Post by MSS Productions on Dec 11, 2020 2:08:58 GMT
The shot opens with the One World Government logo flashing in a circle in the center of the screen. After only a few moments the revolving logo was replaced by the face of the voice of the government, Phillip Lamont.
Phillip Lamont: "Wake up world and welcome to your Wake up Call! I, as always, am your host Phillip Lamont, the voice of the Government bringing you all the events from the day's entertainment that you may have missed!”
As before a box appeared beside his smiling face showing a video of a middle aged man with a receding hairline running from a man in an executioner outfit. The executioner paced behind him holding a large meat hook on a rope.
Phillip Lamont: "Robert Bathon, in City Five for only a few days now finally found himself in the crosshairs of The Executioner and we know how all of you feel about him!”
The video, which showed the middle aged man playing a game of cat and mouse with the hooded man suddenly changed to a chart which names and ranks on it. The Executioner was voted highest, Felix Salar at number two, Lady as number three, someone named Plague as number four and the golden eyed Blink at number five.
Phillip Lamont: "Ranked number one for the third straight year. But alas, Robert was able to find a hole in one of the walls and slip away. Scurrying away like a rat to survive another day. Elsewhere in the night….”
The video shifts again to show a room of men and women all lying on the floor dead, the room filled with a strange white gas that floated like fog. The shot stayed on the room long enough to give someone a chance to look around to really take in the nearly twenty bodies in the room.
Phillip Lamont: "The La Reeva finally decided to make an attack on the courthouse in City 8 but as you can see they found themselves lured into a trap where Albert Hess, called Plague by those in the city sacrificed a good number of his own people to end the threat.”
The video changed then to a shot of the huge behemoth of a man dragging a man toward the car lift inside the mechanic shop and proceeding to crush him, cutting him in half in the process.
Phillip Lamont: "And in City One John Moren has been busy. He came to the rescue of fellow contestant Joslyn Erari when she was cornered by the Saints. Of course, the one surviving member didn’t see him and as a result of his stupidity Felix executed him.”
At that announcement the shot pulled out into the living room of Lesli Moren and was currently buzzing with excitement. Dozens of people were milling around while two men in black suits were standing in the kitchen area with Leann and Trever Perry.
Leann Perry: "...I came to watch the wake up call with her, like we always do and found her lying in her bed….”
Trever placed his arm around his ‘sisters’ shoulder and let her cry into his shoulder.
Trever Perry: "Her brother is one of the contestants in City One right now. I...We’ve noticed it getting harder and harder on her to watch what John is going through. I think it just….got to be too much when she saw that….”
Trever motioned to the television showing the replay of the man being cut in half by a car lift.
Trever Perry: "....Live.”
The men took notes and then stepped aside as Lesli’s body was carried out. She looked normal again, her hair neatly arranged. The only difference is the slightly off color of her face. It was as if Leann had tenderly arranged her after she and Trever had killed her. Once she was carried out the others in the room filed out one by one until only Leann and Trever remained.
Trever eased the door closed and leaned back against it with his eyes closed. He only opened then again when Leann touched her palm to his chest.
Leann Perry: "We did it.”
Trever Perry: "And now we just need to convince John when he comes back.”
Leann Perry: "If he comes back….”
She pulled back and urged him away from the door where she pulled it open and exited the apartment shared by John and Lesli. The hallway on the other side of the door was now empty. The two make their way back to the apartment shared by Leann and Trever, speaking again when only inside again.
Leann Perry: "...we have been here before love. How many men and women have we sent into the Cities for this pass? A dozen?”
Trever Perry: "No one like John.”
The camera comes to look at the screen as a shot of the City is shown before moving slowly into the screen. It blurs briefly before unbluring on a shot inside the City itself as the words flashed in the center of the screen….
Voice of Becca Calaway: "What do you mean you lost your pass?!”
The shot shifts from the outside view of The City to inside the room where Becca and John had been standing when he returned with the supplies. John sank down onto the couch running a hand over his face.
John Moren: "I mean, it’s no longer in my pocket.”
Becca Calaway: "How will you get out now?! How will I get out now?!”
John Moren: "I have no choice but to go and try and find it.”
Suddenly as the two talked a sudden clapping was heard and a figure stepped through the door. John didn’t even hesitate, rising from the couch as he pulled the beretta from his thigh all at once.
A figure walks slowly through the door slapping their hands, a figure with short spiked brown hair and golden eyes. On his face was a mask made of black leather and spikes and he held a black metal baseball bat braced on his shoulder.
John Moren: "Who the fuck are you?!”
Becca Calaway: "....Blink….”
Blink glances from John to Becca and flashes her a smirk inclining his head then returns his gaze to the man holding the gun.
Blink: "You must be who Lady warned me about.”
John Moren: "What do you want?”
Blink: "Lady tells me you single handedly led little Becca here from the apartments through floors filled with Misfits. That true?”
John Moren. “What. Do you. Want?”
John had slowly crossed the room to stand beside Becca and moved her behind him with his free hand while keeping the gun on Blink. The masked man sucked in air between his teeth, heard even through the mask and gave a curt nod.
Blink: "You have something I need and soon I am going to have something you need.”
John Moren: "You don’t have a damn thing I’m going to need.”
Blink: "I am about to control the Saints headquarters. I can provide you with a clear path to the gate. No questions asked.”
John blinked and narrowed his eyes on the masked man before him.
John Moren: "And in return?”
Blink looked from John to the figure hiding slightly behind him. John, who had been just seconds from lowering his weapon, raised it back to full height again.
John Moren: "That’s not gonna happen weirdo.”
Blinks eyes narrowed, much like John’s had before.
Blink: "That isn’t a smart decision.”
John Moren: "Get out. You aren’t touching the Kid.”
Blink: "Is she worth dying for?”
John’s answer was pulling the hammer back on the gun.
John Moren: "She’s worth killing for.”
Spread spread his arms and turned leaving the way he had come. John kept his eyes on the door until he was sure Blink had gone, but he didn’t trust it so much that he didn’t check and make sure the hallways were empty before returning to his conversation.
John Moren: "I gotta find it.”
Becca Calaway: "He was just here John! You cannot just up and leave now!”
John Moren: "If I don’t find it now anyone else in the City can find it and use it. It’s too valuable to just...forget it.”
Becca Calaway: "But….He’s coming John….”
John Moren: "And I’ve got a plan…”
The camera shifts to a shot of the city itself, rolling around it as the sun begins to rise a bit higher up the horizon. After a few moments it shifts back into the hideout where Becca was pacing back and forth chewing her nails, clearly more than a little nervous. As she paced and chewed the sound of a floorboard creaking brought both her attention and the shot around to the hallway on the other side of the door.
The shot pulls back to a view of Becca’s face as her eyes move from the wall to a small stack of supplies in the corner of the room. Careful not to make a sound she moves across the room and plukes a small break action double barrel shotgun from the top.
The floorboards creak again and she lifts the shotgun, barely breathing and waiting. She waited for John to call out but no announcement came. A dark skinned hand touched the doorframe and when Becca was sure she wasn’t hearing John coming back she did the only thing she could do.
She fired.
The shotgun blast hit the wall just beside where the hand had been holding it, ripping part of the frame free and showering the figure with wood and debris.
Man’s voice: “MOTHER….”
Becca eased into the doorway but when she did a hand grabbed the barrel of the shotgun and yanked it from the girls hands. The shot came around the door just as he did this to reveal Oliver staring down at her with heated anger on his face.
Oliver Jamison: "What the hell are you doing little girl?! You could have killed me god dammit!”
