Topic: Perdition to Conviction : Descent of a Hell Jumper

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-08 00:45 EST

The Hell Jumper, of course, had kept his word. He was keeping a ?low profile?. That, and he had kept the frigate in high orbit, far enough away from most scanners, but still within quite effective range. Long ago, his branch of the UNSC?s arm had quickly realized that accuracy and surgical precision were far, far more effective then any blunt trauma. In keeping with said word, David found himself in the smoky basement of a room, hidden in a building lost in a part of the city that was better forgotten by those who had some sort of standards. The conversation was simple, and it fell into a game that David had played for quite some time, when unsure of the threat and unfamiliar with the location. The conversation started well, and the poor man across the table was cunning enough to understand the veiled threats that all lead to his untimely death and that of his family, should there not be information given, and given quite quickly.

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-08 00:46 EST

The long, tortuous back road south of Rhydin skirted the big bay that led to the Rhydin City Harbor and the docks. The smell of the ocean was distinct, salt-heavy, and laden with rotting seaweed, competing with the dry scent of sand and shrub. The ribbon of black asphalt rose and fell with the surface of the built-up bluffs it ran along. The bounty hunter sped along it now, on her Softail, the burgundy and silver of her bike flashing in the setting sun. Twilight lay over the land, and before her the road ran empty and long, heading towards the city. Behind her lay the rendezvous she?d driven to, a note having sent her there with the hope of gaining information. Some specifics on this matter of the bounty out on the Hell Jumper. No one had been there. The annoyed and suddenly suspicious Parthan left there quickly, revving the bike up to full speed, and so she darted along, the headlight picking out the road ahead.

At some point after that, from behind her Belle could hear the slowly gaining sound of a motor. And then it was multiple motors. Glancing back over a shoulder, she saw one big van passing the SUV directly behind her. They were both gaining on her, and so she kept herself to the right of her lane, to let the van pass. He did, and she watched him go by, a blur of white faces in a window all she noted before they swerved in front of her and took up the frontal position. Then, swifter than the hunter realized, the SUV pulled up beside her, taking up the oncoming lane. Another engine revving behind her told her there had been yet another vehicle. A long, lean sedan was behind her now. She was boxed in.

Belle?s hazel eyes flared green with fury as she decided she didn?t like the odds. One hand reached inside her helmet to press a button on the headset she wore, dialing the Hell Jumper. While the phone began to ring in her ear, the hunter gave a hopefully unexpected and sudden swerve, taking her off the road at speed to the right, into the sand and the dirt. She downshifted and slowed her bike to take the first bit of soft dirt. The hot soil shot up around her, giving her a cloud to haze her form in. She could go where they couldn?t, at least so she hoped. Bouncing and hanging on with consummate skill, her off foot rebounding her whenever she went too far over in any one direction, Belle skidded and rode the rough terrain alongside the road, trying to cut for a patch of low series of gullies which she knew lay ahead, between her and Rhydin.

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-08 00:48 EST

The finer details were being discussed, price, location of drops, etc., when the telltale sound grew in his ear. As the static faded, the sound grew in volume and clarity. David?s mind, naturally, is not much deeper than it would seem, but at times, it moved in a manner that astonished even him. The fact that she rode a bike was recalled, and the obvious sound of bike tires on dirt didn?t make sense. She didn?t, after all, ride a dirt bike. ?I?ll find you tomorrow.? The words were for the man, who looked pleased to see the butcher start towards the door.

?Where and why?? That last was for Belle, and given that his voice came from the helmet, and stayed in the helmet, he couldn?t hide the bit of concern. ?Who?? He was talking to talk, to keep the line open. Given time, he?d find her on his own. As he stepped back into the hazy light, a series of numbers etched themselves onto his visor, and he quickly relayed them, through another link, to the aforementioned floating vessel. ?Images, and stand by to fire, but please, not with the rockets. Rail fire, I think, once we decide where.? Silence confirmed the man behind the gun?s answer, and rather slowly, a blurry image of Belle?s general location became quite clear, having taken the place of the grid coordinates. It wasn?t terribly far, and David set off at a run. ?I?m on my way, and my ship stands ready to engage the vehicles. That?s on your go. I can?t be sure as to your location, since I?m not watching in a perfect live feed.?

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-08 00:49 EST

Belle was having a hard time even uttering a word, as hard as she had to focus on what she was doing. Her bike was not meant for this, and it growled and roared at her as if to let her know it. The hunter gave a yelp as some bit of wood scrub raked at her left shin, leaving splinters and leaf behind, the tearing of denim audible. She heard him pick up, and she rushed into choppy speech. ?David. Yeah. Okay. Good.? She knew he could tell a great lot from that helmet of his, along with his ship. ?There?s three of ?em. White van, Black SUV, blue sedan. Maybe six, maybe more of them inside the vehicles. I?m??

Her voice bled out as she had to negotiate a tricky bit of terrain, a quick look taken over a shoulder telling her she was still not very far from the road, as the rough hills to her right kept her between them and the asphalt. Her only hope lay in the gullies, if the vehicles weren?t taken out by David or his crew. She swore as the road curved towards her, narrowing the gap between her and the vehicles. They apparently knew where she was heading, for the van sped up, seeking to get ahead of her and cut her off.

?Yeah, find me. The gullies are...?. As she spoke the bike hit a rock and she was nearly bucked off, but she managed to hang on, just barely. It slowed her down a lot, and the SUV was now heading off the road straight for her. They bumped and jounced, but it wasn?t so rough that that vehicle could not handle it. Open windows showed her guns being aimed in her direction. There were shouts she could not make out. She thought it was ?surrender? or something. ?David....they?re getting close.? The bounty hunter had only a short distance ahead of her before those gullies opened up, and she was pretty sure they could not go down in there. Her narrowed gaze picked up on the sight of the van leaving the road and cutting over the dirt now, intent on cutting off her exit to those narrow ravines.

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-08 00:50 EST

Given time, the picture began to make more sense. It was fuzzy, yet the sequence of events led to only one thing. Cars are not something he has much experience with, but dangerous intent surely is. ?Anything but the bike, please.? While she spoke in short bursts, his voice, through detachment or long practice, was calm, collected and controlled. ?At will.? On command, the night sky lit up with a dull white glow, and for a second, time seemed to fall apart at the seams. When the world became real again, space itself had been torn open, almost literally, and matter had been shifted. The projectile, the size of a small car itself, had been forced through a conductor, and passed along supercharged metal rods until the opposing forces had become too much for any object to handle.

When said projectile impacted on the hood of the SUV, the large object seemed to crumple and fold under the force of the blow. Not a crater was formed, nary a rock disturbed. The vehicle was simply driven into the ground, almost as if some angry God had lowered his fist into the realm of mortals. ?Hit.? The word came lazily, even as he drew upon the deepest reaches of his genetically enhanced stamina, and put on a burst of speed.

?Again.? The van, for all its efforts, was missed. The round impacted slightly behind it, but the simple concussion and over pressure of such obvious force collected the van, much as a child might pick up a ball, and tossed it across the broken ground, seemingly at random. It was at this point that David approached that back road out of Rhydin, and with the complex machinery working in tandem, quickly had a weak signal that obviously was Belle. ?He needs to reload, I can?t do much about the other, but I don?t think two are a problem. I?ll be there.? When her intended location was made clear, David turned into a gully itself, with all the practice of a mountain goat, only in armor, of course.

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-08 00:52 EST

The implosion-type blast made by the SUV startled the hunter, almost spilling her off her bike, and curses fell like black rain into the speaker of her phone. Not that she wasn?t grateful, but it was so fast. The concussion of the blast threw dirt at her, on her, and around her, and only her helmet saved her from eating some of it. She revved her bike, the thing trailing a fount of dirt behind her like a giant rooster tail, the sedan still on the road and now slowing down. They didn?t know where the weapons fire had come from, and they didn?t want a share of it. The bike was just coming up perpendicular to the van?s passage when the second blast came, carrying it into lift off. It seemed like a lazy flight, for something so big, arcing over her head in surreal slow motion. She watched it go by in awe as she sped underneath it, and then she was entering the series of gullies.

David, who was entering on the other end of the gullies still had to find the right one to get to her. They were like a delta, or rather more like a maze. Belle headed down, the rough, dry surface taking her below the level of the road. The sedan, seeing her go down in there, suddenly wheeled around and took off like a bat out of hell back in the direction it had come from. The Parthan raced on, the gully having harder ground and so it was more easily taken by her bike. Rocks and branches, and other bits of debris littered the way, requiring her to be diligent and pay attention.

As the gully jagged and jigged in front of her, she spoke again to the Raven. ?David..in the gullies now...due S by SW end....?. Then she rounded another jag, and her eyes went wide. Something loud went off, like a muffled cannon roar, and then, ?David...it?s a tra...? There was a loud ?THUNKSLAM? sound, and then nothing. The connection was broken.

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-08 00:53 EST

The single, short syllable was more than enough for him, of course. It could mean only one thing given the situation. He slowed to a halt, when he entered the maze, and stared around. The Hell Jumper, even if he could craft a place for such a tactic, could have done no better. Ordinarily, his imagery enhancers would have picked out her signal with ease. In this place, however, everything was distorted due to the odd landscape. ?Images, again. Azimuths from me, on vectors starting from ten degrees, steady.? The words, with no link to Belle, found the ship quickly, and within seconds, another voice came back to him. ?It?s going to take a while, boss. Too many paths. Advise high ground, we?ll tell you what we see when we can. Go light.?

David sighed, and reached down to a small panel on his wrist. What he was soon to do was expensive, took an incredible toll on the armor and was the finely crafted device?s hidden secret. Within mere heartbeats, a set of cameras matched the incoming light and diverted it, copying the location that he existed in, entirely. A keen observer would have picked out the flashes of motion, or the slightly distorted lines, but to most eyes, David had just rendered himself unseen for a short duration of time. Of course, he was bleeding heat at an incredible rate. To some eyes he?d appear to be a walking flame.

High ground, however, became the purpose. With ease and slightly enhanced musculature, he scaled the face of one embankment and stared around. With nothing to go on, the truth behind the training became real. At heart, technology or not, the Hell Jumper would be a killer of men, a hunter of souls. His eyes ticked off location after location, and decided that most would not fit the idea that he had formed in his mind. As he stared, atop his small rise, the voice grew in his ear again. ?David, we?re sending you the coordinates now. The vector, short hand, is about 85 to your left.? That was all he needed to know, but the location was far, far from perfect.

While David most commonly relied on the carbine, he switched it for the full size rifle, and began a slow, circular stalk that wound up, some time later, positioned in front of an SUV which was hidden down in the gully where he?d pinpointed Belle?s location to be. The butcher was well above it, and only a short 130 yards away, or so his helmet told him. It was easy enough to see Belle?s bike had wrecked on something and that she was on the ground. Her safety, of course, could not be his priority right now. There were other things that required his focus, like the men that came out of the SUV and littered the area.

A glance down told him that to fall to the gully floor some 30 feet below, with his armor devoting so much internal power to hiding him, would not be able to carry the weight of the impact. That action was ruled out, and the only real option he had was to sit cross legged and rest the upper receiver of the rifle in one elbow, while the stock rested against his shoulder. It was, in his mind, a natural place to be. With some measure of patience, the optics followed the men, from the opening of the SUV doors to the slow stalk towards the unmoving Belle. Should there be a reason to fire too quickly, he?d at least know how much time he had, given the distance.

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-08 00:59 EST

The Hell Jumper was good. His foes hadn?t counted on his quick arrival. In fact, they had not figured him into this at all. They had devised a trap that the woman would be unable to avoid, they hoped, if she had evaded their other vehicles. This was the failsafe, and as plans went, it had done its job with precision. Belle was indeed lying on the ground, mangled with her bike and some device that David had possibly not seen before. It was some sort of a large net device ringed around with small, metallic and magnetized bolos. It was clear that it consisted of several heavy leaden balls attached to a net, and it had clearly been shot from some kind of cannon which David could see standing on the floor of the gully in front of the SUV. It had taken out both the bike and rider, lifting them up off the ground and causing them to crash back down all tangled together.

Belle was unnaturally still, the dark sable hair flung out around her like a short fan, her helmet having rolled off her head onto the surface of the gully. Three men were moving towards her, one of them with a shotgun in his hand, who decided to hang back, enough to threaten her if she should suddenly come up swinging. The other two males knelt beside the her, knives in hand. With his optics, David could see that they were pulling and tugging at the fabric of the net, trying to free her for whatever nefarious purpose they had. Meanwhile, the SUV held one occupant in the driver?s seat, and another man was talking on a hand held radio, idly taking up a position about 20 feet south of the rest, looking in the direction of the gully Belle had come down. His right hand was holding a carbine with a sling. The rifle was up and at attention, though the man?s posture was relaxed. His attitude seemed to proclaim, ?We have our quarry, what could happen now??

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-08 01:02 EST

David, of course, had no idea what such primitive technology was. Archaic, he?d called such things before. The weapons, however, were not so hard to understand. With a soft hiss, his armor shut down, having used up the available power on the previous objective. It would recharge, within moments, but for now, he was faced with a decision. The entire device became nothing more than metal and glass, sadly. For a second, David allowed a small doubt to tug at his mind, but the truth, as before, became real. The man with the rifle was no threat, as the Hell Jumper?s armor would still eat a round or two.

Thus, the muzzle swung quickly, yet in a controlled motion, towards the man with the shotgun. Visual aid or not, at this range, David?s not going to miss. The first round of two bored a small hole into the man?s eye, and erupted in a geyser of crushed bone and gore, the collapsed remnants of what had been a head hitting the sandy ground with a sickening thunk as the man fell. The second round was insurance. It slammed into the dirt behind the goon as his body had already collapsed. Just as quickly, the weapon turned and spat fire again. This time, with no less control, he squeezed off a trio, and bit back an angry curse as he watched the first round hammer into the radio man?s shoulder. One had hit, and while not fatal, it would surely be an issue. The other two, sadly, had missed. Even within that short time, mere seconds, there was enough recharged force in his armor to offer the magnetic shield, if only for a second. It was enough to allow a jump.

As soon as there was nothing under his feet, the shield activated, and David landed quite easily on both feet. Counting on the shock he?d learned to live with, he sought only to add to the chaotic scene before him. He?d control it later. It may have seemed as if he were simply spraying rounds, but there was a pattern. Inside threat, furthest outside, step, and fire, of course. While not his finest display of marksmanship, a few of the high velocity rounds impacted on target, leaving wounds.

Sadly, David had forgotten about the man in the vehicle. That man was smarter, it would seem, and remained in the car, only to hold a submachine gun out of the window. From there he unloaded the entire magazine. Luckily, the rounds were small, and only left dents in his armor and mad for a slightly slower Hell Jumper. The weapon against him seen, his rifle rose again, and this time, he took a pause. When his finger caressed the trigger, the man in the car met the same fate as the man with the shotgun, a neat hole through an eye that terminated life instantly.

