Blades and Kurt: Back On the Blood Trail

[Revan Jast]

Kurt dropped the cigarette to the ground and stamped it out as Illy exited the side room. "From time to time," he replied. "I generally won't travel with more than I can handle, however. What have you got in mind?"

He honestly had no idea what she'd want to be hauled around. Maybe some extra equipment, but still...

[RobbyL9]

"Reason I'm asking is cause I just called the swoopers." Illy explained "They're willing to put on the diversion but we're going to have to set the stage a little bit. You boys remember how I said the cops thought there was a wall of boxes?"

Blades rolled his eyes, immediately knowing what she meant. "Yes." he groaned.

Illy grinned "Well don't look so upset. Box lifting is a good workout. Just try not to throw out your old decrepit backs trying to lift crates." She finished, walking back into the room and closing the door.

Blades looked outraged. He scoffed and caught the door. "Our OLD backs? Illy, you're a year older than I am!"

"And I'm in prime condition. Courtesy of this man right here." she pointed behind her before shooing them away "Go on now, shoo! They say they'll meet you outside at the end of the street. Check you later." The door slammed in Blades' face. Just a few feet away he could see Byte, Zag and Marty suppressing laughs he assumed were directed towards him.

Blades gave them all the finger and pressed the button to the front door. "C'mon, Kurt. Let's leave the madame with her man-whores." he sighed and stepped out.

[Revan Jast]

Kurt arched an eyebrow at Illy's back comment but said nothing. Turning, he followed Blades outside into the hall and made sure no one was near. Seeing that there wasn't, he eyed the door with an evil look and said: "Ten fucking minutes you're out of my sight and here we are, on our way to lift boxes. Goddamn it, Blades."

He kicked an old can out of the way and watched it bounce off the side-rail with a clang. "And those fucks back there that call themselves 'soldiers' or 'mercs'? More like her toys."

[RobbyL9]

Blades shook his head when he heard this. Those weren't soldiers, they weren't comrades and they certainly weren't friends. Especially not that love slave of hers. "You think she, y'know, rotates between them?" he remarked, grinning and elbowing Kurt "Bow chicka wow-wow!"

Though he joked, Blades still respected Illy. They'd had their good and bad times, true. And those good and bad times just happened to be to the polar extreme in almost every case. But through it all, she remained the same person and never compromised her morals for anybody. He just had to respect that.

The two kept walking to where the stand against Taris Security was supposed to take place. They arrived to the vibrating hum of swoop bikes towing hoverbeds. The hoverbeds carried boxes, which were already being stacked up in a particular fashion in front of the door. The swoopers loading the crates did so almost effortlessly, being composed solely of aqualish, zabrak and a few humans, every one of them buffed the hell up.

One of the aqualish swoopers, wearing a red bandanna and a jean jacket with the sleeves torn off and the club logo on the back, stopped working and walked over to them.

"You the ones the fire queen sent over here?" he barked out in his language.

Blades nodded and answered as he stepped forward "Yeah we are, sir. OOF!" He was surprised to see a crate spiraling towards him and was lucky enough to catch it.

"Then move your ass boys!" the aqualish barked at them even louder "This wall ain't gonna build itself."

Blades groaned and stumbled under the weight of the heavy metal crate over to an empty spot on the wall. Slamming it down of its own weight, he looked back at Kurt and shrugged.

Spirits take me, I hope I don't change my mind and decide I want to be arrested again.

[Revan Jast]

Picking up a smaller metal crate, Kurt walked over to the 'wall' and reached up, sliding it over the edge and making sure it stayed up there. "I presume this wall is going to be a couple boxes thick," he muttered to no one in particular. Sending his trademark scowl in the direction of the aqualish, he headed back towards the skiff and contemplated which of the boxes to grab next. Just as he started to move, someone tapped his shoulder. Spinning around, he came face to face with a Gungan.

"Yoosa get workin. No stallin," he said, putting his hand on what looked like a small force pike that was holstered on his belt.

"How about 'yoosa' go order a glass of 'shut the fuck up'?" Kurt replied, stepping onto the skiff and grabbing a crate.

[RobbyL9]

It took a load of team effort, but eventually the wall came up. Swoopers gradually loaded their last box onto the wall and picked up their weapons. With a bit of effort and the assistance of Kurt, the last box was loaded onto the wall. Blades had to admit, it looked a lot more impressive than he thought it was going to be.

"Damn, that looks like a wall." he commented at one of the nearby swoopers while nodding "I'm starting to think maybe our asses aren't dust, here."

"Those bastards are in for a huge surprise, too." the near-human swooper responded, with a laugh "Check this out." he pointed with his lips.

Blades looked behind him to see several more crates being brought in. These weren't large cube-shaped ones, however. They were long, short and rectangular, a very familiar shape to the mercenary.

The arrival of the weapon boxes brought cheers and whistles from the entire gang. Several members opened them on the ground and tossed their contents to the mob of men, to cries of "Right on!" "Lock and load." and "Dibs on the grenade launcher!"

Hearing the words 'grenade launcher' was too much for Blades. "Screw you, man. *I'm* calling dibs on the launcher."

