Ruin and Revenge

[Marcus O'Terra]

-PAQUIN-
September 11, 2516
3:45 am.

4 miles outside Terrace City; Doremo slum outskirts.

==========

Marcus was prone on a heavy table in an otherwise empty room. The building had long since been vacated. So had most of the buildings in the area. Except for a few used by vagrants and one used by a man named Bainbridge.

He was lucky, the ground floor stairs had caved in a while ago, but there was another building nearby that he could jump from. Getting away wouldn't be a problem. He'd hammered a sort of bridge out of the half decayed doors, which he'd push out to another building and dash out from.

Marcus had his chin rested on the stock of his BPTE .300 magnum rifle. A brown tarp was stretched over him and kept his visual signature to a minimum. Several clips were spread out for easy use.

The building he was in had a fair view of Bainbridge's set up. It was a three floor building. Mostly mortar and brick, but the top floor was old wood and tarps. There were two old trucks and a stable of horses in one floor building next to it.

Marcus had been watching near for a day, sizing up the place as best he could. There were blind spots he couldn't hit from, but he hoped that V would be able to handle those on her own.

Ten men in all. The man had built himself a bit of a posse. But less than some that Marcus had seen. Still a damn worthy threat.

He checked the pistol under next to his arm and the door, which was closed and in plain.

"Should be here any minute..."

[Ilana Logan]

Rienna Stone

"Why did he have to make this god-forsaken-hell-hole his base" exhausted, Riena let out a long sigh, she was covered in dark read leather from head to toe, thin body armor was sewn underneth it, Her hair bound in a knot on top her head. She packed light, a semi automatic, and a handful of grenades, and two H&K VP70Zs, both with 18 round magazine, tightly strapped to her thighs. She hoped with great anticipation that it would be enough.

Holding the photo in her hand, she had found the information written on the back of it, only hours after Marcus had....given.. it to her.

Pressing herself brush against, what felt like the only intact wall in the entire building. Her gun held close to her lips as if to hush her labored breath, she glided down the hall towards voices following each step with light breaths and feline footing.

Voices carried throughout the entire building, conversations she couldn't make out but recognized Bainbridge, his voice was unmistakable. Having a feeling in her gut that she was closer than she would have been led to believe.

("I finally found you, damn bastard")

Her foot gently kicked some rubble and prayed that no one heard her cuse under her breath, she cocked her weapon.

[Marcus O'Terra]

Marcus could see V now. She was moving on the east side of the building, there was a man smoking a cigarette on the corner. Noone was watching him, if she was smart she could take him out quietly without anyone noticing.

All he had was an old Uzi anyway.

On the other corner two more men were sitting down and playing cards. One had a lever action rifle on his lap the other had what looked like an AK-47 or some kinda Kalashnikov Assault rifle sitting against the wall.

The rest were inside, four on the bottom floor, two on the second, sleeping, and one at the top. Watching a TV with his back to the sniper. A large rifle was sitting next to him.

What's he watching, Marcus idly wondered. Hopefully not secret camera feeds. These guys weren't that tech savvy.

He'd scoped out the sleepers with a pair of old binoculars. Neither was Bainsburn. Same for the sniper. So he was on the bottom floor.

Marcus had fitted a suppressor on the rifle, but he only had two sub sonic rounds. the third in his clip would make enough noise to be noticed by the sniper, definitely.

He lined up a shot on the first sleeper. "Shame about the mattress." He sighed, then inhaled. Pulling the trigger, there was a small puff from the sound of the round and scope showed a body with red splatter across the neck.

The next shot would be trickier, but Marcus exhaled and waited for V to make her move.

[Ilana Logan]

Rienna Stone

Scooting closer to the curve of the wall she paused, a silent wisp cut the air, "What was that?" she thought lightly, "Marcus, you sly dog" turning her head back towards the wall she furthered herself down.

