Blades and Kurt: Back On the Blood Trail

[RobbyL9]

"Let go of me you fools, I was about to answer!" Amad yelled, visibly annoyed at Kurt's comments about him and his wife. He calmed down a moment and went on "Now then, Mr. Jervada... I first learned that your friend had been conducting the investigation after the file was brought to me after he escaped."

While he spoke, Blades looked and listened intently, a neutral expression on his face. He nodded and motioned for Amad to go on as he calmly explained the situation to the two of them. He explained who was in charge of filing Blades' case, what precinct he worked for, when the filing was made and when the file was transferred up to Amad's level. When he finally finished, Blades laid his pistols down on the desk and propped himself up onto it.

It appeared that the two mercenaries had just gotten all that they were going to get and without much bloodshed either. Suddenly, Blades' neutral expression turned to a smile and he started laughing good-naturedly. "Hehehe. You're LY-ing." he said in a childing sing-song voice "And I know that you're lying."

"Really? You know that I'm lying? When I remained perfectly collected and explained to you every last detail, including the ones that are privileged information, you think I'm lying?" Amad said with a sigh, sitting back "What are you, a bloody mind-reader, is that it? You read my mind or something?"

"No. No I didn't." Blades said, the smile still broad on his face as he got back up "I read your EYES. And the eyes don't lie." He walked around the desk for a few seconds and opened one of the side-drawers, finding a picture of a pretty, young woman with light brown skin and dark hair sitting on a balcony smiling. Not his wife.

Setting the picture down, he looked over "Lemme get this straight. You didn't even know what I was DOING?! Agh!" Blades threw up his arms "Okay. Fine. A quick credit's worth of free advice on lying, see this is what us REAL investigators do, study liars. Let's say I was to ask you a visual question, like what your favorite color is, and your eyes go up and to the left. Simple neurophysiology tells me that your eyes go in that direction because you're accessing the visual cortex, ergo you're telling the truth. Now if your eyes go up and to the right, you're accessing the more creative centers of the brain and I know you're full 'a shit."

Amad adjusted himself in the chair and crossed his legs in the opposite direction. He refused to answer, just staring and shrugging his shoulders.

"Okay, Vicki, let's try this again. What's your favorite holo-vid?"

"I'm not playing your stupid games mercenary."

"Oh WHYYYY? You afraid we're gonna catch you in a lie?" No reaction "Okay. Kurt, he's probably been conditioned to resisted torture, luckily every bureaucratic asshole has something valuable in their office that they care about. What do you make of this picture?" Blades said, holding up the picture he found and looking at it.

"What's a guy need with a picture of a woman who looks young enough to be his daughter, but attractive enough to be the subject of last month's centerfold? Just why isn't she out on your desk?"

Blades set the picture down roughly and looked over at Kurt "How long do you think he's been cheating? If he's in 'secret framed picture' territory, it has to have been going on for at least a few months. Wouldn't you say?"

[Revan Jast]

Kurt nodded, then leaned forward and patted Amad on the shoulder. "Sorry pal, didn't mean to suggest you never went down on anyone at all."

He glanced at the picture and then back at Amad. Pointing to it, he said: "A man in Legal Affairs caught with his dick up the Tunnel of Love. I don't think fucking around on your wife is illegal, but I'd say it's certainly immoral. Not something to teach your kids." Kurt snorted, then added: "Whoever the mother may be."

[RobbyL9]

"Precisely. And if there's anything I can't stand, it's somebody who sleeps around with no guilt or even a thought of the consequences." Blades quipped, looking in Kurt's direction and noticing that he had raised his eyebrow, but ignoring it. "I can't read minds, Officer Amad. But I can see into the future, given the right circumstances. For instance..."

Blades reached down to Amad's belt and pulled a miniature datapad off of it. "I look through here for your wife's number." he continued, scrolling through the names "I call it up. I talk to her or leave a message, whichever comes first. And in a few months you're divorced, out of a job and completely without a pot to piss in."

