The Rider
A dance party is being held in a warehouse near the docks in the city of Vale. The host's scroll begins ringing and he answers.
"Yeah!" The host yells over the music.
"Can you turn down the music?" A man asks over the phone, clearly annoyed.
"What?!" The host shouts, unable to hear the man over the music.
"Can you turn down the music?!" The man yells, "I'm trying to get some sleep here!"
"Turn down the music?!" The host repeats.
Instead, the host turns the music up.
"How's that?!" The host taunts.
The host sets the music to its maximum volume.
"How's that?!" The hos taunts, "That much better?!"
"Turn down your damn music or I'll come over there and turn it down myself!" The man threatens.
"Alright, sucka'!" The host retorts as he grabs his SMG, "You come down here, we can dance!"
The man doesn't respond.
"Hello...?!" The host calls, "Hello?! Bitch."
The host hangs up his scroll and continues to dance to the music. Suddenly the warehouse doors are smashed open by a black sports car. The car hits three of the guests before smashing into the DJ booth and speakers. The host quickly runs out the way before he is crushed too. The door opens and a man steps out. He is dressed in a black jumpsuit. Over his jumpsuit are armor plates that completely cover his body. Most of the plates are a matte black, but the plates on his forearms, hands, calfs, and feet are gunmetal grey. The underside of each gauntlet includes three small, double-edged kukri-like blades. Going over most of the armor, is an opened, hooded, black leather trench coat that goes down to his ankles. The coat is tucked into his gauntlets. Going over the coat is a black leather belt with a rounded gunmetal grey buckle and many pouches. On the back of the belt are two holsters for the man's weapons, dual revolver, semi-automatic pistol, and sawed-off shotgun hybrids. Each has two barrels and are black with silver grips and hammers. The weapons fires like a semi-automatic pistol with the power and cosmetics of a revolver, and reloads like a sawed-off shotgun. Covering the man's face is a off white mask. The mask takes the appearance loosely base off that of a human skull. The open spaces for the eyes are covered by black tinted lenses.
"When I don't enough sleep, I get irritable." The man declares, his voice concealed by his mask, "And you don't want to make me-"
The man stops to move his head to the left to dodge a bullet. He looks onto the upper level of the warehouse to see one of the guest who attended pointing a pistol at him. All the other guest draw their own guns. Everyone in this party was a part of a larger gang. The man grabs his guns and front flips, shooting the thugs directly behind him while upside down. He then shoots at the thugs in front of him, but the host quickly dashes to the side, taking cover. The man jumps onto the hood of his car, avoiding bullets. He then jumps off of the car and grabs the edge of the walkway that makes up the upper level of the warehouse. The man swings himself onto the ledge and sweeps the leg of the thug to his left. He then jumps into the air whilst spin kicking the thug to his right.
The man draws his pistols, firing in both directions of the walkway, killing all but one behind him. The man then spins around while moving towards the wall to dodge the thug's fire. Once on the wall, the man shoots the thug, killing him in two shots. Another thug gets onto the other side of the walkway and fires his assault rifle at the man, who ducks down to dodge. The man fires three shots, killing the thug. The man then reloads both pistols. He drops to the ground as thugs on the lower level open fire on him. The man peeks over the edge and begins shooting at the three thugs currently shooting at him. Once they're dead, the man looks to his left to see another thug on the walkway that he is one. The thug fires his shotgun at the man, who side flips to dodge. The man fires both pistols at the thug who slides onto his knees to dodge. The thug fires his shotgun again, but misses as the man jumps through the railing, shooting the thug while in air.
The man hits a barrel with his back and it falls over. Once the barrel lands on the ground, the man fires each pistol to one side, each killing a thug beside him. Another thug attempts to shoot the man, but he rolls off of the barrel and shoots at the thug before he can readjust his aim. The thug quickly moves to side, dodging the bullet, and taking cover behind two barrels stacked on top one another. The man jumps and kicks the barrel on top, sending it crashing into the head of the thug. Another thug throws a grenade at the man, but jumps up, he catches it, and throws it back at the thug who threw it. The thug doesn't have time to move and blows up as the man walks away from the explosion, with his pistols holstered. The man leans on one of the barrels and looks around.
