BAD LUCK GANG, PART ONE

[Lucas D. Hargrave]

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[atrb=background,http://i42.tinypic.com/24yxwth.jpg] Birdman’s face was falling off. Lucas grumbled beneath his breath as he adjusted his facemask for the umpteenth time. Being a superhero was terribly vexing. He’d be glad when this was all over and he was a proper assassin again. Why was he wearing the ridiculous beaked mask in the first place? Well… pwease big brother? pweeeease? In essence, he had a terrible track record of resisting certain sorts of voices. Something about their decibel range, no doubt. And now, much to his chagrin, he was BIRDMAN, RESCUER OF KIDNAPPED CHILDREN. He wasn’t sure why he had to announce his name like that, but apparently it was tradition. Curse the bothersome fiend who had ever invented family. And curse his brain for believing it important to acquiesce to the demands of irrational, no doubt psychotic children. There was something in the air. Some sort of residual ki from the battles years ago that made their brains all screwy. And it was catching because, well, in the end, he had agreed to wear the costume. Doing his best to remain hidden in the shadows, Lucas waited in the ‘secret’ underground base where the mission briefing was being given. Held in the basement of an old, run-down mansion (the entrance alongside most of the upper levels had been blown to smithereens some time ago by a brother-sister android pair) it was neutral ground by virtue of being the one place in West City where most raiders dared not step foot lest they accidentally draw the attention of, uh, bionic gods. The natives didn’t want to go there either for largely the same reasons but thankfully few outsiders knew about its haunted reputation and they were the main ones that were involved in this get together and would hopefully enter the mansion and then the basement without too many questions. Everyone else here was a true believer in the cause or at least missing a close friend/relative. Or named Lucas and incredibly embarrassed in it solely for the money. Ahem. The basement had once been a private theater or something along those lines, today it ran weakly on sputtering generators and was used as a stage of sorts. The seats – dusty and moth-eaten as they were – was a rare luxury being accorded the various arriving guests. There wasn't anything as grandiose as popcorn to go around but someone had thoughtfully brought in several jugs of purified water and left some canned tuna. At the center of the stage was one Mr. Gruenhild, a distinguished, older gentleman with a somewhat eccentrically coiffed beard who had been vital to this particular mission and was now its unofficial spokesperson. No doubt he’d start talking the moment the clock struck noon, as had been stipulated in the various recruitment drives. No doubt it'd start soon.

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SOME OOC NOTES:
Welcome to the first sidequest held by yours truly! Before I get into any specifics I want to revise one of my previous rules. I had said not to write more than three paragraphs, I’m now revising that to 300 words and it’s a suggestion. Y’know, because some of you just can’t resist writing one-liners and really long posts.

...

*COUGHCOUGHCOUGH*

Hopefully my own posts won’t break the rules too much more often but if I need to describe something I won’t hesitate to up my word count.

Right, some things to keep in mind:

• As most forms of global communication systems have come down or are firmly in the hands of our dear alien overlords, the citizens of East City have gone out of their way to find people/mercenaries in person. You are in no means obliged to have a guide, but if you wish to have an NPC guide you to your destination, that’s your in. You can make up their names, appearance, etc. They’ll likely be eccentric-looking.
  
• Lucas is wearing the ridiculous costume for IC reasons but the OOC reasons are so that both Khan and Shadow, who Lucas has met prior but hasn’t actually finished threading with don’t recognize him. Y’know, in case Lucas started a blood feud with one of you by accident or something. Feel free to think that he ‘reminds you of someone’ but please put off guessing his identity until the threads are finished just so that there’s no conflict between ‘past’ and ‘present’.
  
• The citizens of East City, by and large, look devoid of hope. Infrastructure is crumbling, the guides (if you have any) are hassled for bringing ‘strangers’ into East City, beggars crawl towards your characters for loose change and food, graffiti is scrawled everywhere with messages like ‘THE MERRY EFFING END’. Bullet casings, and ki-blast damage is everywhere. There are no children about. You might even catch sight of a pickpocket but if you have a guide, they probably won’t try to pickpocket you.
  
