Heart of Courage

[Alley]

"You likely are able to have an idea of how rich the Princess is and she's pretty kind. There's a lot more to win, but remember that what you will do will never be written or heard of anyone.

On the other hand, as the Princess said, there is a base controlled by the +LE+ that is an annoyance every now and then. I'm quite sure you have the possibilities to infiltrate it and take it over. If you take it over, all patrol paths will be modified to avoid getting close to it. It pretty much means you'll be free to do whatever you want with it. The Princess also has a sizable influence over IDF, it wouldn't be hard to deviate a few convoys of construction materials and machinery.

But I'm warning you, if you betray her, you will feel it, and I would not like to be in your shoes if it happens."

---

Alley was right.

[Vagrant Raiders]

It was times like this, Adder thought, that his name was most suiting for his character.

Adder put on the kindest, most assuring tone he could muster.

"My dear lady, of courssse we would not try to cccircumvent your Princessss' authority..."

While he was speaking, Adder reached out and gently put his hands on Ange's arm, in a reassuring gesture, all the while looking Ange dead in the eye.

"And we graciousssly acccccept your offer of closssed-doorsss friendship with the Princessss, and would not think of betraying her..."

At these words, he used his thumb to press an extremely tiny button on the side of his ring, causing a tiny point to spring out and burrow into Ange's arm, pumping extremely potent tranquilizers into the needle. Adder did not avert his gaze.

---

[Alley]

Léa stood up violently, taking her arm away from Adder.

"What... did... you... DO !"

She suddently kicked the table at Adder with strength, the power of the impact throwing him against the wall behind as another man opened the door behind her, seizing her around her neck. In a yell of uncontrolled rage, she flipped the man above her, making him fall on his back on the two bars of the back of the chair she used to sit on a minute ago.

Adder took her by surprise from the left, punching her in the face, followed by a retaliation of the gallic operative, seizing an engine pipe, violently banging his stomach with it.

"WEEBEE ! NOW !" she yelled, as Weebee threw at her her gun that was hidden under Weebee's counter all the time.

As she was about to grab it, the second man stood up and approached. Léa seized the end of the gun and struck him violently at the head, using the gun like a golf club.

Looking at Adder, she turned back the shotgun and aimed at Adder. Her vision was entierely blurred now and her movements shaky. She tried to pull the trigger, but couldn't as she collapsed on the floor.

"I will... kill you... I'll always be behind you... And I will get you."

These were her last words as the tranquilizer finished her.

---

Alley was right.

[Vagrant Raiders]

Adder and Pearl were injured, but still managed to work together as the near-perfect team they had been for decades. Adder groaned and picked up Ange's gun, and fired it above Weebee, cause him to duck behind his counter. Pearl crouched down and circled the counter, as Adder circled from the other direction. Pearl got lucky - he chose the side that Weebee had his back to. He wrapped his arm around Weebee's neck from behind and squeezed. Weebee struggled but was nowhere near as strong as the Gallic agent. Pearl squeezed tighter, cutting off the carotid artery. Weebee went limp. Adder was doubled over in pain, Ange had fractured at least three of his ribs.

"We need... to go.."

Pearl tossed over a black hood with a drawstring. Adder securely fastened the tie around Ange's neck; Pearl did the same with Weebee. Thankfully, the hangar bay was not far from Weebee's shop, the two men dragged the Gallic agent and Weebee by their legs to the hangar. Adder had decided to show up at a time where this part of Barrier Gate was particularly desolate - no one was near. Upon reaching Voices, Adder opened the cargo hold. Taking two pairs of shock-cuffs, he secured Ange by the legs and arms to a firmly-rooted pipe in the cargohold. Pearl simply tied Weebee up with some reinforced repair tape. The men left the cargohold. Adder went into the cockpit, Pearl went to Outcry, which was parked near there. It was obvious he had sustained a back injury from the fight.

The two ships took off, heading to the Leeds system, where the Metropolis lie in wait for its newest guests.

---

[Vagrant Raiders]

Several hours later, the Voices touched down in the Metropolis' hangar bay. Adder opened the cargo doors of his Arrow then left the cockpit, grimacing with pain clutching his side. Four men entered the hold of the Arrow. Weebee whimpered with fear at the sight of them. They were all approximately 6'5" in height, donned in dark cloaks with holoprojectors masking their faces. One of the men took some kind of a filtration mask from the folds of his cloak. Weebee tried to struggle but the man forced the mask onto his face and secured it. He and another one of the men picked up Weebee and carried him outside, where the fifth man was waiting. He spoke in a deepened, distorted voice.

"Take the man to the interrogation room."

The first two men moved the whimpering Weebee through the orange-tinted air through a door out of the hangar. The two men still inside the Voices exited, carrying the limp Gallic agent, who was now also wearing a filtration mask.

