El Paso: The Mean Streets #4
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Flora de Senorita Warehouse, El Paso, Texas
The first attack came fast and brutal, as Stone swung his cudgel at Siwang’s neck, only to see the lithe woman collapse under his blow. Seconds later Styx was also on the attacker, his bo-staff slamming down into the woman’s chest, the impact forcing the breath out of her in a long gasp.
“Hold her still!” El Brujah ordered, as she lined up a shot with the chemical launcher she wielded, the gun like nozzle attached to something under her dress. With a hiss of anger, Siwang opened fire, razor sharped flachettes ripping into Styx’s hands and chest, causing the enforcer to stumble backwards, just as his boss fired a jet of thick green liquid at the Patron Saint of Crime. Handspringing to her feet, Siwang watched as the odd projectile went wide, before landing on the floor in a sizzling puddle.
“Acid?” Siwang asked, as Stone charged her, only for his target to spring over him and land a doubled footed kick into his back. “Your Chemical Launcher is an interesting weapon indeed,” She added as Styx charged towards her, his staff held like a spear until he was flipped over Siwang’s shoulder onto his back, “to bad it has certain drawbacks.” She added, before throwing the bo-staff at El Bruja, the makeshift spear ripping through the left side of her dress to reveal multiple tubes running out of the woman’s body and into the belt mounted ammunition supply for her launcher.
“I know the limits!” El Bruja hissed, as she fired again, the next shot on target until its intended victim spun out the way. “And killing you is well within them!!” She added, as the Zip Faced Woman filled her nails with one of the credit cards she was carrying. Rolling her eyes, Siwang closed the gap on El Bruja, before being tackled to the floor as Stone surged forward, the larger man slamming her back first into a lab table. Reaching for the hilt of his cudgel, Stone felt his captive squirm slightly before it was joined by the bite of Siwang’s flachettes gauntlets firing a volley of barbed darts into his arms.
“You like darts lady?” Styx asked, as Stone recoiled in pain. “Let’s see if this will stop you!” He added, as he fired the blowgun he was now holding, a trio of darts slashing towards the lithe Asian enforcer. Darting to the left, Siwang avoided all three, just as El Bruja fired a shot directly in-front of her, the burning puddle of acid causing the assassin to stall in her tracks.
“Now finish her.” The Zip-Faced Woman ordered in a bored sounding voice.
“With pleasure.” Stone grunted, as he swung the cudgel into Siwang’s back, the blow knocking her forward a few steps. “Sorry girlie, but as tempting as a dead Boccanegra’s offer is, it’s nothing compared to ‘the gimp’ over there.” He added, as he jabbed a finger at the woman in the gas mask. Raising his cudgel again, he slammed it towards Siwang’s back, only this time his opponent ducked under his blow, and grabbed hold of the weapon’s hilt, using the swing to send herself soaring into Styx, the pair hitting the ground with a thud.
“I thin u boke mi ja?” Styx muttered, as Siwang got to her feet, only to see El Bruja level her weapon at her once again. With a grim almost forced smile, Siwang held her arms open in invitation, one her opponent took as she opened fire.
“Oops.” Siwang answered, as she back-flipped over the bolt of acid, the caustic projectile continuing its flight path directly into Stone, the hired thug screaming as the chemical burnt through his skin.
“STON!!” Styx yelled, as he looked around the room before lying eyes on a fire extinguisher. “IM COMIN STON, JUS HOLED ON A LITL LONGR!!” He roared, as he dashed to the canister and ripped it off the wall. Ignoring him, Siwang walked up to El Bruja, before putting her head right in-front of the chemical launcher.
“Can you afford to pull that trigger?” She asked, as El Bruja looked from the Zip-Faced Woman to Siwang, and then down at the capsuled in her belt. “Who do you honestly think will look after your business better? Boccanegra or an untested maniac?” Seconds later El Bruja answered, by spinning round and pointing her weapon at the Zip-Faced Woman.
“Your custom isn’t required here.” El Bruja told the Zip-Faced Woman quietly, as the later stretched her fingers, before slotting two of her credits cards between the digits. “My product is not for sale to your organisation.” She added, as Siwang levelled her flachettes launchers on the outnumbered intruder.
