Slowly the doors to the Hudson Hauler began to lower, the roar of heavy rain echoing through the cargo bay now. Winston stood by the cargo door's control panel, a bottle of cola in one hand and the other against his earpiece. He brought his bottle to his lips for a quick sip, as cargo-bots began to hoist and carry crates and containers into the ship. "Yeah.. your cargo is being loaded. How do I know that? I'm watching your machines load my ship up right now." The man rolled his eyes. Pushy customers made the life of a hauler grueling some days. The man on the other side of the call continued to hound Winston about the importance of this shipment. Winston had become used to this though. Everyone's cargo was always important one way or another. Feeling that the conversation had grown dull, and seeing that the last of the cargo was strapped down in his ship, Winston interrupted his customer as he closed the cargo doors. "It's all loaded up so calm down Doc. We'll get this stuff off world soon but I have business to take care of here first."

With a press of the appropriate button, Winston ended the call with a huff. "That man is going to force me to replace my eardrums if he doesn't hush up at some point.." Taking another gulp of cola, he proceed to walk through the kitchen of the ship. Setting the bottle down, the man collected his PDA which he had left on the table. Sliding the collapsible device into his vest pocket he continued towards the exit. "Hey Bob!" He called out for his engineer, hoping he would hear him from somewhere in the ship. "I'm heading out! Gonna stop by The Tipsy Sewer. That's where our new friends should be meeting us soon."

Winston opened the doors and made his way outside. As he made his way down the stairs, the ship doors closed behind him. The pilot wasted no time getting under a roof was he was on the ground. The streets were wet, and the reflection of neon lights filled most of the puddles. As he made his way through the hazily lit streets, the locals either glared or eyed him uncomfortably. Winston kept a hand by his holster at all times as he shifted from cover to cover, doing his best to avoid the worst of the rain. As he turned another corner, he saw his destination and it's name illuminated by a bright neon sign. People huddled under cover together as they made conversation, the bar's music could be lightly heard through the rain from down the street. People appeared to be leaving the building. Winston thought that they may be heading home, since the hour was getting late. From the way Hisho's Market appeared, if you considered yourself decent, you wouldn't want to stay out too late. Worried that he may get mugged if he stayed out any longer, Winston hurried inside the bar.

Inside, the pilot found the bar to be rather shabby and dirty. Rusty, leaky pipes lined the back wall on the building. The ground was covered in crumbs and broken bits of what was presumably once a chair could be seen scattered across parts of the floor. There was a nasty looking spill of what Winston prayed was beer, and a rather musky scent was in the air too. Winston found himself a well lit and empty table near the back corner of the building, which only had a few patches of dried blood stuck to the cushioned seats. Taking another glance at his surroundings once he was seated, he could see why the owner's had given their establishment such an interesting name..

Winston sat silently and alone for the moment, listening in on the small banter from the customers around him from time to time, and glancing over at a glitchy holoscreen which had what appeared to be broadcasting the latest Gal-sports arena match. He tapped his fingers on the table, waiting for the others to arrive now.

Sulla didn't dress paramilitary off-duty, but rather went with a leather jacket and was otherwise unremarkably attired, but he looked enough like trouble to make the local toughs, eyeing him from their spot near the bar, decide to find easier prey-- maybe it was the way he held himself, with a lanky self confidence, for he was most certainly armed like most of the people out this late, or it was the way he moved, intentionally projecting the body language and even the pheremonal impression of a predator for others to pick up on, even if their sense of smell processed that all subconsciously. His movement was not hurried, and he didn't bother to hide the grace in his movement, the tuned athleticism; hell, his jacket and clothing were street but cut to emphasize the build. It wasn't grafted muscle that bulged, he wasn't cybered up.

He'd spent about a month in Hisho's Market, learning the rhythms of the place and he knew the signs of danger. This was a particularly bad place to be if you were unaware, and he made sure to avoid treading too close to anyone dangerous looking to make it seem like he was violating space or turf, because he wasn't stupid or looking for a fight.

The Tipsy Sewer was a rathole, and the people in it were furtive and ratlike in how they assessed a threat and decided to avoid. Luckily, the place didn't look like it was about to have trouble too soon, so he was able to make his way in, adjusting eyes and hearing to the place, and taking in the scents, his nostrils flaring accordingly. He got quite a bit from that, though not all humanity did. In his case, there were times when he wanted to turn it off, such as now -- the sweat, the alcohol, the stale food and the other things rankled all the more so for a person with an enhanced nose.

The holoscreen's sound was popping with feedback from blown speakers, but he wasn't really here to watch the game anyway. And while his immune system was more than capable, he wasn't looking to challenge it with whatever the place had for refreshments. It was all business for him and he was just about out of money anyway, spending it on swill and piss didn't appeal.

And so once he spotted the man after he made his entrance, shutting the door carefully behind him, he made his approach, weaving his way past the assorted run-down low-rent scum that frequented this place and called it their watering hole. He made his way for the table, and gave Winston a respectful distance as he greeted him.

