Futuristic Starpath X: A Ballad of Madness

[joshuadim]

The killing continued and the pile grew ever larger between the dynamic duo as they pushed forward towards their target; Kane cocked his new gun once more with pride as one would with a newborn child and with anticipation for the glorious carnage he would wreak with it ahead, but to then have his moment be flattened slightly by Jester's ever growing ego. "Hey now, I thought we agreed shared custody!" Kane complained to his partner-in-crime with a sour tone, "I still have a bullet to shove up his ass for all the shit he put ME through!" He then shook his head and sighed.

"Alright, how about this... we take TURNS. We do our own little magic show on him one at a time and make it *special* pay-per-view. How's that sound?" he then mused to Jester before getting into cover quickly as Adam's remaining guards started their desperate defence. But that didn't stop Kane's imagination from getting the better of him as he wondered just how he would start off the main course in that delectable arena of torture. "Hmm... I've got so many ideas of what I wanna do..."

A bullet crashed into his cover, punching a hole near his head which made him angrily peek out of cover. "GODDAMNIT JUST WAIT A MINUTE!" he shouted before getting back and dodging another bullet just barely. "Ah! I'm thinking... electric cords to his BALLS. Fry em nice and crispy..."

 

[Infab]

"Ah! I'm thinking... electric cords to his BALLS. Fry em nice and crispy..."

"You don't wanna do that." responded Jester, as she drew a cylinder shaped object from one of her thighs. "They pop like grapes. He'd feel pain for a few seconds, then he'd pass out." She held it up, pressing a red button on its top, before flinging it down the hall. "Attach the cables to his nipples with the clamps you use on batteries. Make sure to make 'em spark a few times in front of him, really get that fear to kick in. They dance a little when the current hits too, so its fun to watch."

A moment later, there was a bright green flash at the end of the hall. What she had thrown was a plasma grenade, which she had found on one of the heavier guys they had fought through minutes before. Neat little thing. Practically erases targets in a ball of hot plasma. If they don't disintegrate, then it leaves a nice charred corpse behind.

The Kanads always made some interesting little toys. Toys the rest of us seem to copy.

The gunfire stopped from the other end of the hall. The blast must have caught their foes by surprise. Excellent. Now they just needed to hunt down their target... and hopefully he wasn't caught in the blast.

As they began to move down the hallway, something rounded the corner at the scorched end. Man-sized, sprinting towards them at high speed. Bounding gracefully over the remnants of corpses on the floor. Jester grinned, lifting and hip firing the shotgun in the entity's direction. The buckshot flew pass it, as it vaulted onto and ran along the right wall. Never slowing down.

Oh, what’s this? A different kind of merc? Cybernetics?

As they grew closer, Jester could make out the person’s outfit. Or rather, what appeared to be their actual body. They really were cybernetically enhanced, but it seemed that most of their body had been replaced to the point that they could have been easily confused for a true robot. They wore only a jacket and some tactical gear, the gear cutting off where the neck of the jacket stopped. Further up, the jacket’s hood covered most of the cyborg's head except for its face. The face, which stood out more than the rest of the cyborg's body, seemed like it was made of white ceramic. It mimicked human features: two eyes, a nose with two nostrils, and a mouth with clearly defined lips. Only the cybernetic eyes inside the eye holes moved, two amber colored dots locked onto Jester and following her as she moved. The rest of the face did not move. Was it a mask of some sort?

Jester wouldn’t have time to inspect it, as the cyborg was soon upon her. As they lunged at her, a blade came from their rear. A sword, the blade bearing a slight curve as it stretched out from a black leather bound hilt. Heat could be seen rolling off the blade’s edges, as it began to glow a bright orange. The weapon could be super-heated, much like Jester’s own arm blades, and made to cut through flesh and metal with ease.

Not much could stop such a super-heated blade in mid swing. They were prized by pirates and mercs, who often didn’t have access to the more famous Kanad plasma swords or didn't want to use the fancier laser bladed weapons available. A side effect of a super-heated weapon was that you could also set things on fire with them, just by touching the blade to it. It depended on the wielder themselves to figure out if said side effect was a boon or not.

Jester had little time to react, flicking the shotgun in her hands towards the incoming foe before jumping backwards. The blade sliced through the shotgun like a knife through butter, sending the pieces of the weapon sailing through the air past the blade wielder. But suddenly, something happened that caught Jester entirely off-guard.

As Jester landed, she witnessed the attacker bring their hand up to form a series of rapid gestures. Then, the shredded pieces of the shotgun rose and quickly flew at Jester.

Metal and shredded shotgun shells pelted Jester, forcing her to swat at the air to defend herself. Then, what felt like a massive invisible weight shoved itself squarely into her chest, knocking her backward onto the floor. What the hell is going on?

