[Citadel] The Mixed Front

"Threatening a twelve year old girl. Like, you don't have a tiny dick at all." She grabbed a lid off a garbage can, using it as an improvised shield. It went straight through.

She was at least smart enough not to step straight back, ducking to the left before firing the tazer. She was not going to make it easy for him.

"Shit." Derek grunting as the knife slide into the lid, only to stop a few inches away from his intended victim. The redheaded gangster twisted the blade, attempting to remove the makeshift shield from Kayana's hands, tossing both it and his Khyber blade to the side. No longer boastful or taunting, the human attacking with a straight right, but with his injured knee he was forced to telegraph the punch, his fist slowly moving forward towards the drell teen's face...only for the taser to hit his unprotected left side, causing Derek to drop with a look of dull surprise on his face, twitching at the electric shock.

"Where the hell are you Kayana?" moving through the alley, Snow ran at a steady yet unhurried pace, his left arm displaying a slight hitch, a result of the back alley scuffle as the red hood moved through the small corridors, making sure not to focus on anything too long, letting his hearing and peripheral vision do the work. Nearing the main drag the ex-salvager heard a scuffle in an alley on his left, increasing his pace, Snow moved through the trash strewn area, vaulting over the larger pieces of refuse, hoping to arrive in time.

"Over here, not dead, how long do you think it'll take before they send more dudes?" She shoved her tazer back into a pocket, wrestling Derek's form into something approaching the recovery position-but also torquing his arms around and keeping a knee on his back. "Don't tempt Arashu, yeah?"

Blood from the initial knife-scratch started dripping down her face. She reached up to feel the extent of the cut, then tried to mop it up with her hood. Black didn't show the stain so much. "Argh, head wounds. Don't wanna bleed on the crime scene."

"Got the bastard, nice going", the red hood replying as he entered the alley, seeing Kayana trussing up Derek. A chuckle creasing Snow's lips as he slowed to a brisk walk, pulling his hood up as he reached the drell activist, looking down at Derek's twitching form. "What in the hell did you hit him with, no matter. Let's find a private spot for the three of us, don't want any unwanted visitors while we interrogate this...thing." Spitting out the last, the red hood waited for Kayana to finish before pulling Derek up, half-carrying, half-dragging him into the alley, looking for an abandoned building for their purposes.

"Dude, don't spit your DNA everywhere." She pulled the knife out of the lid-it had her on it, after all-and then helped Snow by picking up Derek's feet.

"So, what do you want to know from this guy? I was fine with him just being the example."

"I want this bastard to fess up to what he did, and turn himself into C-Sec. Once word gets out about his relationship with Elthinus, his lifespan will be very short. So we'll convince him to spill his guts to the boys in blue about the LTE," Snow grunting as the duo dragged Derek into an abandoned apt, dropping him in the middle of what used to be a sitting room. "He's no use dead or as an example, I want him to fuckin' betray the LTE. A dark smile appearing on the red hood's face as he rolled Derek onto his back, "morning sunshine, time for a little q&a."

"You, the fucking red bastard, what in the hell do you want?" The former LTE high-stepper coming to, seeing an indignant drell and a indifferent human standing above him ominously, "it's not enough you've wrecked my merchandise and bushwhacked me?" Snow gave the drug slinger a bemused expression before turning to Kayana, "care to start proceedings?"

"He's of excellent use as an example. I don't like it when aliens think they can mess with drell girls."

She turned towards Derek.

"Mr Derek, you stand accused of ordering the rape of a 12 year old drell girl, thus bringing ME down on you, to intimidate Leaving the Ducts and anyone who might patronize them, bringing him" thumb jerk towards Snow "down on you."

"Also throwing a partner under the bus, that he was a child-raping asshole not excepted. Do you not get that when you do that, people will roll on you? ...Well, the LTE is going to throw you under said bus when they find out how much merchandise you just lost..."

"Yeah, I get it, you and Snow here fucked me well and good." Derek rasped up at Kayana, his blue eyes slightly unfocused and wandering, glancing at the red hood, then the indignant drell. "But I have no goddamn reason to co-operate with you, you destroyed all of my leverage." Snow sighing for effect, looking down at the LTE street captain, "Not what's in your head, you know about Boss Zahir's operations in detail. We need you to fess up to C-Sec, the boys in blue are your only hope of surviving this." Snow keeping his voice neutral and calm, belying his stony glare as Derek coughed before replying, "you want me to snitch on my crew, have you lost your mind??? Go to hell, both of you."

