Post by Cylie on Nov 13, 2020 12:22:10 GMT -8
Today was planned to be an eventful day, but none would have assumed it as such if they had known that it would be so quiet. The silence of the day was intense enough to make one's blood as cold as the autumnal air that crept through an open window. Bereft of any wind, the leaves outside hung limp until they fell of their own accord, there was no whispering noise or rustling. It was as if nature conspired to keep the whole lot in silence, with assistance from residents. There was little movement out in this deserted patch of land, as it was located a decent distance away from the main roads, from people, and from conflict. As such, Cylie took up residence here, living in a stationary trailer in the middle of a barren lot. As calm as the place may seem, Cylie's presence alone easily rid the area of it's tranquility. Soon enough, something was going to happen, and Cylie seemed to be the only person for miles that would be responsible.
It was noon when the sun shone directly over the hairless head of a man who walked across the dirt floors of these lands. He felt like it was showering fire, and as such, he felt thirsty. He reckoned that he could've drank water again and again, but would still remain awfully dissatisfied. Ice and cold water were in much demand. But they could not provide any comfort to his irritating body at the moment. It felt to him that his movement was the only activity in the barren lot he wandered through. It felt like wearing a cloak of sickness and suffocation. The few minutes he walked on this deserted road were highly uncomfortable, yet, he trudged on. It wasn't through determination, courage or anything of the sort. No, it was anger. Rage filled him to the point where the sheer heat radiating off of him could compete with the heat of fire itself. The jet black leather jacket he wore was of little concern to him, despite the discomfort it brought him in this heat. He had stormed out of his house that day, neglecting to prepare himself for the long walk. He was almost there regardless. No turning back now.....
Beside the baldie walked two more people who had also braved the hotness of the outside world, but their intentions greatly differed from his. The one to his right was a girl with canine teeth and fox ears, with bright blonde hair tied in a short ponytail, and a similarly colored fox tail to match. She wore two shirts, one plaid, one black, and a closed sleeveless jacket over them. dark jeans completed her relatively simple look. The second one's most striking features were his dark green skin, pointed ears, lack of eyebrows and and pair of antennae. Yes, he was a Namekian. Apart from the usual Namekian traits, he had a relatively casual human look, wearing an open black jacket of his own, leaving a greyish undershirt on display beneath the jacket. His choice of wear also consisted of regular black pants to finish the look. The fox girl voiced a concerned warning, her voice rather shaky.
"T-This is the last time I'm telling you, Ket. Y-You don't want to do this."
An arm grab accompanied the girl's warning, but Ket simply shrugged it off. He was too deep into this to simply turn back now. A rather large parked trailer was fenced off in the barren lot, and Ket walked straight through the fence's gate, with his two temporary companions following closely behind him. He halted his stride a few meters from the trailer, calling out for whoever may be inside. Sweat dropped down the side of his hardened face as the door to the trailer opened. The one who had exited the trailer was another a young woman, one who carried a bottle of liquor in her right hand. She had tanned skin and dark brown hair that was carelessly tied in a long ponytail, held by a white ribbon, the ends of the ribbon standing straight up. She carried seven scabbards and seven swords within them, with three being kept on either side of her hips, and the seventh strapped across her back. She was wearing an outfit similar to the Namekian's, but her jacket was bright red and hooded, and revealed a simple black sports bra worn for obvious modesty. She looked rather tired. Ket immediately began yelling at her, as if he were venting his frustrations.
"You! Cylie! I've just about had it with you and your antics!"
The girl paid no attention to him. She failed to even glance at the guy. She lifted herself up into the air, slowly flying off without a word. This action angered Ket even further, and he chased Cylie down for a couple meters on foot, yelling and cursing at her, utilizing just about every curse word that he had written down in a mental book. Hearing all the yelling, another woman emerged from the trailer and began yelling herself, specifically at Ket, urging him to drop the issue. He didn't listen. Cylie suddenly seemed to notice that someone was calling her, and looking downwards, she spotted Ket attempting to gain her attention. She dropped out of the sky like a rock, landing directly in front of the bald man. Her expression remained neutral through the short exchange of words, and she glanced at the bottle in her hands more than just a few times.
"Huh? What is it?"
"Being with my girl, man. It's wrong."
"Well, I gotta be with someone. You want me to be with you? Is that the problem here?"
"What? You think this is funny?"
"Do I look like I'm laughing?"
"Fuck you, Cylie. I still love her."
His rage was soon replaced by sadness and guilt, which both immediately began to flood his mind. What did he think this would solve? He walked away from the swordswomen with his back to her, shaking his head as he focused his vision towards the ground. He halted his walk after a few seconds, and Cylie had caught up with him simultaneously. He made her mad, didn't he? His head hurt. His heart hurt. Every part of him hurt. He will have accomplished nothing by the time he leaves again. And now, he had probably developed a bit of beef with a literal gang leader. He wasn't sure of what his next move was, until he felt a soothing hand on his back. "Hey..." He heard. The softness and compassion dripping from the girl's tone almost startled him, as it felt... out of character. He hadn't been assaulted yet, so he wasn't complaining, however.
"I know exactly how you feel. I can tell that you're conflicted, and well... I'm sorry."
Ket was at a loss for words momentarily, until he stammered his way into a coherent sentence.
"I-I'm sorry too. I didn't mean anything by it, I-I messed up, I-"
"Shhh, come on. You look like you need a hug."
Cylie spread her arms out wide, inviting Ket to a simple hug. Never before had Ket seen Cylie act as if she were a sweet and caring mother, but he failed to question her actions. He had spent far too long drowning in his own thoughts to suspect anything. The hug was a simple enough gesture - affection, perhaps the fragile beginnings of a friendly relationship. The arms that held him were soft, yet strong. The feel of her body so close to his soothed him more than he had expected. But within seconds he pulled away, his mind swam not only with the heady excitement of being hugged for the first time in a while, but with thoughts of his girl, Christy. Why after so long? Perhaps the heat was getting to him? Maybe. All these thoughts had clouded his mind, and all of them came to an abrupt end. The breaking of glass rung in his ears, and the harsh pain of being struck drummed in his skull. Liquor and blood splattered all over his face as he fell to the ground, his vision reddening and becoming blurry. Within moments, his skull caved in beneath the impact of a falling clean, white sneaker which was immediately dirtied by the red liquid that the stomp produced. The sneaker belonged to Cylie. She screamed as she stomped on the man's head several more times, multiple profanities flowing freely from her mouth as if a pipe burst within, and she could not control the overflow. Once she finished, the three people that were there to witness it stiffened with shock. The Namekian, Christy, and the half human took a step back for their own safety, with the woman beginning to tear up. Cylie continued screaming at the man, even though his downed body did not move.
"JUST WHO DO YOU THINK YOU'RE SPEAKING TO?! I JUST LOST AN ENTIRE SHIPMENT OF WEAPONRY, AND I HAVE TO DEAL WITH YOUR CRAP? GET UP! I SAID GET UP!"
Obviously, Ket did not respond. It seemed to take Cylie a few seconds to realize that she had ended him. With a heavy sigh, she walked away from the scene, mumbling under her breath. She was followed by the Namekian and the other girl that still stood. Christy ran towards Ket's fallen body as soon as Cylie left, allowing tears to gush down her face like a waterfall as she dropped to her knees. Through tears and crying, he repeated the name of the man, as if doing so would miraculously revive him, but to no avail.