Jester attempted to get up, but found herself unable to lift herself from the floor. It felt as though the same weight that had shoved her over was now holding her down. “Wonderful! I'm fighting a Jedi.” she muttered. The cyborg approached, but suddenly stopped and made more gestures with their free hand. Jester watched her, eyes narrowing as she cocked her head. “…the fuck are you doing?”

The cyborg made more gestures, further confusing Jester. The expression on her face soon changed, shifting to one of boredom. “Ugh. This is stupid.” she soon muttered. Then, a pair of shots rang out. Jester had managed to reach her pistol, drawing it and firing a pair of shots into the cyborg's torso. The magnum rounds rocked the cyborg, forcing it to stumble backwards.

The invisible weight on Jester’s chest seemed to vanish, and she quickly sprang to her feet. Time to counter-attack. Keep up a constant assault, prevent them from bringing that super-heated sword to bear again. She darted forwards, bounding a few steps before jumping and spinning about in the air. Her foot collided with the side of the cyborg's head, a crunch sounding as her heel smashed into the side of the ceramic mask.

The cyborg was knocked sideways, dropping their sword, but Jester remained aggressive. Her pistol came up, side pressed against her abdomen, as she fired two shots into the cyborg's abdomen. Then, three more as she brought the weapon up to be stabilized by her offhand. The magnum rounds pummeled the cyborg, but they refused to go down. So, Jester delivered one final attack. She hopped forwards, and delivered a brutal straight kick square into the cyborg’s chest.

The hit sent the cyborg through the corridor's thick wall, into what appeared to be a bathroom in one of the hotel’s many rooms. Inside, they collided with and smashed a black colored toilet. Water began to flood across the floor beneath them, as Jester carefully leaned in through the hole. Pistol leveled at the cyborg inside.

Silence. The cyborg was stunned, still clearly alive as their eyes still glowed in the dim light. The magnum rounds hadn’t pierced their cybernetics in their abdomen, but had clearly made holes in the armor they wore across their torso.

Jester smiled, watching the cyborg laying against the shattered toilet. A massive spider-web like crack stretched across their ceramic mask, originating where Jester’s heel had slammed into it. It was likely they’d be back up and about in a short few minutes, but Jester wouldn’t be around to dance. She had a target to catch.

“I'd love to stay and continue our little tango, but I have places to be. People to kill. You understand.” soon said Jester, straightening up a bit. She holstered her pistol, shoving it back in its usual position, before backing away from the hole.

Her foot then bumped the hilt of the super-heated sword. She glanced down, eyeing the weapon briefly, before grinning. Neat little toy, and one that they could use. She slipped the edge of her foot under it, before flicking it up into her waiting hand. She wasn’t really all that partial to saber or katakana-like weapons, or really any swords. She preferred shorter blades, like knives or machetes. Even a tanto or wakizashi was more her style. Swords got awkward in close quarters, where shorter weapons shined.

She turned about, holding the sword in her off-hand as she strolled down the hallway. She’d use this sword, though. To rob that cyborg of their favored weapon, and to slice through those armored fucks protecting Adam. Maybe she’d even use it on Adam. Give him far too close of a shave with a super-heated blade, give a whole new meaning to razor burn. She motioned for Kane to follow as she walked, as he had simply been observing the fight between Jester and the cyborg, LMG hanging from his waist and arms folded as if he were contemplating life.

Suddenly, they were forced to stop as they rounded the corner. The doors to the remaining functioning elevator seemed to have been welded shut. Probably using a plasma welder. The door further down blocked as well. A portable field generator was shoved into the floor, generating a cyan colored shield around the door. Jester frowned. Damnit.

“Alice.” she muttered, glancing back behind her at Kane. Maybe the AI could locate an alternate route.

Alice answered moments later. “Yes, ma'am? Is there something you need?”

“We need an alternate route to Adam, asap. The doors and elevator on this floor are blocked.”

“Understood. Checking…”

A few moments later, Alice spoke again. “Your fastest route, ma'am, would be to jump out the window on your current floor.”

“…Excuse me?”

“Adam has arrived at the ground floor via elevator and is moving through the lobby. He has a vehicle waiting outside to take him to another landing pad so that he may evacuate. Jumping from the window would allow you to land right on top of his vehicle. With careful aim, you may even disable it with your landing.”

“…Understood. Show me the window we need.” Jester then looked to Kane. "I hope you're not afraid of heights... or long falls."

Down below, Adam was scrambling past patrons of the resort. Armored mercenaries both in front and behind him, guiding him along and making sure they wouldn’t be engaged by any possible threats on the ground floor. His long black hair was scattered about his shoulders, having fallen from its ponytail state after being snatched around by the mercenaries defending him. His glasses had already been cracked, after he tripped fleeing from Jester on one of the upper floors. Sweat stains covered his white button-up.