Becca looked up at him, her lip trembling and whimpered out.
Becca Calaway: "John said I needed to defend myself….”
Oliver Jamison: "Of course it did. He would tell you to shoot strangers on sight. Fucking idiot.”
Becca blinked in surprise when he said something that gave the impression he knew John.
Becca Calaway: "You know John…?”
Oliver Jamison: "Yeah….the damned fool may have saved my life. He asked me to look in on you and make sure nothing happened to you. Something about you having an ‘unwanted guest’ that may be popping in?”
Becca Calaway: "....Blink. Blink wants me….”
Oliver Jamison: "Blink….of course he does.”
Oliver sounded anything but thrilled that John had apparently not told him about the hired gun hunting for Becca, but the fact that he didn’t turn around and leave her alone told Becca two things for sure.
First, he was a good man who put value where value belonged.
And second, that he for whatever reason, valued his word to John. Even after only a handful of meetings.
The camera then shifts to the window to watch the sun beginning to move across the sky based on the way the light moved across the windowsill. After a few moments, revealing the passage of several hours the camera shifts back into the room proper and Becca and Oliver.
Becca was sitting on a couch eating a small amount of some unnamed fruit from a labelless can while Oliver was standing with his back to the door looking over the amount of supplies the girl had been able to gather, his eyes showing how impressed he was at the girls eventfulness.
The silent reverie was once again broken by the creaking sound of weight of a loose floorboard causing Oliver and Becca to again lock eyes. Oliver’s hand dropped into the waistband of his pants and the handle of a small handgun while Becca folded her feet under her butt once again grabbed the grip of the shotgun.
Luckily for the blonde haired women that came around the corner, she didn’t get the same reception as Oliver did. But the man with the dreadlocks however threw his head back and laughed when he saw her.
Oliver Jamison: "Joslyn?! The hell are you doing here?!”
Joslyn’s face mirrored the shock on Oliver’s own, and while she didn’t embrace him fondly or any other such thing, she did not look unhappy to see him.
Joslyn Erari: "Oliver Jamison, what in the world are you doing here? Aren’t you just about done?”
Oliver Jamison: "Yeah...but getting past the Saints is gonna be difficult. Figured it might be a good idea if a new friend owned me a favor.”
Joslyn lifted a brow as if she had had similar thoughts. It was about then that she saw Becca sitting off to the side, with the shotgun pointed at her and her finger on the trigger. Joslyn recoiled to the side, a bit behind Oliver.
Joslyn Erari: "Holy fuck, is she for real?!”
Oliver glanced behind him in time to see Becca lift her finger off the trigger and lay it beside the trigger guard and chuckled.
Oliver Jamison: “Oh, you best believe it.”
Becca forced a little smile when her and Joslyn’s eyes met but Oliver kept his own on the blonde woman.
Oliver Jamison: "What are you even doing here?”
Joslyn Erari: "A friend came to see me and told me that someone he asked to look after a package might need some assistance. Someone….”
She looked Oliver with a side eyed, sly look and a half smile.
Joslyn Erari: "I think we both know and you….”
She looked from Oliver to the brown haired girl on the couch.
Joslyn Erari: "Would be the package, right?”
Oliver Jamison: "And we got Misfits calling.”
The blonde woman’s head snapped to the side, her eyes wide.
Joslyn Erari: "Misfits?! Random Misfits or is Lady coming here?!”
Becca Calaway: "....Blink…”
Joslyn’s face paled a bit and she leaned back into the doorway looking the way she had come. The camera shifts with her view to show the empty hallway then back into the room as she looks back.
Joslyn Erari: "Well, then I have bad news. I passed a whole mess of Misfits on the way here, had to take a detour around the old fire station to make sure they didn’t see me. If Blink’s looking for her then that’s where they are headed.”
Oliver’s gaze went to the girl, who clutched the shotgun tight in her hand then back to Joslyn.
Oliver Jamison: "You got a gun?”
Joslyn turned her right hip to the side showing the handle of the pistol tucked into the small of her back. Oliver let out a grunt and moved to the stack of weapons in with the supplies and plucked a pair of shotguns from it. He crosses the room and shoves one into her hands.
Oliver Jamison: "You’re gonna need this.”
Becca Calaway: "....Where is John?!”
The fear creeping into the girl's voice caused it to crack a bit and break and both Oliver and Joslyn could see what John saw in her. The blonde woman crossed the room and dropped down in front of Becca in a crouch.
Joslyn Erari: "What’s your name hon?”
Becca Calaway: ".....”
Joslyn Erari: "It’s okay….You can trust us. John trusts us….”
Becca Calaway: "....Rebecca….Becca….”
Joslyn Erari: "John’s doing something important Becca. He trusts us to take care of you. Nothings gonna happen to you while we’re here okay?”
Becca Calaway: "....Okay….”
Becca even managed a smile and the blonde woman rose from her crouch only to find herself under the watchful eye of the dreadlocked man near the door.
Joslyn Erari: "What?!”
Oliver Jamison: "You uh...seem like you have experience with that. With kids I mean.”
Joslyn Erari: "....It’s why I’m here.”
Oliver Jamison: "Wanting to be a teacher?”
Joslyn Erari: "My son needs a transplant….”
Oliver took his lip between his teeth and sighed.
Oliver Jamison: "Sorry...I didn’t mean to bring up anything bad.”
Joslyn Erari: "Not bad. It is what it is, all that matters now is to fix it.”
As Oliver opened his mouth to speak all three of them heard the front doors of the building bang open loudly and collectively they looked at one another. Becca climbed over the couch to have something to give her cover while Oliver and Joslyn took their positions on each side of the door.
Oliver Jamison: "Here we go….”
The camera shifts to the outside around the corner from the safe house where the line of graffiti covered cars sat on the side of the street but well out of view of those within the safe house. The woman in the clown make up sat on the passenger seat of one of the cars with her legs crossed at the ankle and her hands folded over the grip of her ax that sat across her lap.
And she looked more than a little annoyed.
The shot shifts up to the face of the only man the psychotic woman ever listened to, the leader of the misfits, still clad in the black spiked face mask. Unlike Lady, Blink didn’t look at all annoyed. He stood leaning back on the fender of the car with his hands over the top of a blood stained baseball bat.
Lady: "I don’t know why I can’t be there!”
Blink: "I told you Lady, we have a deal and need the girl in one piece. And you tend to get a little...messy….when you’re excited.”
Lady: "But I wanna play….”
Blink: "Soon Lady. Soon.”
Blink promised with the lines of his cheeks lifting to show that he was smiling, even if it couldn’t be seen under the mask. Though, the malicious glow in his eerie glowing eyes might have been hint enough.
The shot shifts back into the safe house as the first of the Misfits came down the hallway. The man, with short brown hair and the stubble of a beard, was wearing the Misfits coat. The camera angle shifts to behind him as he crosses the threshold leading into the safe house proper but the instant he does a chrome barrel of a handgun appears from the other side of the doorframe. With a blast of muzzle flash the gun erupts and the man stumbles to the side, with the camera shifting to the set jawed face of Oliver with blood splattering the wall beside him.
Oliver and Joslyn look at one another, each from one side of the door and then both swing out, the handguns they held held out in front of them. The shot shifts behind the pair at the end of the hallway revealing the Misfits coming around the corner in force into a hail of bullets and death.
The first line of the graffitied men and women around the corner found themselves directly in the line of fire, bullets ripping through them like tissue paper, but the others behind them were smart enough to stick to the wall edge, firing back at Joslyn and Oliver from the safety of the hallway.