Cylie's anger refused to subside as she walked back to her homey trailer, now beginning to circle around it. The Namekian and half human that accompanied her to wherever she may be going looked nervous in their own rights. The green man was continuously licking his lips, and the girl beside him was wide eyed and sweating bullets. Maybe this behavior could be attributed to the evil orb of flames that hovered above? Regardless, they continued to follow the apparent murderer until she abruptly ceased to walk forward. She screamed out in pure rage and exasperation, throwing an annoyed fist at the burning air. The two people behind her discarded their nervousness for concern, and approached the female thief with caution. The fox attemtpted to speak up first, but before she could even allow a full sentence to fall out of her mouth, Cylie stilled the girl's small, quiet words with her own, which were large and resentful in comparison.
"Damn it all! That dopey cowboy's forced my hand. We gotta go break the news to the rest of the MC."
The Namek and the halfling exchanged glances with each other uneasily, as if they were both contemplating what had just happened. Being witnesses of the sudden crime, they were fully aware that from a logical standpoint, poor Ket absolutely did not 'force' her hand, but rather, Cylie allowed her vexation to overpower any thoughts of reason that may have surfaced in her mind. She simply didn't want to deal with the problem she'd created, right? Attempting to dodge taking responsibility through a heinous act. It ended up making things worse altogether, for both her and the Crimson Wind, considering that Ket was a prominent member of the MC. The MC is a notorious gang of bikers known for acting as mercenaries or regular criminals, and they've been causing trouble for just about everybody in the area. Perhaps this was intentional? She'd always been complaining about this biker problem that was caused by the mere existence of the MC. She had definitely wished to eliminate them before today. Whichever one it was, it served as a reminder of how potentially dangerous Cylie was as an individual. The girl whipped around, and began issuing orders to these two, First to the Namek, then to the girl.
"Xylo, go take the truck out front. Keisha, get the guns. We're gonna pay the MC a little visit."
Both Xylo and Keisha nodded with conviction before running off to go carry out their assigned tasks. Cylie walked off as well, her glare darkening at nothing in particular.
Within minutes, the leader of the Crimson Wind and two of her underlings were set to drive up to the MC's doorstep, with Xylo at the wheel, Cylie beside him in the only passenger seat in the vehicle, and Keisha in the back, holding an antiqued shotgun in her hands. The swordswoman gave the go ahead, and the three thieves drove off, passing Ket's corpse and Christy along the way, who continued to mourn sorrowfully. Not even a minute had passed since they managed to make it to the main road with other vehicles, and Cylie was already talking.
"Guys. Happen to know anything about that weapons shipment that we had attacked? Like, who did it?"
Keisha spoke up first, while fixing the ponytail on the back of her head.
"Well... We have a few leads."
Cylie was quick to stop her from speaking further, the tanned woman's displeasure clearly leaking through in her tone.
"Good. Find them."
Keisha stammered a bit, caught off guard by the sudden order. She didn't even get to tell her what these supposed 'leads' were. They were more hunches, than anything. She tried to speak again, but once more, she was silenced by the cutting words of the swordswoman.
"FIND THEM, Keish."
"This mean that I don't have to go see the bikers?"
"We're in a hurry, but not that much of a hurry."
"But Cylie, couldn't we just bury Ket in this desert, quiet down that bitch you was with, then chill so that they don't find out that you did it?"
Cylie paused for a moment, as if she was taking into consideration what the girl said. A sharp left was taken, and Keisha nearly fell on her face in the back. Her boss chuckled lightly, before accusing her of a lack of respect.
"Think it's clever to disrespect other women?"
Keisha looked taken aback. Maybe a little hurt, too.
"Disrespect? What? I wasn't disrespecting. I was just saying we should kill her too."
"But you called her a bitch. Don't you have a mother?"
"Everyone's got a mother. At least... one."
Cylie shook her head, and ceased talking to Keisha. Xylo shook his head too, as if prompted to do so by the one seated comfortably beside him. Keisha was not as comfortable, considering that she was sitting in the back of the truck with nothing to restrain her from falling or even flying out of the vehicle. With the day being as it is, and the Free Lands being as it is, the roads were not very busy that day. Soon the trio were charging down a straight road, traveling at a pace unknown to careful drivers. The Namekian just so happened to usually be a careful driver, but today, today was different. With the current situation at hand, he was just about speeding at this point, driving rather quickly and a little negligently. He put on the music system in the car. At least he looked like he was enjoying himself, Cylie thought. A lull in speed and a quick right turn led them into a small collection of houses on the side of the main road. In front of one of the houses was a group of men dressed in black, leather jackets, a portion of them comfortably seated in their very own bikes. No doubt, these were members of the MC. There was a black van near the collection of bikes, parked on the side of the decently sized house. Cylie made a mental note of it as Xylo slowed to a stop in front of the leather jacket wearing gang. Keisha hopped out of the truck, readying her shotgun for action. Xylo stepped out of the driver's seat, walking around the truck while baring his alien canines menacingly. Cylie casually exited the vehicle, grinning widely while having her eyes fixated on the group of bikers who had their conversation interrupted due to the Crimson Wind's intrusion. Most of them kept their eyes on the weapon Keisha had, neglecting to ready themselves for battle. That was mostly due to the fact that several of them carried weapons around casually. Cylie happened to be no different, having her trusty seven swords with her at the time. One of the bikers spoke up, asking the woman a question.
"Woah, Cylie. Fancy seeing you here. Seen Christy anywhere? Ket's lookin' for her."
"As a matter of fact, I did. About ten minutes ago, right on top of these thighs right here."
She slapped her flank, earning a puzzled expression from the biker that was speaking. Another one spoke up, remembering how Ket felt the last time he heard about Cylie and Christy.
"I don't think Ket's gonna be cool if you're starting to see her again."
"Don't think so? Well, lemme ask him real quick."
Cylie lowered her head as she leaned forward, raised her right foot, and began speaking to it as if it were a person. This initially confused the bikers, but realization soon began to appear in their minds as they began to notice all the blood, dirt and gore on the bottom of her shoe.
"Hey there cowboy. You mind if I go out with your old lady? Oh, what's that? You don't mind? Is it because you're a dead man, and the only sentient part left of you is this chunk of brain on the end of my boot? Well, thanks a bunch, cowboy."
"Bullshit!"
The man that had shouted was a biker. He had gotten off of his bike as soon as the words reached his eardrums, and he glared defiantly at the woman supposedly responsible for Ket's death. Cylie smirked at his actions, and walked up to him, staring upwards into his eyes, for he was a few inches taller. It was all starting to make sense to them. The clear dislike that Cylie had shown for them wasn't just a simple annoyance. Otherwise, she wouldn't have declared war on them like this, right? A few of the bikers began to panic. They knew that there was no way that they could take this woman down with the rather low numbers they currently had. They had to warn the rest of the MC. They had to go get help from the home base. They began piling into the van. All but two of them. One of them had a blaster pistol out as he opted to mount his bike, while Cylie stared down the other.
"I like that. Denial. That's only the first step of the grieving process, y'know. Now, why don't we just hold hands?"
The man was about to curse at the woman, but he faltered. He began walking towards his bike, leaving Cylie to stare at his back.
"This better be bullshit, Cylie."