• The sky is overcast but it hasn’t yet started to rain. The temperature’s slightly chilly, about 5-7 degrees Celsius (41-45 degrees Fahrenheit).
  
• Everything in the sign-up announcement is common knowledge.
  
• Feel free to PM in case I’m not clear about any aspect of my post, I’ll reply as soon as I’m able. You can also ask questions in the announcement post if you think it's a question that applies to everyone.

With that out of the way, I hope you enjoy this!

[york]

Squinting his eyes as he flew through the chilly sky Vash couldn't help but to think about the event leading up to his little untimely trip to the East City, a place he rather never step foot in. Word began to spread quickly around the underworld of West City about a once nobody gang and their quick rise to power and kidnapping rampage on the people of East City. It came to no real surprised to him when he learned that next to nothing was being done to help the people of the East as most would rather stay away and live longer. This too was Vash first thought on this subject, that is until he heard about the alien slaver! Anger was the first thing he felt at these word as he had picked the poor infoer up off his feet and shook him for more details then rather pay him. Vash hadn't come here for the money and sadly not even to help the poor people who had already become victims. No this was something more, something personal, This was Revenge!

After flying most of the way to the meeting point Vash would soon land on ,what would be his best guess was once a building, high up allowing his a view of the area or lack of. The so called city was in absolute ruins from what appeared to be even a on going war. The smell of gun power and blood was flesh in the air for those few that knew it smell. It's made Vash stomach tune looking at it all, how could all the other city's live so peacefully when others was forced to live there's lives here in this hell. But that was nether here or there and he had his own reason for being here, but if he happens to help a few people out in the process that would just as well.

After a long hour of looking and fighting off the begging locals Vash would at long last find the building that he was looking for, The old mansion. He had heard story's about this place from the locals about some sort of evil that lived there, but he only marked it up as them trying to scared him away for some reasons or another. Tightening the red and black jacket of his Vash would began making his way into the mansion, which in turned was easier then he had first thought as much of the rooms had be blown away by well what ever happen here long ago. After finding the stairs and making his ways down to what looked liked some sort of old theater he would noticed the older gentleman on the main stage. Vash would smile to himself as ran a hand through his black and red hair to remove a few webs. For he now knew this was in deed the right place as he walked down the stairs, only to stop in front of another... person? The person was wearing a odd suit as well as a bird mask. With a quick grin Vash would speck quickly "Trick or Treat?" he would say just before sitting in one of the "best" sits he could find. Now he would just have to wait for the other to arrive.

