Target Practice - OPEN

[radegrasan]

Rade's plan seemed to succeed, although the shooting of the fire extinguisher caused zero visibility. The thugs started firing upon a fleeing Trevor, and due to the smoke they thought there was more than one person making a run for the window.

Rade couldn't help but laugh as he heard a loud 'clang' sound. He now knew the window was made from genuine glass, and realized Trevor had gone straight through it.

"Heh. Whaddya know? A genuine glass window. What are the odds, huh?" Rade joked.

Rade then stood up and started firing both his weapons at the silhouettes of the thugs through the smoke of the fire extinguisher. Due to the smoke the visibility had decreased and Rade hoped he'd only hit the thugs, and not some of the other bar brawlers, who looked like they were re-enacting the Unification War barehanded.
The bullets from his weapons tore their way into the body of two thugs, and Rade could see them going down through the smoke. He emptied both his weapons before taking cover again.

"I'm out!" Rade yelled at Jaclyn. "Cover my reload!"

[deia]

Jac took her time shooting, choosing not to waste bullets. Her subconscious was busy calculating the most likely locations for the thugs, combining their previous positions with the time since she'd seen them and what little she could see through the smoke.

Not that she was aware of that. All she knew was where she needed to shoot. She heard grunts as she dropped two thugs herself, which should leave only one. The problem was, that last one didn't seem to be anywhere near where he should be. She emptied the last few bullets from each gun into the smoke near where she thought he was, then dropped them, reaching inside her jacket to pull out two smaller pistols, leaving the revolver on her hip for later.

"I gotcha, but shouldn't we make a break for the window as well?!"

[radegrasan]

"Hell no, I ain't leaving 'til I've had myself a talk with Buford." Rade answered as he reloaded both weapons. "Besides, wouldn't it be a shame if we left without the contents of the cash register?"

Rade clicked the cylinder of his revolver back in place, and then stuck his head out over the bar and took a quick look in search of the last remaining thug. He couldn't find him at first but then he saw the guy's hat sticking out from behind a flipped over table, a little ways from where the other thugs were standing. He then ducked behind the bar again.

"Left side podium, 11 o' clock. He's behind a flipped over table. Look for the gray hat!" Rade said to Jaclyn. "You do the honors. But watch for the other brawlers, hard to tell who is who and I don't want no Independent blood on my hands!"

[deia]

((OOC: I think I like the whole making dialogue bold thing... Guess I'll try it. ))

Jac grinned at his words, her eyes lighting up at the prospect of some quick cash. He had a point there. "I like the way you think." She busied herself with reloading all four of the guns she'd used so far, and sliding all but her revolver back in to their respective holsters. Back when she'd first started carrying this many guns, she'd always gotten them mixed up - not to mention it was rather uncomfortable if you forgot and tried to lay down or get comfortable with six guns digging in to you at various angles. Now, though, she felt naked without them.

She risked a quick glance above the bar and, sure enough, she spotted the hat just visible through the smoke. "Got 'im. Won't hit anyone else, no worries."

Quick as a blink, she rolled to her feet, took aim, sent a bullet right through the center of the hat into the poor thug's head, and dropped back down before she could get hit.

[radegrasan]

Rade's admiration increased once again as he saw Jaclyn get rid of the thug that fast. He started debating on whether or not he should take her to the Riley to see Faye, since the Riley was in a desperate need of a decent first mate. That, and Rade thought it would be nice to have Jac around for a while. He would ask her as soon as they were at a comfortable distance from the bar.

Rade got up, peeked over the bar again, and when he saw nothing else but the other bar brawlers duking it out, he stood up and hopped over the bar in search of Buford. He put away his pistol, but kept his revolver in his right hand for the time being.

"Hey Jac, why don't you empty the cash register while I go have a talk with my buddy Buford?"

[deia]

Jac lifted to fingers to her forward in a wry salute, and shrugged out of her jacket. Crossing her arms and grabbing the hem of her sweater, she tugged it off over her head, leaving her in a simple black tank top. The sweater would make a very nice sack for the cash.

"I'll take care of it, you take care of him. Oh, and nice plan!" It had worked almost flawlessly - with the noticeable exception of the window being real and not holographic. But that Chinese guy had taken care of that for them.

She tugged the band out of the end of her braid, shaking her head to let her hair free itself and fall, wavy from being confined, down past her shoulders. Twisting the bottom of her sweater, she secured it with the band. A carefully placed smack to the register had the drawer sliding open - the old models all had the same weak spots. She whistled under her breath at the bills - that was a shiny amount, to be sure. With a quick glance around to make sure she wouldn't be interrupted, she began shoving platinum into her improvised sweater-bag.

