Last Fare of the Night (IC)

[Heritage]

GM

 

August 31st, 4:25 AM

 

It had been a long and productive Saturday night for Noemi; Labor Day weekend marked the end of summer, which meant a lot of fares, many of whom were drunk and therefore extravagant tippers. Of course, she'd also had to wipe down the back seat a few times with disinfectant wipes...

 

Noemi was heading west out of the Theatre District on Stanwick when a very tall, broad man in a boxy navy blue suit stepped off the curb and waved his hand; maybe she had time for just one more?

[Supercape]

One more then.I could do with a good bottle of vodka at the Safehouse...

 

She wasn't exactly short of money. She had a roof over her head. Two roofs, if one counted the Safehouse. She didn't go hungry. But on the other hand, there wasn't a lot of change for clothes and luxuries. Working at EZ Cabs paid the bills but that was about it. A few extra rides, a few extra shifts. Paid for the better things in life. And, to be honest, after Communism, a few better things in life were damn good. 

 

"Get in, mister" she smiled at the man, pushing open the door before she had even pulled up. In Freedom City world of taxis, best to edge in before another wolf pounded in. 

 

"Where to?" she asked. "Anywhere nice?"

[Heritage]

GM

 

The man was indeed big, no, huge; well over six feet tall and probably close to four hundred pounds. When he placed his hand on the roof of the cab and leaned over to speak to Noemi, she could hear the suspension creak. His face was broad with a flat nose that had probably been broken more than once; his pale blue eyes seemed small yet piercing beneath his heavy brow, and his dark hair was plastered down to his skull with generous amounts of product. Yet for all this, his smile was surprisingly warm.

 

"Well, I suppose it depends on what you think is 'nice'." His voice rumbled from deep within his chest. "Is North Bay nice? I know it's a long drive at this hour, but there's at least a hundred bucks in it for you."

 

He reached into his suit coat and pulled out a fat gold money clip for inspection; there looked to be a few hundred dollars, and it was embossed with the initials 'WHC'.

 

"So what do you say?"

Edited September 4, 2014 by Heritage

[Supercape]

"At least a hundred bucks? Mister, I'll drive you the Fens for a hundred bucks!" smiled Neomi. Although she hoped the suspension would hold out. To be fair, Big Easy, the loudmouthed owner of EZ Cabs, tried to make sure his cabs where in pretty good condition. For his profits rather than the feelings of drivers or passengers. 

 

The cab chugged off, happily enough although leaning slightly. Noemi tuned the radio to a classical station. One thing about the Soviet Union, they did knock out top class classical music. 

 

"Hope you don't Opera" she said breezily as some vaguely oppressive German number came on.

 

"What's in North Bay at this time of night?" she asked, wondering what the guy was made of. Looked like he had been on some high class steroids, by her eye. She recalled some of the and stomped her paranoid worries back down. 

[Heritage]

GM

 

The Man grinned and waved a hand dismissively; he settled back in the seat, his broad shoulders relaxed. "Wagner's so overrated; the Italian's write the best opera, hands down. Now if you're talking ballet, you've got to head to Russia; Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky. All of the Russians are pretty good, really."

 

He paused to run the fingers of a gloved hand through his hair; the gloves were black leather, and looked fairly pricey.

 

"The Germans do some good work, too, the three B's especially." He counted off on his fingers. "Bach, Brahms and Beethoven." He chuckled and shook his massive head. "Heh; my piano teacher would be proud."

 

He was quiet for a while, just watching the lights and the traffic roll past, his face half in shadow; the scent of his hair tonic and cologne filled the inside of the cab, expensive stuff. At length, he answered her second question. "Home; North Bay is home." He gave Noemi the address, his eyes never looking her way. "Take your time, kid; I'm in no hurry."

Edited September 4, 2014 by Heritage

[Supercape]

Neomis face remained friendly and relaxed, nodding for a moment as she turned the radio up slightly. A pleasant crisp volume but not one to drown. She didn't say a word for a minute or two, relaxing  through the night air of Freedom city and mulling her rides words.

Any one mentioned Russia and her ears would prick up. Just reflex really. She didn't enjoy her Spy paranoia but it tickled her anyway.

"So what do you do in North Bay?" She asked, making conversation through neon lights and hypnotic city. "Something to take you away on business? Or was it pleasure? Been away on holiday? You look like a wrestler or something. I don't think I have seen a bigger men in my car, that for sure!" She said making light conversation as the city rolled pass. At least at this time, even if they City never slept, it dozed. The traffic was a welcome ease.

