Happy Hour

[Cazador]

"You coming with us Riley or are you gonna put your arsenal of toys to the test?"

If Riley and his patrons stayed, there would be a chance that Vulture would over run the place and take them all in. Even if he refused to come with him, Cazador would return to help them once he retrieved his armor. Riley may of had a shady business and low life customers, but each of them had the right to live their own lives the way they wanted to. As silly as it sounded, he would willingly comeback to fight a military for a brothel/bar to stay open and to save the patrons from facing an execution do to breaking a small rule. For now he would leave. Cazador followed Rose into the sewers. It was dimly lit, smelled, and felt wet.

"I've smelled cow shit that was cleaner than this."

The scent really was vulgar, but it was the city sewer system. It couldn't be helped. Now there was just the matter of where they were going. With Vulture now focused on Riley's tavern, it would appear that the two were safe for the time being. So long as they thought they were still in there, Vulture wouldn't expand a hunt and search team.

"How do you plan to take a hot bath if you can't go home. It's obvious you did something to piss off Vulture. That's why you couldn't go home to your husband. Am I right?"

[Ayen]

"You coming with us Riley or are you gonna put your arsenal of toys to the test?"

“Already put them to the test. They work.”

Riley turned around and then headed back to the tavern lobby as the battle was still waging on outside between his defenses and the Vulture patrols. Soon a second squad came in, breaking through the ceiling and down onto the lobby floor from a rope. A squad of five Shock Troops aiming their auto-target assault rifles at Riley who quickly pulled the pin on a grenade that when it set off, it jammed their signal, making their visors and weapons useless for a brief moment allowing Riley to take out his shotgun and blow them away.

“That's for breaking Riley's ceiling.”

[Kragen]

Rose shot Cazador a sharp glance upon his question being asked. Turning her back to the soldier again as she made her way through the sewers tunnel doing her best job of ignoring the smell.

"Not that it's any of your business, but no. I can't go home. I chose to stick to my principles and help an innocent person from being executed and have been branded a traitor by Vulture. So instead of being home enjoying some nice coffee and a chat with my husband I'm walking through a sewer tunnel with a kidnapper."

Yeah, she totally caught that kidn from earlier.

[Cazador]

Cazador stopped for a moment when he heard the word 'kidnapper' come out of her mouth. It looked like she was able to piece together what he was going to say earlier. Of course not that she knew, where would they go from there. What was stopping her from just using the gun Riley gave her to just shoot him on the spot? He continued to walk behind her.

"So if you know I'm after your husband, then why haven't you shot me yet? You could just easily turn around and put a bullet in my head and just keep on walking."

It might not of been smart to be feeding her ideas, but he really didn't think she would attempt to do anything to him. They were headed into the direction of where his armor was being held. Once Cazador retrieved it, it would be easy to shake off any Vulture troops that would happen to find them from there.

[Ayen]

A Venom patrol craft flew over the hole now present in the ceiling of the tavern and began unloading upon him with its front auto-cannon. But Riley turned on his kinetic barriers and withstood the bullets that connected before unloading another powerful shell from his shotgun, causing the craft to explode and its remains falls to the front of the tavern now acting as a blockade in the form of burning rubble.

“Pass me the BBQ sauce.”

[Kragen]

"Because I don't pull the trigger unless I have no other alternative. Not even on scumbags like you."

She said harshly as they continued down the sewer tunnel. Even from here Rose could still hear the fighting going on back at the tavern and hoped that Riley, and however else had lend a hand, if any, would be able to hold off the attacking forces long enough to give them time to escape as she continued to look for the nearest available ladder out of this place.

"Just who are you anyways? Are you with the Resistance?"