[radegrasan]

For a moment Rade's mind was off finding Buford as he saw Jaclyn wiggle out of her jacket, and then taking off her sweater as well. Rade was surprised to find out the only thing she was wearing was a black tank top. He had most definately expect her to wear some kind of body armor as well. She was another fine example of the female gender. Rade wondered why it was only now, in this stage of life, that he started to meet them.
Rade shook his head and looked the other way. There was Buford, not too far, trying to crawl his fat ass to safety. Rade walked over to Buford, and kicked the bald bastard right in the back of his head. He then turned Buford over and put his boot on the gunshot wound that Jac gave him. Buford couldn't help but to moan in pain and agony. Rade then pointed his revolver on Buford's face.

"C'mon kid! I was just jokin'! I wasn't gonna break your bones, ya know? C'mon now, don't shoot me!"

Rade put more force on his foot, and so doing he added more pressure to his boot on Buford's wound, causing him to feel more pain. Rade looked at Buford in a serious way, to show him that he meant business. He cocked his revolver, and saw that Buford was getting even more scared now.

"Now listen up Buford." Rade said. "You're gonna get your fatass back to Fenix, and you tell him that Rade Grasan doesn't owe him anything. And that it was his own gorram fault he didn't sent more capable men on that job! I was only hired to provide transportation, and that's what I gorram did! It wasn't my fault his men couldn't shoot to save their lives!"

Rade leaned over closer to Buford.

"And you tell that sniveling coward that if he doesn't like it, to finally reveal his ugly face to the 'Verse and come ask me himself, so I can shoot him myself. Got it?"

Scared out of his mind, and hoping that Rade wouldn't shoot him, Buford couldn't agree fast enough and quickly nodded his head.
Rade stood up and took two paces backwards.

"That being said, I apologize for shooting out your right knee Buford."

Rade didn't shoot Buford in the right knee before, but in the left one and Buford, as dumb as he was, corrected Rade.

"It was my left knee..." Buford replied, still scared out of his mind, and not knowing how dumb such a reply was.

"Really?" Rade asked, and then shot out Buford's right knee cap as well.

Buford's scream went through the entire pub, and even caught the attention of some of the other brawlers. When they saw that it was Buford screaming, they went back to their own fighting again.

"Good thing you told me Buford, because I came this close to shooting your left knee again." Rade said while holstering his revolver. "That one was for throwing me through the air, and to make sure you'll never come after me again."

Rade walked away from Buford and towards Jaclyn again. Seemed she was almost done filling up her sweater with dough.

"You ready to get outta here?"

[deia]

Jac kept half her attention on Rade as he confronted Buford. She could tell he was out for revenge, and found herself hoping she got it. The register emptied quickly, discharging its load of bills and coins into her sweater, which was barely big enough to hold it all. She heard footsteps stomping rather closer than she would have liked, and looked to the left to see a man with a greedy gleam in his eyes lurching towards her, gaze fixed on the cash. A quick shot with her revolver to his belly laid him flat.

She quickly shoveled the last few coins in and tied the sleeves of the sweater over the top, looped them, then tied them again for a makeshift handle. As Buford screamed, she stood and grinned at Rade, her revolver still in her hand.

"All finished here. You jump first, I'll cover then follow." She gestured at the window with her gun.

[radegrasan]

Jaclyn didn't have to tell Rade that again. They won the fight, they got the dough... Now all that was left to do was to get the hell out of there, before the Feds showed up.
And it would seem they wouldn't have to wait long for that. Rade could hear the sirens outside and decided not to waste anymore time.
He ran towards the window and jumped out. For a brief moment he soared through the air, and landed on his back. He rolled and immediately stood up again. The first thing that came to his attention was Trevor, who still hadn't got up yet from jumping through the window as a first. At least he broke the window elegantly with his head, saving Jac and Rade at least a couple of bullets.
Rade walked over to Trevor, grabbed him by his collar and helped him up.

"Okay hero, time to go!" Rade said while helping Trevor get back on his feet again.

Rade then saw that the Feds were coming further down the street and looked back to see what the hell was keeping Jaclyn.

"Jac! We need to get outta here. Now!"

[jops]

Trevor put himself back on his feet grunting. Oddly enough he was more comfortable when he was on the ground. Just waiting for an ambulance, and maybe then get treated by a cute nurse....
Too much to hope for! Instead, he found himself still in team with the two psychopaths.

Wuo Duh Tian Ah, life sucks!

He dusted off his suit and tried to remove some shards that got stuck in his hands. He was successful for most, especially the bigger ones, but pain prevented him from clearing off the small pieces that buried deeper in his skin. Besides, there was no time for a careful

"If i get out of this alive, i'll remember this day as the worst day of my life!" He mumbled, as he gave a look around.
Feds were coming, but that didn't worry him much. Trevor was probably the only one in his family not having problems with the law.

