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Chapter 21
By Agent Havoc
John Lydon prepared himself in the dark alley. All of his detective instincts screamed out at him that his prey, Ashley would have to pass by this scene again, even If It was for a brief period of time. The mazes of the Alleways in this part of town all led to this intersection and for some reason, Lydon knew Ashley well enough to believe that the hunter wouldn’t be walking on the streets right now, that he would prefer to walk through the alleys unnoticed. Should Ashley pass by again, Lydon would be prepared to take him out . The detective smiled as he prepared the trap he would spring for his prey. Taking cover up in metal stairs that gave him a full view of the area was a sure way for him to observe the situation from a safe spot, giving him three advantages ; The element of surprise when he attacks,being hidden in the dark, and being on higher ground during a gunfight.
The detective checked his weaponry once more; he had a handgun with a laser sight attached to It. The small discreet red dot would help him aim in the dark as well as making sure that he would be hitting his target on a part of the body that would instantly kill his victim.
Killing Darian Ashley wasn’t going to be helping him much in his search and capture mission of finding Cisia, but It would sure as hell make him feel good.
Another trail on Cisia would be found soon, he was sure of It, after all, any known living beings always left a trail. It was a known and proven fact. And to add to that, Lydon saw himself as one of the greatest hunters alive. He always got his man.
Soon enough, he saw two silhouettes pass by in the alley. They were talking loudly,obviously arguing but not screaming at each other. He couldn’t make out what they were saying but that much was still obvious. He took out his infra-red binoculars to see in detail who these two people were. Darian Ashley was there walking , and in front of him was another hunter : Phoenix Mark.
Two targets, and one gun. Lydon had to chose the first target and the choice was a hard one : both men were reputed for their marksmanship skills and seeing their comrade fall, the surviving hunter would most likely attack Lydon quickly enough.
Darian Ashley was also known to give away non-lethal wounds with his shots. Lydon had never heard of him killing someone in this town. While Phoenix Mark, on the other hand, didn’t seem to have any problems with killing people to get to his goal. The decision was made then, he would kill Phoenix Mark first and be in a gunfight with Darian moments later. If he won this duel with Ashley then good. If not, he might survive to hunt him down another day. Of course, he intended to win this fight. Lydon’s skills with a gun were more than just good. Revenge for making him look bad in front of the Ministry was at hand.
He lifted his gun and aimed for the back of Phoenix Mark’s neck.
Darian was double checking the placement of the guns Link had just fronted him as he was walking with Phoenix Mark in the alleyways. Two metallic holsters were placed on his wrists, hidden by his jacket. With a simple twist of his wrist, two small handguns would be dropping in his palm, each gun containing three bullets. Inside his jacket were two more holsters containing two more handguns, quality guns that had much bigger range and bullet storage capacities. And attached to his ankle was another holster with a small gun wich also could contain three bullets. Darian had also bought a few exrtra clips for these guns. He didn’t need to buy that many clips because he had many in his safehouse.
« Are we going to get to Cisia soon? » asked Phoenix in an irritating tone.
Darian looked at his unlikely companion with a cold stare.
« You really are impatient aren’t you? It’s a wonder you survived this long as a hunter with that immature, unprofessional attitude of yours. » replied Darian coolly.
« Oh ! Mr. Me-and-by-partner-chick-are-the-number-one-hunters-in-town is trying to put me down ! Believe It or not Darian, you and Anika are quite hated in the Bounty Hunters guild. »
« And so are you, Phoenix, If I can remember this correctly. The chaos you caused during the « Coffee Shop Case » wasn’t appreciated by the guild all that much. People with your kind of attitude are the ones who give professional hunters a bad name. »
« You pompous, arrogant son of a … » said Phoenix, raising his voice a little bit, without screaming, still walking with Darian behind him « You weren’t there Ashley, I did what I had to do then and I’d do the same thing all over again. Who the hell are you to judge me by actions? If you had been there, would you have done anything better? »
As Phoenix finished his sentence, Darian noticed a glowing red dot on the back of his rival’s neck. There was no time to waste and Darian ducked, spun around and made a clean sweep with his left leg, tripping Phoenix and making him fall flat on his face. Before Phoenix even hit the ground, a shot was heard and a bullet hit the pavement a few inches from Phoenix’s head. Had Darian not reacted this way, his « partner » would without any doubt be dead now.