He was a scientist, not a soldier or any other sort of fighter. All the work he did was in a lab, with specialized tools and devices. He wasn’t used to all this running around. All this scrambling for cover and for exits. Struggling to get away from psychopaths hired by one of his bosses to kill him. A pair of psychopaths that had already killed a large chunk of the freelance mercs he had hired to protect him.

With how much he had paid them, he could have hired some Boomes or Death Vigil. They would have lasted longer. His employer managed to get two really good mercs to bite quickly, so that was at least a silver lining. One of them just so happened to be following closely after him in the event the evac went wrong.

As he emerged through the elaborate glass entrance of the resort, emerging into the snow drifting from the sky above, he had to be careful with how he stepped. The ground was slick, with patches of ice and snow. He didn’t have the time to grab his snow boots, or even a jacket. The armored mercs assisted, a pair of them holding onto his arms as they moved.

A hover-car waited nearby, running silently as its passenger doors sat open. The driver, another merc, was waving them over from his seat. They needed to go. Now.

But they wouldn’t get the chance.

One of the armored mercs glanced up, and soon noticed a speck rapidly falling from the upper floors of the hotel. It grew in size as it approached the ground, until the merc could make out what it was. His eyes widened. “IT'S THAT JESTER BITCH!” he spat, letting go of Adam and slinging his assault rifle up.

Jester, with Kane hanging onto her back, landed squarely atop the hover-car. The impact caved the roof in and crushed the merc inside. Glass exploded from the windows, as the vehicle's frame partially folded from the weight of the hit. The engine sputtered, before violently exploding along with each of the hover jets beneath the vehicle. The pair fell off the top of the vehicle as it began to explode, flipping and landing on the asphalt on their faces.

“…Ow.” Jester muttered to herself, before reaching down and striking both her legs with her fists again. Unlocking them once more. Hell of an entrance, but they were still in one piece. The blast scorched the edges of her hair, though. Fuck, she’d have to get that fixed.

She looked up, peering under the burning wreckage of the hover-car, to see that the armored mercs and Adam had been stunned as well. Perfect. Time to go to work.

As the mercs tried to regain her bearings, she quickly climbed to her feet and grabbed the sword that had fallen off her side. It hummed to life, as she switched on its super-heated blade, before darting around the front of the burning wreckage. The first merc didn’t see her coming. As he looked up, lifting his weapon in order to shoot, he was met with a baseball swing of the sword. It slashed clean through his head with a hiss, cutting a horizontal slice from temple to temple. As he fell backwards, the top of his head slid off. His halved brain singed by the blade as it fell out of his skull.

The next merc was able to get his weapon up, though, and fired off a burst that caught Jester across the left shoulder. Leaving holes through the metal. They were using armor piercing ammo. Neat. She swapped to using the sword with her right hand, bringing it up in an arcing motion and slicing clean through the weapon’s barrel. She then spun about, delivering a reverse hooking kick which caught the merc across the side of the head. As he spun in place, she then brought the sword down in a diagonal slash, cleaving the man in two.

The other two remaining armored mercs rushed her, both using assault rifles. Both opened fire, with only one managing to score a hit. The shots pierced her mid-section, punching through where her liver would have been (if she still had one). The other merc would miss, his shots darting by her side and ricocheting off the asphalt behind her. They would stop outside of sword range, but that didn't stop them from being cut down on the spot.

Her pistol came out once more, but before she could fire, a burst of machine gun fire cut one man in half. Kane had managed to recuperate well enough to come around the rear of the destroyed hovercar. The bullets severed his spine, before sawing through the rest of the merc's midsection. Then, Kane switched targets. The first shot of the burst hit the merc in the crotch, while the second hit his thigh. That’d take him out of action for a moment. Two more bursts shots followed as he brought his LMG up to eye level. Both in the chest.

The armor they were wearing seemed to block the bullets, but he didn’t really need them to go through the armor. Only to stun them long enough for him to close the distance. He darted forwards afterwards, driving his knee into the man's skull as he hunched over. The merc let out a groan of pain, blood bursting from his nose and his helmet slipping off his head, then Kane pressed the muzzle of the LMG into his eye. A single pull of the trigger followed, and a burst of bullets ripped through his head.

Finally, the armored mercs were all dead. That just left—

A rapid series of gunshots ripped through Jester’s torso, forcing her to stumble backward. She almost fell over, but she managed to catch herself on the ball of her right foot. Did she miss a grunt?

“Jester.” said a voice. Young, male, also metallic sounding. There was also another sound within the voice. The sound of anger.

She grinned wide. She knew exactly who it was.

“Yes? That is my name.” she said, with a chuckle. “Well, more of an old alias, but still!”

She then turned to fully face the one approaching. “And you are… I want to say Daniel. David? Something with a D… definitely not Dick, though that does fit.”

“Dante.” he responded, the tone of anger seeming to grow stronger.