The host, being the last one alive, quickly calls someone on his scroll. When he peeks out of cover to look at the man, he is gone. Startled, looks around to see the man to his left. The man kicks the host's head, sending him sprawling across the ground, and causing him to drop the scroll, which is calling someone named Rhyt. The man approaches the host with one of his pistols drawn. He takes aim.
"Wait!" The host pleads, "Who are you?!"
"Just a man trying get some sleep." The man declares.
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Wait!" The host quickly says, "You came here just to make us turn off the music?"
"If you were listening on the scroll, I said I would come here to turn it off myself." The man states.
"What?!" The host shouts, "Are you insane?! Do you know what you just got yourself into?!"
The man pulls the hammer on his pistol.
"Do you know who I am?!" The host asks, "Do you know who my uncle is?!
"Yes, I do." The man answers before shooting the host.
A cop stands in front of the warehouse where the gunfight took place. He stands behind his police car with his shotgun at the ready. The cop turns around when he hears a car approaching. A grey sedan pulls up and a man steps out.
"Detective Malone, good morning." The cop says as he lowers his shotgun.
Detective Malone is an older man with a brown beard and hair. He wears a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a red tie. Over his shirt is a brown leather harness with a pistol holster under the left armpit and a pouch for ammo under the right. His shirt is tucked into brown slacks with a brown leather belt. Detective Malone also wears a brown fedora. His badge is clipped to the right breast of his vest.
"Yeah." Malone says as he walks towards the cop, "Something tells me that there's nothing good about this morning. What do we got here?"
"Multiple gunshots were reported coming from this warehouse." The cop states, "I was the first one to answer the call."
"Multiple gunshots." Malone repeats, "You do know whose warehouse this is?"
"Yes, sir." The cop answers.
"Have you gone inside yet?" Malone asks as he draws and checks the ammo in his silver revolver.
"No, sir." The cop answers, "I wanted to wait for backup."
"Well, it's here." Malone says.
The two open the warehouse doors to be met with a grueling sight.
"By the gods." The cop reacts, "What a massacre."
The corpses of the thugs were untouched, multiple bullet casings line the floor, the tire tracks from the car mark the ground and the burns from the grenade is still present.
"There's gotta' be a dozen, at least a dozen dead people here." The cop observes.
"I guess I don't need this anymore." Malone says as he holsters his revolver.
Malone walks to the closes corpse and observes it. One shot, one kill. The cop kneels down next to Malone.
"These were all Cappuccino's men." The cop observes.
Malone hums a yes.
"Musta' been some kinda' gang war." The cop theorizes.
"No." Malone says, "This was no gang war. Cappuccino's men might be dumb, but they know how to use guns. There would've been other dead people here, not just them. This is something else."
"Well, one things for certain:" The cop states as he rises, "We won't need that search warrant we were trying to get."
Malone scoffs as the cop walks away to explore further.
"Yeah." He agrees, "I can live with this."
"Detective Malone, found something here!" The cop calls.
At the places where Onyx first started firing, are a few gunmetal grey bullet casings. Malone picks one up and examines it. Engraved on the side of the casing is "THIS BULLET CASING IS THE PROPERTY OF THE RIDER".
"The Rider." Malone reads. He looks at the other side of the casing to see another message engraved onto it, "THE BULLET IS MEANT FOR SOMEONE ELSE". Malone chuckles at the joke.
"What do you make of this?" The cop asks.
"This guy's got balls, that's for sure." Malone comments.
A large, black pickup truck pulls up halfway down the street to the warehouse. Once the driver sees the cop car, he stops.
"We got company." The cop states.
"Let's go!" Malone orders as he runs to the door.
Detective Malone and the cop run out of the warehouse.
"Stop!" Malone orders, "Stop right there!"
"This is the police!" The cop states.
The driver puts the car into reverse and turns the car around before attempting to drive away.
"Bad idea." Malone growls as he shoots the pickup truck's tires.
"Get out of the car!" The cop orders as he takes aim, "Get your hands where I can see them."
The door opens.
"Easy." The cop says, "Easy."
"Oh please, officer, don't hurt me." The driver taunts as he steps out of the vehicle.
"Watch it." The cop warns.
"Rhyt." Malone identifies.
Rhyt is a dark skinned male. He wears a grey tee-shirt and a black tactical harness with pouches around the belt. His shirt is tucked into black cargos. Wrapped around his right leg is a black leather thigh belt with a pistol holster. Rhyt also wears black leather fingerless gloves, black combat boots, and black sunglasses.
