Indeed, Wanderer. The guy spends as much time behind bars as he does outside them; Daimler figured he could just collect on his way back in.
Nope. There are plenty of soft targets in the ol' files. Keep in mind, though, that the local definition of 'soft target' typically involves not being powerful enough to wreck a room with one spell. Yugo's dangerous enough to take down one Bureau mook up close, or give a group of them a hard time for a bit- coincidentally, he makes a living as essentially a hired distraction for more capable criminals.
Daimler gave me that particular case because it's a useful litmus test for him. If I was a mage of any power, or had some proper CQB training, I'd be able to drop him. If I wasn't, he would've just roughed me up, and kicked me out of the bar. It's happened before.
**********
He walked back around his desk, and sat down in- that's an awfully comfortable-looking office chair. "Cells are right through that door", he said, jerking a thumb towards the back of the room. "Drop him in one of 'em, smack him upside the head a couple more times, and then hit the green button on the wall next to it.
You get done with that, and we'll get you paid."
"Right, that's done. Two hundred credits to you," Daimler said, opening a transfer to my Device, "one dimension's idiot to me, and a call to the local constabulary for pickup. Done."It was actually rather impressive, how smoothly it'd all gone. Not five minutes after I sat down at Daimler's desk, we'd filled out all the relevant paperwork (another of those anachronistic words; it was all digital), received the bounty from the TSAB Citizen Apprehension Office, and transferred the agreed-upon sum into my account.
...well, one of my accounts. Uno set me up with three, all of them anonymous.
"Now, let's see about getting you some more work." Daimler brought up his pile of folders, and flicked through them idly. "No... no... too old for you... Saint King, NO!... Ah! Here we are- the Bloody Pair! Should be doable for you." He sent me the dossier, leaned back in his chair (really need to scan that thing, next time I'm here), and went back to his vid.
I took that as my cue to leave, and go visit the next targets.
The Bloody Pair. Sickle Lada and ZIL the Hammer, real names unknown- a pair of rising stars in the criminal underworld. No known affiliation to any of the greater syndicates... it should just be the two of them, and the gang of followers they've built up.
Less information on their habits than Yugo, but they're known to frequent Valle del Sol on... what was it... UAW #87? Got the coordinates for eighty-seven, so let's go.
Between dimensional jumps, the part of my mind that wasn't doing calculations was focused on the Quattro issue. ...now that I think about it, it doesn't really matter if she's good or crazy. My strategy should be the same either way. Go back to the Lab, apologize for leaving like that, come up with some sort of explanation for the older sisters, be nice to Quattro until she does something wrong, and watch her all the time. It should work.
After all, nice people are forgiving. If she's really as good a person as she seemed to be, I'll be forgiven... and if she's as much a deceiver as she was in canon, she'll still "forgive" me, because that's what her role would do. Either way, I should be in a position to watch out for any trouble.
The last jump dropped me someplace that wasn't the Valle del Sol. Mal was showing that I was on UAW #87, and the coordinates came with a heading, so I fired up Air Comet and took to the skies.
But what do I tell them? Whatever line I use needs to be almost entirely true, just in case somebody's checking me for lies. Let's see...
...I've got just the thing! Best part is, it's actually entirely true... just not accurate.
That settled, I turned my attention to the world I was flying across.
Screw this place. It's WAY too hot. Time to gain some altitude.
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.
Nope. There are plenty of soft targets in the ol' files. Keep in mind, though, that the local definition of 'soft target' typically involves not being powerful enough to wreck a room with one spell. Yugo's dangerous enough to take down one Bureau mook up close, or give a group of them a hard time for a bit- coincidentally, he makes a living as essentially a hired distraction for more capable criminals.
Daimler gave me that particular case because it's a useful litmus test for him. If I was a mage of any power, or had some proper CQB training, I'd be able to drop him. If I wasn't, he would've just roughed me up, and kicked me out of the bar. It's happened before.
**********
He walked back around his desk, and sat down in- that's an awfully comfortable-looking office chair. "Cells are right through that door", he said, jerking a thumb towards the back of the room. "Drop him in one of 'em, smack him upside the head a couple more times, and then hit the green button on the wall next to it.
You get done with that, and we'll get you paid."
"Right, that's done. Two hundred credits to you," Daimler said, opening a transfer to my Device, "one dimension's idiot to me, and a call to the local constabulary for pickup. Done."It was actually rather impressive, how smoothly it'd all gone. Not five minutes after I sat down at Daimler's desk, we'd filled out all the relevant paperwork (another of those anachronistic words; it was all digital), received the bounty from the TSAB Citizen Apprehension Office, and transferred the agreed-upon sum into my account.
...well, one of my accounts. Uno set me up with three, all of them anonymous.
"Now, let's see about getting you some more work." Daimler brought up his pile of folders, and flicked through them idly. "No... no... too old for you... Saint King, NO!... Ah! Here we are- the Bloody Pair! Should be doable for you." He sent me the dossier, leaned back in his chair (really need to scan that thing, next time I'm here), and went back to his vid.
I took that as my cue to leave, and go visit the next targets.
The Bloody Pair. Sickle Lada and ZIL the Hammer, real names unknown- a pair of rising stars in the criminal underworld. No known affiliation to any of the greater syndicates... it should just be the two of them, and the gang of followers they've built up.
Less information on their habits than Yugo, but they're known to frequent Valle del Sol on... what was it... UAW #87? Got the coordinates for eighty-seven, so let's go.
Between dimensional jumps, the part of my mind that wasn't doing calculations was focused on the Quattro issue. ...now that I think about it, it doesn't really matter if she's good or crazy. My strategy should be the same either way. Go back to the Lab, apologize for leaving like that, come up with some sort of explanation for the older sisters, be nice to Quattro until she does something wrong, and watch her all the time. It should work.
After all, nice people are forgiving. If she's really as good a person as she seemed to be, I'll be forgiven... and if she's as much a deceiver as she was in canon, she'll still "forgive" me, because that's what her role would do. Either way, I should be in a position to watch out for any trouble.
The last jump dropped me someplace that wasn't the Valle del Sol. Mal was showing that I was on UAW #87, and the coordinates came with a heading, so I fired up Air Comet and took to the skies.
But what do I tell them? Whatever line I use needs to be almost entirely true, just in case somebody's checking me for lies. Let's see...
...I've got just the thing! Best part is, it's actually entirely true... just not accurate.
That settled, I turned my attention to the world I was flying across.
Screw this place. It's WAY too hot. Time to gain some altitude.
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.