At her hotel, Isabella dropped the duffel bag in one of the rooms, then sat in the chair at the front desk. She called the AI, the so-called middle-man for the job, and told it that the job was done.

After that she left through the front door,toward the bar that the man from earlier had talked about--The Lucky Stiff. Maybe he was still around.

(Leaving for today.)

Chris drove past the hotel on his way home. He dismissivly wondered why it had been abandoned for so long...

Isabella stepped inside her hotel, with the AI, appearing to be a man about her age, walking closely behind her. It might have been waiting a half hour for her. She locked the door and went upstairs to a shower, while the AI waited. She was done in about fifteen minutes.

"Alright, talk to me," Isabella said as she came back and took a seat. The AI laid it out for her.

Isabella was to be --what a coincidence-- a courier. Take a package--she wasn't meant to know what-- to the intended recipient in one piece, and live to get paid. Simple enough. Isabella accepted, and the AI gave her two locations; the first was a random, busy street where she would pick it up. So it was in Rēgnī, apparently.

The second was where she would drop it off, a building also in the capitol. This looked to be a piece of cake.

Isabella grabbed another clip for her pistol, just in case, and left for the first location. The AI exited with her and went its own way.

(Here I go again with Chris driving past the Hotel. And while I'm here, I think Cado should try to steal Isabella's package. It'd be pretty interesting...)

Once again, on his way to his home, Chris drove past the supposedly vacant hotel. It didn't seem to be in bad shape, so maybe there was someone taking care of it.

(Let's do it.)

Isabella closed the door of her hotel behind her. Where's the AI? It should have been here before me. There was a feeling of queasiness in her stomach, prompting her to flick the safety off on her pistol, but leaving it concealed.

There was someone in the lobby, taking a seat. A closer look told her that it was the AI as it suddenly stood and spoke.

"Where is the package?"

Isabella replied simply, "In a safe place until we sort this whole thing out." Something's wrong.

"Unacceptable answer," the AI growled.

$@$%, it's been reprogrammed?!

Someone had come from the side to attack; She felt a fist connect with her face, on her jaw. Isabella stumbled back, pulling off the eyepatch.

There was a man standing where she'd been knocked over. He must have approached at my blindspot, with Cloak... High-level Cloak... Isabella quickly drew her pistol and fired at him, aided by the Hawk Eye. The man swerved to the side, avoiding her shot the instant before she pulled the trigger. He has Boost, too?

The man suddenly closed the distance quickly; Isabella flinched.I can see his moves, but I'm too slow!

She had a front-row seat to watch the man's heel meet her solar plexus. The force behind the blow sent her flying back, flipping over the reception desk, unable to make any response other than a gasp. The pistol flew from her hand.

The man grabbed a bundle of Isabella's hair and yanked sharply, turning her to face its owner. He let go and pointed Isabella's own gun at her. "Don't move," he said, leaning over her.

The AI walked up and asked again, "Where is the package?"

"It was stolen," Isabella groaned a lie, thinking furiously even under stress. I have to warn Cado... they'll go after him next... She called Cado with her cell phone implant; hopefully he could overhear the conversation.

"By who?"

"The men that interrupted the drop."

The man drew back his gun hand and dealt Isabella a heavy slap across the face with his other hand. "We are the guys that interrupted the drop. You got away, and there was someone else with you. Who was it?"

"I don't know..." That lie was weak.

Another slap, this one harder. "Who was it?"

"He didn't say a thing to me."

This time the man used his gun hand, and Isabella was ready. She caught him by the wrist before he could land a blow and twisted the weapon away, kicking the man in the leg. He stumbled away as Isabella rose and ran for the door and fired a few shots behind her.

The man stayed behind the desk as rounds tore through the wood; he could dodge Isabella's aim, but not the bullets. The AI was unarmed, and for the most part stayed out of the fight.

Isabella kept firing as she left through the door to keep the man behind cover. She sprinted down the street, talking into the implant. "Cado? You there?"

"Well on my way. Then again, I don't know where your apartment is. I'm heading in the direction I saw you go, while tracing your call. Got it. Just stay on until I catch sight of you. Also, do you like McNuggets?" Cado asked, swerving through traffic. He had stopped by McDonald's and bought a large box of them, hoping to appease his boss when he returned.

[Gonna be off for about half an hour, maybe more.]

[OK.]

Isabella blinked. She hadn't expected the part about McNuggets... "Uhm, okay..."