The van sped off, and so did the two men on their bikes. Keisha considered shooting at them, but after seeing Cylie and Xylo return to their seats in the truck, she hopped into the back. Everything had turned out much better than Cylie had hoped. She didn't expect their first instinct to be to retreat, there were only three enemies after all. Xylo slammed his foot on the gas, speeding towards the biker van. Unlike the two men in the truck, Cylie looked eager to catch up with them.
"If these guys lead us to wherever the rest of them are, this place won't have a biker problem for much longer. Xylo, sit on the van until it gets to it's destination."
"Got it. Did you see the look on their faces?"
"We scared them, didn't we?"
"Yeah, thank goodness they didn't take you idiots for the harmless pricks you are."
The unexpected insult sparked an awkward silence between the three. Xylo mumbled something under his breath, and Keisha let out a hard, long sigh. Neither of their reactions seemed to bother Cylie much. She was certainly having a good time. Today was the day she finally got rid of that pain in her ass. Namely, these bikers. The trio drove in silence for a few minutes until Keisha could take the silence and discomfort no longer. She started to complain about being tossed about every time Xylo hit even the slightest bump in the road.
"You need some seatbelts back here, y'know."
Cylie chuckled at her for the second time today.
"Silly fox. I only keep things in the back that I don't mind losing."
Keisha's tone brimmed with surprise, which was quickly replaced by disappointment. She tried to change the subject, quickly remembering that they were chasing down dangerous criminals.
"Oh! Oh.... Uh, do we know where these bikers are headed yet?"
The Namekian thought for a bit, mentally looking back at the route they've been taking.
"I've got a hunch, but I'm not sure. Once we know, I can drop both you and Cylie back at our base. We'll probably need to bring more men next time around so that we can eliminate them. Maybe someone like Jordan, or-"
"Yeah, no. We're doing this now, Xylo. Just the three of us."
"I don't see us taking out all the bikers this go, Cylie. There will be some by the airstrip, some by the-"
"If not today, their time will soon be upon them."
Xylo did not press the issue further, but rather expressed his dissatisfaction with a sigh and grumble. Cylie ignored him, keeping her eyes fixated on the van they were following. They weren't much of a biker gang if they were fleeing in a van, were they? There were still those two bikers from earlier that remained true to the name, following the van closely behind while on their bikes. Wait a minute, they had their backs turned to the Crimson Wind thieves at the moment, and as such they were absolutely vulnerable to an attack from behind. Maybe Cylie can drop these guys real quick. She squinted at the van, now being able to fully study it's features. It was reinforced with armor. She could probably blow it up with a well placed energy blast regardless, but the van wouldn't get to the rest of the bikers if it exploded, now would it? She formed a finger gun with her left hand, closing her right eye and tilting her head to the left to make proper aim. Keisha was perplexed, but once she had realized what Cylie was doing, she loaded her own shotgun, and took aim herself. It proved to be a lot more difficult than she expected, being in the back of a speeding truck without any seatbelts and all. Before she could contribute to anything however, Cylie had released two thin beams of ki from her fingertip in quick succession, hitting both bikers in the torso. Both of the men collapsed immediately, their bikes being unable to continue moving forward due to the lack of input from their leaning drivers. The truck drove past both the fallen men, leaving them on the roadside for death to catch up with them. Now all that remained was the van.
After a series of meaningless turns, the van had ceased to try and lose the truck that was tailing them. Xylo remained firmly on their trail, and there didn't seem to be much they could do about it. They did not return fire, as they had no intention of engaging someone like Cylie without the rest of the gang with them. It was simply too dangerous. Soon enough, Xylo realized that the van was pulling up, and he slowed in response, giving the bikers a bit of space to themselves. They had driven into a large lot with bikers scattered all about the place, and the sight of them made Cylie reconsider attacking them now with only three people. But, she was feeling rather lucky today. The truck stopped at the safe distance away from the lot, and off the main road. The three thieves exited the vehicle, and Cylie brandished all six of her swords, holding three in each hand. The hilts of the blades were secured in between her fingers, making her short swords look more like claws than anything. The three of them waltzed into the lot with little to no attempt at being sneaky, with Cylie dashing into and carving up the first man she saw, Xylo downing two more with swift energy blasts, and Keisha letting her shotgun pellets fly loose into a guy that was halfway through turning around to face him. The attack through the bikers into a frenzy, and it didn't take long to notify every biker in the vicinity that they were being attacked. The sound of bullets being fired sounded for about a mile out. Everyone was well indulged and engulfed with the thrill of battle, and the threat of a harsh death.
Minutes had passed, but the fight raged on. It looked as if it would soon be over, however. Keisha had taken cover while under heavy fire, frowning as she loaded her shotgun with the appropriate shells. The bikers didn't let up, only stopping when their weapon ran out of bullets and required reloading. Wasn't exactly the most ideal situation. Xylo was travelling around the perimeter, and ended up being the reason why several bikers were unable to flee. He was skilled at stealthiness, despite his out of place appearance. Occasionally, he'd come across another biker that was taking cover, and would promptly end them appropriately, often opting to tear out a portion of their bodies. A purple liquid flowed freely from his shoulder, and there was an obvious wound on his hip. What wasn't so obvious was whether he noticed his injuries or not. He continued to patrol around the area as if nothing had happened to him, frequently lending Cylie a hand with an energy blast from left field. Cylie was chopping down foes left and right, and ended up doing most of the heavy lifting due to her recklessness. She had just leapt high into the air, narrowly dodging a few shots fired by a group of bikers she was currently dealing with. Stray bullets flew into the air towards her, clanging against metal as Cylie's reflexes proved to be beyond anything usual, even for someone who could utilize ki. As soon as she hit the ground, she cut down a random biker, and instantaneously, she zipped forward, slicing through two more men in the process. She caught sight of another biker in the corner of her vision, but as she turned to face him, he was on the ground, his neck clearly broken. Xylo stood behind him, nodding silently at Cylie. She noticed the rifle beside the body, and picked it up after she sheathed her bloodied weapons. No harm could be done while looting. By this time, Keisha had managed to pull her assigned weight, and met up with Xylo and Cylie in the middle of the lot. She looked just as tired as the others did.
"Is... Is that all of them?"
Just then, the sound of bikes roaring in the distance made itself known. The three thieves groaned in annoyance as they readied themselves for more conflict. Luckily, there were only four bikers that were charging towards them, all four holding high powered assault weapons with on hand, and steering the bike with the other. Cylie stepped forward, and took aim with the gun in her hands. Despite lacking experience with guns, she managed to dispatch the first biker, who promptly fell off of his bike lifelessly. The motorcycle skidded towards her on the floor without it's driver, and Cylie jumped upwards, letting the vehicle slide underneath her feet before she landed and began firing again. The second biker went down, and his bike turned right due to the manner in which it's driver fell, and crashed directly into a nearby trailer. The third biker had gotten close enough to fire some shots of his own, aiming exclusively at the swordswoman. As it turns out, shooting while driving is a lot harder than he first thought it would be, missing his shots as Cylie used her enhanced speed to avoid being hit, dashing off to the side. The biker was driving straight towards Keisha, but he didn't realize he was until it was too late. Keisha had pulled the trigger on her shotgun, and the biker lost his life instantly. The motorcycle zipped directly past the half fox, falling over after going a few meters. The last biker had witnessed the destruction of his last three allies, and quickly spun a plan in his head. He dropped his gun, and dismounted the vehicle by backflipping. The action caught Keish and Xylo off guard, and the biker pulled out two pistols. With two precise shots, two lethal bullets slammed into the motorcycle, and caused it to explode near the shotgunning fox and the cunning Namek. While they weren't caught immediately within the blast, they were close enough to immediately be knocked into the air due to the force of it, falling roughly on the dirt floor. Their groans of pain lofted into the air as the biker began to advance, but his walk was cut short by Cylie, as she had managed to sneak up behind him. With a quick stab, the final biker around fell, and the MC officially now had a lot of cleaning up to do. Cylie called to her allies, who were currently in the middle of suffering on the ground.
