Bottom's up! [P]

Valkorion checked the small slip of paper in his hands for what could have been the tenth or eleventh time in almost as many minutes. The object in question was a hastily written note detailing a job opening of sorts open in the tavern. It didn’t give any specifics on the details beyond the fact that they would be explained upon meeting the client. The original owner had been on the way to meet this person, or persons, when he ran afoul of Valkorion. All the android had wanted was a few directions to the nearest casino so that he might try his luck for a few moments. The man responded with the words “Piss off, kid, I’m busy.” Of course, Valkorion took offense to that and told the man as much. Then, the fight broke out and it went in a much different direction than the man anticipated. Now, he was bleeding out in a dark alleyway with nothing but the pair of pistols he carried on his person and an empty wallet.

Valkorion looked at the paper once more before finally proceeding inside. The tavern was as one would expect it to be. Hard men with dangerous faces mingled around a bar at the back of the building while others huddled over one of the many tables dotting the space. Some of the patrons were beset with loose-looking women looking for a little company of the pleasurable variety. There were a few drunkards that appeared to have had more drink than their constitution could handle passed out on the floor where they were left. A set of stairs leading to a collection of rooms stood to the right with a helpful holographic display denoting which rooms where occupied and which were not on the wall next to the first step.

With his destination at last in sight, Valkorion ascended the staircase after taking a moment to note the room specified by the note. He opened the door without a knock, let himself in, and sat at the table where a blue-skinned magi (and how could it be anything else but a magi?). “So you are the one that put out the request. I must say that this appears to have the makings of an interesting mission.”

@millytank

Valkorion arched an appreciative eyebrow when Cry fully revealed her face to him. She was quite the looker this one and the blue skin added an exotic quality to her that did nothing but augment her beauty. Even when she took on the very same emotion for which she was named she was still attractive to him. He smiled reassuringly as the woman explained her plight. While he wasn’t at all opposed to the idea of capturing magi for profit, the fact that their lives were being wasted so carelessly sat ill with him; at least find tasks that your assets are capable of completing.

“You needn’t worry Cry. Your friends and family will be saved and this don of yours will face judgement.” The android smiled as he stood, giving a polite bow of the head before leaving. There were plans that needed laying, information in need of gathering, and traps to be set. Killing a don would be no small task, but Valkorion was sure of his ability to complete it.


In the hours following his meeting with Cry, Valkorion set to work. His first objective was to find someone with a greater understanding of the don’s operations and pry him for information. The man in question had barely been any larger than a minor player in the larger game, but an operative in charge of acquiring magi for sale could be useful. It wasn’t much of an issue to bait the man into attempting to capture him by posing as his preferred prey and even less so convincing him to divulge everything that he knew of the don’s workings; the torture helped. When his first target revealed the name of his employer—a man by the name of Alexander Romani and a member of the don’s inner circle—Valkorion decided that he’d outlived his usefulness and disposed of him within a rival gang’s territory.

The resulting turf war gave him the opening he required to infiltrate the ranks of Alexander’s personal guard as a mercenary for hire. Over the next few days, Valkorion fostered the old man’s need to teach the rivals a lesson that wouldn’t soon before gotten while simultaneously making himself an indispensable asset. He slowly worked his way into a position as the man’s right hand. Afterwards, it was a simple matter to arrange an “accident” for the elderly fool that saw Valkorion rise to his position.

Now, he was in a perfect position from which he could orchestrate the perfect rescue, for there was to be a meeting between the don, his closest subordinates, and a selection of their guards. Valkorion would not be attending that particular function; at least, not in the expected fashion. Instead, he would be stationed a good distance away with bow in hand and a quiver of arrows to his side. Twelve of them (one for each of the target’s inner circle) were simple things constructed for the simple purpose of killing. Each of them were dipped in a neurotoxin that would stop a human heart in moments. A separate arrow was reserved especially for the don himself; it would deploy a net upon entering a certain range of its target.

Valkorion used his enhanced eyes to focus in on the group through a window in the rundown warehouse chosen for the meeting, sighted down the shaft of a toxin-coated arrow, and sent the projectile down range. He followed the shaft closely with second, and a third, and a fourth, until he finally came to the net arrow and sent it sailing after its fellows.

It took little time for Valkorion to notice that there were some on his former employer’s payroll that were not quite as inept as he’d hoped. A plan had obviously been in place to prevent the don from being slain and the defenders appeared to have something in the way of forewarning. It wouldn’t matter in the end. He already knew enough about the inner workings of the organization to publicize some very damning evidence that would bring the authorities down upon it. On top of that, the various other families would be scrambling to fill the power vacuum left in this assault’s wake.

