The Enemy Within: The Girl Next Door

Residential District 

- New Luna -


 * Small but sturdy stone-and-log homes make straight lines all through the District, almost military-style. A few of the residents seem to have taken advantage of the lush alpine foliage that grows naturally here, and have constructed small gardens near their properties. The western wall of the city casts a shadow over the District for about half of the day, so it's a wonder the plants still survive. Many residents sit out in front of their houses in lawn chairs, sipping cans of their favorite beverage and chatting with the neighbors. The roads here are of crushed stone, still new enough to be sharp to the feet. The widest road leads back to North Main Street.

It's four o'clock in the afternoon and what can Lucius be found doing? Well, of course, he's drinking an old brewskie (bottled, of course) and sitting out on a lawn chair outside the front of the two story stone house he and the others are living in. In his hand is a newspaper, which he appears to be paying attention to.. although he's actually not at all. Pfc. Raney is upstairs in the surveillance 'HQ', checking the cam feeds and reviewing a few tapes at the same time. Pfc. Callot is not present. Finally, Pfc. Donatus is in the back of the house, taking a nap.

Jayna slams the door behing her, as she leaves her house. The poor lass looks a bit tired, and it looks like the right side of her face is bruised up slightly. With her head down, and a whisp of hair hanging across her face, but unlike what has been observed of habit, she doesn't brush it away, rather she crosses her arms across his chest and glances timidly over her shoulder, back to the house.

There is a red hovercar out front, one that hasn't been seen there before.

Oh yes, there's an Ungstiri cultural celebration in Jasper Point on Saturday and.. Lucius doesn't really give a crap. No, while his eyes are on the paper, they quickly flit up as Jayna exits. He pulls a pair of aviator shades from his pocket and places them over his eyes. Which promptly fall directly on the woman and the car. Curious. For now he watches.

Jayna doesn't notice the peeping Lucius, he could be hiding in the bushes nearby and she still wouldn't notice him. The woman pauses at the red hovercar and reaches into her pocket for a moment. Her lips turn up into a cruel smile as she withdraws a coin. Well, the word that is scratched into the bonnet of the car, isn't exactly the friendliest and more pleasant one around. It starts with a C and ends with a T. With a triumphant grin, she stands up straight and then starts to storm down the street in the direction of the NLM obvseration house. She mutters something, but is too far away to be heard.

Lucius mutters lowly, almost whispers, into his commlink (headset fastened on his ear), smirking as he looks back at the paper, "Could prolly bag her for destruction of property. Wake Donatus up." Nevertheless, through his peripherals he still has a pretty good view of Jayna, especially as he's in the direction towards which she travels. He still stirs not.

Well, someone's certainly in a grumpy mood, and that someone's Jayna. She continues storming along, drawing closer to the NLM hide out. She slows up, and then pauses, taking a moment to brush away the hair that's fallen across the bruise on the right side of her face.

The door from the house opens up, and out comes a rather muscle bound looking man. Mr. Muscle doesn't look too impressed about the scratching on his car. He pauses and glances in both directions, looking for the tall woman. "You fuck'n useless tramp!" he bellows at the top of his lungs. "Get yah fuck'n mole ass back 'ere!"

Jayna turns and shakes her head definately at Mr. Muscle's requestion. "No!"

Again comes another mutter. And a smirk, which Lucius has much trouble surpressing and unfortunately for him, fails. "This should be good." Donatus by this time has been woken up and sits grogily in the command center, gathering a little gear together in a slow, almost useless fashion should anything happen. The Martian, as any resident of the street might be prone to doing in such a situation, glances up from the paper. The grey print isn't put to rest yet, though.

As Mr. Muscle approaches, Jayna backs away slowly, her eyes wide with terror. He continues his approach on the tall woman, who freezes up with fear. "I'm sorry," she mutters in a quiet tone. "I'm sorry... Please... I can't do it anymore... Just leave me alone."

Mister Muscle, obviously having a 'roid rage, continues his approach. Yep, he's on something judging by the look of him. He's a far size too, about 6'3". He lashes out with a backhand, once more striking Jayna across the bruised part of her face. "Yah've made yer choice," he sneers, as Jayna takes a step back and recoils from the back handed blow.

Lucius jumps up from his seat at that. Domestic violence is a no no in a tight community of people! We take care of our own! Or something like that. Nevermind the fact that Lucius doesn't even live here. Approaching the two at a quick clip, his eyes are veiled behind the aviators. "Hey!" Comes his simple yell. "Stop that!" Concerned citizen indeed.

Smack, Mr. Muscle hits Jayna once more, who topples to the ground and looks up to the muscle bound man. His attention drifts across to Lucius, and he narrows his eyes. "Stay outta this, yah Fleeter lovin' pig," he drawls/sneers at the approaching NLM member, taking a defensive stance. "Ain't your fuck'n problem, got it? Go back to your boyfriend, pretty boy."