[Heritage]

GM

 

For a very long time, The Man said nothing; he leaned back further into the seat with a creak of leather, his face completely obscured by shadow. From time to time, a stray flash of neon light would pass across his face, and at those times it was clear he was studying Noemi intently, that pale blue gaze haunting the rear view mirror. When he spoke again, the warmth had completely left his voice.

 

"I was working."

 

And now the young cabbie was able to pick out a new smell from underneath all the pricey men's fragrances, a familiar coppery smell she knew well from her life before.

 

Fresh blood.

Edited September 4, 2014 by Heritage

[Supercape]

Noemi's nostrils twitched for a second as she registered the smell. She recognised it. Much of her work had entailed spilling it. The work she would rather forget. Still memories haunt as well as soothe. She would have to forge some more of the latter to live with the former. 

 

"Work can take you far, that's true. Hell, I should know, huh? Rode a guy all the way cross country to Emerald City once. I was stiff as hell by the end of that, I can say. But you can't turn down that sort of money!" she lied. She wasn't bad at lying. Not bad at all. Especially when it was lie she wished was true. 

 

"What kinda work you in that takes you outta Freedom City?" she asked politely. She hoped it was "Butcher", and she really hoped it was the kind of butcher who prepared farm animals for food. Rather than the other type of Butcher. But she guessed the former didn't get out of Freedom CIty much. And the latter often did. 

[Heritage]

GM

 

Nothing from the back seat for several blocks, though The Man did take a deep breath that he let out very slowly. "Client relations," he finally said rather cryptically. "I met a client at the theater tonight. I don't always travel." There was a series of odd clicking noises that Noemi couldn't identify at first, but then it came to her: he was methodically cracking his knuckles, one at a time, in succession.

 

"You talk a lot, do you know that? Not everybody likes to talk." A pause. "Let's just listen to the music for a while."

Edited September 4, 2014 by Heritage

[Supercape]

"Sure thing, Mister"

 

Any other taxi driver might have been intimidated. But Noemi was the Red Rat, dammit. Some huge guy like this, well, he was creepy, for sure. She was creeped out, for sure. But she wasn't going to back down, either. Some guy like this, huge, creepy, and cryptic. The Red Rat wanted to know what was going down with him. 

 

But Clam up for a bit?. That she could do. 

 

She turned up the Opera a little, as the man had requested, and drummed her finger on the steering wheel  to the musical stabs. The city wandered past the Taxi as they approached North Bay. 

 

"Here we go, Mister. Anywhere in particular you want?" she asked, a little more stiffly than before. He had given her address, and she thought she knew the place. But....but he was a weird and vague one, like shifting sand. 

 

"Anywhere you want its good for me. You are my Last Fare of the Night...."

[Heritage]

GM

The Man slowly leaned forward, his great head looming just behind Noemi's as he spoke slowly, carefully enunciating every syllable as though speaking to a child. "I have already provided you with my home address; if you need more specific instructions, I will supply them. Exit here at Sidney Ave and head due east. Once we get to Osgood, take the right."

He leaned back again, and then began to cough; a shallow dry cough, almost like a hiccup. He covered his mouth with a gloved hand and coughed a few times more, his broad shoulders shuddering in the rear view mirror.

Edited September 6, 2014 by Heritage

[Supercape]

Dutifully Noemi turned right into Sidney Avenue. Kinda familiar. She had made a point to learn the arteries and veins of Freedom City as best she could.And it was not difficult. 

 

Her cybernetic eyes were flashing the distances, directions, and layout of the streets.Slave had built up a map of the city, and she never got lost. Handy for a Taxi Driver. "Big Easy", the Boss, was a shouty type of boss who gave everyone hell whether they deserved it or not. It was just a lot easier if you didn't. Thanks to Slave, she rarely deserved it. 

 

What was with the cough? I hope I'm not going to catch something. Her altered body could adapt to many things, but diseases affected her like anyone else. She could try pushing her body to evolve, but it was a random process, like evolution. And urning her mouth into a bony maw filtering out bugs would be hard to explain. 

 

"Hey mister? Are you ok? You need me to take you to a hospital or something?" she asked, as she pulled up outside the address he had given her. 

[Heritage]

GM

The Man shook his head as he pulled out a handkerchief and coughed into it a few times. "No hospital," he was finally able to gasp; the coughs became more frequent and wetter, a very disturbing sound. He pointed outside and to the right. "Pull over."

Once the cab was at the curb, Noemi's fare staggered out and collapsed on the front lawn of a large suburban home. The coughing became very deep for a few seconds, until The Man spat very loudly. Then he paused, sat back on his haunches and seemed to look up at the sky and take a few deep breaths. The first dim hints of morning were just starting to tint the horizon.

Edited September 6, 2014 by Heritage

[Supercape]

Noemi looked at the man shocked. Was the man even a man? He looked more like a werewolf right then. 