The two sides were in a stalemate for a short time, but the Misfits had something that those in the safe room did not.
Ammunition.
Slowly second by second the shots from the room began to slow down as Oliver and Joslyn tried to conserve ammunition, but the shots from the other side of the hall never slowed down. The camera shifts back into the room as Oliver pulls his head back into the room just as a bullet rips into the door frame where his head had just been. Josyln glanced over as Oliver winched, the corner of his eye now slightly bloody from the shrapnel that had exploded out of the door frame.
Jolsyn Erari: “You okay?!”
Oliver Jamison: "Eye on the target!”
Joslyn turned to look back at the hallway just as three figures came charging into the room, having taken advantage of the two not paying full attention. Two men hit Oliver driving him down into the floor and another pinned Joslyn to the wall.
The two men atop Oliver brought down fists into the man’s face and temple while Joslyn was taken by the jaw, her head forced back as she was pinned to the wall. The blonde woman let out a grunt of discomfort as her head was bent at an angle it wasn’t intended to bend. The red haired man with the misfit coat holding her leaned in and ran his tongue over her jaw and cheek with a grin.
Joslyn brought her leg up catching the man in the crotch with a knee sending him staggering back and dropping to a knee. She brings her knee out again sending the point across his jaw and levels the gun at the man holding Oliver and pulls the trigger, taking one of them in the side before the click of the gun tells the room it was empty.
One of them rolls off Oliver holding his side giving the man with the dreadlocks the chance to roll the other over and bring down right hands over and over again until he finally stopped moving. Once the man had gone still Oliver leaned up, the camera shifting around to show his face. He was bleeding from the eyebrow, lip and a nasty cut on his cheek.
Oliver Jamison: "That all of um….”
Joslyn Erari: "I think so….”
She had just finished the words when the wooden shaft of a bat came into the frame. The bat connects full force with the woman’s face sending her flying backwards. Joslyn collapses near the wall, the camera coming in to show the ruins of her face. Her nose was broken, so was the cheek bone and blood poured from a half dozen breaks in the skin, but she was breathing.
Barely.
Oliver could do nothing but watch and shout her name as she collapsed. He looked up just as the handle of an ax hit him square in the jaw spinning him around and manages to roll out of the way as the head of the ax came down, slamming into the wood of the floor where his head had just been.
He looked up and found himself staring up at Lady and Blink, the bat in Blinks hand covered in Joslyn’s blood. Blink looked over at his companion and behind the rasp of the mask Oliver heard his command.
Blink: "Play Lady.”
Lady giggled and gripped the ax tigger but before she could pull it out Becca rose from behind the couch with the shotgun in hand. Blink cursed and dove to the side, tackling Lady back through the door just as the girl pulled the trigger.
The buckshot tore into the wall and door frame showering the entire room in bits of wooden shrapnel. When Blink peered back in again she fired again, and again wooden debris showered the room as another large chunk of the door disappeared under the destruction of the buckshot.
Beccca popped the gun open to reload and the two Misfits came around the corner making a beeline for her. Oliver didn’t hesitate throwing himself up and tackling both Blink and Lady into the wall, looking over at the girl and shouts.
Oliver Jamison: "RUN! GO!”
Becca hurdles the couch and rushes from the room, but the combined force of Lady and Blink proved too much for Oliver, as the pair are easily able to beat him to the floor where Blink quickly leaves the room to follow behind Becca.
Oliver lifts his head and meets the toes of Lady’s boot across the mouth flipping him over onto his back unconscious. The clown painted woman crosses the room to the window and looks out to find three male misfits and one female holding the struggling girl by the arms and Blink forcing her into a car.
Blink looked up only once and met Lady’s face, giving her an inclined his head telling her without words she could play. The painted woman let out a giggle and turned back into the room as the sound of the cars pulling out disappeared into the distance.
Lady: "Come here little Rabbit...I think it’s time we had some fun….”
Lady moves across the room and takes the ax by the handle. With a hard pull she pulls the blade free, bringing up bits of wood with it. She turns her gaze down on the unconscious man with the camera shifting to his face to show his eyes blinking open. He looks up into the face of the painted woman as the shot shifts to the ax coming back but as she brings it down a hand shoots into the shot catching iit just below the head stopping it dead in its tracks.
Lady looks behind her and the camera shifts to show the face of John Moren, staring down at her, an expression of rage and hate on his face.
Lady: "Ohhhh...more playmates!”
John yanks his arm back ripping the ax from the woman’s hand with his left while the right came around and connected across her jaw with a right hand that dropped her unconscious to the floor. John discards the ax and moves to check on Joslyn, speaking over his shoulder as he does.
John Moren: "The hell happened?!”
Oliver Jamison: "...Joslyn came...and the Misfits….”
Oliver blinked, clearly a little concussed and John continued to check on the blonde woman. The shot moves in to show she was breathing but still unconscious and had face had taken a pounding.
John leaves Joslyn in the corner and returns to Oliver, crouching beside him.
John Moren: "Did Blink take her?”
Oliver continued to blink and stare off ahead, but john grabbed him by the jaw and turned his head to look at him.
John Moren: "Hey! Did. Blink. Take. Her?”
Oliver Jamison: "....They came into the room and I told her to run. She ran….He ran out after her….”
John breathed in a deep sigh and looked down at the floor, the muscles of his jaw clenching and unclenching. After a moment he looked up slowly, his eyes filled with intense resolve and malice as they fell on Lady.
John Moren: "Take Joslyn somewhere safe.”
Oliver Jamison: "What are you gonna….”
John Moren: "Take. Joslyn. Somewhere. Safe.”
Oliver Jamison: "God dammit John….”
John Moren: "Blink has her Oliver and….and I don’t intend to let him keep her….So I am gonna make this bitch tell me where he took her.”
The shot shifts to the outside of the casino the Misfits called home before shifting into Blinks office inside. The red haired woman known as Felicity Yanc was pacing back and forth with her lip taken between her teeth. Her traveling clothing was no cleaner than it had been before, as though she had not returned to the Saints HQ to change as of yet.
Felicity Yanc: "It’s taking too long….something went wrong….”
As she paced and talked to herself the door of the office pushed open and Blink appeared with the baseball bat leaned on his shoulder, but he was no longer wearing the mask. Behind him through the briefly opened door he could see a teenage girl with brown hair being pulled by a rope around her neck into another office.
She knew her from the pictures that Hayley and Thoma showed her. It was Becca. She rounded on Blink, her eyes wide in shock.
Felicity Yanc: "You found her!? You got Becca Calaway!?”
Blink: "That all depends….”
Blink answered and closed the door blocking the view of the girl being led into another office.
Blink: "Remind me of your side of this again?”
Felicity Yanc: "Me and Becca walk out of here back to the Saints headquarters and I will send you word when I am making my move to leave. Felix will be vulnerable at that moment while his soldiers are distracted and focused on the guards. You and the misfits can come in and eliminate all of them. Take over Felix’s position on the border.”
Blink turned and jumped up to sit on the edge of the desk and tapped his finger off his lips in thought. After a moment he finally nods.
Blink: "Okay. You can have the girl but understand something? If this is a trick and Felix double crosses me? It’ll mean open war.”
Felicity Yanc: "You and Felix can kill each other for all I care. I’m only interested in the girl and getting out of this hellhole. Now, part of the agreement is safe passage back to the HQ….”