Darian drew one of his regular handguns from his jacket as he was still spinning from his sweep and stopped as soon as he faced the direction of the attacker, gun in hand and ready to defend himself. He could not identify the attacker but he could make out his silhouette in the dark, in the metal stairs that were now in front of him.
Darian squeezed the trigger of his gun a few times shooting at his oponent, forcing him to duck for cover as the scarred hunter ran towards the metal stairs. This fight was already a pain because It was in the dark. As Darian climbed the stairs, he saw Phoenix standing right back up and drawing his gun pointing It at their attacker.
« Whatever you do, don’t kill him! We need him alive so he can answer our questions! » screamed Darian as he climbed up the stairs.
Phoenix didn’t answer wich worried Darian alot. But he would have time to worry about all that later. Right now, he would have to get out of this situation in one piece.
Two more shots were heard and Darian could feel Phoenix’s bullets as they hit parts of the stairs. The attacker ducked for a moment and shot back at Phoenix once. Before the mysterious newcomer could do anything else. Darian was behind him and aimed quickly but carefully for his gun and squeezed the trigger. The man’s handgun went flying down the pavement as Darian’s bullet hit It.
« Stop shooting Phoenix! » ordered Darian screaming, gun still pointed at his oponent « I’ve disarmed him… »
His attention now fully on the man, Darian looked at him straight in the eyes. Icy blue eyes met forest green ones . Both pairs of eyes refusing to lower their stares. Darian was impressed. His cold stare was usually enough to intimidate anybody.
«Put your hands behind your head. And just tell me your name and the reason you attacked us and I might let you live… » stated Darian.
The man put his hands behind his head. He was about the same height as Darian but was much more built than he was. His hair was of a light brown and he had slender eyes wich were of a deep forest green. The slight growth of hair on his face indicated that he hadn’t shaved in a day or so. He wore a cheap blue suit with a black shirt and no tie.
« My name is detective John Lydon… »said the man reluctantly, « I have been given the case of taking Cisia back to the Ministry… »
Darian frowned…
« Oh? A cop? I always thought cops had to give away warnings before shooting somebody… » replied Darian
« Not when that somebody and his friends have so little convictions that they can murder an officer on duty who was simply doing his job without even blinking… » answered Lydon coolly.
Before Darian could reply, Lydon kicked the gun the scarred man was holding sending It flying to the pavement and the detective punched him in the face once.
Darian, caught offguard, staggered back for a moment and came back at Lydon with a jump-sidekick that Lydon countered with a block with his left forearm. Darian landed on hs feet and both men had their guards up and prepared themselves to get into a fight.
Lydon feinted a kick but instead plunged at Darian, pushing the two of them of the balcony. As they both fell from the second floor to the pavement, Darian caught Lydon by the shoulders and put him in position to use the detective to break his fall. But he wasn’t quick enough and both men fell into a pile of garbage. Bizarely enough, Lydon landed next to Darian’s gun and picked It up quickly and had It aimed at Darian in no time. Darian froze, ready to die.
« It’s time to die Ashley. »
« I don’t think so! » replied Phoenix Mark his gun pointed at Lydon « I need this guy and I’m not going to let you shoot him. »
Phoenix kicked Lydon’s gun in the air and Darian caught It. The scarred hunter aimed It right away at Lydon . Darian noticed with amusement that the gun Lydon used was the same kind of gun as his Escaflowne was, only it wasn't modified, meaning that he was quite comfortable with this handgun.