A few minutes later, Illy arrived to a feeding frenzy. The bikers were admiring their weapons and trying to grab new ones when they should have been manning the wall. She rolled her eyes and pointed her weapon at the ground next to the weapon boxes.

BOOM! The shot hit the ground in a shower of sparks, giving her their attention immediately "What in the HELL is this?" she exploded "You limp-dick dumbasses are supposed to be fighting the COPS not each other. Especially not over weapons, like toys on a fucking playground."

Blades was a bit surprised to see that Illy still had her old drill sergeant attitude, but was mortified to see the effect that it had on the guys around him. Guess I don't need to ask why they call her the fire queen.

That was all it took to get the bikers in position on the wall. Blades motioned for Kurt to follow him and approached Illy.

"Awesome speech there, loved it. Especially the limp-dick dumbass part. Oh by the way, got your wall." Blades joked with a grin, pointing behind him "Whatcha think?"

Illy inspected it for a second and shrugged "It'll have to do. Now, I assume you're ready to fight?"

"Of course, I just wanted to talk strategy. More specifically what we're going to do if we get through. Where are your companions?"

"WHEN we get through." she corrected "And don't worry about them."

[Revan Jast]

"I like how she thinks," Kurt said, smirking. "Anyways, strategy. I assume the fuckers are going to try and bust through the wall and not do something shitty like work their way around it. Providing they do that, they'll probably only bust through sections of the wall, thus creating a chokehold entrance of sorts. That would be a good time to lob an explosive through, like say... something from that 'nade launcher over there."

Kurt pointed to the other lackeys. "Once we've cleared a way for ourselves to get over there, we'll send them through first and have them take the brunt of the damage. While the opposing force is focused on them, we'll go and work our own way around the enemy. This sounds like an entirely feasible plan. What matters is whether these assholes of yours can follow it or not," he said to Illy.

[RobbyL9]

"You're half right." Illy said "Since this door has been jammed by us and is largely at our mercy, we control when and how it opens. I'll order it partially opened and we'll send in a grenade."

Blades shook his head "Surely they're not stupid enough to cluster themselves around that door as it slowly opens."

"Maybe not, but nevertheless that grenade will be our entry. I also have a special little trick that could be of use." Illy reached into her pocket and rooted around.

Blades was expecting her to pull out something dangerous, but she pulled out what looked like a bottle of lip gloss. "Now I just need that launcher, excuse me boys." she pushed her way through Blades and Kurt and approached the grenade launcher.

Unloading the grenade inside the chamber, she immediately and without any hesitation began to paint the lip gloss all over the grenade. While she did this, she called out above the commotion of the bikers around her "Listen up, I want your tekboyz ready to iris that blast door. Move."

Blades slapped his unmasked forehead at what he was witnessing. He cringed and turned to look at Kurt "Trust me."

Illy finished painting the grenade and slipped it back inside, tossing the loaded weapon to Kurt.

She readied a blaster rifle of her own and stood near one of the parts of the wall stacked single-high.

Signaling the tekboyz near the door, Illy faced Blades "Right, now. Merc boy, take your position." she turned to Kurt "Other merc boy, when that blast door irises open you fire this grenade launcher and get back. From there it's all improv."

Blades did as he was told and took his place. He clenched his fist around his carbine and nodded "Ready and eager to get the hell out of here."

[Revan Jast]

"A-fuckin'-men to that, brother," Kurt said to Blades, dropping to one knee at a distance of about fifteen feet from the door. He held the launcher at a cocked angle, so that the nade would go up and out farther, hopefully landing right in the middle of the group of enemies.

"5... 4..."

Kurt tightened the pressure on the trigger.

"3.... 2...."

He leaned forward a bit, eyes narrowing.

"1! GO GO GO!"

Whoosh! went the door as it opened.

Whump! went the launcher as it fired the projectile.

Clink! went the nade as it landed.

And then...

BOOM!

"Class is in session, motherfuckers," Kurt said, standing and drawing his rifle.

[RobbyL9]

The swooper tekboyz quickly shifted the rest of the necessary power to the pistons opening the door. On cue with the electricity, the door slammed open revealing the police blockade. Blades crouched behind the wall and looked at the opening through his iron sights.

He was able make out at least a dozen or so cops. They were scattering and falling back to a more defensive position behind their speeders. It wasn't this that gave Blades pause, but rather the fact that they were just visible through a cloud of purple smoke.

"Looks like we spooked 'em!" he heard Illy say "Open fire!"

Blades didn't waste a second more. He acquired a target and fired, but missed. The man jumped over the hood of his landspeeder and took cover. The rest of the swoopers opened fire as well.

The security officers returned fire from behind cover. With both sides under cover and the added hazard of the smokescreen, neither side was scoring many hits. Then suddenly, the tide changed a little.

"Razor! Zep!" the aqualish barked, prompting two of the swoopers to fire ion rifles at the speeders. As soon as the ion blasts hit, the swoopers directed their fire at the boosters. Blades laughed when he saw this plan coming together.

"Can't believe I didn't see that." he commented "That model speeder is notorious for placing the anti-grav power source right near the boosters. They explode..." the speeders fell to the ground, immobile "There goes their cover."

The officers could only crouch behind their speeders now, but they wouldn't want to do that for much longer. Nearby, the launcher-toting swoopers were reloading.