The First Age

Their mark was on the move. He was taking Jacinda someplace safe. Hopefully that meant less civilians and not more. They continued through the shadows of the Red Light District. Martin was thankful they didn't take the metro. It wouldn't do them any good for that. They weren't prepared for it.

As they followed the blinking dot of Jacinda's position they knew he wasn't aware of their pursuit, but Martin received a text.

"CCDPD on your case. I'm in charge. Need to know location and orders." It was from Dorian. This had not been what Martin had wanted, but it certainly helped knowing that he had a friend on the inside.

Martin quickly replied. "Keep out of Red Light District. Stalking prey. Issue false report of location. Last seen at Kallisti moving towards tunnels. Keep your people away from us." Dorian knew his job, this wasn't his first case as a monster hunter in the CCDPD. It was only his first in Moscow. Martin sighed. "The CCDPD is a lot closer to this than we'd hoped. We need to leave a body for disposal so they can clean up. Would hate for our inside men to have to cover up. We need to make this fit the scenario we end up with, team. Dead is dead though."


Their mark finally stopped, pulling out a key to a door to a warehouse. Annemarie was already busy hunting information on the building. She spoke over the comms. "Empty warehouse. Nothing here - legally. Four entrances, but three are in front. The two garage doors and the main one here and one in back."

"Yoshimura and Gunnar you have the front, I'll take the rear. Cross we await your signal on no civilians in proximity then we come in."

Yoshimura followed taking the rear of the group. He followed Martin and Gunnar until they reached a warehouse. The target was taking Jacinda someplace safe? This seemed like it was a better spot for a murder than actually being safe.

The pair entered the building and Anne Marie briefed the crew on the building. Supposedly it was empty. Martin gave orders - orders that Yoshimura would follow, but as always, he was ready to change should the situation change.

"Understood,"
Yoshimura said in acknowledgement of his order.

He followed Gunnar to the front entrance. Gunnar was a larger man, but still moved with grace and stealth. Both men arrived at their position and waited for the signal. Yoshimura checked his comms and his weapon. Both were in working order. Both men waited in silence for the signal or any other indication that they should proceed.

The side door swung open and Bas stuck his head in carefully. The smell of shit still hung in the air but wasn't as bad as it had been. That was odd. He was on alert and looked back at the woman. "Stay here. I want to check this out."


For some reason panic widened her eyes and she shook her head. He exhaled irritably. It would only take a moment! Bah! "Fine. Stay close to me."
The light outside was still bright though it was heading toward late afternoon. With it the temperature was starting to drop. The warehouse was open and airy, which meant that it would get much colder. No wonder Nox had set up rooms for each of them.

The power flowing through him made every echo of their feet seem louder. He definitely saw signs that someone had been here. All the crap on the floors had been cleaned up. There were some bags on the floor. Hope seemed to burst into his chest. At bloody last!! He pulled out his wallet and dialed Nox. He put on a grin and looked back at the woman. "All good. Just calling a buddy."


He looked about the building as the phone rang a few times. "Come on man, pick up pick up!"
He was next to the kitchen counter when something caught his eye. That one room's door was partially open and he could see a mural on the wall. That was interesting.

He turned to start to walk toward it when he felt a knife plunge right between his shoulder blades.


Edited by Sebastian, Sep 21 2015, 05:20 PM.

It was a trick Jacinda had discovered years and years ago. A way of holding your...mind, for lack of a better word, in a particular state. It had come in handy many times. When she was trying to understand a person or her quarry, she would make herself "empty", as if she had pushed her self away, and then would let everything she knew about the person- every detail, every nuance, every fact, their family, where they lived, background, all of it!- flow into her and she would 'become' that person. And then she could understand them better, could see why they had decided this way or that. More importantly, she could guess what they might do or where they might have gone.

It had other uses too. This was one of them. She had become a frightened girl, savagely beaten by an abusive husband, "Pavel". She had a whole story in her mind- one she'd heard far too many times in her life, though she'd often think that if it had been her, the way she was, that guy wouldn't have lived through the night. Or the day for that matter. Last thing a guy like that would see was her face over his laughing as he agonized through his final breaths. No way, not her. But she could play the part.

