Mako's Message: Hi people! Miss me? Sorry for the delay on this. I've had a lot of...I'm just gonna say "distractions" and leave it at that.
This chapter was ridiculously hard to write and I was literally stuck on the first two lines for a couple of weeks. Then, yesterday it all kinda clicked and I banged this out. Just not in time to get it up.
Not much else to say about this chapter but I do have something unrelated to talk about after the chapter.
Tonight was a good night. Could have gone better, but still a good night.
Haven't been in a real firefight for awhile though. Kinda threw me off for a minute.
We were just out on a patrol, nothing particularly important on our "to-do" list, when suddenly this couple come out of an alley trying to walk as fast as possible without actually running. The woman kept going but the guy kinda stopped when he saw us and pointed back down the alley and said, "We heard gunshots. A lot of gunshots," then hurried after his girlfriend.
So after a quick look and a nod to each other we ran down the alley. We found the place pretty easily, a closed off loading dock, thanks to gunfire and the bullet holes in the gate.
The door and the gate were locked and there weren't any windows so we couldn't peak in, which meant we had to just kick in the door and deal with whatever was on the other side on the fly.
I drew my guns and motioned for him to pull his out, but he shook his head.
I rolled my eyes and stood back and let him kick the door open.
The surprise of having the door burst open was our only advantage. I had no idea what was going on on the other side and didn't want to accidentally shoot a property owner exercising his 2nd Amendment rights so I was going to have to do quick survey of the room before I started shooting. Fortunately, who I should be shooting was made pretty clear when I saw that there was only one group shooting and they were shooting at Biker Knight.
Unfortunately, the key word there was "group" and they were shooting from around a corner. I manged to nail one guy before they turned their guns on us. There also wasn't any cover near the door so I had to run for the truck Biker Knight was taking cover behind.
Biker Knight was happy to see us. Still didn't talk, and I couldn't see his face, but her gave us an eager thumbs up. He was hurt though. Shot in the arm. He could still move it though, so the bone hadn't been hit, which was good, and it didn't seem to be bleeding too badly for a bullet wound, but that might have just been it not being able to soak through chain mail.
Anyway, now that we were inside and had some cover I was able to really take in the situation and get a look at the bodies. Most of which were Cunts. The guys shooting at us were grouped in a doorway leading to some stairs. Unfortunately, despite being bunched up, they weren't very good targets because of the angle, and they weren't standing in the doorway either, but firing around it.
And the guy doing most of the shooting had one of those semi-automatic shotguns with the barrel magazine.
I really need to get one of those. Sure, it's not something I can carry around on a nightly basis, but it would be really nice to have the next time we do something like the assault on the Rainbow Factory. And I can make Dave carry it so it doesn't slow me down.
So I'm shooting back when I can, and trying to get Dave to help me out, but for some reason he can't seem to make himself pull the trigger. He can barely poke his head out. So then Biker Knight takes the gun from him, slips between the truck and the wall and fires from the far side, taking out one guy and making the rest back up the stairs. He comes back with the empty gun and hands it to Dave while the guys yell something in...I think it was japanese, and then they start shooting again.
Dave is just sort of sitting there staring at his gun, and I'm getting pissed because I'm on my second, and last, set of clips and Biker Knight's attack just made them take better cover so I'm essentially trying to shoot them through the wall. Then Dave just suddenly stands up and whips his baton at them, nailing the guy with the shotgun right in the face.
I stopped and looked at him and said, "Ya know, you're really getting good at that."
He grinned and was about to say something but we both had to duck further behind the truck as some bullets came a little too close to hitting us. There's more yelling in japanese, or whatever(could have been chinese), and then a guy comes down with an assault rifle and the truck's value as cover drops like a two dollar hooker with a twenty.
We both duck down and do our best to keep as much truck between us and them as possible, and Dave says, "An assault rifle? Seriously?!"
So I say, "Hey, just be glad it's not a minigun or we'd be dead right now."