Blink let out a barking laugh and pushed himself off the desk. He motioned for her to follow him and left the room back into the main area of the casino. He crossed the room to where the group was keeping the girl and found her struggling against the rope holding her hands behind her back.
When she saw the red haired woman however all struggling stopped.
Becca Calaway: "Felicity Yanc….”
Blink; “It’s your lucky day kid...she bought your freedom. Or...well…”
Blink laughs softly and takes the rope the Misfits had been using as a leash and yanks her through the door behind him into the casino proper.
Blink: "Not freedom, but possession.”
Becca Calaway: "UGH!....Why?! What does Salar want from me?!”
Felicity Yanc: "All will be explained in time.”
Becca continued to try and get Felicity to answer but the red haired woman fell silent. As if she either didn’t want the girl to know, or didn’t want...Blink to know. Blink led the three women down through a side door and down a set of stairs, speaking over his shoulder as he did.
Blink: "This place didn’t like to use armored trucks. The owners didn’t feel they were reliable...so they built a system of their own to transport their lock boxes.”
At the bottom of the stairs the door opened to a large flat platform that ended at a pair of train tracks with a train car actually sitting, waiting, on the tracks. Becca stood staring in shock but Felicity gasped.
Felicity: “There is a platform like this in the basement of the bank beside HQ! No one knows where it leads!”
Blink: "I made damn sure of that. Anyone Felix sent in? They never came back out.”
Blink led the two into the train car and to the front where the controls were waiting. He laid his hand on a level and turned his gaze to the red haired woman as he handed her the rope.
Blink: "Push this level back up when you see the lights at the other end of the tunnel….and Felicity...if you double cross me….”
Not even wanting her to finish he pulled the level down and the train began to move, slowly inching forward. Blink stepped back off the train as the doors closed and the camera came in on Becca staring out the doors at him.
Becca Calaway: "John...help me…”
She whispered.
The shot shifts back into the safe house that had been the sight of the fight. The camera takes in the room, the bullet holes and the missing pieces of the door frame from the shotgun blasts before coming around fully to the form of John Moren.
John was crouched with his jaw set and his eyes intense, focused on something in front of him. The camera shifts down and around, past a rolled up leather bag to find a figure tied to a chair. The painted woman Lady was tied to a chair with her head lulled down, her chin on her breasts.
Lady sucked in a breath and slowly her head comes up. Her eyes blink open and she takes in the sight in front of her. When she realizes that she is tied up Lady grins a wicked, happy grin at the man crouched in front of her.
Lady: "Ohhh….someone has naughty plans.”
John Moren: "Hardly.”
John answered.
John Moren: "Where did Blink take the kid?”
Lady: "Awe, you are just gonna start right into the questions? No incentive?”
John Moren: "Incentive? Why? You’ll just enjoy that. Beating you won’t help...hurting you won’t help...hurting others won’t help.”
Lady: "You have done your homework.”
Lady purred and licked her lips.
Lady: "Now...why don’t you untie me….and we can play for real?”
John Moren: "See….people like you? People who enjoy pain? It’s only certain kinds…”
John’s voice was low, uncaring and his hand dropped to the leather bundle. He unrolled it revealing lines of knives that caused Lady to let out a girlish giggle.
Lady: "Ohhhh, gonna cut up a girl are you?”
John Moren: "Nope.”
He withdrew a small slender paring knife from the leather straps holding it and without so much as a precursor he brought his arm around and the blade disappeared into the side of the stocking covered knee cap.
Whatever Lady had been expecting, this wasn’t it. She let out a shrieking scream and thrashed against the restraints, but found there were expertly tied. John didn’t grab the knife and wiggle or twist, he just let it there, in the space beneath the knee cap.
John Moren: "Part of my training Lady, was knowing how exactly to hurt people how they don’t wanna be hurt. Most people….”
John withdrew another blade from the leather wrap, another paring knife identical to the first.
John Moren: "...Will go for the hands, or the feet. Hell, some even for the genitals but there’s no need for that. There are four places on the human body where the nerve endings are the most sensitive to pain. Not stimulation….but pain. It’s so the body can avoid injury. The corner of the eyes. The spine. The knees…..”
And without announcing the final one he brought his arm up and the blades bit into the flesh of her shoulder, right where the rotator cuff began, slipping up under it. Again Lady let out a shrieking scream and began to thrash, panting now in agony.
Lady: "WAIT! WAIT!”
John Moren: "The kid. Where is she?!”
Lady: "FUCK YOU!”
John just chuckled to himself and reached down pulling not a knife, but a thin, long needle like object. His other hand grabbed the black haired woman by the side of the head and held it still as he inched the ice pick like item toward her eye. Lady stared ahead, panting and now actually crying.
Lady: "WAIT! GOD DAMMIT WAIT!”
John Moren: "Where. Is. The. Kid?!”
Lady: "Blink has her!”
John Moren: "WHERE!”
Lady: "I...I….”
John’s grip on her head tightened and his arm braced to bring the needle forward and Lady screamed…
Lady: "THE CASINO!!!”
John leaned back on his heels and dropped the needle back to the leather bag on the floor. Lady screamed one when he pulled the blades from her knee and shoulder. The camera shifts to a view of both of them with a window in the background as rain began to fall streaking the glass.
Lady: ".....You’re an idiot to go after her….”
John Moren: "She trusts me...I won’t leave her to that degenerate.”
Lady: "You’re gonna die, you realize that right?! You walk into the casino and you aren’t walking out.”
The camera catches the whole room as John moves to the corner of it and begins to stuff guns into a leather duffle bag. Guns and boxes of ammunition.
John didn’t seem to hear her anymore. He actually stripped down to a pair of shorts and changed into a pair of black pants, a black shirt underneath a black long sleeved muscle shirt. Over the knees, thighs and ankles of the pants he straps on armor left by the previous owner of the safe house and finally the black bullet proof vest he had been shoved out of the chopper with.
Lady: "You don’t even know this bitch!”
He slides an assault rifle over his shoulder as well as the crossbow he had found when he and Lady had just met. A pistol is pushed into each boot and into thighs holsters, zipped the bag closed and stood with it hanging from his right hand.
There was something about him, looking like he did now that caused a mental image to flash before her eyes.
A little girl cowering under the bed and watching as the door blew inward showering the room with debris. Men in all black, covered in body armor and wearing helmets with black visers.
The vision played further, flashing between Lady’s eyes and the little girl under the bed as the men and women in the black armor opened fire on people who were cowering on the bed. The girl let out a gasp and slapped a hand over her mouth seconds later but it was too late.
One of the figures in black armor yanked the bodies of an older man and older woman off the bed, dumping them on the floor. They overturned the bed revealing the girl and were reaching out to grab her when the image of Lady came back to the screen.
She stared at John, wide eyed and whispered.
Lady: "They sent...a god damn...Hunter here?!”
John froze and slowly looked back at her. For a moment the two stood staring at one another in silence before she broke it whispering.
Lady: "You were, weren’t you? World Government Anti-Terrorism….what the people call The Hunters!?”
John Moren: "Someone will find you sooner or later.”
He told her and turned walking toward the door. Lady craned her head around trying to follow him as he moved and called out, for the first time now actually begging.
Lady: "Don’t kill him. Please….please don’t kill him….”
John froze in the door and didn’t turn around to face her. It was clear in his body language he wasn’t happy that she knew what she had figured out about him. It put him on edge and it showed in every inch of his body.
John Moren: "...That depends on him.”
He told her and walked from the room with the bag hanging from his hand.