“The boss won’t be happy about this.” The Zip-Faced woman purred, as she backed towards the greenhouse. “Mark my words, Boccanegra and all that’s his are like the analogue signal, lumbering congregations of strong arm thugs, bickering conniving lieutenants , and corrupt officials all controlled by one strong man. It works but there is no…drama to it, it’s a reactionary system that does what it needs to do to survive but no more than that.”
“And you can do all that better?” Siwang called, as she locked onto her target.
“Oh don’t you know, my boss and I have fireworks for tonight. And while the bang isn’t as spectacular as it was, he’s flexible, and that’s why soon every man, woman and child will zipped up and ready to face this new world. One city, one organisation hell-bent on maintaining the anarchic…” She stopped as a shower of darts stabbed into her chest, before falling to her knees and slamming face first into the factory floor.
“We’ll call you.” Siwang told El Bruja, as she grabbed the Zip-Faced Woman by the collar of her vest and dragged her away. “Until then have a nice day.
**
Union Plaza, El Paso, Texas
Jorge Ramirez waved to his security to get ready, as the armoured woman walked into his store, a pair of pistols magnetized to her holsters. Nervously he pointed to a sign just inside the door, and then to a half stoned young woman dressed in a bikini emblazoned with the Confederate flag on. Nodding the armoured woman drew her pistols, removed the ammo clips and placed them in a box at the junkie’s feet.
“Don’t get any ideas!” She hissed at the young woman, before she put her hands on the counter and looked Ramirez in the eyes. “I got an interesting call from your boss, turns out he says you have some evidence relating to a case EPPD is working on. He also says you’ll be willing to sell it to me for just a storage fee.”
“The Merchant is nothing but generous.” Ramirez replied, as he gestured for one of his men to fetch something from out the back. “I want to stress that this was a shooting in self-defence, he had a gun and was going to kill me when my hermanos put him down Senora…?”
“…Sedova.” The woman answered, as the guards returned with a bag containing the pistol, and another with the mask. “But you can call me Valkyrie, now I’ll need elimination prints from anyone who touched these items, not to mention the body they came with.” As she finished, she watched the men’s expressions go from nervousness to panic. “Let me guess you tossed it! Okay now tell me where?”
“In the ‘Pyre’ at Big Bend, so many get taken there now that there are no morgues open outside the ‘Green Zone’.” One of the Security Guards stated. “I’m sorry Senora, but we were only following orders.” He added, as Sedova opened the bag with the mask in, and focused the video feed on the zipper across the mouth and the amber lenses.
“Elimination Prints now!” She snarled, as she removed the pistol and looked at the ammo clip, before replacing it back in the bag. “We can do it here, or back at the National Guard’s headquarters.” She added, as a panel on her armour slid away to reveal an ink pad. “I know that you’ve all done this before, so get some card and a pen, write your name and get on with it!” She finished, as she double tapped, the ear-piece located in the helmet. “Vance did you get the images I just sent you?”
“Yes, the gun was loaded with blanks, whoever this Zip Face is, he was relying on bravado alone to get the MP5s he was trying to acquire. Not that I think these guys would have known that beforehand of course.” Vance replied over the radio link. “It’s the mask that was the most interesting.” He added, as the thugs each took some ink and placed their prints on the card.
“Oh how so?” Sedova answered, as a cell phone beeped somewhere in the store.
“I’ve seen it before, back when I worked for Maya.” Vance answered, “It was used by a man called Cleavers Carlson, a low level thug who worked for Boccanegra before he bungled one to many jobs.”
“Wait Cleavers?” Sedova asked, “Please tell me that’s an alias and not his actual first name!”
“No such luck.” Vance answered. “As punishment Boccanegra got one of his ‘mob doctors’ to make an incision across Carlson’s face, and then staple it back up, all while the patient was conscious. Maya mentioned that the way the staples were arranged look like the teeth of a zip.”
“Hence the handle ‘Zip Face’. Something like that must have made Cleavers unhinged, the pain from the surgery alone would have forced him into madness.” She added, as the sound of a gun’s safety being removed echoed around the store. “Hang on a minute.” Sedova ordered, as she looked to see an MG4 Machine Gun sitting on the desk with Ramirez crouched behind it, not to mention a pair of assault rifles in the hands of his rent a thugs. Looking over her shoulder, she saw the junkie ‘gun check’ girl holding onto her pistols, the weapons shaking in her unstable hands.
“The Merchant called while you were talking Valkyrie.” Jorge spat, as a trio of laser spots danced on Sedova’s chest. “He says thank you for his new set of armour.”
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