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Post by Demetrios on Aug 8, 2014 3:19:00 GMT
Demetrios pulled the hat further over his head as he walked down the street. The morning sun was just peaking out over the great 'shanty towers' and the streets were barely populated and Demetrios thanked his eight gods for that, less people the better. With the occasional cars zipping by and the dull glow of the traffic light, it seemed like an absolutely peaceful morning...
Except the lines of territory had been blurry. The Rebellion was moving into the district and that made everything tense and chaotic, Dust Collection Agency didn't enjoy having something as large and powerful as the Rebellion in their streets but THAT wasn't the problem. The problem was this so called 'New Dust Collection Agency' that was using the chaotic situation to take over territory - last night six Scythe Collectors murdered three Red Collectors, dragging them into a nearby alley and beating the poor kids dead. The scene was so gory that the police had the alley blocked off for more than three hours as they cleaned it.
Police, that was another thing. They were never on the Agency's side but the transfer of a few thousand Thelos always bought the officers when they needed it. Now with the fractured gang and the warring factions the police was getting very, very annoyed with them. 'The authorities can't just sit on their asses while blood is spilled, now can they?', words from Demetrios's informant echoed in his head. They had stood by and watched as they took care of other gangs before, hell, they even helped them take out other gangs before... but this was different, the blood that was to be spilled couldn't be covered up so easily...
Demetrios needed to put this revolt down before it was too late. Information was always a good place to start and Demetrios knew of somebody that would have plenty...
'Asteria's Pet' was what they called him, truthfully his name was Parker and he was merely a boy caught up in a horrible mess of deeds. Somehow he was the only known person to escape the estate on the night of the coup and Demetrios intended on hearing everything the boy knew before sending him on his way. His informants had said they would find him in this district and they gave him a couple of streets to check.
Normally Demetrios would never be the one to go on these information runs, but trusty and brave Collectors were getting rather hard to find so he decided he would do this himself.
It was the motorcycle that first cued Demetrios in, the motorcycle he was last seen driving was slumped in the corner of the alleyway he was passing. Demetrios grinned and slipped his hands into his pockets, the alley was still dark but good enough to see. He stepped in and carefully scanned the area for the boy. His hand reached to his revolver as he looked, making very sure he wasn't about to be jumped...
Demetrios bit his lip, cursing his eyes for not adjusting fast enough and his paranoid fears for what lurked in the shadows. He tried his best to remember the boy's name, Parker, was it? Yeah, that was it. "Parker..." Demetrios hissed out into the darkness, watching for any sort of movement, "Are you in here, kid!?"
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Post by Morgan Flynn on Aug 9, 2014 15:30:59 GMT
A hat-less Parker lay in said alley, tucked up nice and close against a large blue dumpster bin when he heard the other man call out. In his daze he tried to tell himself that the voice he was hearing belonged to someone different and at a much different time but the memories of him hiding under the bed in his home while a big man who stunk of cigar smoke and slurred out the words, "Hey, kid, are you in here?!" were strong ones that felt too familiar to him. Even when he tried to keep quiet and keep his head down it wouldn't be long before he was grabbed by the ankle and pulled out, some strange guy spitting rye in his face and demanding to know where his mother was at before locking him outside for the night.
"Nooooo," came a soft, weak whine from behind the bin for Demetrios. Even if it wasn't intended for him, that's what he got. Parker didn't want to go through it again, all the years of being pushed, pulled, hit at home and sent away still tormented his heart even apparently in a half sleep. He wrapped his arms around his newly-patched wound, covered up with his blood-stained hoodie and whined some more in his half-consciousness.
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Post by Demetrios on Aug 9, 2014 16:00:33 GMT
Demetrios's grip on his revolver eased as the boy's voice echoed out of the alleyway. If this was a trap it was the most poorly planned trap the Agency has ever done. Demetrios replaced his revolver for a flashlight and entered into the alleyway, crossing over piles of junk before spotting the boy cornered by a dumpster. He looked like absolute shit, perhaps the boy would soon trade the loving embrace of that dumpster for the beckoning call from death. Not until he got the information he needed anyways.
After using a picture to confirm who Parker was Demetrios grabbed the boy as gently as he could and gave him a couple of shakes, "Parker, hey kid, wake up." He said as he shakes became a bit more forceful, "It's not safe here. We need to move."