And then Dave says, "Ya know what? Fuck that guy and everyone near him."
I snort at that and then he smacks his hand against my shoulder looks me right in the eye and repeats, "Fuck that guy and everyone near him," and I remember that that was the code we came up with for when he wants me to throw a grenade.
I didn't used to carry grenades when we're just going on patrol, but after the Rainbow Factory I decided that having one frag and one smoke on me at all times would be a good idea.
So I unclip it from my belt, pull the pin, yell, "Happy Birthday Cockbites!" and lob it at them. It hits the door frame instead of going through it, and I wince, thinking for a second that it'll bounce away from them, or even back towards us, but it goes through the door and lads at their feet.
A second later it blows and I hear the closest thing to a real life "Wilhelm Scream" I've ever heard, Dave has to fight to stop from laughing and Biker Knight gives me an approving nod and another thumbs up.
Then I say, "C'mon, we need to get up there and clear out any stragglers before we get pinned down again."
Dave nodded but Biker Knight shook his head and pointed to his arm.
I said, "Wait here then."
The first few stairs were kinda fucked up, but that only slowed us down by like, half a second. Anyway, we get up there and don't find much in the way of resistance. A couple guys popped up but I was able to shoot them before they could do anything, and one guy tried to ambush Dave from behind, but Dave mule kicked the guy in the groin and then smashed his face in with his knee. Wasn't really surprised that there weren't much left consider the pile in the loading dock.
While we were searching the place Dave suddenly laughed and said, "'Happy Birthday'?"
And I said, "Oh fuck off. I can't be brilliant all the time. And when was the last time you came up with a good quip?"
He started to say something and but I cut him off with, "'Shoryuken' doesn't count!" and he shut up for the rest of the search.
Anyway, we found a bunch of drugs which we left, and a bunch of cash which we took.
Dave carried the bag of money while I called in a shooting to the police. Took me a second to figure out where we were though, since the alley was unmarked, but I was still off the phone in under thirty seconds.
Biker Knight wasn't there when we got back down though, which sucked.
And since we now had a gym bag full of cash on us, we were going to head in for the night.
By the time we got out of the alley, though, this shitty ass car pulled up next to us and Biker Knight leaned out the window and waved us over. He moved into the passenger seat and motioned for one of us to drive. I went right for the back seat, which surprised Dave. "You don't want to drive? You always want to drive."
I said, "I have a reputation to uphold, you can't be seen driving this alleged car. I'm gonna hide in the back."
Dave just shook his head and got behind the wheel.
The back seat had a bunch of bloody towels in it and an open first aid kit, which made laying down across the seat a less pleasant idea, but it was good to see he'd gotten himself patched up. I decided to ask, "So what's with the shitty car?"
He took a note pad and pen out of the glove compartment and wrote, "Unregistered, no plates."
Which kinda made me think for a minute. Dave and I have to be real careful about getting to and from the Hit Mobile, as well as where we park it. It never occurred to me to have a car that you didn't care if it was towed or stolen. And it's also unremarkable, so unless someone followed him, no one who saw Biker Knight get in or whoever he is under the helmet get out would think anything of it.
Not that I have any plans to drive a Ford POS around, but it's certainly an interesting idea.
So then I asked, "Back to writing notes?"
And he wrote, "Can't talk with helmet on. Not taking it off."
And I said, "Understandable."
Then Dave said, "Ya know it's really weird only being able to hear one half of this conversation."
"Stop at the diner?" Biker Knight suggested.
I wasn't sure why he suggested it because he couldn't eat with his helmet on and said so. He shrugged and said, "Get take out. Talk while we wait."
So I said, "Hey Kick-Ass, you wanna stop and get something to eat?"
"Yeah, sure, it's getting kinda late."
Dave and Biker Knight ordered coffee when we got there, and I ordered tea. Biker Knight- I really need to come up with a nickname for him, writing that is getting tiring. But I can't call him BK. I keep thinking of Burger King...