[Cazador]

Cazador made no attempt to defend himself from the scumbag remark. She hit the nail on the mark to what he was. Just because he fought against dictators never met he was a hero. He had killed countless people in his life to get where he needed to be. Cazador was just another monster that just happened to be fighting for freedom. The Crimson Vulture was the epitome of Cazador hated. Men in power deciding how people should be allowed to run their lives. Before even joining Blackstorm, Cazador could remember the poor childhood he had. While people remained in poverty, the leaders would hold on to wealth and live in luxury.

None of them ever willingly lifted a finger to help them at all. Cazador was nothing, but a weak child back then. Now that he the tools he needed, he wouldn't allow something like this to go on. He would fight to the very end until his body was broken to see that no one would have to suffer under Vulture. He didn't care about running into death along the way either. Part of him wanted to die to see his family while the other part wanted to live to keep fighting on. The only thing he really had left in realm of the living was the hope that he would find his father someday. So far, his search was running up dry.

For a moment, nothing was said. The only thing that could be heard was the battle above. Riley was definitely able hold them off. Cazador had to wonder just how many toys the man had. The sound of battle was finally broken when Rose asked Cazador who he was. He didn't really know how to answer it. When his enemies asked, he'd just tell them some cold words before killing them. No average person had ever asked him that. Cazador just gave a simple response.

"I'm just a soldier, but I'm not with the resistance. I just don't like Vulture."

Cazador paused for a moment before he went on to tell her his name. It wasn't really his real name though. It was just the name he had grown used to using. The spanish name for hunter.

"Cazador... My name is Cazador."

[Ayen]

The Vulture tried flanking Riley from the sides and rear, but his men kept them at bay while Riley remained focus on the front. Hearing a tank outside roll up at the front of his establishment, using its main gun to blast through the aircraft wreckage and then blow down a huge hole in his front door as he looked out at the tank.

“Is this because Riley's black?”

Before the tank could fire again, Riley unloaded from his shotgun into the tank's barrel right before it could fire another shot. Destroying the barrel from within and spreading to the rest of the tank destroying it like he did the Venom Patrol earlier.

“Don't you all have better things to be doing than attacking a tavern?”

[Kragen]

"Rose."

She said in reply, chuckling a little as she knew what his name translated to in English.

"Hunter and the Rose. That's funny."

They finally approached a ladder and Rose sighed in relief as she scaled up it, loosening up the manhole lid and slowly lifting it up to peak out to the surface.

"It's clear."

She Slid the lid over and then climbed out before turning around to wait for Cazador.

"Where will you go?"

[Cazador]

"Yes. I guess it is funny."

Finally they reached a ladder back to the surface. The smell of the city would be really refreshing compared to the stink of the sewer. Like Rose had said earlier, a hot bath would feel great after getting out of there. First thing was first though. Cazador would need to go back and help Riley. He owed him for getting him and Rose out of there. Now he needed to repay the man. He waited for Rose to go up the manhole before following her up. The dark city was a site for sore eyes. It was also well received on his nose. The smell was gone and not a second too soon. As he exited, he look towards Rose to answer her question.

"I'm going to get my armor from the apartment I hid it in and go back to help Riley."

It didn't take long for Cazador to get his bearings. As he looked around the area, he quickly realized where he was. The apartment wasn't far from his location.

"You seem like a good person Rose. I'm assuming your husband must be the same. I don't know why you two affiliated yourselves with Vulture, but it might be better if you find him and get yourselves out of the city. It'll be safer for you two in the long run."

He no longer had any interest in finding her husband to turn over to the rebels for information. He could of just been a good man who made a mistake of joining the wrong side. Cazador couldn't decide her fate as to what she would do. It was her choice to make on where to go from there.

[Ayen]

Riley could tell he was beginning to get under the Vulture's skin when they started firing rockets and railguns at him. He rolled out of their trajectory, and then rolled back in firing from his shotgun taking two of the Rocket Militants from unit PLAGUE out before rolling back out of the way. He was too far away from the wall for it to hurt if they took it down. But that didn't stop them from blowing down more of the wall to get a clearer shot at Riley. Too bad for them he had a back up plan for that too. Taking out another remote and activating a barrier at the wide area that now had no wall forcing them to move to the roof where he'd pick them off one by one.

