowing after several outings when it was rated as a non-replacable in the original."

"Man, Mautaver lost a lot of face on that." Larry spoke up, speaking fluent petrolhead.

"Let me guess, that was your last run?" Yttrium said - working her nails beneath the rim of the side-hood, peeling it open to get a look at the rest of the engine, outside of the blower and the mains - the big angry looking air-intake atop the thing.

Beneath was a tight wet work of gleaming metal and more grease than she was used to seeing - cables tied together but not hidden - everything labelled and all the major bolts with secondary threading and handles atop to get them open without the use of a drill when there wasn't enough to go round.

Yttrium noticed that Larry was watching her work, while the pilot seemed more or less ambivalent to what they were doing. A third man was also watching what was going on.

A crackle crackled over her radio. "Who's the guy next to you?" Luca asked, watching someone peer into the engine under Yttrium's shoulder, occasionally glancing away from the pit stop. "Green overalls, red hat?"

"Frank Backul?" she replied - getting the man's attention while her comm sounded it over - head back as she motioned for him to lean in.

"Uhm-uh, yes'm?" Frank asked, taken by surprise."

"The fixtures on this mount are shot. Did you guys roll him?"

Frank, Larry, and the pilot exchanged glances when they realised why a Crude was taking a look at their vehicle. "It rolled a couple of nights ago in the Eastside Run, just before the finish line," the pilot said, looking at Frank and Larry, "I was gunning for the finish line and the right corkscrew jammed, and I rolled off course."

"That's why they say it isn't servicable. Each pump on a Mautaver is an original. They're hand built!" she said, almost clawing at the air with her palms skyward. "What's wrong with you?"

To Luca, the chatter going on was foreign to him. He knew motorcycles - not drilling equipment turned into tanks. Back at the pit stop though, Frank threw his hands up, "whoa whoa lady this isn't your regular Mautaver!" He tried to explain "This thing's been modified to race, and we had to..."

The way he was explaining all these little fixes and little things without saying anything concrete to Yttrium, and talking with his hands too, leaning in, trying to cover her view of the engine and get her attention to the fullest. Something was definitely up.

While Frank was getting her attention, Luca spotted two more people entering the pit, and they didn't look like pit crew in the slightest. "Yttrium, two men, suits," he said, rising from his prone position and anticipating there'd be a kerfuffle.

Yttrium's great height gave her something of an advantage against the man's hands, though not enough to get as good of a look as she'd like -- eyes up now, spotting the two moving.

"Huh... You really shouldn't toy with one of these things. It'll end in tears, you know? They're rated at more than twice what you need, provided you actually look after -- Would you excuse me? I have to go get going..."

She stepped away.

"They're blocking the paddock. Ideas?"

The two men approaching Yttrium through the pit drew guns from under their coats, two barrelled shotguns resting over and under, and pointing at Yttrium. "Nosy greaseball!" The one on the left, a pale bald Mindeye with a tattoo on his scalp, while his companion was wearing sunglasses at night.

She heard footsteps, and a few 'Oi's from other Pit Crew - Frank had started bolting, getting out of the pit and going out into the open across the road. The Gynoid could hear Luca chuckling, followed by the sounds of him moving on his end. "You deal with sunnies and tattoo, and I'll grab Frank. Meet back at the Warehouse," he said.

Yttrium had a lot of hard surfaces to smack these two goons against around her, and plenty of heavy objects within arm's reach to clobber them. Bud and the Pilot (and Shorty, who everyone ignored) backed off while Sunglasses tried to intimidate her further. "Let's see you splatter, punk!"

"What?!" she squeaked into the comm - glancing from it to them and back again. Despite the heavy armor, she seemed to be out of her depth. It took her a moment to try to think of something before spotting a spark-plug - hand slowly reaching over to take it in her fingers - pointing it like a weapon.

"B-Buh...Baaaaack up! You don't want me to use this!"

The two men kept their guns up, unsure of what Yttrium was going to do. Sunglasses pulled one of the hammers back on his shotgun and sighed. "Listen, lady-"

She visibly flinched - head turned away.

"You really REALLY DON'T WANT THIS! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH FLAMMABLE MATTER IS EVEN HERE?"

The pilot, from afar, spoke up. "Y-Yeah! She's basically made of oil. She's going to blow this whole place up!"

The idea of everything blowing up didn't resonate well with the two goons, who each took a step back. Tattoo had a bead of sweat rolling down his bald head, as he skimmed the pilot's mind. "He's not kidding," he said after reaching a conclusion and lowering his shotgun.

Sunglasses didn't seem nearly as fased, and kept his shotgun raised at Yttrium, aiming at the Spark Plug she was carrying. "Boss says we can't let anyone go, and if she wants to see herself out, fine by me."

"And the rest of us and most of the grandstand you dumb lug!"

"Plan B..." she pondered - tapping the plug a few times. She exhaled breath - lighting up into wild flame thrown in a smooth stream in the direction of those with the sunglasses. A small flame sat on the end of her index finger, burning slowly like a candle - pointed like a pistol. She clicked her tongue, cocking her thumb back as she lifted her bag of armour plates to cover her side. Sunglasses raised an eyebrow, while Tattoo realised that he'd been had and hurriedly raised his shotgun - there was no huge explosion as promised!

"I'll survive a few shots. You won't," she called down - pointing with her finger at the fuel cannister's she'd very carefully avoided. "Step away from the doors and nobody here gets hurt."

A shotgun blast rung out at close range, showering Yttrium's stomach with buckshot and sending lashes of black oil splashing against the back of Goreshovels and her pilot, who screamed like a girl.

Her gaze went down. A hole the size of a human head, clear through her belly - eyeing the gap and the clear fluid running from - black, purple and colours of oil-slick coating the drill tank behind her.

"Luca, get a bucket,"

Briefly, she gave a glance behind her back, hand on its hull.

"...Sorry, Mautaver."

And then a boom rapped Luca's ears and shook the stands. He was in the process of beating Frank senseless, holding him down on the dirt and yielding for just a moment to let Frank hear the sound of an explosion. "You hear that, Franky?" He said, looking down at the bruised man's face with a flippant grin, "I think your hired help is no more." Frank mouthed a few expletives at Luca before Luca decided to knock him out and drape him over his motorbike.

"Thanks to you I have to scrape my friend off the walls, jerk." He spat, giving his motorcycle directions to drop Frank off at the warehouse while he started, heading back to the grandstands to inspect the damage. He sniffed the air as an acrid wind blew in his direction from the pit stop.

Burned twisted metal sat scattered in every direction - a thick column of black rising up into the sky, rolling and curling in horrid shapes as light burned painfully beneath. Concrete, blown apart - no walls to scrape from and the drill tank sat burrowed into one of the thick heavy dividing columns eight feet off the ground.

The two goons had been drenched in burning oil, and were writhing on the ground not far from where Yttrium had detonated. The rest of the pit stop looked like a mess too, and the pit crew who'd seen the altercation from afar evacuated before things blew up.

When they started coming back and saw Luca looking around, he was the first to get a word in. "Any of you have a bucket for my friend here?" He looked around the room, "And here ... and here ... and here ..." he furrowed his brow and held his nose as the smell of burning everything was getting to him.

Many buckets were obliged. Much later, she stared up at him as a blob from a bucket with a solid basket-ball sized lump in it - single eye watching.

"lblbrrrkvbjnbkjnrbbbll."

Bubbles formed around her eyelids, but no words. She couldn't speak. Luca gave her a thumbs up, unsure if she was able to hear anything either. He heard his motorcycle pulling up by itself by the grandstand. He put a lid on the bucket, threw a bale of money at the pit crew to divide at their leisure, and got on his bike.


Sargasso, Barrier Island, 55 Midway Beach, Phoenix Team's Warehouse
An electric clock was displaying 5:20 AM as Luca opened the bucket's lid and placed it on the table he was sitting at in the warehouse's kitchenette. A fridge hummed in the background as it kept some food cool, and Frank was sitting in what used to be a meat freezer.

He'd gone to the trouble of putting an assortment of alphabet spaghetti into her bucket. She wasn't fast, but it was the closest to meaningful conversation she was capable of... And unfortunately, she insisted on long sentences.

"I'M OF THE NEWLY FORMED MIND THAT A BOMB IS A POOR CHOICE FOR CLOSE COMBAT." She spelled out.

"I'm more surprised the guys pointing guns at you didn't believe you bought a bomb to a gunfight," Luca pointed out as he looked over to the garage area and looked at the oils on the wall. "Want some coolant, turps, or floor polish?"

Bubbles formed - her voice somewhere inside, but no consonants. A thoughtful sound.