 

Carefully, she pulled her gun out of the glove compartment. A silenced automatic pistol. Top range, silent, and loaded. Right now, with rubber bullets, although she had a magazine full of the real deal in her car too. She just didn't want to kill anybody if she didn't have to. Enough with the political assassinations. 

 

"Hey man, that didn't sound right..." she called out tentatively, wondering just who or what the man was. She cast a quick look back at the seat he had travelled in, half expecting to see wolf hair, blood, or some of the man's inner organs lying on the seat. 

 

Perhaps a wiser person would have sped off at that point. But she had faced danger enough. And she wanted to know exactly what was going on. And, besides everything else, he hadn't paid her yet...

[Heritage]

GM

 

The big man laughed, his broad shoulders convulsed with merriment. He shook his head and seemed to wipe away a tear. "No, no, everything's fine; just had to get my wind back is all." He slowly stood up and dusted himself off. The Man turned around and smiled that same warm smile he'd greeted her with earlier in the night, but it looked a lot less comforting when his lips and teeth were red with blood. There was more blood visible soaking into the front of his suit, and a small round hole she hadn't noticed before.

 

"And don't worry, little lady." He held up his hand; pinched between his gloved fingers was a deformed bullet, glistening wet. "I didn't mess up your lovely back seat."

Edited September 7, 2014 by Heritage

[Supercape]

"You just got shut then? huh. Glad it wasn't anything serious"

 

Alert: Gunshot in chest likely to cause extreme risk to life!

 

She momentarily clenched her fists at the obvious statement. Slave was programmed for tactical and digital analysis, and everything in the world was seen through those glasses. 

 

"My boss would probably kill me if there was blood on the seat, y'know? But, honestly, right now, I am little more concerned as to how a man keeps grinning after being shot in the chest and then pulls a bullet out of his frickin' chest!"

 

Alert: Target may be unstable. Superior size and strength calculated. Warning!

 

Her foot brushed the accelerator pad. As the Red Rat, she would feel confident enough taking on any bruiser in the back seat. She was a lot stronger than she looked, and a skilled fighter. But right now, she was not the Red Rat, she was Noemi Newman. 

 

"You are a freaky dude, man. But I guess you know that. Still, I wouldn't mind being paid, even if you do freak me out!"

[Heritage]

GM

 

As her fare carefully got back in the cab, moving a little stiffly, he laughed and shook his head. "I didn't dig it out of my chest; that's disgusting! I just coughed it up into my hanky." He wiped his mouth with said handkerchief, leaning forward slightly to check himself in the rear view mirror. "Okay, I think I got it all. Wait, missed a spot." The Man dabbed at the corner of his mouth like he just finished off a plate of ribs. "There we go."

 

Tucking the stained handkerchief back into his suit, he cleared his throat politely. "I hate to ask, but do you have any gum? I've got to get the rusty penny taste out of my mouth."

Edited September 9, 2014 by Heritage

[Supercape]

"Yeah..." said Noemi, rather confused. She had a packet of the stuff, actually, and decided to lob the whole box at him. Or at least lob into into his hands rather than his face. 

 

"And for the record, Mister. Normal people don't just cough up bullets. Unless they asked a pizza joint for lead topping. What the hell happened to you?"

 

Her eyes were not normal. And not just in the way of the rest of her body, thanks to Darwin-X. No, the Soviets had decided she could use the SLAVE system. Because she was the only one who could tolerate it. The systems was not just the computer in her head. Her eyes, brilliant blue and beautiful, were artificial. 

 

She looked carefully at the man, scanning him with X-Rays. Broken bones? Hidden Guns? More Bullets? And the most important question...was that a human skeleton?

 

"And what kind of guy survives being shot and spits out the bullet later?"

[Heritage]

GM

 

"Oh, great, thanks!" The Man eagerly caught the package of Trident and fumbled to open it with his gloved hands; as he did, he shrugged and chuckled as he looked mock-bashful. "Hey, I never said I was normal, did I?" Finally he took off his gloves with a grunt of frustration, which revealed a meaty pair of mitts with countless scars on the knuckles and fingers. He popped three pieces of Wintergreen into his mouth, then stuffed the gum and loose wrappers back into his suit pocket before slipping his gloves back on. "You're alright, kid," he said as he noisily chewed. "You're alright."