Jester forced a gasp. “Dante! Yes! Like the Italian poet!” she exclaimed, motioning a hand towards the figure as he continued to approach.

Soon, he emerged from the hotel lobby. The man was around six feet tall, wearing mostly black. Of course was wearing black. Dante Black always wore black. Combat boots, cargo pants, a flak jacket over a t-shirt, and an almost floor-length trench coat. His cybernetics, which he didn’t have the last time she saw him, were also black. The metallic sheen of cybernetic augments encompassed his neck, stopping halfway up his cheeks and stretching towards the corners of his mouth. Unlike most, who went for the skull-like lower jaw, he opted for the lip mold for his cybernetics. His irises were red, glowing in the dim light. His dark hair, likely synthetic and woven into his scalp, was cut short and styled just so.

“Decided to simply embrace the edge, hmm?” said Jester, looking him over as he stopped. “Next, you’ll be slapping skulls on things. Maybe convert your head into one. Give it a horn or two, make it demonic.”

“Shut the fuck up.” He practically spat the words out, eyes locked firmly onto her. “All you do is fucking talk, laugh, and dick around.”

Jester shrugged. “Well, if I didn’t do all of that, you’d be dead.” she responded, flashing Dante a grin.

He simply stared back at her.

She continued, waving a hand towards Dante as he simply stood there. “So, you decided to chrome up? Good for you! You're on a higher level now!” she said, “I kind of figured you’d go for bio-augmentations, but you’ve surprised me!”

“The surgeons said I wouldn’t survive long enough for my body to adapt to the bio-augments. Cybernetic augmentations were the only option in which I would potentially survive.” he muttered in response. “I never wanted this. Any of this. You forced it on me. And you’ll fucking pay for it, one way or another. Dipshit Kane over there is merely icing on the cake.”

“One way or another, hmm?” she responded, repeating his words as she let her hand rest on her hip. “…Oh, but there’s really only one way I can pay for what I've done to you. You already have it set in that warped little mind of yours! I have to die. There are no alternatives. Credits won’t bring you the satisfaction of watching my head explode. Or me being ripped apart piece by piece. Like you were!”

“RIGHT!” finally spat Dante. And in a flash of movement, one side of his trench coat flicked out and behind him. Jester caught just a glimpse of what he was bringing to bear against her, but she recognized that eerie green glow anywhere.

Dante brought a plasma weapon to kill them with.

It appeared to be of Kosok-make, Jester noticed. A Kileta Vipra (meaning ‘small rifle'), or KV, but upscaled to fit human-sized hands. She couldn’t identify the exact model. Not just yet. Wonder how much he had spent on that particular piece of tech?

As he swung it up, he fired off a shot. A bolt of hot plasma darted by Jester, who was already moving to avoid him. She had fought Kanads and other member races of Kosokom over the years, which utilized the devastating power of plasma against their foes. Often with great effectiveness, as plasma burns quickly through armor and metal. Plasma burns even quicker through flesh and bone.

A second and third shot erupted from the end of the weapon, Dante swinging the weapon sideways to try and hit her as she fell backwards onto the asphalt. Her own weapon was quickly put to use as her back met the dull black ground, sweeping up over her stomach and firing off a shot aimed at her attacker’s right knee. The magnum round collided, but something happened that surprised Jester. Her shot simply ricocheted off, making a high pitched squeal as the bullet came into contact with hard metal before sailing off into the air. Bad angle?

Kane brought up his own weapon, determined to get Dante's attention as he fired off several bursts aimed at the cyborg. Some of his shots hit, rocking the merc and doing just what Kane had wanted. "Ahhh, we meet again, Kane. You stupid fuck." he practically spat at Kane, swinging the plasma rifle up and firing a return burst. Kane quickly sought cover, diving behind another car parked nearby. The plasma collided with the vehicle's hull, splashing across it and burning holes through everything it touched.

"I thought that plasma canister would have killed you. Guess not. Looks like either you'll need a far more focused dose, or I'll have to rip your fucking head off myself."

 

[joshuadim]

"Usually you take a gal out to dinner first before we get to the saucy stuff!" Kane retorted as he shifted in cover, trying to get an angle on the trench-coat cyborg. "And you still owe me for that canister by the way, you left me looking like a Freddy Krueger looking motherfucker!" Those last words were filled with vitriol that could poison an ocean, as Dante was the fucker responsible for him having to get that nanite "operation" in the first place. What good that did him, aside from getting a better sense of humor and the cure for cancer - and everything else in between. But Dante let out a cold scoff in response.

"I'm gonna enjoy stomping that mouth into bloody pieces-" Dante started to say until another barrage peppered into his outer layers; Kane had taken the opening to try to gun the man down, only to realize that his LMG wasn't as effective as he hoped it would be. In turn, Dante spun around and pulled the trigger of his carbine which sent a bolt of plasma straight through Kane's midsection and in turn sent him flying back. "Moron." he spat out victoriously, seeing Kane's body splayed on the floor some distance away. But as he turned his attention to then finding Jester, who had now skulked back to a different position, he heard a groan pierce the air.