The smell of cigarettes wafted through the air, she peeked around the corner he inhaled lighting another one up, she holstered her gun and rounded the corner. "Hey there sugar, got another one you can share?" The man doubled around at the sound of her voice, fag hanging off the side of his mouth, lighter in hand he moved to grab his weapon. Riena watched his movement, lunged forward lifting her body into the air sending the bottom of her foot into his face, his body going limp flung into a spin and hit the ground. Out cold. Blood pooling from his mouth.

"Guess not" grabbing his pack along with his lighter, "I'll take this, thank you!" reaching into his pockets. Riena dragging his dead weight back down the east side of the wall took out zip ties, and secured his arms behind his back.


"Now on to the bigger guns"

[Marcus O'Terra]

Marcus noted that V had taken out the smoking guard. Most of the ground floor windows were boarded up, so it wasn't likely anyone saw her. Besides, these guys were only going to be here for one or two more days.

Actually. They were going to be here till someone moved the bodies. If at all.

The second subsonic round was an easier shot that Marcus had suspected. The sound of a head being blasted open was enough to jar the second sleeper into sitting up in his bunk. Groggy with an incomplete rest, he didn't notice the man on the other of the room had a bullet in his head.

By the time he did, his brain was splattered across the floor.

"Hope she waits before she goes loud." He sighed, pulling back to set his sights on the roof sniper. "No sense making this fair." He grumbled. Waiting for a good shot.

[Ilana Logan]

Rienna Stone

Holstering her gun, she peered around the corner. Riena counted, One. two, Playing cards. She could hear voices of men, how many she couldn't tell, Her hand grazed the grenades attached to her belt.

"All or nothing baby"


Unhooking the first grenade she crouched and lopped the destroyer of me into the building through a small opening in the structure. Praying it met it's target, she braced herself for the explosion, she ran towards the ruins past the two playing cards they both turned to see her running,"Hey WHATTHEHELL" they dropped their cards one dashing after her the other grabbing his gun. Riena tossed another grenade a huge smile on her face. Their reaction priceless, wide-eyed unmoving.

She hauled ass, her heart straining to keep up with the movement of her energized body. The first grenade went off, sending the two guards into a tizzy, she fell hands and face first into the ruins sliding along the floor, covered in dust, dirt and debris. The second one went off, Shaking the structure, screams and shouts emitted from where she once was. Quickly covering her body with her arms hoping to lessen the blow. Pieces of metal and dirt enveloped her. A stray piece of glass sliced through the air cutting open the skin of her thigh drawing blood.

"Shit"

She lay there still covered waiting for the dust to settle.

[Marcus O'Terra]

BANG! A suppressor doesn't do as much as movies claim, without subsonic rounds. A regular .308 barreling through the air is a scream and a wake up call. Though grenades are much more attention garnering.

The sniper was dead, judging by the sag in his body and the bloody spray that speckled the TV screen.

Marcus pressed the release and dropped the clip from the rifle, took another and slapped it into the rifle. He pulled back on the leaver and took aim again.

The man with the rifle action rifle hadn't gone all the way from the grenade blast, but he wasn't long for the world.

On the second floor Marcus spied at least three bodies moving, the smoke from the grenade made the rest of the floor downstairs a mess. Though it looked like she'd thrown the grenade into the bathroom, of all places... Poor sod went taking a deuce.

The shouts from the room made it clear they'd found their dead friends;

Marcus aimed and opened fire, or he would have if one of them wasn't opening up on the building with what sounded like a belt fed SAW of all things.

"FUCK!" He swore, rolling off the table onto the floor. He threw off the tarp and grabbed his clips. Hefting the rifle, he threw the clips into his bag and took out an MP-5.

He shifted to the door, ducking out of sight and down the stairs to the makeshift bridge.
----
From the third floor, one of the men had spied the dead guards, and opened up with a few sprays of fire in her general area.

[Ilana Logan]

Rienna Stone

Blood pooled out of her wound, Riena shook as she felt the blood between her fingers, she gently licked the blood away, slowly feeding the anger welling up inside, on the edge of pure rage.