"Mr. Valos. I hope we aren't posing a photo here for the memories," he said with a degree of amusement in his voice, as he then closed the distance and sat himself down, splaying out in a chair with a degree of feline arrogance that was part and parcel with the way he moved through the market, self-assured but not the swagger of some street tough, but of something less concerned with seeming. If the locals were predators, they knew well enough to mark something of a similar nature, and it wasn't the way of things for predators to start fights with other predators not threatening their position. He was a transient, and it showed. He had better things to do than carve out a piece of Hisho's Market for himself.

That's why he was here with Valos.

"Hey Bob! I'm heading out!" The insectoid Mechanic let out a crackling hiss of annoyance as his old friend called out. "My name isn't- Ahh forget it..." His voice was robotic sounding, synthesised by the cybernetic voice box imbedded in his throat. Standing at five foot two, the Chi'tai known as Bob wasn't the most intimidating figure in the galaxy. His species was a decidedly scrawny one, with thin thoraxes and spindly limbs. Like most of his race, Bob had replaced almost forty percent of his own physiology with cybernetics, including his upper left arm. Now he was using that arm to read a holographic display projected the palm of a three clawed, metallic hand. He looked away from the display to oversee the final loading of their cargo and, once it was all secure he dismissed the loader bots, making a final entry on the display before dismissing that too. Making one final round of the cargo bay to ensure everything was properly secured he decided it was time to catch up with his partner. He turned to the feminine robot standing by the stairs to the upper causeway and gestured to her. "I'm going to meet up with Winston. Are you coming?"

-

Nadia had been observing the loading process with apathetic disinterest. The primitive cargo-bots did nothing to stimulate her programming. However, the chance to leave the often boring interior of the ship was quite welcome. "You're going to see Master Valos?" She asked unnecessarily as she moved over to the mechanic's side. "I will accompany you." Together they stepped out into the rain and after stopping make sure the ship was locked up, they moved off into the city, heading for the bar.

-

The trip was interrupted when, about half way there, a pair of thugs stepped into the street to bar the way. Bob would've liked to avoid such inconveniences entirely by simply flying over their heads, but his membranous wings were delicate and didn't do so well in this downpour. Not to mention he had to make sure Nadia didn't decide to remove some poor vagabond's appendix along the way. Though it seemed she'd get a chance to operate on someone after all. "Nadia, would you mind?" He asked, gesturing towards the thugs, one of whom was already readying some kind of dangerous looking firearm.

-

The blue lights that simulated eyes of Nadia's display took on a positively gleeful shape as she stepped towards the thugs. "Preparing to administer treatment." She said in a calm tone. She suddenly leapt towards the armed man, surprising him as she closed a strong robotic hand around the barrel of his weapon. The other was reaching under his coat, probably for another weapon, when she ripped the gun out of the first one's grip and blew his friend away. Evidently the weapon was some kind of powder scattergun and the hapless thug found himself taking a barrage of metal shrapnel straight in the face. he was dead before he hit the ground.

The other thug cried out in pain, his fingers having been broken when Nadia removed the weapon from his grip. "You appear to be in distress." She said soothingly to the thug, as she discarded the scattergun and seized him around the throat. "Please allow me to administer a sedative." Without waiting for a response, her hands tightened around the thug's throat and his air was quickly cut off. He made a strangled sound but Nadia wasn't done yet. She squeezed harder and harder until, with a sickening crack, the man went limp. She dropped the body to the ground and stared at them both for a moment, her scanner whirring softly, before turning and walking back to Bob's side. "I'm afraid both patients have ceased life functions." She said unnecessarily.

-

"No kidding..." Bob responded, looking over the scene. He didn't really enjoy violence, to be honest. He preferred problems that could be solved with a wrench rather than a gun, but he was realist enough to understand that those men would have gladly murdered him for a few credits. He wasn't going to shed any tears over them, not that his species was capable of shedding tears in the first place. "Come on, we'd better go see Winston." he said as he stepped off with Nadia in tow. The rest of the trip to the bar was uneventful and he quickly arrived. He and Nadia stepped inside and, after a brief look around, he located Winston, sitting with who he presumed was one his "new friends". The mechanic made his way over to the table and took a seat, giving Winston a nod of greeting. Nadia, for her part, moved over to stand next to Winston's chair.

Tap, Tap, Tap..

The fingers continued their pattern of rising and falling as the young man waited for a sign of friendly life to enter the scummy bar. He heard a set of foot steps approach his table, followed by a man's voice. Winston glanced up at the man, smirking at his statement. "I can't say anything would give me a reason to want to remember this place," the pilot said with a short chuckle afterwards. "Glad you could make it Sulla. It'll be damn good to have a trooper of your quality with us when the shit hits the fan."

Winston glanced around the bar once more, noticing that the holoscreen switched their current program to the Serena News channel. It was hard to make out what was being reported due to the poor sound quality from the broken stereos. "Certainly seems like we're going to need those skills in the upcoming weeks too.." The pilot's gaze shifted from the holoscreen and towards the door, where he saw two familiar faces.

