My foot was bouncing up and down rapidly from where it was on the ground. I'd already tried to make it stop, but then the other would go off. Urrghh, curse Skitter for making me wait- she knew I was restless when we were about to jump into action.
Well, 'jump into action' isn't really a good metaphor- it's more like when we were waiting for a fight. That wasn't good either. Ugh, I'm bad at metaphors.
I heard the near-silent sound of Skitter's backpack as she arrived. "Finally! She arrives!" I whispered.
"Sorry, dad took too long to fall asleep," she whispered back. I rolled my eyes, why couldn't she just tell Mr. Hebert that she was a cape? It wasn't that hard, really!
I paused, considering her dad- he. . .wasn't really the best person to deal with that, but, well, he's still her father.
"Whatever," I replied, "C'mon, let's take 'em down." I gave her a side-glance, "You remember the plan, right?"
Skitter gave me a flat look- I had learned to measure her expressions behind her mask- "We've only gone over it a hundred times the past week."
I grinned, ignoring the sarcasm, "Good. Let's go." I pulled out my sniper rifle and launched off the building we rendezvoused at, aiming at the buildings nearby our target. Taylor was right behind me, but landed outside the building itself, surrounding herself with bugs.
Landing crouched, I aimed my sniper at the building, starting up it thermal signature setting. "Okay, I've got sights on them, four in total. One on the top floor, two on the bottom and a fourth walking up to the second floor," I said, trusting that Skitter could hear me.
When I got a buzz from the few bugs she placed on me, I knew she got the message. Watching as she walked in, I aimed for the guy on the top floor and pulled the trigger- just barely missing him as he moved.
The Merchant jolted, as if stung, and his head whipped frantically side to side to see where the attack was coming from. Slowing down a little, he contorted his head in a manner similar to Bartender when he was looking for something and twisted his head to look at where the approximate location of the shot came from.
I grinned and waved at him. He smiled and waved back, then froze, looking at his hand. He didn't get to say anything else, or raise an alarm- though Skits probably already raised it, going in like that- as a bullet brained him right through his temple. He was dead before he hit the floor.
I sighed contentedly, nothing like killing druggies to make me feel better after a cold, hard day of planning. And work.
Damn, those atomic weapons are hard to make.
At least the Bay had plenty of radioactive material underneath the water.
I totally wasn't diving down to get some plutonium or uranium. Totally wasn't.
Okay, fine, I am. But I'm at least wearing something that'll protect me from the radioactivity.
I think. I'm like, ninety-percent sure that I am. It's a good percentage.
Erg, off topic again. I activated the boost on my jetpack and made my way through the shattered window I shot the druggie. Looking around, there wasn't all that much- just the bed, a pillow, conspicuously piled sheets in a corner, a wardrobe, and a dresser. Oh, and the dead and bleeding druggie.
I wrinkled my nose- this was a reason why I like killing from a distance, you didn't have to smell their waste when they died. Stepping over the dead druggie, I lifted the pile of sheets with a gloved hand- no way was I going to touch that with my bare hand- and threw them onto the bed.
Underneath the sheets was- you guessed it- Money! Smells like drugs though. Disgusting. Well, at least they thought to cover it- the last druggie hideout we hit had the money out in plain sight. Idiots. Oh well, at least we still got the money- no matter how bad it smelt.
As I was counting out how many wads of money they had, the faint buzzing grew louder and I heard Skitter say, "The others down below are out for the count." I could see her nose crinkling. "Did you have to kill one?"
I waved a wad of cash idly, "You know what they say, 'A Merchant a day keeps the uh, monster at bay?'"
"You failed that," Taylor stated.
"Eh, it got the point across. Anyway, so far we have about, eh, over two hundred dollars in hard cash from this raid. Pretty good."
"I'll help you count while I keep an eye out for trouble," Skitter stated, crossing the room and sitting down next to me.
I nudged her, "Or several eyes."
She didn't laugh. She was giving me the 'we're on a mission' face. I'm sure of it.
I huffed, "Or just not laugh. that's fine." I turned my attention back to counting the money.
We finished up in a couple of minutes, the full amount being around seven hundred dollars. It was a good amount for a couple of indies. Leaning back, I shoved the liberated money in one of my pockets, and stood up. "So, call the cops, then patrol for a bit?" I asked Skitter.
"Yup, you're calling them, though."
I nodded, then moved over to the druggie that I killed. Rifling through his pockets, I found his phone, then called the cops, telling them the address of the building we hit. Snapping it in half- after we told him we were the Duo- we exited the building and out onto the rooftops.
We spent around thirty minutes jumping rooftop to rooftop, stopping a few criminals and druggies, but eventually made our way to the docks. I shut off my jetpack and rolled with the landing, looking around. Skitter landed next to me, shaking her head, "Why do you do that all the time?"
I grinned, "It's fun. Besides-" I stopped myself as I heard a raised voice.
Frowning, I motioned for Skitter to stay put, then moved closer to the source. "-ugh, no it doesn't. Just get me the materials, and I'll start it, kapishe?" A pause. "Good." The voice sighed. "Idiots. They just throw me into another dimension, then just flat out tell me to go to work. I swear, the people here are purposely stupid."
Eyebrows knitting together in slight confusion, I motioned for Skitter to stay put again, then jumped down into the alleyway.
The man- for it was a man- turned around to look at where I made my landing, "Oh, and who do we have here?"
I summoned a sword and held it up towards him, "Who are you?" I asked.
"I asked you first, little girl."
My face drew up into a scowl, "I'm Gun Mistress. Now, who are you?"
I could tell the man had a grin on his face by his voice, "Me? I'm Bringer. Now, I've gotta scram; farewell, Gun Mistress." He fell back and disappeared.
I belatedly ran up to him to stab him, but he had already disappeared into the ground. I stabbed the ground where he disappeared at, to see if he was in the ground; only proving to dig holes in the concrete.
I sighed as Skitter landed next to me, "Dammit." Looking at her, I asked, "Did you hear the convo?"
She nodded, "Yeah. You think he's a new trigger or a visiting villain?"
"I dunno, he hadn't heard of me- and by extent you." I frowned, "Who do you suppose he was talking to, an employer?"
"From what I could tell, it was. He did say that he was getting materials from them."
"But materials for what is the question." I sighed. "Questioning things won't get us anywhere. C'mon, let's head home, it's late. Early? Eh whatever, we need to sleep."
Skitter nodded and we made our way home, thoughts of Bringer out of our minds for now.
Here ya go.
-FreohrWK