Still, his position was exposed now, and fighting a group of machinegun-toting thugs was an unacceptable waste of his time. They were unimportant. Valkorion slung his personal quiver across his back and selected an arrow when it was secured. He nocked the projectile and let fly. The shaft flew true upon its path towards the asphalt. The android shielded his eyes the shaft struck the ground, shattering it and igniting a chemical reaction that induced a blinding flash of light.

Valkorion made for the door that had granted him access to the rooftop but stopped when he heard a detonation from the direction of the waterfront. It seemed that a client had just met with an untimely, extremely violent demise. Interesting. His death hadn’t been part of the contract, thus Valkorion left him be. That meant that there was someone else here on this particular night.
He filed that away for later use before continuing upon his path. There was a don that needed killing.

Valkorion tapped a button on the earpiece he generally wore when he heard it chirping in his ear. “I’m already aware. I was just ambushed by one another set of thugs. Someone found us out and laid a trap. This whole thing was a set up from the start of it.” And it wasn’t exactly a lie either. Someone had indeed found the location of this particular meeting and he had just been attacked by a some of the don’s brutes. All things told, he was technically telling the nothing but the truth; he was just keeping some of the facts to himself.

“I’m already on my way to your location and should be there shortly. Keep Mr. Romani safe until I arrive.” Valkorion ended the call and made his way towards the warehouse in question. He gave the squad that troubled him a wide berth as he circled around to the other side of the building. A side door gave him access to the interior. The android searched the area thoroughly for his employer and, when he found him and his guards, drew an arrow with a yellow strip along it’s shaft.

“It’s good to see you safe, sir. We should hurry and relocate you to a safer location before our rival hear of this and get any foolish ideas in their heads.” He continued walking until he was within sight of every single man around the don. Then, he closed and averted his eyes before launching the arrow at his employer’s feet. After the flash abated, Valkorion sighted down each man within reach and let fly two arrows at a time into their chests. Alexander was the first to receive the treatment.

@millytank

Valkorion followed Alexander as he made his pathetic attempt at an escape. He was careful to keep his distance from the man, lest he attempt something foolish that would force him to waste another arrow or two. When the man finally expired after glaring into the eyes of the one that had instigated this mess, Valkorion stopped and tilted his head questioningly.

“If you personally believed that he was worth killing, then that make you right in the end,” he said. “What does it matter now anyway? He’s dead and your friends and family should be safe to live their lives.” Valkorion knelt down to search the corpse of what up to that point been his employer. It was obvious that he was searching for something rather specific when one considered that he ignored the various expensive-looking rings and a golden watch. He even pulled the man’s wallet, fat with a several cards loaded with credits.

After several seconds of patting him down, he finally found the object of his search and held it in the light triumphantly. “Ahha, found you!” In his hand was a cellphone of high end quality. While the device itself was worth quite the substantial sum, the data locked within its internal memory was more valuable by a vast margin. It was almost guaranteed to contain information on the current whereabouts several of magi slated to be sold on the black market as well as the other useful information.

The android rose to his feet. “Alright, I believe that the time to free your relatives has come at last.”

It hadn’t taken very long for them to locate Cry’s family and friends within the warehouse and even less time to free them all. After a brief exchange of familial love, Valkorion ushered his client and her family to the docks. There he found them a boat and convinced the owner to part ways with it before insuring his silence with an arrow to the back as he fled. It would’ve been easy for him to blame the sudden disappearance of a lone, elderly fisherman on the battle that had taken place here tonight.

Valkorion watched for a little over a minute as the magi and her family made their escape to ensure that the mission was complete. It was only when the vessel was little more than a shrinking dot on the horizon that he turned away towards the warehouse. His reward had been anything that the building contained. He tried not to ponder too long on the fact that he’d allowed the most valuable portion of his bounty to sail away into the rising sun.

His looting began with his former employer’s body. When the man was relieved of his jewelry and cash cards, Valkorion moved on to the next corpse and repeated the process. Eventually, the carrion tactics earned him a sizable pile of wealth that he began stuffing into a makeshift sack. He didn’t bother to turn when the voice of a woman sounded behind him; there most likely would’ve been a hole in the back of his head if they meant him harm.

“Unfortunately for some, money is what the world operates on,” he said. “If one does not possess the means to better their lot in life, they are doomed to live forever in squalor.” Valkorion turned to face his observer, the sack of stolen goods slung over his shoulder. “So the answer to your question is yes. I would gladly undertake a task to better my position. Even if the price for said task was the creation of chaos.”

He tilted his head inquisitively. “What would your price be, I wonder.”

@millytank