{lol sorry! Entrance post got kinda long}

[Videl]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,0px,true][atrb=style, background-image: url(http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h99/houndoomXdelta/de.png); width: 500px; -moz-border-radius: 20px 20px 20px 20px; border-radius: 20px 20px 20px 20px; border: 1px dashed #000000][style=font-family: arial black; color: #c5c590; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: 5px; margin-bottom: -15px; text-align: center;]hear the sound of the falling rain,[/style][style=font-family: arial black; color: #efefc6; font-size: 40px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: center; letter-spacing: -3px]coming down[/style][style=font-family: arial black; color: #efefc6; font-size: 15px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: center; margin-top: -25px; letter-spacing: 8px; text-shadow: 1px 0px 0px #000000, 1px 1px 0px #000000, -1px 0px 0px #000000, 0px 1px 0px #000000, -1px 1px 0px #000000, 0px -1px 0px #000000;]like an Armageddon Flame[/style][style=font-family: arial black; color: #c5c590; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 5px; margin-top: -5px; text-align: center; margin-bottom: 10px]a shame, the ones who died without a name[/style] [style=font-family: verdana; font-size: 10px; background-color: #000000; text-align: justify; margin-top: 5px; color: #464646]♙words : num; ♙tags: ppl; ♙lyrics: viva la vida by coldplay;[/style][style=background-color: #414141; color: #000000; padding: 2px; padding-left: 5px; width: 450px; margin-top: 5px; font-family: calibri; font-size: 11px; -moz-border-radius: 10px 10px 0px 0px; border-radius: 10px 10px 0px 0px; text-align: justify; letters-spacing: 2px;]i beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies...[/style][style=background-color: #111111; padding: 5px; width: 448px; opacity: 0.7; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana; font-size: 10px; color: #5b5b5b; height: 300px; overflow: auto;] Videl hadn't the opportunity to heal much from her fight in the North Pole. That utter defeat had been nothing but an embarrassment to her nearly flawless record of victory. She had never lost a fight to anyone aside from her sensei Mercenary Tao until she challenged Frieza's Army. The end results of the battle were Videl's now broken left leg and right shoulder. They were healing nicely and at a steady pace, but they were still damaged and caused her pain when she overexerted herself. They were also particularly vulnerable. Nonetheless, Videl had already been hired for a job. Injured or not, she wasn't going to back out. She already knew she was much stronger than even the strongest of human. Any fights against any ordinary gang members would be nothing for Videl. She wasn't afraid. Even her sidekick, Hiro, was much stronger than even most adult men. "Hiro... I think that's the place," Videl exclaimed to her sidekick who walked beside her. The two of them sluggishly headed toward the mansion. They had had a bit of difficulty finding it, and thus left their shuttle a good quarter of a mile away. It wasn't long before the teenage girl had entered the mansion and made her way down the stairs and into the cinema room. She took a seat two to the right of Shadow, leaving one empty seat between them. She left a seat open to her right for Hiro. She pat it down for him to signal where he should sit. [/style][style=background-color: #414141; color: #000000; padding: 2px; padding-right: 5px; width: 450px; font-family: calibri; font-size: 11px; -moz-border-radius: 0px 0px 10px 10px; border-radius: 0px 0px 10px 10px; text-align: right; letters-spacing: 2px;]this is the dawning of the rest of our lives... ON HOLIDAY![/style][style=font-family: verdana; font-size: 10px; background-color: #000000; text-align: center; margin-top: 5px; color: #464646]♙notes: place in some notes~;[/style]credit to gREY of OTE

[Hiro]

Every step taken took the boy and his mentor further into the destroyed city. Rubble sat still and piled high where tall buildings once rose up into the sky... Beggars and thieves roamed the streets. Hiro hated it, having to see the people struggling to survive... they needed someone to help them, they needed a hero.

His eyes fell onto Videl, looking at her with a sideways glance. The job that she had taken turned them into mercenaries, brought there to help the citizens who desperately needed it. Although, she wasn't entirely up to it... Hiro could hardly protest, however, as he admired the drive that she had despite her injuries.

As the girl's voice cut through the silence, he raised his attention to the sight of a broken down mansion. It looked... like crap... What a dumb place for a meeting! "Looks stupid... dumb place doesn't even have a roof anymore," he mumbled, losing focus on the objective as he merely stopped and stared at the 'building'. ...Until he realized that Videl was no longer paying attention to him, forcing the boy to run to catch up with her and follow behind down the stairs.

Okay... so it was bigger in the basement, so what? He still refused to admit that it was a decent place for an important meeting. Hiro crossed his arms and claimed the seat to the right of Videl. Get it over with already.

[Leonardo Khan]

Leo had come across the strange fellow on his way back to Satan City. His name was Dyl, and he had a problem. Or, rather, East City did. It was having more than just a spell of "Bad Luck".

Dyl had told him about the Bad Luck Gang, who, every since the ruination of East city, had made the territory there own. Leo had heard about them before, and knew the gang to be relatively inept fighters, but they were surprisingly good at terrorism. Dyl had told Leo how to get to East City from where they were at, but moved on himself to find "Mercenaries to help us". Leo smirked, but felt a bit insulted in the implication that he couldn't help.

So, here he was, walking into East City. God, this place is a dump, he thought to himself as he glanced around at the ruined buildings, scorch marks on concrete, and general disarray the place was in. He looked closer at something nearby that interested him greatly; a broken mansion, and nearby, an old friend from Satan City.

"Videl? Is that you?" he asked as he got closer to her and the boy with her. "Who's the brat?"