Phillip Lamont: "Wake up world and welcome to your Wake up Call! I, as always, am your host Phillip Lamont, the voice of the Government bringing you all the events from the day's entertainment that you may have missed!”
As before a box appeared beside his smiling face showing a video of a middle aged man with a receding hairline running from a man in an executioner outfit. The executioner paced behind him holding a large meat hook on a rope.
Phillip Lamont: "Robert Bathon, in City Five for only a few days now finally found himself in the crosshairs of The Executioner and we know how all of you feel about him!”
The video, which showed the middle aged man playing a game of cat and mouse with the hooded man suddenly changed to a chart which names and ranks on it. The Executioner was voted highest, Felix Salar at number two, Lady as number three, someone named Plague as number four and the golden eyed Blink at number five.
Phillip Lamont: "Ranked number one for the third straight year. But alas, Robert was able to find a hole in one of the walls and slip away. Scurrying away like a rat to survive another day. Elsewhere in the night….”
The video shifts again to show a room of men and women all lying on the floor dead, the room filled with a strange white gas that floated like fog. The shot stayed on the room long enough to give someone a chance to look around to really take in the nearly twenty bodies in the room.
Phillip Lamont: "The La Reeva finally decided to make an attack on the courthouse in City 8 but as you can see they found themselves lured into a trap where Albert Hess, called Plague by those in the city sacrificed a good number of his own people to end the threat.”
The video changed then to a shot of the huge behemoth of a man dragging a man toward the car lift inside the mechanic shop and proceeding to crush him, cutting him in half in the process.
Phillip Lamont: "And in City One John Moren has been busy. He came to the rescue of fellow contestant Joslyn Erari when she was cornered by the Saints. Of course, the one surviving member didn’t see him and as a result of his stupidity Felix executed him.”
At that announcement the shot pulled out into the living room of Lesli Moren and was currently buzzing with excitement. Dozens of people were milling around while two men in black suits were standing in the kitchen area with Leann and Trever Perry.
Leann Perry: "...I came to watch the wake up call with her, like we always do and found her lying in her bed….”
Trever placed his arm around his ‘sisters’ shoulder and let her cry into his shoulder.
Trever Perry: "Her brother is one of the contestants in City One right now. I...We’ve noticed it getting harder and harder on her to watch what John is going through. I think it just….got to be too much when she saw that….”
Trever motioned to the television showing the replay of the man being cut in half by a car lift.
Trever Perry: "....Live.”
The men took notes and then stepped aside as Lesli’s body was carried out. She looked normal again, her hair neatly arranged. The only difference is the slightly off color of her face. It was as if Leann had tenderly arranged her after she and Trever had killed her. Once she was carried out the others in the room filed out one by one until only Leann and Trever remained.
Trever eased the door closed and leaned back against it with his eyes closed. He only opened then again when Leann touched her palm to his chest.
Leann Perry: "We did it.”
Trever Perry: "And now we just need to convince John when he comes back.”
Leann Perry: "If he comes back….”
She pulled back and urged him away from the door where she pulled it open and exited the apartment shared by John and Lesli. The hallway on the other side of the door was now empty. The two make their way back to the apartment shared by Leann and Trever, speaking again when only inside again.
Leann Perry: "...we have been here before love. How many men and women have we sent into the Cities for this pass? A dozen?”
Trever Perry: "No one like John.”
The camera comes to look at the screen as a shot of the City is shown before moving slowly into the screen. It blurs briefly before unbluring on a shot inside the City itself as the words flashed in the center of the screen….
….Morning Star Studios presents…
Voice of Becca Calaway: "What do you mean you lost your pass?!”
The shot shifts from the outside view of The City to inside the room where Becca and John had been standing when he returned with the supplies. John sank down onto the couch running a hand over his face.
John Moren: "I mean, it’s no longer in my pocket.”
The City
Episode 6
“At All Costs.”
Starring…
Starring
Torian Drake
And
Kendra Goldilocks Goganious
Becca Calaway: "How will you get out now?! How will I get out now?!”
John Moren: "I have no choice but to go and try and find it.”
Suddenly as the two talked a sudden clapping was heard and a figure stepped through the door. John didn’t even hesitate, rising from the couch as he pulled the beretta from his thigh all at once.
Sativa Nevaeh as Leann Perry
Zachary Sears as Trevor Perry
Nathaniel as Blink
A figure walks slowly through the door slapping their hands, a figure with short spiked brown hair and golden eyes. On his face was a mask made of black leather and spikes and he held a black metal baseball bat braced on his shoulder.
John Moren: "Who the fuck are you?!”
Becca Calaway: "....Blink….”
Blink glances from John to Becca and flashes her a smirk inclining his head then returns his gaze to the man holding the gun.
Blink: "You must be who Lady warned me about.”
Maiko Adachi as Lady
Caliban as Oliver Jamison
And
Robi Mitchell as Joslyn Erari
John Moren: "What do you want?”
Blink: "Lady tells me you single handedly led little Becca here from the apartments through floors filled with Misfits. That true?”
John Moren. “What. Do you. Want?”
John had slowly crossed the room to stand beside Becca and moved her behind him with his free hand while keeping the gun on Blink. The masked man sucked in air between his teeth, heard even through the mask and gave a curt nod.
Blink: "You have something I need and soon I am going to have something you need.”
John Moren: "You don’t have a damn thing I’m going to need.”
Blink: "I am about to control the Saints headquarters. I can provide you with a clear path to the gate. No questions asked.”
John blinked and narrowed his eyes on the masked man before him.
John Moren: "And in return?”
Blink looked from John to the figure hiding slightly behind him. John, who had been just seconds from lowering his weapon, raised it back to full height again.
John Moren: "That’s not gonna happen weirdo.”
Blinks eyes narrowed, much like John’s had before.
Blink: "That isn’t a smart decision.”
John Moren: "Get out. You aren’t touching the Kid.”
Blink: "Is she worth dying for?”
John’s answer was pulling the hammer back on the gun.
John Moren: "She’s worth killing for.”
Spread spread his arms and turned leaving the way he had come. John kept his eyes on the door until he was sure Blink had gone, but he didn’t trust it so much that he didn’t check and make sure the hallways were empty before returning to his conversation.
John Moren: "I gotta find it.”
Becca Calaway: "He was just here John! You cannot just up and leave now!”
John Moren: "If I don’t find it now anyone else in the City can find it and use it. It’s too valuable to just...forget it.”
Becca Calaway: "But….He’s coming John….”
John Moren: "And I’ve got a plan…”
**
The camera shifts to a shot of the city itself, rolling around it as the sun begins to rise a bit higher up the horizon. After a few moments it shifts back into the hideout where Becca was pacing back and forth chewing her nails, clearly more than a little nervous. As she paced and chewed the sound of a floorboard creaking brought both her attention and the shot around to the hallway on the other side of the door.
The shot pulls back to a view of Becca’s face as her eyes move from the wall to a small stack of supplies in the corner of the room. Careful not to make a sound she moves across the room and plukes a small break action double barrel shotgun from the top.
The floorboards creak again and she lifts the shotgun, barely breathing and waiting. She waited for John to call out but no announcement came. A dark skinned hand touched the doorframe and when Becca was sure she wasn’t hearing John coming back she did the only thing she could do.
She fired.
The shotgun blast hit the wall just beside where the hand had been holding it, ripping part of the frame free and showering the figure with wood and debris.
Man’s voice: “MOTHER….”
Becca eased into the doorway but when she did a hand grabbed the barrel of the shotgun and yanked it from the girls hands. The shot came around the door just as he did this to reveal Oliver staring down at her with heated anger on his face.
