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Post by hugodouglass on Oct 21, 2010 18:15:06 GMT -5
Hugo walked inside the club and...a very large bouncer(human) stared down at him with bloodshot eyes, fiercely responding in an Australian accent:
"Ay, you got business in ere?" Hugo looked up at him with a smirk, responding:
"I've got business here."
"Wit who ey?"
"None of your beeswax, Beefcake." He already had the hilt of his emergency energy blade jabbed into the man's abdomen, continuing:
"And if you don't want the NEPD on your large rear end, you'd better park it somewhere nice and quiet." The bouncer gritted his teeth, his eyes catching the glint of the inscription that was on the hilt of the blade: it was a lion devouring a serpent.
This guy was special forces.
"Alright then, relax, relax, come in." He stepped aside, Hugo nodding his thanks as he walked inside the pulsing club. Dancers were congregated on the central dance floor, holographic fireworks and other displays of opulence coating the dancers in bright colors. Identifying the bar, he walked up alongside the counter and leaned up against it.
A few moments passed before a man sidled up to Hugo. He was finely dressed: three piece suit. Not someone you usually see in a dump like this. He dropped a small object onto the ground in front of Hugo's feet, then walked away. Hugo watched the man's form out of the corner of his right eye as he leaned down to pick the item up..
A mini-holo.
He squeezed lightly, signaling the message to play. It was a miniature version of the man whom he had just seen, who mouthed:
"Upstairs."
Hugo complied.
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Post by darcyneumann on Oct 21, 2010 18:31:44 GMT -5
The bouncer was Australian - perfect.
South African accents were most commonly mistaken for Australian or New Zealand accents, and considering her Dad had one of the thickest South African accents of them all, faking an Aussie accent to get on someone's good side wasn't hard. At all.
If she wanted to get in, she couldn't be herself.
Preparing herself with the accent, she removed her hat, tousling her hair, and pulled her leather jacket open, tugging her top down so the top edges of her bra were showing.
"Hello there lovely," she gave him a wide smile, playing with the end of her scarf. "Mind if I go on in?"
He eyed her, still a little peturbed about his earlier encounter with Hugo. His eyes, however, fell where they were meant to. Her chest was impossible to ignore.
"Oh, go on," she said, placing her hands on her hips, which naturally straightened her chest up and out, "don't tell me you can say no to a pretty thing like me."
After a couple more moments where he looked like he was fighting the urge to reach out and touch the 'goodies' on display, he nodded, gesturing with his hand. "Be sure to come back and find me later," he said, a smile playing across his lips.
"Of course," she winked, walking on by with no intention whatsoever to go anywhere near the creep ever again.
Once she was probably inside, and pushed into the throng of people moving in one large mass on the dance floor, she tried to locate the reason why she was here in the first place - where had Hugo gone?
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Post by hugodouglass on Oct 21, 2010 19:34:15 GMT -5
Hugo found the stairs after having looked over almost every square inch of the club(bumping into several couples in the process) and was now cautiously crossing the walkway. He could see the proceedings of the club from here, the only barrier between he and the pulsating dance floor being sheets of clear glass which, from the way the tint showed itself, was laser-proof.
Of course it would be.
Hugo spotted the same man who had dropped the holo on the ground at the end of the walkway. He was standing alongside a metal door(no doubt this was the VIP section: that metal had to be at least 2 inches thick), another finely dressed guard on the other side of the door. As he got closer, the guard who had dropped the holo addressed him:
"Drop your gear, son." Texan? Here? Hugo nodded, drawing his pistol and handing it to the guard, who skeptically eyed him, saying:
"That ain't all you got, boy. Hand it over 'fore I crack your skull."
"Such flowing language." He willingly complied, giving the guard his second pistol and the miniature bullet-firing revolver that might have given itself away from the minuscule bulge it made in Hugo's left front pocket.
"Alright then. Come on in." The doors receded, leading to a very elegant parlor. Dark red carpeting was on the floor, a bar on the left with a very ugly alien serving as the tender, and several couches littering the area.
"Take a seat, detective." The voice addressing him came from a large man sitting on a couch directly to Hugo's left. The detective turned, now catching details:
He had quite a beard. Also had a scar running down his left cheek. His brown eyes were youthful, alert.
"Drink?"