Winston beckoned the two over. "Ah.. Bob. Nadia. I hope you two made it here without too much trouble." He said to the both of them as they took their places. "Sulla, this here is Bob." Winston said, gesturing towards the Chi'tia. "I met him while I was browsing for a decent freighter. I can't say I know anyone else with the understanding of the ins and outs of starships like he does."

The pilot then gestured to the feminine robot beside him. "And this missy here is Nadia. Nadia is a bit of an amusing story actually. I was searching for a medical droid to keep you folks in shape, and I found this fine piece of hardware in a pawn shop. Now Nadia may have a few odd quirks about her that may make me question my safety around her, but.. I know she's capable of taking care of both friendlies and foes without too much of a problem. Ain't that right Nadia?" Winston finished, a friendly smile on his face.

R0807 was a strange machine, he was more human than anything and he wasn't built with that in mind, but he was changed through a series of unfortunate events. Regardless he didn't seem to mind, not that he particularly cared for anything, being a robot. He does however enjoy a nice jazz song here or there, he lived like a lower class human, in a run down apartment in one of the worst areas in The Market. He enjoyed sitting back, enjoying his life watching spaceballs or whatever sports over attentive humans engaged in, he enjoys drinking a mixture of oil and a nigh infinitesmly small measurment of alcohol, just to get that real feel. He was low on both because he recently started drinking heavily, he needed to wet his wistle, not that he could wistle. Anyway he needed yet another reason to go to the shithole tipsy sewer. As he walked in, he noticed it was more or less empty besides a bug man, a robot, and a normal chap sitting down. He walked over and spoke, his helmet lighting up as he did so.

"01000111 01110010 01100101 01100101 01110100 01101001 01101110 01100111 01110011"

He took a seat adjacent to the others

Nadia gave a nod in response to her owner's praise, her "eyes" taking on a cheerful shape. "My patient mortality rate is seventy eight point five nine percent." She said, a note of pride in her voice. A strange thing to be proud of. The arrival of another robot distracted Nadia from the conversation and she left Winston's side to approach him as he communicated in binary. "01010111 01100101 01101100 01100011 01101111 01101101 01100101 00101100 00100000 01100110 01100101 01101100 01101100 01101111 01110111 00100000 01110011 01111001 01101110 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110100 01101001 01100011" She responded cheerfully, although to organic ears she probably sounded like an old dial up modem.

Light footfalls fluttered over the soaked pavement while shifting hues, one of dark brown and the other covered by a plate of metallic blue, collected the sight of figures shifting through the downpour as Claire moved with a great deal of grace. An echo of steps trailed behind her as a large hound grunted lightly. A sky blue tinted hood was pulled over her head and a similar toned mask drawn up as she spoke gently, “This place is a dump.” Without much else to be said at that point she’d continue in her line of motion, thugs shuffled among the shelters as they eyed the feminine figure moving through the center of the street with the large seemingly tamed beast that stood just below waist height compared to her.

No forms, neither large nor nimble approached as Claire lifted two arms to fix her cloak, the maroon sights of the Sorvath locking on every threatening figure lurking about as they warded them off. Halting for a moment upon reaching an intersection, “Where is that place, what’s it called again,” Claire begin muttering to herself before staring at some bright neon signs down one of the streets, “The Tipsy Sewer, of course,” she'd continue with a groan before gesturing to the building and taking a few steps only to halt once more.

A Chi’tia and a medical droid were walking casually towards the same building which caught Claire's attention and curiosity, this was before the odd pair seemed to get held up by two decently muscled thugs. Watching the interactions she’d extend a hand to rest upon the smooth, scaled cranium of her companion, who in turn raised her head and focused upon the same scenario, “Well look at tha...” Claire would begin, only to cut herself off as she witnessed the medical droids response to the interruption of the brutes.

Blinking quickly she’d look upon the now lifeless forms before watching the odd pair returning to casually walking towards the Tipsy Sewer. Claire and the hound were used to seeing people get killed, heck Claire killed others herself, but a medical droid killing like an assassin was definitely a new one for her as she partially shifted to glance down at the hound. After a moment she'd begin striding towards the Tipsy Sewer once more this time with no interruptions.

Finally reaching the entrance of the building, Claire would open the door and emerge within its warm confines. Cloak dripping as she waited for the over-sized beast to enter before closing the door and turning to glance about. Claire would soon spot the person she’d been looking to meet, Winston Valos, surrounded by multiple others, including the seemingly peaceful medical droid, and slowly rolled her shoulders as she headed towards an unoccupied table to sit at away from the locals.

As she moved through the room, a member of the bar’s services began heading over, visibly ready to ask for the removal of the large creature following behind. Claire didn’t even get to open her mouth before the woman halted in her tracks upon the sound of threatening vocals emerging the Sorvaths maw. The rumbling sounds reverberating from deep within the hounds chest as an almost daring stare was fixated upon the staff member.