« You really should drop It, Detective Lydon, said Darian in a severe tone. There’s two of us and only one of you. »
As If on cue, a light , obviously coming from a pocket flashlight, was pointed directly at Phoenix’s face.
« FREEZE! POLICE, GET DOWN ON THE GROUND! » cried out a new voice.
Darian looked in amazement at the where that voice had come from and saw an officer in uniform who had a shotgun, with a flashlight attached to It, pointed directly at Phoenix.
His handgun still aimed at Lydon, Darian made a quick movement with his other hand, making another small handgun fall into his palm and pointed the smaller gun at the officer who had just arrived on the scene.
« What the hell are you doing here Sgt. Nakano? » screamed Lydon.
« Saving your butt Lydon, what does It look like? » replied Nakano in a mocking tone
« This is a rather embarassing situation! » said Phoenix Mark « I take It ,If one of us pulls the trigger, we’re all going to wind upon the wrong side of the grass. »
« And that’s why we’re all going to do take care of this situation like civilised men, right gentlemen? » asked Darian.
As all four men stood locked in the deadly standoff, not one of them moved.Only the deadly silence of the city could be heard, along with the sound of their breaths…
Far away in the city, in a penthouse downtown, a man was smoking down a cigar as he talked on the videophone. He was not pleased at the outcome of the the results he had just heard. He was dresed in an expensive bedroom robe, was very tall and seemed very fit also. His face long and slender as were his eyes. His long dark hair also gave him another feminine side that made him extremely attractive to alot of women.
The only light that was in his penthouse was the shining moon outside and the screen of the videophone.
« Have the Speed Demons killed » he ordered to his interlocutor in the videophone « Those bikers have failed me for the last time. I have paid them to see Cisia dead and I have not yet seen any results yet… »
« But Mr. Yodama… You have just put the Demons on the hunt for Cisia tonight… Surely you must leave them some time for results… »
« The Speed Demons are incompetent fools, imbeciles and slobs, killing them and getting them off my payroll will get them off my back and will set them up as an example for my other employees that failure is not an option. I want Shin Tetsuharaon the Cisia affair and I want him to kill her tonight. As for the Demons, have them liquidated by the Cleaner… Those two will not fail me. »
« Yes sir! Mr. Yodama, It shall be done. »
And with those words, Yodama’s interlocutor hung up.
Yodama did not regret having to liquidate the Demons… He had intended on doing so for a long time now but just wanted to wait for the right moment to do so. It seemed that now was the right time, with Cisia being out in the open.
Yodama wanted Dalarius’ clone dead, and nothing would stop him. This, he swore on his mother’s eternal soul. The Ministry was trying to recapture her and It seemed that Cisia has picked up an ally ot two on the way, but nothing would stop him from getting to his goal. Not the Ministry, not the Police officers and certainly not some lowly Bounty Hunters.
As Yodama opened the file that he had just gotten from the messengers who had compiled some information on the Bounty Hunters who protected Cisia, his heart skipped a beat when he saw the the face and the name of one of them : Darian Ashley.
The face and name of a man who was once his friend…In what seemed like It was two lifetimes ago.
« Very well then, he muttered to himself, You will die with Cisia then, It was your choice and not mine… »
What had to be done had to be done… Yodama was saddened that he had just ordered the death of someone who was once like an older brother to him…But business was business… Why had Darian decided to protect Cisia? They had both been part of the team that had captured Dalarius…Darian knew how dangerous Cisia could potentially be…
That is, unless he knew something that Yodama didn’t know. At the age of 27 and already the leader of all the organised crime in the city,Yodama was wise enough to know that all forms of knowledge was power. He opened the videophone once more and called his fence to give away new orders.
« Stafford, said Yodama, New orders belay the old ones… I want Cisia and her friends alive. »
« And the Speed Demons, sir? »
« I want them dead…Every single one of them…By sunrise… »
Yodama hung up the phone… and smiled.
He walked towards his bedroom knowing full well that two beautiful women awaited him there.
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