Amad shook his head rapidly, his right hand clenching "You wouldn't be able to prove a thing to her."

Blades found the number and wrote it down, tossing the device at Amad's face and hitting him in the nose "See, that's where you're wrong. I've been a private-sector investigator for a long time and I've come to discover a woman's intuition is a lot stronger than you'd think. A lot of them just don't act on it without concrete proof. THAT is where I come in."

Blades listed off the signs on his fingers "Aloofness at home, less-frequent interest in the bedroom." he pointed at Kurt "Showing that he has the 'talent' to go down on someone without seeming to know it before. These are all tell-tale signs. So you can stare up at me outraged with those dead-assed eyes of yours all day long and wait for your wife to come here and bail your ass out, or..."

Blades retrieved a roll of duct tape that he had found in the alley from a loop on his pants. He double-taped Amad's mouth shut and got out his comm device and started dialing. His thumb tensed over the send button. "Last chance, Vicki." He pressed it down slowly. Amad drew in his breath and screamed at the top of his lungs as it depressed all the way. After ringing a few times, the line picked up and the faint sound of a middle-aged woman could be heard on the other end.

"Hello?" she asked

"Hello Mrs. Amad? Is your husband there?" Blades said in a deeper voice, sounding professional.

"No, he's not."

"Do you know why he's not?"

"Mmm-kmay! MMM-KAY!" Amad finally shouted through the tape.

"Because he is a great man and he loves you just the way you are. Farewell." Blades smiled devilishly as he hung up and ripped off the tape with his free hand. "Talk."

Amad breathed in a sigh of relief "Okay. Okay. I'll tell you. A few weeks back we had an anonymous tipster." he began "Tipster said that someone had been trying to investigate the case of the Lady in Blue. Sent us evidence plus a physical description that matched yours, and you were recognized later on, which led to your arrest."

"I always wear my mask and armor when I'm on missions. How could someone possible have given you a physical description?" Blades said seriously, leaning in.

Amad looked up "The tipster gave us a description of what you look like without any armor on. There were pictures of you with your armor on, true, but there were also pictures of you taking it off and going to sleep in a hotel room."

Blades looked at Amad without a word, a shocked expression on his face with this new development. Had he really been being followed for the past few weeks and not even known it? Suddenly Blades no longer felt very comfortable with his mask up and quickly slammed it back down.

"What was the name of the tipster?" Blades demanded, picking up his guns, suddenly enraged.

"We kept it anonymous."

"WHAT. WAS. THE NAME?!!" Blades screamed as he pressed both pistols to Amad's forehead.

Click. Suddenly Blades heard the most unwelcome sound he could possibly have heard at that particular moment.

[Revan Jast]

Kurt turned his head towards the sound of the door opening at record speed. A woman clothed in a dress suit stepped inside, a folder in one hand. It took him two seconds to realize she was the woman in the photo... not the one of his wife.

"Hot damn, Mister Amad. You're just full of cliche's! Not only are you a cheater, but you fuck the secretary! Hey Blades, how come it's always the secretary? I never had a thing for a nicely dressed woman, to be honest..."

The woman screamed and backed towards the door. Kurt leaped forward, knife in hand. "We're salesmen, you see. Great knife I got here! Guess what? It can belong to you today! Never struggle with slicing bread, fruit, or vegetables again!"

Still screaming, the woman pulled the door open and started down the hall. "And if you accept now, you'll get two of them for the same low price!" Kurt yelled after her. Once she vanished around the corner, he slammed the door shut and moved towards Blades. "She wasn't interested," he said, shrugging. "I have a fucking horrible sales pitch anyways."

He looked at Amad again. "Talk right this second or we're taking you over the side with us," he said, pointing to the window. "Except you don't get the luxury of a grappling rope," he added, winking.

[RobbyL9]

The hallways and the office rang aloud with the sounds of Kurt's 'sales pitch' as he ran after her. At this point both Blades and Amad were looking on with slacked jaws. "On second thought, Kurt... I've just changed my mind." Blades managed to stammer "There really is no other profession, nor hope for a normal life, for you. Seek help and medication immediately. Oh and get the zipline ready!!"

