[Target should be arriving any moment now]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Antonio chuckled to himself as he relaxed into the waiting room sofas
[I don't know, been rushing around so much lately this seat is gonna be hard to get up from]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Your really gonna go there stud?, your gonna go on about being tired and how hard it is to get up?] Mantis fired back, Antonio smiled to himself, it had only been three months since the death of the old crew, but so much had changed
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[No no, wouldn't want you to waddle your big ass down here to kick mine all the way home] he snickered to himself, still keeping an eye of for his mark
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[You know I wou- HEY!, you sneaky fucker I caught that!]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Dam you must be getting slow, couple months ago you would have chewed me out on the spot]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Yeah, well a few months ago I could still get around without winding myself every few feet]
Antonio couldn't help but agree with that statement, these first few months the two of them had realized just how rough of a ride they were in for together
[Alright enough fucking around, were on the clock, target is leaving the elevator......now]
As if in qué, the ping of the elevator doors sounded, Antonio flicked his eyes over to the large round colom that the elevator door was attached to, the curved door sliding open to let it's passengers off, a small group of people of a wide verity, all dressed in smart uniforms, and then he saw them, a tall Japanese guy in a top of the line suit,the left side of his face over his eye replaced with carbon, a cybernetic eye and ear in place of his original, the indentation of a snake on the cheek, dark long beard and mustache, and an extremely expensive looking golden cybernetic arm.
But that's not the person he was after today, trailing behind the Japanese man was a smaller Japanese woman, her long black hair tied back in a bun on either side of her head, wearing black from head to toe, as if trying not to draw attention to herself, she wore a black turtleneck and leather jacket cut just below her bustline and black fingerless leather gloves on both hands, her turtleneck continued down around her ass, ending in an arrow point just above the backs of her knees, as well as long enough to act as a miniskirt at the top, she wore nothing on the bottom, two cybernetic black legs, with the same snake symbol on her thighs engraved into the material, her feet shaped into high heels, walking on her toes with a gold ring acting as a heel under the base of her feet.
That was the target.
[Target sighted, engaging now]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Standing buy, drop off point is prepped and secure, good luck.....be safe]
Antonio smiled, that woman really did care about him, shaking his head he got back into focus, he was here to do a job, and if he fucked it up then there was a good chance his body would never be found.
But he wasn't going to get caught, and he wasn't going to be that careless.
[SYSTEM: Bioconductor]
[ENGAGED]
[SUBSYSTEM: Smart Link MK2]
Antonio gazed around the room, now able to see the data connecting devices fly through the air, beams of ones and zeros like a spiderweb, however one stuck out to him, a single thread, connecting tha japanese mans arm, and a device around the woman's neck, hidden from view under her turtleneck.
"God, looks like I'm taking the shiny gold arm after all" he sighed, standing from his seat, cracking his neck and engaged.
[SYSTEM: Bioplastic blood vessels]
[ENGAGED]
[SUBSYSTEM: Kerensikov MK3]
Now he was on the clock, hurdling over seats, and weaving through bystanders Antonio set to work, now face to face with the guy, he chuckled as he pulled his had down over his face and set to disconnecting the arm, not a few moments in and he already hit a snag, the dude had blood vessels running throughout the arm, and a Bioconductor, if he got injured in this area it would send up a warning signal and bring his whole organisation running, but that gave Antonio an idea, using his speed he ripped the arm from the man's body, reaching back into his shoulder and ripping out the Bioconductor, looking around as blood splattered in slow motion, his eyes zeroing in on a package delivery shute adjacent to the elevator doors, rushing over there he opened tha hatch like it was on fire and shoved the Bioconductor in, slamming the door shut as fast as possible.
Only a few seconds left before he was tapped,rushing over to the woman Antonio placed the wrist of the arm next to the connection point of the woman's collar, watching the connection fade and decay, now he was free to move her, watching as the Japanese guy fell in slow motion, blood still spraying from his severed arm as he fell.
Not waisting any more time, Antonio scooped up the girl and ran through the glass doors of the office building
"Oopse" he winced before booking it down the street as time began to catch up, the cars that were stationary now rapidly returning to their normal speed, until finally, the magical sound of screams and alarms behind him shrilled out
"Great just perfect" Antonio muttered before realising that the woman who was moments ago unaware he had just saved her, was brought back to speed, frantically looking around in a panic before she began wriggling as screaming in his grasp.
"Hey hey it's ok, I'm not gonna hurt ya, I'm getting you out of here" Antonio said with a struggle, trying to keep hold of the woman, but she put up a fight, before she began calming down from the immediate panic.
