Crystal Clear

Ori kicks the accelerator down a couple more times but the engine just gives up, dying and leaving them with only their current momentum. This, of course, isn't anywhere near enough to escape their pursuers... So, Ori does the last thing available to him... He gives the steering wheel a firm tug and sends the car off of the raised road they were currently on, directly down onto a darkened street just East of the market.

*CRAAASH!*

The car lands heavily, sending its occupants tumbling around for a bit before they finally stop... With the car upside down...

Rebecca groans as she slowly gets up, finding herself almost face to face with Ori, who was hanging upside down from his seatbelt. "Ugh! You tryin' ta kill us? What was that?"

"Driving! Now let's delta before they catch up!" he states, unclipping himself and falling directly on his head before crawling out of the vehicle.

Six was already out with Max's body in his arms, it'd probably taken some knocks in the crash but with how mutilated it already was, Ori wasn't able to tell...

"Next time, I'm driving!" Rebecca says as she boots open the door and crawls out.

"Can your feet even reach the peddles? And who said anything about next time!?" Ori questions.

"Whaddya mean!?"

"The job was to save Max and let me deal with Marv. We didn't do either!"

"How's that my fault!?"

"YOU BLEW HIS GOD-DAMN HEAD OFF!"

"THEY BLEW UP MY GUNS!" Rebecca angrily shouts, but before the argument could properly get going-

"HEY! THOSE FUCKERS ARE STILL ALIVE!" a Maelstrom ganger shouts from the raised road, his glowing red optical sensor glaring down at them. He takes something into his hand and pulls a-SHIT A GRENADE!

"RUN!" Ori shouts as the other two follow.

*BOOOM!!*

The fragmentation grenade goes off next to the upturned car, missing them, but the guy's buddies step up with a dozen more. Lobbing them down at the group as if they were playing dodgeball. Nearby civilians quickly retreat from the area, but a sorry few get blown to kingdom come.

They keep running down the street, Ori knew that this road would eventually lead to Lizzie's Bar, the headquarters of the Mox, but whether or not they got there before Maelstrom caught them was another matter entirely.

A minute of this passes when the Maelstrom vehicles start catching up to them. Ori leaps out of the way as a car zooms past, attempting to splatter him.

Rebecca fires a shot at them, punching a hole through a tire and causing them to spin out of control. Ori then lights them up with his LMG, killing its occupants.

Two more cars arrive and stop a good distance down the street, but as the gangers were getting out-

*BANGBANGBANGBANGBANG!*

Moxes rush out of the nearby alleyways, their skimpy attires not matching the ferocity of which they fought with. The Doll-like girls sprint quickly towards the gangers while firing their weapons, easily blasting them apart.

The last ganger hits the ground as a baseball bat hits him in the temple, the person responsible resting a high heel on their head.

"Crystal! I knew you loved me!" Rebecca grinningly exclaims as she approaches the woman, who just sniffs at her.

"You've got half the damn Mox runnin' around for you! First you get kicked out, now you wanna start a gang war? What next 'Becca? You gonna launch your own Corpo company based on blackjack and joytoys or somethin'?"

"Aww, you just had to go ruin my plans, didn't ya'?" the pale-chibi walks over to her and points a finger at Ori, "It's his fault anyway!"

...

He sighs, "Has Maelstrom been dealt with? The rest won't be followin' us will they?"

Crystal shakes her head, "Nah, we got 'em runnin' back to their turf. No one knows this area like the Mox." she folds her arms, "So, you three gonna tell me what the fuck's happenin'?"

Ori glances at Six and Max's body in his arms, "Get some cold storage for our friend here and we'll talk at Lizzie's... K?"

...

Crystal shrugs, "Fine. It's Q who's gonna wanna piece of you anyway, I don't hate you for the excuse to kill these freaks." she pushes her heel harder into the Maelstrom ganger's head.

--------------

It didn't take long for things to get cleaned up. The Mox definitely had a stranglehold on Kabuki, or some parts of it at least. They got a 'cold box' for Max and dragged the trio into Lizzie's bar. Needless to say, Ori wasn't against having a drink right now.

He'd needed six shots of vodka to settle his nerves enough that he wasn't paranoid over Maelstrom charging into the bar after him.

Honestly. He was Furious. Depressed. Scared. And somehow, relieved...

He'd not spoken another word to Rebecca, who was sitting next to him drinking her own drinks... Six was on his other side, doubling the amount Ori had drank.

He was pissed that she'd killed Marv, despite it logically not really mattering. They could've fled with him alive, and torturing him was so far off of the table that it wasn't even worth getting angry about... Still, emotion didn't follow rationale.

Looking back, she'd saved his life more than once, and he hers... They made a good team, and it pained him to admit that... Even after all the shit, he'd somehow had 'fun' during it.

His blood pumping, blasting pieces of shit to hell, the smell of gunpowder and the iron of blood... Was this why mercs went crazy...? Getting addicted to the violence... Enjoying the chaos of it all?

His mood hit rock bottom again however as he remembered Max and the state they found him in... He wanted to go back in time and killed Marv again... His death hadn't brought him the satisfaction he thought it would... Maybe that was just because Rebecca had stolen it from him...?

He looks down at his glass and only now noticed the bloody handprint he'd left... Was that from him or someone else... He couldn't tell... He lets out a sigh, feeling his body slump in exhaustion. The wounds he'd taken had required a lot of his fat energy stores to heal, leaving him feeling like he'd run a marathon...

"What in the FUCK were you thinking!?" Susie Q's voice erupts as she storms in through the front doors of the bar.

Time to face the music...