Claire would shoot a quick yet careless glance at the unhappy and mumbling woman before reaching the empty table and making herself comfortable upon one of it's surrounding chairs. Her eyes now trailing over the different figures around Valos and if he'd catch her sights she'd nod lightly in recognition visibly not that interested in being smothered in a group at this point in time.

Claire was then interrupted from investigating the rooms inhabitants as she heard a distinguishable 'thud' hit the floor, the hound of hers now rolling upon its back as she'd coil around with paws raised in the air and tail splayed across a walkway. Emitting a content groan the Sorvath would visibly drift off into a slumber as well-sized ears twitched at every sound and ebony nasals pulled at every scent presented within the air.

“Taz, you silly mutt, always sleeping on the job,” Claire would chuckle to herself before returning to just watch the happenings within the room and barely focused on the faint echo of robotic voices exchanging the stupid sounding binary codes they seemed so fond of, though she never complained to others especially if they appeared to be the ones she had to work with for a contract.

Copperhead removed his hammer from the mans skull. He had been working a security job for some very sensitive cargo and it just arrived at its destination, Xanto 2's, Hisho's Market. Copperhead stepped off the ship and saw his partner and only companion Eloln waiting for him with the client. Copperhead had to do this job solo because Eloln had to ride with the client on an alternate route. But now they were together again and he was safe. "There goes you merchandise you happy now." Eloln said with a snappy attitude.

After checking out the goods the buyer was satisfied and let the go. Their payment was transport to this world in exchange for protection. Eloln had another job set up with a Mister Winston Valos. "What is next, do we get a break to eat?" Copperhead said with a deep voice and a grumbling stomach. "No. We have more work and then you can eat after we get paid." Eloln said as they walked through the market looking for the establishment called the The Tipsy Sewer. There were many lights and people down here in the ward, many different vendors. Sights and smells caught the attention of both of them until they reached the bar. It smelt horrid and looked worse. Eloln took the first step inside and noticed a table with quiet the colorful guest list; Two androids, three humans, and a being he had never seen before. "That's them over there, Copperhead what ever you do, whatever they say, please stay calm." Eloln said as they walked over to the table to greet the others.

"Mr. Valso, correct. I am Eloln and this is Copperhead, we came to work." Eloln said with a smile and an out reached hand.

John stepped out of the interstellar transport that had taken him to Hisho's Market, still wearing all of his combat armor. He turned to the pilot and transferred over several credits to the man's account. "Well this is my stop. Thank you for the ride," he said before walking in the direction of The Tipsy Sewer. Lovely name for a bar. Before he could enter the building though, the neon sign that rested on top of the building was soon blocked by a group of seven thugs.

"Hey, you're that Killshot guy," one of them, obviously the leader, said. He soon held up a PDA to the mercenary displaying John's picture, with his helmet on, as well as the words, "1,000,000 CREDITS / DEAD OR ALIVE!"

John rose his arms above his head and replied, "You got me. What do you want? An autograph?"

The thug sneered. "Try your head!" he shouted as he quickly grabbed for his sidearm. John was quicker though, grabbing his machete, he used the blade to sever the thug's right hand clean off. He dropped to the ground, clutching at the missing limb, while his six buddies all began to reach for their own firearms. John threw the machete at the thug grabbing for a shotgun, the blade sinking into the man's throat, before quickly grabbing for his two guns that sat holstered to his sides. He pulled the trigger on both guns, dropping the two that stood on the outside of the group. He did this again with the next two, before aiming for the final thug.

Realizing his chances of survival were slim if he tried to fight, the last thug dropped his gun and began to run. After holstering his pistols, John slowly walked towards his blade and retrieved it from the corpse that it had stabbed. He held it up to his arm and carved five tally-marks into his armor. John looked down at the last remaining thug, the leader. "You should really get that looked at. Looks like a pretty bad cut," he said before continuing towards The Tipsy Sewer.

The first thought that John had as he entered the building was how glad he was that his helmet provided him his own oxygen, a dive bar like this would smell absolutely awful. Though, he had smelled worse before. Compared to some of the stuff he'd seen in his long career as a gun for hire, this place was a paradise. He searched the bar for any familiar faces, but the only one he found was his new employer, Winston Valos. They could just not very widely known, but I still hope I'm not the only professional taking this assignment. Babysitting, especially amateurs that think they can help, is one of the worst jobs to take. He gave his teammates a second look over before coming to a final decision. Hmm, they seem to look experienced enough. Not to shabby at all.

John decided to finally take a seat among the small band of adventurers, deciding to sit next to the woman who brought the sleeping Sorvath. He used a nearby, unoccupied table to rest his feet on before giving a half-salute in Winston's direction. "Killshot reporting for duty, sir." The merc gave another look at the Sorvath that lay on the floor, then looked to the owner of the mighty beast. "Mind if I pet her? Or is she not very friendly with strangers?"