"Hey!" Lucius yells again, coming to a stop near the floorbound Jayna. He places his hands on his hips. "It ain't right to hit your woman, you know. Specially not when you probably weigh in at twice her size. Look buddy, I'm not looking for trouble but she could call social services. We take care of our own here."

Mister Muscle slowly cracks his neck, moving his head from side to side and watching the Martian. "If yer not lookin' for trouble, bitch... Fuck off," he warns, taking a step towards Lucius. "Or I'm gonna move yah nose to the left of yer pretty boy face."

Jayna looks up to Lucius, not exactly knowing what to do. She looks terrified of both men.

Lucius lets his hand rise up to his holster. "It really is a pretty nose, isn't it? My daddy always told me I should be proud to wear one like this. Anyways, I'm assuming you don't want this to get anymore dangerous than it is already. I think you should leave the lady alone for a little bit. Go collect your thoughts. Have a beer, relax." His stance, as well, has become more tense than before, not to mention defensive. "I'm not looking for trouble. I'd be up for having a beer with you, though." He notes. Donatus and Raney, stand in the HQ, jaws dropped. What the FUCK is he doing?!

Well, even warning someone with a gun, that's enough to make the most logical person back down. Which Mr. Muscle does indeed. "Ain't over Earther pig," he snarls at Lucius before turning, and storming towards the car. "Nor for you Jayna!"

When Jayna's name is called, she cringes and then shudders. "Please... just leave me alone," she pleads to Lucius. She doesn't look up towards him. "He's had a hard week... Please, just leave us alone. Things are going to get worse."

"Don't know where the notion that I'm an Earther came into your head, buddy." Lucius shrugs his shoulders, hands dropping down to his sides. "C'mon, lady, we take care of our own here. I used to live on the other side of town, right by Jade Square, was the same there as it is here. Lotta nice people. Why do ya let him treat you like that?"

The door on the car slams shut, and Mr Muscle climbs in. The car starts and the engine revs, and then the handrolic window slowly rolls down, getting stuck half way. He can't get his head out to yell at Lucius, but he does shake a fist instead.

"He'll kill me," Jayna mutters quietly, still not looking up to Lucius. "He didn't always use to be like that." She then starts to sob, raising a hand up to rub at her eyes and smudging her masscara.

"Uh-oh. I got a fist shook at me. I better run and hide now." Lucius comments, dry sarcasm as evident on his tongue as it always is. He looks down to Jayna, offering her a hand up. "Maybe you should pack a gun if he tries to do that. No one ever outlawed self defense, you know, Ms..." His voice trails off. "Besides, s'not like the government has much to do with justice dealt out here anyways, you know? We gotta take care of ourselves."

"Jayna Giltrov," she meekly replies to Lucius, as she sits back onto her haunches and takes his hand with the one that isn't rubbing her eyes. "I... I don't like guns... I hate things that can kill." She slowly stands, and then starts to rub at the latest welts.

The red hovercar slowly lifts off the ground, and then goes screaming off down the street. Unlike all Villians, this is more of a cartoony style of exit. As he rounds the corner, there comes the sound of metal striking bricks at a high speed.

"Anthony Vitelli. Nice to meet you, Jayna." Lucius leans in closer to take a look at the welts and bruises on her face. "That may be so, but you gotta have your own defense in mind." Without asking, he takes a hand and gently attempts to turn Jayna's face so he can see the wounds better. "Like he said he might kill you. Aren't you scared of that?"

Jayna blinks towards the sound of the crashing, before looking back to Anthony. She's white as a ghost. "Oh no..." the tall woman mumbles. When the hand touches her face, she promptly swats it away. "Oh no... He's had an accident... It's all my fault Mister Vitelli... I didn't mean for it to happen."

There comes a faint wift of smoke rising from just around the corner.

"Let's go." Come the last two words from Lucius for the moment, taking off into a run towards the crash. Or whatever happened over there. He takes his glasses off and tucks them into a pocket for the moment.

Jayna breaks into a run after Lucius, but has a bit of trouble with her footwear. Between sobs and gulps of air, she's just repeating "Oh no," under her breath.

What's the first thing that the duo see when they round the corner? One red hovercar implanted in the side of a house. It's smoking, and Mr. Muscle's trying his hardest to get the door open. Panic's set in, that's for sure.

"JUMP OUT OF YOUR WINDOW!" Yells Lucius as he comes to a stop near the vehicle, but far enough away to hopefully avoid any blast. Jayna he grabs now, to pull her and himself away a safer distance.. behind that little white fence maybe? Mr. Muscle tries to wind the stuck window down. He mightn't be the brightest tool in the shed, as he doesn't attempt to break it. Fire starts to lick out from under the hood, causing the paint to bubble.

