Fixers (Beautiful_Disgrace and I)

Aernir was right behind her. Anyone who was left standing from the initial hail of bullet fire from Luce, he targeted. He wasted no movement, killing every target he had in his sights with a single strike. He felt a bullet or so attempt to rip through his back, but it fell short under his dermal plating. One man had his back turned to him, trying to aim for Luce as she used her machete to chop off some poor mans arm. He immediately grabbed him by the hair and slammed his knife in his throat, pulling it out just in time to dodge more gunfire.

Shit...there was a lot more than he thought.

Luce swung her Peacemaker around, her pupil dilating as it highlighted targets and she let loose a hail of semi-automatic fire, the gun recoiled far less than would be expected as she advanced forward, bloody machete in the other hand as men went sprawling with chunks missing out of their bodes. A round slammed into the back of her vest, but she simply turned around and put one into his gut, which was then on the brick wall behind him.

"Hey! Time do your ninja shit!" Luce called when she ducked behind a trash can, bullets slamming into her cover. She yanked out one of her smoke grenades, and tossed it before leaning out and emptying her magazine into the group to give him some breathing room.

A smoke grenade, Aernir could work with. His eyes were unhindered by darkness, smoke, fog...really anything that would normally slow people down and obscure their sense. So of course, he waited for the stuff to spread and Luce would hear bodies drop left and right along with garbled screaming and yelling. Even random gunfire as people tried to defend themselves from Aernir..who was two steps ahead of them.

Luce moved to the side of the Van to cover the back of it, putting down people through car doors, glass, concrete...

Aernir, getting a little low on ammo! We need to get Princess out of the Van! she messaged. Wizard, what's going on?

Nothing good...you guys have a bounty on your head that'd make a billionaire weep. You need to get out of sight, once they lose you, you'll be gone again. You need to make her scarce! Luce furrowed her brow in thought. She had no chip, she needed to look...different. Not her, they needed a place to do that, however. One step at a time, they needed off the street.

Once the smoke screen lifted, Aernir looked over to the van and saw Luce by it..but he also saw something that he really...really wish he hadn't seen. But..if he hadn't seen it, he wouldn't be doing his job. What the hell was she doing? Crawling out of the back of the van, in the middle of a gun fight. Her hands were glowing, so she was obviously casting a spell. Though there were already guns pointed at her. "Fucking hell...!" Aernir shouted before making his way over to her. Here was where the real fun began...

He grabbed her and shielded her body from the bullet coming from in front of her and used his knifes to stop the two coming from the sides. They weren't normal bullets..these were probably tranqs...something that wouldn't effect him too much since the one that had hit him was in his leg. Suddenly the power lines above two groups of Fixers snapped and fell onto them, electrocuting most and injuring others. Aernir looked at her and then put his knives away. Then he picked her up and turned towards his partner. "Come on Luce, you heard the man."

Take the alleyway to the right of you, you keep following it, it'll put you on second street. Wizard said. I'm doing what I can to scramble them. Luce nodded, checking her mags a moment. Shit, three left counting the one in her gun.

"Get going, I'll cover your back," Luce said, sweeping her weapon around as they moved into the alleyway. "Just who in the fuck is your father, Princess?"

"I don't know, I just know he works for the same Megacorp I do, in some really high position or something!" Her father never told her anything about his business. Rayna never questioned where they got their money or influence. Money had been in the family for generations from what she remembered.

Aernir was too focused on getting lost in the alleyway that Wizard had mentioned. He did not have time to talk about how Rayna's father managed to hire almost all of the fixers in downtown to kill them...Not while he was trying to run from them.

"Yeah, well-" Luce started, but was interrupted by someone who busted through one of the doors from the back. A knife in hand as it slammed into her stomach, she snarled in pain as she hit the wall. And retaliated with a headbutt before she put three rounds into the man at point blank range, splattering her with blood...and the door, which was also now a proud owner of three fist sized holes.

"Bitch," she grunted, ripping the knife out.

"Luce!" Aernir was about to drop Rayna right off his shoulders to save her but she had it under control. That was still a nasty looking wound though. "Fuck..are you okay? Can you move at all?" He could carry both women if he needed to, but...she probably wouldn't accept the help. Rayna suddenly jumped from his back and rushed over to her.