On second thought, if they were going to associate him with his Rade and Jac, and they probably would, It'd be a better to just leave the scene as soon as possible. "So, where to?" He asked, sounding a bit unsure about the wisdom of his own choice.

[deia]

Jac braced her feet and held both guns straight in front of her, doing her best to broadcast a "Don't mess with me" vibe. It seemed to work, for the most part, as even Rade's spectacular leap out the window didn't attract much unwanted attention. Then she saw motion across the room - coordinate motion, a group, advancing towards her together, maybe six total. She heard shouting from outside, and the sound of sirens in the distance, and made a quick decision. As much as she enjoyed a good fight, now was not the time.

Slinging the arms of her sweater over her shoulder, she ran for the window, firing over her shoulder at the group of goons. She dove headfirst towards the ground outside, tucking just before she hit and rolling head over heels, popping up at the end into a somewhat shaky standing position.

"Knew that gymnastics training would come in handy someday. Let's book it!"

[radegrasan]

Now that Jaclyn had rejoined Rade's little improvised raiding party, it was time to get out of there fast. Rade knew they had to shake the Alliance pursuers before going back to the docks, so he decided to let both Jaclyn and Trevor in on a little secret.

The great thing about Persephone was that there were miles and miles of sewers running beneath it. Rade used them a lot in the past in order to get away from both thugs who intended on taking his life, and the lackeys of the Alliance, who didn't take to kindly to young men such as him making a quick, yet often, illegal buck.

Rade hoped his two new friends didn't have any preservations about diving into the sewers though. He was pretty confident Jac wouldn't mind it, although he was pretty certain that the Chinese man, whose name he didn't know yet, was going to whine about it again. The bad thing about the sewers though was that they of course didn't smell too fresh, but as far as Rade was concerned, nothing could've been worse than Buford's breath. But the good thing on the other hand was that those Alliance pigs wouldn't follow anyone in.

"Follow me!" Rade said to Jac and Trevor, and started running into an alley, hoping at least Jac would follow, since he would've liked to get to know her better and, after all, she was carrying the cash.

Rade ran up to a manhole and forced it open. The worst part was trying to get a grip on it and lifting it out of place. After that all he had to do was just push it to the side, which was a whole lot easier. The manhole opened and Rade gestured to Jac and Trevor to get in there.

"Quick, we can lose them in here!"

[jops]

It wasn't the stench, nor the dirty water or the rats that made Trevor really dislike once again Rade's plan. What did it was the thought of having to climb down a ladder with his hands clearly needing some medical treatment.

He sighed and tried to focus his thoughts on something pleasant in the futile attempt to soothe the pain. Then, he begun to climb down in the sewers. And that was even worse than he expected, as it nearly brought him to tears.

But he bit his lip and didn't say anything. At least, until he realized that his worst day in life still had plenty of chances to get worse.
"Note to self: next time mind your own gorram business!" He mumbled.

[deia]

Jac wrinkled her nose as she looked down the dark, rather smelly hole in the pavement. A shudder ran down her spine, a hint of entirely irrational claustrophobia rearing its head. She shook her head, and bent to tuck her pants into the tops of her boots. They were waterproof - mostly - and if she was lucky she'd make it out with dry socks. She pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket and tied it around her nose and mouth in hopes of stifling the smell. That done, she no longer had any excuse to delay, and sat on the edge of the hole, her feet finding the first rung.

"Well now, this is glamorous..." she muttered, twisting around awkwardly until she was oriented properly on the ladder. She settled the sweater-bag of money more securely around her shoulders and began to climb, descending until her feet splashed into a few inches of sludge and water. What that sludge entailed, she stalwartly refused to think about.

[radegrasan]

Rade descended the ladder of the manhole right after Jaclyn. He then stopped, held on to the ladder with his left hand, and closed the lit with his right hand.

The lit had fallen into place for about a second before the Feds came around the corner and ran into the alley. Rade stayed on the ladder and heard how the Feds ran over the lit and further down into the alley. It would appear his plan had worked, they had made a clear getaway and the only thing to do now was to get back to the Riley.

He let himself drop into the sewage as well, and then remembered the nasty bump he had given Jaclyn by pulling her from under her feet. He had also noticed that Trevor had still glass sticking in his hands, and Rade figured the only decent thing to do after all that had happened was to offer them some medical assistance back at the Riley.

"Alright now." Rade said. "This sewer leads all the way back to the docks. My boat's there, and there's a medic onboard who can take a look at the both of you if you want."