"No thanks. I'm chaste." The man chuckled, Hugo taking a seat on the opposite end of the couch.
"Lets cut this meeting short, eh? You don't need to know who I am.."
"Victor Lakerda." The man smiled, responding:
"You heard of me?"
"I locked your cousin up."
"Ah, the very reason I called you here. Your skill. Not to get even, mind you. Vincent had it coming to him. No, no, no. I need you to use your skills for me."
"I'm not a private detective." Victor continued as if he didn't hear Hugo's quip:
"These ah..terrorists, you call them? Causing these rifts? There is a large group of them here that have splintered off from the main organization. They are more concerned with 'justice' than their extremist counterparts." This was news to Hugo, but not surprising: with this big of an operation, R4 had to have dissenters.
"I know you are hunting for the band of rift makers. I also know that you need information, and this ah...splinter group, is here on New Earth. They are encroaching on my territory."
"Big deal."
"Oh do not shut me down before my offer is put on the table. They, my good detective, are on a 'purge' of this sector. They are bent on destroying all of the 'injustice' they see here. Naturally, I am worried about this grand community we have set up and want to see them...pushed out." Hugo was now intrigued: they could have information on the whereabouts of R4's leaders. He had a lead.
"Keep on talking, big man."
"I am asking a simple thing: obtain all relevant data from their base and destroy the group. You have connections. Use them." Hugo gritted his teeth. Oh this guy was good. He knew about the scandal back in Boston.
This was blackmail.
As Hugo was about to respond, there was a fierce rumble, as if an earthquake had struck the club. The Texan guard ran into the room, saying:
"It's them, sir."
"Just who we were talking about, Detective. It seems they have made an appearance. Take care of them, Billy."
"Right away, sir." Hugo could hear screams wafting up from the dance floor. He could also smell cordite.
Explosives.
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Post by darcyneumann on Oct 22, 2010 3:58:21 GMT -5
After standing and looking lost for a couple of moments, Darcy decided that probably wasn't the best idea - she couldn't wait idly on the dance floor for Hugo to appear, she had to look like she'd meant to come here.
Extracting herself from the crowd, she pulled her top back up into a more comfortable position, stuffing her hat in her pocket. The bar wasn't too far away, and was set half a foot higher than the rest of the dance floor, it'd be a better vantage point to figure out what was going on.
An arm seized her from behind. "Fancy a dance, love?" his English accent was broad, almost like how 'farmers' had supposedly used to speak was back in the day. He had a face to match - it looked like a cow had sat on it.
"No thanks," she said simply, tugging her arm from his grasp in one swift movement, disappearing behind a couple who had their tongues down each other's throats.
All of this reminded Darcy precisely why she didn't come here.
Stepping up onto the raised floor around the bar, she took a breath - there was more oxygen up here above the crowd, but the smells of various drugs and other smokes still filled her senses, making her stomach churn.
She had to refrain from gagging.
Perching herself on a stool, she watched the goings on of the dance floor via the large holographic screen behind the bar - a real time video link to the activity in the club, no doubt for security's benefit as much as for show.
A tanned bartender slipped into her field of vision, flashing her a winning smile. That was what he got paid for after all.
"Hi there." Finally someone from New Earth. The colour of his skin suggested he'd come here from the other side of the planet, one of the smaller cities on the coast. Probably couldn't afford to do anything else. "Would the beautiful lady like a drink?"
Darcy managed a smile in return, he seemed charming enough. "No," she said, that wasn't the best idea right now, "actually, maybe you could help me?"
"I'll help you with whatever you want."
Darcy raised her eyebrows slightly at the connotations behind that offer before continuing, "I'm looking for a guy that came in here just a little while before me, he's..."
She trailed off.
Something had caught her eye.
Turning in her seat, she saw a small man, no larger than about five and half feet, push himself up onto the music stage just to the left of the bar. He was wearing a large over coat - strange for a place like this.
There was no warning between him ripping open his coat to reveal his titantium vest, rigged with explosives, and him pressing the button to set it off.
Darcy, in the split-second she had to even think about doing anything, threw herself and the person next to her to the ground, a scorching heat seering above their heads as glass shattered, raining down upon them.
Then the screaming started.
