by Mike Doom
~S
"So what is the point of all this really?" Epic Death says to Pepper. They are sitting at a bar on Selba, waiting for Sunshine to get out of her premiere. She has only been dating Pepper for about a month now, so she isn't sure he should be seen with her at these sorts of things. Not that he is complaining. Wearing a suit and watching his girlfriend make out with some actor isn't really something he'd like to sign up for. The bar is small and dark, the kind that only has one row of booths and the stools along the length of a faux wood mesa.
"Honestly. It sounds ridiculous the more I spin it in my head. Corialis wanted us dead, that part was easy."
"Of course." Epic gestures with his whiskey.
"Nature. However, he also wanted us blamed for the attack on the Race. Specifically the three of us. To ensure that he staged an elaborate hoax theft of the Jewel, in an attempt to get us all on the same trail which would eventually lead us, with a paper trail to follow, to that fucking space station."
"Okay. But why involve Cirrhosis?"
"That's probably something we're not going to figure out. He wanted Cirrhosis to lead his little army of robots."
"For why?"
"Money I guess for Corialis, and then he felt he'd made a hero."
"That worked at least." Epic laughs, Cirrhosis has never been more popular. His check-ups and physical training sessions are getting better ratings than preseason games.
"Heh, right." Pepper chuckles.
"Cirrhosis did meet that weird agent guy..."
"Exactly. Hell, from what I remember Last Chance was hired by Corialis himself to record a reality sensivise from Torch, they even put her on Cirrhosis' plane."
"That guy has a serious fanclub."
"It is because of Cirrhosis that Corialis is alive to enact his revenge. I bet he would have stopped at nothing to protect him."
"Wow." Epic thinks back at all those pillars in Corialisana. Smirks to himself and orders another round. Everyone has their crushes.
"So when Cirrhosis wouldn't get deterred, he just set Code up to protect him during the race. Running back through Cirrhosis' memory core, you can see that Code was shadowing him the whole time. It just appeared to Cirrhosis that he was behind Jor."
"Speaking of that. What the hell was that guy's deal?"
"Big guess, but I would assume he found out how much money Stephen was pulling from the family estate to fund all of this revenge stuff. Also, he served to properly exonerate the Corialis family should any portion of his participation be exposed."
"Now, to the real meat. He used Apocalypse-"
"Don't forget Big. He was probably part of it too."
"He forced me into meeting Big, knowing that I would need his services were I to be attacked. He also set-up Apocalypse to protect the President of Selba. All of this was to force the end of the Hunt, and to replace us with robots."
"Robots of his design."
"Yeah. So he did win, kinda, didn't he?"
"The debate is open for sure. Hell, even Cirrhosis involving the Z'arkadar in the protection of the people made them second guess some things."
"But we can't really be thinking that rolling out an army of Frees will really solve everything."
"Fuck if I know." Pepper shrugs.
"I'll drink to that." Epic laughs, and the boys toast. Sunshine enters the bar, they can both tell because all eyes in the room suddenly shift to their right. Epic stands up. He grabs his jacket and hugs Sunshine with one arm.
"Are you going? I didn't even get to see you." Sunshine pouts.
"If you're lucky you'll never be forced to see this mug again. Pepper, you take care of yourself."
"Same to you."
Sunshine takes Epic's seat, watching the man leave. Unsure how to feel about it, because she knows that their very existence is in question right now. He'll probably end up a merc on Dub-X or something. She laughs at that, knowing that he would be in charge of the place within a month.
"How was the thing?"
"Good. You know you can come to these events right?"
"Oh? Sorry, I don't own any suits."
"That is a bold faced lie."
"Uh... dry cleaners?" Pepper shrugs and winces at the same time. Totally caught.
"Whatever." She says with finality. She orders a martini, and sips it for a moment. They both look at themselves in the mirror.
"Is it over?" Sunshine says, turning to Pepper.
"No. Not yet. There is still one thing that someone has to handle."
"Are you?"
"No. Retired." Pepper says in ernest. Sunshine looks in his eyes, worried. He smiles and puts his hand over hers.
"I-"
"Look. How about tomorrow I go get my stuff from the dry cleaner. Meet you on Isis in a couple of days for that festival thing you're showing at."
"Really?"
"Sure." Pepper says, but he isn't going to leave Selba until someone takes care of the loose end. Judging from World traffic, that little squabble is happening now. Appears that bitch does have her uses, not that he'd ever admit it to her. Guy has to keep at least some of his pride, even a guy who watches his girlfriend dry hump some douche bag for money. Even him.