"Agh... fuck... THAT hurt." Kane managed to get out as he sat upright. Looking down, he could see his body reconstitute itself quickly to repair the hole that had been punched into it. Strands of flesh formed tissue, before dermis and skin came back. Dante was taken aback and remained silent as he watched a man get up from a wound that should have been completely lethal. "Perks of all this? I'm like a goddamn lizard with a tail. Except it's all over."

"...so you grow back parts now? Well..." Dante then said, unamused as he primed his rifle again. "When I'm finished, parts will have to grow back you."

"Good one!" Kane quickly shot back, before turning to you with a sigh. "Yeah. That was a good one."

Just as quickly, he rolled out of the way of another plasma blast and scrambled into cover. In the meantime, as he avoided Dante's murderous warpath, he tired to search for a weapon that would be more effective against him.

 

[Infab]

As he went to squeeze the trigger again on his carbine, intending to fire off another shot at Kane as he tried to flee, Jester's feet collided with his back in a sort of dropkick-like motion. As he stumbled forwards, he still pulled the trigger, but thankfully the shot went wide to his right as the rifle swung around. There was a shout nearby, but both easily ignored it.

Rotating forward in midair, she landed on her feet in a crouched position. Pistol clutched close to her body, aimed towards Dante as he tried to steady himself. Two more shots were fired, the magnum rounds nailing Dante in his back. Yet they didn’t seem to faze him. Ahhh, now I see. Reinforced cybernetics, able to take a beating unless it was hit by high caliber armor piercing ammo. Her hidden blades could easily slice through it, but that wouldn't be fun.

At the moment, she didn’t feel like killing the poor sap.

“I see you went for the reinforcement package! Excellent! Metal bits will be less likely to fail on you under pressure!” she said aloud, as he turned about. She needed to rush him, keep him on his toes so he didn’t get a good shot off on her.

She bolted forwards, practically jumping from her crouched position into a full sprint towards him. She made it three long steps, before driving her shoulder into his chest has hard as she could. He stumbled more, before slamming into a parked car behind him. The car vibrated a bit from the impact, shifting slightly as Dante's form left a dent and some scratches on its side.

Now she could operate a little better. Enemy’s back was against an object. She could come in from the left, right, or middle. Middle offered a chance to strike from above or below. Below seemed most appealing. An overhead strike could be deflected, as could one from either the left or right side. However, she could chain her attack movements and angles. Work into a strike from the sides. Move left, strike his gun hand… or the gun itself.

As he looked up, trying to brace himself against the car to steady himself, Jester made her move. She jumped, shoving herself off the asphalt with one foot, before driving the top of her knee squarely into the underside of Dante’s jaw. There was an audible hard clack, as metal collided with metal, and it seemed to stun him temporarily. Good. She would sweep to the left, and deliver another hit to his gun arm, once she landed.

But the moment she landed, something happened that caught her entirely off-guard. Dante dropped his weapon, the rifle clacking against the ground. As she glanced down to the rifle, surprised by the occurrence, Dante swung towards his left.

His right hand, balled tightly into a boxer’s fist, collided with the side of Jester’s jaw. Her head snapped sideways, her eyes rolling about in her skull for a split second, as she spun a full one-hundred and eighty degrees. Stunned herself, now, she stumbled forwards. Her HUD was scrambled from the sudden shock of the blow, and it felt as if he had damaged the hinge of her jaw with that single punch.

Dante was now turning the tables.

He moved in quickly, shaking off her hit from a few moments ago, and delivered a pair of brutal alternating strikes to her lower back. If she had kidneys, they’d have been in horrid pain right about now. Then, he swept his leg beneath her, swinging his leg as if he were punting a ball. As his shin met her calve, her leg flew out from beneath her. Forcing her to fall backwards onto the ground.

“Thought you were smooth, huh?” he muttered angrily, stepping over her. He knelt down, pressing his knee into her left arm and holding her gun arm down with his hand. And with his free one, he began to deliver a series of vicious punches to her head.

“I'm going to beat you till whatever's left of that brain of yours is a FUCKIN’ PASTE.” he spat.

Every punch felt like a hammer blow to her head, the metal on her face soon bearing faint dents from his knuckles being driven into it. The paint was chipping away, her skin turning to a gray smear of steel and pseudo-plastics. All the while, she stared up at him. Her expression wasn’t one of pain.

It was emotionless. Empty.

​

As he pulled back to deliver another blow to her head, she abruptly sat up and drove her head into his mouth. Another loud clang, as metal collided with metal once more. He fell backwards onto his rear, off her arms. As he fell, he clutched at his mouth.