Jayna might be tall, but she's not strong and is easily pulled back by Lucius, despite her wiggling protest. "Mikhail!" she screams out at the man trapped inside of the burning car. There's even the extension of a hand to try and use the force... But that force doesn't work, not does any miracle happen.

"BREAK THE FUCKING WINDOW!" Comes another yell from Lucius, this time more frantic than anything else. Frantic, perhaps with a tinge of helplessness. His grip on Jayna holds, now safely behind said little white fence. Hell of cover this is.

That's when a brillant idea, thanks to Lucius, passes through Mr. Muscle's brain. He breaks the window, but the tinting makes it hard for it to come out all the way. The fire's started to follow the fuel line down to the fuel tank. Mr. Muscle strikes the window one more time.

WHABOOM! The fire reaches the fuel tank, promptly causing flames to leap up the side of the car. There comes a terrified scream from the man in the car. The people who own the house have made a run for it, but the noise, smoke and flames have caused some rubber neckes to converge on the area.

Jayna just drops into silence, her jaw dropping open at the scene that is unfolding. Her brown eyes wide in terror.

Lucius is well aware that there is nothing that can be done about the situation now. And while he may deep down not really give a shit that Mr. Muscle was just burnt alive in his car, especially given that he'd seen worse on Tomin Kora, the Sergeant's expression is not one of passivity; he looks horrified. "Dii Immortales.." He mutters.

The screaming continues on for a bit, before dying down... Mr Muscle's car, complete with custom hood work, has become his funeral pyre.

Well, Jayna's just horrified at the sight, and forces herself into Lucius and looks away. She might have a repuation of being cruel and sadistic, but it appears that even this is too much for her.

By now, the fire has taken a hold of the house, and people are starting to form a line to bring buckets of water to attempt to fight the fire.

"Stay here." Says Lucius, rising up from his place. "That's not going to work!" He bellows to the citizens. "It's a fuel fire, you need an extinguisher for that! Water'll just feed it!" As if on cue, he sprints towards his house down the block, bursting through the door a few seconds later to search for one of the aformentioned extinguishers.

Jayna falls back onto her behind as Lucius leaves her. She continues to watch the grim display of car burning house, and now openingly sobbing.

The locals don't seem that concerned with the burning car, but rather more interested in trying to prevent the fire from spreading further into the house and adjoining houses.

"I'll be fine, lemme take care of this." Lucius says into his commlink, bolting out with said extinguisher in hand. Another few seconds pass before the sprinting man is on the scene, and spraying foam in the direction of the fire that is already inside the log house.

There comes a bang from the boot of the car, followed by one of the civilian's nearby falling to the ground. Could that be ammunition cooking off?

In the distance, sirens are starting to wail. A handheld fire foam extinguisher against a fire that's already taken hold does make it a bit hard to control.

Well, he does what he can. Handheld extinguishers are not built to last very long anyways, and in a few more moments it's been emptied out. Done with that, he glances in the direction of the car. "Get away from that!" Yells Lucius, running to go and scoop up Mr. Fallen Civvie from the ground and drag him away.

An errant round wizzes past Lucius' ear as another bang is heard. Well, the civies don't need to be told about the problems of things going bang, they've already started to flee. Same as Jayna, who appears to have done a runner and is hidding behind one of the walls of a nearby house.

The sirens continue to draw closer, followed by several more that join in.

Too close. No armour other than a vest. Eesh. Lucius picks up the casualty in a fireman's carry posture and makes a sprint for the little white fence he had been at earlier. It's getting a bit harder now - he's been sprinting back and forth for the last few minutes.

The boot of the car explodes in an impessive fire ball, sending shrapnel and burning debris in different directions. Mister Bullet-Catcher is suffering shot to the thigh. Lucius manages to make it to the cover of the white fence, but only have the lid of the trunk come down nearby. The civilian isn't squirming anymore....

Lucius knows what to do, despite the absence of any sort of medical gear on him. He identifies the wound, rips the guy's pants with sheer force alone (creating a sloppy tear) and then moves to check his pulse. If all appears to be correct in that respect, he'll try to tourniquet the wound with some more ripped fabric from the man's trousers, and then elevate it.

Giving first aid treatment to the recently deceased, certainly isn't going to work. Judging by the way that the body lies on the ground, well, there could be something else that has stolen this man's life.

The sirens continue to grow closer to the accident scene.

All his plans get essentially scrubbed, though, when it appears that the man is infact dead. Lucius, not in a particularly good mood, looks for any evidence of foul play, besides the bullet in the thigh.

Foul play? Definately not. Shrapnel? Definately. The civilian took a decent sized chunk to the back of the head, which had also penetrated his brain cavity. There are several other pieces of debris that protrude from the main's body. But in the long run, it appears that this man may of saved Lucius from looking for a replacement kidney.