Winston gave pleased nod in response to Nadia's statement. "Thank you Nadia. See what I mean Mister?" He said, glancing back over at Sulla. Just then, Winston heard a deep, low growl come from something near the entrance to the bar. He looked up, seeing another feminine figure make her way towards table to take a seat followed by a large beast. "Claire, excellent timing. Don't worry about the folks around here. I think they know better than to bother a group of folks like us." Another droid walked through the door, making his way towards the table of mercenaries. "And R0807 another useful member to the team. My it looks like the gang is coming together quite nicely." Winston pulled the PDA out of his pocket and placed it on the table, the screen lighting up as it was activated once more. "Now, I think we have a couple more people we're waitin' on.."

Winston picked up his PDA, the screen lighting up is face. He stroked his beard with his free hand as he navigated the menus with his thumb. The screen displayed primarily maps of the city, which would get cycled over to a menu with Serena News articles. Winston seemed to be intently looking over the information as he analyzed the articles. Nothing seemed to him like anything necessarily important to mention to the others at the moment. He hadn't noticed the cold blooded mercenaries had arrived until he heard Eloln introduce himself. Glancing up from his PDA, Winston smiled at the small lizard and his companion. "Ah Eloln and Copperhead! An interesting pair of killers that'll fit in just well for the operation." Winston said as he shook Eloln's hand. Following close behind the two was another human. "Killshot, another man who's good with a gun. I think that's just about everyone."

Winston slid his PDA back in his pocket and looked over the team he had assembled. They were some mighty fine troops, but he was no general. To be frank, the man couldn't see himself being much of a leader. Usually taking orders rather than giving them, he never did see himself coming close to any position of command, but here he was now. A small group of individuals looking to make some money out of a possibly bad scenario. Winston nodded in approval to his crew. "Now I hope you don't mind.. but I took the liberty of getting us a job. Now now.. nothing too bad, and probably simple by your standards. Now it'll either go smooth and easy, and we'll all earn some easy money, or things will go bad and i'll get to see how you all handle under stress," the man stated, glancing from each individual to the next. "And then we get paid."

There came a ringing from his earpiece, and Winston lifted a finger as if to signal the others to hush. With a press of a button on his earpiece, the man accepted the call. "Ah Harris.. we were just tal-" Winston's expression took that of someone who was troubled for a moment as he listened to the man. "Right now? Damn.. try not to get your head blown off. We're on our way." The call ended, and he looked up at the others around him at the table. "Showtime." He signaled to the others to stand up and pointed towards the door.

Claire would shift lightly in her seat as Natasi grunted and partially moved within her slumber, tail whipping across the floor now and then followed by thick puffs of breath emitted by the hound. The sound of Claires name being spoken made the woman shoot a glance at the man she had come to see, it wasn't one of fondness as she spoke in a calm yet recognizably annoyed tone, "If you don't mind, Winston, I hope it's okay to call you that. It's actually Scarlet," she'd begin, eyes drifting over the group as the man began to go through the those gathered.

When the man removed his PDA, she'd realize she better do a check over and pulled out a small device of her own. It's screen black with faint blue lights scattered over it and a bright logo sat across its top reading 'V7.02 Companion System'. Anyone that could see it by any means would see some form of statistics and a life-line running across the very top. The faint beep it produced now audible to those about now that it was no longer confined in a pouch.

Claire's own ears would eventually collected the sound of two more sets of pacing coming towards them while Natasi's eyes would barely open to peer at the approaching two scaled men. They were uneven in size comparison as they reached Winston's table and Claire would just huff a light breath as she got ready to return to her device. This was before she was halted again and listened to a masculine voice approach, the man it belonged to then sat nearby at the same table earning him a very unsatisfied glare.

Sitting up straight as she continued to hold onto her device, Claire heard the man ask to pat the over-sized house-pet lying upon the floor, "Your guess is as good as mine on that one," she'd state, her voice retaining that same energy as before if not coated by a little extra unpleasantness.

The woman eventually continued reading over the statistics, listening to Winston in the background while she proceeded in hitting a few buttons and sliding them around as she compared and calculated some things, "Everything's looking good Missy," she'd then say. With one foot reaching over, Claire lightly shoved the slumbering beast onto its side with yet another 'thud', and just then as she was watching the flailing Sorvath, the man everyone was gathered around suddenly rose and gestured to them all.

Booted feet planted firmly, Claire would rise to a stand and quickly tuck her V7.02 Companion System back within it's pouch. The continuous beep it produced now silenced once more. "Natasi. Time to get going. Get up," Claire would bark towards the now rolling hound, Natasi's legs flailed in the air while her lizard-like tail swayed dangerously side to side. All Natasi did at this point was stare upside down, with a wonky expression of content, at the seemingly unimpressed mistress of hers.

Claire would soon shake her head as she started towards the door and lightly spoke over her shoulder, "Come on, Taz." Sure enough as the woman got further away, the creature would suddenly begin scrambling to its feet. The scraping of claws repetitive on the bars flooring as Natasi would quickly prance with great and surprising elegance towards her mistresses side. Claire would glance down towards the beast of hers with a light smile hidden under her mask, it'd been there a while now from the rolling act Natasi had put on and she huffed, "Silly creature you are."