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-08 01:03 EST

The guy with the carbine was taken fully unawares. Their intel hadn?t mentioned an armored maniac firing with precision shots who could leap down from the side of a ravine as if it were a mere step down a staircase. The first shot knocked him off his feet, blood spraying around him, the other failed shots sending up tufts of dirt beyond him. The gun hung in his now useless arm, only the strap holding it there. His first scream of pain became screams that he belted into the radio he still held in his off hand. His voice had purpose, though, and it was screaming information into that radio.

Whoever was on the other end was getting a blow by blow of what was happening, what David was doing, and how he was doing it. Then the carbine owner was scrambling to his feet, pain blanking his training, for it hadn?t been that in depth. His first thought after telling what was happening was to flee, and so he was working on that, running for the gully down which Belle had raced.

The man with the sub-machine gun had been very amazed that his gun wasn?t doing more, but he didn?t have time to bemoan it, his brains now decorating the back and inside roof of the SUV. The two kneeling over Belle were hollering at everyone to shoot David, one of them dropping his knife and rising up to yank a pair of sig sauers from his waist.

The other man, he was smarter. He laid his knife against Belle?s throat, lifting up her now freed but limp from, using her as a shield, the woman lolling unconscious against him. He watched, eyes wide, his breath panting out of him in panic as Sig Sauer guy was cutting loose with his guns, shooting them at David?s chest and head, dread and fear on his face at seeing the armored form approaching him, but not enough to make him flee.

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-08 01:04 EST

Of all the things that could have happened, the swirling maelstrom of chaos suited him, indeed. The raven, as so many times before, had landed, and it would seem that the end of the world followed in his wake. It may have seemed a storm, but a skilled man would have seen that it was nothing if not controlled, tightly wound mayhem given a target. The last man shooting was given an almost errant round in return. It drilled a clean hole through his clenched teeth, naturally. David, not being immortal, could surely feel the heavy blows that so many rounds had given him, but those, not by a long shot, would be anything close to what it would take to really pose a major problem for his armor. He targeted the running male with ease, taking him down with a neat shot through his head. It burst like a watermelon dropped from a height.

With the mopping up done, David came to a stop close to the man with the knife on Belle. Somewhat randomly, he removed his hand from the rifle?s grip and shrugged. Of course, that hand fell towards his hip, in what may have been a lazy pose, if someone were so naive. Instead, it rested quite close to the pistol grip that protruded from his hip. ?As you?ve seen, this isn?t going to end well. You can let her go, or I can turn this entire gully into a vaporized pile of dirt. You live, or we all die. It?s that simple.? He was, of course, speaking to the man. Had the raven been anyone else, he?d have felt some concern for Belle, but not now, not this time. Unless this problem was taken care of, none of that would even start to matter.

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-08 01:05 EST

It was at some point when the cold blade of the knife had been laid against her throat that Belle came to, the world a groggy place of pain and disorientation. She found it rather hard to breathe, and couldn?t tell why. The metal against her throat was a sensation she knew all too well. All. Too. Well. Her eyes stayed closed, and she forced herself to remain limp, a scout?s experienced reaction. It was good she?d done so, because that was when David spoke and the sound of his voice sent hope surging through her. It was like a bright light in darkness, guiding her towards something sane. She heard him telling the man he would kill them all and she knew the raven would do what he said. She knew it, didn?t doubt it, the cold feeling in the pit of her stomach told her he would.

The calm threat that was David and his words sank like ice picks into the goon?s brain. He stared at the menace of the armored man and he his body shuddered, his hand visibly shaking, the blade slicing a bit of the hunter?s flesh, a tiny little line of red starting to drip. The hunter didn?t so much as flinch. The goon started to talk. ?I don?t know who you are, buddy (he wasn?t well informed), but you just back out of this. You don?t know who is in charge here, and it ain?t you! You get along, or I?ll cut her, I swear it!?

At that moment, the hunter went into action. She knew she wouldn?t have time to draw a gun and shoot the bastard, but maybe she?d have time to surprise him with an unexpected move. Suiting thought to fluid motion, one hand flashed in startling speed towards the hand that held the knife, and with a hard, precise pinch of fingers, the Parthan had a pressure point between gripping digits. Crushing that spot as hard as she could, her assailant?s hand went numb, and Belle forced his upwards. Her face darted into the fray, and like a feral animal, her pearly teeth took hold of his wrist just where the radial artery lay nearest to the surface before it met the join of hand. Sharp and white, her teeth bit in as hard and deep as they could, and then with a rough yank and twist, Belle tore her teeth away, ripping open his wrist. The coppery taste of blood and the salty taste of flesh stung her lips.

It was enough to provide a distraction and allow the bounty hunter to roll away, for the knife dropped, blood slicking across her face in hot bursts from his wrist, leaving a pattern like red lace. The goon shrieked in rage and pain, one hand reaching for her hair to grab it and yank her back to him, the armored man stupidly forgotten in the surprise and ferocity of her attack. Putting a knee on her shoulder as he pulled her back by the hair, the goon let go the sable locks and punched down at her face with his good fist, the other cradled to his stomach, spurting blood from the radial artery.

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-08 01:06 EST

?You?re an idiot. You die, either way, in the long run. Haven?t you seen the movies? People like you always die. You could have gone home and your boss would have killed you because you failed...? His words trailed off there, naturally. Of course, he?d not have blown them all the Hell. He?d have simply shot the goon, as opposed to killing them all. A dead Belle, after all, is not a Belle he would enjoy.

For a moment, he simply stared at the random, almost absurd burst of motion. He?d never learned that trick, but it surely worked. Another time, he?d have applauded her efforts, and her creativity. This, however, was not that time. They were now to close for any small arms fire, and the motion was to random to chance a shot that might penetrate one and hit another. Thus, David stalked forward in his odd, near mechanical grace. Belle, most likely, could absorb a punch or two, he?d seen her take worse.

?See? Now you die later. You could have just gone home.? Somehow, he still spoke quite calmly, even as he imparted a short, well timed kick, the flat of his foot doing nothing more than nudging the man off of Belle. When he had moved, David stepped over Belle and stared down at the prone man. ?I don?t know who?s behind it, but you?re going to tell me, or I assure you, I will nail your living body to the ground, and strip your hands of flesh. Tell me, do you know what ants like to do to a person tied to the ground?? Given that Belle was awake, the one-sided and incredibly morbid discussion carried on over her head. ?It takes hours. One time, a mother told us what we wanted to know, while she watched us do that to her child. I imagine it was excessively painful?? Randomly, he paused, and glanced down between his feet, a quick check on Belle before she got up. ?You?re well, given the circumstances we seem to find ourselves in??

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-08 01:08 EST

The hunter could indeed take a punch or two. Even ten, if she had to. Not easily, not like he could, considering the delicacy of her bone structure, but she was nothing if not tough as nails despite that drawback of her smallness. The one punch the goon got in before David?s kick pushed him off of her had knocked her to her side, her cheekbone the target. Hissing and cursing like a rattlesnake on the coil, the Parthan rolled back over, just as David had pushed the brute off her. Gazing up at the raven as he stepped over her and straddled her form, the woman tasted blood inside her mouth and that pissed her off even more than she already was. It hurt, damn it. Other pains along her body were announcing themselves, especially her right ribs and her left lower leg.

It was with some sense of icy satisfaction that she listened to David threatening the goon, though once he described the past event or torturing the poor woman?s child, her belly recoiled, the Parthan realizing yet again just how hard and cold Hell Jumpers must be. The raven?s question about Belle?s welfare was given a short little nod of assurance, before the woman pulled herself out from under the armored figure and away from the ill-fated goon. ?I?m fine, raven.? With slow, careful movements, she pushed herself to her feet and started to dust herself off.

The man was cowering before David and whimpering, almost crying, having listened to David?s speech and seeming to believe it. He had no reason to believe that the Hell Jumper wouldn?t do exactly as he said. The goon?s hands were up in the classic surrender posture and he bled confessions like a broken pitcher spilling water. ?I give, I give! Yeah, yeah. Sure, whatever you waaaant, man!? He didn?t care who he worked for, being a hired flunky. He had no loyalty. ?Anything you want to know, just ask me! You wanna know who worked this shindig? I know the names, man. It was some guy hired us, see, and we was to get her in hand and bring her back for a question and answer session, see?? That word ?her? was uttered in vicious tones.

It was then that Belle saw the ruins of her bike. Her eyes went wide and then narrowed to fine slits, green fury spewing from them, all trace of gold flecks vanished. Stepping around David, the woman yanked one of her Kimber?s out of its holster and calmly, with deliberate aim, put a round into the goon?s left knee. While the man jerked, screamed, and grabbed his leg in shocked disbelief, she gave him a grim smile. ?That?s for my bike, you son of a bitch.?

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-08 01:09 EST

They still didn?t have a name, and David was well aware of this oversight. ?Or we can just shoot you. I don?t really care. You forgot to give me a name.? The single shot from Belle was nodded at, in some sort of grim satisfaction. Needless to say, the threat was not empty. The random topic switches, the threats, they were all a game that pointed towards insanity. The strange twisting of his voice, something human falling from something so obviously made of cold metal, furthered the strange dance, a slow set of motions set to odd tones.

While the man flailed, another boot fell, this time on the same knee. ?He probably deserved that, what you did.? In between the sporadic wailing, the man garbled a series of what could have been incoherent words, or what could have been the random mutterings of a shattered mind. All the same, the helmet recorded them, and with enough time, a few hours, it would have no problem drawing a list of possible words, names and syllables that fit. ?Can we get a new bike??

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-08 01:14 EST

?Gonna have to. ? Her eyes took in her bike again, her lips in a hard, tight line, even despite that luxuriant curve to the bottom lip. ?Too many things broken on it the way it is now. That net shattered and cracked too many things, along with the crash itself. I think it took out some ribs, too.? One of the woman?s hands pressed very carefully over the right side of her torso. ?Hard to say just now.? The Parthan?s gaze was chilly and hard on the gabbling goon. ?Got a name, man?? Her gaze lifted to David and then fell back down to the moaning piece of filth. He didn?t give one up, just casting a her a look of pure hatred. ?No? Okay, I?ma call you Roy. Roy, this is the situation. You talk so?s we can understand you, telling us what we want to know, or you don?t talk because you can?t talk, yeah? So the way I see it, Roy, you give us a name, and not a bunch of gobbledy- gook talk, and we might still let you go.?

?Roy?, moaning and twisting in pain, blanched white as he stared between the two seeming fiends above him. ?Bonnard!!? This was shrieked at them, the goon?s hands cradling his ruined and shattered knee. Another few anguished moans and whimpers spilled from him, as he looked at them in hopeful terror. ?It?s Bonnard you want!! He?s holed up in town, I don?t know where, but he?s the one set up this little dance!?

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-08 01:16 EST

?Well, I?m sure we can get a new one, just like it.? The name, true or not, would do. If it wasn?t correct, the designer of this scheme would easily be notified that one of his goons had talked, given that he?d know the fake name when word got out. David, of course, would take care of that. ?And, I think we?re done here, right??

He glanced back and forth between the two, and offered a slow shrug. ?Yes? Yes. We voted.? When his hand moved again, the man was executed, neatly and cleanly, with a much smaller exit wound than of his compatriots had received. ?Roy? slumped to the ground. The location of the shot being one of the man?s eyes, it allowed for no motion, given that his life ended as a candle does, when held in the rain. ?Well, that?s a start, although it?s a poor trade, your bike for a name.?

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-08 01:16 EST

Belle stared down at the now dead man, and she wondered what the raven having fallen upon her was leading her to. What dark hole was she spiraling down? Moreover, why did she find she welcomed it so very much? Shaking her head to clear it of dark thought, the Parthan let out a breath she hadn?t realized she was holding, and then lifted hazel eyes up to the Hell Jumper. ?I have heard the name Bonnard. He?s in the city, and he isn?t a nice man. He is, however, a very, very good bounty hunter himself, but I think he works in a sort of conglomeration. Or for it, rather. So I bet there is a name even higher up. Thing is...? She looked back down at the one-eyed man. ??.who were they after? Me? Or you? We know your high up honchos want you cornered, but ...I suppose if they wanted you, I am a good target for that, yeah??

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-08 01:18 EST

?Then it seems I?ve got a conglomeration to upset, no? Trust me, it?s do-able. I?ve seen planetary governments fall within a few short days, to be quite honest, once we Hell Jumper?s fall on them. Application of force, Belle, application of force.? As she spoke, he turned to glance down at her and extended an arm, clearly interested in an embrace, but unsure of how she?d react, due to her injuries and her words. ?You?re not fine, by the way. And also, I would imagine they went after you, hoping to get to me. The first man was looking for something else. I can imagine that they wanted to ask you questions, given that we?ve been seen together quite a few times by now. I?m quite sorry you had to see this, and that you are a part of this. Should my life make you wish to walk away, I?d not hold it against you.? He spoke and for once, was glad of the helmet, the way that it hid the sorrow that he couldn?t hope hide, not if he was exposed to her view. ?I don?t want that.? The last bit was blurted, and it most likely ruined the entire speech.

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-08 01:18 EST

The bounty hunter was still staring at the piece of meat at their feet as David started speaking. When he extended his arm, she moved instinctively into the circle of it, gingerly placing herself against his side. The cold metal plating of his armor was oddly comforting, simply because he was inside it. His offer was heard through, and then she looked up, finally, to that impenetrable visor as he spoke the last words. ?Not a chance of that, Hell Jumper. You are totally stuck with me until you tell me to hit the high road. Right? We clear on that? Good.? She nodded, not letting him deny her. ?No more sacrificial offers, then, yeah? I?ve seen worse, believe me. Is more coming? Yeah, well. We can ride out the rough spots together, raven. Together.?

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-08 01:20 EST

?Of course we are.? The dead body, naturally, didn?t give the butcher pause. He?d seen many, too many bodies at his feet, bent and broken beyond all recognition. This one, in his eyes, had gotten away easily, almost sinfully so. When she stepped close, a sigh escaped the filters, sounding oddly human. The game had been dropped, the fake insanity had been long since righted. ?I was hoping you?d say that, to be honest. I felt like I had to offer, however. One thing we should be clear on, or another, I should say, is the fact that you will never be an offer. I?d not have killed us all, I?d just have shot him. I only needed him to pause, but you bit him. All?s well that ends well, or so they tell me.? The bike caught his eye next, and he gave it an almost sad shrug. ?I liked your bike.? With her against him, he began the journey back to the road, offering his body, mind and soul as a silent pillar for the woman. Silent, at least, until another poor offering passed his lips. ?Tell me, did Jasper Happybottoms teach you to bite like that??