"I'M OF THE IMPRESSION THAT AT LEAST ALL OF THOSE MENTIONED WOULD DISSOLVE THESE LETTERS."

He rubbed his chin and peered into the bucket at the lone eye. "Got all your armour too. I think part of your armour is now part of Goreshovels though..." he breathed in and out, looking up at a skylight. "Rex is going to be pissed." He buried his face in his palms.

"DOING ANYTHING WITH HANDS IS GOING TO BE REALLY DIFFICULT. MAYBE I COULD SELL MYSELF TO COVER THE COSTS. I'M BEING SARCASTIC, IF YOU CAN'T TELL."

"Yeah how long is it going to be until you get yourself back to normal?" Luca asked, standing up as he heard a few bumps coming from the ex-freezer. "Hold on, Frank's awake - again," he grumbled. That guy had a bad habit of waking up. He stepped away from the bucket, and the sound of punching and harsh words could be heard, then ropes being used before Luca returned a few minutes later. "Sorry about that - yeah, ETA to wholeness?"

"JUST A QUESTION OF MASS REALLY. HOW ABOUT YOU"

"If we're being philosophical, I'd say my quest to wholeness is defeated by its own pursuit," Luca mumbled. "I'll get a can of oil to speed things up?" He couldn't speak with his hands to a bucket with an eyeball in it.

"HYDROCARBONS ARE BEST. PLEASE AVOID SOLVENTS. PETROLIUM AND TAR IDEALLY. SORRY ABOUT THE MESS." She replied. Luca put a thumbs up over the bucket and got up. He started pouring 98 octane petrol intended for his motorcycle into Yttrium's bucket until there was enough to require a bigger container. He found a smaller drum, and transferred Yttrium into it gently before pouring the rest in.

"STIR GENTLY" was the last thing she said - letters already dissolving. Luca replied by putting a rod into the drum, and stirring it around slowly, as though he was getting spaghetti ready. Speaking of, he was pretty hungry, so after a minute of stirring, he stopped to grab something from the fridge.

He clicked his tongue. "Geh, guess Longhands didn't supply adequate food..." he complained, grabbing UDD rations. They weren't terrible by themselves, merely a little too familiar for Luca's tastes. He sat next to the drum and placed the cylinder down between his legs, unscrewing the lid and looking at the two semicircular items contained within.

One, a wrapped meat and beans sandwich made with flatbread and missing vegetables, the other contained some rice and a quantity of water to cook it with inside the cylinder, using a heat pack. There was also some butter, some sugar, salt, and pepper. Luca groaned as he started heating the rice up to eat with the meat wrap in one go.

"Happy?" Luca asked Yttrium, giving her drum a tap.

"Better" a voice called out, a little wet but getting there. A simple hand rose up out of the goop - an eye in its palm as it struggled to form solid skin - constantly dripping back into its bucket in a constant trickle.

"What's for dinner? I'm starving."

"Longhands stiffed us. We have UDD rations." He said. They both knew there was much better food back at the apartment. Luca grabbed his phone. "Order some takeaway? Noodles? Pizza? Slime?"

He also reached into the bucket with his other hand and made a fist for Yttrium to bump at. She gave one in return, though his passed through her's. It was still soft, like passing through a waterfall frozen in time. She visibly flinched, dragging herself back to her bucket. Luca flicked his hand back into the bucket before ringing someplace up...

"Hello? Yes. Two medium pizzas please, one with pepperoni, the other with sourcia goo. And a Thunderbird energy. Fifty five Midway Beach. Thanks."

>TO BE CONTINUED...!

 

>START!!

Sargasso, Barrier Island, 55 Midway Beach, Phoenix Team's Warehouse
One of Tannerman's fingermen had arrived for Frank Backul later that morning: A meat-and-potatoes sort of man who looked out for his community with good works, good will, or two fists and mention of his direct employer. He was wearing a old coat and a crumpled hat, a cigarette poking out of his mouth as he kept his hands in his pockets. "This the snitch?" He asked Luca, looking over to to Frank tied up in the chair, roughed up.

"We checked his belongings. He's from Noir." Luca explained with his arms crossed. "He's here on a fly-in fly-out deal by the stadium operator." Frank's stuff was on a table off to the side, including a wallet, a mobile phone, and some clothing donated later on by the pit crew, who thought he was less than competent.

The fingerman didn't seem surprised, "no accountin' for skill today, I says," he shrugged, looking at Frank's phone. "You got any other names from his devices?"

Luca shook his head. "I can't get into his phone though, most of it is encrypted. I've only got a number for a pizza place in Drill Plains." They didn't do deliveries to Barrier Island. The fingerman looked over to Frank and raised an eyebrow. "He can't undo it."

"So the mech pit of Drill Plains has a crater in it, and all you have to show for it is a number for the pizza place." The fingerman seemed less than impressed. "Rex will be very disappointed - the syndicate responsible will probably be withdrawing or changing tack."

Luca snapped his fingers and grabbed the phone. "Then we get someone to crack his phone. We have that, at least." He looked up from Frank and focussed on Rex's henchman. "Know anybody?"

The henchman thought about it for a moment, rubbing his stubbly chin. "There's this ... lady Rex calls when he needs stuff like this done."

"'Lady'?" Luca asked, wondering why the muscle was stumbling on his words.

"She's a robot, like, an AI I think. Dunno." He shrugged. "Not sure if she was always a robot or uploaded herself."

"Well, uh, call her over here." Luca commanded.

The henchman produced a phone and started dialing a number in. As the dial tone went, he asked: "By the way, where'd that Crude broad go?" He asked, slightly enthused. "I heard she had huge knockers."

"She's in a bucket." Luca answered. The thug's enthusiasm deflated a little, and he got an answer on his phone. He conversed with his back turned to Luca, hushed. Luca meanwhile decided to return his attention to Frank - it was rude to keep guests unattended after all. "So, Frankie, you might think you know what's going on but you don't, because I don't know what's going on either."

Frank made a muffled expletive of confusion. Luca flicked him on the nose, and Frank tried to bite his finger indignantly, only succeeding on chewing on a knot of cloth.

Luca leaned in and made wide eyes at Frank, smiling. "I'm a really thin pancake, and sometimes I don't have the time to get all the details while everyone insists on layering things thick enough to suffocate people. Speaking of..." he pulled the gag down. "I'll let you-"

Frank's face screwed up into indignant, impotent rage, the chair he was tied to bounced and rattled. "You fucking bumpkin! Driver's going to have you pulled into quarters by motorbikes when he gets your name, greaseball! He's going to fuckin' bury you and whatever's left of that crude-"

Luca put his gauntletted hand in Frank's mouth, sending a shock through the fingertips of the Grapple Stunner. A brief blue spark lit the room and Frank was biting down on the gag again. From the other side of the room, the goon on the phone looked Luca and Frank with a shrug of annoyance. Luca rolled his eyes and straightened his posture, heaving a wistful sigh at a smouldering Frank's continued bad manners and indignance.

The goon meanwhile got off the phone. "Okay she'll be over in fifteen minutes. Question," the goon asked Luca, pocketing the communicator and putting his hands together solemnly, "do you have any faraday cages on the premises?"

Luca tilted his head. "Whataday?"

The muscle shrugged, "I'll take that as a no. And tea?" He continued. Luca nodded - of course had tea. "Good. You're set."

Luca looked at the walls for power outlets. "Does she need to bring anything?" He asked.

"Only herself. Start boiling water."


LATER...
There was a knock on the shutters, and Luca pressed a remote control to start winding the shutters open. Morning light flooded into the warehouse, causing the concrete floor to glare as a silhouette was slowly revealed. The robotic armature-style legs, though human in shape, were proportionately large. The humanoid silhouette was broken up by tubes and bevelled plating - some inhuman angles had to be embraced. Next, a metal hand sporting wiry overlapping fingers with rubbery fingertips and palms grabbed the underside of the shutters and gave them an extra push upwards.

A rainbow coloured scarf cascaded in front of Luca, followed by a boxy head peering at him with a monocular eye, glowing red as a lens inside clicked and whirred, examining the team leader's face. An aperture inside the robot's eye narrowed, then widened before pushing the shutter the rest of the way up and letting herself in. As Luca became accustomed to the glare, he noticed childish looking scribbles drawn all over her shell.

"S0M30N3 C4LL3D M3?" She asked, looking at Luca, then over to the henchman. "WH0'S TH1S, B0B?"

Bob, the previously unnamed muscle shrugged. "Did you hear an explosion last night, around ten o'clock?" he asked, quick to supply the answer: "he did it."