There was enough room to slide her legs out from underneath him, which she did in a flash. But she didn’t pull back. Instead, she remained on the offensive. She moved her legs back forwards, wrapping them around his waist and pulling him in tight. He went to punch her once more, to get her to let go, but that was a mistake. She grabbed it, and in a flurry of movement with her legs, Dante soon found himself flat on the ground. Jester next to him with his arm wrapped in her legs, positioned just so that if she leaned forward enough, it would dislocate his arm.

Of course, she did just that.

The sound of metal bending could be heard, creaking loudly in the open air, before a loud pop and buzzing sounded out. All coming from Dante’s shoulder. Jester released his arm, rolling backwards away from the merc. Re-evaluating her foe from a better distance.

She stared at him, squatting low to the ground. Her pistol gripped tightly in her off hand, and her main hand's fingertips pressed to the black ground beneath her. She was focused. Prepared. Dante noticed that, but was more focused on her expression than anything.

As he stood back up, gripping his dislocated arm tightly, he swiveled his head back around to took at her. His red eyes locked onto her blue ones. The two didn’t exchange words. Not yet. He walked over slowly back to the car, continuing to stare back at her, before pressing his dislocated arm against the car's frame.

Suddenly, he jerked his torso into the car, shoving his arm into it with one sharp motion. There was another loud buzz and pop, but soon, silence. He had reset his arm, putting it back in place by force. He rolled his wrist, flexed his fingers, and even bent his elbow a few times. Full motor controls were back.

He then spoke, motioning a finger towards Jester as she watched him ever so silently. “I know that look.” he muttered, “That's the very same look you had before.”

She didn’t respond, not moving from her position. Her expression as if it had been carved in stone. She did, however, continue to follow him with her eyes. Watching him. Studying him.

“…You had that same fucking look when you nearly killed me.” he continued, stepping closer to his rifle on the floor. “I've read about you, you know? All the shit you've done. All the little ticks and quirks you’ve got. You’re a real piece of work. True, primo psycho, hidden under all the jokes and laughter. Under all that talking and other bullshit.”

“…And there’s just… things that bring that psychosis to the surface.” He arrived next to his rifle, watching her just like she was watching him. Staring at one another.

She had noticed him slip his left hand into one of the outer pockets as he had been walking. He had a backup weapon. What was it?

He had noticed that she had swapped her pistol to her left hand. Jester was ambidextrous, but favored her right hand. And was often a better shot with it.

Five seconds passed, before someone made the first move. Dante’s arm shifted, the hand in his pocket titling something towards her. A pistol. A gunshot cracked, fire blowing a hole through his trench coat and sending a kinetic round her way.

She reacted, leaning to the left to dodge the shot. She then rolled sideways, as Dante squeezed off two more shots from his pocket pistol before actually drawing the weapon out.

It was a Sol design, resembling one of the popular firearms of old Earth. Seven-plus-one shots, single stack magazine. Short recoil action. Hammer had to be cocked before firing the first shot from the draw. Outdated design, but still a favorite even now for its ruggedness and reliability. She didn’t care too much about that particular weapon, though. She only cared about how much ammo he had used from its magazine. He had five shots left.

She darted towards him, her right arm making a hissing sound as she bounded low across the asphalt. He fired off another pair of shots, squatting low and grabbing his plasma carbine from the ground with his right hand. She dodged both, slipping to either side to throw his aim off.

Then he saw it. The blade shooting out from the palm of her right hand. He shifted his aim, swinging up the plasma carbine and firing a shot towards her arm. She reflexively rolled under the shot, tumbling across the ground to avoid it.

He glanced down to meet her cold gaze, before feeling something pierce his shoulder. He looked over, and took note of a super-heated blade now jutting from his shoulder and moving downward to cleave through it. Kane had picked up the sword that Jester had dropped earlier, and had used it to take him by surprise. That sure as hell punched through his armor.

“YOU MOTHERFUCKER!” he spat, before a trio of gunshots sounded off in rapid succession. Jester had closed the distance and pressed the muzzle of her pistol into his abdomen, just under his sternum, and rapidly squeezed the trigger. She knew it wouldn’t punch through his reinforced cybernetics. In fact, she was doing it as a distraction.

As he tried to push her away, she slipped her leg behind his and gave it a sharp jerk. His leg came out from under him, and as he fell, it forced Kane's super-heated blade to nearly cut his arm clean off. But that didn’t matter. The next stab would be worse.

The moment his metal body hit the ground, Kane stepped forwards and drove his blade straight through his stomach where Jester had been shooting before. He yelled out, writhing on the floor for a moment, before pointing his rifle up at him. A pair of shots were fired off, which Kane avoided by jerking out the sword and tumbling backwards. Jester rolled around to his side and out came her blade, only to slice right though the knee joint of Dante's left leg.