A ear shattering bullet fired off in the distance, a sign that she needed to move, NOW.

Rolling over onto her stomach she crawled along the floor, bullets sprayed around. Inching closer towards what used to be a window, leaned against it for support. Chest rising up and falling rapidly, trying to catch her breath.

"Gorrammitt, If....I can just get a shot" she struggled trying to coerce herself into firing back.

Bullets rained down on her, she covered herself again. The onslaught of bullets slowly destroying her cover as if it were paper mache. Riena pulled her gun out of it's holster placing a kiss on it "You've never let me down baby, hopefully not this time either" dropping her empty magazine, and quickly reloads.

"Motherfuckers wanna play? I know how to play......."

Kneeling beside the window firing wildly into the dust, ducking now and then to doge fire. Pulling back in front of the window, the goon running towards her gun blazing, bullets whizzing past her, one zipped across her arm, a second gently grazed her hip. She roared and aimed, "Die you sonovabitch!" firing round after round, tears whelled up in her eyes, mouth upturned with hate.

she fired, bullet hit his chest, another to his stomach.... then a bullet hit brains; the sound was bone chilling, a loud thwack that sounded wet. The gaurd's head jerked backward like a rag-doll, brain matter blown out the back of his head, blood spatter allover the sand. Falling to his knees twitching, dropped his gun, then fell to his face, Gently spasming as the life drained from him.

Gasping for air, her heart racing a hundred miles an hour, with blood dripping from her wounds, and sweat accumulated across her brow. Suit ripped to shreds, turned and propted herself against the wall sliding down to her knees, with a click dropped her magazine, and loaded it up again.


"This party has just only started" "Give me what you got cocksuckers!!" she yelled, laughing like a sic madman.

[Marcus O'Terra]

Marcus was running low in the side streets now. On the side of ruin opposite the corpses V left with her second grenade. But far enough away not to be noticed by the men shooting down at V.

He had a grenade of his own, but it was a sonic. He armed it, tested it in his hand, and chucked it, hard at the window. It arced up and smacked the top of the window frame, going off there and letting off a BOOM that echoed out into the open air.

He took the advantage to run into the building. He had his coat buttoned up and bandana pulled up over his face, as well as goggles to resist the dust.

The MP-5 had a second hand grip and as he gripped it with his left as he moved toward the stares.

"-RRAM IT! MY EARS! BAINBRIDGE! YOUR ASSHOLE RESPOND!" There was a crackle of a radio or some kind of communicator static before a calm, agitated voice came over with an audio echo that hinted at lag.

"I hear you. Sounds like the little miss decided to play hardball. The rat-coat probably joined up with her. 'Fleas of a sort are bound to cavort', as they say. Over."

Marcus sighed as he cleared the final stairs, unleashing quick bursts of gun fire on the men. They were still reeling from the shock of the grenade and he'd come up to quickly for them to respond.

"Shit...." Marcus sighed, pulling down his face covering and pulling up his goggles. No sense giving V an excuse for shooting him 'by accident'.

"V! Get up here! It's clear!" One of hte men started to get up, Marcus walked closer and emptied his clip into the man. "NOW it's clear...." He walked over and picked up the commlink. It looked like a standard ship-to-shore communicator, with a little extra tech slapped on to boost the range.

[Ilana Logan]

Rienna Stone

Riena's eyes were closed, her labored breath slowed even more, a slow fog encasing her.....

===Opening her eyes slowly... at the unfamiliar sound of twittering birds and the faint smell of cotton. "A part of me is regretting coming here in the first place…" she sighed for a moment she felt like a little girl all over again, staring out her childhood window with the sun just peeking over the horizon gleaming onto the bedsheets. Moments seemed to pass before she even realized that she wasn't alone in the room, meeting eyes with Derrick "You seem at ease here." he finally spoke, She looked back out the window, to the rising sun. "It may be where I grew up.. but it is not home anymore.

