Elizabeth and her team stood at the feet of the five black and orange ARHANs waiting for Indigo and Turbo. Elizabeth began to pace impatiently with her arms crossed, murmuring curses under her breath. The two surface agents were already a half hour late with no sign of them. She stopped pacing to check her holo-display again, for the third time. DEVA had been unable to locate them on the two previous checks, but now they showed up. Still over 100 km away, she cursed again as she dropped her arm. She wasn't sure why she was told to bring this filth with her again. She knew where Angela was now, she didn't need their assistance.
Elizabeth turned to the others, her expression unpleasant, "They are still about an hour away. Mount up, we'll meet them." She stormed off to her ARHAN and jumped onto the seat and drew it up into the cockpit. The holo showed her the location of surface agents, the hour it would have taken them to get rendezvous would be shortened to twenty minutes with the ARHANs at full speed. "Let's go," she said as she engaged the thrusters and the five Hera's took flight. For all of her displeasure with the surface, these new ARHANs almost made it worth it. They were faster and more agile than anything she had ever piloted in any of the simulations on DEVA. The five of them bobbed and streaked around each other getting the feel for the new machines causing the twenty-minute trip seem to pass in mere moments.
The five put down in front of the two approaching vehicles bring them to a sudden halt. Both drivers looked at each other with a clear distaste for the new arrivals before exiting the vehicles. Jennifer jumped down from her Hera and closed on the two men. She wore an expression of displeasure as she stopped in front of them with her arms crossed and hips cocked to one side, her dusky hair swayed gently in the wind. It was a long moment of silence before she finally spoke.
"You're late," her tone accusing and unpleasant.
"Well," Indigo looked at the device on his wrist, "that depends on how you look at it."
"I look at it as you have a job to do," Jennifer trust a finger at him, poking the burly man in the chest, "and if you want to get paid…"
"You know," Indigo moved to smack her had away, "for such a pretty girl, you have an ugly attitude. Turbo and I had some business to take care of. Thing to help finish this mission of yours without getting any more of my buddies killed." His voice a growl by the time he finished.
"Fox screwed up," Jennifer insisted. "Now, what kind of business did you have to take care of?"
"We got some information about Dingo," Indigo looked pleased with himself. "Turns out he's been meeting up with a fellow in Jed, goes by the name of Lazlo. Turns out Lazlo's family is in the fertilizer business."
"Fertilizer," Jennifer looked a bit confused, "what do they need fertilizer for?"
"This isn't your normal, run of the mill pile of crap sister," Indigo shook his head, "this is the kind that can go boom. Most likely they are planning to use it to make powder to resupply their ballistic weapons."
Jennifer brought her hand up to chin in thought, "So, they are planning to keep fighting. No surprise there. Any idea where we can find this Lazlo?"
"I can do you one better," Indigo leered, "we found out when and where Dingo is meeting Lazlo. A chance to eliminate part of your little problem. When he gets there, one shot, one less Dingo."
"No," Jennifer shook her head, "we capture him. We will see what information we can get out of him before we kill him." She grinned at the thought of torture to get everything she wanted out of Dingo.
Jennifer watched through her monocular as a large truck came rolling down an abandoned street in the ruined city. From the cross street came another vehicle, a smaller buggy driven by none other than Dingo. She scanned the area with her holo-display, her team and the two surface agents were in position and standing ready. Her team would capture Dingo while the two men would take care of the man Lazlo and make sure escape wasn't an option. The two vehicles stopped in the intersection of the two streets with both men getting out to greet each other with a handshake.
"Now," Jennifer spoke venomously.
Elizabeth, Chun, Shweta, and Olga rushed out of their hiding places and rushed the two men. Dingo fell back reaching for his pistol as the four DEVA women rushed him. Just as it cleared the holster, Olga swept in with a powerful kick to his wrist that sent the firearm spinning through the air to land a few feet away. Dingo began a counterattack as Olga tumbled away from him. Shweta's advance behind him caught his attention as he spun just in time to see her fist close in and strike him in chin with a solid thud. He recovered quickly as he moved in on the thin woman landing a few good blows of his own. Shweta captured his next strike and wrenched his arm, forcing him to his knee as his shoulder popped out of place. He managed to pull himself free and stand as he grimaced against the pain. Another kick landed in his back as Chun connected, her momentum carrying her past him. He didn't have time to recover before Elizabeth was on him, sending blow after blow to his injured shoulder. Olga grabbed him by his other arm and yanked on it as she placed a kick to the side of his knee. There was a resounding snap as he collapsed to his side. Another kick, this time cracking a rib or two, came from Shweta sending Dingo rolling across the ground. Olga kicked again, knocking his head backward and into the pavement. Dingo didn't move now as they continued the assault a few moments longer.
Jennifer joined the team as they dragged Dingo over to her. Indigo and Turbo held Lazlo with his hands behind his back, he hadn't put up any fight but struggled a bit. Jennifer crouched down to Dingo and picked his head up by his hair. He was already bruising, nose and lips bleeding. She grinned sadistically as she let his head fall back down. "You can let that one go," she waved an airy hand at Lazlo, "we don't need him. Put Dingo in one of the vehicles and let's go." Jennifer turned and headed back to where they had hidden the ARHANs. This was going to be just lovely.