"No, my partner did it." Luca pointed his thumb over to the back room. "She's in the timeout bucket." The robotic being eyed him, tilting her head and examining him, particularly the fluffy sideburns and pompadour. Luca took the opportunity to introduce himself since she was checking him out: "My name is-"

"B4H, 1 KN0W Y0UR N4M3, LUC4 P4V0N3." She dismissed, pushing him aside with her multiplied hand and stepping into the warehouse after ducking under the shutters. She was roughly eight feet tall with her back straight, and Luca noticed some sort of railgun folded across her back, while whirring noises could be heard as she moved. "K1DS TH3S3 D4YS RUN TH31R M0UTHS L1K3 TH3Y'R3 H0T SH1T."

Luca raised an eyebrow at the apparent clairvoyance, and felt his communicator vibrate in his pocket. He raised his right hand and brought a hologram up to see what the notification was. It was from the robot, and it identified herself as 'Echelon'. Rex probably's got the word out for me. He considered as he turned around and saw Echelon conversing with Bob, before her head looked towards the kitchenette. The kettle was whistling.

"Tea's on." Luca announced, winking towards Bob as he started heading towards the kitchen, past the robot. Echelon and Bob sat down on folding chairs, at a foldy table, and Luca placed a tray with four steaming cups of tea on, with sugar and milk nearby. "So, we have a Frank-shaped key." He drew attention to Frank's phone, which was sitting on the tray too. "Bust the encryption on this and I reckon we've got-"

"WHY G0 TH3 H4RD W4Y?" Echelon asked. "3NCRYPT10N'S 4 B1TCH. W3 H4V3 TH3 M34TH34D R1GHT H3R3."

"Well - we don't have any leverage aside from the threat of deportation back to Noir." Bob chipped in, interlacing his hands on the table around his mug.

Luca raised a finger. "He made a few threats of his own," he said, "do either of you know a 'Driver'?" Bob and Echelon looked between each other and shrugged. Luca smiled at his prospects. "If he's calling down hellfire on me, and me specifically, I want to see it."

Bob raised an eyebrow. "You're putting yourself out on a limb - but I won't stop you. Rex probably won't mind either."

Echelon seemed sceptical of Luca's plan, as she put her cup down empty in one go, and grabbed a second cup of tea. "1F Y0U 4ND TH3 01LY G3T TH1S GUY, WH4T H4PP3NS?" She queried, grabbing the phone and examining it. "W3 ST1LL H4V3 TH1S CR1M1N4L 4ND H1S M3N M0V1NG 1N."

"The Units are getting really nosy too." Bob added, drumming his fingers on the table. "They were all over the pit last night, fixing the damage, and looking for the guilty party." He seemed a little worried. The thing about Units was that they couldn't be swayed, even if there was a reason for it.

"And the police?" Luca asked.

"They're looking for a gynoid." Yttrium, specifically.

Luca didn't seem to mind this. "She's in timeout anyway. Now," he stood up and looked towards the decommissioned meat freezer, "you guys can decrypt the phone, and I'll try and draw Frank's mates out." "I'm going to have another talk with Frank and ask him about this Driver fellow."

"Y0UR FUN3R4L, FUZZB4LL." Echelon left him some encouragement.

The decommissioned meat freezer opened and Luca was quick to announce his intentions. "So you want to bring your friends along." He flicked a light on, a sterile flourescent glow bathed the empty, cool freezer. "Do you really want to?" He approached Frank, and gave him a pat on the cheek before pulling the gag down again.

Still indignant, Frank had learned his lesson and carried himself with more aplomb. "Yeah. I think I do." He said, gravelly. "They know I'm missing, and they'll find you."

The man in red shrugged. "You're not from around here - so I can forgive you for not being in the know. A couple of years ago I had some polygonal neighbours move in one day and I had to kill them." He said, very matter-of-factly. "Search 'Polygons Ferros Block' on Astro News' website. Should be under the Sargasso category." They kept a whole category for the moon-colony, due to how many strange occurrences happened there.

The mental image puzzled Frank. "Fighting Polygons?" Frank craned his neck forward and narrowed his eyes at Luca, gaze flicking down to his right arm, mistaking him for a cyborg with the grapple-glove on. "You must be joking. Polygons play for keeps."

"Hell yeah." Luca preened himself "Got me a promotion from UDD to EAD in one bloody afternoon."

"Bah. You don't look like EAD - they all washed up and scattered after the scandal." Frank shrugged, less than impressed by the credentials. "You sound like a looney with no day job."

Luca met his gaze, condescendingly as he ground his forehead against Frank's, grinning as he waggled his fingers under his chin, discharging little sparks that made the hair on the back of Frank's neck stand up. "You ... really don't want to see EAD, bruv." He whispered. "Does this Driver of yours know that?"

"He said he's EAD, and I know it! I've seen him fight!" Frank insisted.

"Well, tell him to meet me at the Adventurer's Arms to talk shop and I'll see what he's made of for myself." Luca said. "You know where that is?" Frank drew a blank, and his whole world went dark as Luca put a bag over his head. "You and your supposed EAD friend have plenty of time to find it. For now-"

Luca shocked Frank again - then gave him a few slaps to make sure he was catatonic, or disoriented. He seemed to be both, and for Luca, both was good - it meant hauling Frank around would be less of a pain. "Bob, I'm going to drop this guy off." he said, walking past Echelon and the goon. "I'll be at the pub. Lock the place behind you."

Bob nodded towards him, curling his fingers against the table and looking over to Echelon, who seemed dismissive. "I hope you know what you're doing," he said, standing up and preparing to get moving, "or Rex will have you dealt with like the trials should've."

With that, Luca got on his bike with Frank strapped to the passenger seat, and jetted off.

>TO BE CONTINUED...!

 

>START!

Sargasso, Barrier Island, The Hero's Armaments Pub
The first thing the uninitiated to the Hero's Armaments would notice were the hundreds of colourful flags of countries, alliances, organisations, and other ideas or symbols who'd come by and made their home in Sargasso. Indeed, there were flags for races and ideas which had gone missing a long time ago, but the owner never had the heart to remove. What parts of the wall were visible sported wood panelling for that homely feeling, while the carpets were a lovely shade of green.

Over to the left meanwhile was the central bar area. Viewed from above, it resembled a D shape, with some additional space further behind it. To the left of the bar and just ahead of the entrance was a sitting area, with beaten-up leather couches, coffee tables with well thumbed magazines, and a television tuned to the latest game of Smashball, with the ad breaks showing news of the explosion down at the pits at the Drill Plains. To the right of the bar area was the dining area, with a long wooden table carved from one huge piece of wood for big occasions, and a few smaller square tables with crisp white tablecloths and wooden chairs for general diners, which could be put together to make bigger tables.

On the wall on the right were newspaper clippings or data of events printouts relating to the pub, or Sargasso, including its founding with the rest of the colony. Up in the back was the kitchen and a backroom for exclusive clients and customers to have their card games, each other's company, or business dealings in private. From the bar, the proprietor's voice called out: "Order up, Ally!"

"Right away, Joey!" The red-headed waitress took the tray of drinks and made her rounds past a few wooden tables, dropping off two beers for the two tradies who were in after a long day of fixing things, the cocktail, a glass of wine, and cola drinks for the couple who'd bought their three kids over for a steak dinner together.

The last beer on Ally's tray was for the man in red, sitting in the corner looking like he was expecting company. "Aaand one for you~" Ally sung, placing the beer down on the table. As she bent down to deliver her last drink, a orange long ponytail cascaded by her side.

"Thanks, I'm sure I will." Luca replied, raising his mug to the waitress as she left to get another round of orders done. He looked out one of the narrow windows by the ceiling, and noticed the sunset was filtering into the main room, bold orange rays against the sitting area. Luca looked at his watch. It was three minutes past seven, and he clicked his tongue.

He'd been waiting at the tavern since a little past noon after dropping Frank off on the side of the road out in Witchwood. He hadn't gotten a call from Bob, or Echelon, so he assumed they were still cracking the phone, or reporting back to Rex. There was no word from Yttrium either, and that begun to worry him a little. She couldn't pick up a phone from her bucket-bound state, and he wasn't sure when she'd be up and moving.

He felt his communicator vibrating in his pocket a half hour later as he finished his beer, and he flicked his wrist to see what the message was. It was from Yttrium, and Luca's face lit up, since there seemed to be no:

Code:

Hihihi~ I made it back to the apartment. I heard you dropped Frankie off somewhere bad, and I hope you socked him. Also what are knockers and where do you keep the drinking petrol again?

Luca stood up and went over to the bar, placing a couple of UniCur coins and a pair of rods down to pay for his tab and asked, "Yo, Joey, has anyone been looking for me today?"