The red hood chuckling at Derek's bravado before pulling him up to his feet by his shirt, the charity worker and gangster face to face. "You seem to think this is good cop/bad cop. It isn't you child victimising, drug slinging shitbag. This is angry drell/pissed off human you're dealing with here, you're in a lot of trouble." Letting it soak in for a moment before tossing Derek back to the ground, Snow turned to Kayana, letting her make the next statement, she seemed to be making all the right moves at the moment....

"We are ratting you out to the Hanar-who think they own all our scaly asses-and I am ratting you out to the Drell Liberation Front, who are violent political fuckers. Up to this point you've kept out of each other's way, I bet. I actually find them too violent to work with...most of the time." She was having fun, but she was also holding the knife and keeping an eye on him. "Between them hassling you and that you just lost your merchandise, you're not going to be bringing in any money for awhile." She glanced over at Snow, checking that she was still on track.

"So like, either some up-and-comer stabs you or your boss 'replaces' you. Kind of the problem with working for assholes. C-Sec might offer protection if you cough up some information. And since we still need to keep your boss off our people, we want that information as well."

"Or whatever. The soul that made the order is worth much more than the body that performed it. I still want to kill you to make an example for fucking with my people. You thought you'd scare me."

"S-Scare you, no. I sicced Elthinus on Pickles to dispose of the deviant, and to get you angry. I was hoping you'd come at us stupid, not bring the red hood and co-op in as back-up. If you had come in guns blazing, we'd have taught you a sharp lesson, taken credit for turning Elthinus in to the hanar, and sent a message to anyone who interfered with LTE business," Derek explaining, his voice no longer defiant, but resigned and rueful.

"But it all went pear shaped from the start, my product destroyed, Elthinus disappearing, and you two...christ." The redheaded gangster shaking his head in disbelief. Snow was content to listen, letting Kayana spell out just how well and truly screwed Derek really was, but with the reveal of the gangster's failed gambit Snow decided to intervene, to close the matter and get out, because despite the tactical advantage, the duo was in the heart of LTE territory.

"So your little ploy backfired Derek, boo-fuckin' hoo. But the news isn't all bad, the C-Sec option is on the table", the red hood fixing his dead, grey eyes on Derek, forcing the LTE enforcer to look away. "So here are your options, I leave you to Kayana, you try to run with DLF and hanar hunting you down, or you turn yourself in and bury your boss." Just as Snow finished,the unmistakable sound of guns being drawn filled the room, followed shortly by a very uncutous, yet icy sounding baritone, "Or you can hand my lieutenant over to me...immediately." Snow slowly turning to see four individuals with heavy pistols aimed at both him and Kayana, the gunmen flanking a well dressed individual of middle eastern background. The ex-salvager realising that the leader was none other than Boss Zahir....

"...I am so fucking out of practice..." She dropped the knife (it was not the only knife on her person) very slowly straightening up. "You're actually smart enough to have covered the back entrance, yeah?" She sucked in a breath, keeping her hands where he could see them.

"You get that all those groups know we're here." She was starting to babble. Babbling with authority, but still babble. "You sell drugs. You don't go to bat for child rapists."

"The DLF will find it hard going, as for the hanar, I've come to an agreement with the jellyfish. So I'll say one more time, hand Derek back over, now." Boss Zahir letting a cruel grin crease his features as he dickered with Kayana. Snow kept quiet, his eyes giving the four gunmen a once over, one of them getting his attention. A turian male, a short one at that, with dark blue markings on his face and cold, golden eyes not leaving the red hood for a second. Snow turned back to Kayana, giving her look of resignation, letting her know that there was no other play left.

"You want this piece of shit, he's all yours," grabbing the redhaired gangster by his red mane before tossing him to Boss Zahir, the lean, exotic looking human nodding to Snow, "Good choice Snow, Durix?" Zahir turning to the short turian, the enforcer looking at his boss cooly, "Put an end to this."

The hard looking turian nodding perfunctorly, leveling his gun at Derek, firing three rounds, two in the chest and one in the head. Zahir turning back to the duo, his moss green eyes displaying a cool contempt as he explained the execution to the charity worker and activist, "I happen to agree with your sentiments Ms. Pesh, anyone foolish enough to employ the likes of Elthinus and attempt an operation against LTD without my permission is an individual who doesn't belong in my crew."

