Early Saturday morning...
In the minutes before sunrise, an orange glow builds over Old Temple to the east of the West End like a wildfire, while overhead the sky remains a very deep blue. It's a clear day, and Alain expected it to be grey.
The skydeck of the West End townhouse Miss LeClerc acquired is small, only a few meters long, a single door leading to the staircase that connects to the three floors below. The detective leans on the railing, his long brown duster draped over it nearby. A Webley British Bulldog sits comfortably in his shoulder holster, white shirt sleeves rolled up to the elbows, black tie loosened. He blows smoke into the startlingly clear air and listens as the city awakens, the look in his eyes as distant as a daydream.
For a moment, he feels like he's up above everything weighing him down, and his mind wanders to thoughts he's neglected, kinder memories that he's rarely had the time for lately.
Again Amir awoke with another, light hangover. It took him some time to rise, but he knew for a fact, that it was still already dark despite the shoe polish that blackened out his apartment windows.
By the time he got to the townhouse people were slowly emerging out from their doorways, preparing for the day's work ahead. Perhaps they were even getting up just to see the sunrise - he makes all these kinds of assumptions, until he gets to his intended destination. Up the flights of stairs he goes, hands stuffed deep into his worn, leather jacket pockets. Jogging bottoms, military issue boots, compiled with a cotton beanie atop of his head complete his look. His team is there on one of the levels, and he pauses in the center of the room to observe the sleeping forms lying all over, taking up most of the floor. One of them - one of the girls, is already up, attacking some early morning press-ups to start the day. She nicely informs him that Alain - mock codename, "Sex On Legs" among the female recruits, is on the deck upstairs, waiting to talk to him. Or something like that.
He makes his way up, and does not bother to awaken the others. Amir decides to give them a lay in for now, while he talks to Alain. Appearing on the deck, closing the door behind him, he says not a single word as he flanks the other man's side, and leans against the railing next to him. Amir turns his eyes to stare at the sky too, before letting out a sigh. "Morning."
Alain usually turns his head whenever someone enters the room, especially when he's waiting for somebody - but he keeps looking out over the city, watching and listening. "Good morning," he says back in a voice that, for now, has lost its edge. He taps his cigarette over the edge of the railing and at last looks at the sniper, a light smile touching the corners of his mouth and eyes. "Coffee?" he asks, and a hand drifts lazily towards two steaming paper cups on a railing corner.
"As soon as those lazy bastards get up, I'm going for a whole day whoop'in their ass 'till they bleed, on empty stomach. So....In short..." Amir struggles a smile, "Sure." He holds out a hand to take it from him, "Hothead-" the rather grumpy, so-serious about everything female doing the push-ups downstairs, "-told me you wanted to talk?"
"She's a real looker," Alain says with a grin and surrenders a cup of coffee to Amir. "If I didn't have so much to do, I'd have half a mind to get to know her a little better..."
The detective sips his coffee slowly. He does this twice more, and when he's done, his smile's gone. "Don't kick their butts today, Amir. Let them rest. They've got a long night ahead of them." He turns his head, his face empty. "We make our move tonight."
All amusement vanishes from Amir's face. He's inches from taking some of that much needed coffee, before the stone-dead weight in his chest drops, and cracks against his balls. He visibly winces and drops his head forward, coffee cup coming to rest on the railing, with hand still gripped about it. Amir looks reserved, as if contemplating the words Alain spoke. "Tonight..." He mutters. He does not look the other man in the face. It is perhaps the first ever time Amir puts up a tone that could have been something of annoyance to the news, or even to Alain himself. "Is it that time already?"
"We won't get a better chance," Alain replies, but his words end with a soft sigh. Still he feels conflicted about his decision, about picking this day, or any day at all. He could pick any day from now until the end of time, and still it would eat at him. He holds the cigarette aside and rubs at his eye with the heel of his thumb. "We will be using the codes contained in the yellow envelope I gave you - burn the others. Ideally we'll make our move around 2300 hours. The late hour should minimize the risk for collateral."
Alain's bright blue eyes turn back to the West End around and beneath them. He puts out his cigarette, and a frown looms behind his carefully controlled expression.
"Sure, whatever you want, Alain." Amir takes a gulp of the coffee, and despite that it's all too hot for any sane man to take, he takes it and swallows it down loudly. Perhaps flushing down the lump in his throat.