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-08 01:21 EST

The words of the Hell Jumper relieved her mind. Belle had fully believed him when he?d told the goon he would slay them all rather than let them have her. Knowing he would not go quite that far in his brainwashed-in lack of humanity pleased her. The hunter gave a rough chuckle to his last question about her kitten. Once they?d salvaged her saddlebags from the bike, she hooked her arm in his and let him support her. As they moved out to the road and began the long walk back into Rhydin, she finally answered him. ?Jasper Happybottoms did not teach me to bite. You might, however, ask me if his little tail wriggling act is something I have picked up from him.? Her laugh hurt, but it rose up to float on the night air behind them, as they left the blood and carnage below in the gullies.

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 22:12 EST

The bounty hunter eased her spine in a lean against the bartop behind her, one hip leaning against a stool, while she looked down at the bottle of tequila in her hands. She had yet to crack the top off of it. She was alone in the place, but the droids rolled about busily. Clad in her blue denim jeans and jacket, with another white tank below, she was looking puzzled.

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 22:19 EST

He'd been away from this place for quite some time. The door, it would seem, had forgotten the deal they had made. Thus, he afforded it a push with an open palm, none too gentle but surely a far cry from anything that might be called anger. When he entered, as always, he loomed for a second, filling the space with an imposing bulk. Seeing nothing other than what he'd hoped to see, he fixed the glare of his helmet?s visor on Belle and her look, confused and puzzled as it was. He stalked closer in his wary, almost mechanical way, and tilted his head. "Tell me, what's on your mind?"

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 22:20 EST

Her hazel gaze lifted up as the door was manhandled, her look changing to one of deep interest and some other emotion that was better expressed in the bedroom. Her head tipped at his words, as her eyes ate up his looming bulk and the way he moved while in that armor. ?If I told you that, I might get arrested. It has to do with you manhandling me like you did that door.? There came a ?Pop?. Out came the cork from the bottle of tequila she?d been holding. The Parthan held it out for him to drink from first, her smile a mere cool tilt of the sensuously curved mouth. ?Oh, I was thinking how futile my day was. I could not get a thing about Bonnard. It's like the city realized its bunghole was exposed and it pulled up its skirts and hightailed it for home.?

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 22:21 EST

"That's not futile. If anything, it means we are on the right track. Had he no reason to be afraid, he'd not have gone to ground. Again, if anything, it proves that he is running scared, or simply that he is running, which is a start. When people sit still, they leave no tracks. When they run, you force a mistake." He paused before taking the drink, and took a moment to remove the seals that held his lifeblood to his shoulders. When the helmet fell, it did so softly, onto the bar. There it rolled before it cast its hollow gaze across
the room. Then, and only then, did he take the bottle for a long drink. Upon filling himself for now, he offered it back and shrugged. "That was your fault."

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 22:22 EST

Her eyes caressed him as his face became visible. As much as she loved his helmet, as much as she appreciated that it kept him safe and had even saved her arse on more than one occasion, she yet hated it for the way it kept him separated from her. With its empty gaze abroad, she smiled up at the revealed raven, and took the bottle back from him. ?A very good point, Hell Jumper. A very, very good point. I will look further afield for telltale tracks, as it were.? Then her head tipped and she raised a brow. ?What was my fault?? She took her first drink, gasping at the heat of it biting its way down her throat.

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 22:23 EST

"That I manhandled you." He said that calmly, but the words waged war with the short grin that flashed across his cloudy visage. Randomly, he shrugged. "We can wait. He must, at some point, come for me, and so, he must move first. I would sooner he do that, for reacting is always easier." He, clearly, did not subscribe to the theory of ambush and move, he simply waded in and began to throw punches. "He, by accepting the contract, must follow through with it or he loses face. I've got nothing to lose in this, nor do you. We are the wildcard, the ones who must be found. If he begins to reach, he will surely make mistakes."

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 22:24 EST

His words made sense, though the ones about it being her fault he'd manhandled her had the pink rising up her cheek. How odd she still found it. Not many could make her blush. Not many at all. And those who could were all dead. The hardened bounty hunter was like a silly little girl, sometimes, when this man spoke. Raising her foot to place it on a rung of the stool next to her, she hiked herself up to wrap her arms around his armored neck and plant a hot, searing little kiss on his lips. When she was done with it, she pulled back a half inch, and gazed up into his eyes. ?I agree with all you said...except the manhandling part. That was your fault, and I think you need to do it again...real, real soon. Yeah? Because I loved it.? That last part was in a whisper.

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 22:25 EST

"Daily, or perhaps twice daily, I think." He nodded seriously, and sized up the prospects in his mind. As if they'd just met, the kiss of course lit another slow fire and added to the heady mixture of what this silly little girl brought out in an emotionless murderer of a man. The thought, while he answered the kiss, curved his lips into a slight smile against hers. "It can be my fault. Should I be charged, charge me with that and I will accept no plea deal, make no bargain. I will serve my time." When he pulled back, he wore an amused expression, something caught between a dying smile and a newborn smirk.

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 22:26 EST

He caused a blaze inside her with words like that, her eyes glinting gold, like newly minted coins as they fixed on his, his words like searing brands across the fertile and imaginative fields of her mind. A shiver rippled over her and he would feel it shake her, even through his armor. ?I will take that and make you live up to it if I can.? A slow, slow smile curved a mouth that was born for seduction and she dropped one more kiss on him, the scent of her perfume mixing with tequila. Night-blooming cereus, the desert flower blending with fermented agave, it was a heady mixture. Then she slowly lowered herself down, letting her front drag down his armor before she landed on the stool, her backside making a little thumping sound. ?Mm. You completely distracted me. What was I doing? Oh yes.? Lifting the bottle she still had in her hand, she drank from it, and then once again, delighting in how it made her bones feel mushy. ?How was your day, my raven??

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 22:27 EST

"Tell me, why couldn't you make me? You've your ways, I'm sure." She did and he'd only just started to explore them. "You could always show them to me, each and every one. I could use the lesson, surely." He fell into the kiss and lost himself in the heavy silence, even if it lasted for mere moments in time. Those moments, the fleeting ones he grasped at and held, were always the most precious. "I've that effect, no?" As quickly as she'd asked, he shrugged, randomly. "I spent it looking and listening. I'm used to a veritable network of information at my finger tips, and as such, I am attempting to establish that again. Bribes here, threats there. If he is running, I think there is no reason for me to hide. If I make myself a target, you should be fine."

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 22:30 EST

The hunter was smiling at his words, thinking of some things she would dearly love to show him, to have him show her back. To have him do to her back. Her smile looked positively sinful, for a few moments there after his kiss, after those words, but then he wiped it from her face as if he'd slapped her. She frowned, her sable brows like a slash of dark lines on her face. Her free hand came up and punched lightly at his armor, over his heart, and she shook her head, frowning. ?No. No, raven. I don't like that. You the target? You were already the target. I was just a convenient tool they wanted to use to get to you. Now you make yourself even more inviting? You said you would keep a low profile, not a big one!? Unhappy hunter, here.

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 22:31 EST

"I've played this game for quite some time." He leaned forward and when he stopped, he brushed a short kiss to her cheek, hoping to comfort some of the obviously upset emotions. When he fell back into place he reached for the bottle, and there he lost his mind for a split second. When it surfaced once more he shrugged and placed the container in between them on the bar. "It's better this way. This way, we work together. Trust me, I've fought worse. With the ship above me, and you beside me, each and every incident will turn into a shaped battlefield, with numbers, surprise and shock on our side. The last report they could have gotten was that they had you, no? Maybe they will think you hurt, or not expect you, and when they look for one, they find three."

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 22:32 EST

The woman was clearly unhappy at his plan, but his kiss and his answer did mollify her some. She didn't know about the goon having shrieked his information about David arriving to save her into the radio before he died, for she had been unconscious. A sigh left her, and she gave a shrug of one slim shoulder. ?I don't like it. But I suppose you do know what you are doing. Just...you watch your back, big man. Yeah?? One index finger thunked against his chest armor, quite as if she thought she was a whole hell of lot bigger than she actually was. It was the attitude that had sustained her through so much, and allowed her to be a fairly successful hunter of men. Then her face softened, and she melted against his armor, arms wrapping around his waist, face pressed to the metal of his chest plates. ?I....I've found you now, Jumper. I don't want to lose you. Not for a long time. So you keep your back free and clear, yeah? ?

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 22:33 EST

"I can't, really. That's what you're for." That was for the back watching comment, and it was given with another slight shrug." Her poke, however, drew out a long laugh and a short shake of his head. "Or what? What, Belle, in the world could you do to me?" He thought on that and his laughter faded, only to be replaced by a smirk that promised nothing good, and nothing not utterly sinful. "Don't answer that, show me, some time." She fell serious, in the end, and he answered with a flat stare, an expression that might have hinted at humor that had been stolen, as sure as the magpie steals an egg. "I'm not going anywhere. You know that. I fell into you, and should this be my rabbit's hole, I have no need to leave it. If this, Belle, is wonderland and I have found my cheshire cat, I've found the last thing I need and the only thing I want."

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 22:33 EST

Her poet was there, then, inside the armor that spoke of battle and things that reeked of blood and destruction. The butcher's stance, the butcher's equipment, but it hailed a wordsmith who spoke from his soul, even though it should have been a dried up and withered away extension of him, incapable of such utterances. Her eyes, all but golden with the green having fled, gazed into the flat brown above her, a smile starting from her toes rising up to curve her mouth in a full on smile, not the usual half thing she wore or hinted at. The bottle was taken and she drank to his words, as if to put a seal on them, to mark them, and proclaim them to the world as his statement. ?You're...like an echo of something. Something I used to have, used to hold in both hands.? She drank again, this time almost afraid to say the words struggling to escape. The tequila helped them ease out. ?Happiness.? Just that.

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 22:34 EST

"You know, you make me think of water, when you speak in such a manner." He lowered his hands, and formed a small cup of them. Randomly, his fingers spread, and he nodded down to them. "Water, it is something we can hold in both hands, no? And should we lose it..." There, he nodded again, and brought his hands back together. "We can say we will never have it, and if we think that, the ground, dry as the words we utter, will drink it in and take it, no? Or, I think, we can be as people, a seed, and the water we have lost can nourish a new plant, it can raise, from the dusty desert, a flower waiting to bloom. You, I think, are that flower, and I, the lucky gardener." His hands rose again, and this time, hung at his sides. His shoulders rose in a shrug. His mind, however lost it may be, could not see the poet, it simply saw the world through the perspective of one long dead to it, and only now learning to live again. "Happiness is effort, Belle, as anything else is. We nourish it, we feed it and we water it, and given time, the flower sprouts roots. If I am not the gardener, I would be the roots."

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 22:35 EST

She sat there, letting his words wash over her, like water themselves, filling her up, every dry crack and crevice. Her smile was that faint, wry thing she so often wore, though her eyes were alive, alive for him. Gold and green fought for equal footing in her hazel gaze, as she rose to her feet, taking the bottle up and one of his hanging hands. She brought the back of it to her mouth with gentle pressure. Placing soft, warm lips there, she kissed her way from the back of his wrist to his knuckles, before she lifted her eyes to his again, to curl her fingers into his. While some people might roll eyes at such eloquence, such emotional words, to her they were exquisitely beautiful, especially considering that they came from a butcher of men, a Hell Jumper, born and bred, and then brainwashed to create havoc and mayhem, no matter who got hurt in the doing of it, be they innocent or evil. She placed his hand on her belly as she pressed past him, towards the door, his helmet caught up in the hand with the bottle of tequila. ?I think we should discuss this in a place more conducive to....growing things. Hmm? Take me home, raven. My raven.?

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 22:37 EST

"They say that heat and a wet, damp location prompt growth." He, surely, could think of something that would grow, but that, as she'd said, was for another place. "Surely, the words could be seen as cliche, but the quiet tones could not. He spoke, as he always did, with that simple, undeniable passion that added a glow to his words. Each and every one, for each and everything he did was lit with the zealot's flame, the fanatic's dedication, to her, his first love, that cruel mistress we call war, and to the armor he had nearly sewn into his very soul. When she stood to leave he couldn't even begin to resist that, nor would he ever try. He turned with her, with the hand that found itself on one of the many plates of his armor and followed close behind and away. "One's feathers are black, and if myth serves us right, one's feathers are red. Black, in the ancient tales, speaks of eternity, forever, and red, in the modern world, tells us of passion and heat. I like how they fit." The door, for it's part, played it's role well and within mere moments, the two faded into the world outside.

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 22:38 EST

Doors, simply, aren't something David has ever been a fan of. Not front doors, at least. Thus he wove his way through the back alleys and towards the famed Inn. Alleys suited him, both mentally and physically. During the short walk, which was ghost-like in his near haunting gait, he pondered the twists and turns, reflecting upon the maze like path his own life had taken in the near past. When he finally did touch the door of the inn he did so softly, and for a moment he lingered and loomed in the door way. The dark armor, a place where form met function and the corner of deadly beauty, blotted out the light that came in from behind him and within the shadows the dull red lense flared and brought this world to life. When only three were seen within, David moved behind the bar and took up a bottle of rum, before turning through the break and for a table.

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 22:40 EST

Belle's Softail rumbled as she pulled in to the gravel lot before the inn. Giving a rather tired sigh, she sat there with horrible posture, the Parthan looking under one arm at the only part of her bounty, now collected, that remained with any value to it. Two rifles, blood spattered and beat up, were hooked to the back of her bike. Hoping the raven was here, she turned off the Harley and swung her leg over. Taking up the guns, she reflected that he would know a lot better than she would if they were any good or if they were junk. Attired in blue jeans, a white tee, and a dark brown leather vest which lay loose and open, and her gloves and helmet, the hunter sauntered up and over the porch to push into the front door. Narrowed hazels studied the layout within and then a faint smile cut across the plump bottom lip of her mouth. Making tracks for David's table, she cast a quick look around. Once there, she slung the guns roughly onto the table?s surface. One Sig Sauer .552 with rails, and one AR-M1 assault rifle chambered in 7.62. She dropped down into a chair she tugged next to his, and eyed him. "Hey."

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 22:41 EST

Of course, from within the veritable web of reality his helmet imparted, with its layer upon layer of listening devices and optical enhancers, he picked up the massive heat trail through the walls, as well as the noise it produced. Quite as soon as the door opened he stood once more and stalked his way towards where the glasses were kept. When he came back to the table he added said glasses and the aforementioned helmet to the pile on the table, which was quickly becoming a motley assortment of killer's tools. For a second, he glanced down at the weaponry and then back up at her, slightly confused. "You are growing less and less archaic, as the time passes, Belle. Tell me, have I rubbed off on you?"