Oliver Jamison: "What the hell are you doing little girl?! You could have killed me god dammit!”
Becca looked up at him, her lip trembling and whimpered out.
Becca Calaway: "John said I needed to defend myself….”
Oliver Jamison: "Of course it did. He would tell you to shoot strangers on sight. Fucking idiot.”
Becca blinked in surprise when he said something that gave the impression he knew John.
Becca Calaway: "You know John…?”
Oliver Jamison: "Yeah….the damned fool may have saved my life. He asked me to look in on you and make sure nothing happened to you. Something about you having an ‘unwanted guest’ that may be popping in?”
Becca Calaway: "....Blink. Blink wants me….”
Oliver Jamison: "Blink….of course he does.”
Oliver sounded anything but thrilled that John had apparently not told him about the hired gun hunting for Becca, but the fact that he didn’t turn around and leave her alone told Becca two things for sure.
First, he was a good man who put value where value belonged.
And second, that he for whatever reason, valued his word to John. Even after only a handful of meetings.
The camera then shifts to the window to watch the sun beginning to move across the sky based on the way the light moved across the windowsill. After a few moments, revealing the passage of several hours the camera shifts back into the room proper and Becca and Oliver.
Becca was sitting on a couch eating a small amount of some unnamed fruit from a labelless can while Oliver was standing with his back to the door looking over the amount of supplies the girl had been able to gather, his eyes showing how impressed he was at the girls eventfulness.
The silent reverie was once again broken by the creaking sound of weight of a loose floorboard causing Oliver and Becca to again lock eyes. Oliver’s hand dropped into the waistband of his pants and the handle of a small handgun while Becca folded her feet under her butt once again grabbed the grip of the shotgun.
Luckily for the blonde haired women that came around the corner, she didn’t get the same reception as Oliver did. But the man with the dreadlocks however threw his head back and laughed when he saw her.
Oliver Jamison: "Joslyn?! The hell are you doing here?!”
Joslyn’s face mirrored the shock on Oliver’s own, and while she didn’t embrace him fondly or any other such thing, she did not look unhappy to see him.
Joslyn Erari: "Oliver Jamison, what in the world are you doing here? Aren’t you just about done?”
Oliver Jamison: "Yeah...but getting past the Saints is gonna be difficult. Figured it might be a good idea if a new friend owned me a favor.”
Joslyn lifted a brow as if she had had similar thoughts. It was about then that she saw Becca sitting off to the side, with the shotgun pointed at her and her finger on the trigger. Joslyn recoiled to the side, a bit behind Oliver.
Joslyn Erari: "Holy fuck, is she for real?!”
Oliver glanced behind him in time to see Becca lift her finger off the trigger and lay it beside the trigger guard and chuckled.
Oliver Jamison: “Oh, you best believe it.”
Becca forced a little smile when her and Joslyn’s eyes met but Oliver kept his own on the blonde woman.
Oliver Jamison: "What are you even doing here?”
Joslyn Erari: "A friend came to see me and told me that someone he asked to look after a package might need some assistance. Someone….”
She looked Oliver with a side eyed, sly look and a half smile.
Joslyn Erari: "I think we both know and you….”
She looked from Oliver to the brown haired girl on the couch.
Joslyn Erari: "Would be the package, right?”
Oliver Jamison: "And we got Misfits calling.”
The blonde woman’s head snapped to the side, her eyes wide.
Joslyn Erari: "Misfits?! Random Misfits or is Lady coming here?!”
Becca Calaway: "....Blink…”
Joslyn’s face paled a bit and she leaned back into the doorway looking the way she had come. The camera shifts with her view to show the empty hallway then back into the room as she looks back.
Joslyn Erari: "Well, then I have bad news. I passed a whole mess of Misfits on the way here, had to take a detour around the old fire station to make sure they didn’t see me. If Blink’s looking for her then that’s where they are headed.”
Oliver’s gaze went to the girl, who clutched the shotgun tight in her hand then back to Joslyn.
Oliver Jamison: "You got a gun?”
Joslyn turned her right hip to the side showing the handle of the pistol tucked into the small of her back. Oliver let out a grunt and moved to the stack of weapons in with the supplies and plucked a pair of shotguns from it. He crosses the room and shoves one into her hands.
Oliver Jamison: "You’re gonna need this.”
Becca Calaway: "....Where is John?!”
The fear creeping into the girl's voice caused it to crack a bit and break and both Oliver and Joslyn could see what John saw in her. The blonde woman crossed the room and dropped down in front of Becca in a crouch.
Joslyn Erari: "What’s your name hon?”
Becca Calaway: ".....”
Joslyn Erari: "It’s okay….You can trust us. John trusts us….”
Becca Calaway: "....Rebecca….Becca….”
Joslyn Erari: "John’s doing something important Becca. He trusts us to take care of you. Nothings gonna happen to you while we’re here okay?”
Becca Calaway: "....Okay….”
Becca even managed a smile and the blonde woman rose from her crouch only to find herself under the watchful eye of the dreadlocked man near the door.
Joslyn Erari: "What?!”
Oliver Jamison: "You uh...seem like you have experience with that. With kids I mean.”
Joslyn Erari: "....It’s why I’m here.”
Oliver Jamison: "Wanting to be a teacher?”
Joslyn Erari: "My son needs a transplant….”
Oliver took his lip between his teeth and sighed.
Oliver Jamison: "Sorry...I didn’t mean to bring up anything bad.”
Joslyn Erari: "Not bad. It is what it is, all that matters now is to fix it.”
As Oliver opened his mouth to speak all three of them heard the front doors of the building bang open loudly and collectively they looked at one another. Becca climbed over the couch to have something to give her cover while Oliver and Joslyn took their positions on each side of the door.
Oliver Jamison: "Here we go….”
**
The camera shifts to the outside around the corner from the safe house where the line of graffiti covered cars sat on the side of the street but well out of view of those within the safe house. The woman in the clown make up sat on the passenger seat of one of the cars with her legs crossed at the ankle and her hands folded over the grip of her ax that sat across her lap.
And she looked more than a little annoyed.
The shot shifts up to the face of the only man the psychotic woman ever listened to, the leader of the misfits, still clad in the black spiked face mask. Unlike Lady, Blink didn’t look at all annoyed. He stood leaning back on the fender of the car with his hands over the top of a blood stained baseball bat.
Lady: "I don’t know why I can’t be there!”
Blink: "I told you Lady, we have a deal and need the girl in one piece. And you tend to get a little...messy….when you’re excited.”
Lady: "But I wanna play….”
Blink: "Soon Lady. Soon.”
Blink promised with the lines of his cheeks lifting to show that he was smiling, even if it couldn’t be seen under the mask. Though, the malicious glow in his eerie glowing eyes might have been hint enough.
**
The shot shifts back into the safe house as the first of the Misfits came down the hallway. The man, with short brown hair and the stubble of a beard, was wearing the Misfits coat. The camera angle shifts to behind him as he crosses the threshold leading into the safe house proper but the instant he does a chrome barrel of a handgun appears from the other side of the doorframe. With a blast of muzzle flash the gun erupts and the man stumbles to the side, with the camera shifting to the set jawed face of Oliver with blood splattering the wall beside him.
Oliver and Joslyn look at one another, each from one side of the door and then both swing out, the handguns they held held out in front of them. The shot shifts behind the pair at the end of the hallway revealing the Misfits coming around the corner in force into a hail of bullets and death.