Joey shook his yead. "Nah, Mr. Pavone. Expecting company?" The bald-headed bartender and one of the owners of the Armaments was a muscular man in his late thirties, who'd worked for a bank previously, and decided to join in on bartending for the Armaments since it was more fun, even if it didn't make economic sense. "You've been here all afternoon."

"Well I guess I've been stiffed then," Luca guessed as he collected his change and gave Joey a nod and a wave, "see you later." Joey wished him well as Luca started heading out, pushing the heavy wooden doors open and stepping out into the verandah and down the steps to the car park out the front.


Sargasso, Barrier Island, Hero's Armaments Pub Carpark
Though, 'car' was an optional suggestion, and the car spaces found themselves occupied by motorcycles and airbikes from dozens of different manufacturers. Luca's was easy to spot though: A dual sport 'red thing' with the number 72 written in white, and a kestrel on its badge that was hard to miss.

As he was approaching it, bright headlights flashed on from a black truck sitting in the parking lot, and got Luca's attention as he kept walking. His world spun as something struck him on the back of the head with a loud ping. He threw a haymaker in the general direction of where he was struck, more annoyed than anything. The figure leapt out of the way, and two more came out of the truck and rushed him, grabbing him by the arms and holding him open.

Once the daze had passed and Luca realised that it wasn't one guy he had to worry about, his impetus to start reacting went into overdrive as a person dressed in black, wearing a balaclava and goggles was brandishing a steel bat, winding it up and game to aim for Luca's head.

"Frankie sends his regards, dumbass." The bat-wielding man said. The man on Luca's right screamed out in pain - a grappling hook had been launched from his wrist at close range into his foot - and through it - the pitons hadn't opened up. As he crumpled, Luca ducked and bought the guy on his left down with him, bringing his head into the batting line and knocking a few of their teeth out.

The pearly whites would've bounced across the car park if they weren't being kept in by a tasteless, by-the-numbers balaclava. Pushing the guy on the left into the man wielding the bat and backhanding the guy on his right as he got his line reeled in, Luca was quick to use them against each other after juking them. "I can reply in kind!" He proclaimed as he brandished his fist at the man with the bat, daring them to come at him. "Are you the Driver, then?" He asked.

They didn't reply, instead looking at Luca to see the best angle of attack against a man brandishing a fist and a hook. Suddenly, the sounds of other footsteps could be heard rushing across the carpark. It sounded like four others. He turned around to confirm the numbers. "You gonna die, punk!" Was all the bat-brandishing man had to offer as he swung again. However, announcing his intentions instead of just attacking gave Luca the time lean out of the way and his bat struck the ground with a ping.

As they were raising their bat for another swing, Luca grabbed their shoulder and pulled them towards the ground while kicking them in the knee, letting them eat a face full of the ground by pulling one way, and pushing the other. Even though he enjoyed a good scrap, one versus four who were playing for keeps (and three injured) was not favourable odds, and Luca begun running around the back of the pub, rubbing the bruise that was developing on his temple.

As he rounded the corner and started heading towards the back of the establishment, he spotted someone standing by the loading bay for the pub's foodstuffs, having a cigarette break. It was a chef, judging by the apron. They noticed Luca running towards them and asked what was going on, but when they saw the four guys chasing after him (and three others hobbling along), they leaned back against the wall, trying not to be involved in whatever beef these guys had.

Ahead of Luca was a chain link fence, and he jumped onto it and started climbing. As he was about to get over, someone grabbed him by the leg, then someone grabbed him by the other leg, and they pulled him down to the ground and started beating the crap out of him together, kicking him in the ribs and stomping on his chest.

His jacket - though durable and quite stylish, couldn't deal with all the incoming force at once, and Luca knew if he survived this beating, the bruises would hurt worse as he kept his head protected with his arms. During the commotion, the back door to the pub opened, followed by another set of footsteps Luca couldn't make out over the brawl as he was being beaten.

A crack sounding like at least six bones being broken rang out as one of the thugs stopped kicking Luca, and fell onto the ground instead. This was followed by another bone-shattering noise and the chain link fence rattling as another of the men was thrown against it and crumpled. The remaining two stopped kicking Luca and looked at who had intervened. Luca noticed that the beating had ceased, and looked up, puzzled. It wasn't the chef on his smoke break - it was the waitress.

"Gentlemen I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you not to attack the customers." She said, staying calm and level headed, if a little ticked off as she stepped closer. "Leave, or you-"

One of the punks thought they could attack her while she was talking, and swung a punch at her, connecting with her face. She didn't flinch at all though, and continued staring daggers at the two men before lunging forward and shattering one man's solar plexus, then making a fly-kick over her head and sending the other into the ground with a crunch. As the men were all writhing on the ground, she knelt down started taking their balaclavas off, stripping their anonymity away and looking into their eyes and their pale, bruised faces.

"If I catch a single one of you on the premises, I'll deal with you all again. You hear me? Get out." She lifted each of them up to their feet, then gave them a firm shove back the way they came, and they started limping off.

Still laying on the ground, Luca looked up at his rescuer, "...you okay there?" He asked, spotting the bruise on the woman's jaw and cheek.

"Don't worry, I'll walk it off." Ally said, as the bruise was clearing up in front of him, skin steadily going from blackened to fair. A moment later, she looked as though nobody touched her, and she smiled.

"Hang on ... you're a Maidenhand?" Luca asked, looking at the waitress up and down. Maidenhands were custom built for war, and he met plenty of brawl-hungry Hands during his stint in the UDD, and even more in EAD. "Why are you working here, then?"

"Uh," Ally erred, looking aside and sucking on her teeth and her hands behind her back, "I got thrown out of my sorority for indecent behaviour ... with a crude ... and a flan."

He decided not to pursue that line of inquiry any further, and tried standing up. Every muscle around his torso and his arms hurt as he grabbed the fence and pulled himself up for stability. He took a few deep breaths and nursed his tender ribs, looking up at Ally and shaking her hand. "Thanks for that. I need to get home now. Mind if I walk through the pub?"

She grabbed him, only to make sure he didn't tip over. "You aren't riding home in your state. I'll give you a lift and you can pick up your bike tomorrow."

"The bike - can deliver itself," Luca said, gasping as he felt a nerve pinch somewhere in his side. He flicked his wrist and looked bought up a holographic interface, then tapped something. His motorcycle could be heard powering up around the corner, and it veered around on its own volition until it stopped in front of him, and chirped happily at him. Ally watched the bike pull up and raised an eyebrow. "Just get me to Ferros Block - this'll follow me there."

Ally nodded and started heading towards the stairs back into the bar. "I'll just get my keys and tell Joey what's going on. We'll take my car." She said.

>TO BE CONTINUED...!

 

Sargasso, Barrier Island, Ferros Block, Apartment 7-02
The door to the apartment opened, and the person stumbling in closed it behind him in the dark, breathing hard as he slumped against the door and fiddled with the lock. The hand left red marks all over the handle before it clicked shut.

Everything ached - bruises were turning a lovely shade of purple around his ribs and his abdomen while a shiner on his head oozed blood. He looked at his fingers, watching how the night lights of Sargasso leaking into his apartment from below play against his bloody digits.

A droplet brought his eyes down to the floor, watching the little red spots forming on his black floor tiles, lines of the white grout going missing as the droplets struck the marble. He couldn't hear anything in his right ear save for ringing, and he was pretty sure he had cracked rib or two.

Thinking back to the order of events that day: Check on Echelon and Bob, discover no progress still, learn that Rex is not happy with how the investigation had slowed down and the mayhem was piling up, then a visit from Frankie's pals. This time around there were no more punches pulled. He was pretty sure one of them would never walk again without a new spine.

Even so, life had become exciting again, and he couldn't help but heave a pleased sigh.

As his eyes returned to focus, he noticed a white square of paper on the black floor tiles. He kept it wedged in the door to let him know if anyone had come by - Yttrium's idea. The man knew he wasn't alone, and it wasn't Yttrium in the apartment with him, since she'd be jumping all over him by now.

"I'm gonna ... ask you to, ah, leave," he said, stern but pained. "Count of ten-"

"That will not be necessary. Please sit down," a robotic voice replied, entirely monotone from the other side of his living room. The lights turned on with a lazy gesture from the robot, "else it may be you who are removed."

Luca recognised the voice after the sudden lights hurt his eyes. It was a Unit - one of the many servitor robots that kept the grand experiment of the Unity Protocol going. Luca assumed they'd let themselves in - and it wasn't as though they could be stopped.