"I mean, I would love to come back but I couldn't stay. If I was ever to stay somewhere, stop traveling, settle down I guess… I would have to make it my own, find my own place and just… It can't be someone else's, like this motioning to the room, it has to be… mine and...." Riena started to fight back tears taking a huge gulp of air. "The person I choose to share it with."


"Are you okay Riena?" Derrick asked.

"Riena.....Riena...Riena...kill...him" her name echoing all around, the fog dissipating.====

Another loud boom resounded int the air....

"V! Get up here! It's clear!"

The explosion had fed more glass and debris into the ruin cutting her up more, hair matted to her face, with blood and sweat. She shook her head to remove herself from her thoughts, still on her knees gun in hand, she stood. Wobbling she fell into the wall breathing heavily. "I'm so ....close...just ....wuh di ma" she cursed. Clearing her throat she stood up straight wiping the blood from her face. and ran to the sound of Marcus's voice, passing the dead guard, blood everywhere, it looked like was zone, she was one step closer and have every intention of fulfilling her promise. Running into the building towards the stairs, using her arms to pull herself up making it to the top, seeing Marcus, she smiled.

"I clean up nice don't I?" she spoke sarcastically.

[Marcus O'Terra]

Marcus didn't really say anything, he just frowned and tilted his head to eye V's wound. It would need to be patched up soon. He had a first aid kit that could seal and clean it; that should be fine for now.

She hopefully had creds to spare for a port doctor to have a look at it.

"Laury? You there?" Bainbridge's voice again. A little impatient and more than a bit of disappointment in his voice. "You're dead, aren't you. Piece. Of. PISS." He growled. There were spikes of static between the words.

"That's hardly fair." Marcus said to V, not pressing the tab on the commlink. "But hey, he's a jackass. You want first blab?" He held up the device for her to take or not.

[Ilana Logan]

Rienna Stone

"You want first blab?" Marcus said, handing over the commlink.

Riena's bloody hand extended to touch the communicator, grasping gently as if it were glass ready to shatter, she sat there....staring at it, closing her eyes she brought the comm closer.

Bainbridge's voice blared through it, the vibration touching her lips as if he was within inches of her. "Come on you shit answer!!, I want that bitch alive" ....more static. "I want to hear her beg me just like her pathetic brother, Maybe I'll even have some fun with her" his laughter rebounding against the walls.


The underlying rage started to boil, gripping the commlink Riena stood, with fist balled pressed the tab, and waited..... quickly letting go of the tab. "That you princess?" He was mocking her. "I Know you have something to say to me" "Why not let me hear that angelic voice that I had grown so fond of"



"........." Riena's knuckles were turning white, her heart raced the rage within starting the reach it's peak.

(Click)

"I am going to break you Bainbridge......- Beat you into oblivion. Rip your heart from your bleak existence. Feel the wrath of a thousand deaths. I will take great pleasure in cutting you apart piece by piece.....just so you can know how it feels to not be whole-....you worthless bastard...I've had my taste of blood-..Riena gently licks her lips and lets out a slow breath. "-and it won't be sated...till it's-"Riena paused

"-your blood is allover my hands..."

[Marcus O'Terra]

Marcus had to wonder WHAT this guy had done to make her so made. It went beyond simple revenge. This was a woman possessed of a fury. He changed the clip in his MP-5, looking outside, he couldn't see any vehicles approaching the town from the side he'd been shooting on... but

There was a silence after a V's speech. Marcus took the commlink back and clicked it on, "Mind telling me where you are, asshole?" There was a cackle of laughter over the comm.

"Marker, Marker, Marker. You got caught up with that bitch too, aye? Enjoy her while she's breathin."

"You traitorous piece of shit. You shoulda stayed on your purple belly whore ranch with the rest of the turncoats." He offed the comm and clicked it again. "Now where the hell are you?"

There was a long sigh over the commlink. "I'm feeling a might poetic, Marcus.... I'm where the little girl began her tale, or that's where I'll be." He laughed again, hideously, and the comm went into dead static.

There was a short silence and Marcus swore. He started out of the building, intent on hunting the man down, then looked to V.