"I should've known I'd find you here, Detective Malone." Rhyt says.
"What are you doing here, Rhyt?" Malone asks.
"Well obviously, something happened at my warehouse." Rhyt mocks, "I mean, can't a man protect his own property anymore?"
"Don't you mean Cappuccino's property?" Malone asks.
"You know, your obsessed with Cappuccino has become quite amusing." Rhyt says, "Always trying to link everything back to Cappuccino."
"Why don't you tell it to the court?" The cop taunts, "You're under arrest."
"Arrest?" Rhyt repeats, "For what?! A traffic violation?!"
"What about this?" The cop asks as he draws a silver pistol from Rhyt's holster, "Looking for some action here?"
"If I were looking for some action, you wouldn't be standing before me as you do roght now." Rhyt threatens.
"Yeah?" The cop retorts as he drops Rhyt's pistol, "That's cause' I'd be shooting you with this."
The cop cocks hs shotgun to emphasize his point. Rhyt tightens his hands into fists.
"Are you kids done yet?" Malone growls.
"I say we take him in and book him right now." The cop says.
"You know my lawyers will have me out even before you get me to the station." Rhyt states, "The time's not worth your effort, now is it, Malone?"
"Let him go." Malone orders.
"What?!" The cop questions.
"I said, 'Let him go.'" Malone repeats.
The cop walks away from Rhyt.
"My gun, please." Rhyt requests.
The cop kicks Rhyt's pistol as he walks by it.
"Nice." Rhyt comments, sarcastically.
"You know, Rhyt, you're right." Malone admits, "You're not worth my time. However, investigating the multiple homicides in your warehouse is. And whatever else we find in your warehouse, is just icing on the cake. You're free to go. And by the way, your car is parked illegally. Better get it out of here before we tow it.
Malone turns back to the warehouse but stops.
"Oh and Rhyt." Malone calls as he turns back to Rhyt, "Here."
Malone throws Rhyt the bullet casing, which he catches.
"Looks like I'm not the only one after your boss." Malone states as he walks back to the warehouse.
Rhyt glances at the bullet casing before looking back at Malone.
The Rider lies in bed with his mask removed, revealing his tanned white skin and crimson eyes. He struggles to sleep as sirens roar.
"What the hell is going on out there?!" The Rider shouts as he gets up.
He looks out the window to see the police investigating the warehouse.
"Looks like I got someone's attention." The Rider states. He puts on his mask and uses the lenses to magnify his view. Suddenly, the Rider's scroll begins vibrating in his pocket. The Rider takes out his scroll and sees that Red is calling him.
"Hello." The Rider says as he answers the call using the headset built into the mask.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Red asks, "You think this is a game?! What were you thinking last night?!"
"I had a rough night last night." The Rider states.
"I know what kind of night you had!" Red shouts, "Might I remind you what your mission is?! You were to hunt down and eliminate the target, no one else! Drawing this kind of attention to yourself is dangerous for us, and especially for you."
"What's the big deal?" The Rider asks, "I killed a bunch of gangsters. I'm sure the VPD are a lot happier without them."
"You didn't do anyone a favor with that mess you created last night." Red growls, "And you are not working with the VPD, you're working with me."
"I'll still get the job done, I'll get him." The Rider assures.
"We're running out of time." Red states, "He has to know you're coming by now, remember who he is."
"Yeah, I know what the mission is." The Rider says.
"Then stick to it." Red orders, "Don't be so reckless, Onyx."
"I'll call you when I got him." The Rider, or Onyx, says as he hangs up.
Onyx opens his nightstand, inside are his pistols.
A lone man sits at a table in a restaurant in Vacuo. The man has pale skin and all his hair is shaved except for a single black braid that reaches his hips. He wears a black muscle shirt tucked into baggy black pants. Over his shirt is a sleeveless grey uwagi that reaches below his knees with a thick black obi. The man's forearms and hands are wrapped with bandages and over these bandages are thick silver bracelets. The man's pants is tucked into black boots with silver soles and everything above the ankles are wrapped in bandages The restaurant owner, who is seated at a different table, is awoken when the man's scroll starts ringing.
"Yes." The man says.
"Jet Black," A woman speaks, "you have been activated for a urgent mission in Vale."