Darcy choked, thick layers of smoke rolling across her and the person half beneath her. Climbing to her feet, she saw the destruction the suicide bomber had left in their wake - a violent blood splatter up the wall, fire licking at the stools and alcohol bottles, dead bodies strewn across the floor.
It was horrifying.
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Post by hugodouglass on Oct 24, 2010 15:31:58 GMT -5
Hugo was on edge: the screams weren't stopping and energy bolts could be heard, hissing as they tore through the stiff air of the club towards their targets.
"Settle down detective...nothing will happen he..."The large man's sentence was stopped by a gaping hole in his forehead.
He had been shot.
Hugo whipped around only to find a fist connect with his left cheek, the detective falling to the carpeted ground. He managed to look up and see...
There was no one there. Wait...
They had used cloaking. Hugo could now see three large men appear, each in heavy suits of techno-armor that looked a lot more advanced than the common models Hugo had seen on grunt military men. Hugo didn't wait a moment longer, quickly getting to his feet before a rifle was pointed straight at his head, the leader(he assumed) speaking:
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. You're coming with us, Douglass."
"Who says?" The leader chuckled, turning around as one of his men fired a blue bolt at Hugo's chest, the detective crumpling to the ground.
Blackness.
"Alright sir, we have the detective."
"Take care of the rest and burn the place down."
"Yes sir." Joseph Kingly smiled as his two bodyguards ran down the stairs of the now almost silent club. They had picked a perfect time to raid the place: not only were they able to kill off all the unrighteous idiots on the dance floor(heathen), he also managed to bag a valuable asset: A UGAP Liaison who, from what he understood, was valuable to their secret project.
The Venia.
Joseph laughed to himself as he descended down the stairs himself, looking around at the carnage his men had caused. There were a few people alive, coughing up blood and uttering random pleas of mercy to an invisible gunman who hovered over them, ready to deliver the final blow.
"Area secured." Joseph heard this over the comm implanted in his ear, nodding in approval. He spoke:
"Lets move back to base. We have what we have come for." He could hear movement...from the bar? Joseph listened intently for a moment...
No. It was nothing.
They left.
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Post by darcyneumann on Oct 24, 2010 17:04:29 GMT -5
Darcy didn't have any time to see if anyone needed medical assistance before the men in armored suits piled into the club. She jumped and slid over the bar, her already puckered skin scratched by the broken glass strewn about the counter, and dropped right on top of the bartender who had been serving her mere moments ago.
His eyes were cold and lifeless.
She had to stop herself from making any sort of noise as she flattened herself against the back of the bar, her stomach churning.
The suicide bomber must have been a distraction set up by the guys raiding the club so they could come storming in, taking out anyone who was left as easy pickings. It was sickening and wrong. What the hell did they want so bad that they felt like they needed to put on this sort of show?
Hearing a voice, her ears perked up, listening intently.
"Area secured."
That didn't include her, they hadn't found her, so that meant she was safe for the moment.
"Lets move back to base. We have what we have come for."
What was that?
Reaching up, she took her chance to peer up over the top of the bar and see what it was that they had come for, and was alarmed to see one of the men carrying Hugo out of the building, his unconscious body slung over the man's shoulder.
Darcy ducked back down quickly, her mind racing. If she didn't act quickly, she'd lose them, and then she'd probably never be able to find Hugo. She couldn't let him just disappear, there were people counting on him; most important of all, Lisa.
She cast her eyes upwards underneath the bar and found a gun there.
Beat.
Usually, Darcy didn't condone the use of guns; they were the things that forced people into hospitals in the first place, if they were lucky enough to make it there, and not go straight to the morgue. But she needed something to defend herself, and she felt safer just slipping it into the waistband of her jeans.
Pulling her hat back on, she ignored the pain she was in and looked for a way out. A trap door in the floor allowed her to slide down under the main dancefloor and out an emergency exit. Emerging back on the street, she peered round the corner of the building, seeing the last of the men appear. Now she had to tail them.
And not get caught.
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Post by hugodouglass on Oct 26, 2010 18:01:25 GMT -5
The police hadn't even bothered to respond to the calamity; they knew that the dust would settle and at that point, they would try to pick up the pieces. Joseph knew the proclivities of these lawmen all too well and was pleased with his presumptions when he and his men strolled out of the now decimated nightclub to find the streets practically empty, a few hovercars zipping above their heads as the only signs of life. Very, very good.