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Post by Morgan Flynn on Aug 11, 2014 17:21:08 GMT
Parker whined some more loudly as Demetrios shook him, hearing the words "it's not safe here" bringing him more to attention than anything else. His eyes shot open wide and he stared up at the stranger, taking only moments to let it sink in that this guy somehow also knew his name. Parker wasn't going to gloat he had a great memory or anything, though he was fairly certain he would never forget a guy that he'd met before...and this guy he definitely didn't recall meeting before. Though Dust knew him before he knew them, so there was that.
'OH SHIT'
"WHOA!" with a sudden burst of energy Parker threw his arms into the man's chest and gave him a sharp, slap-like shove and scrambled back to try to escape. He got as far as bending forward to pull himself up to his feet when he cried out in pain, his hand grabbing at his wound. How come this hurt so much more now than it did when it happened? Even as he bent his fingers all the cuts all over his hands seemed to flare up worse as well.
He grabbed the empty crossbow he'd 'borrowed' from the estate, propped up against the wall beside him and raised it as though it were a club instead. He had no choice but to fight this guy off as well!
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Post by Demetrios on Aug 11, 2014 17:42:46 GMT
Demetrios took a step back as the boy fought him. Backing himself against the opposite wall, Demetrios raised his hands into the air to show he had no weapon. "Relax, Parker, relax!" He yelled in as calm a voice as he could manage, "If I intended on hurting you why would I wake you up?" He pointed out, hoping the boy was awake enough to use logic here.
He slowly dropped his hands to his side and made a quick glance around to see if they were being watched. "Listen, I'm with the Dust Collection Agency... the good one." He added quickly, "The one that wishes to see Asteria alive." Honestly the Agency couldn't care who led the Third Agency so long as it was loyal... anyway they needed some information from Parker so it was best to lie your way into getting what you needed.
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Post by Morgan Flynn on Aug 11, 2014 18:19:59 GMT
'Why would you wake me up? Oh gee, I don't know. Probably because some people actually do that!' Parker's thoughts were vicious, though reason being for that was more because even after all the time he'd spent in the Dust Collection Agency's care he was still used to Morgan's theatrics. Thankfully not everyone was like Morgan, though knowing that there was at least one person in the world who liked nothing more than to terrorize someone after something so lovely as a good night's sleep was more than enough to make the young man permanently paranoid.
He trembled with the crossbow in hand, hearing Asteria's name brought him a pain so great the man almost fell to his knees then. Even his wounds from the previous night couldn't outweigh the heartbreak he felt, and his shoulders dropped and he looked so distressed at the mention of it all.
"Asteria!" his voice quavered as he spoke, "she...a-and they all...what the hell is going on?! They took her away and I can't even...I can't..."
Parker seemed even more distressed realizing he was actually useless. He didn't have resources like Morgan did, he didn't even have a good skill set. He had his dumb luck and his supernaturally skill for driving and that was it. He was just as useless now as he was before but he didn't want to wait any longer than he could because Asteria needed him there. He was going to die trying to save her, he didn't want to die of course but if he had to he wanted so badly for that to happen after she was safe. Wanting something like this so bad hurt him more than he could have ever imagined, even death probably didn't hurt like this he thought. He'd never really thought about gods or religion either up until this point but he'd spent so much of the night murmuring to himself prayers to every single god that could have existed (he totally didn't know any of their names, nevermind Asteria being one) that he was going to somehow be able to make everything okay.
He wasn't a hero, he was a guy with nothing who just wanted the woman he loved the most back safely in his arms. The thought brought tears to his eyes.
"Shit. S-sorry man, this is all just screwed up so badly. W-who are you?"
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Post by Demetrios on Aug 11, 2014 19:39:12 GMT
"Don't worry about it, kid," Demetrios said softly as he eased his hands into his pockets, "You can call me Demetrios. I work for the First Dust Collection Agency, the real first, that is."
Their intelligence was confident that Asteria hadn't been killed... yet, that is. They didn't know for sure and they didn't expect for the girl to be kept alive for much longer. Asteria was dangerous, everyone knew what she was capable of, even if she had gone soft lately she was still far too dangerous for a group like the 'New Dust Collection Agency' to keep alive.
Demetrios bit the inside of his lip, hoping he had the kid convinced enough to trust him. He was curious however, a man that was said to be glued to Asteria's side managed to escape... the thought had crossed his mind that he was working with the New Agency, "How did you manage to escape?" Demetrios decided to ask that now, might as well hear what the kid had to say. He didn't look like a good liar, Demetrios was pretty confident he could spot any attempts Parker would make to lie to him.
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Post by Morgan Flynn on Aug 12, 2014 1:48:12 GMT
Parker was a horrible liar, which may or may not have been a bad thing at the moment. Thinking back to the night of the attack he tried to accurately remember the details, though even to him it sounded stupid.
