Keeper Hunter

We walked down the road. I was nervous at the lack of traffic on the road. Copper darted through a hole in the fence.

“Though here,” Copper said. Pointing to a gap between two warehouses each looking disused. She halted a consulted the holo map on her comms bracelet.

Something about the way she kept doing it clued me in that she wasn’t a local.

“You aren’t from around here?” I asked her.

She glanced up at me as she lowered her arm. “No,” she admitted. “Have you ever been to Capital?”

Capital was the capital city of Paranova, which in my opinion showed a total lack of imagination. They could have at least named it better. “Capital not ever.”

She looked at me her shoulders sagged. “Well I guess I’ll have to live with that.”

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“To my motel room I’ve got to pick up my gear we’ve got a long way to go before we reach the rendezvous point.”

I could see another long and arduous journey ahead of me. “Right,” I uttered with a sigh.

We walked on and from the looks of the buildings around me there was a distinct lack of activity. I followed on getting uncomfortably aware we were being watched. I couldn’t pick a direction but my inner voice, which had been silent for so long was warning me of danger.

Copper consulted her holo map again. “We cut through here it will save us some time.”

I looked dubiously at the deserted office block towering above us. Dirty windows, which could have hidden hundreds of foes. Copper directed us through a dark passage strewn with debris and dirty puddles. We exited the passage into an open court surrounded by the block. There were several square brick lined gardens with over grown trees and grasses. Opposite the passage way we had exited from was another dark passage. As we closed in on the other passage several figures shifted out of the darkness. Several scruffily dressed men in civilian clothes as varied as the men that wore them spread out to block our way. One man stood out he was better dressed and held a metal bar in his hands. The leader of the group if my guess wasn’t off.

“What do we have here?” he said with a sneer. I wasn’t really surprised by his attitude. It might have frightened someone weaker. But my thoughts were on the level of violence I’d have to employ to get past and frankly that scared the hell out of me. Then I did have Jean’s pistol in my pocket. I hadn’t given it back and as I’d gone straight to the base in a shuttle I hadn’t gone through a Security check nor had Jean asked for it back. That was lax, little wonder that the Separatists had gotten a toehold on this world.

“I’m armed,” I whispered to Copper.

“Ok,” she squeaked frightened.

I walked forward as if I hadn’t a care in the whole my Valkyrie training coming to the fore. Inside I was a little scared but I didn’t show it. “Are you going to let us pass or do I have to make you regret it?”

“Feisty,” The Gang leader said. “I like them feisty they beg all the more harder.”

“How about you crawl back into whatever hole you crawled out of and die,” I countered. I took a hold of my fear and channelled my inner VHT. It was what named my Valkyrie hair trigger. I moved closer while Copper stayed behind clearly frightened and ready to run.

“If you want to live give us everything you’ve got,” I heard sexual sub-text in his sneer. He continued letting me get closer I suppose he did see me as a threat. I was about to prove him wrong. “If it’s good enough we’ll let you crawl away after you lick our boots.”

I stepped forward as if to walk past him. I was close enough to one of his associates. I lashed out without warning catching him in the crouch with one on my cases. I swung across and around to smash a second in the face with the other.

The leader leapt forward swinging the metal rod at my head. “You pay for that bitch!” He snarled. Two of his gang grabbed Copper. I noted the last two stood to the side clearly undecided.

I sidestepped his swinging rod and punched him hard in his gut. He folded over my fist with a whoosh of air. Somehow the pistol in my pocket was in my hand. I fired a single shot into the air startling the gang. “Now I wonder which one of you feels lucky?”

None of the gang moved the two that had grabbed Copper let her go. Copper regarded me carefully her eyes darting to the two men beside her.

“Copper pick up my cases,” I said to her and then to the gang. “How about you drop what weapons you have and back away or do I need to shoot a handful of you first?” I may have sounded hard but deep down I was ashamed. This wasn’t me this it wasn’t what I wanted do. I knew parts of me were at war. My Valkyrie side wanted to make an example. While my Keeper side would have let them take everything it wasn’t in their nature to make a stand.

“This isn’t over!” the gang leader gasped as one of the others picked him up.

“Please do come back!” I remarked as if it didn’t matter.

Slowly they slunk back into the darkness I could almost smell their fear. I dialled back on my VHT. I felt shaken by our encounter but hid it from Copper.

“Come on Copper,” I said and went back the way we came.

We took a wide detour of the office block and found ourselves in an overgrown car lot. Copper had been strangely quiet but then I didn’t know her that well. A sloping path led down to a well-travelled road busy with traffic. I hailed passing cab.

It was a typical yellow cab found all over the Empire. The driver had a rough shaven face although his clothes were better. The door slid open and we entered. The interior was a little tatty and well worn a transparent plastic screen separated the driver from the back of the cab. In the wall of the screen was a comms reader that allowed for payment without touching the driver. The cab had a set of seats at the back with enough space to put my cases on the floor in front of them and still have enough legroom.

“Destination,” the cab driver said in a gruff voice.

“Where are we going Copper?” I asked her. She hadn’t spoken a word to me since we had been attacked.

“Decker and Bright,” Copper said staring straight ahead not looking at me. “Corner of Lombard Street.”

“Get out!” The cab driver growled.

“Why?” I snapped back.

“I don’t want anything to do with you Separatists, Aliens, you’re with them.” His words were directed at Copper.

I felt my hackles rise in defence of Copper. She spoke before I could get a word in.

“The Separatists all Humans you moron!” Clearly she was directing her anger at the driver I was sure her tone was meant for me.

“Don’t call me a moron half-Human,” The driver yelled back.

“This is what I said about bigoted Humans,” Copper yelled back.

“Copper,” I warned her. “Calm down.” I put the last bit as an order. “Driver take us to our destination please?” I added an incentive. “There will be a couple of hundred extra dollars in it for you.” I gripped Copper’s arm to warn her from saying anything further.

“No way. Not get out of my cab!” The driver shouted.

“Well I suggest you do as I say.” I was trying hard to keep my VHT on a tight leash. “Or do you want to talk to Planetary Security about this.” I used a level tone like I’d been taught to do when I was with Security.

“You ain’t a badge?” the driver said to me.

“I am on Earth,” I lied. That was years ago before I got entangled with Vanessa. “This is part of my investigation.”

Colour drained from the cab driver’s face. “Let me see you ID.”

This was where my bluff was about to crumble. “Sure,” I said with as much confidence as I could muster.

I flashed my fake ID at the reader. What colour the driver had left in face vanished as he consulted a screen on his console.

“Shit sorry ma’am I’ll get you to where you need to be.” The cab driver’s whole attitude changed he looked a little frightened.

I had to wonder what Lady Broaden had put on the fake ID she had given me. The door slid closed and we were off. The cab driver whizzed off before we had a chance to strap our selves in. The car zipped through the streets at breakneck speeds like the driver was a man on a mission. It was a silent journey in the back without either of us speaking both of us concentrating on staying in place while my cases slid around the floor.