"Vale?" The man, Jet Black asks, "I'm a long way from Vale. It would be best to assign someone else."
"This mission is highly sensitive, you are the most capable for the job." The woman explains.
Jet Black sighs.
"It figures." He says, "Fine, I'll do it."
"Good." The woman responds, "We'll contact you with the details as soon as you arrive. See you in Vale."
"They better have some good food in Vale." Jet Black says to himself as he stands up.
Cappuccino stands in his board room, overlooking the statistics from last year. Cappuccino wears a white dress shirt with a black tie. He wears a tan blazer with matching slacks and fedora. Cappuccino also wears grey dress shoes with black toes and soles. Rhyt opens the door.
"Ah, Rhyt." Cappuccino says, "I'm glad you're here. Maybe you can teach the idiots downstairs something about business, since you've handled my weapons department so well."
Cappuccino walks to Rhyt.
"It's great to see you, Rhyt." Cappuccino continues, "But you'll have to excuse me, I'm in an important meeting right now."
"This is more important." Rhyt says, "It's about the warehouse on Baker Street."
"Oh that." Cappuccino responds, "It's okay, I know."
"You know?" Rhyt asks.
"Yeah." Cappuccino answers, "My nephew was having a party their last night, okay."
"No, it's not about the party." Rhyt corrects, "Well, it is. There was a hit on the warehouse. Everyone is dead."
"Who. Did. This." Cappuccino demands.
"I have reason to believe that it was done by a man called the Rider." Rhyt states.
"The Rider?" Cappuccino repeats, "One man."
"This is no ordinary man." Rhyt explains, "I've heard of him before. I know what he can do."
"Who the hell is he?" Cappuccino asks, "So sent him? Is it Torchwick? Is it Brick trying to roast me?"
"It has to be one of your competitors." Rhyt suggests.
"Whoever it is..." Cappuccino begins, "I want you to find 'em. I want you to find 'em and destroy 'em!"
"Oh, believe me, I will try." Rhyt states, "But first, we have the Rider to deal with. He's somewhere out there and he's coming after you."
"Alright." Cappuccino says, "We meed to consolidate all of our warehouses. There's too many targets for him to attack. Move all our inventory to the central warehouse on Main Street. I want you to protect that place."
"What about the Rider?" Rhyt asks, "What do want me to do?"
"Oh, nothing. Just send him a box of chocolates and tell him 'thanks for the memories.'" Cappuccino says, sarcastically, "You idiot, what do you think you should do?! Kill him. Any way you can by any means. Put him in the ground."
"I'll need more men, professional men." Rhyt states.
"Put it on my credit card, okay." Cappuccino orders, "Just do it."
"Yes, sir." Rhyt says as he turns to leave.
"Rhyt," Cappuccino calls, "make sure you find out who sent him. There will be hell to pay."
Malone looks over the evidence collected from the warehouse. He calls his private analyst, Harvard.
"Hello." Harvard says.
"Hey, Harvard." Malone responds, "Detective Malone."
"Hey, Malone." Harvard says.
"Did you get the package I sent you?" Malone asks.
"Yeah." Harvard answers, "It's pretty wild stuff."
"Our crime lab is getting nowhere with this." Malone states, "What do you make of it?"
"Well, the easy one is tire tread sample." Harvard says, "I tested the residue you sent, and the tires are made from silicon steel fiber alloy. It only used on high performance cars. It's not unique, but it's hard to come by."
"What about the bullets?" Malone asks.
"Now that." Harvard begins, "In my fifteen years with special forces, I've never seen this metal used in any weapon. But for practical purposes, this metal is very soft. So the bullets expand and deform on high impact. They make little holes on the way in and big holes on the way out. And they are much harder to match to ballistic signatures. That makes them relatively untraceable."
"It doesn't make sense if the bullet casings have his name on them." Malone states, "And he left those everywhere."
"Yeah, the Rider." Harvard reads, "Yeah, I don't get that. He-he must be one sick man. Like he wanted to be found out."
"Yeah, or he's bragging." Malone suggests, "Or just plain careless. The Rider must be working for someone to get that kind of financial backing. You think he's a gun for hire?"
"Or he could be a vigilante, that's the word on the street." Harvard adds.
"Either way, one thing's for sure." Malone states, "He has his eyes set on Cappuccino."
"Well then you both have something in common." Harvard says.