"Alright guys! Can I get you anything? A soda? Snacks? No? Get in the damn truck!"
Xylo and Keisha forced themselves to their feet, with Xylo now seemingly taking notice of his wounds. They trudged towards the parked truck, but before they even got in, Cylie began yelling again.
"Keeeeeish! What are you still doing here?"
"You said-"
"I said go find out who took our weapons, damnit! You lookin' for motivation?"
Xylo and Cylie hopped into the vehicle, intent on leaving the girl behind. Xylo taking the wheel again. Before the green man could slam his foot on the gas, Cylie gave Keisha one final order.
"And get me some sticky bombs!"
With that, the two drove off, and Keisha rolled her eyes as soon as they were out of her field of vision. She mounted a nearby bike, and drove off with it. As soon as she headed off, she noticed that Cylie and Xylo had gone in the opposite direction, away from back home. Were they taking another route, or did Cylie have more plans? Either way, the half beastman wasn't affected by whatever they may be doing. She had something to do herself, anyways. Maybe she'll get Hikaru to help with this...
"Hey, Yangu lives near here, let's go see him."
"It's one thing messing with tweaked out bikers, but the Bleeding Streets? Don't you think that we're biting off a little more than we can chew? They're a real gang, y'know. That makes me a bit nervous."
"Don't be nervous, Nervous Namek. We handled the bikers just fine. He'll be fine with the takeover, anyways."
"Takeover? Cylie, we don't need to. The bikers are gone, so now it's just us, the Bleeding Streets and those farmers down east. The market's big enough. This contact I got is going to buy our drugs as fast as Hanna can cook 'em. Seriously, we don't need to shove our face in-"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're nearly there."
Xylo stopped responding to Cylie, and she didn't seem to mind. The driver took a sudden right turn off the main road, travelling up a dirt road that led into a small collection of trees near the river. The dirt road soon had a short wooden fence on either of it's sides, and to the right, was Yangu's living space. His trailer sat at the edge of a ridge off of the road, overlooking the river down below. The trailer was similar to Cylie's having a small porch area, and a large satellite dish on its roof. Cylie grinned darkly as Xylo slowed down, passing Yangu's home. He reversed and curved the truck's movement, and stopped on the left side of the dirt road, facing the backside of Yangu's trailer on the right side. Yangu was looking out the window of his trailer, and saw the truck's back wheels kicking up dust, preparing to ram into his trailer. He yelled an order at Cylie to get her to stop doing whatever she was doing, but neither her nor the Namekian paid much attention to him. The truck rushed forward, and slammed into Yangu's trailer. The impact pushed the trailer down the ridge slightly, and knocked the leader of the Bleeding Streets off his feet. The trailer was rammed again, and was now being pushed into the river at the bottom of the small hill. The trailer sunk as far as it could in the water, and Yangu attempted to jump out of it, only to end up landing in the water. Cylie and Xylo exited the truck, with the swordswoman unsheathing the long sword that lay on her back. A muscular monkey beastman emerged from the river water, completely soaked. His white marina shirt was rather translucent now, and his fur was all wet. He coughed up a bit as he walked towards the edge of the river, towards Cylie. He was furious, and his heavy, commanding voice could've brought someone like Keisha to her knees.
"What the fuck, Cylie?!"
Cylie pointed her sword at the beastman, yelling back at him in the same commanding tone she had.
"This is the fuck, my soggy friend. You are out of business. From now on, all the guns and crank in this area are going through the Crimson Wind, or they aren't going!"
Yangu looked taken aback. He was out of business? Just like that? He didn't even get no warning, message or anything of the sort. He was simply dethroned. That simply? He was furious. He was angry. He was resentful. He wanted to walk up to that psychopathic swordswoman, and kill her. But he couldn't. All he could say was, "Whatchu talkin' 'bout? Sayin' something don't make it true."
Within that moment, he had a long sword a few centimeters away from tearing into his neck. Cylie was threatening him with death now, but his rage did not subside. However, he knew that he'd have to submit. For his life. Cylie's face hardened, and her grip tightened. Yangu put his hands up, and Cylie raised her power output in response. She thought about killing him and being done with it, but at the same time, she didn't really want someone else to replace the bikers she just massacred. Instead, she opted for intimidation.
"It's only out of professional respect that I haven't sent your bloated corpse downstream already. You just need to know that this is happening. And you can't do anything about it."
"You've overreached, Cylie. One person isn't enough to assume control of the whole northern sector of the Central. I don't care how crazy you are."
"I'll prove you wrong, Yangu. And I'll start by killing you."
"What? I thought you were crazy, not stupid. They gonna green light you after this!"
"They'd target me whether I kill you or not, Yangu."
"But I always let you operate! I didn't have to."
"It was dumb to assume that I'd let you operate."
"They told me that I couldn't trust you. Now I see why. Just get it over with if you're gonna do it."
Cylie was silent for a long time afterwards. Yangu's body language was very obviously displaying fear, sweat gushing down his face and his arms shaking. But then again, could this just be because he just got out of the river? His expression was more angry than anything else. Either way, if Cylie spared him, he would at least have been given a chance to make a choice. To comply, or to not. Killing him wouldn't benefit anyone much, but sparing him gives Cylie a chance to do her business without any repercussions that would emerge from the Streets. That is, if Yangu agreed with her. So, she lowered her sword, and walked back to the truck.
"I think he gets the message. Let's go."
Cylie and Xylo got into the truck, and drove off, leaving Yangu to deal with the mess they left behind. They were on the main road again within a few short minutes, and Xylo looked rather shocked and happy at the same time. Cylie asked him about what was on his mind, and he answered enthusiastically.
"We sure accomplished a lot today. Though, it was all an unprecedented turn of events."
"I always said I was gonna take over, didn't I?"
"People say all kinda of things when they're three days into a drinking party."
"You calling me a bullshitter, friend?"
"Clearly not."
"Lemme set this straight, Namek. If I say something is going to happen, it's happening, alright? If I say I'm dead, then dead I am. If I say I'm gonna takeover, then takeover I will. Besides, it was time for me to get my affairs in order."
"You're going somewhere?"
"To find out who the idiot is that stole my weapons, yeah."
"The Crimson Wind needs a leader though, doesn't it?"
"You guys'll do fine in my absence. Now get out of the truck. I want a bit of alone time."