[Lucas D. Hargrave]

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[atrb=background,http://i42.tinypic.com/24yxwth.jpg] The clock ticked steadily towards twelve. Lucas fiddled with his mask as he watched as people quietly or not so quietly filtered in, most representing a rather irritating liability in terms of fighting power. Others might see their 'passion' and consider them heroes but for Lucas, they represented nothing more than warm bodies that would require protecting. Perhaps he could convince the untrained to leave. Worth a shot. Maybe even a bullet. His head snapped up, beak creaking as he sensed the other powers though. Three hadn't even bothered to mask their signatures and one was... at least twice his own strength. Fingers hovered towards his guns before he managed to control himself. Patience, he counselled himself. There would be more than enough time later for some - heh - exercise. That was the nature of the job. When the clock finally struck twelve and all the significant ki signatures had arrived (he remained stoically unresponsive to the 'trick-or-treat' nonsense) alongside about twenty or so other 'volunteers' Mr. Gruenhild, from the front of the auditorium, began speaking. The lights dimmed, focusing on him. "Friends and friends-to-be." The old man's English had an odd accent to it, mixed with his low baritone it made him sound strangely soothing. "You all know of the scourge that has taken our loved ones, our children, our comfort, our very hopes and dreams. I do not speak of aliens - though, yes, they play no small role in all this - I mean, of course, the Bad Luck Gang. BLers for those who know the slang." Someone, perhaps it was a case of nerves, giggled. Mr. Gruenhild began pacing the stage, spotlight not following him so that he was lost to the darkness about every other word. "I'll level with you all. We're desperate. We're hurt. We're hunted. This is not the sort of mentality anyone can use to make proper decisions. It's why we all agreed to get experts. So let me introduce them." He clapped his hand and the spotlight suddenly flipped, mousing around the seats until it found a woman in a cast and numerous bandages. "All of you know of Videl, daughter of humanity's greatest hero. What you might not know is that she has inherited her father's skill and is a formidable warrior in her own right." There was a round of applause - not too loud, but very definite and quite sustained. Mr. Gruenhild remained quiet until he could introduce the next warrior, to who the spotlight would switch: "Her disciple 'Hiro,' a prodigy of the arts martial." More clapping, a little more subdued but accompanied by a few tired smiles and one or two chuckles. "A brave warrior from the West, who calls himself Shadow." Moderate clapping. Someone wolf-whistled. "An ascetic who has descended from Mt. Paozu where he has sharpened and honed his various talents." Much the same. Someone wondered, out loud, if he had met any of the Z warriors. "And our... uh. East City's first 'Superhero'. Birdman." One person politely clapped until it was obvious no one was going to join and immediately stopped. Lucas didn't mind. Birdman wasn't about heroism and justice. "Let me thank you all again," Mr. Gruenhild re-iterated. "You have no idea how much this means to all of us. And even if all we can offer you is a pittance know that our respect, indeed, our very lives." It was amazing how little Lucas could care. Simply. Amazing. Mr. Gruenhild sighed. "I would like, personally, to give you all more time. But we recently received word that the Bad Luck Gang will be selling their slaves." The auditorium suddenly tensed. "Yes, I know, it's very recent. Dory, bless his heart, managed to get this to me an hour ago at the risk of his life. Our schedule has just shrunk by a sizable margin. Warriors," he said, obviously addressing the mercenaries. "We know where and when this is taking place and the approximate number of troops that will be there. What would you suggest?"

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INTELLIGENCE REPORT

• Location: Ao Oasis, The Eastern Wastes
  
• Time: Midday, three days hence.
  
• Number of Slaves: ~50
  
• Bad Luck Gang Members: ~20
  
• Buyers: Unknown

Note: The Bad Luck Gang has already started heading through the desert towards their meeting spot. To discourage rescues their modus operandi has always been to kill the slaves rather than let them fall into other hands. Besides yourselves, you have 15 volunteers willing to help, all ordinary humans. You also have access to a rather dilapidated stock of human weapons, all are items that were available to civilians before the war although someone has managed to learn how to make pipe bombs and has added them to the pile.

