Post by Minerva Serekar on May 18, 2014 5:41:38 GMT
House Call
Minerva, meanwhile, was still in the apartment, albeit cloaked. She waited for Jalero to have gone to tend to his wife, before turning to leave. Once out the door, she contacted the person who wanted to meet Aleena Veelat.
Jalero Hikorov was not a coward. Cowards did not survive long in his line of work, and it usually ended in a pool of their own blood for them. No, being a broker between pirate mercs and Ishukone when the megacorp was looking to get something done, while still retaining “Plausible deniability” was not a job for cowards. He was, however, a very cautious man, not paranoid, but cautious. He was always armed, went to the shooting range weekly, and made sure those who could do something about it knew where he was and where he was going. Right now though, he was at home, the one place he liked to believe he could forget about the outside world and let his guard down. The fact his wife was nowhere to be seen when he stepped through the door, after she’d spoken to him some two hours prior from within the high-rise apartment. She’d told him the masseur had arrived, as he did every Wednesday, though apparently this week it was a female, a very attractive one at that, who’d come. The massage parlor they both dealt with, mainly because they offered house call services, occasionally did this, not that his beautiful wife minded, a point the Caldari man appreciated greatly, especially on club night, when they’d both go out to a club and find an adventurous young thing to bring home and play with. So understandably, Jalero hadn’t felt any reason to be suspicious, so he’d wished he a pleasant time, given her his love and told her he’d be home soon. In hind sight, maybe he should have asked his wife for a more detailed description, as he’d walked into the apartment, and when he received no answer to his “honey, I’m home” he paused, and listened. Silence. Then he heard a partially muffled cry come from the bedroom. By now, the masseuse should had long since left, and his wife up and about, she wasn’t one to lounge around.
His gun was in his hand a moment after he’d heard the cry, and he began moving, towards the bedroom.
“Honey?” he intoned, in case he was being paranoid.
No answer. He was half-way to the bedroom when another, louder cry, rang out. He kept his cool, keeping his pace quick, but his strides short, minimizing the noise and vibration of his steps. He pressed up against the wall beside the door, listening hard, hearing a low groan, punctuated by a third moaning cry. He reached for the doorknob, took a deep breath, turned and opened in the same movement. Releasing the knob, his now free hand returning to where it had been previously, gripping his gun, while he kick the door fully opened. He first aimed at the bed, only to see his wife, naked, her wrists bound together, as were her ankles. She was writhing this way and that on the silk sheets. Why, he couldn’t tell in the brief moment he took to assess her. His head, gun following, turned to scan the rest of the room, and discovered a young dark skinned woman, with a thick mane of black hair, wearing a masseuse’s uniform, sitting in the love seat set in the corner, a smug expression on her face. In that instant, he also noted three things, all four of her limbs were black, as in pitch black, and while they didn’t have a plastic sheen like most prosthetics, they were clearly synthetic. The same could be said about her eyes, all black, with only her irises being of a different color, glowing a fiery orange. They were set in one of the most beautiful faces he’d ever beheld, though the expression of mirthful smugness dulled it ever so slightly. Secondly, she appeared unarmed, though seeing as how she appeared to be a cyborg, that could mean very little. Finally, her posture - legs crossed, body leaning slightly to the side, one arm laying on her lap while the other was set on the arm rest, her head leaning on a loose fist – denoted she didn’t feel the least bit threatened by his gun, and that she had clearly been expecting him.
“Who are you,” he asked, his voice trembling ever so slightly with cold rage, “And what did you do to my wife?”
He kept his tone steady, neutral, and yet this seemed to only amused the woman, as she chuckled, her inhuman gaze boring into his.
“The name’s Minerva Serekar,” she said, speaking in a light Vheriokor accent, “ You may know me by another name however, Black Tide. As to what I’m did to your smoking hot milf of a wife, is tie her up.”
Minerva slowly rose from the love seat, her white masseuse uniform turning into a sort of mist, turning black before recondensing on her body; only now in the form of a tight black tank top, black leather hot pants. The latter were pulled over a pair of black hard leather boots, each sporting three inch heels.
“I also injected her with my special breed of nanites the moment I first laid my hands on her. They allow me to manipulate my target’s nervous system without physical contact. So, while I was giving her the full body massage she paid for, I selectively upped her sensitivity by roughly 200%, “ she chuckled at this point. “Needless to say, by the end, she was practically begging me to fuck her, and who am I to refuse a woman in need?”
“How about we skip to the point where you tell me what it is you want,” Jalero Growled, having heard enough.
He lowered his gun, reholstering it, and moving to check on his wife, having made an educated guess that whether or not he focused on her didn’t matter, she could kill him just as effortlessly. He gently cradled his trembling, albeit blessedly unconscious wife against him, before refocusing on his “guest”. She was actually smiling, genuinely smiling now. His wife stopped trembling then, and settled against him, sighing weakly in relief. It seemed Minerva had stopped whatever she’d been doing.