Blades quickly grabbed Amad and pulled him in by the shirt one last time "I'm on my way out so maybe you'd better tell me the name of the informant."

"I don't know, it was completely anonymous. I swear."

Smack! A single punch rocked across Amad's face and knocked him out. The recoil was so much that it sent the chair keeling over towards the floor. Blades stopped and shook his head on his way to the window.

"How's our escape coming, psycho?" he asked, holstering his pistols. Down the hall he heard the approaching sound of the guards.

[Revan Jast]

Kurt reached into a pouch on his belt and removed a tightly wrapped bundle of what looked like nylon or something of the sort. He took one end of it and, removing a small spear-like projectile from another pouch with his other hand, began to attach the two. Once done, he inserted the spear into the barrel of another small gun he kept hidden in his boot. Leaning out the window, he fired it into the wall above him, the force of the projection driving it deep into the stone and metal. Satisfied, he repeated the action with the other end and aimed for a building across the street, pulling the trigger.

"Pretty good, Blades. Let's get the fuck outta here, what do you say?" Kurt stepped back and turned around. "If it holds, we're home safe. If it doesn't... hope you don't break your legs."

Laughing at Blades' expression, Kurt slapped him on the shoulder to signify he was joking and leaned over Amad. "Hope you don't kiss your wife with that mouth," he said, grinning. "Or get something stuck in your teeth. I don't think the 'Hossok Leaves for lunch' explanation is gonna work for that one!"

Amad howled at him in fury. Chuckling, Kurt stood on the windowsill and wrapped his glove-encased hands around the zipline. "Let's blow this fucking joint," he said to Blades before sliding down to the street.

[RobbyL9]

"Love and cherish your wife..." Blades call out as he readied himself "Or I'll call her!" He zipped down the line after Kurt. Once he landed on the ground beside Kurt he motioned down the alley and started running. "Just run this way. We can lose them in the square!"

Tearing out of the alleyway, Blades shoved his way through the crowd outside the building. "Go on, get out of the way! Fucking move it!" he shouted, tossing them left and right. Not too long after that he could hear people screaming behind him and guessed that either Kurt must have been playing the infomercial act again or the guards were in pursuit.

"STOP! This is the Tarisian Security Force. Surrender and lay down your arms or we WILL take you by force!" he heard a commanding voice boom over a loudspeaker.

"Oh yeah?" Blades grunted out loud to himself, dodging their fire and running faster when they opened fire "Says you and what army?"

[Revan Jast]

Kurt nodded and broke through the crowd, shouldering the people out of the way. His eyes darted left and right as he searched for openings in the massive throng of people. Growling under his breath, he moved for the side of the street where it was clearer.

After the TSF announced themselves and they began firing through the crowd towards him, he brought his arm up and tapped a few keys on his wristpad. Closing it, he reached for his grappling hook just as the activators in his suit fired and cloaked his entire body in an invisible shield. Unfortunately it would only last some 30 seconds, so he had to make this fast. Swinging the hook as he went, he released it and watched it sail up and out in front of him, catching on the lip of the roof of the building just ahead.

Holding tight, he began to scale up the side of the building with his feet, the cable retracting into his belt as he went. Reaching the top, he pulled himself up and began to run alongside Blades, who was on the street below.

"You've got a wall of security assholes coming right at you, Blades," he said through his comm. "They've got their guns out, too. Try to stay as far away from them as possible."

Kurt removed his rifle from his back and leaped to the next building, which was a mere three foot jump. "They're all coming down the middle of the street from the looks of it. Stick to the sides."

[RobbyL9]

Blades noticed the wall of troopers coming for him through the dispersing crowd. "Oh shit!" he muttered, breaking left down the open street. The new wall of security forces didn't seem very concerned with hitting civilians and opened fire with stun shells when he came into their sight.

