(Names redacted to protect the fact I don't know character names for these members 
. This is a storied recount of something that happened today.)
They were in the shit now.
It had been easy enough in concept, the G-Kings had commissioned some gangland tagging.
The money was there, so were the party favors, all for a little back alley painting, why not?
Enforcers were apparently a fairly good reason for "why not." Not five minutes after starting the little gallery spree and they were already being shot at.
Jon cursed his continually bad luck, he had dropped behind the group to hit the last of three tag locations while the rest, [pyroclasam] and [serph] had gone ahead to finish the job. His car had hit a curb a little too hard at a really bad angle, and spilled it's rear axle all over the road. Now he was in some kind of van, nothing special, it was green, heavy, and had decent acceleration for it's weight. Normally he would've run the distance, he was only about a minute away, but he could already here the staccato report of multiple medium velocity automatics and he wasn't about to abandon comrades.
Having had the time and distance to accelerate, the van plowed through an alleyway gap carved out below the overpass and shot into the street, the cavalry had arrived.
The cavalry had arrived too late.
As Jon got close enough to assess the situation itself in any swift detail, a commandeered vehicle seated full by two of the City's new pseudo cops made an unexpected left hand cut through the thinning road traffic.
[serph] heard it comming, maybe caught a glimpse of chrome grill out of his peripherals, and made a mad leaping dash through a narrowed alley gate. [pyroclasam] wasn't so lucky, the knee high bumper of the charger taking his legs out from under him with such force he rag-dolled into the alley wall. The way his head lolled as if on a loose pintle-mount, Jon didn't think he'd make it.
The Enforcers had braced themselves for the impact, and the passenger was now exiting the vehicle to confirm the kill, or arrest what was left, and Jon's foot sank on the accelerator.
4 metric tonnes of steel, rubber and glass hopped the curb and contacted the charger's open passenger door, disembodying the limb with a thunderclap of snapping hinges and disintegrating body structure a tenth of a second before coming to rest against the alley wall. The brickwork of the alley managed to hold, somehow, although not as straight as before, it got the easiest of the impact.
It had been somewhat merciful, the enforcer hadn't seen it coming, and didn't have the time to react when he heard it. His rib cage was fractured along every arch and collapsed, his lungs and heart pressed flat against the muscles in his back and ground to mortar with the bones in his chest. Jon was briefly appreciative of the fact that he'd been facing away and he didn't need to see the look in the mans eyes as he witnessed oblivion while jettisoning a significant portion of soft tissue and bodily fluid out of his mouth.
The collapse of the door's steel-shell frame and the matter of the man somewhat lessened the impact of the unstoppable force and Jon recovered quickly, something learned with experience, but was still somewhat disoriented, the fluid of his inner ear was still moving to absorb energy.
He managed the sense of mind to look over at the charger, now somewhat kilted away from him in angle, the driver's face was a pale wreck of shock and loss, Jon set the van in reverse and the sound of the grill peeling itself free from the wall's human glue shook something terrible and angry out of the other man, who did the same.
It was an odd pairing, but the muscle car was not prepared for the sudden change in direction.
As the two vehicles withdrew from the mess left in the alley, Jon wrenched the wheel aside, using the front wheel steering and rear-wheel drive to achieve a near zero degree turning radius while accelerating.
The squeal of spinning tires caused the Enforcer to look up just in time to see the tattered remains of his partner slam into the gap of his missing door, lifting the charger a foot off the ground on it's passenger side and forcing it in a direction perpendicular to it's facing.
The Enforcer scrambled for his seat belt, fumbling with the simple push button release and turned towards his own door, intent on escape.
If he'd been pale before, the loss of color he experienced now was only a hinting of the ghost he'd soon become. The ground beyond the door was moving at what could be perceived as incredible speed, the charger was hooked on the frame of the van which prevented it from turning over and if he attempted to get out of the car he'd be ground to paste between the angle of the charger and the asphalt. He immediately brought the charger out of it's lull and put his foot down, anything to hinder the van's driver, make him lose some control.
Of course, physics wasn't in a position to aid him, the spinning tires only relieved the friction they provided against the van's movement and he found himself accelerated, he couldn't see Jon's eyes, but as he stole a glance in his direction, he could see Jon wrench the wheel aside again.
The conglomerate vehicle bounced as opposing machines exerted their will upon each other and the car broke free.
Again, the enforcer slammed the accelerator, speeding a whole 9 inches away from his previous location before the van impacted again, twisting the frame of the muscle car and binding it up against a post at the base of the parking garage ramp Jon had forced them down.