He turned around and looked at them: A silvery-bodied robot sitting at his dining table, with a matte grey rubbery face, opaque white eyes, floating forearms tethered by ropes of hard light. Beneath the table and below their hip were legs which mirrored the configuration of the arms - light tethered legs tapering into the light just above the calf. Their hardlight appendages glowed a faint blue, drowned out by the apartment's white lighting.

Closer than most Units came to human appearance. Most of them floated.

Luca was sitting on the floor with his back against the apartment door and his face below the nose caked in blood. He slowly to his feet, slightly off balance as he minded the step down to the living and dining area, leaving a streak of red on the edge of kitchen bench as he held on, causing the expression on the blank Unit's face to almost wince slightly at the stain he was leaving.

"Whuh-where's Yttrium?" He asked as he sat down at the available chair and pulled himself in, grunting as his ribs ached.

"Off on a distraction, for her own protection." The Unit replied, lifting itself off the chair and hovering closer.

Luca got a closer look at their face and its angular features as their white eyes gazed long into him.

"You seem to be having trouble putting your gun down." The Unit took notice of the blood stains on his right arm, and the bloody nose. "Not surprising, given your history."

Luca raised a finger of objection between them, trying to muster some sense even though his head was spinning and he'd been delivered by Ally again, red handed.

"So you're saying I get into a lot of fights recently?" he asked, trying to deflect the trail of carnage that'd ensued over the last couple of days. "The other guys - well, they hit me first."

"Very well." The Unit started, "First, traffic cameras from Sargasso PD caught your motorcycle moving on its own accord near the scene of a flipped truck on the Southern Barrier Island freeway a week ago."

They were listing the things their networked intelligence had gathered methodically, in tandem with Sargasso's public data. "Then, locals spotted your motorcycle present at the scene of the explosion in Drill Plains two days ago."

"Surviving members of the pit crew also mentioned a Gynoid, fitting Yttrium's description present at the explosion." Its eyes never wavered with that unnatural stare. Enough to intimidate most men with its alien qualities.

Luca swallowed a lump in his throat, keeping his lips taut and eyes narrow, hands on the table. He'd been found out, and so had Yttrium. His only saving grace was that she was going to be copping heat too, judging by how the Unit was laying their collection of the events out.

"Furthermore, You were targetted by thugs at the Hero's Armaments last night." The Unit was far from done, though. "On top of that, you are a recorded participant in a motorcycle brawl at Wayward Mall a few days ago."

It saw Luca's tilting head. He appeared fully aware of what he'd done, and didn't shirk like most people the Unit interviewed.

Then, with what almost sounded like a sniff of disdain, it continued.

"On the other hand, I would like to inform you that you may claim five bounties for known criminals by the names of Sark Wobkrat, Yetto Gran'tar, Jill 'Firey' Pendleton, Kirk Branagh, and 'Large Load'."

Luca shook his head at the mention of bounties, "Nah, uh, not important. You can keep the lion's share of that," he said, making little flicks with his fingers.

The gesture left little plips on the table just ahead of the Unit, causing it to scowl. Luca swore he almost saw it flinch.

"So, are you here to arrest me for ... property damage? Disturbing the peace? Getting beaten up in a fight?" Luca asked with a resigned tone, grinning. He raised his eyebrows and turned his hands over. "That mall was smashed up before I got involved, and every other incident has been in self defence."

"I am not interested in those incidents and infractions." The Unit replied, shaking its head on a stiff axis as it imitated the gesture. "Where do you fit in with the explosion?" It asked.

Luca's brow flattened. "That wasn't me." He said, having caught his voice now as they saw fit to fill in the gap, as everything else was already put together. "I never asked for one, and its throwing me into a world of hurt right now."

The Unit kept their brow still. "Are you saying the Gynoid is the cause of the explosion?"

Something hung in the air. He knew the truth that Yttrium had lit herself up - for some deluded reason, not bringing a gun and a bomb instead. She survived it all, but the fallout was unacceptable, any veneer of subtlety to Rex's plans were gone, and she wasn't copping the heat at all. As Luca was contemplating how to stage his version of the events, there was a heavy thumping knock on the door behind him. He turned around and watched his front door shake.

"Guess you're bringing in the big guns to arrest me?" He wondered aloud, judging by the strength of the knocking. He assumed they already knew.

The Unit blinked. "I am not on the other side of that door." It filled in, standing up and taking a defensive stance as they watched the door. "Cameras show that you have unwelcome company."

Luca stood up and felt for the pistol by his side, keeping his other hand planted on the table as he circled around it and stood next to the Unit. "Er, see what I mean?" He asked, deflecting the topic away from the Unit's initial question. "They must've followed me home - they sure figured it out quick!"

The Unit's face twitched as their hand and forearm opened into a laser weapon intended for pacification of unruly citizens. "You sound entirely too pleased about this." It said.

There was good reason to be pleased as Luca put the dots together. "Well, we can help each other," he proposed as he raised his Mark Eight at his door. "Arrest some of these guys and help me get a lead on this new gang the Mayor's been talking about." He thumbed a switch on his pistol, and set it to a non-lethal mode. Still quite painful and hot for a laser weapon, and not lethal unless aimed at the eyes. "I suspect they're the ones who were match fixing the drill tanks too."

The Unit's face wrinkled, and Luca would've watched it if he wasn't keeping his eyes on the door. "If you must..." it conceded as it gazed through the camera feeds of the apartment. "Seven targets, five armed, two appear to be casting spells."

The thought of having mages on the enemy side worried Luca - they could be any sort of mage, and time would tell if a fireball or a mind control hex came through his door. "They look beat up at all?" Luca asked.

"Untouched." The Unit replied tersely.

"Bring your mates." Luca advised, watching the hinges on his door wobble in place as the knocking became outright door breaking smashes. A blinking light and a whirring noise from behind caught Luca's attention, and he glanced over his shoulder to see a gun drone floating in the window, built from the same materials as the Unit he was standing next to, flashing with police lights.

The Unit almost seemed amused when several more drones appeared, and compartments on them opened and pushed weaponry out, pointing towards Luca's door. Half of them split away and started flying upwards while the others went dark - cutting their lights and positioning themselves out of view. "They are already here." It said, as the lights faded away.

A sharp crash rung out and the front door flew forward in several pieces, and the barrels of two rifles poked out of the smoke and started opening fire into the apartment. The windows shattered, and a gust of wind buffetted the interior of the apartment and showered the carpet in cubes of safe-breaking glass. Hiding behind the table, Luca could hear shots smacking against the sheet of steel hiding under the wooden surface of the table. The Unit watched as the bullets made little indentations and gave a puzzled glance to Luca as they waited for gunfire to cease.

When the rifles at the door clicked and one of them yelled for the next pair to start attacking, Luca and the Unit stood up, firing into the doorway together - red bolts of energy alongside a ranged electric strike from the Unit. When Luca heard lasers striking clothing and catching fire, he ducked down, certain that more would come. A section in the wall by the kitchen suddenly liquified before being blasted open. With it, half of the hitsquad moved in, ducking behind the counter and getting a foothold in under covering fire.

Who are these guys? Luca couldn't help but wonder as he hoped his uninvited guests would be paying for the damage. "Where's your friends again?" Luca asked the Unit as more fire slammed into the table, pinning them down together. He blindly fired his pistol over at the doorway, shots leaving scorch marks on the wall and the back of his counter.

"Half have split off and will be flanking. They are circumventing the building and entering through skylight openings."

Which meant that the remainder behind them hadn't started firing yet. There was still an element of surprise. "When they all start moving again, arms-free the ones behind us."

When the covering fire from the extra hole in the wall stopped, the hit team had started moving in through the door frame and hopping over the counter, poised to strike at what they presumed were two targets. The drones hiding on the floor above sprung into action, buzzing loudly and flashing their lights as little bullets aimed at the ceiling shattered the glass 'safely', and small racks fired small missiles at each assailant storming towards the table.

When a missile connected with one man's combat vest, they saw a three inch long tube with fins stuck to their trauma plate by a shallow series of spikes, and watched it whirr with energy before discharging it all in a lightning flash, stunning the person and bringing them down. Multiple missiles merely meant additional discharges - conveniently incapacitating the target and disabling any unshielded electronics on them too.

When the popping noises of each missile discharging its battery payload stopped, Luca stood up and got to the counter from the other side. He could count five of seven down so far, and the other two were probably still hiding in the hallway. "Move up," Luca requested of the Unit, as the drones were still covering them. It complied, weaving with unnatural gait over the table, but walking past Luca and into the doorway unerringly.

"Suit yourself." Luca repllied as he vaulted over the counter, stepping on one of the missiled men as he made his way towards the other hole in the wall with his pistol up. From behind him, he could hear the Unit conversing.