The first line of the graffitied men and women around the corner found themselves directly in the line of fire, bullets ripping through them like tissue paper, but the others behind them were smart enough to stick to the wall edge, firing back at Joslyn and Oliver from the safety of the hallway.
The two sides were in a stalemate for a short time, but the Misfits had something that those in the safe room did not.
Ammunition.
Slowly second by second the shots from the room began to slow down as Oliver and Joslyn tried to conserve ammunition, but the shots from the other side of the hall never slowed down. The camera shifts back into the room as Oliver pulls his head back into the room just as a bullet rips into the door frame where his head had just been. Josyln glanced over as Oliver winched, the corner of his eye now slightly bloody from the shrapnel that had exploded out of the door frame.
Jolsyn Erari: “You okay?!”
Oliver Jamison: "Eye on the target!”
Joslyn turned to look back at the hallway just as three figures came charging into the room, having taken advantage of the two not paying full attention. Two men hit Oliver driving him down into the floor and another pinned Joslyn to the wall.
The two men atop Oliver brought down fists into the man’s face and temple while Joslyn was taken by the jaw, her head forced back as she was pinned to the wall. The blonde woman let out a grunt of discomfort as her head was bent at an angle it wasn’t intended to bend. The red haired man with the misfit coat holding her leaned in and ran his tongue over her jaw and cheek with a grin.
Joslyn brought her leg up catching the man in the crotch with a knee sending him staggering back and dropping to a knee. She brings her knee out again sending the point across his jaw and levels the gun at the man holding Oliver and pulls the trigger, taking one of them in the side before the click of the gun tells the room it was empty.
One of them rolls off Oliver holding his side giving the man with the dreadlocks the chance to roll the other over and bring down right hands over and over again until he finally stopped moving. Once the man had gone still Oliver leaned up, the camera shifting around to show his face. He was bleeding from the eyebrow, lip and a nasty cut on his cheek.
Oliver Jamison: "That all of um….”
Joslyn Erari: "I think so….”
She had just finished the words when the wooden shaft of a bat came into the frame. The bat connects full force with the woman’s face sending her flying backwards. Joslyn collapses near the wall, the camera coming in to show the ruins of her face. Her nose was broken, so was the cheek bone and blood poured from a half dozen breaks in the skin, but she was breathing.
Barely.
Oliver could do nothing but watch and shout her name as she collapsed. He looked up just as the handle of an ax hit him square in the jaw spinning him around and manages to roll out of the way as the head of the ax came down, slamming into the wood of the floor where his head had just been.
He looked up and found himself staring up at Lady and Blink, the bat in Blinks hand covered in Joslyn’s blood. Blink looked over at his companion and behind the rasp of the mask Oliver heard his command.
Blink: "Play Lady.”
Lady giggled and gripped the ax tigger but before she could pull it out Becca rose from behind the couch with the shotgun in hand. Blink cursed and dove to the side, tackling Lady back through the door just as the girl pulled the trigger.
The buckshot tore into the wall and door frame showering the entire room in bits of wooden shrapnel. When Blink peered back in again she fired again, and again wooden debris showered the room as another large chunk of the door disappeared under the destruction of the buckshot.
Beccca popped the gun open to reload and the two Misfits came around the corner making a beeline for her. Oliver didn’t hesitate throwing himself up and tackling both Blink and Lady into the wall, looking over at the girl and shouts.
Oliver Jamison: "RUN! GO!”
Becca hurdles the couch and rushes from the room, but the combined force of Lady and Blink proved too much for Oliver, as the pair are easily able to beat him to the floor where Blink quickly leaves the room to follow behind Becca.
Oliver lifts his head and meets the toes of Lady’s boot across the mouth flipping him over onto his back unconscious. The clown painted woman crosses the room to the window and looks out to find three male misfits and one female holding the struggling girl by the arms and Blink forcing her into a car.
Blink looked up only once and met Lady’s face, giving her an inclined his head telling her without words she could play. The painted woman let out a giggle and turned back into the room as the sound of the cars pulling out disappeared into the distance.
Lady: "Come here little Rabbit...I think it’s time we had some fun….”
Lady moves across the room and takes the ax by the handle. With a hard pull she pulls the blade free, bringing up bits of wood with it. She turns her gaze down on the unconscious man with the camera shifting to his face to show his eyes blinking open. He looks up into the face of the painted woman as the shot shifts to the ax coming back but as she brings it down a hand shoots into the shot catching iit just below the head stopping it dead in its tracks.
Lady looks behind her and the camera shifts to show the face of John Moren, staring down at her, an expression of rage and hate on his face.
Lady: "Ohhhh...more playmates!”
John yanks his arm back ripping the ax from the woman’s hand with his left while the right came around and connected across her jaw with a right hand that dropped her unconscious to the floor. John discards the ax and moves to check on Joslyn, speaking over his shoulder as he does.
John Moren: "The hell happened?!”
Oliver Jamison: "...Joslyn came...and the Misfits….”
Oliver blinked, clearly a little concussed and John continued to check on the blonde woman. The shot moves in to show she was breathing but still unconscious and had face had taken a pounding.
John leaves Joslyn in the corner and returns to Oliver, crouching beside him.
John Moren: "Did Blink take her?”
Oliver continued to blink and stare off ahead, but john grabbed him by the jaw and turned his head to look at him.
John Moren: "Hey! Did. Blink. Take. Her?”
Oliver Jamison: "....They came into the room and I told her to run. She ran….He ran out after her….”
John breathed in a deep sigh and looked down at the floor, the muscles of his jaw clenching and unclenching. After a moment he looked up slowly, his eyes filled with intense resolve and malice as they fell on Lady.
John Moren: "Take Joslyn somewhere safe.”
Oliver Jamison: "What are you gonna….”
John Moren: "Take. Joslyn. Somewhere. Safe.”
Oliver Jamison: "God dammit John….”
John Moren: "Blink has her Oliver and….and I don’t intend to let him keep her….So I am gonna make this bitch tell me where he took her.”
**
The shot shifts to the outside of the casino the Misfits called home before shifting into Blinks office inside. The red haired woman known as Felicity Yanc was pacing back and forth with her lip taken between her teeth. Her traveling clothing was no cleaner than it had been before, as though she had not returned to the Saints HQ to change as of yet.
Felicity Yanc: "It’s taking too long….something went wrong….”
As she paced and talked to herself the door of the office pushed open and Blink appeared with the baseball bat leaned on his shoulder, but he was no longer wearing the mask. Behind him through the briefly opened door he could see a teenage girl with brown hair being pulled by a rope around her neck into another office.
She knew her from the pictures that Hayley and Thoma showed her. It was Becca. She rounded on Blink, her eyes wide in shock.
Felicity Yanc: "You found her!? You got Becca Calaway!?”
Blink: "That all depends….”
Blink answered and closed the door blocking the view of the girl being led into another office.
Blink: "Remind me of your side of this again?”
Felicity Yanc: "Me and Becca walk out of here back to the Saints headquarters and I will send you word when I am making my move to leave. Felix will be vulnerable at that moment while his soldiers are distracted and focused on the guards. You and the misfits can come in and eliminate all of them. Take over Felix’s position on the border.”
Blink turned and jumped up to sit on the edge of the desk and tapped his finger off his lips in thought. After a moment he finally nods.
Blink: "Okay. You can have the girl but understand something? If this is a trick and Felix double crosses me? It’ll mean open war.”
Felicity Yanc: "You and Felix can kill each other for all I care. I’m only interested in the girl and getting out of this hellhole. Now, part of the agreement is safe passage back to the HQ….”