Anyway, we all ordered are food to go but Dave and I had our coffee and tea while we waited.
I wasn't sure what to talk about, so I asked, "What happened back there anyway?"
Biker shook his head and started writing, "I was after the cunts. Got caught in the crossfire. Need to start carrying a gun."
I grinned, and said, "Yeah, Kick-Ass always carries one. He hates to use it though."
Dave was looking at the note and said, "So you were following them?"
Knight(Much better) nodded, "I didn't know who or what they were after. Just wanted to take them down."
"Sounds like you've got a grudge," which I meant as a joke because who doesn't want to take down cunts on sight? But he suddenly went rigid, then started writing again.
"I know you two and the Motherfucker are archenemies. I want to be there when you take him down."
Dave and I shared a look before he said, "So, it is something personal against him?"
Then he wrote one word; "D'Amico."
I couldn't stop grinning, "We should have had this chat MONTHS ago. I've spent most of life trying to put that douche in the dirt."
I heard something then, it was muffled as all hell but I think Knight laughed, and then he wrote, "We gonna share origin stories now?"
And Dave was like, "No we are not. I always feel like an idiot whenever we do that. Even Remembering Tommy and Night Bitch had better reasons for suiting up than I did."
I never got to meet them, since they died the day I got back into costume, but Dave told me about them and their origins. I wouldn't say his is worse though. It's certainly more altruistic. Even if when he's being all sad and emo about all this he claims he just did it because he was bored. I know better. As much as he enjoys getting to do real superhero stuff, I know he'd still be happy if none of this had happened and he was just rescuing cats and helping old ladies cross the street.
Still, as much as I would have been interested in hearing Knight's story, I wasn't interested in sharing mine.
Looking back on it, I''m kinda surprised how long it took me to tell Dave about my Mom and everything. But back then I still barely knew him and I was months away from fantasizing about making out with him. It's so weird realizing that it hasn't even been two years since we met. It feels like so much longer.
Anyway, Knight talked about how he'd been trying to hunt him down for almost the last two years, but the son of a bitch seems to have a knack for keeping his hidey holes a secret. Or at least his involvement in it a secret. I mean, Knight admitted to knowing about the Rainbow Factory for months before he found out The Motherfucker had actually set up shop at the top of it.
Unfortunately neither of us had anything new to share with the other. Just the same old stories; Chris has been laying low, cunts out being cunts, but rarely in large groups, occasional sightings of one of his supervillains. It sucks.
But sooner or later we're going to track him down and nail him to the wall and then cut him apart piece by piece. With an iron to cauterize the stumps so he doesn't bleed out on us.
When our food came we went back out and Dave drove us to within a few blocks of the safehouse. When we got out Knight got back in the drivers seat and Dave asked him, "You sure you're gonna be okay there?"
Knight nodded and scribbled out, "Will be fine. Flesh wound. If serious would have bled out long ago,"
Dave chuckled and said, "Been there."
So he drove off and we stashed our cash, changed, and headed home.
So yeah, tonight was pretty good. That fight keeps bugging me though. It was weird, and maybe I'm just over thinking this, but I don't think any of them said a single thing in english.
A Call For Aide: Do the words, "Play-by-Post" mean anything to you? It's a form of roleplaying that doesn't involve any dice, or numbers, or levels. It's just people writing characters and interacting with each other while working towards a goal. Essentialy, and RPG without the G.
Well, an old friend of mine has started a new Roleplay but it's gotten very little attention. He's an excelent story teller, his plots and characters are amazing, but without players his story is going to go nowhere. So, I offered to promote it in my fic.
Here's the link: roleplay/dragons-of-terra-firma#introduction (okay, it's not really any sort of link, but it you copy that into google it'll be the first result)
Please give it a look. A good Roleplay is always worth the time spent on it.
And yes, I'll be playing.