They had arrived at the main base they usually met up in, an abandoned house with a spacious basement in the middle of nowhere. The Namekian walked around the house, heading to the back of it. Cylie took the driver's seat, and drove off, having no intentions of following usual driving regulations. Everything was going great. She just took the Bleeding Streets and those pesky bikers out of the market in only one day. That alone would make the Crimson Wind a big name in the weapons market. She's satisfied with her assets for now, but in the near future, she may need to consider expanding the small criminal empire that she's making. For now though, the to-do list only had a few more things on them. Keeping an eye on Yangu and figuring out who the idiots were that thought they could mess with the Crimson Wind and get away with it. They'd suffer the same fate that the bikers did.
"Mark my words..."
Word Count: 6472
It was noon when the sun shone directly over the hairless head of a man who walked across the dirt floors of these lands. He felt like it was showering fire, and as such, he felt thirsty. He reckoned that he could've drank water again and again, but would still remain awfully dissatisfied. Ice and cold water were in much demand. But they could not provide any comfort to his irritating body at the moment. It felt to him that his movement was the only activity in the barren lot he wandered through. It felt like wearing a cloak of sickness and suffocation. The few minutes he walked on this deserted road were highly uncomfortable, yet, he trudged on. It wasn't through determination, courage or anything of the sort. No, it was anger. Rage filled him to the point where the sheer heat radiating off of him could compete with the heat of fire itself. The jet black leather jacket he wore was of little concern to him, despite the discomfort it brought him in this heat. He had stormed out of his house that day, neglecting to prepare himself for the long walk. He was almost there regardless. No turning back now.....
Beside the baldie walked two more people who had also braved the hotness of the outside world, but their intentions greatly differed from his. The one to his right was a girl with canine teeth and fox ears, with bright blonde hair tied in a short ponytail, and a similarly colored fox tail to match. She wore two shirts, one plaid, one black, and a closed sleeveless jacket over them. dark jeans completed her relatively simple look. The second one's most striking features were his dark green skin, pointed ears, lack of eyebrows and and pair of antennae. Yes, he was a Namekian. Apart from the usual Namekian traits, he had a relatively casual human look, wearing an open black jacket of his own, leaving a greyish undershirt on display beneath the jacket. His choice of wear also consisted of regular black pants to finish the look. The fox girl voiced a concerned warning, her voice rather shaky.
"T-This is the last time I'm telling you, Ket. Y-You don't want to do this."
An arm grab accompanied the girl's warning, but Ket simply shrugged it off. He was too deep into this to simply turn back now. A rather large parked trailer was fenced off in the barren lot, and Ket walked straight through the fence's gate, with his two temporary companions following closely behind him. He halted his stride a few meters from the trailer, calling out for whoever may be inside. Sweat dropped down the side of his hardened face as the door to the trailer opened. The one who had exited the trailer was another a young woman, one who carried a bottle of liquor in her right hand. She had tanned skin and dark brown hair that was carelessly tied in a long ponytail, held by a white ribbon, the ends of the ribbon standing straight up. She carried seven scabbards and seven swords within them, with three being kept on either side of her hips, and the seventh strapped across her back. She was wearing an outfit similar to the Namekian's, but her jacket was bright red and hooded, and revealed a simple black sports bra worn for obvious modesty. She looked rather tired. Ket immediately began yelling at her, as if he were venting his frustrations.
"You! Cylie! I've just about had it with you and your antics!"
The girl paid no attention to him. She failed to even glance at the guy. She lifted herself up into the air, slowly flying off without a word. This action angered Ket even further, and he chased Cylie down for a couple meters on foot, yelling and cursing at her, utilizing just about every curse word that he had written down in a mental book. Hearing all the yelling, another woman emerged from the trailer and began yelling herself, specifically at Ket, urging him to drop the issue. He didn't listen. Cylie suddenly seemed to notice that someone was calling her, and looking downwards, she spotted Ket attempting to gain her attention. She dropped out of the sky like a rock, landing directly in front of the bald man. Her expression remained neutral through the short exchange of words, and she glanced at the bottle in her hands more than just a few times.
"Huh? What is it?"
"Being with my girl, man. It's wrong."
"Well, I gotta be with someone. You want me to be with you? Is that the problem here?"
"What? You think this is funny?"
"Do I look like I'm laughing?"
"Fuck you, Cylie. I still love her."
His rage was soon replaced by sadness and guilt, which both immediately began to flood his mind. What did he think this would solve? He walked away from the swordswomen with his back to her, shaking his head as he focused his vision towards the ground. He halted his walk after a few seconds, and Cylie had caught up with him simultaneously. He made her mad, didn't he? His head hurt. His heart hurt. Every part of him hurt. He will have accomplished nothing by the time he leaves again. And now, he had probably developed a bit of beef with a literal gang leader. He wasn't sure of what his next move was, until he felt a soothing hand on his back. "Hey..." He heard. The softness and compassion dripping from the girl's tone almost startled him, as it felt... out of character. He hadn't been assaulted yet, so he wasn't complaining, however.
"I know exactly how you feel. I can tell that you're conflicted, and well... I'm sorry."
Ket was at a loss for words momentarily, until he stammered his way into a coherent sentence.
"I-I'm sorry too. I didn't mean anything by it, I-I messed up, I-"
"Shhh, come on. You look like you need a hug."
Cylie spread her arms out wide, inviting Ket to a simple hug. Never before had Ket seen Cylie act as if she were a sweet and caring mother, but he failed to question her actions. He had spent far too long drowning in his own thoughts to suspect anything. The hug was a simple enough gesture - affection, perhaps the fragile beginnings of a friendly relationship. The arms that held him were soft, yet strong. The feel of her body so close to his soothed him more than he had expected. But within seconds he pulled away, his mind swam not only with the heady excitement of being hugged for the first time in a while, but with thoughts of his girl, Christy. Why after so long? Perhaps the heat was getting to him? Maybe. All these thoughts had clouded his mind, and all of them came to an abrupt end. The breaking of glass rung in his ears, and the harsh pain of being struck drummed in his skull. Liquor and blood splattered all over his face as he fell to the ground, his vision reddening and becoming blurry. Within moments, his skull caved in beneath the impact of a falling clean, white sneaker which was immediately dirtied by the red liquid that the stomp produced. The sneaker belonged to Cylie. She screamed as she stomped on the man's head several more times, multiple profanities flowing freely from her mouth as if a pipe burst within, and she could not control the overflow. Once she finished, the three people that were there to witness it stiffened with shock. The Namekian, Christy, and the half human took a step back for their own safety, with the woman beginning to tear up. Cylie continued screaming at the man, even though his downed body did not move.
"JUST WHO DO YOU THINK YOU'RE SPEAKING TO?! I JUST LOST AN ENTIRE SHIPMENT OF WEAPONRY, AND I HAVE TO DEAL WITH YOUR CRAP? GET UP! I SAID GET UP!"
Obviously, Ket did not respond. It seemed to take Cylie a few seconds to realize that she had ended him. With a heavy sigh, she walked away from the scene, mumbling under her breath. She was followed by the Namekian and the other girl that still stood. Christy ran towards Ket's fallen body as soon as Cylie left, allowing tears to gush down her face like a waterfall as she dropped to her knees. Through tears and crying, he repeated the name of the man, as if doing so would miraculously revive him, but to no avail.