"You and your companions have been witnessed attempting to murder a citizen and destroying their allotted property." It stated, flat, but unerring and clear. "Turn yourself in or there will be..." Luca stepped into the hallway through the hole and saw the two spellcasters, standing back to back and surrounded by a shimmering shield. The one facing Luca was channelling the barrier, while the one facing the unit was casting something else. "...trouble."

"Are either of you the Driver?" Luca asked. Looking at the duo, they didn't look like drivers or anything like the hired muscle who had burst in and fallen down. The spellcasters were wearing informal suits. Hagblood dandies, perhaps, but no drivers there.

"Ain't no Driver here but he's coming for you next!" The mage barked, giving his friend a nudge with his elbow to hurry along with something. "Sayonara, sucker!"

The Unit raised its right arm to fire a bolt to stun either of the mages or disrupt their barrier, but the spellcasters vaulted themselves and their barrier over the railing. When the Unit fired, their shot bounced off the shield's surface and left a hole in the floor above, while Luca had fired his pistol at it twice, and the shots reflected similarly.

Puzzled, he watched the shield-ball fall seven storeys down the hollow interior of Ferros Block until it hit the ground with a glassy crunch, shattering into hundreds of shards. The shield-sphere's undamaged occupants started jogging for the exit. Drones could be heard zipping by on the way down, soon cornering the two mages when they discovered that the doors had been barred.

As the sounds died down, people begun stepping out of their apartments and looking down into the lobby below to watch what was unfolding, and watch two magicians fumble with roller-shutters while being shot at with shocker minimissiles. It was quite amusing.

Soon, the shutters were retracted as additional Units begun to move in, walking past Luca and into his apartment. They methodically restrained, identified, and hauled away each offender. With the fighting over, Luca now seemed impassive. "Well, I guess I'm not staying here tonight," Luca guessed as he smelt burnt steel in the air and watched the holes in his house get cordoned off, pending reconstruction.

"We can provide temporary accomodation as repairs are undertaken on your apartment, Mr. Pavone." The Unit spelled out.

"I've got a place I can hang in the meantime, thanks though." Luca replied.

"What's going on?" Yttrium's bubbly voice could be heard far on Luca's right, by the elevators. Luca turned and saw the Gynoid gawping at the hole hands intertwined and giddy with seemingly teenaged nerves, looking through the wall leading into Luca's kitchen as a Unit dragged a man away in a hardlight snare, floating over the hole while the man was apprehended. "Oh-Oh my goodness! What - what happened here? Did someone try to-"

"Yes. Mr. Pavone was being targetted by individuals alleged to be your debtors. We sent you away for your own protection." The Unit filled in the blank very quickly. When Yttrium discovered she was being protected, she tilted her head at Luca in a way that seemed more machine-like than personlike - who looked to be in worse condition. He nodded at her in agreement - he didn't want to imagine how the apartment would look if she intervened in the fight. "We have apprehended the suspects, and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of Protocol Law."

"Basically, we're getting a leg up on the Drill Tank fixing since these guys could be connected to the guys Rex us are after," Luca filled in the blanks, "and we'll see if these muttonheads are in on the deals with the help of the Units."

Yttrium gave another idol-like nod, well rehearsed in her motions before placing an index finger to her black oily chin in visible thought. Her expression though wasn't quite so bubbly.

"You really...? Huuh... The plot thickens... I got you something, by the way" an arm motioned back in a way that would break a human elbow and shoulder, now fishing through brown paper-bags carefully. She soon withdrew a tired looking silver object: tiny in her single hand, dangling between thumb and index. She held it before dropping the thing into Luca's palms.

It was some sort of revolver. It looked very, very old, but solidly built. Examining the markings on the barrel, it appeared to be chambered in .44 MD. Mass-Driver revolvers were a novelty years ago, but ultimately proved too cumbersome to find battlefield use, and instead became a collector's and range diva's most prized possession. For all intents and purposes, it was a pocket railgun with a much smaller bullet.

"Since you're trying to be a hero, it makes sense you start with one of these. I don't see it working without a lot of work but I think its a nice thank-you."

Luca weighed the thing in his hand, breaking the gun open and examining the empty chambers in the cylinder before looking back up at Yttrium. "Did you buy ammo, too?" He asked, as he considered which hip this pistol would rest on.

"They actually don't actually make ammunition for these any more. I thought you of all people, a "resident of Traveller", would know this" Yttrium grumbled. "...So I had something made for you. Twelve to get you started but you should really get it mended first."

"Nah, nah, I'm sure I can get Longhands to procure some more ammo," Luca crossed his arms. "As for fixing this thing, I can gunsmith it myself."

"...You can gunsmith a Ranger Sixer?" there was mirth in Yttrium's voice - hand upon her hip - other close to her face. "It was meant to be sentimental, you goon."

He nodded confidently. "If it shoots, I can use it and fix it."

It was as if any moment, she was going to burst into one of those haughty laughs from foreign cinema on Banquo that grated on Luca's nerves just so.

"Really? You are going to fix That? Maaaybe? haha~"

"Well, I won't be able to do it here on account of everything being shot up," Luca looked over his shoulder at the door way in. Pieces of his door were being brushed aside and disposed of.

"...I really do miss that bath..." Yttrium sighed, her shoulders visibly slumping.

"Yeah we're going to have to lay low for..." Luca looked over to the Unit who had been in the apartment to begin with. "How long?"

"Three days. We will notify you both when construction is complete." The Unit replied tersely. "I trust you will not get into any further trouble until then."

Yttrium held up her index finger, visibly frowning with what little expression she had available in her palette. Luca meanwhile was trying to figure out whether or not he could stay out of trouble now.

"Excuse me, ah... I'm not exactly low observable. How exactly are we going to 'lie low'?" Yttrium set a hand on Luca's shoulder. Indeed, she towered over him. Even so, Luca was smiling at her as he was going to test how well she could follow along with him.

>TO BE CONTINUED...!

 

>START!

A few moments later...
Luca was heading down the street with a couple of bags over his shoulder with some equipment and belongings, while pushing a trolley with a barrel strapped to it. The drum had "GREASE" spraypainted on it. He and the barrel were heading towards the Hero's Armaments Pub under the cover of night.

The contents bubbled angrily. "I take back what I said about you maybe fixing the sixer. You're never going to fix it if this is your idea of hiding me."

Luca gave the drump a light tap on the side. "Shh." He said as he walked around the back of the pub. He knew there was a cargo ramp, a backroom he and Yttrium could hide in offered by Joey, and a good enough workshop to make good on fixing the pistol.

"...Why are you sticking your neck out for me anyway?" her voice came again, this time much much quieter.

Luca sighed as he begun rolling up the ramp, Yttrium's world tilting a little as they moved up together. "Because it keeps me busy, you know?" He let go of the trolley and knocked on the back door. He took a moment to ease the oil drum down as he waited to ease the pain in his arms.

"...I'm a boondoggle? No... ...!" Yttrium gasped, "A stress-toy??? That's even wooorse.." she whined. "I am nobody's hobby. The iron in this barrel is disgusting. When was the last time it was even cleaned?!"

Luca gave the barrel a light kick in the lower area and shushed her.

"O-Oh right, sssh..."

The sound a door opening and some hushed conversation could be heard between Luca and another woman, and a tap on the barrel's lid. A moment later, Yttrium felt the barrel tilt again, and she was moving, sloshing around inside. She felt the trolley rolling against a couple of different surfaces, briefly something soft, like carpet, then over a small bump, then over something harder and smoother.

Rays of light pierced into the barrel as the lid was pried off, and she could see Luca with the lid in his hands. "Alright, its safe to come out."

An eye rumbled beneath the slick black surface, a pearl that rolled to reveal an iris and then an eyelid framing it to become a tad less creepy. Bubbles formed in her surface as Yttrium spoke.

"You're sure?"

Without waiting for response, it was like watching someone climb out of a bath of themselves -- feet dangling over the edge of the barrel. She was soon searching for her limbs, visibly confused. She found herself in what seemed to be a storage basement for the pub just above her, with steel kegs of beer and devices to open them safely and transport the beer into the bar taps above. The room was chilly, with a beaten up old couch on one wall and a carpet trying to liven the décor up, but only accentuating how cold the room was.

"Where are they?" a crude snowman like hand motioned.

The sound of a bag full of metal objects being put down on a table and opened was heard, followed by Yttrium feeling something familiar come into her oily grip. "Here."

The woman's voice could be heard again, from behind Luca. "This ... this is Yttrium?" She asked, looking at the emerging Crude with a light blush, pulling at her long ponytail.