She chuckles, “It’s nice to see a genuine display of affection, especially from one in your line of work. But then, not everyone’s an asshole apparently. However, that doesn’t change the fact that you have the information I need,” she said, taking a step forward, “Aleena Veelat, I have an associate who wishes to meet with her in person, and my search for a way to make that happen led me to you. So, how is this going to go down? Do we skip the bullshit and you tell me what I want to know, or do things need to get unpleasant?”
Jalero looked down at his wife, then at Minerva, sighing, “I can set up the meet, wouldn’t be the first time, won’t be the last, unless Aleena gets the idea I was in on the entire thing, coerced or otherwise. She’s not exactly the most understanding kind of person. Hell, I’d probably be the same, if not for Katorei…,” he paused, once again looking down at his slumbering wife, “I’d prefer this not splatter onto me, and especially not my wife, at least not anymore than it already has. I won’t deny I’ve been involved in orchestrating many horrible acts, but it doesn’t mean she has to suffer for them. I often wonder why she stuck with me."
He looked up, frowning, when Minerva gave a chuckle at his words. She held up her hands in a slight defensive manner.
“They say love is blind to such things, and from my research, you two seem to be going strong. I was almost tempted in waiting until your usual night out on the club and entice you both into inviting me home as your third for the night, but then, I didn’t want to ruin a loving couple’s fun,” Jalero maintained his frown, only to sigh at Minerva’s question, and took a moment to think.
“Depending on when I can get a hold of her, could be a matter of hours, or a few days,” he stated, gently rocking his unconscious wife, “She makes it a point to be available for contact by authorized agents, else she’d lose out on contracts. I’ll go see if I can’t contact her now. Meanwhile, get whatever you put in my wife out. “
Minerva chuckled, apparently amused by his demanding her to do anything.
“Sounds reasonable enough,” she nodded, her gaze moving to his wife for a brief moment, before pausing, and locking eyes once again, “But before you go…a word of caution, I know that in your line of work, you tend to set up code words to warn contacts about possible traps. You can warn her, if you think it’ll help you get out of this unscathed, but don’t make it so that she doesn’t actually show up. We can deal with whatever security she brings with her, but the point of all this is for her to be there, got it?"
Jalero nodded, before standing, and gently lying his wife back down, her limbs no longer bound, the rope having simply fallen away into a black mist. He had planned on warning Aleena, so that she’d have less reason to suspect he was anything but coerced into this. But it seemed this one knew more about the tricks of the trade then the average merc. At this point, he just wanted things to be done and over so he could care for his wife and deal with whatever trauma she might have suffered from the experience, maybe bring her to a hospital, just to be sure.
“Understood,” he said, heading for the door, “just give me a moment to see if I can reach her.”
He then walked out of the room, and into his home office, which was also the living room area, and sat down at his desk, the holo-display coming alive immediately. He connected with his work station half a city away, and went to his contacts, and selected “cleaning lady”.
He thought for a moment, composing the message in his head before tapping out the code words necessary to relay the information: Egger searching, associate of a Minerva Serekar, intentions unclear, likely hostile, expect contact, response required.
“That will do.”
He started in his seat, the approach of the cyborg unheard over the tapping of the keys. Her words implying satisfaction….along with a worrying finality.
“What now” he gulped.
“Now,” came the purred response, “Now the fun begins”
The grin that now graced her black-stained lips sent a shiver down his spine, her synthetic eyes burning with deranged glee. He blinked, and was suddenly alone. He remained there, staring at where she’d been for a few moments, before shacking his head, getting up and heading back into his bedroom. All he wanted at this point was to fall asleep, holding his wife in his arms.
Minerva, meanwhile, was still in the apartment, albeit cloaked. She waited for Jalero to have gone to tend to his wife, before turning to leave. Once out the door, she contacted the person who wanted to meet Aleena Veelat.
“Malik, honey, I’ve set up the meet, whether she’ll actually show up, alone or otherwise, is all up to her now…,” she says, pausing to listen to the response, which made her cackle, “Yes, I know, no matter what happens, it promises to be very, very entertaining.”
The conversation went on for a while, until they both said their goodbyes, and Minerva passed through the front entrance of the massive apartment tower. Scanning the hustle and bustle on the street and in the sky, before she walks down the stair in front of her, and loses herself in the crowd…
Author's notes: One can notice the style changes near the end, before the separating line. Malik herself added the little bit after "cleaning lady". Just wanted to give her the credit.
Author's notes: One can notice the style changes near the end, before the separating line. Malik herself added the little bit after "cleaning lady". Just wanted to give her the credit.