"Uh....I don't know! Everyone kinda shot each other and I just stood there..." he bit his lip and gave Demetrios a shrug, "it was like they didn't even know I was there until I tried to shoot them."
Typical story of his life. Everything goes right past him and never pays him any mind until they need his money or something. Then he gets beaten up!
"And then when I ran, I got shot by that guy! T-the big guy that was with her!" he seemed more excited now as he spoke, pointing out his gunshot wound to the other man, "and then one tried to kill me a-and I cut him up and...and then I ran! And stole this crossbow! And then I stole that motorbike and not that I really wanna toot my own horn here but there's noooo way any man or beast is gonna catch me when I'm on a sweet bike like that--OH, THEN THIS OTHER GUY! I'm wounded and he patches me up when i fall off the bike but then he takes all the money i have on me and steals my hat as well! I liked that hat."
He stopped and stared for a long moment. That was it, basically. He didn't know what else to say more.
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Post by Demetrios on Aug 12, 2014 18:19:30 GMT
Demetrios listened carefully to Parker's story and decided there that the kid wasn't luring him into some sort of trap. The story was fantastical and almost unbelievable, yet from what he's heard the kid was showered in luck. He reached up and adjusted his hat a bit before motioning for the alleyway, "Let's get out of here and chat some more. From what you've said it sounds like you've been through a lot."
He reached to grab his phone, typing in a quick text to a contact 'I got the kid' before slipping his phone away. "There's a car waiting for us just down the street. I'll take you to someplace safe, alright?" He made a motion for Parker to follow him, briefly wondering if the wound bothered him too much to walk... there was no way that Demetrios would carry him, that much was for sure.
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Post by Morgan Flynn on Aug 12, 2014 22:10:26 GMT
When his injuries had actually happened it was painful, Parker would easily say that but he was finding that now that he wasn't in full on hot pursuit suddenly everything seemed to hurt more. Adrenaline perhaps, good ol' adrenaline. The pain had even seemed to be entirely numbed while he was driving, by that point he hadn't seemed to realize how much he seriously needed medical help until he started getting abnormally dizzy while driving through downtown Thelotia. As he'd turned the corner of this area where he figured he'd be the safest was when his body told him enough was enough and off he'd fallen. He'd been rolling around in this alley ever since.
Parker at this time didn't really want to 'chat', he was still kind of shaken up over the incident. Though having one of 'the good guys' with him was better than him being alone so he would much rather follow Demetrios wherever he was heading than to lay around in the alley for someone to come by and steal whatever else was on him. The brown-haired man whined and whimpered loudly as he straightened himself up and hobbled his way after the other man. Covered in cuts, scrapes, and bruises as well as a bloodied, bandaged hand - on a slightly brighter note he was happy he survived, though his heroic dreams of storming in to rescue his damsel in distress had since been shattered to pieces before his eyes. He didn't know what else to do, though, life didn't seem to go past Asteria anymore to him. The broken man followed Demetrios with crossbow in hand, hand firmly place upon his abdomen area and tried to keep the constant whimpering to himself.
"I'm coming. I don't have a lot of time though, man," he answered through the wincing he made with his facial features.
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Post by Demetrios on Aug 12, 2014 22:37:30 GMT
Demetrios slowed his pace to make sure Parker didn't fall behind. Parker was right though, he really didn't have much time with that wound that Demetrios feared was beginning to fester, how could it not when he was cared for by some thief and left in an alleyway? "We'll find some time for you, kid." Demetrios said as he began to regret having Parker follow him, he should have brought the car around. It was safer than walking out in the open like this.
"Once we're in a safe place we'll work on getting you patched up." Demetrios said as he led Parker to a seemly boring looking silver four door car with darkened glass. Demetrios never drove around cars that people would gawk at, it was easier to disappear in something horribly normal. He walked to the side of the car and pulled open the door for Parker, "Get in." He said simply as he looked around the area before walking over to the drivers side and starting the car up. Quickly they were off, slipping onto the streets and vanishing in the morning crowd.
Demetrios took a right and put the street behind them. Ironically the safe house they were going to was not more then eight minutes from the street where Parker was found, but Demetrios would turn it into fifteen minute drive to make sure nobody was following them.
"Pain medicine is in the glove compartment. Take only one though, that stuff will not you out otherwise..." Demetrios noted as they continued their drive. He always kept ammo, weapons and medical equipment near him - you never knew when you'd need it.
