Alley Game (Highpoint)
Effortlessly guiding the hover cycle toward Red Lantern Alley, Highpoint entered the ‘mouth’ of the alley just as the new moon crested the night sky. He welcomed his descent down the ‘throat’ of the alley into the near stygian darkness of the ‘gut’. Most of the buildings were only eight to ten stories in height but they seemed to extend upwards leaning evilly until they touched, blocking out any light except that the residents cast into the alley like the other refuse. Slowly he braked the cycle and allowed it to lazily drift down toward the broken, filthy tarmac. ‘I’ll try here’ he thought to himself dismounting his 23 century steed. ‘Any father and I’ll be near the alley’s ass and I’m just not into being an ass man tonight’ he thought grinning to himself. Thumbing a switch on his left gauntlet the hover cycle shimmered slightly and was replaced by rough, abused trash can—similar to any of the others in this particular side alley.
Highpoint continued his journey on foot constantly scanning the areas around him for any information his artificial senses could gather. Slowly walking deeper he meticulously recorded everything possible knowing that it would all be scanned later on.
‘What’s that?’ he thought flipping the mental switch activating the artificial part of his brain/drive.
‘Two men. Both injured. One mortally.’ The metallic voice replied echoing in Highpoint’s head.
‘Magnify’ Jumping into view were two men locked in the final refrains of one of the many ‘death dances’ performed in this part of town.
‘Silhouette’ to Highpoint his body appeared to be surrounded by the same shimmering effect he’d used on his hover cycle, however to anyone else the man was no longer there.
After checking to insure he could momentarily let his guard down, the one man flipped the other over with his foot and crouched down on one knee.
‘Amplify’ Highpoint now was aware of the last conversation being held with the seriously wounded man.
“What’s your name?”
“Mickey…I didn’t know anyone could move so fast, wasn’t expecting it.
“Yeah, well I wasn’t expecting you either. Why’d you try it? You could have waited till I was gone and then emptied their pockets and left here alive and richer.”
“My girl and the others, I wanted them all to see I was something besides a sneak thief and pickpocket. Killing the great Quint would have made me somebody. Minnie will never know what happened now—she’ll think I screwed up while trying to swipe a wallet or somethen.”
Rising back to his feet the guy holstered his weapons and trudged up the alley, stumbling and weaving as he attempted to journey from ’gut’ to ‘mouth’ and exit Red Lantern Alley like vomit from a drunk wino.
‘Run Quint, I want everything’ Highpoint thought as he waited a moment for Quint to pass and then resumed his journey, deeper into Red Lantern Alley’s ‘gut’.
He stopped briefly at the body, attesting to the fact that the young lad was dead, he was already being nibbled on by some the hungrier vermin in the Alley. Not ten yards past Highpoint came across three other bodies all male all most definitely expired. Two had ‘all seeing eye’ tattoos on their forehead and the third had apparently had information someone wanted—he had been shot in both knee caps, his shin, the elbow, the wrist and sported the same forehead tattoo as the other two. Scanning the Alley, Highpoint decided to check out the nearest joint to the recent slugfest. His visual sensors immediately registered Adrian’s.
‘Resume normal parameters. Maintain Quint search.’ Highpoint thought as he pushed aside the nasty green color door swinging on its one hinge and entered the bar.
Highpoint walked up to a wispy haired, medium built gent leaning over top a lidless cigar box with a smoldering stogie between his fat lips, obviously the proprietor as he was standing on the ‘serving’ side of what passed for the bar.
“Yeah?”
Slapping the bar in front of him with his hand, the man-machine glanced over his shoulder at the room proper and said “I need some info.” He immediately registered all the signs given by the bar keep indicating that this was not the first such request of the evening.
“Never mind, you just answered my question”
“Waitaminute, I never said a word.” the cigar smoker replied defensively.
“Didn’t need to. Ciao.” He threw over his shoulder as he exited, the door still moving from his previous passage through it.
‘Query complete’ the voice said as Highpoint mounted his hover cycle and activating the probability grid.
“Picture” he responded vocally, the anti-inertia drive humming to life allowing the cycle to lazily drift upward.
‘None on record’
“Damn well figures. Last know whereabouts?” Highpoint questioned mentally.
‘Simultaneous sightings reported in Naples, London, the ‘City’, Israel and Newport News.’
“Nature of ‘City’ sighting?”
‘Signatory for receipt of parcel via harbor master.’
“When?”
‘Three days ago.’
“What did he sign?”
‘Quint Yuhasz.’
“Check the local directory.”
‘Yuhasz not listed.’
“Yeah that would be way too easy. Get Umbra.” Highpoint finished as he fed the necessary data into the cycle to ‘auopilot’ it back to the penthouse he used as Joaquin Cavanaugh.
* * * * *
Reverently he opened the case. Reaching inside he caressed each piece as he extracted it from its foam compartment and attached it to its appropriate place. Delicately he wiped down the entire rifle with an oilrag before dropping the rag and jerking it up and seating it on his shoulder. Peering through the scope he thumbed the infrared filter into place, exhaled slowly to empty his lungs, stopped when his lungs were empty and stroked the trigger.
Delicately laying the rifle down on the table Highpoint suddenly thrust his hand into the cavity between the cushions of the couch and slowly pulled out Umbra by what would have been the hair of his head, had he any.
“Why don’t you guys have any better info on Gunslinger?” he asked throwing his guest down on the couch, as he stood and walked over to the large windows looking out onto the ‘City’.
