Futuristic Reptiles (In the city under a radiation storm)

[Jodyguru]

Reggie and the soldier continued to struggle for awhile. Their bodies turned a bit, leaving Reggie exposed to the Commander. "Well, I guess taking you alive isn't an option anymore." He fired his gun. Reggie pulled the soldier back, and caused the commander to shoot his own man. The soldier fell limp, and Reggie assumed control of the weapon in time to have a stare-down with the commander.

"I'll make this really simple for you to understand. Tell your boys to fuck off and leave us alone. If Talon wants to get their panties in a twist, go knock on HiroTech's door and ask some questions. I'm just following orders, like you." Reggie was gasping for breath. The after effect of the Orange Blast made it difficult for him to breath.

"Okay. I'll go tell them, but this isn't over. You did more than just bust a prison. You killed a Psion, and one with good connections in the Upperworld. The next time you get hit, it won't be Talon Company." The commander backed off, walking towards the door with his hands up. Though, Jax had a vantage point to take him out anyways.

 

[Joyeful]

She saw it. Of course she did. This was her damn place, she knew every corner and every crack.
"Snake, should I bite?" she called, gesturing with the gun. There was that damned smirk on her face again, as if she hadn't just taken out a body that was less than a half meter from her.

Jax heard HiroTech, and recognized it from somewhere, but shrugged it off. The present was so much more important.

 

[Jodyguru]

Snake shook his head. "No, let him go. We need to get Talon off our backs."

The commander left, and Reggie felt relief at last. "Fucking hell... what's going on, Jax? How did they find us so quickly?" At this point he didn't know what was going on. Jax had wanted to split ways for good, then they quickly ended up back together for him to get held up. He didn't want to believe Jax was a spy, but something didn't add up.

 

[Joyeful]

"Aliya Wynd- girl who I should have let starve," she groaned, chucking the gun onto the dead body. "Shit, she knows- crap. There's no way I can vanish if she's still around."

Jax was cussing up a storm as she stalked back into the room, coming back out with a bag- which looked like it had a bit of dust on it. "Emergency bag. We need to get the fuck out of here." Or her old employers might show up again- wouldn't that be a party?

 

[Jodyguru]

Reggie groaned and slung the gun over his shoulder. After all, they couldn't be sure the place was truly safe to leave.

"Alright. Come with me, then. If this Alien person knows who you are, then we're safer at my place." He headed for the door, and would go back to the black sedan they arrived in. There were a lot of questions they had, and only so many answers they could find between each other.

 

[Joyeful]

"Really should have killed her when I had the chance," she muttered under her breath, picking up the gun she'd discarded on the guard earlier, nearly jumping down the stairs in her hurry. "You happen to have a match or some shit? I want to make this look like arson- should make them wonder if we're dead for a few hours before they start looking for bones and bodies."

 

[Jodyguru]

Reggie made a pop sound with his mouth and thought a moment. "Well, you might be telling anyone whose watching that we have something to hide. Of course, finding these two dead guys might make them think we died in the blaze. I don't know. It's your place after all... fuck, what am I saying? Lets torch the bitch!"

Reggie rifled through some things and found a box of old grimy rags. He stuffed a bunch around a support beam and lit it up using the lighter he smoked the Orange Blast with. It caught in a flash, and the place was quickly going up in flames.

 

[Joyeful]

Jax sighed. "This was such a good hideout, too... only worthwhile skill I got from that job," she added, almost under her breath. But who would really care? Reggie seemed to be perfectly fine with criminals, and it really wasn't like she had anything awful to hide.

Well, just a few unsavory bits of her past- at least her family had no clue about that. They were probably dead, anyways.

 

[Jodyguru]

Reggie shrugged as he watched it burn. “Buildings can be rebuilt. People, you can’t replace so easily.” He glanced over to her, then tugged at her sleeve as he started towards the parking lot.

Before they got a step too close to the car, Reggie stopped.

“Hey, uh... we should probably walk there. I just realized something. The car was on Talon’s cameras.”

This was the perfect set up for a car bomb, he thought.

 

[Joyeful]

"Some people aren't worth even trying to replace," she snorted, before taking in the whole of his awkward demeanor.
"Sorry. Don't mean to be a complete ass about it. And yeah- but so are two highly sought-after mutants, and if they find my record... ah, fuck. But I bet yours isn't too great, either."

If they found her record, oh, she'd be in hot water. Whatever- hopefully they'd find her recent one, because the other one would land her in some deep, deep shit. Then again, every mutant was bound to be. Right?

 

[Jodyguru]

Reggie led her down the block, heading east into an empty side street. He stopped when he got to a manhole with a bent cover.

“So, we could go somewhere pretty secret, but also pretty filthy, if you’re up for it. I’d never forgive Talon for staining my new threads”

The sewers were a labyrinth of pipes and lengthy caverns that were highly toxic. Right now, it didn’t smell bad. The worst came at night, when the material wastes were drained en masse.

 

[Joyeful]

Jax sighed. "If I don't want Talon to find both my records, I'm going to have to follow you down there, aren't I?"

Obviously, she was unenthused, but she'd honestly seen worse. Wasn't too difficult, really. "Let's go, before someone gets the bright idea to follow us."