Malone and Harvard chuckle.
"Yeah, if that's true, I have a hunch of where this Rider will show up next." Malone states, "Hey, I gotta go. See ya' Harvard."
"Later." Harvard says.
The Rider pulls up to an empty street. He looks to his left to see a warehouse on the other side of the street. Onyx then walks to the warehouse, fully equipped with all his gear.
"Dramatic entrance." The Rider says to himself as he stops in front the door, "Dramatic entrance."
The Rider draws both his pistols.
The Rider flips through the window next to the door and points his guns around. He looks around to see an empty warehouse, with the exception of a single hand truck with a note taped to it.
"Well that pretty much frees up my day." The Rider says to himself as he lowers his guns.
The Rider then holsters his pistols and walks to the hand truck. The Rider grabs the note and reads it, immediately getting his guard back up. He jumps to the side, avoiding a sniper round. The Rider fires at the window the sniper round came through, and while not hitting anyone, creates a clearer opening to see Rhyt on the roof of a building on the street behind the warehouse with the sniper rifle that was fired. Rhyt fires again and the Rider jumps back to dodge. He back flips over another round and fires more shots to further clear out the broken glass. Seeing that he is positioned behind the wall and out of sight of Rhyt, the Rider waits.
Rhyt actives the aura sensor built into the scope and sees the crimson figure that is the Rider behind the wall. He takes aim at the Rider's head and fires.
The Rider flips to the left in order to dodge the shot. Still positioned behind the wall, the Rider waits. Another round blast through the wall and the Rider rolls onto his hands, before pushing off them and flipping back to his feet, dodging again. Now positioned in an optimal position, the Rider fires at Rhyt, who takes cover behind the wall to dodge. The Rider waits, only to dodge a bullet originating further towards the corner of the rooftop. Rhyt changed positions while behind cover. The Rider fires more shots at Rhyt who ducks down to dodge before shooting back. The Rider fires a single round. The smaller bullet from the Rider's pistol flies past the larger bullet from Rhyt's sniper. The Rider leans his head back to dodge the sniper round, while his goes through Rhyt's scope. The Rider fires again, but Rhyt blocks with his sniper, however the bullet still damages the weapon, preventing it from firing again without repairs. The Rider stares at Rhyt as he drops the sniper off of the rooftop and walks away.
The Rider turns to the door and walks out, kicking the note outside in the process. He looks at where he parked his car to see it is right in front of a bar.
"Time for some breakfast." The Rider says before walking inside.
The note still lays on the ground. It says, "UMBRA AGENT, YOU ARE TOO LATE."
The Rider enters the bar and takes a seat at the counter.
"Howdy." The Bartender greets as the Rider removes his mask, "What'll it be?"
Besides Onyx and the Bartender, the bar is empty.
"Tequila and Tonic." Onyx says as he looks at the TV in the corner, "And turn up the TV."
The bartender does as Onyx asks. Onyx drinks as he listens to the news.
"Detective Malone," Cyril Ian interviews, "concerning the possible suspects, rumor have surfaced that there is a vigilante in town who is hunting down Cappuccino."
"There is no evidence for your vigilante theory." Malone states, "As far as I am concerned, the suspect or suspects of these homicides are no friends of the police. We will do what is necessary to bring them to justice. Thank you."
"I don't think so." The Rider comments, "I'll have another, and you can turn that crap off now."
Malone pulls up to the warehouse that the Rider face Rhyt in. He exits his car and draws his revolver. Malone points it through the window and looks inside, inspecting the aftermath of the battle. He shakes his head with a frown when he realizes that he is too late. Malone expression changes to that off shock when he sees Onyx's car outside the bar. He can also see Onyx in the bar across the street from the window. Malone expression changes to a more serious, emotionless face as he walks to the bar. Malone holsters his gun and hides his badge before entering the bar.
Onyx doesn't move as Malone enters, though is aware of his presence. As Malone walks to the counter, he stares at the pistols holstered to Onyx's back. Malone then takes a seat next to the Rider.
"What can I get ya'?" The bartender asks.
"I'll have what he's having." Malone answers.
Malone then turns to Onyx as the bartender leaves. He glances at his shot as the bartender places it in front of him. Malone struggles to think of what to say.
"This is a rough part of town." Malone opens with, "You always sit with your back to the entrance?"
