More Questions than Answers
 Obsidian  2016/12/1 17:01
 1462  1
"Ahhh the spoils of a job well done" Shanara thinks to herself as the pulsing music of the live band playing at the very exclusive "Emerald Cup" pulses through her ears and the alcohol courses through her body gently numbing her cares away. The job had been worth every ounce of terror and trouble. Perched on chair she stares intently into the pleasure drone's blue eyes and it dances a swirls around the simple pole on the stage, it twists and writhes to the exotic rhythms. The mul;ti-colored lights play off the mirror almost hypnotically. Pleasure drones are expensive but she had more than enough to buy one of the really good ones...besides relationships are hard and there's nobody she trusts..."Yeah, I'll get one of those...a really hot one too. Yeah"
2 hours earlier....
I have been hunting this thief for days now and I have had informants try to kill me, Cops harass me, and even one guy who tried to run me over. Someone has been doing there damnedest to see to it I don't track this thief whoever she may be, At this moment however I'm running full steam after a Gobelian named "Neezle" who is apparently a marathon runner, and when I catch him I'm gonna break his thrice-damned legs. Down alleys we slip and slide a fresh rain making the wet streets slick with freshly loosened oils, I fall as I turn a corner I'm not hurt but I am pissed. "I don't want to hurt you Neezle, stop running!!" My words fall on deaf ears as he tears off again but I'm done with this cat and mouse crap.
"You ready for some help, Mister "I got this."? Spydra's tone is rife with sarcasm and I'm not letting this guy go for the sake of pride.
"Okay fine you're a go."
"I'm sorry what?"
"I said you're a go."
"You can do better. What's the magic word?"
"Please."
"Good boy, there's a cookie with your name on it waiting for you at home."
"Ha ha very funny just catch the little.."My words fall short as I clear a fence and round the corner to find the Gobelian in a cocoon with only his face poking out and Spydra perched upon the Street light the little bastard is suspended from. With my hands on my knees I gasp as I try to catch my breath, I'm covered in street gunk and oil and whatever the hell else was in the various puddles I fell into. As I catch my breath I remove my right glove and...Punch that bastard dead in the face, as hard as I can under my own power...the suit's servos would've killed him and we don't want that do we?
"I though you said you weren't gonna hurt me? The Gobelian complains as blood runs from his nose.
"You didn't stop did you?"
"Good point."
"Now all I want from here on, is the answer to a simple question."
"Depends on the question."
Spydra hoists him up so that they're eye to eye, to eye, to eye, to...she has a lot of eyes...it's creepy actually. Her voice is grating and the mandibles on her mask flex as she says.
"Don't be coy, you can either profit from your cooperation, or your refusal to cooperate can be the last stupid thing you ever do."
Acid drips from her mandilbes only a hair's distance from his face, and it's clear he's intimidated. Spydra knows her business boy, I usually have to shoot them in the leg...or tentacle...or whatever, before they talk. Not her though, she's got a fearsome presence and a creepy shtick. Spiders are normally creepy anyway and most folks are scared to death of them anyway. This one is man-sized and stands upright...nevermind the fact that it's a costume.
"Alright,"His voice cracks as he speaks, "What do you want to know?"
"A thief came here a few days ago."
"We get a lot of those, you'll have to be more specific."
I project a hologram of our culprit and the green little troll turns ghost white. Jackpot, he knows everything.
"Spill it."
"O-okay b-but you didn't hear this from me."
"Hear what?"
"This chick calls herself "Raptor" she flew in a couple days back with a big gold colored orb, there was a lot of bets about what was in it or that the case was worth a ton of cash by itself."
"More." Spydra adds tightening her grip.
"There was a bunch of professionals who let it get out that they wanted a piece of the action."
"...and..."
"And they all ended up dead, not just dead but cut into tiny little pieces."
"...and?..."
"The cut's were cleaner than a laser, even their weapons were cut clean through...No one has ever seen anything like it."
I have. My sword is very capable of making mono-molecular cuts, but it's very special. Could the Black Mantis have an traitor in his in midst? I hope not, the mere thought of that is horrifying.
"The thief, where is she?"
"Word is she took her payday and is living it up, in the rich side of the colony. She spends her nights hanging out at the "Emerald Cup". That's all I know, now can you let me down?"
I give Spydra the nod and she drops the little worm. I pull out my sword and with a precision slice I cut Neezle loose. He looks at the mono-molecular cut and to my amusement, loses control of his bladder. In an instant he's off like a shot having jumped to the wrong conclusion. Ah that's some good funny right there.
In moments we arrive at the "Emerald Cup". The bouncer steps up to stop us and I flash my bounty hunter license at him. He dismisses it with the words
"That ain't gonna get you in buddy."
It's the last coherent thing he says for the rest of the night as I toss a Neuralizer pack at him and he begins projectile vomiting.
As Spydra and I step through the doors all eyes are on us. Quickly and silently folks start shuffling out, leaving their food and drink where they they sit. These folks are hip to trouble, except for a couple of brave souls who want to see some action. The thief is in the members only area perched in a chair intently watching the sexy little lady droid shaking it's ass. I draw my pistol and level it to the base of her head. Just then the manager comes up to object and Spydra wrenches his arm in a "Chicken Wing' and he lets out a yelp. The thief never takes her eyes off the dancer, who is now frozen in mid movement as if frozen.
"I knew it was to damned easy. Everything was just going way too smooth."
"I have some questions and you can answer them here or..."
"Or what you'll kill me? I don't think so. I'm no good to you dead."
"That's where you're wrong, I can have you resurrected repeatedly. That means I can kill you over and over in all new exciting ways each time."
A bead of sweat trickles down the side of her face as she contemplates the darkness of that last statement.
"You want to know who hired me?"
"That's as good a place to start as any."
"Too bad, I never saw his face, and he didn't give his name."
"Where's the case?"
"I gave it to the man in black."
"And?"
"he'll kill me if I tell you."
"I thought we already established what I'd do if you didn't?"
"You don't scare me as much as he does." Without warning I grab the her by the hair and slam her face onto the stage with enough force to do some real damage. She just looks at me smugly and spits out several of her teeth.
"You'll have to do better than-"
Her sentence ends abruptly as her body slumps to the floor, her hair, still held firmly between my fingers, now pulls taut under the weight of her severed head. The droid looks terrified but remains motionless. Without a word Spydra flings the club manger to one side and we both begin looking for the assailant but to no avail. I draw my blade and attempt to resurrect her but nothing happens...nothing happens? The magic contained in my sword has no mortal equal in the galaxy, even the best mages would be hard pressed to come close to it's power, yet I get nothing. There's only one spell that can destroy a soul and it isn't known in this universe. Every clue keeps leading me to the same conclusion: This has been an inside job. I need to tell the Black Mantis, worse I need to report our failure to retrieve Parata's head. We'll take the body to our ship and see what clues we can glean from it. |
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| pijon |
Posted: 2016/12/9 19:15 Updated: 2016/12/9 19:15 |
Moderator   Joined: 2006/7/18 From: United States Posts: 6363 |
 Re: More Questions than Answers Good image to open this chapter. Good story... very curious, seems like some major stuff being set up here.  |
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