The assistance of the stranger tribal had been expensive, but Lara did not regret a single dollar. That stranger, Tala, was something of a divine gift - her help enabled Lara to gain revenge AND a profitable business deal. Would help, the gang leader corrected herself. She didn't think Tala would rat their plan out to Tyler - there was little to gain and besides, Tala had more than enough chances to do so already. As for Metzger, he genuinely didn't care about gang rivalries, so long as they didn't interfere with his own business.
The stranger had taken a leave with her utterly weird (not to mention ugly) companion to "Do some shopping and extorting," as she had put it. What exactly the tribal had in mind, Lara didn't know.
By the time Tala and Sulik returned to Lara's gang's house, it was already getting dark. Their packs, as Lara critically eyed, had doubled in size and tripled in weight, or so it seemed. "Well, welcome back," she said dryly. "Either you did a lot of short and profitable deals or robbed someone," she said conversationally, nodding at the bags.
Tala returned a smile with no humour in it. "There were some good deals, but we didn't rob anyone. Just dealt some justice to child molesters."
Lara nodded, not surprised. "Flick got what he deserved," she said simply. The reputation of the borderline-psychopathic gun merchant was well known. Paying orphaned kids to steal and advertise was okay by Den standards - molesting and raping pre-puberty children was not, as vicious as the place was. Most Den citizens didn't do much, though, because Flick's connections enabled him access to guns that couldn't be rivalled north of Reno, or so it was said.
"He won't be missed, that's for sure," the redheaded gang member nodded. "I hope someone will step in his stead and offer guns at less ridiculous prices, though."
Tala nodded grimly as Lara wandered off, her mind returning to the oncoming fight. "Grampy Bone told we and I to do de hurting. Little Man Flick took his time to die," Sulik nodded and sat down to examine his new MP-9 submachine gun, as his companion examined her new shotgun.
"Nice hole-puncher," the redhead commented, sitting next to Tala, who smiled and nodded.
"That it is. Much easier for going up against another gang with those toys," the tribal spoke. "What's your name, anyway? It's annoying to think of you only as "that cute redhead"," she continued, slightly smiling and looking at the younger woman from the corner of her eye. Tala hadn't said it just as a random flirt or an empty compliment - the redhead WAS cute. She wasn't a classic beauty, by far - the natural light red and somewhat messy hair and freckles did not make for beauty-magazine material, as seen in those few that had survived from the ancient times. But there was a certain charm in her, a certain something that Tala couldn't exactly point out.
"Aidan," the younger woman said, looking away with a slight blush. "My mother said it means 'fire', after my hair," she continued, lifting a strand of hair to illustrate the point.
"Aidan..." Tala repeated. "I like it. Mine means 'wolf'," she explained, holding up the wolf paw amulet hanging around her neck. "My mother foresaw a great journey in my future and called upon the wolf spirits to protect me when she gave birth to me. For that, she made this amulet, as well."
"Spirits, hmm?" Aidan said with a hint of skepticism. "So have the... wolf spirits... protected you then?"
Tala smiled, having expected skepticism from a city-dweller. "Eleven winters ago... BEFORE the whole area started going to hell in a handbasket, as the old saying goes, I was wandering around in the woods. You know how it is with children at the age of eleven," she smiled, but noticed Aidan wincing instead. "Anyway... I figured myself grown-up enough and wandered farther than ever before, and of course, got lost in the neighbouring canyon when it got dark. The wolves were out that night, a deaf radscorpion would've heard them. Needless to say, I got scared and climbed a tree to be out of their reach. I drifted off to sleep at one point, slipped before I could stop it, fell off the tree and was knocked unconcsious. In the morning, when I woke up, there were five grey wolves sitting around me, three of them licking their wounds. And around them, at least 7 dead rats, one dead molerat and two dead radscorpions," the tribal spoke, shuddering at the memory. "They patiently watched as I got up, then one of them led me back towards home, while others walked behind and around me as the honour guard of a chieftain, before leaving suddenly when I was in sight of my village," she finished her story and smiled at Aidan. "And no, I don't expect you to believe it. Feel free to write it off as a drug-induced hallucination of some tribal, if you so desire."
Aidan looked at Tala with a pondering look, but then shrugged. "Who knows. Lots of strange things around, these days. Besides - it's not like the civ... city folk don't do drugs," she nodded towards the window of Lara's hideout, which opened to the street and showed several wasted drug-addicts. "Sometimes I hate this place..." she said quietly, more to herself.
"Sometimes?" Tala raised an eyebrow, looking out the window as well.
The redhead snorted. "Alright, make it almost always. Awfully few non-repulsive people around here and not much to do, unless you're a fucking Jet addict," she sneered. "But hey, I look at the bright side of things - I won't have to worry about getting old in Den," she continued with much sarcasm and looked at Tala.
The tribal stared out of the window for a while and then shrugged. "You know what I'm asking now, right?"
Aidan snorted again and nodded. "Got nowhere to go, really. Don't know the way. Besides - it's not ALL bad," she said, nodding in Lara's direction. "Might be few, but there are people that watch your back here. And I've grown up here. Besides - what's is there to do elsewhere? All I'd meet is tougher opposition."
Tala shrugged with a smile. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Me, I'm operating on a time schedule and will return home as soon as possible. In the meanwhile, helping out you guys and Mom and Flick... although Flick himself would disagree about Sulik helping him... Anyway, it's all just a pass-time. Some money-making, in case I need to bribe or buy things along the way. That, and most of it doesn't take a piece off me. Well, except maybe the whole Tyler gang issue, but it's not like I'm going to battle for the first time or anything. And I don't plan to stick to the front of the fight. It's not my fight."
"Sure enough," Aidan nodded. "Lover, not a fighter, huh?"