[Videl]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,0px,true][atrb=style, background-image: url(http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h99/houndoomXdelta/de.png); width: 500px; -moz-border-radius: 20px 20px 20px 20px; border-radius: 20px 20px 20px 20px; border: 1px dashed #000000][style=font-family: arial black; color: #c5c590; font-size: 14px; letter-spacing: 5px; margin-bottom: -15px; text-align: center;]hear the sound of the falling rain,[/style][style=font-family: arial black; color: #efefc6; font-size: 40px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: center; letter-spacing: -3px]coming down[/style][style=font-family: arial black; color: #efefc6; font-size: 15px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: center; margin-top: -25px; letter-spacing: 8px; text-shadow: 1px 0px 0px #000000, 1px 1px 0px #000000, -1px 0px 0px #000000, 0px 1px 0px #000000, -1px 1px 0px #000000, 0px -1px 0px #000000;]like an Armageddon Flame[/style][style=font-family: arial black; color: #c5c590; font-size: 12px; letter-spacing: 5px; margin-top: -5px; text-align: center; margin-bottom: 10px]a shame, the ones who died without a name[/style] [style=font-family: verdana; font-size: 10px; background-color: #000000; text-align: justify; margin-top: 5px; color: #464646]♙words : num; ♙tags: ppl; ♙lyrics: viva la vida by coldplay;[/style][style=background-color: #414141; color: #000000; padding: 2px; padding-left: 5px; width: 450px; margin-top: 5px; font-family: calibri; font-size: 11px; -moz-border-radius: 10px 10px 0px 0px; border-radius: 10px 10px 0px 0px; text-align: justify; letters-spacing: 2px;]i beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies...[/style][style=background-color: #111111; padding: 5px; width: 448px; opacity: 0.7; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana; font-size: 10px; color: #5b5b5b; height: 300px; overflow: auto;] Videl paid very little attention to anything going on around her aside from the announcements at hand. She neglected to even notice Leo speaking to her. The applause which was given after her name was completely unnecessary; she ignored it. She hoped that Hiro would do the same. The two of them weren't here for the applause. They were here to help people and only that. Videl didn't care that her name be knwon. It was a nice luxury, but it was not the reason behind justice. True justice was only for the sake of justice. Neither did Videl clap for any of the other mercenaries. They were all here for the same purpose. There was no time to waste for such trivial matters. It was time to get serious and it was time to kick butt. If she was doing neither of those two things, then nothing mattered. Of course, Videl would have had trouble clapping in the first place due to her injury. With the given situation, it wasn't exactly easy to come up with a place to start. She was ready to leave with Hiro. She had no fear of any regular humans. She and Hiro both were much stronger than the average man, even if he had weapons and artillery. She had little fear. "In all honesty. I think that Hiro and myself are more than enough to deal with the given situation," Videl said, now standing up from her seat. "But if others must come along, then they should follow my lead." [/style][style=background-color: #414141; color: #000000; padding: 2px; padding-right: 5px; width: 450px; font-family: calibri; font-size: 11px; -moz-border-radius: 0px 0px 10px 10px; border-radius: 0px 0px 10px 10px; text-align: right; letters-spacing: 2px;]this is the dawning of the rest of our lives... ON HOLIDAY![/style][style=font-family: verdana; font-size: 10px; background-color: #000000; text-align: center; margin-top: 5px; color: #464646]♙notes: place in some notes~;[/style]credit to gREY of OTE

[Leonardo Khan]

Leo was already up and out the door when Videl got up. He hated applause, he just wanted to bring someone to justice. He was walking, albeit, a bit slowly, sown the street in the direction the bandits had gone.

When are people going to learn? You can't live in peace by appeasing your oppressors. You can't just oppress someone else to make yourself feel better about it. His aura seemed to be flaring up, as if he was having a hard time masking his power. Anger will do that, you know. It's the one thing you can't get rid of by losing it.

He glanced back as Videl came walking out of the building. She was nearly three times his strength. Perhaps I should just stay back and watch. He thought to himself. He quickly shook his head. NO! BAD LEO! That isn't your way, man. Leo turned back to stare ahead as he walked on, prepared to fight bandits and free slaves and destroy weapons caches.