Highway 13

[Kotomine_Rin]

HIGHWAY 13



A conglomerate of roads and highways interconnecting and coursing through all of Nexus city. It goes over roadways, bridges, and just holds it all together for those in need of vehicles. It is particularly impressive, especially at night time.

It's also unfortunately often the recipient of superhuman chases that send cars flying as hazards and tankers collapsing sideways. A permanent clean-up crew is attached to it as a result.

[Kotomine_Rin]

A-702

Nexus time 12:00 AM

The trio had left the CHEIRON office not too long ago. It had taken only a bit, for them to be offered a liquidated vehicle that is. License plate, make, and even papers were all falsified for the occasion. Deftly crafted, it all seemed a bit excessive considering how much it stood up.

The two were sitting on the backseat of a pink convertible, riding towards the night and the horizons. Where to? Who knows? The moon seemed to be the only thing in their way. The spider drove relaxedly with one hand, looking comfortable as all could be driving a vehicle he had never fiddled. Did he do such things in his spare time? Not like he'd tell. Besides, why ruin it? Night sky, stars, and a kickass background music goes a long way in a romantic night out.

"Enjoying the ride kids?" He grinned and glanced back a little, completely confortable and confident as they neared their destination. "Oh, snd you might want to open the briefcase. It's in the back. Trust me, you'll love it."

As he said that and drove, he typed a phone number on his smartphone with his free hand.

[yinsukin]

Suerte

Suerte sat in the back seat, an elbow resting on the open window, her blond hair fluttering in the wind.  "Its alright...." she said, clearly a little disappointed.  She missed punishment.  It wasn't like she wasn't the kind of girl who didn't appreciate a nice car, it was just that in her book, a car was a downgrade from a hell horse.  The sick music sort of made up for it though.

"Let me do it Justice, she said, reaching over the back seat and flashing the two with her panties.  Of course, she sat right back down in her seat once she had grabbed it, letting it rest in her lap.  If it was a trap, she had a much better chance of getting out alive thanks to her luck.  "This better not be drugs or something.... I hear city folk do lots of hard drugs."

And so, there was silence, followed by the simple click of the suitcase opening.

[YOLF]

Justice

He was basically made of stone and wearing an armor as tough as a tank, but he couldn't help but feel unnerved that there was no living communion between their current transportation method and their driver. It could fall apart or have a completely unpredictable mishap that no amount of empathy could help adapt to or detect. This was why Justice didn't do cars.

In confidence to the Creator, he also loathed being a passenger on anything that he wasn't driving himself.

"We seem to be taking the long way around," he remarked. Reclining lazily on his seat, Justice got a three-quarters view of Suerte's impeccable rear as she brought out the case. Perhaps, whatever the spidery man wanted to show them, beating around the bush was a precaution against unwanted eyes.

"What is it?"

[Kotomine_Rin]

The Briefcase

Inside the briefcase, two neatly split sets of clothes were sitting there, neatly folded. They were each perfectly tailored to their measurements, and as ornately made as likely expensive. The fabric alone was far sturdier yet delicate than anything that could be purchased on the market. In fact, it was unlike any substance out there. It was soft to the touch, so confortable you could fall asleep in it. But shockingly enough, even if they punched and tried to rip with all they had, the fabric wouldn't give in.

The Malady's Fortune

The Vicar's Quiet Sleep

[yinsukin]

Suerte

"Oh how sleek!" she said, picking up the outfit with the skull coat.  Suerte pressed the thing up against her chest, realizing it was probably going to cover up her body.  Then again, she didn't need to flaunt it all the time.  At the very least, this would be a nice change of pace.  "Its a little gaudy for my taste but something about this one speaks to me."

She placed the bird mask over her face.  "I suppose you want us to be a little more anonymous huh?"

[YOLF]

Justice

He stared skeptically at the outfit as he unfolded it. Did... did they want him to look like a earth-bound angelic punisher type? That was entirely too much gold for his modest tastes, but that was sometimes the point of a disguise. If Justice could keep down demonic sludge cooked in the waters of Tartarus, he could probably keep this down.