"Your here, to....save me?, why who are you?"
She asked, Antonio only shook his head as he carried her into a side alley where his motorcycle was waiting
"Lady, don't have much time for chit chat, that guys goons are gonna be gunning in his direction now, so we gotta be anywhere but here" he said, Putting on his helmet that had been hanging off the handlebar, and another spare just for this occasion, throwing it in her direction
"Look, you got two options here sweetheart, you go back to your angry friend back there, or you come with me somewhere safe so we can talk.
She seemed to debate her options for a moment before putting the helmet on her head and retracting her heels into her cybernetic legs, swiftly hopping on the back of the bike with haste, wrapping her arms around Antonio tightly
"And for the record my names not 'lady' or 'sweetheart' it's Yui" she said before Antonio raved the engine and flew from the alleyway into the main road, weaving through traffic racing past the office building Grinning as he saw at least a dozen men charge into the building, however Lady luck didn't seem to be on his side today as the last guy in must have spotted them, hearing him call out to the rest of his crew, a few moments later Antonio sighed as the sound of rapidly approaching engines roared behind him.
"They are coming, you need to go faster" Yui cried, apparently she was a backseat driver, perfect, looking ahead, Antonio saw a large flat bed truck pull out Infront of them, Yui let out an ear piercing scream directly into Antonio's ear, however he wasn't phased by the truck, pressing a button above the handlebars of his bike, both wheels rotated 90 degrees, now flat against the road, flattening the bike just enough to let them slide underneath.
Coming out on the other side Antonio heard the satisfying crash of their pursuers into the back of the truck, quickly turning into another alleyway Nd out onto another city road
"Who are you, why risk angering the serpent clan?" Yui asked confused, looking back over her shoulder every now and then almost expecting to be followed, Antonios eyes flicking back and forth between the road ahead and his rear view mirrors.
"I have no beef with the serpents, they stay on their side of the tracks and I stay on mine, simple as that, I just want answers" Antonio stated
Yui's breath became more laboured and rapid, almost like panic seemed to set in on her
"You know what I want to know don't you" he said, watching her reaction, she stayed silent, shaking against his back, whatever she was in she was in it deep.
__________________________________________________
It took some time but eventually they were able to make their way out of the city, Mantis and Antonio deciding rather early that after tangling with Kovastov that the apartment was no longer safe, and with his people possibly looking for E, or Elie as she now liked to be called, nowhere in the city limits would be safe.
It had taken some time for Mantis to adjust to Antonio again, knowing where he was from and what he was, but in time she began to grow comfortable with him and his abilities, and good thing too especially since Antonio had to carve out a place for them to live and lay low with his reality shaping abilities.
"Where are we going, I've never been outside Neon city before" Yui called, Antonio looked back at her and grinned
"Don't worry you can relax, no one will ever find us out here" he reassured her, not seeming to believe him but still wanting his protection he felt Yui's grip on him grow tight again
[Honey I'm home] Antonio loved using that line on her
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Holy fucking shit your alive!, don't do that to me again Antonio you hear me, or so help me il sit on you and won't let you up until....until.... Until I say so!] she yelled, she always got so flustered when he was gone for long periods of time
[Where the hell have you been, it was a grab and go not a grab and fuck around]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Yeah well our boys in blue decided to assist the serpents in getting their asset back, so I had to take a couple of scenic routes]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Your unbelievable sometimes] she grumbled
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ I love you too, il be up in a sec, see you soon] he replied with a smile before cutting transmission, heading straight for a mountainside wall, the desert as far as the eye could see behind him, it had taken alot of work to reshape the land to their needs, not slowing down he continued to speed towards the rock wall
Yui screaming in panic as they were about to collide with the mountain, but they didn't, instead the rock wall slid aside in a giant slab of stone, leading into a grey fluorescent lit tunnel, curving upwards into a large grey walled garage and parking lot, one car in the back up on a red car lift, a neon green rally car, several different bikes lay strewn around the workshop as well as Mantis's muscle car.
Antonio slowly pulled his bike into a marked off parking spot, before popping the parking stick and hopping off, You following close behind him as he walked over to an elevator, holding out his hand to a scanner that called the elevator down, the doors sliding open with a calming hum.
"Ladies first" Antonio said with a smile, Yui, giggling as she bit her finger in an innocent yet attractive way as she walked into the elevator, Antonio hot on her heels.
Pressing the 1st floor button they began their ascension, not taking long before the doors slid open to Antonio's new base of operations, and his home.