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 22:42 EST

Already seated before he arrived back to their table, she gave him her crooked half-smile, green winning over gold in her gaze as she looked him over. "It would be a dull girl indeed who didn't take your experiences to heart, and more especially, your expertise." One of her hands raised up to stroke the barrel of her 870 Remington shotgun which protruded over her shoulder with fond fingers. "Though don't get too excited, buddy, this is still my father's gun and I still love it. It's great for crowd control and such." She leaned forward to pick up the bottle of rum and splashed a generous amount in each of their glasses, her hazel eyes taking in Mai and Arthour. She gave them an upnod, before re-corking the bottle. "These guns are all that is left of a mess I had on my hands today. I'd like to know if they are any good or are damaged beyond hope of repair or profit. If they are particularly good, I'd surely like to add 'em to my repertoire, as they say." She was careful not to elaborate?yet?about how she had come by them.

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 22:43 EST

"Expertise? You can take that to heart, to hand, or to bed, should you show such inclination." When she reached up he reached down and within short seconds had brushed gloved fingers across the surface of both weapons. His eyes, naturally, followed hers and he offered acknowledgement to those around him. Then, and only then, did he bother to seat himself. "I can hardly help if your presence, with weapons or not, results in excitement. That, I think, is your fault." He spoke, and as he watched the glasses become full, he turned his stare back to the weapons. "The problem with the shotgun, Belle, is that you must be close, therefore they must also be close. The buckshot does not penetrate armor well, either. You could lay the weapon on my chest, and while I would be sorely wounded, I would not be dead. With the rifle..." He pointed to the German one. "You have range, flexibility and the precision application of force to punch through armor. You also gain the control to fire into a crowd and you will need not worry about the stray buckshot harming those around a target, or those in the same room, if you follow my meaning." By now, he was well aware of how important such things were to her, not that he cared, not at all.

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 22:44 EST

The small woman watched him as he spoke, a casual once over telling her that his day hadn't been too bad, at least. Her own wasn't anything to write home about. Not that there was anyone there to get such a letter, not anymore. Letting her eyes fall to the Sig, she nodded slowly, taking his words and considering them fully. "Well, I'ma keep my shotgun, because it hasn't let me down yet. Having another gun handy that can do what you just said? That's the smart option, and I'll take it. Question is, are either of these the gun for me? They are free, which is nice, but I'm not hurtin' for bucks just now. The insurance covered my bike. Got the new one outside. Yeah, but my rates went up." She looked disgusted at the insurance deal. "Seriously, can you check these two out and tell me if they are worth keeping?"

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 22:45 EST

"The German version is." She, of course, was smaller than he was which might present a problem. "The stock, as you can see, is collapsible making it easier to handle. Also, should you desire and should you wish to leave it with me for a day or two, I can float the barrel and increase the buffer spring's internal capacity, thus taking recoil away. It will, sadly enough, offer quite a large dose of recoil, given the light frame and the high velocity rounds, but I think it is for you. Light, dependable, accurate, well made and efficient." He summed the weapon up and cracked the smallest of grins for her. "Insurance? You are so normal, sometimes, that it amuses me. I do not have insurance." He did, however, frown, slightly, at the mention of the earlier events. I've seen nothing but fronts. They are watched, but as I thought, with Bonnard having taken a less aggressive posture, watching is most likely not enough. We will have to follow, at some point. Have you heard anything?"

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 22:46 EST

Her eyes went narrow again at his last question. She wasn't ready to answer it yet. Something she had to let him know but didn't want to start off with. So she segued and hoped he would not catch it. "When it comes to inspiring excitement you are no slouch yourself, jumper." There was a little purr in her throat, only audible at their table. "We oughta practice though, just to make sure that expertise of yours stays nice and sharp." She looked back to the gun he pointed out and lifted it up in her hands to test its weight. It was pretty big and she figured it would hit her shoulder like sumbxtch, but she could get used to it. The talk of vampires being rambunctious in Rhydin heard over yonder had her eyes pushing that way, the gold all but gone in the hazel gaze. Such beings had not messed with her. Yet. She figured she better get something together in case that changed anytime soon. And David needed to think about it, too, though in his suit of armor, the bloodsuckers wouldn't be able to prick him. She turned her face back to his. "Kay, but you get that this is a used gun, yeah? I want to know if it's in good shape. Not just if the type of gun is good."

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 22:47 EST

"Before I would let you fire it, silly girl, I'd make sure it wasn't going to explode in your face." To him, vampires were much like any other body, something to be annihilated and forgotten. Silver and stakes, he may not have, but few of life's problems can not be fixed with a large, large dose of plastic explosives. If there's nothing left but atomized goo, that may work. Those thoughts, like so many others, trailed off into the murky expanse of his mind, and with a slight shrug, he turned back to Belle. "I get that, I got it the first time you told me. Is not your shotgun used, and does it not work well? At the worst, I repair it, and you take care of it. These are considered on Earth to be the finest weapons in their class. I assure you, they are not easy to break." He could speak on weapons for days, but her insinuations cut him quite short. "Practice does make perfect, no?"

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 22:49 EST

The hunter chuckled at his comment, and she nodded. "Not that you need such a thing. But I like to keep my hand in, as they say." Her grin was strictly dirty, by any measure of such things. His reply to her worries about the gun had her looking surprised, though. "I see. You know, I didn't realize you could actually do such repairs. This "floating" of whatever you said, it sounds difficult, but if it will make the recoil lighter, then it can only be worth such efforts. I didn't catch on that you knew they were used. It's a damned good thing you know more about these than I do. Truly, Parthan weaponry was apparently some decades behind what is common here, and certainly what is known by your people." It was time to drink, and rid her mouth of the bad aftertaste of death. Death and dismemberment, in fact. Frowning, she was distracted by the arrival of the elfen dame. Hazel eyes watched her enter, the curve of Belle's bottom lip indicating either a faint smile or a faint line of unwelcome. Noira could pick which one she perceived. It was, in fact, a smile, but the bounty hunter was a cool little thing.

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 22:49 EST

"Humanity, in my time, became enamored with the idea of firing rays at each other, lasers and those sorts of things. We also, after a few losses, realized that no matter how high the technology, on a small level, soldier to soldier, the sheer trauma involving a piece of metal and a body can not be beaten. Bullets are sure things, nothing much else is." The mention of repairs, cost and time was waved away, almost lazily. For a time, he studied the new woman and then shrugged when he decided there was no direct threat to either him or Belle, and not in that order, not in the least. "Afternoon." Cordial, but there was no warmth there, none. "I, Belle, have spent my entire life training in the use of weapons. Tell me, does a mechanic not understand how to fix his tools, should they break? With a broken weapon, I am, essentially, a suicide bomber."

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 22:51 EST

The hunter slewed her eyes back to the raven as he started to speak, her nod to the elf woman a bare thing, but civil. The pair of them were not exactly social warm and fuzzies, were they? Except with each other, naturally. Little fingers drummed on the table as she listened to the armored man, his helmet sitting there aside her own, though hers was not armor of course. Just a bike helmet. It'd had a bullet or two skipped across it, though, so it had served more than its purpose. The Parthan gave a slow nod to his comments. "Yeah, I can see the sense of that. Bullets are nasty things to have tumbling around in your body. I don't know lasers from tar paper, but I damn sure want something I'm comfy with to shoot." Shifting in her chair, she plopped short legs up onto the chair opposite her. Her brown leather boots were caked with dirt and some blood spatter. Maybe a bit of something gray, too, but likely it's better not to ask. "Well, I get you. I do. Just didn't want to take that part of your skills for granted, you feel me?" She gave him a softer smile than she'd offered anyone in the place yet. It transformed her cooly arranged features into a sensual feast for the eyes, though she was not a beautiful woman. "And don't go even thinking like that. Suicide bomber. Fxxk that."

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 22:52 EST

She was, actually, quite beautiful. Had she formed such words, or could he read minds, he would have taken offense, surely. Instead, he watched her fingers rise and fall, and shrugged slowly. "The more complicated combat is, the more risk there is involved. It is chaotic enough, and when we add to the chaos, we make a grave mistake. Simple, in my mind, works best." Her smile did not prompt his own, yet he offered a slow smirk. "I don't feel you, not right now. I dislike this, to be honest." She, sadly enough, went back to business. "That would only be a last resort. We've been over this."

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 22:53 EST

(The following posts with the character ?The Pink Pony? are taken from live roleplay at the Red Dragon Inn on 7-13-13 with permission of that player. Thanks much!)

"HIIIIIII EVERYPONY!~" The bubbly, happy, pink blob in the shape of a tiny cartoon pony appeared like a coiled string from behind the bar, throwing up her hooves into the air in fanfare. How did she even get there in the first place? Who knows. But that's our Pinkie Pie! She's atop of the bar, front hooves high above her head as streamers of a rainbow of colours pop and explode about her. Even a banner had time to fall down behind her, saying a few simple words. 'SURPRRRRISE!'

Her lips turned to a grin for his comments about not liking the fact that he wasn't getting to "feel" her just then. The hunter could not resist turning his words back on him, though, for he'd said other things about chaos. She challenged him. Openly and without reservation. " Yeah? Didn't you say it was your job as a Hell Jumper to bring chaos? To fall in on a situation and do just that? Shake up the enemy so bad they were pissing down both legs?" She had such a turn of phrase on her, didn't she? Tossing back a hard round of the rum in her glass, she sucked a breath in between white teeth. "You seem," pausing to shake her head at the rum's harshness, "to pick some pretty darned rough drink for us." And then there was a pony. Apparently a pink pony. With a banner and a rainbow of confetti. The bounty hunter blinked. "You think someone'd pay me to shoot that little pink thing?"

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 22:54 EST

He did, of course, take the time to 'feel' her. One finger, slowly, dragged across the cloth that covered her thigh, and he looked across at her with an amused smirk. "I speak in general terms, Belle. Do not take offense, please, but you were a soldier, you surely understand. You are a much better hunter, and I am a much better soldier. I thrive on said chaos because I know how to and because I am equipped to do so. Are you?" He nodded for her comment about urinating, some probably had before. "I drink manly drinks, naturally...." He trailed off and stared at the pink thing for a long, long moment. "I will pay you, surely."

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 22:55 EST

Bits of streamers hang about her head, as she settled back onto all four-hoofs. "Huh... Everypony normally likes that..." She tapped a fetlock to juttering out lower lip. "Maybe more streamers!!!" She gaaaaassssped, dramatically, and bounced down off the bar and continued... To bounce. As if her legs were made of some kind of rather elastic substance. These big two legged hew-man things were rather tall. She bounced over to Belle, "Hiya Mr two legged freak! My name's Pinkie Pie! Let's be friends!" Big grin. Almost deranged. If it wasn't for the eye twitch, she might have gotten away with it just being plain old cute.

The thing. The pink thing. It was almost upon her. Belle pushed with her booted feet, shoving the chair they were resting on to slide right in front of the Impetuous Pinkness from Hell. "Oh no. No, you stay back. Pink. I don't like pink. Lemme say this. One time only. You get back, leave me an' him alone," with a jerk of her head to David, "Or I'ma shoot you with these here guns. "Another nod to the assault rifles on the table. "He's gonna pay me to do it, too." Perfectly straight face. She wasn't likely to do it. She was a lot softer person than David was. But she looked pretty damned believable.

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 22:56 EST

He simply stared at the strange creature, and then nodded with Belle's words. Maybe scaring it away, as opposed to incinerating it, or attempting to, was a better option. "I will pay you in sexual favors, as many as you find yourself needing, should it go away or die."

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 22:57 EST

The Pink blob of pony stops bouncing. "Huuuuh?" She titled her head. Obviously confused. "But only a real big meanie-meanie-mc-meannerson-pants would do that!" She blinked at the gun, and looked at it with interest. Her eyes went big. Wide. As if impressed. "Oooooooooo! I got one of those too!" And then, as if it had always been there, she dragged a rather large canon out of nowhere. "I got a Party Cannon too! But mine is bigger." A nod. Nod. Nodnodnodnodnod. "Standard Party Balloon ammo!" She saluted at Belle. "With potential laughter rounds for all the right PAAAARTAAAYS!"

It had a cannon. A party cannon? Belle gave up for the moment and turned her hazel eyes to David. He could handle this. He was up to a cannon's weight. Also, she liked the whole idea of sexual favors. Maybe it was worth another try to scare the puling pink thing away.

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 22:57 EST

"Tell me, Miss Pie, have you ever smelled burning flesh or hair? It would ruin a party, just ruin it. No one wants to vomit at a party, do they?" He noticed the 'cannon', and pointed up at the sky. "There is a cannon on a frigate above us. It is larger. But that's neither here nor there, literally. My armor, you see, is reactive, and should you shoot at me it will quite violently explode sending close to a thousand steel balls in an arc in front of me. You, Miss Pie, are in that arc." He tapped the front of his chest with a kind expression and shrugged. "So, is this a Mexican standoff, or should we call it the folly of the foal?"

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 22:58 EST

Belle gave David a look of approval. "If that works, I will give you however many sexual favors you want."

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 22:59 EST

"I would take them, regardless." He, while still staring at the pony, laughed, quite amused by her words.

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 23:00 EST

The Pink Pony, stares at David, with a tilt of her head. She looked confused. Then she looked like she had just found the most SCRUMPTIOUS cupcake ever. "Weeeeeelllllllll~" She tapped a fetlock again to her lip, eyes gazing off in a random direction, "OH!" SHE GASPED. "I love Mexican food! Is a standoff like a super awesome REALLY SPICY -" She frowned aside, "But not tooooo spicy-" Eyes wide back at David. "Dessert with sprinkles and those shiny metal balls that ain't really shiny metal balls but are in fact candy-candy-so-awesome-you-couldnotstopuntilleverythingwasEATEN!?" She pants, heavily, at the end of her rant. Sucks in a deep breath, and then plunges a pin into the side of the cannon. It deflates. "And what's a frag-ate? Is it a stuffed animal?"

The bounty hunter of the arrival of another elfen kind. There seemed to be a glut of them around this place. The Star's End Bar didn't seem to pull such beings there as regularly as this joint did. Her cool features studied the hammers at his hips, and then she gave him a bit of an upnod. The pink blob of a pony that was currently assaulting them pulled her eyes back to David. Her lips twitched at his comment about taking her favors. "I think I better just shoot it."

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 23:01 EST

"It's a ship." Talking of food was surely not what he had in mind, but he offered the pony a slow smile, all the same. "Do you know, there are stories, from my home, of men who eat horse flesh. I wonder if it would be spicy enough or I wonder if the heat would simply leave a smear on the wall, a sad homily to what could have been a pony, but instead, because of it's curiosity, became a pile of goo which would not be happy." When Belle spoke, he nodded, sagely. "Shall we experiment with flash fried pony? Or do we shoot it?" He, of course, would not object to either way, and of course he's not bluffing. With some gleeful anticipation, he let his hand fall to the carbine that dangled from his chest and with one smooth motion pointed it steadily at the pony's face. "Which eye?"

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 23:02 EST

Blink. Blink. She leaned forward, and reached her head close to David, one eye squinting, the other wide, almost peering into the barrel. "Saaaaaaay, are you trying to tell me in a not so nice friendly way to leave you alone?" She pauses, and then gazes harder into the barrel. "Hey, did you know there's a bullet in that thing?"