Emergency services soon turn up, lights flashing and personel being deployed. They go immediately towards the scene of the burning house and the crashed car, which is actually stuck in the side of the log cabin. The boot from the previously red car is near where Lucius is checking over the dead civilian.

"My Gods.." Lucius says in response to sighting the wounds the man took when he was being carried to safety. Safety indeed. Lucius lets go of the corpse now, hands covered in blood and sits back on a nearby wall, closing his eyes. He gives a shake of the head.

Dirionis looks around as he comes up the road, eyes widening a bit as he sees something definetly out of the ordinary. He surveys the scene a little more, eyes snapping this way and that.

Jayna peers around the corner, rather cautiously. She's usually pale, but not as white as she is now. Her hands are shaking, she's trembling all over. She pauses at the sight of the dead man, eyes going wide. "Poor Rico," she quietly comments, before turning her head towards Lucius. The poor lass' right eye is starting to swell shut. "Are you alright Mister Vitelli?"

The hoses are unrolled, and the firefighters start to get to work. Medical services soon start to arrive after several minutes, one stopping behind Dirionis and beeping it's horn. A bald figure hangs out of the window and calls out, "Oi... You wanna get off the road! Trying to get through here!"

"Callot!" Yells Raney, who is upstairs in the HQ with Donatus, into his commlink. "Get inside. We can't afford to have two of us in the street right now. We could compromise the op." It appears that the two marines are in the attic of the stone building watching the various scenes on their surveillance equipment and have spotted Dirionis moving up the road.

Lucius opens his eyes to look up at the very very tall woman, just kind of shrugging his shoulders. He motions at the man next to him. "He's dead. Me, carrying him to safety and he's dead."

Dirionis hits the wall at the calling of the bald emergenacy service man, off the road in a speedy movement. He casually makes his way to the hq, not bolting like a mad man or anything he'd do if he wasn't thinking.

The very, very tall woman makes her way over to the wall close to Lucius and drops down. She pulls her knees up close to her and then wraps her arms around, seeming a lot younger than she really is. Her eyes lock onto the body for a moment, and then she shakes his her head. "Poor Rico," she repeats, before glancing in the direction of Dirionis, giving another shake of the head to clear the hair from her eyes.

The hoses kick into life, spewing foam designed for aviation style fires onto the blaze. The medical services continue down the road, before pulling over and allow those inside to disembark. There's a variety of wounds. From bullet wounds from the cook off, scrapnel and burns. But it appears that only Rico was the one who has passed away.

Lucius snorts. "Fucking hell. What a day." That's all the Martian can manage, rising up. He glances at his bloody hands and waves a med personel over to bag the body. At least he saved the suspect from death, though.. she wouldn't be able to tell the NLM much info that way. He looks at her. "How you holding up?"

Dirionis drops some spare supplies in the hq, not saying anything at all.

"I feel numb," Jayna replies, as she slumps down a bit more. Her eyes remain flicker linger across to the car when the fire starts to die down. The woman sniffles several times, and then raises a hand up and rubs at her eyes. "I should be happy... He's dead... I should be happy." Her lower lip starts to quiver.

The medical services treat the wounded and bag up Rico, who lays on the grass. Mr. Muscle, he just remains in the burnt out car for the time being. Most likely until the firefighters have given the all clear.

Lucius takes Jayna by the hand and begins to lead her away from the scene, towards her house. "It's better if you just relax for now, Jayna, have a drink at home and go to sleep. Sleep helps." He says, eventually leading her to the former couple's door.

Dirionis settles in the hq, watching from the survelliance gear, grabbing some spare, packaged food he brought.

Jayna doesn't complain as she's lead from the accident and towards her house. "Thank you Mister Vitelli," she murmurs, as she uses the back of her spare hand to rub at her eyes once more. She looks across to the Martian and smiles weakly. "Come over for a coffee sometime... The house is going to be so quiet without that pig around. I'm really sorry that this happened... Is there anyway I can make it up to you?"

Lucius shrugs. "Coffee'd be nice. Maybe a drink, if you've got some good vodka, before I go and pass out myself across the street?" Asks the man, curiously.

"Sure... I have some Ungstiri vodka," Jayna replies, as she opens up the door to the house and holds it open for Lucius. Despite her former 'partner' now being cremated, she's got a rather friendly and appreciative smile lingering on her lips. "Thanks for standing up for me."

"That'll do, the good stuff." A pause. "Yeah well. Guess that's what neighbours are for, eh?" Lucius weakly returns the smile, entering Jayna's house with a look around. "Where's your bathroom?"

Dirionis squints his eyes, despite his good vision, tilting his head inquistively at the screen. "Hm."

Jayna enters into the house after Lucius, and closes the door after her.