There was a hovercar marked with a large S on the side door, which now opened to reveal a large interior. They had stolen this large vehicle from a warehouse nearby that specialized in cargo transport. Joseph knew they transported cargo, just of a different sort. He glanced over at the detective, smirking at the way his unconscious body lolled around in his carrier's arms. So helpless, so frail...
____________
Headquarters was an abandoned apartment building that Joseph and his men had remodeled for their crusades. The three floors they inhabited were decked in the latest technological devices, almost looking like a command center for a high-tech squadron of soldiers.
But they were soldiers. Soldiers of righteousness, something that their former organization did not comprehend. Joseph's thoughts were interrupted by a voice from his comm:
"The detective is waking up, sir."
"Good. Good."
Hugo looked around his new surroundings with a bitter irony: the white walls, the fact that there was no furniture in the room other than the chair he was placed on. From one prison to another. He could feel the tension that the laser restraints placed around his feet and arms were exerting, forcing Hugo to stay on the chair.
What had he gotten himself into?
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Post by darcyneumann on Oct 27, 2010 15:48:11 GMT -5
As it turned out, Darcy needn't have worried about following the group. Commandeering a hover bike from a rather flustered and drunk man hadn't been too hard, and she had kept well back, making sure not to be seen.
The problem was going to be getting inside.
Carefully, she cased the building as best she could, eventually finding an old metal drain pipe that scaled only three floors of the building - it had been sawn off at the top. That would get her a couple of storeys up at least, which was a start.
This wasn't going to be graceful.
Shimmying up, she managed to climb onto a window ledge, and break the glass with the heel of her boot - hopefully it hadn't made too much noise. Unhooking the latch, she opened the window and clambered inside, careful not to cut herself any more than she already had; her wounds would definitely need tending to later.
Seeming to be doing all right so far, she pulled the gun from the waistband of her jeans - to give her hands something to do more than anything, they were on the verge of shaking - and moved across the room to the door, being sure to point out all of the possible vantage points with the barrel of her gun, checking that no one was there, before moving out.
Maybe if she could find some sort of security or surveillance room, she'd stand a chance of finding him.
((Sorry it's naff. Also, I just realised, you named the bad guy after yourself. He needs a sidekick called Bernard.))
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Post by hugodouglass on Oct 27, 2010 16:54:52 GMT -5
Hugo could see a hidden door slide open directly in front of him, a very large man walking through. Same guy who was at the club...
He was an ugly one. Oh he was ugly. His green eyes shone with a kind of sick glee, scars littering the man's face like graffiti in a bad part of town. Hugo would give him this: he was muscled up big time. The man began to speak(his voice was very deep):
"Detective. I will not waste your time."
"Good. I don't like it being wasted."
"Neither do I. Neither do I. You are a detective, which means you have information regarding the Venia. I want it."
"You think they would give that kind of stuff to a guy like me? I don't know if you knew this, but I'm contract buddy: need to know basis."
"But you can get it." Hugo chuckled, retorting:
"You honestly think I'm going to do your dirty work?"
"I can offer you a few things. Money. Or the life of your fellow crew member."
"You don't have anyone else cooped up in here except me and we both know it."
"WRONG!" Joseph made a gesture with his right hand, a projection of what looked like building floor plans materializing in front of him. There were multiple green dots and one red one.
"My men are converging on the intruder now."
One of the soldiers had heard Darcy's audible entrance and had alerted a few others, their cloaking devices quickly activating. They could see the woman creeping in the hallway, as if she were some kind of trained assassin.
She was in for a surprise.
"Don't. Move." The miniature platoon uncloaked themselves, raising their rifles. They had positioned themselves behind Darcy to make sure that she couldn't get away.
Or could she?
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Post by darcyneumann on Oct 27, 2010 17:14:01 GMT -5
Darcy's legs automatically did as they were told, freezing her to the spot, the gun tightly gripped in her hands. Apparently, her entrance hadn't been as inconspicuous as she'd hoped, and now she dreaded to think how many men there were surrounding her.
Her palms began to sweat, making the contact between the gun and skin sticky, but she forced herself to remain calm. She wasn't to be underestimated, the gun wasn't just for show.
Casting a glance at a reflective surface, she counted the men; seven in total. Four in front, three behind. Good.