"You coming or what?"

[Ilana Logan]

Rienna Stone

The words stung like a knife into her back. She was bruised up pretty bad, needed to stop the bleeding and collect herself.

Riena quickly wiped away the almost dried tears that hovered on her cheeks.

"I'm where the little girl began her tale"

Grabbing her chest she heaved a large breath, and stood staring out the window eyes glazed over.

=Derrick glanced over at the large man with a hearty laugh, "If we find her, which I hope we do, she'll be a good hand to have on the ship. How she ended up there I don't know, but we had better hurry. You know how she gets when she's in enough trouble to ask for help."

The captain shook his head then looked at Sidney , "You ready for a fight?"

"What?" Sidney spoke dumbfounded.

A small smile rose on Derrick's lips, "Oh Sidney, she's a new kind of woman you ain't ever experienced."

"What's her name?"

"Riena," Derrick answered.

"She cute?" Derricks turned to his first mate Sidney Bainbridge and glared. "That's my little sister you're talk-"

The two paused for a just a second when they heard a loud crash just out of a city, "Sounds like her," Derrick muttered before bursting into a sprint. Sidney followed after him.

------------------------------------------------
"Derrick it's not my fault!" a young girl yelled into a com while her vehicle sped through the Santo's desert.
"Then why are they chasing you?" Derrick yelled back even louder, and more frustrated.

Her green eyes glanced up then back down at the com. Her golden blond hair held down in a ponytail but it was still lashing about in the wind, "Well… I simply told some guy I wasn't going to sleep with him. He got angry so I hit him…I didn't realize he had some cronies! DERRICK I am not a whore!"

"I know!" Derrick sighed, hearing his sister's frantic tone, "Look head north from your position. They haven't started firing on you yet, which is good. Sidney and I are on our way."

"Oohh, a Ladyfriend?"

"Sidney's a guy."

"Oh…" She let out a scream when a missile landed just next to her. "You just had to say something didn't you, YEAH go ahead and jinx it!!"

"Just keep driving!" he yelled from the comm

Riena glared at the comm when it went blank then turned her mind back to driving, "Stupid brother," she muttered before hitting the brake and turning hard just as another missile landed in front of her. Her vehicle hit the side of a building with a loud crash.

"Gorrammit," Riena muttered while she slowly pulled herself from th vehicle. She wasn't bleeding but Riena could feel some bruises beginning to form on different parts of her body. The young woman groaned and stood up, her hand placed carefully over the butt of her gun.

On instinct she turned, gun ready, aimed right at Derrick's chest. Turns out, she's somewhat short. Her face brightened and she suddenly flew into the man's arms, "You're here!"

"Yeah we're here Riena. You okay?" Derrick asked slowly putting her back on the ground.

"Yeah, just a little banged up is all," she shrugged her shoulders. "So…who's up for getting out of here, I sure am. Don't wanna get hit by those missiles." she quickly turned to the mule and started to walk fast.

Derrick grabbed her shoulder and stopped her from moving, "Hold on now little one. You're gonna explain to me why these men are after you. Last time it was because you seduced a man into thinking he was going to sleep with you so you could get him alone to assassinate him."

"I wasn't planning on killing nobody," she muttered looking down at her feet. "I was after this pretty gem he had around his neck, but then he went all touchy feely and suggested the most horrific things !"
Sidney looked at the necklace around Riena's neck, it had a sparkling green gem, then at the young woman, "and that would be?"

"He wanted me to give him a lap dance and then…well it was just dirty and I'm not like that, you know that Derrick," Riena insisted.

Sidney smirked, "Sir, she's just a little trouble maker, safer with me-.....I mean US around rather then out there on her own. Your father will kill us if we don't protect her."

Sidney was just staring at the young woman with the frown on her pretty delicate face. She was small, but with a good figure he smiled at her mannerism. He jerked his head up when he heard the rumble of engines, "We better get on out of here. We don't want to go running into anyone who would mean us, or this... lovely young woman, harm." he said with a devilish grin.