 

A quick scan of his body revealed a number of disturbing things. Though his skeleton appeared to be normal, it showed evidence of dozens of healed fractures on nearly every major bone: femurs, radii and ulnae, collarbones, ribs, pelvis, skull, nose, eye sockets, pretty much everywhere. They suggested a lifetime of beatings, falls and probably a few automobile collisions. There were several dull gray lumps dotting his torso as well, more than likely bullets stuck in non-vital areas. as well as a small piece of a broken knife blade lodged in his sternum, mere centimeters from his heart. And lastly, he was simply covered in weapons; no guns, but three knives, a pair of brass knuckles, a collapsible baton up one sleeve and a garrote wire up the other. This man was literally death incarnate.

 

"Ah, I've always been a tough guy, you know? I can take care of myself." He sighed in contentment as he enjoyed his gum. "That right on Osgood is coming up."

Edited September 9, 2014 by Heritage

[Supercape]

Noemi dutifully pulled into Osgood, trying to process the man. He must have been tough as nails, or made of nails, to survive all the punishment he had. And he was packing too. But no guns. 

 

"There is tough, and there is iron" she said as she pulled up to the address he had given her. "My friend, looks like the first time you have carved a bullet out of your chest" she commented, words truer than he would suspect. 

 

"What's your plan then, Garrotte me from behind, or stab me in the front?" she asked, bluntly. "You say I am ok, well, thats good and all, but what about you? Strange as it may seem, I don't often drive around gangsters or assassins!" she said, laughing a little to take the sting out of the comment. 

[Heritage]

GM

 

The Man stopped chewing his gum, his small pale blue eyes focused like a pair of lasers as he scrutinized Noemi's face. After almost a minute, he swallowed his gum. "That's a heck of an accusation to be throwing around, kid." He put a gloved hand over his chest. "Have I been anything but respectful to you? Have I laid a finger on so much as a hair on your head? No."

 

He sighed as he rubbed a hand over his eyes. "We were having a nice, pleasant business transaction, and then you had to start saying hurtful things." He placed both of his massive hands on his knees and looked at the blonde with a mixture of disappointment and pity. "How long have you been driving this cab around Freedom? I'm thinking you must be new; am I right?"

[Supercape]

"You are right" said Noemi, trying to relax. She was good at that, at least. I kind of alert relaxation. Ready for danger but not burning herself up in preparation. 

 

"New to Freedom City. Helluva place, huh? Drags the mysterious and the mighty" she shrugged. "And the mob, too, buster. Don't think I ain't seen enough weirdo's at night to be cautious" she explained. And here, she was right. Night shifts in some areas were no picnic. 

 

"And I ain't thinkin' you are out to get me either. But, from the looks of you, you are out to get someone, huh? No stranger to violence, and with a jaw set too dance with it again, if I am guessing. Hell, I don't know what road you are on, and where you came from. Army? Boxer? Whatever. But I do know that won't be the last bullet in you" she explained. 

 

"So let me ask a question. Are you new in town too?"

[Heritage]

GM

 

He laughed and shook his head. "Nah, I've lived here for years. Not full-time, of course; work keeps me out of town most of the year." The Man indicated the house they'd stopped in front of, a big ugly McMansion from the look of it. "This is just a rental; I don't really own anything, except my tools. You go in there, you'd never know anyone lived there; no pictures, no books, no TV." He grinned, his teeth now free of red thanks to her gum. "Minimalist, right? Like the Japanese, or a Spartan warrior."

 

He casually reached into his suit and pulled out his money clip, but then he winced with embarrassment. "Ah, crap." The money in the clip was sticky and  brown with rapidly-drying blood; this prompted him to began digging around in his pants pockets. "Sorry about that; I think I've got a loose fifty in here somewhere..."

Edited September 16, 2014 by Heritage

[Supercape]

"You know what, this ride is on me" sighed Neomi. It was one of the strangest rides she had ever had, and in Freedom City, home of flying capes and sorcerers from strange dimensions, that was saying something. 

 

"Besides, I think you will need that money for your medical bills. I don't really want to know how you got that money, either. Or rather, I do want to know, but I wont ask you". 

 

Honesty was sometimes the best deception. 

 

"Thankyou for using EZ Cabs. Please take a card" she smiled, giving him one of the cheaply printed flimsy things that "Big Easy" gave his drivers for his company. Cheap card for a cheap cab. But then, you gets whats you pays for. 

 

She waved goodbye to the man. She had no intention of sleeping into the morning though. That house, that man. The Red Rat would be looking into that...

[Heritage]

GM

 

Monday, September 1st, 12:03 AM

 

The house on Osgood Avenue was dark; the streetlights in North Bay were soft white orbs made to look like Victorian gaslights, throwing much of the street and lawns into shadow. Since it was Labor Day weekend, there were still a few backyard parties going on, though they were mostly winding down; strings of colorful party lights bobbed up and down in the light breeze, and someone was playing Dave Mathews on their outdoor speakers. A few dogs barked from time to time, excited by the pockets of human activity.