He kept shooting, shifting his aim to Jester and hoping a burst of plasma would eventually hit her. But as he fired off three more shots, he failed to notice something of dire importance. His own weapon.

Kane had taken the time to stomp on the weapon, hitting the blow-off valve, after stabbing Dante. The hit had damaged it, rendering it inoperable. With every shot he fired, more plasma would build up inside the gun. All that plasma, unable to be vented. When he fired off two more times, with Jester cartwheeling away to avoid both, the weapon finally exploded.

Jester and Kane both watched as Dante’s weapon bathed him in fire and plasma. Most of his body ended up being covered in it, and he rolled about on the ground. Panic had set in quickly. He'd likely be dead shortly. However, a different thought ran through Jester’s mind.

…Nah, he’s too angry to die.

Jester cast a quick glance to Kane, whom watched as Dante burned with an eerie green glow. She then spoke. "So, where's the target?" she said, before looking around them. Kane looked over and shrugged, before looking himself.

Soon, they'd notice that laying on top of a pile of melting snow near the edge of the parking lot was the body of Adam Fúlling, laying face down with a large cauterized hole blown through his left side where the human heart would be. His left arm was missing, lying a few feet away. It likely had fallen off, only being held on with bits of flesh and muscle. Jester's eyes widened, and she looked to Kane once more.

Dante must have hit him with one of his shots that went wide.

 

[joshuadim]

Kane watched with a great degree of satisfaction as Dante was covered in flames and plasma, burning before his very eyes. "Want some ointment for that? Melanoma is a big killer." he asked aloud mockingly as Dante writhed on the ground before turning his attention. Kane looked at Adam's corpse then back to Jester, then back again, and back once more before finally settling on the reality before them. He put a hand on his hip and another to where his mouth would be under his mask and gasped: "Oh, this is bad isn't it?" he mused aloud as he observed the bloody mess that once had been their target. "...I mean... technically we did kill him... because that asshole there was trying to kill us..." he then tried to rationalize.

"...we're still getting paid, right?" he then asked with a shrug. "Otherwise I'm filing a complaint with the union for mercenary rights."

 

[Infab]

"...we're still getting paid, right?" he then asked with a shrug. "Otherwise I'm filing a complaint with the union for mercenary rights."

"Well, we should get paid," responded Jester, "I'm more worried about the secondary objective."

She motioned for Kane to follow, holstering her pistol in her thigh once more as they walked across the parking lot to where Adam's corpse lay. "A thing to keep in mind is that it always pays to keep a little leverage over employers. Especially if they're a corporate type like ours." she said as they walked, "Sure, it may eventually make you a target, but you could easily use what you know and what you have to counter it. Your employer doing some shady stuff on the side? If you're threatened, send the info to the right people. The threats stop really quickly, and you might even get a little hush money out of it."

Soon, they arrived at the corpse. Jester moved around to his side and rolled him over, before slipping her hand into his pockets. "Our employer said that Adam had some data on him that needed to be destroyed. Thing is, we're not going to destroy it until we make our own copies of it. Blackmail is useful." she muttered. She felt inside his pants pockets, shifting things around like a holopad, cleaning wipes for eyeglasses, a pen, some chewing gum. She sighed, as she moved to the other pocket. Similar junk. Eventually, however, she did find something. It felt oddly like a lighter, but was far too thin. A flash drive?

She drew it out, and looked over the cigarette-length device. Black, rectangular. Gold-tipped, the cap gleaming in the light. She smirked, before slipping the little stick into a slot in her thigh. She wondered if Clais knew they were going to keep the information? Most likely, after all he probably knew what she used to do for a living. His associates certainly did, and word traveled quickly in such circles.

"Got it. Now, let's skedaddle." she said, standing and straightening up. As she looked about, she heard something land nearby with a heavy thud. It came from the direction of the burning hover-car wreckage, which forced her to cock her eyebrow in confusion. Did something fall out of it? She turned about, drawing her pistol as she moved towards the wreckage. Kane followed behind, clutching the sword in hand as he moved.

Then, something sprang from behind it, catching them entirely off-guard. The cyborg woman from before. Apparently she had followed them, jumping out of the same window and landing on the ground next to the hover-car.

The cyborg moved so quickly that Jester had no time to react at all. Her pistol was knocked aside, her arm swinging wide as she tried to maintain her grip on the weapon, and a series of rapid, hellish blows to Jester’s torso followed. The cyborg’s fists collided with Jester's body, deforming her torso's shell and creating several deep, severe dents in the metal.

Jester attempted to shove her off using a straight kick, but in a rapid counter, one of the cyborg’s fists collided with Jester’s shin. The force of the strike was enough to shatter the metal shell surrounding her shin, and breaking the limb altogether. Then, the cyborg delivered their own kick, planting a metal foot in Jester’s chest and sending her sailing through the air. She’d hit the asphalt, sliding a few feet before hitting a mound of snow that had been cleared out of the way.