The last few days the sniper had been having this idea of....Stress. Of darkness looming closer, and closer. He doesn't like the whole thing, and now longs to return to that moment when he said he would gather recruits in this cause. Guilt fills his face, and he turns his head away from Alain. "Shit."
"God I love the city when it's quiet," Alain breathes, both his hands grasping the railing as he leans forward. "Some early mornings, in the right place, you can only hear a murmur....just enough to know she's alive and kicking. Reminds me of..." He huffs lightly and turns his head to Amir with a grin he doesn't quite feel. "Well, of someplace a lot nicer, anyway."
"Not until tonight, anyway." Amir grumbles, turning his head back to stare at the sky, his eyes narrowed, his anger visible. "....I had hoped to give the grunts downstairs two days leave sometime before the garden needed weeding."
Amir turns to look at Alain, after knocking back a good portion more of coffee. "I..." He begins, looking at the other man with total honesty bubbling beneath the surface. His other hand curls into a tight fist. Ghostly gunshots and phantom images invade his head. A flutter of eyelids, and then they shut. "They're not ready. Some of them are still kids. They all have families to go back to." A hard stare, as eyes reopen. "If I die, I want you to make sure they all get out okay."
"I'll take care of them, Amir....or the people who survive me will." Alain's arms fold on the railing. He leans into them and lowers his head. "You know how I said DCH is going to have a few prime targets during H-Hour, and I'm one of them - and every target has an out?" He presses his tongue against the back of his teeth a moment.
"...I don't have an out, Amir. My only chance is to outlast them....and I have no way of knowing how long they'll last."
"A fight to the death? A last stand." Amir laughs out loud, "Oh that's just great....Scratch my previous thought. We're all dead." Amir jokes, and with so much as a hand to Alain's shoulder, he smiles. "You have an out. That's what me and my team is for. You'll be fine, I promise. I'll blow their ****ing brains out before they get anywhere near you."
Alain places his hand over Amir's for a moment, and nods to the other man, a grin returning to his lips. "All right. I guess I've got my out after all. Maybe Frank can be convinced to help look after my sorry ass as well — but you remember to look after yourself, all right' If it gets too hot, get out, pick another spot. We both know a sniper with no way out is a dead man."
"I am going to move with my team in sight, Alain. I will protect you as much as I can, but I have lives under my command. This isn't the army, I know, but....You are my friend and my primary concern, and if it means I have to stay in the same spot to cover you, knowing that my position is given away, I would stay there until I needed to defend myself." He pauses, "If does get too hairy, I will be sending my team into standard assault, with the P90's, near you, just to cover your ass."
"If it gets too hairy..." Alain frowns, and then digs around in his coat pockets. At last he pulls out a piece of paper, a roughly sketched map, a location, and some notes on it. "...this is the last of the last 'safehouses.' Has everything, and I do mean everything."
Amir takes it, looks at it, then raised a brow. He would not question, but...."If it does, I will be having my team dragging you there if need be, to keep you alive." Amir grins. He would, too.
"Don't tell me there's more than one group I'll have to be evading now," Alain replies with a laugh, and shakes his head. Sipping coffee. "How do you think they'll take it?" He nods downstairs.
"Pretty good....Though, then, there is a greenhorn down there that is all about the whole 'the army is awesome, I get to play with guns' routine." Amir frowns, "He's a freshman, never killed anyone before. Made him a spotter." He finishes the coffee, and lets the empty cup remain clasped in his hand. He leans both elbows on the railings. "I'll give them the option of writing their goodbyes, this afternoon. So if they do....become KIA, then at least I'll have something to send their relatives."
"Well, if we're quick enough, and lucky enough....God willing, there'll be no KIA on our end." Alain takes another sip of his coffee, and frowns again. "I have to get going. There's still a lot to do."
"You're telling me. I am going to have to check their damn equipment for them, of they are getting the day off." The sniper chuckles, "Lazy bastards." He nods at Alain, "Nah, we won't die. We'll all just throw roses at each other, and in the end, we'll have a tea party."
"If that's an awful War of the Roses joke, I'm docking your pay," Alain threatens as he moves towards the door.
"I have pay?" Amir laughs again, bringing himself to look at the sky.
"You won't if you make that joke." Alain pushes the door open and looks back at Amir. "...Take care of yourself, Amir. I'll see you on the other side." He exits, taking his coat with him.
Amir mutters to himself, "I'll bring the sun lotion."