Cylie's anger refused to subside as she walked back to her homey trailer, now beginning to circle around it. The Namekian and half human that accompanied her to wherever she may be going looked nervous in their own rights. The green man was continuously licking his lips, and the girl beside him was wide eyed and sweating bullets. Maybe this behavior could be attributed to the evil orb of flames that hovered above? Regardless, they continued to follow the apparent murderer until she abruptly ceased to walk forward. She screamed out in pure rage and exasperation, throwing an annoyed fist at the burning air. The two people behind her discarded their nervousness for concern, and approached the female thief with caution. The fox attemtpted to speak up first, but before she could even allow a full sentence to fall out of her mouth, Cylie stilled the girl's small, quiet words with her own, which were large and resentful in comparison.
"Damn it all! That dopey cowboy's forced my hand. We gotta go break the news to the rest of the MC."
The Namek and the halfling exchanged glances with each other uneasily, as if they were both contemplating what had just happened. Being witnesses of the sudden crime, they were fully aware that from a logical standpoint, poor Ket absolutely did not 'force' her hand, but rather, Cylie allowed her vexation to overpower any thoughts of reason that may have surfaced in her mind. She simply didn't want to deal with the problem she'd created, right? Attempting to dodge taking responsibility through a heinous act. It ended up making things worse altogether, for both her and the Crimson Wind, considering that Ket was a prominent member of the MC. The MC is a notorious gang of bikers known for acting as mercenaries or regular criminals, and they've been causing trouble for just about everybody in the area. Perhaps this was intentional? She'd always been complaining about this biker problem that was caused by the mere existence of the MC. She had definitely wished to eliminate them before today. Whichever one it was, it served as a reminder of how potentially dangerous Cylie was as an individual. The girl whipped around, and began issuing orders to these two, First to the Namek, then to the girl.
"Xylo, go take the truck out front. Keisha, get the guns. We're gonna pay the MC a little visit."
Both Xylo and Keisha nodded with conviction before running off to go carry out their assigned tasks. Cylie walked off as well, her glare darkening at nothing in particular.
Within minutes, the leader of the Crimson Wind and two of her underlings were set to drive up to the MC's doorstep, with Xylo at the wheel, Cylie beside him in the only passenger seat in the vehicle, and Keisha in the back, holding an antiqued shotgun in her hands. The swordswoman gave the go ahead, and the three thieves drove off, passing Ket's corpse and Christy along the way, who continued to mourn sorrowfully. Not even a minute had passed since they managed to make it to the main road with other vehicles, and Cylie was already talking.
"Guys. Happen to know anything about that weapons shipment that we had attacked? Like, who did it?"
Keisha spoke up first, while fixing the ponytail on the back of her head.
"Well... We have a few leads."
Cylie was quick to stop her from speaking further, the tanned woman's displeasure clearly leaking through in her tone.
"Good. Find them."
Keisha stammered a bit, caught off guard by the sudden order. She didn't even get to tell her what these supposed 'leads' were. They were more hunches, than anything. She tried to speak again, but once more, she was silenced by the cutting words of the swordswoman.
"FIND THEM, Keish."
"This mean that I don't have to go see the bikers?"
"We're in a hurry, but not that much of a hurry."
"But Cylie, couldn't we just bury Ket in this desert, quiet down that bitch you was with, then chill so that they don't find out that you did it?"
Cylie paused for a moment, as if she was taking into consideration what the girl said. A sharp left was taken, and Keisha nearly fell on her face in the back. Her boss chuckled lightly, before accusing her of a lack of respect.
"Think it's clever to disrespect other women?"
Keisha looked taken aback. Maybe a little hurt, too.
"Disrespect? What? I wasn't disrespecting. I was just saying we should kill her too."
"But you called her a bitch. Don't you have a mother?"
"Everyone's got a mother. At least... one."
Cylie shook her head, and ceased talking to Keisha. Xylo shook his head too, as if prompted to do so by the one seated comfortably beside him. Keisha was not as comfortable, considering that she was sitting in the back of the truck with nothing to restrain her from falling or even flying out of the vehicle. With the day being as it is, and the Free Lands being as it is, the roads were not very busy that day. Soon the trio were charging down a straight road, traveling at a pace unknown to careful drivers. The Namekian just so happened to usually be a careful driver, but today, today was different. With the current situation at hand, he was just about speeding at this point, driving rather quickly and a little negligently. He put on the music system in the car. At least he looked like he was enjoying himself, Cylie thought. A lull in speed and a quick right turn led them into a small collection of houses on the side of the main road. In front of one of the houses was a group of men dressed in black, leather jackets, a portion of them comfortably seated in their very own bikes. No doubt, these were members of the MC. There was a black van near the collection of bikes, parked on the side of the decently sized house. Cylie made a mental note of it as Xylo slowed to a stop in front of the leather jacket wearing gang. Keisha hopped out of the truck, readying her shotgun for action. Xylo stepped out of the driver's seat, walking around the truck while baring his alien canines menacingly. Cylie casually exited the vehicle, grinning widely while having her eyes fixated on the group of bikers who had their conversation interrupted due to the Crimson Wind's intrusion. Most of them kept their eyes on the weapon Keisha had, neglecting to ready themselves for battle. That was mostly due to the fact that several of them carried weapons around casually. Cylie happened to be no different, having her trusty seven swords with her at the time. One of the bikers spoke up, asking the woman a question.
"Woah, Cylie. Fancy seeing you here. Seen Christy anywhere? Ket's lookin' for her."
"As a matter of fact, I did. About ten minutes ago, right on top of these thighs right here."
She slapped her flank, earning a puzzled expression from the biker that was speaking. Another one spoke up, remembering how Ket felt the last time he heard about Cylie and Christy.
"I don't think Ket's gonna be cool if you're starting to see her again."
"Don't think so? Well, lemme ask him real quick."
Cylie lowered her head as she leaned forward, raised her right foot, and began speaking to it as if it were a person. This initially confused the bikers, but realization soon began to appear in their minds as they began to notice all the blood, dirt and gore on the bottom of her shoe.
"Hey there cowboy. You mind if I go out with your old lady? Oh, what's that? You don't mind? Is it because you're a dead man, and the only sentient part left of you is this chunk of brain on the end of my boot? Well, thanks a bunch, cowboy."
"Bullshit!"
The man that had shouted was a biker. He had gotten off of his bike as soon as the words reached his eardrums, and he glared defiantly at the woman supposedly responsible for Ket's death. Cylie smirked at his actions, and walked up to him, staring upwards into his eyes, for he was a few inches taller. It was all starting to make sense to them. The clear dislike that Cylie had shown for them wasn't just a simple annoyance. Otherwise, she wouldn't have declared war on them like this, right? A few of the bikers began to panic. They knew that there was no way that they could take this woman down with the rather low numbers they currently had. They had to warn the rest of the MC. They had to go get help from the home base. They began piling into the van. All but two of them. One of them had a blaster pistol out as he opted to mount his bike, while Cylie stared down the other.
"I like that. Denial. That's only the first step of the grieving process, y'know. Now, why don't we just hold hands?"
The man was about to curse at the woman, but he faltered. He began walking towards his bike, leaving Cylie to stare at his back.
"This better be bullshit, Cylie."
The van sped off, and so did the two men on their bikes. Keisha considered shooting at them, but after seeing Cylie and Xylo return to their seats in the truck, she hopped into the back. Everything had turned out much better than Cylie had hoped. She didn't expect their first instinct to be to retreat, there were only three enemies after all. Xylo slammed his foot on the gas, speeding towards the biker van. Unlike the two men in the truck, Cylie looked eager to catch up with them.