“Life don't get much better than this.”

[Kragen]

"Good luck."

Was all Rose could think of saying when he answered her question. She wasn't a soldier so there wasn't much she could do even if she wanted to. Rose was a lawyer, that was her chosen profession and that what she was good at. But lawyers meant very little in a land that had no justice. Rose wasn't sure what she'd do but the first thing was obvious. Go to her husband. They could figure out what to do from there. Which was exactly what Cazador more or less suggested.

"Thank you."

Rose said her goodbyes and then went on her way. Hoping that Roy was all right. Hoping that Meryl was all right in Sector 4. Hope was all she had right now and she wasn't about to let the Vulture take that away from her if she could help it.

[Cazador]

"Good luck Rose."

Cazador ventured off back into the city. Riley went out of his way to help him and Rose. He was eventually going to need to return the favor. He thought that he might as well now. He knew once he returned to the tavern fully equipped that Vulture would lose all interest in Rose for the time being and focus just on him. After leveling a few blocks along a battalion of troops with D.A.V.E., the Crimson Vulture were probably thirsty for some revenge. Cazador had every intention to let them try. This was assuming of course that there would still be some action left once he arrived.

It didn't take too much time for Cazador to make it back to the apartment building. Even after running for a few minutes, he was hardly even winded. It was good to know, even without his armor that he was still in top combat shape. He climbed the stairs quickly to reach his room. Waiting for an elevator always took too long anyway. Once he entered his apartment, Cazador deactivated the stealth field on his armor and started to put it on piece by piece. He was quick to get his gear on. He had been using it so much that he was starting to feel naked when not in it.

Cazador approached the window to his apartment and prepared to make his jump. He put his helmet on and activated the suits power.

"Mark VII Matrix Power Armor Activated. All Systems Online."

The suits HUD came up. Everything was running well. Cazador leaped from the building and activated his jetpack. He quickly flew across the sky, high above the city buildings. People on the ground could see the glow from his jetpack. The pointed up wondering what he was. He was flying by too fast for them to really catch a glimpse. Cazador was starting to see the smoke from Riley's bout with Vulture. He landed on a near by building to get a look at what was going on so far. It looked like he had been holding up quite well. Cazador continued to look on to further assess the situation. Vulture hadn't spotted him yet, so the element of surprise belonged to him.

[Red Queen]

It would seem the simple tavern owner had proven to be more than the Vulture's soldier on site could handle. Of course Red Queen knew he was much more than a simple tavern owner. He was a weapons specialist that exploited both the dimensional barrier collapse and the city's laws to increase his own business. Pure unprecedented chaos was his clay to build with. Then there was the one-man-army simply known as Cazador. Yet another person who made an appearance in Isafaro who decided to be a thorn in their side. This may very well be Vulture's chance to kill two birds with one stone. Riley would be greeted by a Vertigo Bomber appearing over the opened hole in his ceiling dropping a single groundpounder bomb atop his head. Cazador element of surprise would be short lived as a spark lit up the night's sky and along came something especially for him.

“Target Verified. Commencing hostilities.”



The Vulture's Mech Unit: Nineball. Operated by Hustler One.

Once in range Hustler One greeted Cazador with a series of missiles raining down upon his head.

[Ayen]

“Sneaky little bitches.”

With no time to lose, Riley aimed the shotgun upward and blasted the groundpounder bomb before it could drop through the hole in the roof. However that wouldn't stop the shockwave from erupting through the air and against the roof, nor the shrapnel that now fell down on top his head in addition to setting it off prematurely. The pressure of the bomb itself pushed down on the roof and the ceiling now collapsed in on the tavern but just as the Vulture's unit outside thought Riley was done for, he reappeared through a transportation device on his belt at the front of the now wrecked tavern.

“That ain't coming out of Riley's wallet.”