Oh, crap. David was all too eager to actually kill things. It was in his nature. It had been brainwashed into him, after all. The bounty hunter rubbed the lobe of her ear in indecision, eyeing the pink mess of annoyance. She tried once more to keep things non-murderous. "Listen, you pink-livered, pink-primping, pink-stinking mess of bouncy buggery, yeah, LEAVE US ALONE." She was little, but she could bellow.

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 23:02 EST

"I'm telling you to vacate my personal space and hers within thirty seconds or there will not be a bullet in this 'thing', but there will be a bullet in the wall behind you after if leaves whatever brain you may have as a pink cloud." Belle said the rest, and his free hand waved towards her.

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 23:03 EST

Blink blink. Blink. She thought about it for a moment... "Huh. Okay! You coulda had just said so in the first place, I'd hate to get in between two Special Someponies on their Special Somypony date! You shoulda had said from the start!" She giggled, and then bounced on the spot. "Okay! We'll talk later! It was nice meeting you friends! Oh! And don't forget!" She stopped bouncing. A serious, serious face now worn. She sucked in a deep breath, and then screamed. "DON'T FORGET TO USE PROTECTION!" With that done, she waved at them both, "See ya laters! Okiedokiepokielokie!" And with that, she bounces off to the bar, humming a tune from some random playlist in her head.

Belle twitched. Hopefully David's trigger finger would not also twitch.

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 23:04 EST

His finger hasn't twitched yet, and it most likely never would. "That was interesting, to say the least." The weapon fell once more and latched onto the magnetized plates that held it in place. "We live in a strange world."

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 23:05 EST

"Don't we just?" The hunter shook her head, and now the pink thing had moved on to torment others she hoped, green-golds took in Raven, the lady, as she arrived. An upnod was sent to her, with a nudge to David under the table. "There's someone not afraid to say hello to you, man." Meaning, nod back. It was easier to see now the pinkness was down-cellerated.

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 23:05 EST

He, given his entire lack of social graces, took a moment to decide that he should, per her direction, nod back. He did so, and even lifted his glass in greeting, should there be someone who did, in fact, say hello. "I should have killed it." That was said while he glared at the Pony. "Speaking of eating, you and I should go get dinner at some point in the near future."

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 23:06 EST

"Sounds good to me." She paused for a minute, beginning to pick up the Sig Sauer and the other rifle. "Gotta tell you about something, too. You asked me if I'd heard anything." Her gaze slipped up to his." Don't think you'll like this."

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 23:07 EST

He stood when she did, and for a moment stared down, his helmet still in his hands. With a sigh he sealed himself away from the world and spoke in the more comfortable, mechanical tones. "Tell me while we walk. I'd sooner know as opposed to having to guess." In between his words, he beat a path towards the door and held it open.

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 23:07 EST

Nodding at his words, nothing less than she'd expected, the hunter followed, the weapons slung over her shoulders and bumping the shotgun mounted on her back. Slipping through the door, she sent a jerk of her head in farewell to Raven before she pushed on out. "We can take my Softail." Then she was out the door and they had both gone.

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 23:10 EST

The hunter stepped out of the Red Dragon Inn, heading for the new bike. She put her helmet on and then looked over her shoulder for the raven. It suddenly wasn't any good telling him what she'd discovered with both their helmets on. She took hers back off and just sat there on her bike for a long minute, studying him. "Can't tell you on the way. Tell you now, or once we get where we're going." She frowned a moment. "Where did you want to go and eat?" Mention of food had her stomach growling and suddenly she was very eager to head off. The bike helmet was slicked back into place as she waited for his answer.

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 23:11 EST

"Now. Wasted time is a problem of mine." His mind, as it always would, slipped into another dimension, one filled with worry and concern, confusion and a lingering doubt. Always before, he'd been able to control things, and in that, he felt safe. The unknown, or more specifically, the length of time that item 'x' stayed unknown dictated his level of comfort, or lack thereof. "Tell me now, and we'll discuss it when we get there." He shrugged, upon realizing that he was actually supposed to come up with some sort of an idea. "I don't know. I don't eat out often." For a time, he tapped his fingers against the glass that hid him from the world, and shrugged. "When you called during that chase I was at a cafe, but I had yet to eat. We could go there?" Randomly, he held one hand up, and the wrist flared to life, showing a map that lead to a small, open-air cafe near the water.

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 23:12 EST

The hunter nodded at his decisions. She could understand not wanting to wait for bad news. It wracked the mind and body with stresses that could be better avoided by quick confrontation. Once again that helmet came off her head. "Open your visor." She would wait until he did, too, and he might be able to read that determination in her face. It was set and her lush mouth was not curved up at the corners even one iota. Hazels turned green in which all gold was smothered were lifted up to that impenetrable visor of his.

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 23:12 EST

For a moment he stared down at her, quite literally. The seconds ticked past, with all the ponderous motion of a Christmas night's clock. After he'd decided that there was no way to turn this to his advantage, he reached up and broke the seals, one by one. When, with a final purr, the helmet came free, he let it dangle from his fingers. Idly, he passed it back and forth from one hand to the other. "Now?"

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 23:13 EST

Belle relaxed a little. It was just somehow easier with his helmet off. The hunter took the time, though, to send a quick look around to make sure no one had them in their sights. She knew that it was true a sniper would likely not be in her field of vision. Impatient with her thoughts and the way she was dragging this out, she blurted into speech. "I was on the trail of someone who was supposed to work for Bonnard. Some low level cog in a much bigger wheel." She paused to take a breath and look away. "Turns out he had a partner, and turns out...they had a job to do. Or rather, they had a job to get back to. I guess they had taken a break."

The woman was aware of him so much, aware he was likely boiling over with impatience about now. She could be wrong, though. The hunter was still learning the man, after all. "I got real close, yeah? Followed 'em into the place they were...doing their business." Her eyes, which had slid away from his, suddenly darted back. "I was too damned fxxking late, David. Too late." She sucked in a breath. This wasn't getting any easier. Time to just spit it out. "See, there was someone they were working on. You know. Torturing." Her lips formed a grim line. "I got in there just about the point they had finished up." Her eyes again escaped his stare, only to return, like a moth to flame. "He wore the same thing you do. Only it was all in pieces around him. I don't know...I can't even guess...how they peeled him out of it. But he was dying. I heard his last breath. It rattled."

Belle shook her head at him. "I pushed farther in and tried to capture the bastards. Only...one of them was too scared, I think, maybe of what Bonnard would do. That one pulled a grenade out. He used it, and while I was lucky enough to make it behind something it totally wasted them. Only those guns survived it.? There was a pause. "Well. That other Hell Jumper...he might be in bigger pieces. He was north of the blast. His suit was even farther away." And now she stopped to see how he reacted to such news. She didn?t think it would be good.

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 23:14 EST

During her stalling tactics he grew more and more impatient, as she might have expected. To him, facts were simply facts, given out regardless of the way they would impact someone. In his black and white world, the sooner one discovered an issue the sooner one could fix or remove it. Thus, he tapped his foot and his fingers, but managed to not ask any questions and even avoided rolling his eyes. She was, after all, a woman. As her story continued, he looked, if it was even possible, less and less pleased. When she stopped, he nodded once. It took quite an effort internally to keep from sending his own helmet through the nearest wall, or from venting the growing and chilling anger onto the first person he saw that wasn't named Belle.

All of that, in flash, manifested itself in a slow exhale of breath, neither a sigh nor a whine, but the start of his mind turning in an entirely different direction. "Well, this changes the rules. They all die." In his mind, it was that simple. "No matter what I am labeled, or what I have been charged with we, as brethren, do not allow such things to happen, not ever." With no need for his helmet to dangle, he slipped it back into place with some measure of force, and nodded towards the bike. "Do we go eat, or do we go get the armor? It survived, there are very few hand held devices that could even scratch it. I assume they shorted it somehow or simply got too close. Hell Jumpers are not invincible, of course."

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 23:15 EST

She noticed the tapping, of course, for she had learned when they first met that his hands often gave away more than his face or his eyes. Her tension mounted, as his anger grew. The hunter had to call it that, though he did not express it as normal men do. He had it all perfectly contained except in the growing displeasure in his face, the tapping of his hands, and the way he thrust his helmet back onto his suit. Her hunger was forgotten, for it would clearly be best if this matter was resolved. Also, in her mind, there might be some of that armor that David could use, or at least use to support his own limited resources.

Belle was very afraid that David would know the man. That was her real reason to stall all of this. But then finally, as if a curtain had been drawn aside, she could see a little bit more clearly the way David thought. It didn't matter if he knew the guy. The dead man was a Hell Jumper and that was all that really did matter. One of David?s brethren had been harmed, and in a very nasty way, so now the end was written in the cold, hard stone of the Jumper?s mind.

Giving a nod, the tension eased in her spine as she suddenly rose up to bring the bike to life. Once started, the deep rumble sang to her nerves, easing them more. "Get on. We'll go and get the armor and maybe learn something. Since the blast was so noisy, I didn't dare stay, not without you. I thought it might bring Bonnard?s goons running. Or at least, come to investigate once they heard no more from their dead fellows."

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 23:16 EST

"I feel the need to warn you, Belle. You, after all, stand to lose much in this where I do not. Before now you have really only seen some of what I do, that day in the alley, no?" He paused before he moved towards the bike, then carried on speaking in that odd, mechanical and detached tone the helmet threw into this world almost of it's own volition. As before, it did its job, serving both technology and emotion. With it on his head nothing was seen, nothing was heard of the man. It was simply the armor speaking, which to most, spoke volumes. "I said that the rules have changed, yes? By bringing someone else in, there is no longer any real need for secrecy or deeds done at night, make no mistake on that. If you've ever wondered what Hell itself looks like, I can surely show you. That night, when I set the building aflame, that was a poor excuse for what I could have done."

In his odd way this was him giving her an out, a chance to leave should she want to before she saw the brutal, efficient results of what a lifetime spent preparing for moments just like this could produce. Already his hands went into motion, passing through the routine weapons checks, that never ending job. When he was satisfied with that he spoke into his helmet softly, allowing it to filter through each and every spectrum of vision before it settled on a hazy red. Lastly, he tapped his chest, inserting a code, which caused the same red glow to come to life, hidden behind a series of plates and surely pulsing with each beat of his heart. "Shall we?"

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 23:17 EST

Belle heard him out, her head turned to one side towards her shoulder, though not enough to meet the red of that visor. Her own helmet back on and neatly fastened, David could see nothing of her features either. Delaying a moment before putting the bike into gear, she gave one firm, decisive shake of her head, and that would have to be his answer for now. It was all she was going to say on the matter until she had her emotions under control. They'd really already talked about this kind of thing. She was in it for the long haul, damn it. The hunter had already tumbled to what the raven was, to what made him tick, or at least in part, and to what he was capable of. She was a softer being than he was, yeah. But she wasn't going to let that keep her from his side through this thing. Her headshake was meant to impart all of that. If it didn't, well then, she?d have to clarify it all. The engine gave a loud roar in response to her sudden gunning of it, and then they were off.

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 23:18 EST

At this particular time David?s mind was far, far too preoccupied with other things to bother with asking what was meant by the shake of her head. Instead, he accepted it with a shrug. He settled onto the bike and for a second allowed himself to wish it was the old one, the first one. Such sentimental thoughts, however, had no place in the mind of a Hell Jumper, none at all. Not tonight, at least. This time, he slipped only one arm around her, and should the truth be told, it was more for her. The raven, who rode the stars in a flaming chariot, could surely stay on a bike with his legs.

During the ride he began to speak into his helmet once more, lining up a series of checkpoints, times and locations that would tell his frigate that he was still alive. That having been done, he took one more deep breath, thinking hard about his plans. Winning this sort of thing, in his experience, went to the one who took the biggest risk and the one who punched the hardest first. If the goons had spent any time at all around the armor and were not complete idiots they had to have noticed the fact that, when operating, it was a massive heat sink. This was something one could see for miles away if they knew how to look.

Thus, David did something he'd only had to do a few times in his entire life. Slowly, as if he fought the wind from the movement, he reached up and into his armor, close to his neck. There, he input another short code, and felt himself cool instantly. The armor, for all it's wonderful ability, was now as he had said before, nothing but an expensive suicide vest. He was devoid of his scanners, devoid of the magnetic fields, entirely cold and dead to the world. Oddly, it fit somehow, the sudden chill and the further detachment. Of course, the single red light still glowed, but that gave off no more heat than his body did.

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 23:19 EST

They were not really in sync at the moment, and she felt that. But again, Belle was a woman, and she knew that such things mattered more to her than it possibly could to him, especially considering what he was. The hunter focused on what she was doing, the arm around her the only comfort she had on that ride.

It took a bit of time, for they had to swing wide around the inner city and then hit the dockside area. Once there, she slowed the bike, the cobblestones rattling them both. After careful negotiating of the crates, detritus, and people, the hunter pulled up into a little alcove that was just big enough to tuck her bike. Setting the special shield, which she'd transferred to this new bike from the remains of the old, she killed the motor and then turned her head to the raven. "It's that building there, up three and over one. The entry is a set of stairs going down under street level. It's a warehouse, really, but a small one."

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 23:20 EST

David had collected himself during the ride, on some levels. Before the bike stopped fully, he slid off of the back, carbon fiber throwing sparks as his feet dug into the ground. When she?d brought it to a stop he had ascertained there was no immediate threat, no imminent problem around them. His armor, and this other man's, after all, they were hard to miss. If Bonnard?s goons didn't like one, why would they want two around?

After a moment spent panning back and forth, he turned towards Belle, and for the first time this night stepped closer to her. "Should anyone tell me this news, I would it be you. From your lips, even the news that the world is falling down is not so bad, because still, you spoke it, which means that still, you are with me. Nothing, I think, can push me far off of the path I have chosen, the one that we walk, simply for the fact that I have but to look at you, and again, I know where I want to be." After his own speech faded into the silence, he slipped an arm around her, and before anything else was done, drew her in for an embrace that brought the cold plates towards warm flesh, and held them there for quite as long as she would allow. "Nothing was inside when you left, you said?" He, of course, couldn't even begin to pick up any heat signatures, not since he'd turned his armor off.

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 23:21 EST

The Parthan was unaware he'd done anything to his armor. Once he'd pushed himself off and she'd slipped off the bike herself, she too had looked around, ready to defend them from anything that might present itself as an enemy. Seeing none, she looked up at him as he neared her. She was surprised when his arms went round her, but then, he was always doing that to her. The man had as many twists and turns in him as a rabbit warren.