It was something he almost envied the idea of wearing as his own, in truth. Unlike some of his brothers, he tended more towards the practical, however.

The rider looked up at their driver, waiting for more context.

[Kotomine_Rin]

A-702

"Eh, nothing in particular. You heard about our new lil' champion getting promoted at the dojo district?" He took a turn to the left, winding off towards the Dojo District. Grinning, he suddenly feigned shock  and gaped that big ravenous shark's maw of his.

"Oh, goodness, no way. He's one of the big shots up there, the original four or something. Don't sound very original to me. Anyways, look, I've been trying to contact the guy for a while now, but he won't answer any of my calls. It'd be bad if The Night's Champion suddenly spilled the beans so..."

A cold bead of sweat ran down his brow. For a moment, his hand clenched a little on the wheel, but his grip was st0eady, and besides. He shouldn't panic or jump to conclusions. The wind and the roads were particularly good tonight. Everything should be smooth from now on. He shook his head, surprisingly focused on the riding for someone talking so casually..

"Fair enough, fair enough." All of a sudden the phone blared, and he found himself at the receiving end of a 10 000 decibel assault. Sadly, he didn't seem to care much.

"I'm joooooking. Anyways, look, if it isn't much, I'd like you to check up on him. I'll send you the address. Don't know why, but I've got a bad feeling about this. Oh, you'll do it for me? Thank you, oh praise the Dragon. I promise I'll buy you the best ramen in town, you won't regret it. Huh? Make it for three? Shit, haha, so you got a girlfriend now? How cuuute- I'm kiddding i'm kiddding! Okay okay, see ya."

WIth that, he clicked the phone off and turned back to glance at the two.

"Phew. So that's settled. Sorry, I wasn't listening. You two said somethin'?"

[yinsukin]

Suerte

Suerte turned her head away from the driver.  "Hmph!  I don't repeat myself," she said.  "Justice, you ask him this time."

[YOLF]

Justice

For someone who seemed so unassuming, this young man certainly appeared to be casual with some big names. But then, he was driving this spectacular sham of a vehicle too. So much of it seemed performative, Justice felt unappeased - but they couldn't expect much out of such a shady assignment, after all.

He leaned forward, poking the spider between the shoulderblades with a straight, firm finger. "What part are we supposed to play with these?" He asked, projecting his low tone to the front seat.

[Kotomine_Rin]

A-702

Veins suddenly popped out of his forehead, and the car suddenly swerved and accelerated with a screeching sound.

"Eh? These ain't fucking costumes, asshole. What, do you seriously think I'd painstakingly take your measurements in the elevator just so I could play dress up with you all? Pft, keep dreaming losers."

And all of a sudden, he stopped. Right by a drive thru.

"They're insurance, that way you don't get whacked if I can't look over you babies. I've even kept face protection, and the material is enhanced from its regular counterpart. It can resist shocks, impacts, flames and acids that'd melt your butts off. I figured you two might need em, considering how ridiculously easy it'd have been for you two to just get pulped back there. I counted it by the way, about 27 times. 40 more for you though cowboy. Anyways, what do you want?"

They were right by a McDondon at the highway. Yep, right on time. A sucker almost cut by him on the road earlier. What, did you think he went that fast because he was pissed or cared about what these two had to say? Pft. Nah. Burgers baby.

"Oh, and I'm paying. Cause I'm such a nice guy."

[yinsukin]

Suerte

Suerte instinctively reached for her gun, but settled on just gripping the butt of it.  "Excuse me!  So basically your saying you touched me without my permission!  I should file for sexual harassment!  Only reason I don't is because bounty hunters don't have unions and I guess you were being considerate..."

In truth she wasn't used to people worrying about her.  With powers like hers, people in her town just sort of thought she was untouchable.  It wasn't true of course, but it was nice to be worried about every once in a while.  "But if your giving me this, you must not know as much about me as I thought.  I mean, this won't slow me down right?"