"I can help, if you'll let me..."

"I'm fine," Luce murmured, resting back against the wall with a faint grunt, hand over her gut. Shit...she could block the pain receptors out, but it wouldn't stop the bleeding. Synthetic blood was pouring out of her fingers. "Do what you can to close it, Princess. We can't waste time here." Ugh, last thing she needed was that...

Aernir joined the two, keeping his eyes and ears out. Rayna moved her hands over to Luce's stomach and crudely mended the skin with some strange light. The minute the bleeding stopped, Aernir snatched her up without even waiting for her to say she was done. Luce was a big girl, they couldn't wait around. "Let's go Luce." He knew that she was running out of bullets, and Aernir was only one man. He couldn't watch Luce's back and protect Rayna...

"I know, I know..." Luce muttered, glancing back behind them. "Keep going on the alleyway, I'll meet you on the street." she said, slamming a door open with her shoulder and heading in, much to the surprise of whoever was inside. She wasn't going to let them get the drop...she didn't take being stabbed in the gut very easily. Who did?

Aernir wasn't sure what she was planning to do, but they didn't have time to discuss it. "But I didn't get a chance to.." Rayna began as Aernir resumed his dash down the alley. Whatever she wanted to say, it didn't matter. They didn't have time.

Once they go to the end of the ally, Aernir immediately saw three cars screeching to a halt on the street. Shit...he still wasn't entire sure how far these guys would go to recover Rayna. He watched as at least eight of them got out of their cars and pointed their guns at him..and they fired. Aernir took cover behind a dumpster, holding Rayna against his chest. Once they stopped shooting, he heard shouting as they started heading over to wear they were. "Rayna, stay here, I'll.." He saw Rayna shake her head and then press her finger to his lips.

"Hush." She said, as he felt something..strange. Suddenly everything went black in white around him. Everything but Rayna. Was he seeing things? Eyes going bad? He heard the men coming closer and closer and tried to move, but Rayna hold him back. Was she casting a spell? Yeah...that had to be it. Because the group chasing them looked right at them.

"Where the fuck did they go?! Damn that guy is quick! Come on, they couldn't have gone far!" The men then ran passed them, going the way they came. Rayna waited until they were some ways away before she stood up and then casted another spell. Aernir watched as a giant wall of earth suddenly rose from the ground. He heard faint sounds of yelling...now they had to take the long way back to this spot. Fuck..how much could she do?!

"Come on Aernir, Luce is waiting." She told him as she held her hand out to him. She was..amazingly calm. Aernir was impressed. He knelt down so she could jump on his back again and then went back to the street to meet with Luce.

Luce heard the rumble, but she didn't have time to look back. When she came out on the street, weapon sweeping over everything...she noticed it was empty. Well, never look a gift horse in the mouth, she supposed. She moved quickly into the sedan, shutting the door.

Wizard, get to work She said, the holographic display on the dash flickering static. Aernir, the white sedan, it's all clear. she said, taking a quick glance around. Where in the hell did they go, anyway...? How did a small army of people suddenly just...not be here?

White Sedan? Aernir scanned the street and saw it immediately. He quickly ran over to it and let Rayna drop from his shoulders. She slipped into the back seat and he went into the front this time. Well, at least they had made a quick escape.

"Well, that should give us some breathing room..." Luce sighed a little, heading down the street as she rolled her shoulders a bit. "You two okay? Nothing I need to call a doc about?" Thankfully, Wizard's...Wizardry worked, and she could access the better controls of the sedan as she flicked the radio on for some minor background noise. It also gave them access to the GPS, very handy...since Luce wasn't entirely sure where the fuck they had ended up.

"I should ask you the same question. I didn't get a chance to heal you completely, you could still have severe internal damage." Rayna said with a worried tone.

"Don't worry Rayna. You can wait until we're out of the woods to heal her. Luce is a tough cookie. As for me, a bump on the head and some scratches are really nothing to worry about." They had all gotten pretty shaken up when the van blew up. But he'd be fine. He reached into his pocket and realized the carton of cigarettes was no longer there. It must have slipped from his pocket. "...Fuck. My smokes..." He whined.

