9 Chapter 9: Boys are Back in Town

It's 20:49, and I can't take this loud music anymore. I tried to keep my team in line of sight, but they split up as soon as we got through the door. I spot Cheq through the neon lights leaning against a counter as he talks to a waitress. Titan is sitting in the middle of a couch surrounded by half-naked women whom he seems to be making all laugh at what he has to say. I can't even find Knight.

My eyes gloss over the woman in the center of the stage. She's thin with long hair that floats around her surreally as she spins around on a pole reaching from the ground to the ceiling. Around her, she's got several watchers leaning on the rails to get the closest look they can.

I take an empty chair and sit quietly. I study each face that passes by, but I don't know what I'm looking for. How was Aiden supposed to figure out who the remaining Angels are if he never knew what they'd look like? Was there a specific seating arrangement he forgot to mention?

Knight (Group): "Far corner, south-east, four men, black three-piece suits."

I tilt my head down and let my eyes wander to the corner of the lobby. At the table sits the four men Knight described. I don't know what makes him think they're who we're looking for, but nobody goes against his gut on things like this. I look at Cheq; he's dismissing the waitress so bluntly that you can see the surprise on her face. Titan pulls away from a kiss he had with one of the women sitting on his lap and shoos her off of him. I still can't find Knight.

I stand up and walk to the table. The men take notice of me, I keep up the pace. Titan, Cheq, and even Knight from seemingly nowhere join my side as we surround the table and pull three chairs away from an unused one; Knight persuades a gentleman to give his up with the promise not to break a bone.

"Geez, make it more obvious please," one of the men says.

"We're all just friends meeting up with each other," I say.

"Wow, look at you. I bet you're the youngest on the force."

The other stranger cuts in. "Nope, that belongs to Danwick. That kid's like eighteen or something."

Titan extends a hand for a shake. "Nice to meet all of you. Um, which one is the sergeant?"

One shakes his hand. "Before that, what's this week's code-phrase? It's Friday, right? Should still be the same one."

I sit back and see all of my teammates doing the same with furrowing brows and darting eyes. Titan is the only one that keeps his posture. "How about we go somewhere a little quieter. I can barely hear any of you with this loud music shaking my bones."

The man lets go of Titan's hand. "Or...you can just tell us the code-phrase. Right here, right now."

Titan sticks a fingernail between his teeth. "Now, don't tell the higherups, but I plum forgot it. Been hitting the sauce one too many times this week, my mind's going in all different directions."

The man slowly begins to rise out of his chair, and the other three follow his lead. "You forgot? Hey, it happens to the best of us, yeah?"

Knight prepares to rise too, and Titan tries to hold the conversation. "Hold on just a sec, don't report this thinking this is some sort of setup. I'd really like to not have this blunder on my record, nor do you, I'm sure."

"I'll just be using the bathroom real quick. I'll be right back, why don't you order us some drinks."

Titan stands up fully, and that makes all of us do the same. "Sit down, I'm not in the mood to run."

With everyone standing, the feeling becomes tense as we all stare at each other waiting for the slightest flinch. I can see their eyes scanning the walls all around them, looking for a quick escape. The one in the very back makes the first move as he spins around and busts through a locked door behind him.

"Grab 'em!" I shout. The remaining three all split in different directions, and we all pick a target.

One slips right underneath Knight's arm as he tries to grab him, and he is quick to give chase. The other jukes around Titan and heads for the front exit, Titan isn't so happy about running after him. The last hops over the table and slips right past Cheq who doesn't miss a beat to pursue.

I go for the one who ran through the door. I knock the table out of the way and push the door with both arms to throw it open. It leads to a dark hallway with annoying corner tables with vases and lewd paintings of women hanging on the walls.

Doorways begin to appear on either side, and I make a split decision to take the first one on the right. At the end of the hall, I can see the familiar black suit turn the corner. I catch up and make the turn only to nearly get hit by one of the vases being thrown at my head. I just barely duck out of the way for it to miss.