(Adapted from live play with Amir Wong's player)
In the minutes before sunrise, an orange glow builds over Old Temple to the east of the West End like a wildfire, while overhead the sky remains a very deep blue. It's a clear day, and Alain expected it to be grey.
The skydeck of the West End townhouse Miss LeClerc acquired is small, only a few meters long, a single door leading to the staircase that connects to the three floors below. The detective leans on the railing, his long brown duster draped over it nearby. A Webley British Bulldog sits comfortably in his shoulder holster, white shirt sleeves rolled up to the elbows, black tie loosened. He blows smoke into the startlingly clear air and listens as the city awakens, the look in his eyes as distant as a daydream.
For a moment, he feels like he's up above everything weighing him down, and his mind wanders to thoughts he's neglected, kinder memories that he's rarely had the time for lately.
Again Amir awoke with another, light hangover. It took him some time to rise, but he knew for a fact, that it was still already dark despite the shoe polish that blackened out his apartment windows.
By the time he got to the townhouse people were slowly emerging out from their doorways, preparing for the day's work ahead. Perhaps they were even getting up just to see the sunrise - he makes all these kinds of assumptions, until he gets to his intended destination. Up the flights of stairs he goes, hands stuffed deep into his worn, leather jacket pockets. Jogging bottoms, military issue boots, compiled with a cotton beanie atop of his head complete his look. His team is there on one of the levels, and he pauses in the center of the room to observe the sleeping forms lying all over, taking up most of the floor. One of them - one of the girls, is already up, attacking some early morning press-ups to start the day. She nicely informs him that Alain - mock codename, "Sex On Legs" among the female recruits, is on the deck upstairs, waiting to talk to him. Or something like that.
He makes his way up, and does not bother to awaken the others. Amir decides to give them a lay in for now, while he talks to Alain. Appearing on the deck, closing the door behind him, he says not a single word as he flanks the other man's side, and leans against the railing next to him. Amir turns his eyes to stare at the sky too, before letting out a sigh. "Morning."
Alain usually turns his head whenever someone enters the room, especially when he's waiting for somebody - but he keeps looking out over the city, watching and listening. "Good morning," he says back in a voice that, for now, has lost its edge. He taps his cigarette over the edge of the railing and at last looks at the sniper, a light smile touching the corners of his mouth and eyes. "Coffee?" he asks, and a hand drifts lazily towards two steaming paper cups on a railing corner.
"As soon as those lazy bastards get up, I'm going for a whole day whoop'in their ass 'till they bleed, on empty stomach. So....In short..." Amir struggles a smile, "Sure." He holds out a hand to take it from him, "Hothead-" the rather grumpy, so-serious about everything female doing the push-ups downstairs, "-told me you wanted to talk?"
"She's a real looker," Alain says with a grin and surrenders a cup of coffee to Amir. "If I didn't have so much to do, I'd have half a mind to get to know her a little better..."
The detective sips his coffee slowly. He does this twice more, and when he's done, his smile's gone. "Don't kick their butts today, Amir. Let them rest. They've got a long night ahead of them." He turns his head, his face empty. "We make our move tonight."
All amusement vanishes from Amir's face. He's inches from taking some of that much needed coffee, before the stone-dead weight in his chest drops, and cracks against his balls. He visibly winces and drops his head forward, coffee cup coming to rest on the railing, with hand still gripped about it. Amir looks reserved, as if contemplating the words Alain spoke. "Tonight..." He mutters. He does not look the other man in the face. It is perhaps the first ever time Amir puts up a tone that could have been something of annoyance to the news, or even to Alain himself. "Is it that time already?"
"We won't get a better chance," Alain replies, but his words end with a soft sigh. Still he feels conflicted about his decision, about picking this day, or any day at all. He could pick any day from now until the end of time, and still it would eat at him. He holds the cigarette aside and rubs at his eye with the heel of his thumb. "We will be using the codes contained in the yellow envelope I gave you - burn the others. Ideally we'll make our move around 2300 hours. The late hour should minimize the risk for collateral."
Alain's bright blue eyes turn back to the West End around and beneath them. He puts out his cigarette, and a frown looms behind his carefully controlled expression.
"Sure, whatever you want, Alain." Amir takes a gulp of the coffee, and despite that it's all too hot for any sane man to take, he takes it and swallows it down loudly. Perhaps flushing down the lump in his throat.