"Doesn't matter who comes it." Onyx says as he downs his shot, "Isn't it against police regulations to be drinking during the day"
"I'm a detective." Malone states, "Our regulations are a little different. How'd you know I was with the police."
"You know," Onyx says as he points to the TV, "you're much uglier in person."
"My name is detective Malone." Malone introduces after chuckling, "And you are...?"
"Onyx." Onyx answers.
"Well, Onyx, I guess you heard what happened this morning over at the warehouse on Baker Street?" Malone asks.
"Yeah, I know about that." Onyx states.
"Really?" Malone asks, "Tell me what you know?"
"Why don't we cut to the chase." Onyx counters, "Why don't you tell me what you know?"
"Oh, I know a lot." Malone states, "I know the Baker Street warehouse was owned by Cappuccino. I know someone killed twelve men in that warehouse last night. I know the killer drove a fancy car and has fancy guns. I know that the warehouse across the street with the big hole in the window also belongs to Cappuccino. I see this fancy car parked up front and, well, you don't look like you walked here. So my guess is, this belongs to you."
Malone tosses one of the bullet casings from the warehouse into Onyx's empty shot glass.
"Well, it looks like you figured it all out. Good job." Onyx says, sarcastically, "Another."
"It was easy." Malone states, "You were just reckless."
"The way I see it, you're the one who's being reckless." Onyx says, "You come out here looking for me by yourself, and didn't bring anyone to back you up. That's reckless."
"Here's my backup." Malone states as he draws his revolver.
Malone smirks as he places the gun on the table.
"That's a nice gun." Onyx comments before drawing one of his pistols and holding it to the side of Malone's head, "Wanna see mine?"
Malone reaches for his revolver but stops. He slowly withdraws his hands and rest it on the table, away from his revolver.
"How can I see it if you have it against the side of my head?" Malone asks.
Onyx smirks as he places the gun in Temple Index position. Onyx then places the gun on the table as well. It's barrel facing the same way as Malone's revolver, with the grips facing each other.
"Not bad." Malone comments, "But mine's bigger."
"You do the math." The Rider says after drawing his second pistol.
Onyx places the pistol on the table next to it's twin. The barrel is still facing the same way, with the grips facing opposing directions.
"Why are you after Cappuccino?" Malone asks.
"That's for me to know and you not to know." Onyx retorts.
"Well, I know I can't have a crazy vigilante running around shooting up people." Malone states, "But you're no vigilante, are you? Seems like there are people who invested in you. I'm sure there not happy with the pressure getting. This is where I can help you."
"I don't need help." The Rider retorts.
Malone downs his shot.
"You see, I'm bound by the law." Malone explains, "I've been working this Cappuccino case for over three years. Every time we think we have something on him, his lawyers get in the way and get him out... I wish I was like you. I wish I could just walk up to him and shoot him, but I can't. It's too bad, because I know where his central warehouse is."
Malone takes out a small piece of paper with the central warehouse's address written on it.
"Not these abandoned warehouses like that one out there." Malone clarifies, "Why don't you pay him a visit?"
"You got the wrong man." Onyx says, "I'm not just some hired gun."
"Who says I'm hiring you?" Malone asks, "You already have a boss, don't you? I bet he doesn't really like all that attention that you're getting from the media. I can make that go away. I control the evidence. And the evidence says it could be some rival gang that killed all of Cappuccino's men last night, or... it could be you. And I have a lot of evidence that says that."
Onyx chuckles.
"Are you gonna take me in?" Onyx asks, sarcastically.
"I can take you down." Malone threatens as he puts his hand on the grip of his revolver.
"Oh, I would enjoy that." Onyx retorts, placing his left hand on the grip of the correctly aligned pistol.
The two's glares harden. Suddenly, the bartender runs put with a shotgun.
"Freeze!" The bartender orders.
Onyx grabs both his pistols and points one at Malone and the other at the bartender, while Malone points his revolver at Onyx, and the bartender points his shotgun at Malone.
"Get out of my bar, you couple of punks." The bartender demands, "I-I-I know how to use this."
"Whoa. Whoa. Whoa." Malone puts up his free hand, "Hold on, I'm a cop. Put down your gun."
"I don't trust any of ya's. You drop your gun." The bartender says as he points his shotgun at Onyx, "Both of ya'."