"If these guys lead us to wherever the rest of them are, this place won't have a biker problem for much longer. Xylo, sit on the van until it gets to it's destination."
"Got it. Did you see the look on their faces?"
"We scared them, didn't we?"
"Yeah, thank goodness they didn't take you idiots for the harmless pricks you are."
The unexpected insult sparked an awkward silence between the three. Xylo mumbled something under his breath, and Keisha let out a hard, long sigh. Neither of their reactions seemed to bother Cylie much. She was certainly having a good time. Today was the day she finally got rid of that pain in her ass. Namely, these bikers. The trio drove in silence for a few minutes until Keisha could take the silence and discomfort no longer. She started to complain about being tossed about every time Xylo hit even the slightest bump in the road.
"You need some seatbelts back here, y'know."
Cylie chuckled at her for the second time today.
"Silly fox. I only keep things in the back that I don't mind losing."
Keisha's tone brimmed with surprise, which was quickly replaced by disappointment. She tried to change the subject, quickly remembering that they were chasing down dangerous criminals.
"Oh! Oh.... Uh, do we know where these bikers are headed yet?"
The Namekian thought for a bit, mentally looking back at the route they've been taking.
"I've got a hunch, but I'm not sure. Once we know, I can drop both you and Cylie back at our base. We'll probably need to bring more men next time around so that we can eliminate them. Maybe someone like Jordan, or-"
"Yeah, no. We're doing this now, Xylo. Just the three of us."
"I don't see us taking out all the bikers this go, Cylie. There will be some by the airstrip, some by the-"
"If not today, their time will soon be upon them."
Xylo did not press the issue further, but rather expressed his dissatisfaction with a sigh and grumble. Cylie ignored him, keeping her eyes fixated on the van they were following. They weren't much of a biker gang if they were fleeing in a van, were they? There were still those two bikers from earlier that remained true to the name, following the van closely behind while on their bikes. Wait a minute, they had their backs turned to the Crimson Wind thieves at the moment, and as such they were absolutely vulnerable to an attack from behind. Maybe Cylie can drop these guys real quick. She squinted at the van, now being able to fully study it's features. It was reinforced with armor. She could probably blow it up with a well placed energy blast regardless, but the van wouldn't get to the rest of the bikers if it exploded, now would it? She formed a finger gun with her left hand, closing her right eye and tilting her head to the left to make proper aim. Keisha was perplexed, but once she had realized what Cylie was doing, she loaded her own shotgun, and took aim herself. It proved to be a lot more difficult than she expected, being in the back of a speeding truck without any seatbelts and all. Before she could contribute to anything however, Cylie had released two thin beams of ki from her fingertip in quick succession, hitting both bikers in the torso. Both of the men collapsed immediately, their bikes being unable to continue moving forward due to the lack of input from their leaning drivers. The truck drove past both the fallen men, leaving them on the roadside for death to catch up with them. Now all that remained was the van.
After a series of meaningless turns, the van had ceased to try and lose the truck that was tailing them. Xylo remained firmly on their trail, and there didn't seem to be much they could do about it. They did not return fire, as they had no intention of engaging someone like Cylie without the rest of the gang with them. It was simply too dangerous. Soon enough, Xylo realized that the van was pulling up, and he slowed in response, giving the bikers a bit of space to themselves. They had driven into a large lot with bikers scattered all about the place, and the sight of them made Cylie reconsider attacking them now with only three people. But, she was feeling rather lucky today. The truck stopped at the safe distance away from the lot, and off the main road. The three thieves exited the vehicle, and Cylie brandished all six of her swords, holding three in each hand. The hilts of the blades were secured in between her fingers, making her short swords look more like claws than anything. The three of them waltzed into the lot with little to no attempt at being sneaky, with Cylie dashing into and carving up the first man she saw, Xylo downing two more with swift energy blasts, and Keisha letting her shotgun pellets fly loose into a guy that was halfway through turning around to face him. The attack through the bikers into a frenzy, and it didn't take long to notify every biker in the vicinity that they were being attacked. The sound of bullets being fired sounded for about a mile out. Everyone was well indulged and engulfed with the thrill of battle, and the threat of a harsh death.
Minutes had passed, but the fight raged on. It looked as if it would soon be over, however. Keisha had taken cover while under heavy fire, frowning as she loaded her shotgun with the appropriate shells. The bikers didn't let up, only stopping when their weapon ran out of bullets and required reloading. Wasn't exactly the most ideal situation. Xylo was travelling around the perimeter, and ended up being the reason why several bikers were unable to flee. He was skilled at stealthiness, despite his out of place appearance. Occasionally, he'd come across another biker that was taking cover, and would promptly end them appropriately, often opting to tear out a portion of their bodies. A purple liquid flowed freely from his shoulder, and there was an obvious wound on his hip. What wasn't so obvious was whether he noticed his injuries or not. He continued to patrol around the area as if nothing had happened to him, frequently lending Cylie a hand with an energy blast from left field. Cylie was chopping down foes left and right, and ended up doing most of the heavy lifting due to her recklessness. She had just leapt high into the air, narrowly dodging a few shots fired by a group of bikers she was currently dealing with. Stray bullets flew into the air towards her, clanging against metal as Cylie's reflexes proved to be beyond anything usual, even for someone who could utilize ki. As soon as she hit the ground, she cut down a random biker, and instantaneously, she zipped forward, slicing through two more men in the process. She caught sight of another biker in the corner of her vision, but as she turned to face him, he was on the ground, his neck clearly broken. Xylo stood behind him, nodding silently at Cylie. She noticed the rifle beside the body, and picked it up after she sheathed her bloodied weapons. No harm could be done while looting. By this time, Keisha had managed to pull her assigned weight, and met up with Xylo and Cylie in the middle of the lot. She looked just as tired as the others did.
"Is... Is that all of them?"
Just then, the sound of bikes roaring in the distance made itself known. The three thieves groaned in annoyance as they readied themselves for more conflict. Luckily, there were only four bikers that were charging towards them, all four holding high powered assault weapons with on hand, and steering the bike with the other. Cylie stepped forward, and took aim with the gun in her hands. Despite lacking experience with guns, she managed to dispatch the first biker, who promptly fell off of his bike lifelessly. The motorcycle skidded towards her on the floor without it's driver, and Cylie jumped upwards, letting the vehicle slide underneath her feet before she landed and began firing again. The second biker went down, and his bike turned right due to the manner in which it's driver fell, and crashed directly into a nearby trailer. The third biker had gotten close enough to fire some shots of his own, aiming exclusively at the swordswoman. As it turns out, shooting while driving is a lot harder than he first thought it would be, missing his shots as Cylie used her enhanced speed to avoid being hit, dashing off to the side. The biker was driving straight towards Keisha, but he didn't realize he was until it was too late. Keisha had pulled the trigger on her shotgun, and the biker lost his life instantly. The motorcycle zipped directly past the half fox, falling over after going a few meters. The last biker had witnessed the destruction of his last three allies, and quickly spun a plan in his head. He dropped his gun, and dismounted the vehicle by backflipping. The action caught Keish and Xylo off guard, and the biker pulled out two pistols. With two precise shots, two lethal bullets slammed into the motorcycle, and caused it to explode near the shotgunning fox and the cunning Namek. While they weren't caught immediately within the blast, they were close enough to immediately be knocked into the air due to the force of it, falling roughly on the dirt floor. Their groans of pain lofted into the air as the biker began to advance, but his walk was cut short by Cylie, as she had managed to sneak up behind him. With a quick stab, the final biker around fell, and the MC officially now had a lot of cleaning up to do. Cylie called to her allies, who were currently in the middle of suffering on the ground.