"I didn't say that. Pragmatist, first and foremost. I don't expect you lot to stick your asses into the fire for me, do I?"
"Point taken," the redhead shrugged.
"That's not to say I'm more of a warrior than a lover, though. I can and do fight and standing victorious on the battlefield is a lovely feeling, but I much rather prefer spending the night between my lover's arms. Well, arms or..."
"I get it, I get it!" Aidan interrupted, raising her hand and looking away, cursing herself for blushing so easily as the dark-haired stranger chuckled at her discomfort.
"No need to look away," Tala teased further. "You're just as lovely as you blush," she said. Naturally, that made the redhead blush even more and she punched Tala's arm lightly.
"Ahem," said a voice from behind them. Tala looked up to see Lara standing above them with a frown. "If you're done trying to get into my lackies' pants, we should talk some tactics and get going soon," she nodded towards the windows, which showed a considerably darkened Den.
"'Lackey'?" Aidan asked with an indignant scoff.
"Well, yes, at this point. Would you rather that I remember how often you stayed with me and Jonny, to the point where you became something of an adoptive little sister? Of course," she added quickly before Aidan could comment, "If I did that, I'd have to start a fight with the stranger here for hitting on to my little sister," she finished with a completely straight face, though her eyes were smiling.
"Err... Lackey will do just fine," Aidan commented meekly.
Lara smiled. "Good. Now, listen up..." And she began to explain her plan.
By the time they were ready to move out, it was a little past midnight. Most of the milling junkies had blacked out somewhere, but some were still around. The gangers, too, had mostly disappeared from the streets, having gathered to whereever they usually gathered, and even Metzger's hive was dark and quiet mostly. All in all, there were few witnesses as Lara, her gang and the two tribals moved out of their hideout and towards the old church. Tala was still unsure whether she should use her shotgun or not, since she had never had the chance to practice shooting with it and in real battle, inexperience could be extremely dangerous.
So, just in case, Tala loosened her pistol in the holster and set her spear on her back a bit better, sacrificing comfort for ease of access. The latter was the weapon she felt herself the most comfortable with, but if the enemy had guns, the spear-wielder had to have the element of surprise or a skin of steel. She doubted she had either of them in this particular battle.
Sulik, for one, seemed more comfortable with his submachine gun, having used such before. But he, too, kept his spear at the ready just in case. "Grampy Bone says we and I will yet need it," he had said.
Needless to say, everyone, Tala included, was relatively sceptical.
Near the church, Lara ordered everyone to stop with a wave of her hand and snuck closer to take a look at the front of the church, currently out of their view. Tala took the moment to sit down and lit a cigarette again, this time conciously in an effort to calm herself. She had seen combat, yes. Fought against hordes of rats and several scorpions. She had also fought humans and killed humans. But this was to be her first real combat against a group of intelligent enemies with guns, so she reasoned that some nervousness was justified. The tobacco made her also somewhat lightheaded, but she knew from experience that the effects would be far more temporary than alcohol, to speak nothing of her own weedwater.
"Got an extra?" Aidan asked, crouching next to the brunette and nodding towards the pack.
"Sure," Tala said, offering one. She almost followed through with another flirt, but couldn't think of anything good in such situation.
"You don't have much experience with gunfights, have you?" Aidan asked quietly.
"Uhh, well... No. No I don't. You?"
Aidan shook her head, lighting her cigarette. "Heck, mostly been just brawls... A lot of the gangs here don't even have guns, or only have one or two. And most conflicts are just that - brawls. Once somebody pulls a gun, it means that things are getting too serious and it's time to calm down."
"So fights as serious as this one are not an everyday occurrence?"
"There'd be hardly anyone left here if they were," Aidan said dryly, then shook her head. "No, this one is serious... A blood feud plus power struggle."
"Care to elaborate?" Tala asked, watching the redhead in the dim light of the cigarette stub.
"Well, as you've probably noticed, Metzger is the head ganger of Den and there's no one here to challenge him. So, technically, we kill for the second best. Currently, Tyler's gang has been standing in Metzger's shadow for a while already, but now, by the looks of it, things are about to change. Thanks to you, by the way."
"And the blood feud?"
"Tyler killed Jonny, Lara's older brother. Both her and I were close to him... So it's also personal. Tyler will die tonight, no matter what."
Tala nodded silently and no more was said for a while. The cigarettes burned out and Lara returned soon after. "Well," she spoke quietly. "Tyler doesn't seem to be around, but his god damn right-hand man is there and seems sober," she said, casting a look at Tala. "However, I didn't hear anything from the inside, so they're either with Tyler or asleep. Either way, the assault on the church should be easier."
The church was quiet. The big, black guard was slowly pacing back and forth before the doors, looking around boredly and occasionally dragging the spikes of his iron knuckles against each other, producing a series of clicking sounds. Nobody else seemed around.
As the sound of a gunshot pierced the thick silence of the night, several things happened at once. Metzger's guards that were on duty jumped to attention, reaching for their guns, while the head of the Slaver Guild himself jerked to awake, groggily grabbing for his shotgun. Various gangers that were not drunk snapped to attention. Mom looked up from her work and told the customers to stay away from the windows. Frankie ducked behind his counter, just in case, as a drunken gang member fell off the bed and off the prostitute at the back of Frankie's establishment, The Hole. But first and foremost, the guard in front of the church fell against the church wall from the impact of the bullet, even though the shot failed to penetrate his armour.
The guard didn't seem particularly surprised, though, but rather seemed to have expected it as he stood straight again and prepared to charge. "Welcome, Lara. Coming to join your worthless brother, finally?" he asked as the doors of the church were blown open, revealing a fully sober Tyler and his gang.