<b>Darion<br/>
</b><br/>She yelped, standing suddenly as Darion spoke, the loot from the man's pocket hitting the ground. She took a step back, her golden blonde hair clung to her blood spattered, soft, feminine features. Her eyes fell on Darion's firearm. Her eyes were wide open, her breath coming shallow and quick. Her left arm was covered in blood to her elbow where she had plunged it into the man's sternum. She had played the prey, luring the two men into her snare. But by an ironic twist of fate, now she was the one trapped. Darion was at least twenty paces away from her, and the space offered her no cover. There was no way she could cover that distance before he put a bullet in her. By the look of growing panic in her eyes, she knew it too.<br/><br/>She stood there over the two dead bodies, silent, staring at him without blinking.<br/><br/>"Y-yeah...? Don't. They deserve what they got." She began, her first word stammering, her accent heavy. She gestured slightly toward the dead man to her right, making sure not too make any broad movements.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><b>Valerie<br/>
</b><br/>Mr. SMG's agreeable attitude turned as Valerie withdrew the case. His lips twisted in an unpleasant sneer. He leaned forward, placing his hands on the edges of her chair so that he loomed all around her, putting his face right in front of hers. Her features reflected, distorted and warped on his glasses. The SMG hanging from his shoulder clattered on the chair's frame. Shizu stood at the end of the wall, eye's darting apprehensively between the two.<br/><br/>"You tryin' to cheat me, robot?" He asked, scathing. "You trying to cheat our boss?"<br/><br/><i>Our.</i>The single word a stark reminder that Kal was a made man, debt collector for one of the big-bad's down in the gutters of the world. For all the slack he'd cut her out of pity or honor, or whatever bullshit reason he had rolling around in his head, Kal wasn't one of her. He was one of<i>them</i>. It made him bulletproof - more metaphorically, as it had turned out. He carried around a reminder that there were hundreds of others, maybe thousands, where he came from. You kill him, half a dozen come for your head.<br/><br/>How many were rolling with Chul? He had a big cut of the Guangzhou Dreg near Gaoxing. Big enough at least that a thought may have lingered in the back of Valerie's mind. Five guys, they were expecting in that building. Even with just five, all Kal had to do was make a call and a dozen more of Chul's street runners could have been there. Instead he hired one guy, a free agent, mercenary. With Chul's support they could have just blown that place down, minimal risk. All he had to do was make that call.<br/><br/>So why didn't he?<br/><br/>Mr. SMG stared Valerie down. "My boy is shot up in there. I better fuckin' find out why, right now. That case doesn't mean a fuckin' thing unless I see what's in it. It ain't no fuckin' free debt ticket and it sure as fuck ain't a bullet proof vest. Empty case ain't worth shit. If you're tryin' to pull one over on him, on me, on Chul...? I don't give a shit who you are or what you owe. I will cut you down and we'll pry it out of this fucked up body of yours. Now give me the fuckin' case."<br/><br/>Shizu watched, nervous.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><b>Spook<br/>
</b><br/>One Eye sneered a bit and looked away from Spook as she called him out. He leaned on the bar and picked up his drink.<br/><br/>A man came out of the back room, wearing a vest of body armor. As he crossed the bar he gave a nod to the barman who nodded back. His arms were bare, and he had tattoos like tiger stripes on his biceps. As he walked past Spook she saw a snarling tiger emblazoned on the back of the armor, looked Japanese. He had a katana at his waist, right next to a pistol in an open holster. It was an auto-pistol, in point of fact. The sleek black case, angular and dynamic, sighted. It was an N-100 Wakazashi, Nobunaga Securities made. The guy was a street Samurai, a real one. He headed out the door.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>