And so she had become Risa. And Jacinda had been pushed aside in the background. And she even felt the sense of terror and being hunted that Risa might feel. And suspicion of "Banat", the name he gave. Suspicion but at the same time cautious trust. Because where else was she gonna go? She was out in the streets and Pavel had said this was the last time. That he would kill her the next time he saw her. So she went with Banat, scared but hopeful.

Deep in the back of her mind Jacinda waited, as Risa followed, watched as Risa, too afraid to even wait exposed out on the street, followed Banat in despite his irritation. She looked around the warehouse, trying to figure out what kind of place this was? A home? A hideout? Was something illegal going on here?

And Jacinda slowly moved forward, closer and closer, ready to take charge. Banat's mood seemed to change, as if he felt relief. He was by a kitchen counter, knives splayed out on a block. And Jacinda returned to herself. She smiled slightly as his back was turned to her, ear to the phone, talking to himself and peering ahead at one of the make-shift rooms.

This was it. In one smooth motion Jacinda pulled a large knife free and slammed it into Volodin's back, felt the warm sticky blood spurt onto her hand. The solid feel of the blade said that it was in deep. Hopefully it got the heart. If not, then it had to be a lung either way he'd be dead in minutes.

"NOW!!!"
she yelled at the rest of the team she knew was monitoring her.


Edited by Jacinda, Sep 22 2015, 01:28 PM.

They got the call. The warehouse looked nothing like Martin had expected. A fully functioning kitchen, rooms partitioned off and a fully functioning gym. There was a large space that Martin had no idea what it was used for but it looked similar to something you'd find for classes of some sort. What the hell type of place was this?

Martin came in the back door. He busted down the door he could have done it neatly but there was no point. But now he regretted it.

He rounded the corner calling clear and and found Cross standing over the god. She'd stabbed him. What the fuck! How the fuck where the cops going to explain that? Now the cops had to find this prick's murderer. Sure he had attacked cops, but now he was dead for no reason what so-ever with a nice stab wound in the back.

Seriously this woman needed to think about shit! She was too used to doing things her way. To used to just killing. They had sonic weapons, and weapons that could leave dead bodies without a trace and she stabs him.

Martin walked over to her and pointed his gun at the man lying on the ground. "And how would you explain this to the cops?"

Jacinda turned to look at Barovsky, puzzled. Was he serious? "Why the hell would I stay to explain this to the cops?"
The question seemed strange. Maybe being a hunter in the CCD really was different than being a hunter in America. That had to be the only explanation.

The guy was pissed and Jacinda couldn't help but laugh. "This guy worked for one of the big crime families no? A lieutenant or something? You don't get there without doing shady things and pissing a lot of people off. Or without a record with multiple 'suspicious deaths' in the margins."


She looked to Gunnar, who's face was impassive. She winked at him and then looked back at Barovsky's angry face. "Add to that the fact that this little douche put the family he worked for in the cross-hairs by attacking an unarmed cop in broad daylight and killing a bunch of civilians. He was on the run for a reason. His own people weren't helping him. Very likely THEY were pissed at him for all that. The guy was desperate."


"So, what? The police finally get called out because whoever lives here comes home to find a body? Or barring, that the smell finally causes the neighbors to complain? And then they find the guy who attacked one of their own, murdered all kinds of people in the market and elsewhere, dead with a knife in his back? The suspect list will be a mile long! Do you think they will give two shits about which of them offed this guy that they very likely themselves woulda killed in the arrest?"


She laughed to show what she thought of that. "No one's getting burned on this. We did it clean and with no casualties and no attention."
She kicked the body lightly at the shoulder. "Well cept for this guy,"
she laughed.

[[assumption Nox will answer his phone in his next post]]

Martin shook his head, he wanted to laugh really. She knew this guy was a thug, but that wasn't the point. "I didn't ask you to stay and explain this. I asked you how you would. And while you gave me a great explanation for the reason the cops won't care you didn't tell me how you'd explain it. But I guess that's how you American's work."


Martin picked up the phone that lay on the floor forgotten. Whatever the other side heard was all on little miss American now. Martin looked at the name and frowned. The tickled at his memory but he couldn't place it.

