Slingers – Part 1

I might give this a second part…

Part 0 can be found here


Dee sipped her tea from a mug and stared out of the window towards the old Victoria station.  The rain was falling, as was it’s tendency most days these days, and though it was the middle of the day the skies were dark and neon bathed the streets.

Once one of the destinations at the heart of London’s transport network, Victoria was now little more than a dirigible mooring station, the once endless stream of trains now a thing of the past and long replaced by the overland maglev’s than sprawled across the city and onwards to all corners of the country.

“You going to eat that?” Drax said motioning to Dee’s bacon sandwich.  It had been a long night bringing in Carlo and he was still rather peckish.

Dee shook her head as she watched the swarms of delivery drones buzz high above street level and disappear into the mists that covered the tops of the hab zones.

“I don’t like this Drax, not one bit.  It’s going to get us killed.”  She said watching the rain run down the window of the small café.

“Or” he said taking a large bite of the sandwich  “or it could make us rather rich Dee.”  

“It could make us rather dead more likely.”

“I will have you know that no one kills Drax the destroyer Dee, no one.”  Said Drax with a mouth full.

Dee rounded on him.  He was damn good at his job, and unnervingly lucky, but he was also incredibly annoying when it came to anything other that killing.

“Bloody hell must you persist with that ‘destroyer’ nonsense.  As if Drax isn’t stupid enough a name already, you really don’t need a nick name to compound it.  And stop talking with your mouth full.”

“Do you think I should buy a cape” Drax asked,ignoring everything Dee had said and finish off the sandwich.  “maybe something in crushed purple velvet?”

Dee sighed and looked back out of the window as a black taxi cab dropped down out of the mist and hovered just above the ground picking up a fare.  A think man in a dark coat scurried through the rain and jumped inside before it shot skywards again.  Turning back to Drax she took another sip of her tea.

“For one” and she raised a finger, “This is a recovery job.  Hardly our thing given that we are not required to kill anybody.”

Drax nodded and shrugged.

“I’m adaptable.”

“Two, we have no idea where she is and we need to somehow recover her from the Zentras.  Now the last time I checked they still controlled most of the north bank and are not to be messed with.  Why would you want to do this.”

Drax grinned and Dee knew this was not going to end well.

“Did I mention that we would will make a ton of money?  The sort of money that you need Dee.  Now what’s the worse that could happen?”

Dee knew that the worse that could happen was likely considerably worse that she could imagine.   The Zentras controlled everything from Battersea to the Black wall tunnel and were not to be taken lightly.  They ran every racquet imaginable and then some and they loved their bio-augmentations which made them particularly problematic when coupled with their maniacal obsession with such ridiculous notions as honour and family.

“I don’t like messing with the aug’s any more than you do Dee but there’s a kid out there that needs to be found and I might actually have a way to get us a bit of intel.  What do you say?”

For the briefest of moments Dee almost believed Drax’s sincerity.

“Exactly what intel might this be then?”

“My sister, she’s well in with…”  Drax never got to continue.

“Are you kidding me?” Dee exploded.  “After last time?  Drax why is she any less likely to try and kill you now than she was before?”

Drax smiled broadly and winked.  “She’s Zen now Dee,  Zen don’t kill family…”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slingers – Part 0

A something that might be a something or a nothing. We shall see.

Just something I was dabbling with…


With a broad grin spread across his face Drax slammed the blood stained hessian sack down on the counter top.

“Pay up Carlo” he said wringing his hands together.  “Five thousand credits I believe it was.”

Carlo was nearly as wide as he was tall and his round, sweaty and rather hairless head held the appearance of being connected directly to his shoulders.  Gold chains hung around where his neck ought to have been and his pink stubby fingers were adorned with a collection of heavy sovereign rings.  He looked up slowly from behind the counter and removed his holovid.

“That was just getting good, this better be worth it Drax.” He poked at the sack with a pen.  “Who is it?” 

“Vivaldo.”   

“Really?  He seems to be a little smaller than I recall Drax.  Where’s the rest of him?”

“Hey, just cleaning house, making the streets a safer place and all that.” He leaned in towards Carlo, a serious look creeping across his face to replace his usual broad smile.   “He put up a bit of a fight so we only have the head” he said.  “Now I know you normally deduct sixty percent for an incomplete but I can explain what happened to the rest of him.”

“I really don’t care Drax, You slingers know the rules.”

“Carlo, would I lie to you?  You know me I’m straight up I swear It was unrecoverable, surely you can make an allowance.  I can even show you the vid footage.  Let me transfer it over, come on.” 

Carlo heaved himself from his chair breathing heavily.  “Is Dee with you?” he asked peering over the counter top.

Dee looked out from behind Drax. 

“Hey Carlo, good to see you.”

 Carlo grinned wiping his mouth with his hand.  “Dee, you’re looking as lovely as ever, what you still doing with this loser?  You can do better you know – my cousin Luca is on the lookout for a new partner, you and him would be great together.”

Dee tucked her long red hair behind her ears and pushed past Drax smiling.  “It’s my curse honey, we all have our burden’s to bare right.”

Carlo peered inside the bag and then closed it up again.  “We do indeed and yours is not only your beauty but this useless excuse for a partner.”

Dee laughed and placed her hands on the counter top and leaned forward to give Carlo just enough of a peek down her top.

“So are you going to give us a break this time?”  She flashed him a smile.  “It was my fault we lost the body but this is no scam.  There’s no way it survived the things that call the Thames home these days.  It’s gone.”

Carlo licked his lips and mopped his brow. 

“If anyone finds it they’ll have my license you know that right?  There’s a reason you’re meant to bring the whole body in Dee.”  He shot a disapproving glance at Drax.  “We really don’t want the man on the street knowling what’s out there.”

 “Trust me okay.  We’re good.” She said and put a hand on his arm.  Men were such fools.

Carlo sighed, took the bag from the desk and placed it on the floor next to him. 

“I’ll give you four and a half.”  

Dee smiled.  Four and a half wasn’t bad for just a head.

“And the other Five hundred?” Drax asked knowing full well that it would end up in Carlo’s pocket.

Carlo ignored Drax and slipped Dee a red credit card sized token.  “Four and a half Dee, spend it wisely.”

“You’re a gem” she said and winked as she slipped the card into the inside pocket of her jacket.

“So do you have anything else for us?  I could use a decent payday?”