[I lied. HGTV kept me away longer than I thought.]

"Yeah, non-sequiturs. I'm a fan of those. Anyway, how long can you keep away from those guys?" Cado asked, pulling off a drift around an empty-enough corner.

"I don't know, hopefully long enough to--Aaggghh!!"

She tripped and fell to the ground, smelling the burned flesh before feeling it. A laser beam had struck her in the lower back; luckily it wasn't too powerful, otherwise it would have cut straight through her.

How many of them are there?! Isabella rolled onto her protesting back, pulling the pistol out and searching for targets. There was a man standing a distance away, a different one. He'd had a hand outstretched, likely the cause of her pain right now.

Isabella fired at him twice, but he ducked into an alley. The slide on her gun locked back. She cursed and stood, beginning to sprint again.

[Remember kids: Reload your weapons and carry extra ammunition!]

"Dammit, Izzy, are you okay?" Cado shouted, going even faster now as he saw her blip on the GPS stop, then continue going--and hearing her yell, of course.

[She had three spare clips, don't worry...]

Isabella groaned as she rose, feeling a draft of air on her exposed back. At least it was healing... She reloaded the pistol and ducked as another beam nearly scorched her head. "It was only a laser blast to the back, hon. I'll live..." she panted sarcastically. "But my shirt and jacket are totaled."

She fired twice at her pursuers, hitting one of the two in his arm; the one from inside her hotel. He shouted and stumbled to the asphalt, clutching the injured area. The other fired a sub-machine-gun; the laser beam had left him a little tired out. Isabella dodged into an alley and stumbled as she tried to stay mobile.

"That's like saying: 'I was only hit by a car, hon', or 'They only stabbed me'," Cado replied just as sarcastically. Just a couple of minutes until he met up with Isabella.

Isabella laughed weakly, exiting the alley on the other side. A bullet hissed past her ear and she turned to run in another direction.

"Ergh! Can't you run in a straight line??" Cado asked as he pulled sharply to the right to make it onto the correct street. Then he saw her, running his way. He got closer, at high speed, then suddenly stopped, turning around for her. He jumped out and yelled for her to get in and get safe. He pulled out his pistol, cocked it, and started firing at the attackers.

"If you'd prefer I get shot, then yes, I could," Isabella said, firing at them as well. The lone laser guy stayed in the alley, popping out to send another laser. It was a wild, unplanned shot, but it managed to catch Isabella on her back, singing some of her hair. She shouted a curse and fell to one knee, limping for the car. "Let's.... let's go, Cado..." She stammered unnaturally and opened a car door.

Cado lined up one last shot using Hawk Eye. He fired three rounds into the laser shooters forehead, and ran back to the car. Hopping in, he shifted into first and burned rubber--thus escaping.

Isabella's back had turned numb, for now; it was healing slowly, but she knew it would start hurting in a few minutes.

"Thanks," she said as she tried to get comfortable in the seat. Her hair was disheveled now, a sharp contrast from earlier: some of it had been burned. I'll cut it later, she thought to herself.

[I gotta go for today...]

"And you had such beautiful hair. And back skin," Cado said, remorseful. He put a hand on her knee and squeezed. He turned for the fifth time, now sure he had lost them. The McNuggets were in the center console if she wanted some, along with a Coke.

"It was those guys who ambushed us, right? Were they the ones who set up the mission in the first place?" he asked, not sure from the conxtext of the eavesdropped conversation.

'Had?', Isabella thought. It could heal...

"Yeah, seems so," she answered and winced as the first lance of pain ran through her back. "They know about you."

[He's well aware of the first line. She could actually go to a salon and make her hair longer after 'cutting it'. Technology rawks. Also, he knows her back will heal, but is also aware that the jacket may have fused to the skin...]

"So? What I'm really concerned about is that you no longer have a job. Or at least, a way to get new jobs," he said.

[Oww...]

Isabella stared straight ahead. "That's not the biggest concern. I'll have to figure something out, because my gear was in that hotel..."

[Speaking of, this should be in the city thread]

Done.

[Hey, reply in this thread now, Jac.]

[I gotta go, next class is gonna start in a few minutes...]

Isabella nodded an affirmative.

They stood in the lobby. At this distance, the bullet holes in the desk would be visible. Isabella spotted her eyepatch on the floor a distance away.

Some heavy rounds there, Cado thought, noticing the holes in the desk. He interlaced his fingers with Isabella's to keep close, and motioned for her to lead the way.

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