"Sorry, grandpa, doesn't work like that." Onyx says.
Malone's eyes switch from the bartender back to Onyx. Onyx is staring directly at Malone. Malone glances at the bartender, who glances at Onyx, who glances at the bartender then back to Malone. Malone looks at Onyx then the Bartender.
"Okay. Okay." Malone says as he raises his free hand again, "I'll slowly lower my gun. Then, I'm gonna go. Alright. Alright. This will be real easy. Malone raises his arm so both hands are in the air. He gets up from his stool and backs away from the counter.
"See, this is easy." Malone says as he backs away, towards the door.
Onyx's left hand follows Malone, never aiming away from him. Onyx glances at the bartender.
"Rider." Malone calls, bringing Onyx's attention back to him, "Remember what I said. We can help each other."
"Just help yourself out the door." Onyx retorts.
Malone leaves the bar and Onyx holsters his pistols. The bartender still glares at Onyx, with his pistols aimed at him.
"This is for the drinks." Onyx states as he throws a stack of lien on the table, "Mine and his."
As Onyx gets up and leaves, he grabs the paper that Malone left.
As Malone walks to his car, he spots the note that Onyx read before engaging Rhyt. He picks it up and reads before glancing back at the bar.
As the Rider, now wearing his mask, leaves the bar, Malone presses his revolver against his head.
"Hey, don't I know you from somewhere?" The Rider jokes, unphased by the barrel against his head.
"What is Umbra?" Malone asks.
The Rider chuckles.
"You're in way over your head." The Rider says.
"What is Umbra?!" Malone yells.
"You don't have to yell, I'm right next to you." The Rider says.
"Answer me!" Malone demands, "Are there more of you?"
"You're not gonna shoot me if you need the answers." Onyx states.
Malone pulls back the hammer on his revolver.
"Besides, I can't answer you anyways." The Rider continues, "So, I'll have to do this instead."
The Rider smacks Malone's revolver away and kicks him in the face. The Rider then grabs Malone's wrist and throws him over his shoulder, taking Malone's revolver in the process. Malone, while still on the ground, glances at the Rider as he tosses the revolver to the side. As Malone pushes himself to a knee, the Rider reaches for one of his pistols.
"It's a good idea for you to stay down." The Rider suggests.
"We'll settle this later." Malone says.
"You're not as dumb as you look." The Rider says as he walks to his car.
Malone gets up as the Rider drives away. Malone then gets back into his car and calls Harvard.
"Hello." Harvard says.
"Harvard, it's Malone." Malone states.
"Hey." Harvard says.
"My hunch was right." Malone states, "The Rider hit Cappuccino's warehouse on the east side. In fact, he was still there when I got here."
"Whoa! How did that go?" Harvard asks.
"Not as well as I would've liked." Malone answers, "Hey listen, I got some new info. I found a note in front of Cappuccino's warehouse. It said, 'UMBRA AGENT, YOU ARE TOO LATE'. Does that mean anything to you?"
Harvard stays silent.
"Harvard?" Malone calls, "You still there?"
"I didn't know they were still in operation." Harvard admits.
"Who?" Malone asks.
"The Umbra Agents." Harvard answers.
"Harvard... Harvard, what's going on?" Malone asks.
"They're highly trained operatives of an organization call the Umbra Agency." Harvard explains.
"Umbra Agency?" Malone repeats, "What are they, a government agency? Why haven't I heard of 'em?"
"I think they were a private organization." Harvard states, "There are some things the Council does that are not meant to be known. Their collaboration with the Umbra Agency was one of them. When diplomatic and military tactics failed, our government hired the Umbra Agency to eliminate global security threats. It was more cost effective than training and maintaining our own elite assassins and the Umbra Agents were better than anything we had."
"Great." Malone says, "But why here? What are the Umbra Agents doing in Vale? And what could they possibly want with Cappuccino?"
"I don't know." Harvard answers, "I thought the Umbra Agency was disbanded. I-I know the Council stopped using them decades ago. I haven't heard of them since."
"So do you think this Rider is a Umbra Agency operative?" Malone asks.
"I sounds like he's certainly good enough to be." Harvard states.
"Well what do you think I should do to stop him?" Malone asks.
"I don't even know if you can stop him." Harvard answers, "But you can start by trying to get the cops on double duty."
"Right..." Malone says as he hangs up