He throws the small table it was on next, and that trips my legs up since I was hoping for a high throw. I fall to the ground but still see him sticking his tongue out at me as he keeps going. I gather myself and watch him burst through another door that erupts with the screams of several women.

I dart inside at full sprint and find us in the dressing room of the dancers while in mid costume swap. The shrieks sting my ears at first, but I'm caught stunned to see him holding a girl by her throat.

I snap out of it and sprint for him, and he throws the girl my way by pushing her hard on her back. I step to the side and let her fall; I make a mental note to apologize later. He slips through another opening that leads to the stage. He jumps off the side quickly and hurries into the large crowd of people, and I have trouble keeping the suit in my sights.

I enter the crowd frantically, but I have to slow down and start searching for him again.

"You look like you need a drink," a worker says to me.

I keep searching around and over her. "A drink? No, I'm---"

"Maybe a private dance to help rid you of some of that stress you might be carrying?"

I have to fight the urge to just start manually moving people myself. "Lady, you couldn't have picked a worse time."

"Am I coming off as too cliché? Am I not to your liking? I'll fetch a different girl if you---"

I finally spot him heading through the exit and into the streets. "I bat for the other team, sorry!" I wiggle my way out of the crowd and throw myself through the door and into busy traffic. I'm nearly roadkill to three cars as they zoom by me with only a few inches between us.

I roll onto the sidewalk, my breathing is shaky and my good button-down is covered in sweat and dirt. The man is still running and I see him head into a crack between the buildings. I keep my momentum and pull out my stun gun as I round the corner and find him trying to climb a tall chainlink fence.

I skid to a stop right behind him and shoot. It connects and he lets go, falling to the dirty street and writhing in extreme pain. I get on top of him and force his hands behind his back, securing his wrists together with the restrainers I brought along.

"Pretty cheap throwing furniture and girls at me."

He spits in front of him, blood is mixed in with saliva. "What can I say, I'm frugal."

My knee digs into the small of his back. "If I was a cowboy, I'd drag you back there and make you apologize."

"With the way you're sitting on me, I'd think you were just the cow part of that label."

###

Cheq, Titan, and Knight all rendezvous with their catch in the alleyway that I caught mine. We set them up so they sit in a circle with all of their hands tied together behind their backs. We surround them and don't assign a lookout. I figured that if anyone sees a group of men acting shady in an alleyway in the dead of night, they'd leave well enough alone.

Titan speaks. "You're so sneaky, you thought any group of folk walking up to you at 21:00 was your boys. That's on you, we were taking a guess."

"Wait, our boys? What are you talking about? We were running because some strangers we were trying to make friends with became aggravated out of nowhere." Knight reaches down and grabs the man by the nose between two fingers and squeezes. "Ow ow ow! Okay, we're caught! Stop!" He lets go.

I lean down. "The CN-Gateway. Where is it? How do we use it?"

"What, how do you know about that!? There's no way someone in this galaxy would even know that kind of technology exists."

"We've got our ways. Now---"

"No dice, kid, we can't give up something like that. That little piece of tech is too precious to the Vanguard to hand over to a group of thugs. Whoever you might be, your search ends here."

Another Angel protests, "They know about the Gateway, I don't think they're just thugs. I also don't think they're going to take no for an answer."

"That's right," Titan says, "Boys, pick a face and stomp on it. They'll either talk or surface a hidden kink."

He means it as his nice dress shoes meet the nose of the Angel closest to him. We all do the same to our counterparts, they try to dodge and roll out of the way, but being tied together means they rip against themselves and stay in the same spot. Even in the dark of the night and the seclusion of the alleyway, I can still see the puddle of blood building up by our feet.

I don't just aim for the face, but I stomp his ribs too whenever he leans back; it knocks his air out. I also stomp on the kneecap, but not hard enough to break it. I'm not sure how far of a degree Titan is willing to go with this, it's better to keep it as superficial damage that'll heal later.