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Post by Morgan Flynn on Aug 12, 2014 23:14:24 GMT
Parker was at least glad he wasn't being picked up and thrown in, apparently he'd gotten used to that from Dust. He climbed into the passenger side and sank into the seat, his poor weapon of choice sitting in his lap. Giving the glove compartment a bit of a skeptical look he reached his one hand out slowly to look through the contents it held. Pain killers could only have so many appearances, he felt he found them pretty quickly. Despite Demetrios saying to do only one it was far too tempting to submit to two, though he did as he was told and forced the one down his dry throat. He had to swallow several times to get it down but once it was taken care of he let out a sigh and closed everything back up.
"T-thanks, bud. I mean the other guy said he was a doctor before but it might be crazy for me to say that I don't know if he actually took this bullet out or not," Parker twisted his lip as he tried to think back, "or maybe he did. I don't know. He pulled out a knife and dug in there at one point and I don't know if I just fell asleep or if he just moved that fast but before I know it he's all like 'Tada! I'll take my payment and be off, you get better' and before I could say anything he took off with my wallet and my hat. It was shitty, man."
He turned his head towards Demetrios then and watched as he drove. It was weird not being the driver.
"Where we going?"
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Post by Demetrios on Aug 12, 2014 23:32:59 GMT
"I see..." Demetrios merely muttered as Parker spoke about his 'doctor', honestly the kid was lucky that his so called savior didn't take his kidney. There it was again, luck, and like his file said the kid seemed to be full of it. Demetrios gave a small chuckle as he thought about 'luck', if Parker was truly lucky he would have killed Morgan when he shot him and if he was truly lucky he would have got out of that situations with his lady as well. It felt more like the gods enjoyed tormenting Parker and would only keep him alive for as long as it suited them.
Upon being questioned as to their destination, Demetrios kept his eyes forward and told only what he needed to, "One of my safe houses. There will be medical supplies, food and everything else we need there." The last time Parker went to a safe house he spent the night embracing Asteria, but there would be none of that with Demetrios and surely Parker would have a lot less exhilarating time being questioned and patched up.
They reached their destination at an old apartment building, with the cracked brick walls and mangled sidewalks the building looked like a flee infested hotel that begged the question if it was even sanitary to enter, Parker would however find that the inside of the safe house was in a lot better conditions than the outside would imply. Demetrios pulled the car around the back where there was a small caged parking lot and parked the small in a corner lot. Dust owned the three surrounding buildings so Demetrios never needed to worry about being spied on from one of them. He slipped out of the car and walked over to passenger side, "Let's go, we're here." He said simply as he pulled open the passenger door, keeping a watchful eye open for anyone. Even with Dust owning the surrounding building one could never be too careful.
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Post by Morgan Flynn on Aug 13, 2014 0:59:59 GMT
Anything was much better than the alleyway. At least it'd be warmer and there might actually be food there for him. He kind of drifted in his thoughts and felt his body slowly relax on the drive to the safe house, still in pain but it already had begun to numb a bit as they pulled up. He watched as Demetrios walked around and opened the door for him, feeling a bit light-headed but forcing himself up and out of the vehicle.
He recalled being at a Dust safe house before. Of course it was a lot better then than it was now, remembering Asteria's smoky charm of hers that lured him in continued to haunt his memories but the very moment he was able to climb back on a bike with some ammo for this crossbow thing he was going to go back for her. He had his mind made up that far at least. For now he lightly held a hand out onto the wall as he stepped along up to the door.
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Post by Demetrios on Aug 13, 2014 1:29:18 GMT
It wasn't until they reached the third floor did Demetrios unlock one of the room and move Parker into it. The room, as the entire building, was kept in very good condition. Not counting the lair of dust on everything it appeared to look like any middle class apartment, without of course a tv or computer. "Sit on the couch." Demetrios ordered as he closed the door shut and quickly went about gathering what he needed.
First he grabbed a towel and laid it across the couch, afterwards he went into the bathroom and pulled out a box of medical supplies that was filled in things you wouldn't normally find in a middle class home. He sat down on the edge of the coffee table and laid out the supplies - needle to thread his wound close, equipment to pull a bullet out if it was still there and enough supplies to clean the wound well.
"Remove your shirt, if it doesn't bother you too much." Otherwise Demetrios would rip it away. He stood back up and removed his gloves, washing his hands in the kitchen sink thoroughly before slipping on a pair of latex medical gloves from his supplies that snapped onto his hand. Finally he grabbed a bowl from the shelf and brought it over. "This won't take too long."
If for some reason things got too bad Demetrios was pleased to see a bag filled with mana, just in case they needed to jump Parker back to life. Of course Demetrios was sure that wouldn't be the case.
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