Rules of the Hunt
1) Always kill the target if the Call doesn't say otherwise
2) Always survive to Hunt another day
3) A hunter can never set the Call on a bounty
4) No home-court advantage shouldn't be exploited
5) Unless relinquished by the Caller, a bounty can only be delivered to the Caller themselves
6) Hunters cannot injure anyone outside the Call, unless they intentionally involve themselves or refuse to flee if warned
7) You can not be a hunter and a mercenary both
8) Hunters are responsible for all property destruction, and injury to, any party other than the bounty
9) Theft is acceptable in pursuit of the bounty, as long as stolen goods are paid for at the end of the Call
10) Police forces are not to involve themselves in the Hunt unless a Rule is broken or to prevent the eminent breakage thereof
11) Callers cannot be a member of any government if the bounty is also a member thereof
12) Callers must provide all available information on the bounty, or the hunter may refuse to complete the Call
13) The Call is abolished in any area during a declared war
14) The Call is considered complete if the bounty is delivered to the police, even if they did not make the call
"Hey, sir? You forget something?" Stardust says to the back of someone's head. They are both in a rather lavish office complex in the Hinter. She had been following this certain lead for about the whole time she had been back. Mostly because she doesn't really enjoy leaving fights half way through. Blue balls and all.
"What are you doing here, woman?"
"I am here to finish what we started, darling." Stardust says, pulling her sword from its sheath at her waist. She had been following him this whole time, looking to see what she could learn about him, use against him should she need to. Mostly, she was waiting until she got him alone so she could truly relish in his death. Other people only get in the way.
"The time for that is over. Our time is almost over." He says.
"Please, nobody is getting outlawed. Besides, I'd gladly go to jail for a million years if I can spend that entire time reliving your bloodly end."
"Childish." Toro says, pulling a sword from the desk he is in front of. Apparently this place is an official hideout. Stardust finds it intensely humorous that someone as lavish and image conscious as Toro Abobo would be willing to hole up in a stripmall in the Hinter.
"I am anything if not predictable." Stardust says, charging on Toro. In true gravity, he is much less of a concern, which is sad. Stardust would have liked to have killed him in his home turf. But bloody blotters and brain splattered copiers are his des
tiny now. No glamor in that.
"What do you have to gain in this?"
"You have a sizable bounty."
"Which you don't need."
"That is just icing. I am here for a challenge. This is what I wished for, what you took from me with your little stunt."
"You're getting revenge for me killing Corialis before you could?"
"Don't split hairs. I am here for so many delicious reasons." Stardust says with a lunge, taking a chunk out of Toro's side. He steps back quickly, but stumbles over a thick circular rug for comfortable chair functionality. He looks backward long enough to jump and use the desk as a pivot point and goes after Stardust with a horizontal slash. She easily parries.
"Here comes two. Be careful, I don't want you dying too quickly now." Stardust mocks huskily. She hooks her foot on a chair and pulls it towards Toro, tripping him forward. His game is completely off.
"You really suck today. You forget to take your morning golden shower?" She giggles, spinning her sword in her hand, smacking his ass with the back of her blade mocking him.
"Fuck you, you bitch!" He spits at her as he rights himself.
"Who are you?"
"What?"
"I am better than Toro, but not this much." She says slashing through 'Toro's' shoulder. She looks around the office, running full spectrum on the office. Nothing hot here except for this ass-clown.
"He-he promised me that my family-" Toro's duplicate grunts, slumped over the tipped over chair, bleeding profusely. Stardust jabs his spine to end it. His family will be killed by Toro if Toro so desires, this wouldn't have gotten him a stay of execution. Not his style.
Stardust walks over to the nearest terminal not covered in bodily fluid and dives in, looking for a heavily encrypted access point somewhere on the system. She finds that easily amongst the fake financial data and forged interoffice emails. Freshman maneuvers for sure, but nothing as bad as the fake guy. This was to make her seem like an idiot while pulling her off the trail. Pathetic.
Stardust opens her eyes in Toro's office, sitting in front of his giant gold desk. The room reaks of arsenic and opulence. It's offensive on every level, most of all because Toro is sitting there with his stupid smug smile on his face.
"I see you found my office."
"I am going to fuckstart your face when I find you."
"Is that so?"
"Play house while you can dumbass. Know that I am coming to finish this."
"Finish what exactly? Since when did you want my head on the pike? You've never been like this, it is unseemly."
"I was robbed of my challenge. My wish. Fuck money. Fuck power. I want to live a life worth living, and I choose to do that by killing. I will find you, sweetheart, and I will cut small pieces from you until you beg for death. Then I'll bring you to a fucking rejuvenation center, let you get loose, and find you, all to do it again."
"You are insane." Toro says with a raised eyebrow. She got to him.
"Not as bad as some, but worst than most. Speaking of which, you should really look behind you. I hate your filthy face, but I hate losing a bet even more. You can kill him now."
"What?" Toro says fevered, cutting out of the room suddenly. Stardust will have to ask for a copy of his memories when they meet up again. His last few moments are something she would savor like a fine wine. She takes a moment to poke around his office, looking at various objects that he has on his shelves. Weird things mostly, car keys, tavis jerseys, an autographed crossbow, and what looks like a severed monkey head. She picks the head up and spins it around in her hands.
"Find anything you like?"
"Not really. We done here?"
"Seems that way."
"Meet at the usual spot?"
"You being tailed?"
"Of course not."
"Then the usual place it is."
END