The last few days the sniper had been having this idea of....Stress. Of darkness looming closer, and closer. He doesn't like the whole thing, and now longs to return to that moment when he said he would gather recruits in this cause. Guilt fills his face, and he turns his head away from Alain. "Shit."
"God I love the city when it's quiet," Alain breathes, both his hands grasping the railing as he leans forward. "Some early mornings, in the right place, you can only hear a murmur....just enough to know she's alive and kicking. Reminds me of..." He huffs lightly and turns his head to Amir with a grin he doesn't quite feel. "Well, of someplace a lot nicer, anyway."
"Not until tonight, anyway." Amir grumbles, turning his head back to stare at the sky, his eyes narrowed, his anger visible. "....I had hoped to give the grunts downstairs two days leave sometime before the garden needed weeding."
Amir turns to look at Alain, after knocking back a good portion more of coffee. "I..." He begins, looking at the other man with total honesty bubbling beneath the surface. His other hand curls into a tight fist. Ghostly gunshots and phantom images invade his head. A flutter of eyelids, and then they shut. "They're not ready. Some of them are still kids. They all have families to go back to." A hard stare, as eyes reopen. "If I die, I want you to make sure they all get out okay."
"I'll take care of them, Amir....or the people who survive me will." Alain's arms fold on the railing. He leans into them and lowers his head. "You know how I said DCH is going to have a few prime targets during H-Hour, and I'm one of them - and every target has an out?" He presses his tongue against the back of his teeth a moment.
"...I don't have an out, Amir. My only chance is to outlast them....and I have no way of knowing how long they'll last."
"A fight to the death? A last stand." Amir laughs out loud, "Oh that's just great....Scratch my previous thought. We're all dead." Amir jokes, and with so much as a hand to Alain's shoulder, he smiles. "You have an out. That's what me and my team is for. You'll be fine, I promise. I'll blow their ****ing brains out before they get anywhere near you."
Alain places his hand over Amir's for a moment, and nods to the other man, a grin returning to his lips. "All right. I guess I've got my out after all. Maybe Frank can be convinced to help look after my sorry ass as well — but you remember to look after yourself, all right' If it gets too hot, get out, pick another spot. We both know a sniper with no way out is a dead man."
"I am going to move with my team in sight, Alain. I will protect you as much as I can, but I have lives under my command. This isn't the army, I know, but....You are my friend and my primary concern, and if it means I have to stay in the same spot to cover you, knowing that my position is given away, I would stay there until I needed to defend myself." He pauses, "If does get too hairy, I will be sending my team into standard assault, with the P90's, near you, just to cover your ass."
"If it gets too hairy..." Alain frowns, and then digs around in his coat pockets. At last he pulls out a piece of paper, a roughly sketched map, a location, and some notes on it. "...this is the last of the last 'safehouses.' Has everything, and I do mean everything."
Amir takes it, looks at it, then raised a brow. He would not question, but...."If it does, I will be having my team dragging you there if need be, to keep you alive." Amir grins. He would, too.
"Don't tell me there's more than one group I'll have to be evading now," Alain replies with a laugh, and shakes his head. Sipping coffee. "How do you think they'll take it?" He nods downstairs.
"Pretty good....Though, then, there is a greenhorn down there that is all about the whole 'the army is awesome, I get to play with guns' routine." Amir frowns, "He's a freshman, never killed anyone before. Made him a spotter." He finishes the coffee, and lets the empty cup remain clasped in his hand. He leans both elbows on the railings. "I'll give them the option of writing their goodbyes, this afternoon. So if they do....become KIA, then at least I'll have something to send their relatives."
"Well, if we're quick enough, and lucky enough....God willing, there'll be no KIA on our end." Alain takes another sip of his coffee, and frowns again. "I have to get going. There's still a lot to do."
"You're telling me. I am going to have to check their damn equipment for them, of they are getting the day off." The sniper chuckles, "Lazy bastards." He nods at Alain, "Nah, we won't die. We'll all just throw roses at each other, and in the end, we'll have a tea party."
"If that's an awful War of the Roses joke, I'm docking your pay," Alain threatens as he moves towards the door.
"I have pay?" Amir laughs again, bringing himself to look at the sky.
"You won't if you make that joke." Alain pushes the door open and looks back at Amir. "...Take care of yourself, Amir. I'll see you on the other side." He exits, taking his coat with him.
Amir mutters to himself, "I'll bring the sun lotion."
(Adapted from live play with Amir Wong's player)