"Alright guys! Can I get you anything? A soda? Snacks? No? Get in the damn truck!"
Xylo and Keisha forced themselves to their feet, with Xylo now seemingly taking notice of his wounds. They trudged towards the parked truck, but before they even got in, Cylie began yelling again.
"Keeeeeish! What are you still doing here?"
"You said-"
"I said go find out who took our weapons, damnit! You lookin' for motivation?"
Xylo and Cylie hopped into the vehicle, intent on leaving the girl behind. Xylo taking the wheel again. Before the green man could slam his foot on the gas, Cylie gave Keisha one final order.
"And get me some sticky bombs!"
With that, the two drove off, and Keisha rolled her eyes as soon as they were out of her field of vision. She mounted a nearby bike, and drove off with it. As soon as she headed off, she noticed that Cylie and Xylo had gone in the opposite direction, away from back home. Were they taking another route, or did Cylie have more plans? Either way, the half beastman wasn't affected by whatever they may be doing. She had something to do herself, anyways. Maybe she'll get Hikaru to help with this...
"Hey, Yangu lives near here, let's go see him."
"It's one thing messing with tweaked out bikers, but the Bleeding Streets? Don't you think that we're biting off a little more than we can chew? They're a real gang, y'know. That makes me a bit nervous."
"Don't be nervous, Nervous Namek. We handled the bikers just fine. He'll be fine with the takeover, anyways."
"Takeover? Cylie, we don't need to. The bikers are gone, so now it's just us, the Bleeding Streets and those farmers down east. The market's big enough. This contact I got is going to buy our drugs as fast as Hanna can cook 'em. Seriously, we don't need to shove our face in-"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're nearly there."
Xylo stopped responding to Cylie, and she didn't seem to mind. The driver took a sudden right turn off the main road, travelling up a dirt road that led into a small collection of trees near the river. The dirt road soon had a short wooden fence on either of it's sides, and to the right, was Yangu's living space. His trailer sat at the edge of a ridge off of the road, overlooking the river down below. The trailer was similar to Cylie's having a small porch area, and a large satellite dish on its roof. Cylie grinned darkly as Xylo slowed down, passing Yangu's home. He reversed and curved the truck's movement, and stopped on the left side of the dirt road, facing the backside of Yangu's trailer on the right side. Yangu was looking out the window of his trailer, and saw the truck's back wheels kicking up dust, preparing to ram into his trailer. He yelled an order at Cylie to get her to stop doing whatever she was doing, but neither her nor the Namekian paid much attention to him. The truck rushed forward, and slammed into Yangu's trailer. The impact pushed the trailer down the ridge slightly, and knocked the leader of the Bleeding Streets off his feet. The trailer was rammed again, and was now being pushed into the river at the bottom of the small hill. The trailer sunk as far as it could in the water, and Yangu attempted to jump out of it, only to end up landing in the water. Cylie and Xylo exited the truck, with the swordswoman unsheathing the long sword that lay on her back. A muscular monkey beastman emerged from the river water, completely soaked. His white marina shirt was rather translucent now, and his fur was all wet. He coughed up a bit as he walked towards the edge of the river, towards Cylie. He was furious, and his heavy, commanding voice could've brought someone like Keisha to her knees.
"What the fuck, Cylie?!"
Cylie pointed her sword at the beastman, yelling back at him in the same commanding tone she had.
"This is the fuck, my soggy friend. You are out of business. From now on, all the guns and crank in this area are going through the Crimson Wind, or they aren't going!"
Yangu looked taken aback. He was out of business? Just like that? He didn't even get no warning, message or anything of the sort. He was simply dethroned. That simply? He was furious. He was angry. He was resentful. He wanted to walk up to that psychopathic swordswoman, and kill her. But he couldn't. All he could say was, "Whatchu talkin' 'bout? Sayin' something don't make it true."
Within that moment, he had a long sword a few centimeters away from tearing into his neck. Cylie was threatening him with death now, but his rage did not subside. However, he knew that he'd have to submit. For his life. Cylie's face hardened, and her grip tightened. Yangu put his hands up, and Cylie raised her power output in response. She thought about killing him and being done with it, but at the same time, she didn't really want someone else to replace the bikers she just massacred. Instead, she opted for intimidation.
"It's only out of professional respect that I haven't sent your bloated corpse downstream already. You just need to know that this is happening. And you can't do anything about it."
"You've overreached, Cylie. One person isn't enough to assume control of the whole northern sector of the Central. I don't care how crazy you are."
"I'll prove you wrong, Yangu. And I'll start by killing you."
"What? I thought you were crazy, not stupid. They gonna green light you after this!"
"They'd target me whether I kill you or not, Yangu."
"But I always let you operate! I didn't have to."
"It was dumb to assume that I'd let you operate."
"They told me that I couldn't trust you. Now I see why. Just get it over with if you're gonna do it."
Cylie was silent for a long time afterwards. Yangu's body language was very obviously displaying fear, sweat gushing down his face and his arms shaking. But then again, could this just be because he just got out of the river? His expression was more angry than anything else. Either way, if Cylie spared him, he would at least have been given a chance to make a choice. To comply, or to not. Killing him wouldn't benefit anyone much, but sparing him gives Cylie a chance to do her business without any repercussions that would emerge from the Streets. That is, if Yangu agreed with her. So, she lowered her sword, and walked back to the truck.
"I think he gets the message. Let's go."
Cylie and Xylo got into the truck, and drove off, leaving Yangu to deal with the mess they left behind. They were on the main road again within a few short minutes, and Xylo looked rather shocked and happy at the same time. Cylie asked him about what was on his mind, and he answered enthusiastically.
"We sure accomplished a lot today. Though, it was all an unprecedented turn of events."
"I always said I was gonna take over, didn't I?"
"People say all kinda of things when they're three days into a drinking party."
"You calling me a bullshitter, friend?"
"Clearly not."
"Lemme set this straight, Namek. If I say something is going to happen, it's happening, alright? If I say I'm dead, then dead I am. If I say I'm gonna takeover, then takeover I will. Besides, it was time for me to get my affairs in order."
"You're going somewhere?"
"To find out who the idiot is that stole my weapons, yeah."
"The Crimson Wind needs a leader though, doesn't it?"
"You guys'll do fine in my absence. Now get out of the truck. I want a bit of alone time."
They had arrived at the main base they usually met up in, an abandoned house with a spacious basement in the middle of nowhere. The Namekian walked around the house, heading to the back of it. Cylie took the driver's seat, and drove off, having no intentions of following usual driving regulations. Everything was going great. She just took the Bleeding Streets and those pesky bikers out of the market in only one day. That alone would make the Crimson Wind a big name in the weapons market. She's satisfied with her assets for now, but in the near future, she may need to consider expanding the small criminal empire that she's making. For now though, the to-do list only had a few more things on them. Keeping an eye on Yangu and figuring out who the idiots were that thought they could mess with the Crimson Wind and get away with it. They'd suffer the same fate that the bikers did.
"Mark my words..."
Word Count: 6472