"Tch, bad for you anyway...I'm fine, Princess." Luce said. "Just a stab wound, I've had them before...body's already doing it's thing, it's fine." Boutique bodies were nice like that, she supposed... nonetheless.

"Quit your whining, we need to get home first," Luce mumbled, setting the course through the GPS and putting it on auto pilot as she unzipped her vest. Yeah, it looked awful...but the bleeding had stopped. It was a wonder she wasn't unconscious. "Ugh, that's going to sting tomorrow." she grumbled. "Looks like the vest caught most of it, though."

Aernir looked at her wound and raised an eyebrow. "You know, even if it's healing on it's own it would hurt less if you let Rayna work on it some more. She'll be with us for a little while, anyway until she figures out where she's going to go." The man responded as he looked out the window. "No more money, no more family.." He almost wanted to let her keep his portion of the money. In secret of course. It's not like he needed it.

"Actually, I was..hoping I could join you all." Rayna said a bit shyly but with hopeful eyes.

"..." Luce glanced back at her a moment, brow cocked as far as it would go into her hairline. "...You're serious," she stated. "Are you as stupid as you are rich, or what?" Did she honestly have an idea on what that meant? Did she know what it took to actually BE a fixer? The things she would have to learn about herself? The questions that would never cease in her head when they murdered one man over another?

"I'm not rich anymore, so I guess I'm not stupid at all." Rayna answered with a polite smile on her face. Aernir didn't turn to face her. He knew there was something different about her..the fact that she was fine seeing all those people die just for her to escape...and she was completely calm the entire time...had she just become desensitized to everything around her? Or was it something deeper..something that turned her off to all the violence? Even a corporate mage wouldn't see the type of thing that went on tonight. She should have been more...not like this.

"I don't have a chip anymore, and I'm broke. I might as well. I helped Aernir escaped that group of men just fine, and I pretty much saved you guys from that tiltrotor. I think I've proved myself more than worthy of being a partner. I also come in handy if you run into other mages."

"Rayna," Aernir began, keeping his eyes on the dash of the car. "When we see a mage, we do everything we can to kill them first. When people see you, they will do the same. It's dangerous, and it haunts you at night sometimes. You'll get a lot of blood on your hands, sometimes the blood of innocents." For a moment, she was silent..until she opened her sensual lips to answer.

"So?" She asked with another, innocent smile.

"...So?" Luce muttered, her expression going dark. "So? That's it? That's your understanding of human life? 'So'? Are all mages this fucked in the head, or did we just get a broken one? We got enough issues with me, Aernir, we don't need another one." Great, this night was getting better and better.

Yeah, she was different, but now Aernir had to wonder if that was a good or a bad thing. "..I don't think you understand what you're trying to get into. However, you were right about one thing...you're going to need a job and learn how to live without that chip. But Rayna...I don't know if you can stay with us. Or fit with us." Luce was right..they had issues already and it barely worked as it is.

Rayna sighed and then looked at her lap. "I know that sounded callous, but people are going to die. All of us. We all die at some point. I talk to spirits all the time. They were the only company I've had for years. I..guess I'm not normal. But I've never felt a...need to conform to the society I live..lived in. I don't want to be a Fixer because it's easy or fun...but it's convenient and the only thing I can do that will give me a certain level of comfort in this new lifestyle. I didn't do this to be a normal person. I did this because I want to live my life the way I want to live, and be free."

"Oh, good...you talk to ghosts," Luce muttered. "That puts a completely different spin on the 'crazy' theory. Look, Princess...what we do is ugly, not ugly like rich people deciding it's fun to drive through a street because the cops patrol it slightly less than their own, but actually ugly. We've done kidnappings, we've done torture, and we've done worse. Being a Fixer means apathy, and money...we don't 'help' people because it's a good feeling, we help people who pay us, end of discussion. And they pay us to do almost everything, no matter how much it'll make your gut churn."

"Okay." Rayna said simply and tilted her head a bit. "I mean...you're trying to talk me out of something I am willing to do. Did you both get a similar talk before you became what you are?" She then raised an eyebrow. "Or is it because you don't think I can understand the darker nature of life because I grew up having everything I've ever wanted? Well...almost everything anyway..."