Dodging the shots, Blades un-holstered his pistol and sprinted out of their sight. The street before him looked clear, a straight shot out. "Kurt!" he gasped into his mask radio, when the stun shells turned to lethal rounds "Let's split up! Several blocks north-northeast there's a red zone. I'll send you the coords and we'll meet up in a little while. Go, GO!"

Blades noticed an alleyway to his right and ducked into it, running straight for a few yards, then going right, then left. When he came out the other side, he ran into the alley on the opposite end of the street and whipped out his datapad. He quickly programmed the coordinates before hearing a large sound above him and running off again.

"I'm more popular than I thought." he mused at this new development, sticking to the alleys. The sound got louder and louder as time went on. Blades had a pretty good idea of what was in the skies above him and didn't want to see it. He sprinted out of the alley into a vacant street.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a uniformed officer from the security force appeared in front of Blades. Blades couldn't stop in time and the two men collided with each other.

The officer fell backwards and onto the street, while Blades fell face-first onto the street, his mask saving him from stitches but the impact still hurting like hell. This, however, was the least of the winded mercenary's problems. On his way toward the pavement, Blades had noticed the officer was wearing a visor.

His mind raced in rapid-motion as he slid toward the curb. He got a face-hump's view of my mask. Those new visors take pictures almost instantly. Information processes at the speed of light. Let's see, I'm going to get my crap pushed in in T-minus three, two, NOW!!!

Blades finally slid to a stop against the curb, his brains rattling in his head. He could hear the officer groaning nearby, but as predicted that sound was overshadowed by a much larger one. He rolled onto his back and did a kip-up just in time to be caught and blinded by a spotlight on the way up.

"STOP! SURRENDER OR WE OPEN FIRE, FUGITIVE!" a magnified voice boomed from the opened side hatch of a hovercraft. Blades shielded his eyes from the light and activated his mask's HUD scanner.

No... I do not believe this! he screamed mentally VAAT Enforcer. Fully restored... he zoomed in and tagged the missile launchers Dumbfire thermal-tipped concussion missiles. Please tell me that my luck is not THAT bad.

"THIS... IS YOUR FINAL WARNING." the voice continued, as a fast rope appeared out the side and two armored officers zipped down.

Blades looked around at the surrounding area and his current situation. The dropship had him in its sights, two officers had dropped down, the third one was recovering and there were sure to be a small heavily-armed army still in the ship.

The alleyway to his left had a fire escape leading to the roof, but didn't run all the way through due to a several foot-high fence blocking the way. The alley he had come from was too far away to duck back into without being shot. Blades weighed his options for the final time.

Slowly, he raised his arms high into the air and called out "You got me! I surrender!"

[Revan Jast]

Kurt nodded as Blades gave the order to split, peering over the edge of the roof down to the street below. The other merc vanished into a nearby alleyway, leaving Kurt a lone wolf once again, at least temporarily. He stood and looked to his left and right, wondering which path to take. He could head back to ground level and stick to the back paths, but then again, Taris Security had a problem with looking up.

Deciding to stay skyhigh, he broke into a run for the next building, a structure that was (unfortunately) too high for him to simply grapple up. Things were in his favor once again, however. Leaping the gap between the two buildings, he turned his body into a human bullet and smashed through the window in front of him. Several screams greeted him, and there was a light thud as someone fainted. He'd apparently dove right into a party.

"Sorry folks, thought I'd drop in," he said, running past them. He grabbed a steak off the table as he went (he was getting hungry) and ran through the front door and into the hall. Stairs... where were the stairs?

He found them and jogged up, taking a bite of the food as he went. Delicious!

The roof-path to the plaza was now laid before him, so he headed north, jumping the gaps as he went. Security was fast, though, and they'd seen the commotion as he'd crashed the party. Piling onto the rooftops, they began chasing him. Kurt tossed the rest of the food over his shoulder and kept running, pulling on the grappling hook attached to his belt as he went. He narrowed his eyes and slammed the hook into a pipe, giving him a secure rappel point.