Belle?s arrested gaze was fixed on his now darkened visor, that tell-nothing plate she could not penetrate, as he melted her with his words. A Hell Jumper, talking to a woman like that. Her heart beat out a wild thunder as she wrapped her own arms around the waist of that cold-plated suit. She ?allowed? the hold for several minutes. How could she not? His question came and went, a long pause spawned into life before she could answer him, so profoundly did his words affect her. "Before the ride you asked me if I wanted to step out of this. I didn't give a very good response. To clarify, that answer is no. No, most certainly not. Without you, there just isn't anything else. I thought when I lost Partha that I had lost everything." The hunter dropped her eyes to study the pattern of his chest plates for another long moment. Finally, she tilted her head up to that emotion-shielding visor. "Now I know I would lose a dozen of them before I would leave you." As her arms tightened around his waist to emphasize her words, she was quite aware that she should be appalled at herself for saying something so selfish, so excessively romantic, and to have meant it so utterly. An idle part of her mind found it vaguely amusing that she wasn?t appalled even one little bit.

Then she pulled in a breath and turned her mind to the business at hand, focusing on the information he needed. "It?s a pretty deserted area." She looked over towards the decrepit building that now had its insides at least partly shattered by a grenade. "There was one big room, with a set of steps to the right of the entry, which led up to a second-floor office which had windows looking down on the floor of the warehouse below. The kind where a supervisor might look out and watch to see if his employees are earning their pay."

Belle concentrated, trying to see the place as it had looked in her wild dash out of there. "There were lots of boxes and things, but it was old stuff, opened boxes, as if they'd been ransacked and abandoned. The place wasn't in current use, I am pretty sure, other than as a hide out." Another considered thought, and she nodded. "The entry steps lead down to a side door, and there was also a ramp at the back that must have been for trucks to back into the open bay. Only it's closed now. Or it was when I got there. I didn't see anyone but the two goons and they both are smears now.? She paused before she gave the rest. ?They had?equipment. Some tools. For what they were doing.? Damn, but she hated to have to tell him that!

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 23:22 EST

"Well, since I'm not going anywhere, I suppose there's no reason to lose even one of anything, no?" He would surely have removed the helmet, if they had been in less suspect times, and he would have lost himself in the kiss he so dearly wanted to impart. Instead, he stepped away and contented himself with a slow drag of his fingers across the side of her hip.

Her earlier protests were pushed away, and once more he turned back to her and stopped. "What I meant was this. I, of course, have no problem going inside. I've seen such things, and frankly, they don't bother me. You, I'm not sure of. If there's no one inside we should speak to, I can simply hot wash the building, which will clean it, in the manner of everything being burned to ash being ?clean?. The armor won't be affected, and there's no need for the body. Everything we'd need to know is stored within the armor, in tracking devices. I'm shocked that the other Jumper turned his off, actually. Had he not, I'd have found him. Why didn't he just come looking for me?" There, he paused, and forgot himself for a moment. He allowed himself, dangerously, to tread down paths long forgotten, and he asked himself questions best let unvoiced, for now.

With no small effort, he peered back up at the building, and shrugged as he turned towards the entrance. "I'm going in blind, I can't pick up heat. I turned my armor off. If they spent time around his, I'm sure they know it's hot, and if they were smart, they?ll be looking with thermal vision."

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 23:23 EST

Belle listened to him, her hands holding onto him as he pulled free. She didn't know what was happening to her. Look at her now, clinging like a foolish twit in love or something. Sable brows furrowed some as he told her he'd turned off his armor. "What do you mean you turned it off? It will still keep a bullet from taking you out, right?" That was her first concern. The rest she filtered through her worried query. "I'ma go in with you, David. Just fix that right in your head now." His questions were good ones, things she'd been asking herself. "Yeah, see, that's what has me worried. If Bonnard knows they had the Jumper, why didn't they have more backup? Why did the one guy think it was worth dying over? I'll tell you this, the other dude, he didn't think so. He shouted at the guy with the grenade not to do it." Her brows smoothed out as she considered things. "Why didn't he come looking? Yeah. Maybe he did. Maybe he got found before he could finish that. Maybe he didn't talk, too." Her gaze lifted to his visor. "Maybe he did. But what would he know?"

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 23:24 EST

"Yes, the armor is still made of the same materials, Belle. I just can't use any of the communication devices, or any of the scanning devices. It bleeds heat, and if one knows how to look, we can be seen from quite literally miles away. We look like small torches, it's almost beautiful." Again, he lapsed down memory lane, and this time, it was a long sigh that brought him back to reality. "Criminals are stupid. You of all people know that. I don't know why the guy blew him and his partner up or why it even mattered. Most likely because they connected you to me, and they knew that if you brought one of them too me it would be much, much easier for them to kill themselves with a grenade?" He hadn't thought much of that, not at all.

However, when Belle asked the question about the Jumper talking under torture, he turned back towards her, and if the armor had not stabilized him, he may have actually flinched as if hit. "I don't give a fxxk if he sold me to the very devil, Belle. He wore the wings, and so do I. For this, and for him, I will die and quite gladly, if need be. If he did tell them anything we will find out later after those who have the nerve to think that they can harm one of us in such a manner understand what death is. Furthermore, if he had any ill intent towards me, why would Bonnard stop him as opposed to just letting him go and hoping we'd kill each other? He clearly wasn't coming to kill me, if that logic makes sense."

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 23:25 EST

It was all very puzzling. The whole thing was, really. She felt a need to list the points. "Okay, so we have one Hell Jumper who leaves his ship in an effort get to Reach to turn the tide of a losing battle, said Jumper is lost from his ship because he is snatched up in some kind of slip stream and deposited here, which happens just as his ship was destroyed by the enemy. We have a group in your high command that didn't want you to cause them problems, so they use your refusal to kill innocent civilians as a way of accusing you of betrayal. We have learned that they sent word out that you, the Jumper, had to be reeled in or gotten rid of. Now we have another Hell Jumper on the hunt, presumably for you, Ricktor. That man is then caught and tortured, and finally killed." She ticked over the facts as she knew them...and admittedly she may have them a little skewed.

"I think we are missing something. Some vital piece to the puzzle. I don't know. Let's go pick up the armor and then you torch the place. Bonnard might come looking, if he hasn't already, for his men. We don't want him to get that suit. I don't know why I didn't think of that when I was already here." Irritated with her lack of wit, she sighed.

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 23:27 EST

"The missing link, Belle, is what we see right now. For whatever reason, the other Jumper wasn't here to kill me." He glanced back down, and turned the knob of the door. It may have been locked, but the blast from before had jarred it loose, naturally. "Fxxk it." With that, he spoke another word, softly, and allowed his armor to flare back to life. The visor, of course, went from black to red, as he needed to be able to see into the room before him. "Did you see how I reacted? A Hell Jumper will not kill another. If I was ordered to do so in cold blood I would either kill the officer who ordered me or kill myself. I am sure he did not mean me well, but at first he would have wanted to speak with me or attempt to bring me back peacefully. This, naturally, I would not allow so I would have rendered him useless somehow." David knew, of course, he'd never have killed the man or even thought about it unless there were no other options at all.

"Bonnard can have the suit all he wants. Without the codes and without the retinal scanners it's just fancy metal, really. Mine turns off as soon as I'm not in it, as would his." Enough talk, however, and he turned back towards the door. Again, he slowly pushed on it, and naturally, she had been right. The first thing he saw, as she said, were boxes opened and strewn about quite randomly. While there was most likely nothing inside he couldn't simply stand in a door. Thus, avoiding any real need for cover he took one short step left and ushered her in with him. "I assume they were in the office?" Even his high powered optics couldn't pick much out, not in the gloomy warehouse.

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 23:28 EST

The hunter nodded at David?s estimation of things though she was still puzzled by some things, things at the back of her mind and not really fully realized yet. Time would clarify them she hoped. Following him down the narrow steps she had so recently fled back up, she pulled her shotgun over her shoulder and held it ready. The familiar weight was good in her hands. It was oddly comforting. "Okay, I get it. No Hell Jumper would slay another without dire exigencies." She peered around as he opened the door and when he moved, she slipped in behind him to the right, opposite side of the door. Being without his scanners and infrared, she could see nothing that normal vision didn't impart. It was utterly quiet inside. She looked around the main area with its concrete floor. The steps to her right that led up to the office were rickety-looking. Wherever she looked the muzzle of her gun pointed that way as well.

"No, they were on the main floor. Just over that way." The room was about a 50 square foot area. Big but not really so, for a warehouse. "I didn't go up to the office." That office was the only room on the second floor, which was more of a loft, really, though it was fully walled in. "If he can't use the armor he might have scientists to pick it apart and find a weakness. I don't want him to have any of it." Stubborness in her voice. "Besides, it might help you to have it. Replacement parts, if nothing else." Another scan, another sweep with the barrel of her gun. "I don't see or hear anything except us. What about you?"

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 23:29 EST

"There is nothing." Somehow, in the silent darkness, his voice seemed to pool in the corner where it danced with the devil or so it might seem. Slowly, his head turned from side to side and he shook it almost sadly. "This might be bright." For his own purposes he?d opted to make the first viewing private, maybe out of some sense of respect. If there had been anyone living in here they?d have shown like a candle in this darkness.

After he'd spoken, he barked another command into his armor, and the majority of the room lit up under the flood light his visor had become. Again, as his head moved, the shadows fluttered on the ground, each crate painting a weird picture. "You said the armor was upstairs, no?" The light faded, as he turned it off. "So, upstairs we should go, I think?" He turned for the first time towards the stairs and paused for a second. "Interesting, Belle, most interesting. There is, unless I am going insane, a humanoid heat source in the upstairs room. I wonder, does he wait with some trap? Surely he can hear us? Do I fire at it now, or do we wait?" He, before he had even entered the room, had detached his primary weapon from his chest and had allowed it to rest against his shoulder, one hand almost idly shifting it to follow his eyes.

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 23:31 EST

When David's beam of light lit things up she was careful to not look at the bits and pieces of the goons bodies that lay about, nor the decimated corpse of the Jumper that lay off to their right towards the back of the warehouse. The light made the scene even more surreal. She shook her head when he spoke again. "No, David, I didn't. The armor is that way." She lifted her hand and pointed towards the same area where the Jumper, or what was left of him, lay in sprawled broken disorder. He and the armor were towards the back of the warehouse, to the right of where they stood now. The stairs were directly to their right, some 8 feet away from the entry door. When he told her someone was up in the office she sent a sharp look that way, the muzzle of her shotgun following her eyes. ?Bloody hell...no, I haven't been up there, David. I don't know what's up there. Or who it might be!" Her voice was a husky whisper though it was rather pointless now they had already announced themselves with light and voices. "How do you want to handle this?"

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 23:32 EST

"He's obviously got some strange intent or he just would have shot at one of us." Clearly the situation didn't bother David much, not at all. He, of course, was hoping not to have to go near the body, the one in particular. The others would have no impact on him. Regardless, he cut a path towards the spot she had indicated and once again his boots began to leave bloody footprints. Quickly enough he sorted through the horrid after products of such ill intent and began dragging the mangled but still functioning suit across the room. There wasn't much left, not to recognize. A blow torch, it would seem, does its work well if applied correctly. Almost clinically he recognized that and locked it into his mind. His brand of war is far, far from fair and since the rules had just been set in such a manner they would certainly be played by. Not to say that he wasn't angry over both the sight of he other Hell Jumper and the fact that he?d been murdered. Rather, should one bother to look with the proper eyes, the man's rising tide of rage might even blot out the heat sink his armor normally was.

Again, he took a moment to pause once he had collected the armor and the helmet. Both items were left near the door before he moved towards the steps. Once there he paused at the first one and glanced back at Belle. "Ideally, I'd go and you'd stay here. If there is some sort of trap, per se, the blast most likely won't do much to my armor. It's a heat source, but it could be live ammunition which also gives off heat. Or we could risk shooting now and losing someone who might tell us something."

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 23:41 EST

The hunter stood watch while he did the grisly work of finding the armor and hauling it and the other man's helmet back to the door. Her attention veered back and forth between on the door at the top of the stairs and the way they'd come in. Pressed against the wall at the bottom of the steps she made herself as small a target as she could and yet keep a gun ready to open up if someone took shots at David. She wasn't an empath but she felt as if she could feel the wall of his rage as he came towards her. His offer of her remaining behind she ignored for now. "We are short on info as you know. I vote we try to capture, not kill. You'd better go first, though. Your armor will hopefully keep you from getting shot when you open that door." She ranged herself behind him, ready to mount the wooden steps after him. Some looked not quite sturdy enough to hold a full grown man's weight and David was certainly that! "See those steps? Be careful." The tip of her gun's barrel pointed out the particular steps that looked weak.

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 23:43 EST

"I'd feel better if you would wait down below. It may be some sort of a shape charge which would be ironic, I think." One hand, somewhat lazily, waved behind him and hopefully brushed her away. The steps were taken gingerly though there was no real reason. Again, he did it more for her. He, of course, felt safe in the knowledge that upon finding himself with no pressure under his feet his armor would simply absorb the inevitable fall quite easily. However, he took her considerations in mind and even glanced back with a small shrug. "I just blew you a kiss. It's cute, that you are concerned, even now. It's touching that you would voice such a thing in this place of death." By now, he had reached the top of the stairs with no ill effect. It would seem they were stronger than they looked. Having realized that the heat was inside David was quite aware of the fact that there was no real point in checking for a wire, or a plate. It would happen, or it would not. One of his armored shoulders hit the door and he stepped through.

Suddenly the quietness of the place changed. The device awaiting him, in the moment he was able to look at it, appeared to be nothing more than a large electrical outlet. However, once his armored boots touched the floor a veritable shower of sparks flew from his armor as a coil dumped a massive amount of electricity into his armor. It sparked and it flared and by the time David could move he was thrown quite powerfully out of the room, through the air, to hit against the side wall of the warehouse opposite the office door. Luckily the wall took the majority of the force and a few bricks, old as they were, fell down the wall as David slid downwards to hit the floor at the bottom. It took him a moment, but he eventually did stand up and the glare he sent upstairs was more annoyed than it was angry. "That makes sense. He must have just landed when they found him. After using so much energy he would have needed a little time to let his armor recharge. They didn't give that to him. Instead, they gave him a few million volts, shorted his armor, and then brought him here." He, of course, was still sparking, but not dangerously so. "It should be fine now, if we want to have a look upstairs."

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 23:45 EST

The woman hadn't listened very well to his suggestion that she stay below. Once he'd started moving up the steps so was she, only several below him. A rough little laugh shook from her when he told her he'd blown her a kiss. The man was a romantic. A bloody romantic soul in the body of a Hell Jumper! The irony of it was just intense. Her poet was making his way into danger and telling her she was cute while he did it. She wanted to smack the shit out of him. And, yeah, then kiss him senseless while she did it!

And then the raven went in through that door. She sped up a few of the steps, careful of the rotted ones. The sound of buzzing and arcing of current had her lower into a defensive crouch, her eyes glued to the door David had gone through. It took her completely aback when she saw the hell jumper go arching past her, in full flight as it were, in a shower of sparks and with the scent of ozone filling her nose. Jaws agape, the bounty hunter watched in appalled horror as the man flew the width of the warehouse, slammed into the wall, and then slid down to his arse at its base.