With that, she'd then open the door to let the Sorvath back out into the wet before following it, she didn't mind if she made it out first since after all, it saved being stuck right among the rest. Moving off to one side of the path away from the entrance, Claire would crouch beside the large animal and begin to lightly scratch the top of its head and down it's neck. She knew all too well that she couldn't be angry at Natasi even when she tried to play silly games, after all she was only young.

Sulla was caught a little under-armed for the whole situation, but they were in 'civilization,' so to speak; it meant that he was packing a pistol, a knife and, his favorite, monowire, which just had a million little uses. So instead of grousing about a need to arm and armor up, he just processed the information coolly, while waiting for a couple of the others to chip in first. He did have one comment, "Can you upload the operational data so we can review it en route?" Better than nothing, he figured, and his sunglasses actually put that info in a HUD if he cared to use it as such.

It was probably street fight stuff, but maybe he'd be surprised. He would wish, in this situation, for a shotgun or something, but he figured he could be useful with what he had.

Just as well they hadn't ordered anything, no need to pay a tab. He got himself up and tucked the chair in. At the very least, he wouldn't look too out of place on the street, and that was just good sense -- he'd done undercover work in his time, because the function was essentially that of an intelligence operative, so the street clothing wouldn't throw up alarms. The others were loaded for bear and stuck out quite a bit more, so he observed to Valos, "Are we driving or getting there on foot?"

John looked down at the Sorvath in contemplation as her owner replied with a very criptic response. To pet or not to pet. His hand moved out from it's position behind his head and he began to reach towards Taz, ready to scratch the dog-like creature's chest. The owner then suddenly tapped her pet with her foot, rolling animal over on it's side, and obscuring John's targeted petting spot. Ah well, probably would have bit my hand off anyway. He looked up as everyone began to rise from their seats and head for the door. "Time to get down to business then," he said as he followed.

Once reaching the door, John opened it and propped his foot in front of it to keep it from closing, holding it open to allow everyone else in the bar to get outside. Of course, by doing this, he was getting absolutely drenched in the rain. His body armor was sealed tight though, and if it came to it, would allow him to survive in the vacuum of space for almost an hour. More if he was able to control his breathing. There's no way a bit of rain could possibly soak through and get him wet. He turned to his employer as he continued to hold the door open. "So how 'bout a few details about the job before we run in blindly?" he asked Winston.

Eloln shook his head in agreement and got up. He wanted to know the specifics of the job exactly so that he knew what he was getting into. "We gonna start now because it was getting boring." Copperhead said as he scratched one of horns. Copperhead did not have anything against the other people he just did not like to talk that much, as Eloln had once put it, he is a man of action not words.

They stepped out side the bar and it was raining. While the rain didn't bother either much they were desert creatures by nature, and this rain was getting annoying. Eloln looked around at the others, quiet impressed by the group: Two droids, a woman and her pet, a mechanic, 3 mercenaries, with the famous Killshot being one of them. He knew he had to bring his A game with this group.

"So how 'bout a few details about the job before we run in blindly?" he asked Winston.

"I agree, what is the mission exactly?" Eloln said after Killshot.

"Perhaps sending them out on a task so early wasn't the best decision." Winston thought to himself as their questions started coming in. Hearing Sulla's request for the data on the operation, Winston removed his PDA from his pocket and cycled through tabs of information until he got to the contract. The job information didn't contain too much detail. It was a simple 'escort Person X to place Y,' and Winston didn't expect it to take such an unfortunate turn so fast. With the data however was a local map of area, and the route the target had planned to take. Winston uploaded the information, making it accessible to anyone near him who had the tech to view it. Winston followed the others outside. "The goal here is to make sure a man by the name of Harrison Graton reaches his destination alive, and right now that man is being assaulted by who knows what. We ain't got a ride, so we're gonna have to haul ass. It shouldn't be far." He explained, starting to break out into a sprint down the wet, rainy street. "Come on!"

As the squad came closer to their destination, the sound of automatic weapons fire could easily be heard through the heavy rain. Winston drew his pistol from it's holster in preparation of a shootout. He wasn't dressed for fighting, and neither was he geared up for one either, but this was to be more of a test for his squad than him. Winston brought the group to a stop at the street corner alongside a large worn down metal shack. Now, the fighting sounded very close. Winston carefully leaned to peak around the corner to get a view of the situation. The street appeared to be well lit, and a man in a gray coat holding a handgun appeared to be pinned down behind a van. Further up the street appeared to be several hooded riflemen with red coats and masks. There were two near the target hiding behind a dumpster which looked as if it were pushed out from a near by alley way, one on the rooftop across the street with very little cover protecting him. Lastly, there were three more hostiles behind small cars at the end of the street, farthest from the suppressed man.

