SnowStorm42
Senior Member
JACOB HARDWHICK
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Mood: Curious
Location: Slums
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The morning light flooded into the window of tiny room, comprised of concrete panels, a few toolboxes, a desk with an older modeled computer, and a full sized cot, held up by two bars in the wall. The cot held the massive frame of a bearded man, dawning a slate tank top and dusty grey jeans covered in dirt and rips. Through the rips, skin meshed with cold metals, and his face dawned pieces of cyberware, a tattoo or two showing from just under the tank top. A silver necklace was looped around his neck, with a ring dangling on it. He shifted over uncomfortably, before opening his green eyes ever so slightly. Emerald orbs scanned the room. "Must've worked overtime" he thought, before collecting himself. He rubbed his eyes as he threw his legs over, sitting up now. It came back to him now, yeah. He had stayed late to work on a client's car that was due later at noon. It was one of the newer models so of course Jacob struggled to fix it up, but it was all but done. Older models, as rickety as they may have been, were better than the new stuff in terms of longevity. Similar to Jacob. He stood now and walked over to a mirror attached to the back room of the auto shop, designed for when he or his employees worked overtime. Stepping into the tiny space he leaned over the sink, groaned and looked into the mirror. "Another day, old man" he thought depressingly. He turned on the faucet and splashed cold water on his face, before brushing his teeth and washing any dirt he may have missed in the shower. Walking over to a duffle bag in the corner of the bathroom, he got changed into black cargo pants, and threw a dark red long sleeve over his tank top, and throwing on his holster, slinging them over his shoulders, and belting them closed.
He made his way out the back room, grabbing his long grey jacket and throwing it over himself, it covering his holsters, and reaching just above his knees. He threw a red scarf around his neck, and made his way to the gate of the auto shop. The auto shop had three lifts, and multiple shelves and rolling steel cabinets, alongside some heavy storage boxes like one would see at a jobsite. It wasn't much to look at, although the employees added some graffiti and artwork around the shop to give it some life. Jacob was always under the belief that word of mouth brought more clients than appearances. He hit a button on the side of the door opening the gates, to see two of his mechanics walking toward the shop. "Mornin Boss" they each said. Estevan, and Karol were always his early birds. Karol was an immigrant from overseas who worked with some modern models exported from Neo-City. He was always eager to prove himself. Estevan simply had a passion for cars, but working in the Slums, not a lot of auto businesses would take him in, so Jacob offered him a place to work with some of the more custom cars, and modifications.
"Morning boys. Take your time setting up, you're really early. Karol I got most of the Mr. Wentworth's car is working, just needs the transmission fluid changed" he said to his trusted employees. They usually took charge of the other employees who were gonna show up in the next hour or so. Jacob had business to attend to though. "If I'm not back by afternoon, you know the drill. I'm headed out" he said. Met with acknowledgement, Jacob grabbed his gear from atop one of the storage boxes and headed out, with revolver and Vector in their respective holsters, but his rifle pack not in sight.
Noon
Jacob had made his rounds to the deli and a few of the locals. He was headed to his next list item when a comms call came in. "Boss its Jess. Flip on the scout footage" a familiar voice said from over the comms. Jacob moved his left arm from out in front of him, while continuing to walk, a slot in his arm opening up to reveal a small projector, which turned on to display a live feed. One of his scouts was transmitting footage from Junction Street, a part of Neo-City Middle that was close to the border of the Slums. "Tiburon and Skoprions? They never duke it out, outside the Slums. And to this scale..." Jacob thought to himself, suspicions rising. His scout got on the comms and explained the situation, as Jacob watched one of Imperium's heroes show up to the scene along with the mercs. Activating his Accelerated Vision, he started taking specific details in at a rapid pace, having his scout zoom in on key players, civilian supers, and action on the side, including a familiar Yakuza hostage being taken to safety. Two characters on a roof also surveying the fight also caught his attention, although the scout had no idea what Jacob was telling him to broadcast. He deactivated his Accelerated Vision, not wanting to feel the effects so early in the morning. "Keep me posted Arny. Let me know as things develop" Jacob said, hiding the display, his slot on his arm closing but his comms remaining on.