She didn't know if she should charge up into the room to take out whoever had done that, or if she should hasten to his side, to aid him. Then his voice came as he stood up, thus solving her dilemma. The necessarily worried bounty hunter stared at David for a long moment before she broke into speech. "What the holy hell was *that*? Was it a trap or did someone shoot you? "Her wild-eyed gaze went sweeping back up to the open door. ?Is someone in there or was that ...what the hell ....are you alright?"

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 23:46 EST

"It was, I think, some sort of coil, which was used to short the other jumper?s armor. Mine, thankfully, is closer to its full capacity so it was able to draw on the reserves as soon as it realized it was being overloaded." He spoke of his armor almost as if it was alive and it very well may have been. When he'd stood more fully and collected his thoughts he started across the warehouse and then back up the steps. "It's fine now, you can go inside. It's a common enough trick, short the armor and we are effectively blind, can't breathe for a second and can't survive as much as we should be able to. You'll see it, when you go inside."

In all reality, it was nothing more than a large tangle of wires all fed into one central wire that dangled from the ceiling. As soon as that had touched his armor, things had gone grey, literally, for the raven. As he reached her on the steps once more he pressed a hand to her back and quite sure it was safe, he pushed her gently up the steps. "It does no harm, it's simply meant to make us vulnerable. There was no one inside the office. It was just a trap, something left behind."

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 23:49 EST

Belle watched him as he neared, her eyes trying to make sure of what his voice was telling her. He was alright. He was alive. Unharmed. As he pressed her to go up the steps, she kept looking over her shoulder at him. "You're alright? It didn't hurt you?? By then she was at the top of the steps and entering the room. She did indeed see the contraption and a dull rage piled up inside her. "What a lousy trick to play on a Jumper. It's just damned rude is what it is."

She shook her head and then scanned the room for anything that might be of value. A scattered bunch of papers on a desk pulled her attention and she moved over there. It proved to be a bunch of manifests and shipping logs. "Nothing over here, David." Turning, she saw a chair pulled up to a window. The window, when she moved over to it, proved to have an excellent vantage point looking down on where the torture of the other Jumper must have been. She felt nauseated for a moment and then called for the raven's attention. "David. Someone...they watched." Her eyes turned to his, anger in her own solid green ones. "They watched."

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 23:50 EST

"Granted, falling with no magnetic relays is not comfortable, but I'm not hurt, no. Before you ask, my armor will also be fine in mere moments once it recharges itself." Really, it was nothing more than what she had said, a trick designed to annoy and to discourage as opposed to doing any real harm. He, for his part, turned towards a computer. In the vain hopes that it still worked, and that maybe it was some sort of video recording or even a message of sorts, he dug his fingers into the device and, somewhat gently, ripped the hard drive free. He'd done this before, obviously. Like so many other things, it fell into a pouch someone along his chest. "I'll have someone look at that, for I can't. I'm not really sure how to do those sorts of things."

He, upon discovering that someone had watched the torture of his fellow jumper, assumed it had to be the Bonnard character. David looked over the chair and then ran a hand a few inches above and across the arms, watching as yet another light, a dull yellow, ran under his palm. "Prints, hair follicles, cloth markings. I told you, we?re operatives first." He shrugged and gave the chair a short, highly annoyed kick. "That's fine. He can watch when his wife and children die. Fair is fair, no?"

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 23:52 EST

Nodding at his collection of the hard drive Belle knew that would investigative process have to be hired out, as it were, for she was no computer whiz either. An interested look filled her eyes as he took samples. "Your suit can do that? Collect those things? Damned fine piece of machinery, that." But then his last words, oh, they made her turn and gaze up at him, a little shake of her head given. "David...oh, David no. Kill him. Yes. Kill all his men. Tear his organization down to the very ground. Poison it so it can't grow up again. Ruin his wife, take his money, shame his child. But don't kill them. Not if they aren't actively helping in this." It was time to go toe to toe on principles, it seemed.

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 23:53 EST

"There's quite a bit it can do to be honest. This, I think, is what it was built for. We are, first and foremost, shock troopers, but more often than people realize we are dropped in behind enemy lines or in random places and expected to be a forward element. The eyes and ears, as it were. Self contained is a good word." Now that there was no real threat he spoke evenly and quite calmly. "It is convenient, I suppose. If only it could make sandwiches..." He laughed there for some reason. Maybe he just had to laugh as opposed to burning the building down around himself just to prove that he still had some control. "We'll see what happens. I will allow you to persuade me otherwise in a location other than this. Have you seen what you need to see or should you like another look?" It was an honest question for she was, in this world, an equal.

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 23:54 EST

A feeling of relief filled her, and she shook her head. "I've gotten all I can stand of this place. I don't see any intel we haven't already gathered. Let's blow this joint." Literally, she meant! Her eyes were on him as she moved for the door of the office and then to the stairs. Her mind was on him, for all of this had to be pretty hard to take. Promising herself to hand him Bonnard with her own two hands if she could, the hunter went out the door and then down the steps first.

It was a sign of how much he occupied her mind that she just wasn't paying enough attention. Belle was halfway down when she heard a sound. A boot heel and the crunch of grime and gravel on concrete was the only warning she had. There came the shatteringly loud report of a rifle and then she was flying off the steps to land in a heap at the bottom of them.

The Parthan was dully aware that her head ached, her shoulder was on fire, and she'd lost her gun. Her daddy's gun! It seemed the most important thing just then. Her right arm wasn't working for some reason, so she reached out with her left, just groping, her fingers spasming as she tried to find the metal barrel of the shotgun to clutch. There was a loud buzzing in her ears and she couldn't seem to see very well. Where was her raven? She opened her mouth and instead of his name, blood came out. As if to add insult to injury a smarmy voice seemed to rise and fall in her head. "Well, lookey what we have here, fellas. Some little slitch is trespassing on Bonnard's property." It would seem that David had not yet been seen.

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-21 23:56 EST

He, of course, had followed shortly after the bounty hunter. During the time she was taking the steps, he had turned and stared towards the corner of the room and simply wondered what it had been. Here there were no answers and likely there would never be any answers. He took his time in gathering the jumper?s things, but dropped them quite as soon as he heard the bullet break the sound barrier. Without even thinking he leaped out of the door and within mere seconds had identified the voice's location and Belle's as well.

In a more calm mood he'd have left the man alive for a few questions. Not tonight, however. This time, with the scene behind him and the one in front of him, he stepped over Belle's body. Straddling her, he squeezed his palm together, twice in quick order. On cue, time seemed to stop, at least for anything in an arc around him. As before, the front of his armor ripped open sending one plate fully away and into the darkness. Split seconds later all that remained was a ring of ash and dust. Within that short time the front of his armor, the fail safe he relied on, with incredible violence and shocking ease had turned a pair of men and most of the block behind them into a smear of ruined material. As quickly as a camera's flash the searing heat had rolled away from him, in a specified degree of arc in front of him and left nothing, absolutely nothing alive.

His armor, sadly enough, had taken quite a hit for this blast. For a moment he fumed silently and then berated himself for his idiocy. The other man's armor would work to provide a replacement, for he could take the plate he needed. Belatedly, he glanced down and behind himself and realized there was far, far too much heated liquid pooled around Belle, as opposed to inside of her. Quickly, he bent down and shielded her with his body in case anyone else should show up with ill intent. The blast he?d issued, long perfected, offered no harm to anyone not in that degree of arc preset as the blast radius. She should not have been further injured by the blast. Instantly, his hands began feeling, searching for some wound. "Tell me what's wrong?"

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-21 23:59 EST

She was looking up when that nasty voice had spoken. Up, when the raven burst out of the door above her. Up, when he fell down upon her, or so it had seemed to her when he landed straddled over her. It was like a dream, her mind in a haze of pain and confusion. She simply couldn't seem to make her brain work very well. Ideas and thoughts came within reach and then slipped away before she could get hold of them.

And so she remained looking up at that armored figure looming over her while he took out half a city block with the explosives in his armor. The light was incredible; it dazzled her. The Parthan's eyes fluttered shut as it burst and blew outwards, the smarmy voice burned to ash before it could say anything else, ever again. She was conscious of a feeling of satisfaction that it should be so.

But mostly she was aware that she must be okay, because her raven had once more fallen upon her, as he had weeks ago. Then the light dimmed and returned to normal and he was touching her, hurting her. She didn't care, for she would let him even do that to her if he?d wanted it. If only she could breathe right! Again she tried to say his name, and this time she managed it, but it tasted of copper and salt.

David?s searching hands would find she had a respectable sized hole in her right shoulder and from the way blood was dribbling out of her mouth, it had nicked the lung at least. There was a lump on the side of her head but it wasn't caved inwards, so that was a good sign. No bones looked to be broken but she wasn't moving her right arm, for obvious reasons. "My gun...daddy's gun." Her voice was a wet whisper, the sound of confusion in it. "Help me....gotta find it."

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-22 00:01 EST

He could have tried to do something. Instead, he glanced around and looked up. For a second he thought and then his head shook. Within his helmet he barked out a short command. "On me, now." It would be faster this way. A medic he can be, but a medic he is not, not entirely. He'd leave it up to someone else, or to something else, as it were. Upon uttering the command and hearing it repeated by the recipient he turned again and quickly placed a small beacon on the ground. It glowed with an almost eerie light.

The space wasn't big enough for his ship to land in, naturally. From within his pack, David drew forth small charges, bricks shaped with one purpose. The building they had been inside would have to go. He moved quickly, one brick finding a home at each corner, and then one was placed above the door. Before he fired any of them, he turned back and dropped a small device at Belle's feet. It was the same thing he?d done before, the same small cylinder that threw up a magnetic shield. When he realized the shield had activated he initiated the controlled explosion he?d set and with another intense burst of light and sound he removed the warehouse, just that easily. That would be hard to miss.

Then a strange sound began to fall from the sky. At first it was quite loud, almost a whining noise. Once the frigate was close enough the dampers kicked in and it fell to the ground, landing softly. All in all, the vessel was sleek, a jet black in color and designed for speed and grace. Hidden entirely behind a complex array of deflection devices, it cut through the night like a raven circling a wounded worm. Of course, she was armed, and heavily. One could not doubt that she was built, used, and applied for one single purpose: war. The bottom opened, and a harried looking man stepped out, rubbing sleep from his eyes. "Wha-..."

David, for his part, had already picked Belle up and rested her shotgun across her knees while he held her loosely to his chest. "Shut up. Just go, anywhere but here." The hatch closed behind him, and should she be able to pay enough attention, the ship?s got pristine walls, a laboratory like space. Inside, the vessel was spacious, well designed and impeccably clean. From stern to bow she must have measured slightly over a football field in length. A few turns were taken, and David kicked open a door. Another man, this time a silent one, stood over a bed almost as if he was posted here. "Fix her, now." David laid Belle down on the table, and the man, as opposed to really doing much, simply inserted two needles, one into each arm. "Stimulants." That was given to Belle, the words from David. "They will allow you to heal on your own quickly, or at least stabilize. If that fails we go into surgery, naturally."

He watched, removing his helmet quite easily. That helmet, for it's troubles or maybe for it's failure to protect Belle, was thrown towards a wall at random. As the ship lifted and moved upwards it would have been hard to tell, but the pressure changed and there was a faint, faint whine of an engine. David barked out another series of commands. "Don't bother with slip space, that's not safe for her, not now. Hide, and quickly." Again, the purr started, and surely, if she could even notice, the gravity soon meant nothing, not in the reaches of this world's atmosphere, and they were still climbing. As worried as he was, even with the burden of command, David made not a motion from her bed, not one at all.

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-22 00:01 EST

The Parthan was aware of his arms. She was aware of her gun. Those were the only two things she cared about in the universe at the moment. And pretty much all of the time, really. The shadow of the ship pulled her eyes towards it and she thought the angel of death was coming for her, but she only laughed at him. David might hear her choking out some words, blood-tainted and spattering her chin. "No. No, you can't take me. My raven has me." She even laughed, a pitiful sound, sputtered and husked out of her, so sure was she that while David had her she was inviolable.

The journey through the ship was a confused set of images. Hallway, back of her eyelids, room, back of her eyelids, and so on. Another man appeared, but her Hell Jumper stayed over her, guarding her. She never felt the prick of the needles going in, but David should feel the fingers of her left hand, curled into his, once he came back from throwing his helmet around. There followed a period of hazy confusion. Her body seemed to take flight, and the pain, such intense pain that she'd thought a brand was in her shoulder, finally eased, though it didn't go away completely. She could breath again, could see again. That must be one hell of a stimulant she'd been given. More than a stimulant, in fact. Her lung, not quite deflated, had been sealed, and negative pressure restored, allowing it to work properly again.

When next she opened her eyes it was some time later, and there he was. Still looming over her, like black wings spread to cover her. Her voice came in a whisper that no longer sprayed a fine mist of blood. "David."

David Ricktor · Date: 2013-07-22 00:02 EST

"You're on my frigate. We'll name it tomorrow. I assure you there is no safer place, none that I can give you, and there is no place that can offer more advanced care. These are stimulants we?re giving you will most likely enhance your natural Parthan ability to heal so we may avoid any invasive surgery. We won't know until they have had time to fully work." Her fingers, however, gave him some good news with their curl into his own and he relaxed slightly.

The doctor turned and looked at the both of them with a frown, much like an annoyed parent. David muttered at him. "You can go now." That one, upon taking the veiled orders, turned and locked the door behind them. A chair was pulled up, and bloody armor or not, David fell into it, unwilling to leave even for a moment. "We also have your bike, it's in one of the storage bays. Until you're healed we can stay here or until you want to go back. I highly, highly doubt Bonnard will chase us to space, but if he does that would be almost laughable." He shrugged, for it had been a spur of the moment choice, a panicky thought which had taken them to a place he knew best, the cold depths of the spaces in between worlds. Her fingers, of course, were given a faint squeeze of his own, and when he leaned forward he brushed a kiss across her cheek. "Sleep. You'll want it and you'll need it."

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-22 00:04 EST

Feeling far too much like a day old kitten for her liking, Belle took in his words, trying to figure out how they'd gotten on the ship. She had vague recollections of a black angel, death flying in to snatch her up. How much she understood of what he said was not immediately obvious, for her face showed only strain and tiredness. She was clearly experiencing pain, and it was a struggle to follow.

"Okay. We'll name it. Yeah." She took a breath in and a breath out, and then another. It felt so good to breathe, and so she told him. "I can breathe." She felt it necessary to inform him of this. And then, as if his permission to sleep was needed, she smiled and gave a weak nod of her head. She was missing quite a bit of blood. Her eyes closed. "Sleep, yes." And then they snapped back open. "Don't leave me." She could see when she looked, though, that he was prepared to stay. Too out of it to be aware of his needs, to insist he go rest, she was only happy he was there and was going to stay with her. Her eyes closed again. "Raven." Finally, she slept, while his stimulants and her own Parthan blood worked to heal her.

