El Paso: The Mean Streets #5
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Union Plaza, El Paso, Texas
Jorge opened fire with the machine gun, bullets chewing through the entire room, although his aim was so poor that one a few hit Danni as she charged the guns. With a hiss she slammed the gun by the barrel and slammed the butt into the salesman’s face, just as his two guards reacted. Opening fire, the one on the left managed to land a few hits before he was lifted up by his weapon, and slammed on top of the other bodyguard.
“So what were you going to tell me?” Danni asked, as Jorge stirred, on the floor, his hand reaching towards a dropped assault rifle, only for an armoured foot to come crashing down on his fingers.
“Cleavers may have been trying to short change the Merchant, but his dealings with the Gun-Smith is a different story. He paid half a million this morning to Smithy Weston…”
“…more like one of his duplicates.” Dani replied as the junkie behind her pulled the trigger only for them to click, the safety still on.
“Don’t interrupt, Cleavers paid for 100g of micro-munitions imported in from Germany.” Vance hissed, as a video of a test-fire situation played on Dani’s HUD. “As you can see from this experiment with 5g shows. That had enough strength to obliterate a ballistic gel replica of a man in armour. I’m not sure what 100g could do.”
“From the schematics I’ve seen this kind of munitions need an excessive amount of heat to trigger. They practically has to set the guy alight to get the detonator to trigger.” Dan answered, “And while a single mass would be easy enough to ignite, I’m betting that Zip Face wants to hit more than one target meaning he’d need numerous reliable heat sources, that aren’t suspicious enough to draw attention to themselves.”
“Maybe not, he also brought a set of potassium strips, any exposure to water would trigger the munitions.” Vance answered, as Dani held out her hands, the magnetic strips in her gauntlet pulling the pistols out of the ‘gun-check’ girl’s hands. “That means that any water source is a potential bomb.”
“Not any source, even in the Green Zone many people are reliant on bottled water delivered by the National Guard to the College Campus.” Dani answered, as he stormed out into Union Plaza, and looked north towards the secured area. “We need to get word that the water supply may have been tampered with.”
“How can you be sure?” Vance asked, as Dani started running north, the Valkyrie armour taking massive stride each one leaving a dent in the tarmac.
“This guy wants everyone jumping, there’s no easier way to do that then to make everyone think the one thing they need to survive is going to kill them.”
**
Casa de Boccanegra, El Paso
Siwang stood outside the chamber that she had delivered her female assailant to, only a few hours ago. And while she had been surprised to see Boccangra waiting for her, dressed only in a pair of jogging pants, a black tooth pattern bandana and the scorpion and tarantula tattoos on her breasts, she had no illusion of what had been happening inside. The screams had started within minutes and had kept going for forty minutes, only to be replaced by a gurgling hissing sound.
Crossing herself, Siwang opened the door to see Boccanegra sitting next to a large metal coffin reading a copy of the local paper, steam whistling around her and the container. Smiling she beckoned Siwang over, before handing her a chain with four teeth strung along the length, each with a tiny hole drilled into the base.
“My father was a dentist.” Boccanegra stated quietly. “Four fully erupted wisdom teeth now that was a joy to remove, what with all that extra work. Our guest’s name is Maria Madison by the way, she went missing a few days ago, abducted I believe. All she kept mentioning was her bosses’ inaugural address.” She added as she got to her feet, and unlatched the restraints on the coffin, before opening the lid to reveal Madison’s naked body, the skin completely burnt by her torturer. “Now my dear, do I really need to fetch my surgical kit and some centipedes, or are you going to be a lamb and tell us where your employer is.”
“Temporary…city…hall.” Madison groaned, as she watched a wicked smile form on her torturers. “Please…please…just let me…let me go.”
“Of course, after I’ve finished with you.” Boccanegra purred, as she and Siwang stepped outside, to where a man in a paramedic’s uniform was standing, a cooler box handcuffed to his left wrist. “Find her employer and deal with him, you will be rewarded handsomely for this I assure you.” She added, as Siwang glowered at her, before walking to the door. “As for you,” She hissed at the paramedic, “let’s see it.” She ordered, as her visitor opened up the box, the contents causing the smile on Boccanegra’s face to get wider. “Take it to the freezer, I’ll deal with it after business hours.”
**
Makeshift City Hall, El Paso Green Zone
A crowd had gathered once again, outside of the mayor’s personal mansion, all of them baying and screaming for a return to normalcy. What had once been a family home, was now a symbol of the laze-faire attitude, that had kept the city locked in chaos after the execution of the former king of crime, Julio Boccanegra.
“Bloody politicians!” One of the crowd yelled, as he waved a placard at the locked wrought ironwork gate, and the National Guard units sheltering behind it. “When will you notice that we’re dying out here?!”
“You’re dying?” A voice from the crowd stated, as the mass of bodies parted to reveal a man dressed in a business suit, his face covered in a gas mask, a zip stitched over the mouth piece. “You’re dying in this gated community of the fortunate? Imagine how they fell outside this little piece of normalcy. You complain about politicians? Well let’s do something about that shall we?” He added, as he tied a portable TV screen over the gate. “And boom goes the dynamite!!” He yelled, as the mansion exploded, bits of masonry flying out, and even hitting the gate. “Happy Secretaries Day everyone! Or is that in November, I never quite remember?” He mused as he pulled out an MP5 SMG, and trained it on the gate and the guardsman standing behind it.
“Drop your weapon or we will…”
“You’ll do nothing like the rent a marines you are!” Zip Face snapped, as he shot the guardsman in the leg. “You try anything and you fall over like toy soldiers, plus you’ll set off my other bomb, and that one will make what happened here seem like a session of spring cleaning. Oh no, you don’t want this one going off.” He added, as the screen showed a truck loaded with water bottles, all of the being distributed to families with small children. “I mean if you feel like embracing your inner John Wayne, well just think of the children and how hard it’ll be for them to drink when they can fit in a coffee cup.”
“What do you want?” A voice called from the crowd, as Zip Face removed his mask to reveal a leathery face marred with a scar that ran from his right temple, through the bottom of the right eye and across the lips to his cheek. Studded along this wound were a series of rusting staples keeping the scar closed, with one of the clips even stabbing into the middle of the eye.
“I want a little more revolution in the Rally.” Zip Face announced as he fired a burst of shots into the nearest members of the riot. “You claimed you were dying out here, well let’s make that a reality, see if that gets their attention.” He snarled, as the crowd began to scatter, the throng of bodies started tripping over each other. “I always knew politics was murder.”
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