Suspicion grew in Jacob. Those key players wouldn't all be in the same place. Something was fishy. Had the gangs been set up by a third party to create this chaos? With the appearance of a hero from nearby, Jacob wouldn't put it passed Imperium to create such a publicity stunt. There had to be more to the picture. The woman on the roof definitely also caught his attention. He couldn't put his finger on it from the footage the scout was able to show, but she seemed familiar, however the scout was too far to get a close up image. Jacob feared the worst, feeling that this was going to cause more trouble for him and his group than he needed. His thoughts had to stop though, as he had reached his destination. An abandoned building, with loud music and a lot of yelling and laughing. Jacob examined the building and the flashing lights coming from within before making his way in...
Present
"Boss. Jess again. Check the news" came over the comms. Jacob, breathing a bit unsteadily, but keeping his composure, once again pulled up the display from his arm mod, as he walked away from the massive rubble of what was formerly the abandoned building, now a pile of rocks, with hands, weapons, and blood prodding out from a few rocks here and there, while some junkies and dealers from a particular cartel, Família do Norte, lay dead or unconscious atop some of the rubble. The display from Jacobs arm showed several news feeds, all of which seemed to produce the same message. "Of course" he muttered to himself. "Thanks Jess. Send out a message. Everyone is to lay low today. Anything under a priority red operation is canceled for the day" he said before shutting comms off.
His suspicions were correct. It seemed that Imperium somehow scraped together the ideal situation for these gangs to create chaos, Imperium receive praise, and The Rebels to take the flak. This was part of Jacob's ordeal, his uphill battle. On top of having to somehow get the media out from under Imperium's thumb, he now had the gangs of the Slums to confront. The gangs all had their differences, and Jacob figured that it was their business so long as civilian casualties were low in the Slums. This situation however, would require him to meet with the various leaders. Someone took a payout in one of the gangs, or multiple gangs, that allowed for this to happen. He had to get to the bottom of which gangs, and where to nip the head of the snake.
His thoughts were cut off as now, gunfire, and loud yelling got his attention. Another apartment building. Was it more of the dealers and junkies that Jacob was after today? He had taken it upon himself to try to reduce the drug problem in the Slums, at the request of a few of the families living in the area. If these were more cartel dealers or junkies, it would be better to take care of the situation right away. Without a second thought, Jacob casually stepped over a headless corpse, and into the building. As he climbed the stairs, he found more corpses covering the stairwell, with the gunfire getting increasingly louder. He remained unarmed though, as he approached what seemed to be the source of the abundant noise.
Activating his Eagle Eye, he scanned a room he was approaching, ignoring some of the stray bullets that made their way toward his direction and scanned faces tattoos and weapons. These were definitely junkies, and some of them were affiliated. They seemed to be targeting a man made of metal. His aura was ominous, but he figured that the cartel was Jacob's bigger issue. Jacob placed his palm on the ground, and as the gunfire stopped, the druggies seemingly shook by the metal man's presence, the ground slowly developed white zigzagging cracks, that slowly crept around the metal man, away from an innocent woman and under the gunmen. Suddenly the white lines exploded, in what seemed like a controlled demolition, taking the floor out from under the gunmen and blowing some into the air before they fell to the floor below. The ground under the woman and the metal man were perfectly fine though. Jacob stood back up, still unarmed.
Footsteps scuttled in more of the floors above them as well as in the stairwell. "Mind filling me in on what you're doing here partner? Seems we've got a mutual enemy but I can't help to wonder what you did to attract so much lead from these lowlifes." Jacob inquired to the man. He didn't want to fight a Supe but was confident he could at the very least avoid an attack from the man if he wasn't going to take kindly to Jacob's appearance. He took in the man's features all the while, although it was tough with current metal state. The footsteps drew closer, but Jacob figured they had just enough time for the man's answer before the two would have to deal with the gunmen inbound.
SidTheSkid
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