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-28 15:02 EST

The hunter was settled at her table, flipping through her notebook, a gin and tonic at her elbow. Early in the morning for a drink? Damn straight it was. Did she care? Not one little rat's arse. She was feeling more herself, thankfully, after that horrible episode at the warehouse. Pausing on one particular page, she frowned at the information there. Why would Bonnard have a share in a brothel? It seemed kind of low down for a man who was aiming to rule the world.

Bonnard Enterprises · Date: 2013-07-28 15:03 EST

The door dragged along it's tracks before it slid open and admitted the newest person to pass through this particular gateway. Note that there wasn't any blow to speed it along. Instead, Marcus' hands were busy smoothing the near immaculate suit he'd had someone pick for him. "You know, you're not that hard to find." Without bothering to grace Belle with his eyes, he found a stool at the bar, and upon sitting, finally turned around to stare at her. "Drinking, this early? Doesn't that make you an alcoholic, or something?" He spoke casually, while a moment was passed to inspect his nails, everything had to be perfect. "Where's your noble, misunderstood martyr of a liar, hmm? Granted, it took a while to find a time when you two would be apart, which is kind of cute, but all the same, it's such a pleasure to finally meet you."

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-28 15:04 EST

Belle wasn't expecting David. He was off doing whatever it was that he found needed doing. Probably checking his ship or something, which they had yet to name, which fact randomly flitted through her mind as she lifted her drink up for a sip. It was then that the door opened. She looked up, the sight of the suited man in the doorway proving an effective stimulus, for she felt her adrenaline release and hit her body, all while she sat perfectly still. She stared as if she were the prey of the cobra, whose hypnotizing gaze held her very unmoving. And he wasn't even looking at her!

It was impossible not to note the perfection of his suit, the immaculate shoes, the expensive cut of his silvering hair, and his clean shaven appearance. Her nose wrinkled slightly at the very expensive scent of the cologne he was wearing. Or was it parfum, via the French Connection? Her heart thudded against her ribs as she made herself unfreeze, his words sending a flush of fury rising to her cheeks. This was quelled, as well, and then she took another sip of her drink, all casual arrogance and unmoved aplomb. "For a business owner, you are very rude." Placing his quest for an empire at the lower, more vulgar merchant level, she gave him her cool, chilly smile. It hopefully went unnoticed by him that her free hand was no longer holding her notebook, but had dropped out of sight, to the grip of one her Kimber Raptors.

Bonnard Enterprises · Date: 2013-07-28 15:05 EST

"For a seemingly well intentioned bounty hunter, you sleep with a murderer." Finally, he affixed the woman with a somewhat glacial stare, glacial due to the simple fact that, as of yet, it had never quite unfrozen. Oh, he saw the lack of the notebook, he noted where her hand must have been. "Threats, really? You won't kill me, if you wanted that you'd have turned your knight in not so shining armor on me, right?"

Deliberately, he turned his back on her and made a show of selecting a bottle. When that was done he turned back with a bottle of scotch on his lips. "But, that's neither here nor there. He's your protection, Belle, isn't he? He's who you go running to, right? I don't need to know the details, but it's easy to see. I've been in love before, it hurts, a lot. You run to him, you tell him the secrets you couldn't ever tell anyone else, right? He's your armor, I'd assume. What do you do when he's gone?" The bottle came down, only to rest between him palms. His smile was off-kilter, unbalanced, and far from controlled. "But, that's love, right? You won't see him hurt, so maybe you'd give yourself up to spare him? It's up to you, really. You or him, or both. It can be you, or you can give me him, it's that simple. He's one man, I'm an empire. I can afford to lose thousands, but can you or he afford to lose one?"

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-28 15:08 EST

The Parthan was a little confused. According to her reports, this man never went anywhere without his own protection, his group of bodyguards or "assistants" or whatever was the cool term to call them these days. She sent a look over towards the door to the place, as if she might see through it to the other side, to know if his men were there. Her gaze slipped back to the man, whose sanity she was rapidly beginning to question.

Hazels that were now solid green, the gold utterly extinguished, settled on his face, on his eyes. Such cold eyes. Really, they were rather unbalanced eyes, she felt. A chill ran down her spine, and she rose up in one smooth motion, almost simply to be rid of that shudder, to shake it off of her. She wanted nothing of this man to touch her, not even a reaction he inspired.

The barrel of her shotgun poked up behind her left shoulder, and her left hand was on the butt of her Kimber. The other, well, it still held her drink. She gave him her own cold smile again and then lifted up her drink, as if she were considering. Then she sipped it, before raising sable brows. "I think you must be a trifle overexcited, Bonnard. You aren't being perfectly clear." She strolled closer, though only a few feet, mostly to make him think she wasn't one bit worried about him. "You are doing a lot of rambling about love. What happened, did you get your own heart broken? Did she sleep around on you? Or could you just not get it up for her anymore? Hmm?" She smiled again. "So what is it that you are offering, here? It must be an offer, for I don't see a ladyboy like you coming to a rough, tough bar like this without you phalanx of guards just to have a drink with a bounty hunter, yeah?"

Bonnard Enterprises · Date: 2013-07-28 15:10 EST

"No, no. She just, well...." He paused, and before he spoke, the spark behind his eyes told an entirely different tale. He'd watched torture more than once. "She just didn't come around anymore, you know? In all reality, it's pretty simple. Those brave souls in dark armor, those men who hide behind such mystique came and do you know what they do, Belle? When they jump, they slaughter ever living soul they see. It's not pretty. Moral of the story is, David's very same brigade killed my only son."

Her verbal sparring, apparently, drew some form of a reaction. While not showing any of the finely edged anger, he laughed, deeply into his bottle. "Couldn't get it up? You know, he's not here, Belle. He really doesn't care, either. He'll use you until he's bored and he'll put that helmet back on and walk away. Lives are toys, to them. But I digress. I could get it up for you, if you were tied down, but just enough so you could squirm a bit. Gagged, probably, but not tightly enough to silence you, as I'd want to hear it before it all ended. We were rushed in that warehouse, I assure you. That's beside the point."

Lazily, he propped his elbow on the bar and held up his chin, the point resting in his palm. "I'm offering you this. Either way, I'm going to get what I want, which is another ruined suit of armor. You can either go with him or you can give him to me. I can pay, I can just never find you again or I can find you again and use you to get him. It's up to you."

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-28 15:11 EST

Belle felt her belly clench as she heard the man speak of whomever that poor woman had been. She discovered she had a vast amount of pity for her, because that flare in the man's eyes had been a very nasty glow. Her brows furrowed as he revealed what had happened to his son, and who had done the killing of him. She was about to defend the role of Hell Jumpers, but the man surprised her, took another turn that was just as nasty as that look in his eyes had been when he spoke of his woman.

She went a little pale at the image he produced in her mind; tied down with this man listening to her screams. Her heart sped up as more adrenaline crashed into her system. The memory of that chair set up with the bird's eye view of the other hell jumper's torture filled her mental eyes, too. She found herself actually hating the man before her. It was like a bad, bad taste in her mouth.

She had to think, though, had to use this against him, had to work to keep David safe. Belle looked unmoved, but for the telltale beat of pulse at the base of her throat, and her dilated eyes. "Hmm. So this deal is that I give up the hell jumper and you let me go, yeah? No later reprisals? How am I supposed to trust your word for that? You don't look like the sort who lets people get the best of him. "She used flattery there, to see what happened.

Bonnard Enterprises · Date: 2013-07-28 15:12 EST

"I can't get it up for anyone, so what the hell would I want with you? You know, that's probably why he likes you, really. Look around this town, Belle, ever feel like you fall flat? What the hell would I need you for, hmm? I can buy prettier whores, really."

The laughter he offered, this time to the world, was as unsteady as his expressions, a fleeting thing, a volatile shift in his nature. "You'll accept him, that's why he likes you." Sagely, he nodded, but a roll of his hand put him back on topic.

"You're nothing but a way to get to him. In my eyes, that's all you can be. You're not smart enough, fast enough with a gun, ruthless enough or pretty enough to fit in my world, I promise you that. So you can make yourself valuable or you can get hurt. I did my research. You heal faster, or something? You sure came back from a bullet wound pretty quickly. See where this is going? We could keep you on the brink, let you heal and do it all over again for weeks and weeks, if that's what it took."

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-28 15:14 EST

Sable brows rose and fell sharply at that admission from the man. What man ever said that to an enemy? Then he went and told her things she already knew. The hunter had no illusions about her looks. She was pretty enough, sure. But beauty just wasn't on the table, though for some reason, David seemed to think it was. Her teeth ground as he kept saying that the jumper only wanted her because she was willing to tolerate a murderer in her bed.

Belle let him have his say, her eyes gleaming like hard emeralds in the bar's lighting. "You didn't do your research well enough, it would seem, Bonnard. First off, I am not a whore. You can't buy anything like me, not in this market. I may not be smart enough, fast enough, or pretty enough for your world, and thank all the makers for that, because your world is a filthy pit of putrescent back slum semen trying to look pretty and seize power. I don't want in your world, you crowing and castrated little rooster. Just you remember this. I was fast enough and smart enough to mess up your boys in that warehouse, and to survive your second team, too. Put that in your throat and choke on it. As for a deal? I would sooner sleep with a snake. I think your mommy is calling you. Time to go back to your den and plot something, yeah?"

Bonnard Enterprises · Date: 2013-07-28 15:16 EST

"Oh!" He pointed when she spoke and during her entire rant he laughed, quite loudly. "She's got a back bone. That's fine, really. The ones who try and act tough are always the most fun to break. You know, in some odd sense, I admire the Hell Jumpers, really. You can't get a reaction out of them. You know, they took a blow torch to David's friend for an hour and never once, not once did he even make a sound. Amazing, isn't it?"

Easily, he pushed off the bar. Before, it'd been a game, but now, those pale blue eyes fell into a long, long stare. "Fine, Belle. That was your out and it's gone now. Don't walk around without him, really. You're his weakness, you're the flaw in his armor. Keep that in mind when you sleep with him and keep that in mind when you stare up at him. You're a liability to him. Think about that, when you're all alone and he's doing something else. Every second you two get closer is another step in a direction that makes my life easy."

Her insults, when he thought back on them, drew another laugh and as he walked towards the door he threw a flippant wave over one shoulder. "I'm sure we'll see each other again. Well, you may not see me, but you know. You've got pretty eyes. I may have my boys take them out first." He waited, patiently, for the door. When it opened, he left the room quite casually, almost as if nothing had happened, not a thing that was outside of his comfort zone.

Belle Cane · Date: 2013-07-28 15:18 EST

His laughter made her want to shoot him then and there. Her lips tightened to a hard line as he spoke and threatened and insulted. When he pushed off the bar, she tensed, her fingers but a hairsbreadth away from pulling her gun. He didn't near her, though, but went for the door.

It was his words that went round and round and round in her mind. A liability. She was a liability to him. His weak link. His weakness. Belle found herself breathing fast and hard, and a fine film of sweat had formed on her forehead. A cold sweat. Her eyes. The fxxker would take her eyes? All while images of that poor son of a bxtching hell jumper writhing under a blow torch ran through her head.

Once the door closed behind the man she snarled before whirling into action, her glass suddenly flung against a wall of the bar, to shatter and lie in broken pieces on the floor. "That man needs to be shot down like the mad dog he is." Which begged the question? Why had she not just shot him? Oh, yeah. His goons would no doubt have come pouring through that door and taken her down before she could do more than hole a few of them.

The woman sighed, looked at her fallen notebook, and then stooped to pick it up. It was time to meet up with the hell jumper. The Parthan moved for a portal and used that rather than door. Bonnard and his goons might be waiting for her outside. Then she was gone, shimmering out of sight and existence from that little bar.

Bonnard Enterprises · Date: 2013-07-30 12:15 EST

The man sitting at his pristine desk of white-coated steel and glass looked out over his office with a satisfied sneer on his chiseled lips. It was a huge space, and it was all white on white, with sharp lines and uncompromising furniture. There wasn?t a soft line in the room. White walls, white carpet, white furniture, and even white desk tools, such as his phone and laptop. He idly wondered if it was the sign of a sick mind; it made him laugh to question such a thing. It didn?t really matter, did it? He was the one in charge and those beneath him would just have to deal with that.

Bonnard?s eyes returned to the communiqu? on his laptop. So much to do. So little time. The people who wanted Ricktor were growing impatient. They also wanted to know what had happened to their precious second hell jumper, sent as a backup to Bonnard?s own efforts. Well, he had scotched that little plan, hadn?t he? Once again his laugh filtered out from between compressed lips, an odd taint to the sound. It wasn?t precisely maniacal, but it surely would raise the hair on the back of any listener?s neck.

Cold blue eyes returned to the view his floor-to-ceiling windows gave him of Rhydin?s business district. He was in the penthouse, naturally. It was his own building. The sky was a pale, pale blue, just like his eyes, he was sure. It was a clear day out there, and a hot one. Inside it was precisely 70 degrees, exactly as he liked it. This man was used to having things exactly as he liked them. One long-fingered hand lifted up to press the intercom to his secretary. ?Bring in the files on my best five men. You know the ones I mean.? Her answer was cut off mid-stream by his impatient hand. Listening to an expensive little piece like that wasn?t on his agenda for the day. Nor for any day.

Back to studying the view, he considered his options. A heavy-boned hand tapped perfectly manicured fingers on the desk as he thought. He hadn?t been surprised when Ricktor?s tame little bounty hunter hadn?t snapped up his offer. He was, though, disappointed that he wouldn?t get to see her face upon discovering he?d never meant to let her go. She was far too valuable for her blood alone, though she didn?t seem to recognize that fact. This little game was as much about her as it was the fxxking hell jumper, at least in monetary potential.

Turning his head back to his desk again, he pressed that little button once more. ?Get me someone who knows something about the Parthan screw-up. I want scientists or anyone who has a clue about what biological killed off their planet. Have it researched and get back to me on that asap. I want something by tonight, or else you can find yourself another job, sweetheart.? The alarmed and hasty assurances were again cut off, the man smiling at even such a small thing as frightening his secretary.

Sure, the Parthans had destroyed their planet. Everyone knew that. But that didn?t mean someone more careful couldn?t do a better job than they had. There was no saying that such a biological might not make a very neat little weapon. Why, with such a thing, he could have Rhydin by the short hairs. Hell, he could even own the outlying areas run by the barons and such petty rulers as that. The ice blue eyes gleamed with plans and methods; ways and means convoluted with diabolical plots as he sat there, awaiting the fruits of his demands.

Topic: Perdition to Conviction : Descent of a Hell Jumper

David Ricktor

Belle Cane

David Ricktor

Belle Cane

David Ricktor

Belle Cane

David Ricktor

Belle Cane

David Ricktor

Belle Cane

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David Ricktor

Belle Cane

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