“We had him until the meeting and then didn’t need to know his whereabouts. What about the…”
“Yes, yes I’ve already talked to her and she was of no help. She apparently loves him and wouldn’t give anything away. Sometimes emotions can be such a bitch…hmmmm…maybe I’ll include them in my next upgrade.”
“So you have not located Gunslinger?”
“Not yet, but it doesn’t really matter it’s not him I need.”
Highpoint continued his journey on foot constantly scanning the areas around him for any information his artificial senses could gather. Slowly walking deeper he meticulously recorded everything possible knowing that it would all be scanned later on.
‘What’s that?’ he thought flipping the mental switch activating the artificial part of his brain/drive.
‘Two men. Both injured. One mortally.’ The metallic voice replied echoing in Highpoint’s head.
‘Magnify’ Jumping into view were two men locked in the final refrains of one of the many ‘death dances’ performed in this part of town.
‘Silhouette’ to Highpoint his body appeared to be surrounded by the same shimmering effect he’d used on his hover cycle, however to anyone else the man was no longer there.
After checking to insure he could momentarily let his guard down, the one man flipped the other over with his foot and crouched down on one knee.
‘Amplify’ Highpoint now was aware of the last conversation being held with the seriously wounded man.
“What’s your name?”
“Mickey…I didn’t know anyone could move so fast, wasn’t expecting it.
“Yeah, well I wasn’t expecting you either. Why’d you try it? You could have waited till I was gone and then emptied their pockets and left here alive and richer.”
“My girl and the others, I wanted them all to see I was something besides a sneak thief and pickpocket. Killing the great Quint would have made me somebody. Minnie will never know what happened now—she’ll think I screwed up while trying to swipe a wallet or somethen.”
Rising back to his feet the guy holstered his weapons and trudged up the alley, stumbling and weaving as he attempted to journey from ’gut’ to ‘mouth’ and exit Red Lantern Alley like vomit from a drunk wino.
‘Run Quint, I want everything’ Highpoint thought as he waited a moment for Quint to pass and then resumed his journey, deeper into Red Lantern Alley’s ‘gut’.
He stopped briefly at the body, attesting to the fact that the young lad was dead, he was already being nibbled on by some the hungrier vermin in the Alley. Not ten yards past Highpoint came across three other bodies all male all most definitely expired. Two had ‘all seeing eye’ tattoos on their forehead and the third had apparently had information someone wanted—he had been shot in both knee caps, his shin, the elbow, the wrist and sported the same forehead tattoo as the other two. Scanning the Alley, Highpoint decided to check out the nearest joint to the recent slugfest. His visual sensors immediately registered Adrian’s.
‘Resume normal parameters. Maintain Quint search.’ Highpoint thought as he pushed aside the nasty green color door swinging on its one hinge and entered the bar.
Highpoint walked up to a wispy haired, medium built gent leaning over top a lidless cigar box with a smoldering stogie between his fat lips, obviously the proprietor as he was standing on the ‘serving’ side of what passed for the bar.
“Yeah?”
Slapping the bar in front of him with his hand, the man-machine glanced over his shoulder at the room proper and said “I need some info.” He immediately registered all the signs given by the bar keep indicating that this was not the first such request of the evening.
“Never mind, you just answered my question”
“Waitaminute, I never said a word.” the cigar smoker replied defensively.
“Didn’t need to. Ciao.” He threw over his shoulder as he exited, the door still moving from his previous passage through it.
‘Query complete’ the voice said as Highpoint mounted his hover cycle and activating the probability grid.
“Picture” he responded vocally, the anti-inertia drive humming to life allowing the cycle to lazily drift upward.
‘None on record’
“Damn well figures. Last know whereabouts?” Highpoint questioned mentally.
‘Simultaneous sightings reported in Naples, London, the ‘City’, Israel and Newport News.’
“Nature of ‘City’ sighting?”
‘Signatory for receipt of parcel via harbor master.’
“When?”
‘Three days ago.’
“What did he sign?”
‘Quint Yuhasz.’
“Check the local directory.”
‘Yuhasz not listed.’
“Yeah that would be way too easy. Get Umbra.” Highpoint finished as he fed the necessary data into the cycle to ‘auopilot’ it back to the penthouse he used as Joaquin Cavanaugh.
* * * * *
Reverently he opened the case. Reaching inside he caressed each piece as he extracted it from its foam compartment and attached it to its appropriate place. Delicately he wiped down the entire rifle with an oilrag before dropping the rag and jerking it up and seating it on his shoulder. Peering through the scope he thumbed the infrared filter into place, exhaled slowly to empty his lungs, stopped when his lungs were empty and stroked the trigger.
Delicately laying the rifle down on the table Highpoint suddenly thrust his hand into the cavity between the cushions of the couch and slowly pulled out Umbra by what would have been the hair of his head, had he any.
“Why don’t you guys have any better info on Gunslinger?” he asked throwing his guest down on the couch, as he stood and walked over to the large windows looking out onto the ‘City’.
“We had him until the meeting and then didn’t need to know his whereabouts. What about the…”
“Yes, yes I’ve already talked to her and she was of no help. She apparently loves him and wouldn’t give anything away. Sometimes emotions can be such a bitch…hmmmm…maybe I’ll include them in my next upgrade.”
“So you have not located Gunslinger?”
“Not yet, but it doesn’t really matter it’s not him I need.”
posted by Miscatonic | 13:06
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