Martin visibly swiped the phone off "Imagine you were our friend in the newly appointed squad who is hunting so-called terrorists....."
Martin waved his hand. "Nevermind. You wouldn't understand."


There was no point in explaining loyalty and helping a fellow team member out to someone who just didn't quite get teamwork yet. He shrugged. "Make sure your prints are gone."
Martin absent mindedly wiped the phone on his coat before discarding it back on the floor where he found it.

Martin walked out the front door to the van and started helping Anne Marie gather footage to clean their presence from the scene.


Edited by Borovsky, Sep 23 2015, 04:00 PM.

Bas found it hard to focus on any one thing. The taste of blood filled his mouth and he tried to cough and instead felt a shock of pain- pain on top of that which already held his heart in a tight-fisted grip- that froze him in agony for a thousand years. A face floated into his mind. He struggled to remember when a name came to him Boris. Something about Boris.

He felt darkness closing around him little by little, the muffled sounds of conversation a dull buzz in his ears. And he wanted to cry. He saw his mother and his brother and knew he would never see them again. Who would take care of them?

With his last strength he prayed to the Holy Mother, begged her to open to him, to send him her light. He needed her power, craved it. But she did not answer. She refused him.

Instead, the darkness grew and surrounded him and hunted him and he had no where to go. So he faced it alone, defiant even as he faded out of existence.

He...

Yoshimura came in with Gunnar at the signal, but the deed was already done. A knife to the back had killed their quarry. Yoshimura didn't interfere in their conversation, he just stayed back and listened. Both sides had good points, but mostly Borovsky was right. We had tools to do this another way, and they should have been utilized. Knives in backs brought questions from authorities, even if gangs were involved.

Borovsky was clearly angered by this and had no issues with letting it be known before he left the scene. Likely to begin cleaning up. Still Jacinda had seen a opportunity and taken it. That spoke well of the woman, but she didn't always see the consequences. With some work, she could be a lot better than she was.

Silently, Yoshimura offered Cross a nod - an acknowledgement of the kill itself. She had technically done her duty, even if it was rash. They needed to learn to work as a team overall more. And if they did so they would be more effective.

After the nod, Yoshimura left the building and found Borovsky. "Anything you need me to do?"
He asked, deferring to their leader.

Yoshimura joined Martin as he was assessing the situation. He didn't like the outcome. Martin looked over at Annemarie and she nodded. "Easy enough to do sir." They had worked together to know that covering up the body was easy to do. Whoever lived her wasn't going to be happy but Martin really didn't care.

Martin nodded. Annemarie nodded and rummaged around in the bag next to her. She handed Yoshimura a few small explosive devices. "Plant these in structural places around the interior of the building." She smiled at Martin. "They should keep the police guessing. They use parts and pieces from every bomb maker this side of the ocean. Shouldn't point anywhere with whatever pieces they find. Least they ain't found us yet. And when they do we'll just choose other parts."

Annemarie wasn't their weapons tech, but Marco had briefed her well, and technically she was all communications and these were all wireless detonators so she had a hand in manufacturing of them in most cases. She dabbled in explosives. It was her hobby. It was one reason Martin liked working with her. Dorian had a special cocktail that burnt hotter than anything he'd ever seen. He'd eventually given Martin the secret but only because he'd lost a bet to Martin. Marco was just weapons and Martin liked weapons. All in all he had picked a damn good team once upon a time. Now he had some strange characters to work with. He was thankful for Gunnar. But the other two - we'd see about Yoshimura was at least old world - maybe a little too old world.

Martin grabbed a small bottom of liquid from his bag and took a one of the devices from Annemarie to make sure there was an ignition source near the body.

Back inside Martin looked at Cross, he didn't say much, "Never mind the prints. Change of plans."
Martin stuck the device on the counter near the body and then started pouring the flammable cocktail over the corpse. "Do this right. Once we get clear of this. You are going to play wounded little girl again. This time you will call the cops. You will say the man who attacked the cops fled into this building and then it blew up. And then you will hang up."
Martin didn't wait for an acknowledgement as he headed back out of the warehouse.