Winston took cover once again, and noticed directly across from the group's position was an alley way. Winston thought for a moment, the sound of rifle fire still going off, and glanced back at the group behind him. "It looks like six guys in red coats are trying to kill our buddy in the gray coat. Two behind a dumpster, three behind some cars which appear to be the furthest away, and one guy on a rooftop to the right side of the roof." He switched the fire mode on his pistol from semi-auto to full-auto in preparation for the next part of his plan. "Now I reckon that the alley dead ahead of us may lead around and behind the dumpster brothers, so three of you are going to run across the street and get ready to flank the two from there. The rest of you are going to fight your way up the street and secure the asset. Get him out of the line of fire and clear out the rest of the hostiles. Now there could be more enemies so be careful when you make your advance, but I don't think they were expecting us to show up." He explained, getting ready to lean around the corner again.

"On my mark, move to your positions in the areas where you'll be the most useful in." The man stated one last time as he got ready to start his plan. "Get ready. Set. Move!" Winston shouted as he poked around the corner with his pistol, spraying a volley of bullets at the hostile on the roof top, buying the time necessary for the others to take their positions.

@Spybuster R0807 Hearing the quick wit and discussion of Winston, flipped his foot blades out and zipped through the alleyway around and spotted the dumpsters, through the wall he could sense the enemies ahead, he opened his arm to reveal sub machine guns. He adjusted himself in the rain, turned his foot slightly outward pointed almost horizontally while pushing forward, almost flat this time gaining so much force from each push he zoomed right past the enemies, opening fire on the two behind a dumpster hitting one directly in the head and missing another, he ducked as his friend got brain bits on him.

R0807 Wouldn't let him get away, as soon as he realized he missed he bent backwards grabbing a piece of rebar laying beside the dumpster, he flipped it around his his fingers and threw it like a dart into the other man's neck behind the dumpster. He turned his foot slightly and pushed off the ground, zipping forward and grabbing the rebar, ripping the mans head off as he tore it from his neck.

He waited for the others to make a move, hiding behind the dumpster evading any gunfire coming in.

The heads-up-display on John's helmet glowed with the information that Winston had sent him and the others. An escort job. Why does it always have to be an escort job? Assaults and assassinations are almost always fun, but escorts are usually annoying. Ah well, let's get this over with. John followed Winston to the VIP's location, though it didn't take long before they were close enough to just follow the sound of gunfire.

Once the small group of mercs, robots, and aliens had reached their destination, John quickly slid behind cover. With a press of a button, his helmet highlighted all six of the same hostiles Winston had spotted. This guy hired nine mercs, one of them being myself, to protect himself from six obviously very untrained thugs. I'd say this is overkill if it wasn't for the fact that I'm sure there'll be more on their way now that we're here. He turned to Winston as the pilot explained the plan. "Sounds good to me," John replied with a nod.

As soon as Winston gave the word, John vaulted over the hood of the car that he had been crouching behind, making a straight beeline toward Mr. Graton. Unholstering his two handguns, John started taking pot shots at the three men farthest away, keeping them from getting a lucky shot on the gray coat-wearing man. "Harrison Graton, pleased to meet you. My name's Killshot and the people here with me that are not shooting at your ass are here to rescue you." A bullet whizzed by John's head from the direction of the rooftops. Apparently the guy that Winston's been suppressing has been getting a bit impatient. He'll need to be dealt with. "Be right back."

John began sprinting toward the two story building that the thug was camped up on. Latching onto a pipe leading up the side of the building, he quickly climbed up. A normal person would begin to slide back down, especially with the rain soaking it and him, but with the press of another button the boots of his armor were magnetized to the metal pipe. Bullets ricocheted around him, a couple of them even him though they harmlessly bounced off, but he made it to the top before any real damage could be done. As soon as Winston stopped firing to reload, John jumped on the roof with the shooter, quickly grabbing his arm and breaking it with a single quick motion. Then, he threw the thug off the side of the building, head first. No way was he going to survive that fall.

Looking off into the distance, John eyed the three thugs left and reached for a grenade. With a second thought, he replaced back in the pouch. These guys aren't worth the money to buy a replacement grenade. He pulled his machete out and scratched another tally mark onto his armor before shouting to his teammates below. "Guy on the rooftop's taken care of! Now move the VIP away from the fire zone before he finds himself with a new bullet facial piercing!"

Eloln was quick to act and decided to split him and the big guy up. "Copperhead go help Killshot protect the target, and don't let him die understand."

With a nod Copperhead was off fast than he looked like he could go. He dashed right next to the target. "Mr. Graton, I'm here to help." Graton looked scared ass hell, Copperhead thought it was because of his size and appearance. With bullets hitting the van he needed to lay some cover down so that the man could get around the corner with the others. He reached up and grabbed his favorite gun Big Bite and charged it up. The gun fired a electric pulse so powerful that it turned what ever it came to contact in to much. Eloln once described the effect as taking a sledge hammer to squash. With the gun charged he aimed it at one of the men out of cover from the car. He fired and it made contact with the man dead in the chest. He exploded and pieces of him were everywhere, gun fire stopped and Copperhead got back into cover to recharge his weapon.