All the sudden she smelled something odd.  It wasn't like normal meat, but smelled similar, more enticing....  What was that?

[YOLF]

Justice

Concern? Or was it ignorance? Pretension? It might as well have been all of those things - the gear was indeed well-made, but that wasn't the problem. Neither was that it paled before his armor, or that it might supplement it.

Until that moment, Justice had pressed down on the omnipresent feeling of danger in this double-faced spider's presence, neither acknowledging the obvious nor letting himself be bothered by it. Whether it knew the real odds or not, he and Suerte couldn't hope to gallivant in its master's business without accepting that the creature's web would hang over their heads the entire time. But an aeon of murder and sacred blasphemy always had an edge.

You don't need to explain salvation to a priest. You don't need to tell a mercenary how a safety works, nevermind it might be useless to their temperament. You shouldn't tell a lion what it can or can't hunt either.

"Don't push your luck, mop boy," Justice responded airily. But for all it lacked even the slightest growl, an avalanche of enmity made itself heard. Pity and Absolution tingled with crushing tension through the briefly shown intent.

In a moment, he added, "I'll have a cheeseburger."

[Kotomine_Rin]

A-702

The spider chuckled candidly. "Nah girlie, I measured through sight. Been doing this for years. Well, our prototype line anyways. And priiide? Kah! No way a lowly spider would have any of that. But thanks for the warning, anyways..."

He laid an arm on the hood of his seat and snapped his head backwards, glaring at him. Unlike before, he wasn't nearly as cheery looking.

"I wasn't kidding. And I'm not saying that some trap would've chomped your head off or you would've found a fist through your liver. You two are too friggin' open. You might as well be pop up books.Whatever you're so confident about, it won't do you any good son. Not with your identities exposed like this. 'Cause assuming the killer is still on the loose, you've painted a big red dot on your backs the moment you walked through that door."

He stared right at the gunman's eyes. The kind of stare of someone who couldn't care less if he got a gun shoved in his mouth and blasted off the wall. His shark teeth were throbbing almost as much as the veins on his forehead. But despite that, his voice was dead calm.

"You think you're scaring me, you punk ass? Go ahead, pull that trigger. Go shoot the fucking gift horse in the mouth while you're at it. All I'm doing here is being careful, cause my comrades got killed and they were strong confident idiots too, so strong and confident they thought their power would be enough to live normally in this city. It's fine, I'll just be careful. I'm strong, there's no way I'll die. Oh, I'm so great because I'm mighty, and tough, and fast. I don't need to cover myself up for this dangerous mission. I don't need an extra layer of protection. Oh whoop de doo, I'm fucking dead and my brother and friends are fucking depressed cause little old me was too proud to put some pants on. Is that what I should write on your tombs? Huh? So put the fucking coat on and shut the fuck up."

He didn't give a shit about them frankly. It wasn't compassion, confidence or ignorance that had him go out of his way to make a suit like that. It was just that he was the kind of person who hated taking chances. Besides, you could wear the layer on top of your clothes due to the special mesh. There was absolutely no reason not to wear them if it'd help them live longer, so their suicidal insistence was honestly pissing him off.

"Also, pickles or no pickles?"

[yinsukin]

Suerte

While it was sexy to see Justice threaten someone, this sort of thing wasn't going to be good for their professional relationship.  Then again, neither was the lack of trust.  When in doubt, it was best to back up her partner.

"Well i'll put on the coat because I think skulls are cute," Suerte interjected.  "But I think next time you should actually tell us when we are in danger rather than deciding for us what we need.  We are bounty hunters after all.  Its normal for us to come in contact with beings stronger than ourselves."

Suerte put a finger to her lip.  "Oh and I.... guess i'll have whatever Justice is having."

She didn't want to admit she didn't know what a fast food place was.  After all, looking stupid was the least professional thing of all.