He was running on adrenaline now, he could totally do this. The vehicles were stopped, the van couldn't threaten him with it's direct or indirect momentum, and he could get out of the car! Couldn't he? He found himself pulling wildly at the door handle, attempting to open it before his thought process had gotten that far. The post he'd been rammed into had twisted the frame in such a way that it crushed the door shut. He blinked, and took a breath, at least the immediate danger was over, as soon as the pounding in his ears ceased, he could shoot out the windshield and continue pursuit.
The pounding stopped a lot sooner than expected, turning his head towards the sudden termination of sound the Enforcer came face to face with the realization that it had actually been the footsteps of his opposing duelist.
Jon didn't bother to close the door behind him, instead, he pulled the N-Tec assault rifle around on it's three point sling and into his grip. He didn't need to check the chamber to know it was loaded, he didn't need to feel the safety to make sure it was off, based on the AK-74U, the N-Tec had fallen easily into Jon's muscle memory, and now it was raised at high ready. The forward sight aligned with the rear-aperture cut a crease down the center of Jon's right pupil, which for the briefest instant, locked with the gaze of the enforcer, before making a sharp adjustment to Jon's left.
The rifle kicked in his hands, the folding shoulder stock transferring the recoil into a well trained and ready shoulder, and before the action kicked back utilizing return momentum on the bullet's projectile expansion, the highly illegal 7.62x39mm AP round punched through the steel skin of the charger, and pierced the gas-tank. The Enforcer screwed his eyes shut, gripped a pendant at his neck, and said a quick prayer.
He almost started screaming too, before he discovered he wasn't burning, and neither was the car, his heart couldn't take much more of this, but he willed his right eye to open, and turned his head back in the direction of his killer. The N-tec was again loose on it's sling, which was turned so that the weapon was just behind Jon's right arm, and Jon was walking away, his hands out of sight, the Enforcer was stuck with a sudden sensation of ease. It was his lucky day, Jon had ran out of ammunition, and he would have enough time to find his way out of the car, after he took out this criminal.
He fumbled for his pistol fighting with his shoulder holster and the seat belt to get at his SNR when something silver flew out of Jon's hand, hitting the ground ten feet from the car, the momentum afforded it from it's top-of-the-ramp flight carried it skidding into the underside of the charger.
The well soaked wick of the Zippo brought flame to gasoline, and the muscle car crumpled like a tinfoil boat. Jon had heard it said that "real men don't look at explosions," but he turned sideways and afforded it a quick glance, he spit some grit out of his mouth, and continued on.
Some things, would never change.
. This is a storied recount of something that happened today.)They were in the shit now.
It had been easy enough in concept, the G-Kings had commissioned some gangland tagging.
The money was there, so were the party favors, all for a little back alley painting, why not?
Enforcers were apparently a fairly good reason for "why not." Not five minutes after starting the little gallery spree and they were already being shot at.
Jon cursed his continually bad luck, he had dropped behind the group to hit the last of three tag locations while the rest, [pyroclasam] and [serph] had gone ahead to finish the job. His car had hit a curb a little too hard at a really bad angle, and spilled it's rear axle all over the road. Now he was in some kind of van, nothing special, it was green, heavy, and had decent acceleration for it's weight. Normally he would've run the distance, he was only about a minute away, but he could already here the staccato report of multiple medium velocity automatics and he wasn't about to abandon comrades.
Having had the time and distance to accelerate, the van plowed through an alleyway gap carved out below the overpass and shot into the street, the cavalry had arrived.
The cavalry had arrived too late.
As Jon got close enough to assess the situation itself in any swift detail, a commandeered vehicle seated full by two of the City's new pseudo cops made an unexpected left hand cut through the thinning road traffic.
[serph] heard it comming, maybe caught a glimpse of chrome grill out of his peripherals, and made a mad leaping dash through a narrowed alley gate. [pyroclasam] wasn't so lucky, the knee high bumper of the charger taking his legs out from under him with such force he rag-dolled into the alley wall. The way his head lolled as if on a loose pintle-mount, Jon didn't think he'd make it.
The Enforcers had braced themselves for the impact, and the passenger was now exiting the vehicle to confirm the kill, or arrest what was left, and Jon's foot sank on the accelerator.
4 metric tonnes of steel, rubber and glass hopped the curb and contacted the charger's open passenger door, disembodying the limb with a thunderclap of snapping hinges and disintegrating body structure a tenth of a second before coming to rest against the alley wall. The brickwork of the alley managed to hold, somehow, although not as straight as before, it got the easiest of the impact.
It had been somewhat merciful, the enforcer hadn't seen it coming, and didn't have the time to react when he heard it. His rib cage was fractured along every arch and collapsed, his lungs and heart pressed flat against the muscles in his back and ground to mortar with the bones in his chest. Jon was briefly appreciative of the fact that he'd been facing away and he didn't need to see the look in the mans eyes as he witnessed oblivion while jettisoning a significant portion of soft tissue and bodily fluid out of his mouth.