"Stop right there!" someone shouted, but he paid no mind. Pushing with his feet, he leaped into the air, twisting as he went. He drew his gun as he turned and pulled the trigger twice, killing two TSF members in a heartbeat.

And then he was falling.

[RobbyL9]

Blades' arms remained raised in the air as the two TSF officers walked toward him. "Stay right there! Don't move!" one of them commanded, pressing his earpiece and talking to the person on the line. The hovercraft remained suspended in the air, the sound of its repulsion engines vibrating against the inside of his ears.

The spotlight burned his eyes through the eye holes of Blades' mask as he looked around at his surroundings once again. There had to be another way out of here, he couldn't possibly have come all this way for this long just to lose! No matter how much he thought, he just couldn't think of a way to escape without being shot or beaten down after a short chase. And yet, he couldn't shake the thought that something was missing from the equation.

"All right, HQ. Bringing the traitor in now." the officer said, letting his earpiece go. It was only then that Blades remembered the one piece of equipment on him that could prove to be his ace in the hole.

On his belt, Blades kept two thermal detonators, "special" ones. In what amounted to a split-second realization, Blades' bravado returned with a vengeance. Not this "traitor" he wished he could yell Not today! He readied his hands, softly opening and closing them.

Of all the intensive training Blades had received over the years, nothing assisted him like the Teras Kasi. Out of nowhere, his hands rocketed toward his belt and tightly grasped the grenades, his perception slowing down. One in each hand, he threw them in the direction of the officers and hovercraft.

Before either had a chance to scream he was jumping toward the alley. He was halfway there by the time the officers had raised their rifles and fired once each. One crimson bolt traveled through the air and struck him in the chest, the other grazing his shoulder but both not piercing his vest.

Just as he reached the alley Blades felt a third shot strike him in the back and reeled from it. The intense heat against his skin brought him back to normal speed, but his plan had not changed. He charged the fence blocking the alley, sprung off of it and jumped toward the ladder at the bottom of the fire escape.

He didn't wait to find out whether his plan had worked, he just sprang up the balcony and up to the roof. Not a moment too soon either. When they exploded, the detonators completely consumed the street, shooting up the building sides and shattering the windows.

Once on the roof, Blades gathered his stamina and sprinted toward the red zone.

[Revan Jast]

Kurt didn't see anything as the detonators went off, but he heard the roar as he flew towards the ground. Wind rushing past his ears, he reached for his belt and pushed a button, the cable slowing him in midair. The TSF had launched themselves after him on rappels of their own, and his stop made them fly past him. Smirking, he pulled out his knife and cut the one on the right down first, his screams rising up as he quickly descended to the ground. As the other one went past, Kurt cut his own cable and grabbed the other man, reaching around to his front and slicing his cable as well.

Kurt thought about doing the man a service and killing him before he hit the ground, but he had a better idea. Gripping the guards shoulders, he waited till just the right moment to move. As the body hit a speeder heading east, Kurt drove his knees into the guards back and pulled with his hands, flipping over in midair and reaching for the speeder door handle. He gripped it, gritting his teeth at the sudden pain in his arm and back as he slammed into the heavy vehicle. He reached up with his free hand and grabbed the top of the door, pulling himself up and through the window into the backseat. He put his pistol to the driver's head and told him to land slowly.

[RobbyL9]

Blades continued running across the top of the roof toward the red zone, the aftershock of the detonators still ringing in his ears. He knew that the Enforcer had time to tag him and knew that just one detonator would only keep it out of commission for so long. If he was going to survive this, Blades told himself, he had to get somewhere they were afraid to fly.

As he ran Blades did his best to stay focused. His mind had an awful habit of racing too fast when he was stressed and running. Odd and sometimes downright random questions would course through his head when even he knew he shouldn't be entertaining them.

They were not simply answered questions either, ranging from beginning calculus (which he used to fall asleep in) to what Lady Valerian looked like naked.