 

[Jodyguru]

Reggie was also not happy about this situation. It did help that they weren’t going very far.

“Okay then.” He grabbed the manhole cover and tugged it off the top. “Ladies first, eheh” Reggie cackled at her.

 

[Joyeful]

She rolled her eyes, smirk on her face. Giving him a light shove, she lowered herself into the hole. "You lock me down here, I'm going to kill you," she muttered, wincing at each squelch- more from the knowledge that it wasn't from her slime than from the sound.

"This is disgusting," she sighed, reaching the bottom. "But no one'll look for us here."

 

[Jodyguru]

Reggie quickly slid down into the sewers and took in a deep breath.

“Ah, I love the smell of vapors in the morning. Smells like victory!” Reggie cackled and started into the pipeline. Rats scattered by their legs with urgency, letting out the tiny scritches of their squeaks.

It was unbearably dark in the pipes, so Reggie pulled out his lighter. Flicking it on, they’d see a large corroded hole in the pipe, and a cavern that went on.

A pair of shiny orbs were seen in the light as well. Sitting in the murk was a naked troglodyte, who gurgled at the two of them.

“The white one returns... Is it you, God?” The thing that spoke looked at Jax with silvery eyes, though it was unclear if it could see at all. It just saw the light in Reggie’s lighter.

“We go through this cave and everything will be alright. I have a safe house this way.” Reggie looked at the troglodyte. “Ignore that thing. Creepy little fuck can’t hear or see, will bite if you get too close.”

 

[Joyeful]

She nodded, grimacing at the creature. "Pretty eyes, though. Is that a weird thing to say?"

Well, no shit, Sherlock, Jax reprimanded herself, wanting to smack something- probably herself. It was the least dirty thing down here. But her hands had already touched the ladder- gross.

"How long does this pipe go on, anyways?"

 

[Jodyguru]

Reggie looked into the cave and started forward. The dirt was hard and smooth. The lighter in Reggie’s hand didn’t burn his hand through the thick glove he wore.

“It’s been awhile. I don’t know if the cave collapsed or whatever. So far so good. Maybe like, ten minutes? So can I ask you something? That chick you had tied up in the warehouse, there’s some history there right? So far I’ve seen you grease every mark you’ve come across, except that one.”

Hopefully by now Jax would know that Reggie wasn’t someone who passed judgement on others. He fought and killed out of his survival instincts, but any horrible thing he heard about was casually brushed aside or partly justified like a sort of devil’s advocate.

 

[Joyeful]

Jax sighed, nodding. "Mentor of sorts- I've done some shit before I was a thief. She kind of pulled me out of it, but Aliya is also a manipulative bitch. She's probably the one who ratted me out, forced or not. Always cared more about her life than anyone else's- and even then claims she cares," she snorted.

"I should have kicked her bucket, I guess it was stupid not to. But I gave her a choice. Fuck over her memory, or starve. She hid the damn pill."

She should have known. She knew Aliya, knew she was smart enough to pull off something like that, but honestly? Jax had wanted to trust her. And that was the worst part, though that sounded over-dramatic and full of shit. She knew Wynd. Knew she'd save her own ass before anyone else's, and knew how to hide a pill. Bottom line? Untrustworthy.

 

[Jodyguru]

Reggie grumbled a bit. “Shit, that sucks. I hate those kinds of people. The ones who think because they did you a favor, they own your ass and you don’t get to complain. Don’t worry about it too much. You hesitated, no biggie. Killing her won’t make you feel better. It just closes a really ugly chapter of your life.”

 

[Joyeful]

"She's more of a psychopath. Pretty much wanted me to tell her that I cared romantically, and when I didn't, well, you can see what happened. Killing her would still make me feel like shit, I know that," she rolled, stepping over a particularly disgusting puddle, making a face.

 

[Jodyguru]

“Well, if it’s you or her. I’d help you no questions asked. It’s fucked up if she narced on you. Though, you might not know the whole story. If one of those mind-fuckers got hold of Aliya, who knows what they put in her brain?”

 

[Joyeful]

Jax sighed, shaking her head. "It's always been like this, I guess. Damn me to hell for actually hoping there's something there."
It had always been a guilt-inducing part of her, but she had always compartmentalized that, and now it was odd, actually talking about it.

"Stupid of me, you don't have to say it."

 

[Jodyguru]

Reggie stretched his arm muscles. “Sheesh, you need to relax big time. I think I have some Raspberry Slide stashed in the place. It’ll chill you out real nice.”

 

[Joyeful]

Jax nearly laughed, either that or punched a wall. Laughter, she'd already laughed too much, and the walls were disgusting.
"Thanks for the offer, but nah, I think I'll pass. Saw what the Orange Blast did to you- really don't want to stumble around like an idiot for an hour, no offense."

Maybe she was just scared. But she was better off a coward than an addict, as Jax told herself, constantly. Besides, who knew if Reggie would turn her over the second she'd ingested it?
Sure, she trusted him, but only to a certain extent.

 

[Jodyguru]

Reggie’s face turned red. “Man, I was that bad huh? Blast is supposed to make everything more fun and exciting, but I must’ve taken too much too fast. Slide just puts you to sleep, but the dreams you have are very vivid. I had one where I was lounging on a big cloud made of cotton candy. I can still taste that cloud, too.”