Blink let out a barking laugh and pushed himself off the desk. He motioned for her to follow him and left the room back into the main area of the casino. He crossed the room to where the group was keeping the girl and found her struggling against the rope holding her hands behind her back.
When she saw the red haired woman however all struggling stopped.
Becca Calaway: "Felicity Yanc….”
Blink; “It’s your lucky day kid...she bought your freedom. Or...well…”
Blink laughs softly and takes the rope the Misfits had been using as a leash and yanks her through the door behind him into the casino proper.
Blink: "Not freedom, but possession.”
Becca Calaway: "UGH!....Why?! What does Salar want from me?!”
Felicity Yanc: "All will be explained in time.”
Becca continued to try and get Felicity to answer but the red haired woman fell silent. As if she either didn’t want the girl to know, or didn’t want...Blink to know. Blink led the three women down through a side door and down a set of stairs, speaking over his shoulder as he did.
Blink: "This place didn’t like to use armored trucks. The owners didn’t feel they were reliable...so they built a system of their own to transport their lock boxes.”
At the bottom of the stairs the door opened to a large flat platform that ended at a pair of train tracks with a train car actually sitting, waiting, on the tracks. Becca stood staring in shock but Felicity gasped.
Felicity: “There is a platform like this in the basement of the bank beside HQ! No one knows where it leads!”
Blink: "I made damn sure of that. Anyone Felix sent in? They never came back out.”
Blink led the two into the train car and to the front where the controls were waiting. He laid his hand on a level and turned his gaze to the red haired woman as he handed her the rope.
Blink: "Push this level back up when you see the lights at the other end of the tunnel….and Felicity...if you double cross me….”
Not even wanting her to finish he pulled the level down and the train began to move, slowly inching forward. Blink stepped back off the train as the doors closed and the camera came in on Becca staring out the doors at him.
Becca Calaway: "John...help me…”
She whispered.
**
The shot shifts back into the safe house that had been the sight of the fight. The camera takes in the room, the bullet holes and the missing pieces of the door frame from the shotgun blasts before coming around fully to the form of John Moren.
John was crouched with his jaw set and his eyes intense, focused on something in front of him. The camera shifts down and around, past a rolled up leather bag to find a figure tied to a chair. The painted woman Lady was tied to a chair with her head lulled down, her chin on her breasts.
Lady sucked in a breath and slowly her head comes up. Her eyes blink open and she takes in the sight in front of her. When she realizes that she is tied up Lady grins a wicked, happy grin at the man crouched in front of her.
Lady: "Ohhh….someone has naughty plans.”
John Moren: "Hardly.”
John answered.
John Moren: "Where did Blink take the kid?”
Lady: "Awe, you are just gonna start right into the questions? No incentive?”
John Moren: "Incentive? Why? You’ll just enjoy that. Beating you won’t help...hurting you won’t help...hurting others won’t help.”
Lady: "You have done your homework.”
Lady purred and licked her lips.
Lady: "Now...why don’t you untie me….and we can play for real?”
John Moren: "See….people like you? People who enjoy pain? It’s only certain kinds…”
John’s voice was low, uncaring and his hand dropped to the leather bundle. He unrolled it revealing lines of knives that caused Lady to let out a girlish giggle.
Lady: "Ohhhh, gonna cut up a girl are you?”
John Moren: "Nope.”
He withdrew a small slender paring knife from the leather straps holding it and without so much as a precursor he brought his arm around and the blade disappeared into the side of the stocking covered knee cap.
Whatever Lady had been expecting, this wasn’t it. She let out a shrieking scream and thrashed against the restraints, but found there were expertly tied. John didn’t grab the knife and wiggle or twist, he just let it there, in the space beneath the knee cap.
John Moren: "Part of my training Lady, was knowing how exactly to hurt people how they don’t wanna be hurt. Most people….”
John withdrew another blade from the leather wrap, another paring knife identical to the first.
John Moren: "...Will go for the hands, or the feet. Hell, some even for the genitals but there’s no need for that. There are four places on the human body where the nerve endings are the most sensitive to pain. Not stimulation….but pain. It’s so the body can avoid injury. The corner of the eyes. The spine. The knees…..”
And without announcing the final one he brought his arm up and the blades bit into the flesh of her shoulder, right where the rotator cuff began, slipping up under it. Again Lady let out a shrieking scream and began to thrash, panting now in agony.
Lady: "WAIT! WAIT!”
John Moren: "The kid. Where is she?!”
Lady: "FUCK YOU!”
John just chuckled to himself and reached down pulling not a knife, but a thin, long needle like object. His other hand grabbed the black haired woman by the side of the head and held it still as he inched the ice pick like item toward her eye. Lady stared ahead, panting and now actually crying.
Lady: "WAIT! GOD DAMMIT WAIT!”
John Moren: "Where. Is. The. Kid?!”
Lady: "Blink has her!”
John Moren: "WHERE!”
Lady: "I...I….”
John’s grip on her head tightened and his arm braced to bring the needle forward and Lady screamed…
Lady: "THE CASINO!!!”
John leaned back on his heels and dropped the needle back to the leather bag on the floor. Lady screamed one when he pulled the blades from her knee and shoulder. The camera shifts to a view of both of them with a window in the background as rain began to fall streaking the glass.
Lady: ".....You’re an idiot to go after her….”
John Moren: "She trusts me...I won’t leave her to that degenerate.”
Lady: "You’re gonna die, you realize that right?! You walk into the casino and you aren’t walking out.”
The camera catches the whole room as John moves to the corner of it and begins to stuff guns into a leather duffle bag. Guns and boxes of ammunition.
John didn’t seem to hear her anymore. He actually stripped down to a pair of shorts and changed into a pair of black pants, a black shirt underneath a black long sleeved muscle shirt. Over the knees, thighs and ankles of the pants he straps on armor left by the previous owner of the safe house and finally the black bullet proof vest he had been shoved out of the chopper with.
Lady: "You don’t even know this bitch!”
He slides an assault rifle over his shoulder as well as the crossbow he had found when he and Lady had just met. A pistol is pushed into each boot and into thighs holsters, zipped the bag closed and stood with it hanging from his right hand.
There was something about him, looking like he did now that caused a mental image to flash before her eyes.
A little girl cowering under the bed and watching as the door blew inward showering the room with debris. Men in all black, covered in body armor and wearing helmets with black visers.
The vision played further, flashing between Lady’s eyes and the little girl under the bed as the men and women in the black armor opened fire on people who were cowering on the bed. The girl let out a gasp and slapped a hand over her mouth seconds later but it was too late.
One of the figures in black armor yanked the bodies of an older man and older woman off the bed, dumping them on the floor. They overturned the bed revealing the girl and were reaching out to grab her when the image of Lady came back to the screen.
She stared at John, wide eyed and whispered.
Lady: "They sent...a god damn...Hunter here?!”
John froze and slowly looked back at her. For a moment the two stood staring at one another in silence before she broke it whispering.
Lady: "You were, weren’t you? World Government Anti-Terrorism….what the people call The Hunters!?”
John Moren: "Someone will find you sooner or later.”
He told her and turned walking toward the door. Lady craned her head around trying to follow him as he moved and called out, for the first time now actually begging.
Lady: "Don’t kill him. Please….please don’t kill him….”
John froze in the door and didn’t turn around to face her. It was clear in his body language he wasn’t happy that she knew what she had figured out about him. It put him on edge and it showed in every inch of his body.
John Moren: "...That depends on him.”
He told her and walked from the room with the bag hanging from his hand.