I hear a clanking noise, like metal hitting the pavement. "Stop!" Cheq shouts, everyone backs off.

He picks up something and holds it up to show us. He puts it in the face of his tramplee. "What's this little ring here?"

The man has his eyes shut tight, the top of his head is bleeding profusely and blinding him as it drips down. "Blow off, gutter filth," He punches his nose and brings him back with a hand on his throat. He coughs and whimpers, his face mimics a fruit being juiced.

"Say something else and get it again. What is this ring?"

"That's the goddamn gate, you idiot! You load it in your photon cannon and shoot it like ammunition."

"Does it deploy and enlarge after a certain distance?"

"Yeah, it's smart like that."

A different Angel, one that hasn't talked before, interjects. "Enough! Stop telling them how it works, that'll doom several squadrons."

"Look at us, you fool! We're sitting in a dirty alley in our best suits getting stomped on by Yakuza wannabes. It's hard to see a mission when all I can think about is me."

"That's your problem."

Cheq snaps his fingers in front of the man's face. "Hey, you're being interrogated, stop ignoring me."

"I think we've got everything we need from them," Titan says, "we only need one of these to figure out how it works, right Cheq? Now, what should we do with four clipped Angels? I don't think letting you go back to your ships is an option."

Knight, never breaking his good posture, explains, "There's a pier nearby. I hear the water on this planet is not very dense, they should sink straight to the bottom."

"We don't even need to waste ammo. Alright, grab that side, lift on three."

###

Back on the Motley, Cheq hunches over his workbench to dissect the single CN-Gateway we do have. Titan sits in his chair trying to contact the general using the old transmission number he gave us to call back after the missions he sent us on. No answer.

"The damn galaxy is under the threat of invasion and the Paxes Defense Force doesn't want help it didn't ask for. Typical," he says.

Knight swivels in his chair to face Titan. "Hey, are we really planning on taking on Angel Vanguard without help? Not even another mercenary group? I'd advise against it. I have a list here that might say yes to saving the very galaxy they work in."

"Hold on to it, I don't want to take that step yet if I don't have to. Nev, could you come here for a minute?"

I get out of my chair and head for the glass and whiskey.

"No no no, that's not what I meant."

I go to him empty-handed. "Sir?"

He gets up, his tall stature hovers over me like a compassionate shield. "You dumped those boys in the ocean real good, just like I taught you, I'm proud."

"Uh..."

"Also, do you know who I think is the best infiltrator and scout in the whole mercenary circle?"

"I can guess you're talking about me?"

"That's right! And what I need to be done can only be done by the best."

"I'm ready."

"You need to return to Paxes and warn the main station of the Defense Force about everything we've learned. As much as I wanted you to take revenge by your own hand, it just doesn't seem realistic anymore."

"Did you think it was realistic once we found out it was Angel Vanguard?"

"Admittedly I was hoping it was just a small squad that pulled the trigger, but it doesn't seem like that happened. So can you do this for me? I'll type up an easy file so it can do all the explaining for you. You just need to get it into the hands of someone in charge."

"I can do this."

"And don't hand it off to a grunt who says he'll take it to the top. They're just trying to get rid of you. He'll probably trash it once you walk away."

"Got it."

"Also follow the rules, but don't let them push you around. You're not one of their soldiers, but you also don't want to get ejected before you make the delivery."

"Titan."

"Titan!" Cheq rushes in carrying the small ring. "I've run it over the analyzer and found a compound of materials not existing in this galaxy. We can't make copies, this is the only one."

He shakes his head. "One shot? It's a good thing I work well under pressure. Knight, I trust your crosshairs, so I make the important decision that you will be firing the only CN-Gateway that we have."

"As long as there's no pressure," he says.

"I'll make sure to put it in the file that we only have one CN-Gateway. They'll likely confiscate it from us. I'll get to typing, just sit tight until I'm done, Nev."

I head back to the table with the whiskey and pour myself a drink. I'm sure he doesn't mind, and it's been a long night.