Meanwhile Eloln took off after the Android after giving Copperhead his job. He was fast so Eloln had to get on all fours just to keep up. He looked like a lizard running through the rain forest. He came up next to the machine and watched as the man exploded. The gun fire stopped due to initial shock but it pick up just as quick. He saw the two men behind the car and looked up and saw Killshot on the roof. He took this idea and began to run on all fours to the building he was on. Eloln climbed up the side of the building on all fours until he hit the top and saw Killshot. He ran over to him and pointed at the men behind the car.

@Guess Who
"We need to get ride of them before more show up." Eloln said with a hiss.

Claire would quickly follow along after hearing the arrangements for the gathered group, a gentle hand patting her thigh as she took to a sprint. The lanky legged Sorvath titled Natasi close to her side as they remained off to the side of the group avoiding getting muddled within it. The sound of echoing shots being fired in the distance caught Claire's attention, while Natasi's over-sized ears perked up, dark ebony nasal panels pulling at the air as a deep rumble emerged though she remained tight to her mistress's heel.

Upon reaching the destination and remaining hidden she'd nod lightly at the orders being barked by Winston. Eyes quickly trail over the form of R0807 taking off and disappearing down an alley before shifting to the sound of Killshot sprinting for the protection target. Claire would reach for the large rifle upon her back and sling it into position, one hand gripping and balancing the lengthy barrel while the other held tightly to the grip and she pulled it to her shoulder.

Crouched lowly, Claire would begin moving across the street sideways, gun aimed directly down at those hidden behind the vehicle. Claire would suddenly halt in position in the middle of the street, bullet whizzing by as she'd tilt her head and rest her cheek upon part of the gun, eye closing to look down the scope.

"Taz, bring it to me!" she'd shout, the large pale toned creature would suddenly take off from her mistress's side. Winding past some vehicles and causing some confusion to those watching, Natasi would head straight towards the two hidden, one poked their head out just enough. Claire barely moved to line up the shot and pulled the trigger, the rifle emitting a faint sound as a bullet went flying.

Opening her second eye again, Claire watched as Natasi barely even stopped. She continued racing across the road, ears low to the sides and tail extended behind her as she'd launch onto the bonnet of the car darkened maroon hues glancing at the already dead man behind it before grunting lightly before she heard an unsteady foot slip near the other end. Head snapping to one side she'd glance at the other man who appeared to be trying to remain out of line of fire and she'd dip her head, her lips twitching as they curled up slightly to bare ivory fangs. Natasi knew little on how to kill properly, but she'd step down from the car's hood with no necessary effort and began pressing on with slow paces towards the man trying to reload his weapon.

Claire would watch closely, eyes fixated on the vehicle barely able to see the large beast now hidden behind it, hands lightly shifting on the guns as she adjusted her position and begin to move off to more cover near the alleyway. "Natasi! Bring it to me!" she'd bark once more, the hound unsure exactly what to bring would launch at the fumbling person and latch onto his weapon, one giant paw pressed into his chest as deep vocals rumbled in her chest. Natasi would then quickly shake her head violently, the mans hand releasing the weapon under the sudden force and the hound would quickly take off once the prize was freed.

A partial grin spread over Claires hidden face as the Sorvath winded through further obstacles only to find herself once more beside her mistress, maw grasped tightly over the now unarmed mans gun while a lizard-like tail whipped side-to-side. The beast almost looked to have a gleaming expression barely resembling a smile upon her face as her ears perked up and she remain holding the trophy.

Claire lost sight of the second gunman and huffed as she'd remain out of sight. Her gun pointed around a corner as she'd spot Copperhead with the target they had to protect, nodding at that knowledge she'd begin heading their way ready to pop the last guy behind the car if by chance he'd pop out. Though this wasn't likely with him now unarmed while Natasi followed close to her mistress with it wrapped within her daggery jowls.

John leaned against the railing on the roof of the building, looking down at the shootout below him. The remaining three thugs - scratch that, two thugs thanks to Copperhead's lightning gun - down below were so far off that the likelihood they'd be able to hit Harrison or one of his teammates was extremely low, admittedly anything could happen though. That's why he didn't even bother firing at them. John hadn't been paying much attention to those that had gone into the alley to take on the two by the dumpster, not after he saw that they were neutralized that is, so he didn't know Eloln was on the roof with him until the Parzon spoke. John showed no sign of this lack of knowledge though.

"There's only two left-" a silenced bullet from Claire's rifle struck one of the thugs making him need to recount. "Make that one left. I could easily take him on my own, heck I could have taken all six of these guys on my own, but we're a team here and there's no 'I' in team. So that's why I'm watching from up here for now. Reinforcements arrive and you can be sure that I'll jump back in, but for now I want to see what the rest of us can do. Know our strengths and weaknesses. That way we'll all be able to improve. So, wanna watch with me?"