"Oh, right." Luca mumbled when he realised the two hadn't been introduced. "Ally, Yttrium. Yttrium, Ally. She's a waitress and bouncer here at the Armaments."

"Hi!" The redheaded Maidenhand waved.

Slipping into her limbs like they were gloves, Yttrium sat - visibly shocked. Feeling returning to her fingers, they clacked like cheap plastic as she waved her plastic digits.

"...Hello."

"So yeah, we're here just for three days, tops." Luca explained to Ally, who'd crossed her arms as she evaluated how much trouble could happen in three days. "I'll open a tab."

This assurance didn't sway her. "I'm more concerned if this place becomes a target for whichever beehive you two have punted." Ally stated, having set aside her wonderment of Yttrium's gooey form. Luca shot a glance at Yttrium - she had the legs for kicking. "If the patrons come to harm, its on you two, got that?"

"Yes, 'course." Luca nodded as he landed on the couch with a plop. "We'll be on the road during daylight hours and staying mobile... for now..." He started to settle into the couch, putting his feet out and working a rut into it to get comfortable. "I think I'm going to settle and ... work on this ... and ... hmm ..." He drifted off.

He fell asleep quickly, and Yttrium was still certain that he hadn't had an opportunity to look at himself in a mirror, because he was as banged up as Yttrium had first seen him. All the nicks and bumps were accumulating, and he needed rest. Ally didn't seem surprised, and as Luca dozed off she looked over to Yttrium. "You know; This isn't the first time he's had to hide here," she advised, giving herself a good reason to oogle the crude, "he's like, a magnet - for all sorts of danger."

The gynoid quickly noticed Ally was looking at her chest, not her eyes.

Yttrium felt a certain smugness -- arms consciously though seemingly unconsciously crossing beneath the ample black gleaming pair - each easily the size of Luca's head. Why a species nonhumanoid without even the beginnings of organs would have such things was beyond knowing but her eye rocked back in its socket, lids smiling as best as her lack of lids could not.

She briefly gave Ally eye-contact, then dipped her gaze to indicate she'd noticed, only to tighten her arms: Pushing the pair together. Threads of wetness hung between them -- letting her normally firm tarrish rubbery skin ooze a little for effect.

There was a certain sadism to Yttrium in this moment. "I see. And what would it take to tick you over with this arrangement?" She asked, refraining from lapsing into the 'ojou' voice she heard on TV. "You're obviously unhappy so let's make sure you get your money's worth..."

The squeeze emphasizing that last part was torture, like a naked back arching bare on a tiger-skin rug before a roaring fireplace. The mirth and gravitas in her voice was just electric.

They weren't anything even on the same planet as real, but poor Ally just couldn't help herself after looking both ways and confirming that Luca was asleep by giving his foot a tap. He was an unfathomably deep sleeper - or a very good impersonator. Either was fine for Ally.

"I - I uh, you know how I got thrown out of my Posse...?" Ally stammered, curling one of her fingers through her ponytail as she looked behind her to confirm that the door was shut and the pub would be quiet. Everything seemed shut, but there was only one couch, and Luca was already sprawled all over it. "It involved a crude ... and a flan."

Already, Yttrium's mirth was fading. "And what exactly, happened? What did you do?" She queried.

The playfulness was gone. Her tall figure, even sat, was taller than Ally was standing and she loomed forward, staring down her implied nose at the girl. Ally seemed pretty embarrassed herself, but Yttrium could smell excitement coming from her - only making her more on edge.

"Um, yeah, well - you see, I just happened to be naked at the wrong place and wrong time ... totally not covered in honey. It was a really wild party last year." The Maidenhand admitted as she leaned in, her irises seemed contracted to Yttrium. "It - happened really fast I was just enjoying together some time with my crude friend and suddenly-"

There was a loud thump at the door accompanied by the loud smell of gigantic sniffing nostrils, a giant snout working its way from the base of the door to the door handle.

Ally grabbed Yttrium, unable to contain herself any longer and thrusting her nose into the shining mammaries. Meanwhile, the door could be heard opening above as Ally tried having her way with the gynoid.

Yttrium meanwhile just sat, visibly irritated but unflinching -- her expression slowly souring as her gaze fixed on the door.

"...Ugh. Epidermal loss is the worst... Even dander isn't like this. Are you quite done yet?"

Like picking a fly from a web, she closed her index and thumb: pulling Ally up and away: smothered in sticky black -- though not quite as much as one might expect, just her nose and cheeks as she sealed herself into solid rather than the gelatine Ally had been so obsessed with.

She watched, Ally hanging on those fingers.

"Are you quite finished yet?" she said.

She didn't seem to have a glib reply, but something else was bothering her. "Did you hear that?" She asked, still keeping her eye on Yttrium.

The sniffing noises continued, scratches on the door handle which you could just tell from the sounds of it were claws scraped up the metal handle before being slowly pushed down and the door swung ajar several inches. A dark brown, four-nostriled snout sticking out.

"Yup, definitely him, and...polymorphite?" Said an unseen voice from the door.

"Eeep!"

The door opened some more and the snout was followed by an alien head staring into the room from up the stairs. It looked at the room silently. It took in the crudes squeezed bust, the barmaid in job specific clothing with her smeared and covered face held up by the scuff by the former, and at Luca passed out and looking like he'd been passed through an industrial process of asskicking, and decided it had seen enough.

"Terribly sorry." The snout retreated behind the door again and started closing in secondary embarrassment.

Ally, being the person with some authority over what flew in the bar tried to appear composed and reasonable, but with spots of oil on her face and being held by a seven foot tall oil slick with neon highlights and huge knockers bought many things aside from reasonable to mind. "Wait! Th-the bar's closed! How did you get in?" She pleaded for answers, looking behind her to Luca. "Did he ... call you or something?"

"This was the closest pub from the place he asked to meet." The voice behind the door replied, there was a small pause as the door opened an inch more and it asked in geniune curiosity. "Bars close?"

The redhead, still in Yttrium's grasp nodded, and left it at that whilst looking into Yttrium's eye pleadingly to be let down.

Hearing some of the commotion, Luca appeared to rouse, stretching in place. "Huh? Who's that?" He asked, slurred and a little disoriented as he lifted a gun up. "Show yourself - or not." He really couldn't be intimidating laying on a couch. As his eyes adjusted to being open, he saw Yttrium carrying Ally with her fingertips, and blinked at them in disbelief, thinking that he'd taken one hit too many to the head in his altercations.

The two stared back, like a cat caught with a mouse before very slowly - neither breaking gaze with Luca, Yttrium set Ally down and softly dusted her shoulders off - a blob on her finger sucking the black from her cheeks to join with itself before running up her arm like a drop of mercury into her body. Finally, a very cartoonish pat on Ally's head.

"Was that what I thought it was?" Luca asked the gynoid, nursing his head without mirth. "Can't you get a room...?"

"I wasn't-" Ally tried to pipe up.

"I knew you smelt of motor oil, sir. But I didn't suspect such things as this!" The door openned again and a recognizable pair of eyes peered around at Luca.

Luca sat up, still dazed as he saw the glowing eyes. Slowly, he got up and stood by Yttrium and a very embarrassed Ally, who was standing behind Yttrium to oogle her backside for a change. "Snuffles!" He recognised the alien, throwing his arms open. "Scarnon?"

"I waited at that warehouse for over an hour and this was the closest pub to it. I could smell you." Apart from the unintentional creepiness of the last line, it seemed innocent enough.

"There's a good reason I wasn't in tonight," Luca raised his finger, "it was on account of having my apartment blown up. Gotta stay here for a bit. Got that, Ally?"

She wasn't having any of it tonight after being so embarrassed by who'd shown up. "Where do you keep getting these friends?" Ally blurted out, her call echoing through the concrete room. "They're all crazy!"

Luca didn't seem the least bit phased by this. "Yes, and...?" he drawled. "Oh, girls, this is Snuffles. Say hi." Ally didn't seem to notice Luca's introduction, instead looking at Yttrium's shiny backside.

"Mister." The Alien corrected easily, daring to open the door further.

Yttrium blinked, bemused with Ally's fascination at this point -- like a child with a laser-pen teasing a cat with subtle motions of her hips.

It took her a moment to notice their guest - her hands smoothly sliding three hundred sixty degrees - collecting Ally's attention and with a subtle point of both, directing it toward that which she spoke to.

"Oh hello, you seem nice," Yttrium nodded - placing space between herself and 'Snuffles'.

The alien bent its neck to match Yttrium's nod and covered one eye.

"Waking dream." It replied before dropping its hand to its side again and peering around the door curiously. "You seem...shiny?"