The collapse of the door's steel-shell frame and the matter of the man somewhat lessened the impact of the unstoppable force and Jon recovered quickly, something learned with experience, but was still somewhat disoriented, the fluid of his inner ear was still moving to absorb energy.
He managed the sense of mind to look over at the charger, now somewhat kilted away from him in angle, the driver's face was a pale wreck of shock and loss, Jon set the van in reverse and the sound of the grill peeling itself free from the wall's human glue shook something terrible and angry out of the other man, who did the same.
It was an odd pairing, but the muscle car was not prepared for the sudden change in direction.
As the two vehicles withdrew from the mess left in the alley, Jon wrenched the wheel aside, using the front wheel steering and rear-wheel drive to achieve a near zero degree turning radius while accelerating.
The squeal of spinning tires caused the Enforcer to look up just in time to see the tattered remains of his partner slam into the gap of his missing door, lifting the charger a foot off the ground on it's passenger side and forcing it in a direction perpendicular to it's facing.
The Enforcer scrambled for his seat belt, fumbling with the simple push button release and turned towards his own door, intent on escape.
If he'd been pale before, the loss of color he experienced now was only a hinting of the ghost he'd soon become. The ground beyond the door was moving at what could be perceived as incredible speed, the charger was hooked on the frame of the van which prevented it from turning over and if he attempted to get out of the car he'd be ground to paste between the angle of the charger and the asphalt. He immediately brought the charger out of it's lull and put his foot down, anything to hinder the van's driver, make him lose some control.
Of course, physics wasn't in a position to aid him, the spinning tires only relieved the friction they provided against the van's movement and he found himself accelerated, he couldn't see Jon's eyes, but as he stole a glance in his direction, he could see Jon wrench the wheel aside again.
The conglomerate vehicle bounced as opposing machines exerted their will upon each other and the car broke free.
Again, the enforcer slammed the accelerator, speeding a whole 9 inches away from his previous location before the van impacted again, twisting the frame of the muscle car and binding it up against a post at the base of the parking garage ramp Jon had forced them down.
He was running on adrenaline now, he could totally do this. The vehicles were stopped, the van couldn't threaten him with it's direct or indirect momentum, and he could get out of the car! Couldn't he? He found himself pulling wildly at the door handle, attempting to open it before his thought process had gotten that far. The post he'd been rammed into had twisted the frame in such a way that it crushed the door shut. He blinked, and took a breath, at least the immediate danger was over, as soon as the pounding in his ears ceased, he could shoot out the windshield and continue pursuit.
The pounding stopped a lot sooner than expected, turning his head towards the sudden termination of sound the Enforcer came face to face with the realization that it had actually been the footsteps of his opposing duelist.
Jon didn't bother to close the door behind him, instead, he pulled the N-Tec assault rifle around on it's three point sling and into his grip. He didn't need to check the chamber to know it was loaded, he didn't need to feel the safety to make sure it was off, based on the AK-74U, the N-Tec had fallen easily into Jon's muscle memory, and now it was raised at high ready. The forward sight aligned with the rear-aperture cut a crease down the center of Jon's right pupil, which for the briefest instant, locked with the gaze of the enforcer, before making a sharp adjustment to Jon's left.
The rifle kicked in his hands, the folding shoulder stock transferring the recoil into a well trained and ready shoulder, and before the action kicked back utilizing return momentum on the bullet's projectile expansion, the highly illegal 7.62x39mm AP round punched through the steel skin of the charger, and pierced the gas-tank. The Enforcer screwed his eyes shut, gripped a pendant at his neck, and said a quick prayer.
He almost started screaming too, before he discovered he wasn't burning, and neither was the car, his heart couldn't take much more of this, but he willed his right eye to open, and turned his head back in the direction of his killer. The N-tec was again loose on it's sling, which was turned so that the weapon was just behind Jon's right arm, and Jon was walking away, his hands out of sight, the Enforcer was stuck with a sudden sensation of ease. It was his lucky day, Jon had ran out of ammunition, and he would have enough time to find his way out of the car, after he took out this criminal.
He fumbled for his pistol fighting with his shoulder holster and the seat belt to get at his SNR when something silver flew out of Jon's hand, hitting the ground ten feet from the car, the momentum afforded it from it's top-of-the-ramp flight carried it skidding into the underside of the charger.
The well soaked wick of the Zippo brought flame to gasoline, and the muscle car crumpled like a tinfoil boat. Jon had heard it said that "real men don't look at explosions," but he turned sideways and afforded it a quick glance, he spit some grit out of his mouth, and continued on.
Some things, would never change.