Breathe. One. Two. Three.
Swivelling on her heel, she fired six successive shots, busting each of the rear attackers knee caps before bolting as fast as she could down the hall, her long legs providing her with a quick and nimble getaway. Skidding around the corner, she came face to face with several more men, all armed, so took the only option available to her.
Pounding through the door, her shoulder throbbed terribly as she stumbled over her own limbs, and slammed into the pillar that was Joseph, barely moving him an inch in any direction.
Oops.
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Post by hugodouglass on Oct 27, 2010 17:22:58 GMT -5
"So what it'll be, detective?" Before Hugo could react, a body flung itself into the white room, Joseph barely recognizing that something had bumped into him. The large man grabbed...DARCY?!?!
"Pretty thing." He picked her up by the wrist and flung her to the ground, chortling.
"Harm her and I kill you."
"I barely think you are in the position to make threats, detective. Especially when I know that you have a family member who I would gladly take care of. Daughters need caring fathers you know." Hugo grit his teeth, his face turning bright red with fury as Joseph continued:
"You will stay here. The both of you. I give you twelve hours to make your decision. You are lucky I give you that much, but I have more pressing matters to attend to. Take care." Joseph strode out of the room, the door now sliding closed.
Hugo glanced over at Darcy, asking:
"Why are you here?" He had specifically come alone because he didn't want something like this to happen.
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Post by darcyneumann on Oct 27, 2010 17:32:37 GMT -5
As Darcy was tossed to the floor like a rag doll, the gun flew from her hand, and was collected up by a lackey, who left the room with Joseph, and made sure to secure the door behind him. It was a good thing that the adrenaline was still pumping around her body, otherwise she would have been in so much pain.
"Why am I here?" she echoed, pulling herself up and looking at him with an incredulous expression, "why are you here?" she asked, an accusatory tone to her voice, "what were you thinking, coming here, alone? Do you know how much danger you were putting yourself in? What would have happened if you were hurt, or killed? What would happen to Lisa? She's depending solely on you for support and you run off and get yourself into trouble without a second thought? Are you crazy?"
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Post by hugodouglass on Oct 27, 2010 17:37:43 GMT -5
"Oh don't give me that speech, Darcy! I got a tip from a source and I followed it, just like I always did back when I worked for LAPD. It's the SAME thing. I'm PAID to do my job correctly! I can't commandeer the whole Venia crew and tell them that I'm chasing a tip that might not lead anywhere! What do I say? 'Please come with me so that in case this tip does go somewhere hostile, I'll have back-up'? No! I work alone! That's why I was hired. I do better by myself. And don't you bring Lisa into this." Hugo was fuming, mostly because Darcy had followed him here. He KNEW that this could have turned dangerous and yet she thought it would be fun to "go after him", be the "lady in shining armor"
Doesn't work like that around these parts, sister.
Kill or be killed
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Post by darcyneumann on Oct 27, 2010 17:43:04 GMT -5
"Don't bring her into this? She has everything to do with this, someone should have called you up on this a long time ago. You are all that little girl has, whether you know it, believe it, or not, and she needs her one remaining parent to stay alive." She didn't know whether she was feeling righteously indignant about this matter for Lisa or for herself. With no mother, and a father who was never really a 'Dad', she lacked a lot in her upbringing. "You could have gone to the Captain and asked for at least one other person to go with you, to watch your back, even if it was from a distance. Someone with experience, who knew how to deal with situations like these."
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Post by hugodouglass on Oct 27, 2010 17:51:32 GMT -5
"Darcy, I DO think about that! ALL THE TIME! You think I WANTED to walk out our door every day knowing that her father could possibly not come back? NO! But this is my JOB. This is what I DO. If I clean these streets up, if I give Lisa and all of her generation a little breathing room from all of the garbage, from all of the moral refuse that currently exists, then maybe I can die in peace. But I do my job, Darcy. I DO MY JOB." Hugo hung his head slightly, his emotions seeming to flow out of him in every word that he had just said, making him tired mentally.
"I love her. So much. You don't get it. You just...don't...get it." He knew that Darcy had Casey, but she was grown now. She doesn't know what it's like to have to see tears streaming down a little girl's face almost every time he left. She never had to see how a parent was cruelly taken by death and adultery.
Nothing.
She
Didn't
Get
it
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