"Take her to one of the comfortable quarters. Take off her restraints. Seal her room and ensure that the cardamine is filtered out. Make sure the cardamine persists in the corridor, however."

As the two other men walked off with Ange, the fifth man walked over to Adder.

"Well done Adder. I'll see to it that you're paid as per usual."

"Many thanksss... S-sssir."

Adder knew that that was a studder - not his usual hiss. He was honestly terrified of Alcor Wing. The cloaks, the holoprojectors, and worst of all the distorted voices. He tried to hide his fear as best he could, but he knew Scene One could smell fear like an animal.

"I'd bessst be getting to medical. Good day, ssss-

Scene One cut him off. "There is something more important to do before you do that, snake. Send a message to Fierceshot. Tell him to return to the Metropolis immediately. Tell him it's urgent."

"Of.. of courssse sssire.. *COUGH* It will be done immediately..."

Adder slunk off towards a different door. Scene One strode off towards the command deck.

---

[Alley]

Léa opened her eyes and looked around her. She found herself lying down on a comfy bed inside what seemed to be luxurious crew quarters. Upon examinating the room, she felt something strange echoing in her ears, an annoying low-pitched constant humming coming from far. As she looked at the cupboard, desk, bed and various furniture and small objects filling the room, she looked at the large window at the back of the bed. She saw space, a space made of unknown star patterns to her. She thought she was likely aboard the ship of those that betrayed her, but if it was true, why would she be in a such luxurious room and not a cell ?

"Okay Léa... just... stay cool... let's kill everything and get out... Bon sang, dans quoi je me suis mise encore !"

Now is usually the time where you needed your brains to work at 200% and attempt to find any idea that could help you to save your life. She noticed an assortment of writing tools on the desk. Gums, pens, pencils... There was nothing of exploitable to turn into a weapon. She observed the small and sharp steel trashcan on the floor next to the desk, wondering what she should do.

But all of a suddent, the idea emerged. Léa seized the trashcan, blocking it between her legs and took a pencil that was on the desk and started to carve it into a small but very sharp close combat weapon that could go through skin, using the sharp edge of the trashcan. She repeated the process with the two other pencils that were on the desk, then put back the trashcan in place.

She looked at her new improvised weapons as she went next to the door, prepared to ambush the one that would dare coming in.

"Now now where are you, my preys..."

---

Alley was right.

[Vagrant Raiders]

The two-way communications unit on the wall flickered to life. On the screen, there was one of the members of Alcor Wing. His face, as always, was distorted by holoprojectors, and his voice was artificially deepened and distorted.

"Welcome back to the world of the living, Miss Ange. Kindly do yourself a favour and step away from the doors, walk back to your bed and put on the filtration mask. We've done you the courtesy of venting the cardamine from your room, however, the hallway is still quite, quite orange."

Just outside the doors, two members of Alcor Wing stood ready.

---

[Alley]

As she heard the voice, she hid the pencils under her shirt and proceeded to do what she was told to. She put on the filtration mask and looked at the door, ready to cause havoc once she would have the opportunity to do so.

---

Alley was right.

[Xavier.Fierceshot]

Xavier Fierceshot sat behind his prized Sabre's dashboard aboard the docking bay of the Metropolis. He wasted no time shutting down his ship and stepping out of the cockpit, Adder's summon sounded urgent. Veiled behind a fearsome crow mask, he slowly marched down the hallways of the Metropolis towards his destination. The interrogation chambers. He was quite familiar with the drill, as he was assigned it frequently. The few crewmen of the Metropolis he found, he noted, would often walk down adjacent corridors after catching a glimpse of his cloak. Xavier did not waste the effort to question their evasions, he knew the power his reputation instilled in the hearts of these men. Uneasiness, respect, and most importantly fear. His subject would come to know the meaning of all three things in due time...

As he approached the door to the interrogation chamber, he smiled to himself, and pulled out a large combat knife. Dragging the knife edge along the door frame, Xavier gritted his teeth as a shrieking sound of scratching steel was produced. He heard a surprised cry come from within the locked room. Quickly sheathing his knife, he unlocked the chamber. He stood frozen in his mysterious guise as the audible hiss of the opening door soon revealed his next victim. He stepped into the room.

---

[Alley]

Weebee looked at the strange man with a crow mask entering the room, HIS ROOM !

"Oi man what d'ye plan to be doin' with dat' knife ? YE DON'T SERIOUSLY PLAN TO HURT AN OLD MOLLY WITH DAT' THING !? Oh man, I d'no what ye think ye think I'm thinkin' but dat's messed up fo' real ! Man if what ye boi' wanted is a discount on my scrap metal and recycled ship parts ye just had to ask ! WHAT YE WANT FROM THE OL' WEEBEE ? I feel bad in clean rooms ! WHERE'S MY RUST !"

---

Alley was right.