Snow just listened, strangely enough, the cold blooded killing didn't disconcert him, his eyes never changing expression as Zahir told Kayana the whys of the execution of Derek. His attention was on Durix, who had just lowered his pistol and was eyeballing the red hood again...

She stepped away from the doomed man, flinching at the sound of a gunshot in the small space-but not seeming to have much reaction to the blood. In fact, she looked him over, turned to Zahir and his enforcer and nodded. “Much cleaner than a lot of the bullshit I've seen today...”

What a relief.

Kayana bit the inside her mouth-he was not really as threatening as Albert. She raised her voice-she was obviously trying hard. “I'm a parochial girl. Your men stay off drell girls, how much can I care?”

“...He has to work out things for Leaving the Ducts. You must have kids aging out.”

"You mean up and coming recruits Ms. Pesh. And I'm afraid Mr. Snow here has ended any possibility of negotiation." Boss Zahir replying placidly, a hint of a smile reappearing as he looked at the red hood, the other three gangsters leaving the abandoned apt, leaving Snow and Kayana with Boss Zahir and Durix, the turian who had just executed Derek. "Our business is concluded for the moment, thanks to the hanar demanding safe passage for the two of you," the middle eastern man spitting out the last with a hint of distaste, "Durix, stop eyeballing the Butcher, we have other business to attend to." Zahir dropping the last with a mischievous wink towards the ex-marine, as if he was privy to a joke only he and the red hood were aware.

"And...unclench", Snow taking a deep breath as Zahir and Durix left, leaving Kayana and him with a dead body. At Zahir's off the cuff mention of Snow's nickname on Benning the young man stiffened slightly, making him wonder how much the LTE boss knew about the Joughin business, "Later, time to get the fuck out of here," thinking to himself as he raised his hood with his uninjured right, looking over at the composed drell. "Lets get the hell out Kayana, unless you fancy a Q&A with Citadel's finest."

"But..." Kayana looked like she was about to say something more, but cut herself off. It wasn't her business. She couldn't fix everything. Let them hash it out.

She walked with him, the bottom of her stomach falling out when the adrenaline rush ended. "Ugh...cannot believe they got the stop on me like that. My handlers would have beaten me bloody for that fuckup." She took a deep breath, still a little woozy. "Leaving the Ducts know he's your former whatever?"

"...No, of course not."

"Not your fault, the way they moved, they're either ex-military or PMC. Rumor at the hostel is Boss Zahir was a lieutenant with the Poison Knives. He's a piece of shit, but a crafty one, and the one called Durix, he's ex-Armiger Legion. I'm just glad the co-op kept their end, the Light that...whatever the fuck they are saved our asses."

Snow glancing over at Kayana as the slightly battered duo made tracks towards the main drag, the ex-salvager feeling the aftereffects of the adrenaline comedown as well, his left arm throbbing even more. At the mention of an old friend, the red hood shook his head, with none of his casual sarcasm, "no, Zahir was just talking shit, bringing up history he knows fuck all about." Snow shrugged dismissively, but internally he was starting to get worried, somehow Zahir knew about Benning. As the red hood thought about the unpleasant implications of a ganger knowing about his past, his omnitool flashed on, signalling an automated message, user unknown. Looking over at Kayana, "Well, one way to find out," remarking aloud as he switched his omnitool on,

"This one brings a message of gratitude from the Light that dwells within the Depths for the apprehension of the turian known as Elthinus. This one trusts that our judgement on this matter will prove most satisfactory."

Kayana wiped the blood off her forehead. "Dude, we could have been killed. If I'm going to do shit like this I need to train harder."

"If you say so." She didn't believe him re: Zahir, not in the slightest. She perked up when the Light that Dwells called. She waved to get his attention and then mimed taking a picture.

The girl would want proof.

"Go ahead, I'm fuckin' done", Snow retorting, his grey eyes revealing a cool disgust towards Kayana Pesh. The whole day, which included torture, deals with the co-op, and a ganger getting killed in front of them was bad enough, but the hanar syndicate showing more courtesy to the ex-salvager than this self-righteous brat. "Whatever you're going to do, just do it without me. I've had enough of your whiny drell bullshit." Finishing, Snow pulled his hood on and broke off towards an elevator, letting Kayana find 'evidence' for herself....