"She's got the face of a womp rat, the body of a gorax." he panted, jumping a building gap and rolling forward after a small drop "I mean, who knows? She might be the male of her species."

Rolling back up to his feet and stumbling a bit, Blades sneaked a quick glance over his shoulder. He let out a gasp as he noticed several distant reports and many beams of blue light coming right for him. He hadn't noticed that the Enforcer was also packing a Gatling laser.

He sprung from his position in enough time to dodge the bolts hitting the rooftop, showering sparks all over the vicinity. He took in one deep breath and sprinted toward the next balcony, doing his best to suppress the random question about Kurt that just appeared in his mind.

He checked his HUD, while sparks continued to rain. "Just a few more jumps and I'm on the edge of the danger zone. If you fail me now, boots, I'll throw you both at their windshield and escape without you."

[Revan Jast]

"Please don't hurt me!" the man in the front seat shouted, swerving left and right in his panic. Kurt scrambled into the front seat and kept the pistol held to his head.

"What's your name?"

"Tjer," the driver responded. "I'm a banker. I was out on my lunch break."

"Didn't ask for your life story," Kurt replied. Pressing a button, he activated the comm. "Blades, need a ride?"

At first there was only static, but then the line cleared. The merc waited for a response.

[RobbyL9]

Blades ran across the rooftop, jumping over antennae and vaulting over air ducts. Kurt's voice crackled in his ear.

"Blades. -eed a ride?" his earpiece said, vibrating lightly against his ear.

"Kurt!" he responded "I am under armed aerial scrutiny and fleeing to backup rendezvous point. I repeat, backup rendezvous point!"

Blades unfortunately didn't see the exhaust fan on his left, just a couple inches too close, and scraped up against it. He was knocked aside, lost balance and tripped "AGH, SHIT!" he yelled into his mask radio upon hitting the roof rocks which he slid a short distance on. The Gatling laser caught up with him almost immediately after that.

Three shots trailed for him while the Enforcer zoomed overhead from the unexpected change in pace. One shot struck the ground, exploding in more sparks, while the remaining two struck Blades near his calf and in his back, penetrating his vest.

Blades screamed as he felt his skin burn until it reached his nerve ends, switching the sensation from boiling hot to just... cold. He ripped one of the needles off of his vest and stabbed it into his leg to alleviate the wound.

He did his best to get up after the shot, fighting the pain. He could already hear the VAAT circling around for another run; he needed to get cover right away. Blades gritted his teeth and pushed up.

The whirring got closer and closer, taunting him from yards away as he silently regretted not bringing his rifles. Still holding on to whatever luck he could muster, Blades drew his pistols and looked around for the door to the inside of the building. He didn't have to look long, however, as it found him first.

Behind him he heard the unmistakable sound of a door kicking open and many people filing up the stairs. But the footfalls didn't sound like boots, they sounded normal.

"Those trigger-happy nerfherders have crossed us for the LAST TIME!" he heard a haggard voice command "You get out there and WAIT for my signal. Who's got the Plex launcher?"

"I got it, boss!" a younger voice said eagerly.

"You stay in the stairwell, we'll get it's attention."

Blades couldn't believe what he was hearing. He flipped up his mask and walked towards the commotion. I must have been looking at an out-of-date map or something. I should only be at the edge of the red zone.

"Excuse me? Guys?" he said, waving his arms to make himself known "Someone call for backup?" This earned him mixed looks but general approval, he thought. Nobody had raised their gun at him just yet.

"You have weapons and can you fire 'em?" the man with the rough voice asked him. From where Blades was, he could see the man had his blond hair shaved in a jarhead and bore a scar on his cheek.

"Just some pistols, but I can handle myself." Blades responded, limping over to behind an air duct.

"Well we didn't call for you, but we could use you. TJ! Give him your carbine!"

Blades caught a CDEF carbine (affectionately nicknamed among mercenaries, the Can't Damn Effectively Fire) that was thrown at him and shrugged, getting back behind cover. Let's cage this tach and steal its glands!