The cyborg then turned its attention to Kane, whom was charging with the sword. A few slashes from the sword were dodged, Kane swinging like a mad man and trying to get a clean cut on the cyborg aggressor. Then, the cyborg made her own moves. She caught Kane by the wrist, then drove her fist into his elbow. It snapped at the joint like a twig. Then, she gave his wrist a twist and jerked as hard as she could. Ripping the forearm completely from his body. A headbutt followed, along with a swift kick, aimed at Kane's knee. The impact shattered that joint as well. A simple shoved sent Kane flying backwards, landing hard on the asphalt a few yards away.

The cyborg attempted to continue its attack, but was met by a rapid burst of magnum shots. Jester had managed to keep hold of her pistol, and was now firing back from the mound of snow. As she fired, she tried to get up. However, due to her now busted shin, that was tricky.

“I should have fucking mag dumped into your skull upstairs!” she spat, managing to get to her feet. But soon she heard an audible crunch noise, forcing her to look down.

Her left arm had been crushed entirely by some invisible force, and was now being pulled away from her body. Sparks and bursts of electricity shot away from the wires and tearing metal, as warnings flashed across the HUD inside her eyes. Then, it happened. A loud, violent pop sounded, as her entire shoulder joint was torn in half. Her left arm went sailing through the air, mangled and completely useless to her now.

Sparks shot from her torso, along with spurts of coolant fluid. Jester looked on in shock. Just what the fuck was this cyborg? She then snapped her attention back to her enemy, just in time to see the cyborg make a few more gestures with both hands.

Then, it finally clicked. Jester knew what they were doing.

It was fucking sign language.

“You took my sword, asshole.” signed the cyborg, their gestures aggressive and forceful.

Jester gritted her teeth. “What the fuck are you, a mute?!” she spat through them, as she lifted her pistol back up and fired more shots at her opponent.

They dodged them with ease, moving quickly towards where Kane’s arm had been thrown. She’s going for it. Jester grunted, stopping her shooting briefly to simply switch targets. She took aim, and fired off a single round. Aimed directly at the super-heated sword in his disembodied arm's grip.

Sparks erupted from the weapon, as the bullet collided with it. The shot damaged the hilt, as well as the tech used to heat the blade. It was virtually useless, now, in its current state. The cyborg froze mid-stride, staring seemingly in horror at her now damaged sword, before looking back to Jester.

Jester laughed aloud. “Fuck your sword! Its scrap metal now!” she spat.

“Just like you’re about to be!”

“FAT CHANCE OF THAT, BITCH!”

Soon enough, the sound of a ship could be heard overhead. The White Rabbit had arrived, swinging around till its nose was pointed directly at the hostile mute cyborg. The 30mm cannons opened up, the rounds peppering the asphalt around the cyborg forcing them to evade and run for cover. Asphalt blew through the air in several directions as the cannon shots shattered black surface. As it fired, the White Rabbit lowered down just far enough to deploy its underside elevator, which Jester bee-lined for immediately. Kane quickly followed, limping on his shattered leg as fast as he could.

“Let’s go, Alice, before we have ourselves a hitchhiker!” barked Jester, limping over and climbing onto the elevator. She glanced back to see the cyborg still attempting to dodge the 30mm shots. All It would take was for one shot to hit, and they’d be done for. But surprisingly, they were managing it.

Once Kane was on, the elevator began to rise. Lifting the ship’s captain and passenger into the bowels of the vessel, and it wasn’t long before the White Rabbit broke off its attack and rose from the ground. It darted off as soon as it was airborne, rocketing through the sky in an effort to reach orbit.

 

[joshuadim]

Things definitely did not go according to plan, as his attack left him down an entire forearm and also a broken knee. The latter was something that would quickly be fixed by the nanites flowing through him as he stumbled onto the White Rabbit. What concerned him was how his arm was going to grow back after all this: would it come back the same as it was before? Or was it going to be something even more fucked up than the crispy skin that wrapped his body like old leather. He'd have time to reminisce on that later as he managed to pull himself onto the craft - a surprise to him that his companion didn't outright leave him - before collapsing in the loading bay and left a small pool of blood as the bleeding fully stemmed.

"Gah... never remind me to get a trim from a cyborg ninja... really fucked up my style." Kane said as he rolled over onto his back and breathed in heavily. He then lifted up the stump of his arm, and observed as - slowly - flesh began to grow back at the center. Given that it needed to reconstitute bone, flesh, vessels, and everything else in between... he wondered how long he'd be like this. "Guh... I'd say this is good time for our mandated 15 minute break on our shift." he then said to Jester, tilted his head from where he lay so that he could look her over. She wasn't particularly in the best of shape either, given how that cyborg also fucked up her limbs.