Luca snapped his fingers at Allison, who glanced over to Luca before going right back to staring at Yttrium. He sighed, "Ally, pack it in before I get her to eat you or something."

"Do what??" Ally asked, clearly disregarding his warning, however exaggerated it was. "Oh no, not that!" Luca realised that the threat may have backfired, swearing under his breath.

"Just stop staring at her ass." He added, sitting up and grunting as he motioned for the alien in the doorway to come in. "We need to figure out how we're going to get our own back on ..."

Luca snapped his fingers, looking at Yttrium. "Who did you call them again?"

"Nice?" she tilted her head, miming the little white plastic droids that usually sat at the bottom of capsule hotels saying who could and couldn't come nor go.

"I mean the guys who threw you in the van and are likely fucking up Mayor Tannerman's beloved drill tanks." Luca clarified.

"Not nice," she placed a hand on her hip, very firm in her opinion on the matter. "Tanhauss was the only name I really got. Lovely people, who love to help the down and outs in society." The gynoid fanned herself with her plastic fingers, flicking her wrist and waving dismissively. "And then rescue them of their kneecaps!"

Ally tilted her head, clicking her tongue as she looked away from Yttrium's rear - for which Yttrium was truly grateful. "Tanhauss? You mean the company that makes painkillers and cough medicine?"

"Its probably out of guilt," Yttrium crossed her arms, sweeping declerations of swaying swished index finger as she took steps in thought. "One mends what one causes with a guilty conscience - and maybe makes a happy little buck or two in the process to help them sleep at night."

"Or more like 'Bullets and Bandages', the only difference is intent." Snuffles commented, entering the room but still standing near the door. It was even taller than Yttrium, only by a slim margin.

The clicking of Yttrium's feet against the concrete was interrupted by Luca's communicator ringing, letting out a beeping ditty. Bringing his right hand up and checking who it was at this hour, he smiled when he saw the caller ID. "Shh, shh, everyone c'mere." He leaned forward and held his palm open, putting speaker phone on and showing off the projected hologram. Echelon was calling him. "We might have a lead!"

Yttrium took particular note: Much of her flowery manner cast aside in this moment -- bending down slowly toward the communicator - blocking off Ally with an eyeful, the same she'd been staring at the entire time bumping her against the wall - pinning her there, as the crude took note.

"Go on..." she said, eying Luca's hand. He pressed his index finger and thumb together and opened the call. Snuffles stepped around the other side of the two women and peered over Luca's shoulder.

"H3Y, Y0U 4W4K3?" The cyborg of weird origins asked over the phone, a projection of her cyclopean head looking around the room, seeing Yttrium in full, Ally, Luca, and the chelti. "B4D N3WS." She said. Luca frowned, nodding for her to continue. "TH3S3 GUYS 4R3 1N S4RG4SS0 D33P3R TH4N W3 TH0UGHT."

"Like, balls deep?" Ally asked.

"Y3P. TH3 C0MP4NY B4NKR0LL1NG FR4NK13'S G0T H0LD1NGS 1N 4GR4RY, D3LT4 S0UTH, 4M3SH1 C0RN3R, 4ND DR1LL PL41NS," Echelon explained gravely. "4LL B33N 4R0UND F0R 4 F3W Y34RS. TH3Y'R3 RUN BY GRUPP3N T4NH4USS FR0M N01R." The image of her face disappeared for a moment, replaced with Tanhauss' logo.

​

Luca felt everything tense in his body at the extent of who was after him, blinking in surprise. "Hang on- What?" He breathed. "We're fighting a - a company?" He looked over to Yttrium, narrowing his eyes at her and shaking his head at her a little, grimacing. He sat up, staring Yttrium in the eye. "The fuck did you do?"

Yttrium made the best she could with limited resources, cheekbones riding up as if she had the lips to make a nervous smile. Hands up, fingers splayed...

"You know how when you gamble, you gamble with your own money? -- I ... Sorta left that part out. "

Luca had seen a few Sourcia, but seldom seen them walking around. They were usually amorphous or monstrous looking things, but their mathematics skills were second to none as far as he'd seen.

"They weren't smart enough to know I wasn't Sourcia. See, Sourcia have an amazing understanding of mathematics, statistics, how time and space n' all that work? Crude are sort of an offshoot of Sourcia that are wuuuaaay less socially retarded-" Yttrium twirled her wrist around as she drew out her words, "-but aren't math-gods. I thought of it at the time as payment for racial stereotyping and I was going to take my leave..."

She steepled her fingers together with a click, eyelid batting at Luca. "But then my departure was destroyed and I've been uh... Kinda stuck here." Apologetic didn't even begin to describe it.

"You mean you gambled away someone else's money?" Ally asked, before looking at Luca and addressing him, "and you took out the guys trying to take her back?"

Luca furrowed his brow at Ally, lowering his hand and sending Echelon's view of the world asunder as he stopped focussing on her. "I wasn't going to let two police impersonators - bad ones, mind you - walk away! Nobody needs to be kidnapped!"

"W4K3 UP, 1'M ST1LL H3R3!" Echelon yelled indignantly, wrestling control of the topic away from what bought everyone here. "GRUPP3N T4NH4USS 4LS0 D0N4T3S B1G T0 TH3 PR0CT0R F0UND4T10N," Luca felt a headache pulse through his head at the mention of the anti-everything-that-gave-him-opportunities politician, "TH3Y'V3 G0T 1NFLU3NC3, R3S0URC3S, 4ND L0TS 0F M4NP0W3R - 4ND TH3Y."

She paused for emphasis. "4R3 G01NG."

Again. "T0 K1LL Y0U."

Yttrium thought skyward for a moment, "Not necessarily. See, there was going to be this payback," she explained, shifting her shoulders - relaxing her posture some. "There are some... Capabilities I have? They're considered uh, 'useful'. I mean, the idea was I scratch their back they scratch mine and we both go on our merry ways but apparently the head honcho thinks I belong in a cage."

"I don't remember 'you stick a knife in mine' being part of the agreement. The ego of you goeybloods is just amazing sometimes, honestly.. Though the amount I owe shouldn't neccesitate kidnapping: I always pay back what I owe..." Yttrium tipped her head back, getting a better look at Luca.

"What'd you do?"

He stood up, leaving a red outline of himself on the couch from many miscellaneous cuts and scrapes. "After I sprung you, you blew up, and I took Frankie for a ride, I think they've more interested in making example of me now," he indicated, having being attacked twice by men connected to Frankie, "they're doing a shit job so far - and they even sent a mage after me."

Luca straightened up and grabbed a bottle of beer that was poking out of the couch's cushions, popping the cap off with his thumb. After taking a swig, he pointed to Yttrium. "I think making peace with them is no longer an option, now that the Units have a few of their men caught red handed trying to kill me."

"I know Frankie isn't exactly my best friend but the description they were given was vague as hell. 'Someone who enjoys hard noodles'..." That could've been at least a sixth of Sargasso's population.

Yttrium held her gaze firmly in Luca's direction, "What do you think it means?" Luca blinked at her, still considering the shitstorm of consequences which would continue to come down on his head.

"I don't do spy speak." He grumbled, recalling weird spooks who talked in enough circles to make a whole day's Drill Derby look like a walk around the park. "Is it ... someone not afraid to get their hands dirty?" Some sarcastic levity crept in as he pretended to grab for straws, making jazz hands at Yttrium. "Oh, oh! Maybe someone with a hard head - like an erection!" Allison could be heard snorting, trying not to laugh.

Yttrium tilted her head quizzically, "What's an erection?"

Luca put his hand in front of his mouth, resisting the urge to comment. "So maybe this is a case of mistaken identity." He added, getting over the brief spurt of amusement. "I left a lot of bad blood in my wake after EAD broke up, and maybe you're just in the crossfire..."

Echelon cleared her throat. "4LL 1 C4N T3LL Y0U 1S TH4T WH03V3R'S G0T 1T 1N F0R Y0U TW0 H4S 4LS0 G0T M4Y0R R3X'S 1R3, W1TH TH3 DR1LL T4NKS."

After letting that hang in the air for a moment, Echelon realised there "N0W TH4T W3 H4V3 S0M3 M0R3 C0NCR3T3 L34DS, 1 H4V3 4 PR0P0S1T10N F0R Y0U TW0 W4LK1NG D1S4ST3RS T0 C0NT3MPL4T3. 1'LL 3V3N L3T Y0U SL33P 0N 1T."

Luca raised his eyebrow, a smirk creeping across his face, as he looked over to Yttrium to see what she was thinking. "I'm listening!" He piped up enthusiastically. Yttrium didn't share this enthusiasm, quivering as she wondered what Echelon would have in store for them...

>TO BE CONTINUED!