"Sidney's right, come along missy. You're all ready in a heap of trouble. We have a job we need to get going on," Derrick insisted while putting his arm around her shoulders.

=======================

Swaying gently side to side, Riena still staring out the window ignoring the calls from Marcus.

"You coming or what?"


Riena's lips started to mouth words, her voice strained to make a sound........

[Marcus O'Terra]

Marcus stopped. V was frozen where she was, and that didn't bode well. Marcus had a feeling that whatever Bainbridge said, it had cut deeper than just a simple taunt.

Great, history, that just complicated matters something awful.

"I've got a friend who runs a Basurero. He's leaving town this week. Soonest in two days. He won't take our kit and we can maybe bum a bit of ammo off him." He waited for her to ask if he was trustworthy or not, if she said anything. "I saved his ass during the war." He explained, as if it made the situation logical.

"Look talk to me. This bastard maybe sitting and waiting, but unless you know a way to bring down air fire on him; he's just gonna get more dug in." He walked around V and looked her in the eyes.

"So where did this begin?" He asked. "Where's it gonna end?" He leaned close. Probably closer than he should have.

[Ilana Logan]

Rienna Stone

Riena was breathing slowly, staring.

"Where's it gonna end?" Marcus furthered, he stepped closer his body heat radiating, hitting her in the face, she blinked frantically her face contorting into a frown, and then tears streamed down her face, her eyes met with Marcus's concern.

"He...must...be stopped" she stifled. "HE WON'T HURT ME AGAIN I"LL KILL HIM...befo-..before he gets another chance!" she screamed grabbing fist full of Marcus' lapels on his coat, gently shaking him, eyes flooding with tears she leaned into his chest burring her face into his coat, crouching over body shuddering back tears.

"Where's it gonna end?" rang in her ears.

"Dy-dyton, is...is where he is..


"...and where he'll die....." she suddenly spoke, with obvious hate in her tone.

[Marcus O'Terra]

Marcus checked his gun and then looked at V again. "Dyton." He sighed. "That's gonna be a load of fun." The sarcasm was thick enough to choke a maggot.

He'd been on Dyton more than once, and every time he ended up getting into a fight he hadn't planned. Then there were the scuffles he'd planned to have that turned into outright chaos.

Still hadn't gotten a bounty from any of that yet. Dyton folk keep tight lips and hand their own problems.

Now here he was going to a fight again, and it'd be a doozy. If he was throwing a dozen minus men out for a decoy, he was gonna have something better at his place of buisness.

"We're gonna need backup." He sighed. He looked to V. "Got anyone in mind?"

[Ilana Logan]

Rienna Stone

Riena closed her eyes, and thought for second letting go of his jacket, wiped away the tears and blew out a quick breath, and quickly turned her back towards the stairs, and kneeled down to check her wounds.

"Got anyone in mind?" Marcus asked, Riena let out a small scoff, slinging her pack from her shoulder set it on the ground, "There is no one else...." removing a medium sized thermos, and two small cups, pouring an equal amount into both and sprinkling a light power into the other.

"Here, this should help with your strength, or any injuries you incurred. She looked to Marcus, and handed him a cup, downing hers quickly and threw the cup to the ground, and stood to face him.

"I'm alone, Why do you think it's just me." She smiled, and picked her bag up to ready herself to leave. "May I have the comm?" she held out her hand toward him.

[Marcus O'Terra]

Marcus had been watching the V the whole time she was moving about. Her slouched behavior and the fact she was offering him a drink in a room filled with dead bodies. It wasn't subtle. It wasn't even remotely plausible to believe she wasn't up to something.

"Yeaaaaaaah" He looked at the cup before jerking the contents out and onto a corpse. "I've been nailed to enough walls to know when I'm not wanted." He tossed her the cup and the comm.

"Good luck, V. Please do try not to get yourself killed." He headed for the stairs, stopping he looked around. "And if you do? Make sure you leave the scumbag in enough pieces for me to collect on him?"