[h1][color=gray]The Dreadnaughts[/color], Sulfur, the Agents of NEST, and [color=dodgerblue]Lihua Vuhong[/color][/h1][sub]by [@Spoopy Scary] and [@Mr Allen J][/sub][hr]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyXRgwk5uq8[/youtube]

[i]'Shit, okay, now I'm here. Just gotta bring 'er back now.'[/i]

"Follow me, eh!" Grit called as he set his feet on either side of the railing on the ladder and slid back down to the alleyway. He had go back the direction he came while not looking suspicious, or at least, try to make it look like he was on her side. Maybe he could throw off the police department. That'd at least make his [i]own[/i] odds of surviving more likely. He reached inside the fanny pack that he wore on the back of his get-up and grabbed what a smoke bomb. Pulling the pin, he launched it in a direction away from the direction they were supposed to be heading, with a white smoke trailing behind it. 

"Smoke bombs," Washe always said, "good for covering escape, even better for diversions."

If he could mislead their pursuers as to where their location is, the further he can lead Sulfur without being interuppted. 

"Come on!" He called again as he darted off through one alley with his gun in hand.

Sulfur didn't know where this nut was taking her, or what he was even doing, but at least he seemed like he knew what he was doing, and where he's going. Compared to most of the other drugged out fools that make up this gang that thought the underpass is a good hiding spot. Regardless, Sulfur kicked it into high gear, and started running faster than before. She pretty much ignored the smoke bombs he just tossed.

Grit looked behind him, surprised that Sulfur was able to catch up as easily as she did. One of the more athletic ones, eh? Regardless, he couldn't just downright sprint through the city. That's what Washe said at least - how all the druggies wouldn't have the kind of stamina he had.

"I'm takin' ya to them storage things down th' way! Should be able to lose their trail there, eh?"

It only took a quick minute for them to reach Grit's destination. There, Sulfur saw another man dressed like a Fiend. Only that this one looked much bigger than Grit, and was only an inch or two or three shorter. Beside him was a closed garage door and a broken lock on the ground beside him.

"I got 'er man, let's go!" Grit told him.

Washe rolled his eyes. Whatever persona that Grit decided to adopt was really annoying as fuck... whatever worked. With Grit's helped, both disguised Dreadnaughts bent over and stuck their fingers between it and the walkway. The sounds of the VPD were drawing closer. Working together, they got the garage door to life, and inside was a dusty old storage unit. The door on the other side was closed - though for Sulfur, likely a good thing. To remain concealed.

Sulfur came to a screeching halt right inside the garage. She heard the police and every NEST in the Estella isle drawing closer and closer. Jesus, she had to get the hell out of here... only problem was that her "hiding spot" was an old storage unit. Sulfur glanced at the two Fiends for a moment, and turned her attention back to the storage unit. There was no way in hell that she was going to run in there headfirst. She reached into a pouch that was hanging off her belt, and pulled out various pieces of metal (Nuts, bolts, needles, bullet casings, etc). She grasped it tightly in her hands, and created some of her sludge - which instantly melted the metals, and created a yellow gas.

On command, Sulfur made the gas go into the storage unit - regardless of if there was any Fiends inside or not, these idiots should have told her first. She dropped what was left of the metal, and pulled out another handful of metal, and did the same thing. Creating more gas, however, this was enough to fill the unit with the gas, and surely draw anyone smart out, and kill anyone stupid enough to stay in.

Washe approached the unit calmly a smoothly, still behind their unwitting captive. With a quick flick of a switch, the lights in the unit flickered on and all three ceiling fans began running.

Which is when the fun began.

A shiny, dark powder began to fill the room. A massive, heavy cloud creating a haze even amidst the yellow smoke. Both of the Dreadnaughts made their distance and aimed their respective firearms towards the floor of the unit where Sulfur stood.

"Allow me to explain the situation to you, Sulfur of the Fiends!" Washe yelled out.

".... [b][i]THE FUCK?![/i][/b]" Sulfur turned around, hand on her own weapon, but she took her hand off the second she realized they had already drawn their own weapons. Fuck, this was a trap. She was stupid to fall for this too-good-to-be-true escape plan. Now, she's staring at two... whoever the fuck they work for.

Naturally, she put her hands up in the air, very begrudgingly. "Who the [i]fuck[/i] are you two?!" She screamed at them.

Washe ignored her question and chose instead to proceed with his explanation. "You filled the room with a sulfur-based gas. Each blade of those three ceiling fans were piled up with iron that we powdered down into [i]dust[/i]. If you remember high school even a [i]little bit[/i], then you would know that sulfur and iron create a volatile chemical reaction when ignited. Except this time, it's airborne dust, where we have enough oxygen between particles and the particles are close enough together that it can create a chain reaction."

Washe paused.

"An explosion. The whole floor has also been covered in tin metal sheets. This reaction, when in contact with tin, the gas increases in toxicity and becomes corrosive. Make one wrong fucking move, we'll shoot the floor and sparks will fly."

Grit looked at his superior somewhat appalled by the plan he had cooked up this time. "Damn, Caesar, you have no chill."

The weight of the situation, and what's clearly going to happen next, nearly made Sulfur break down into a fit of rage. She was twitching, but clearly trying to hold it in. She didn't want to give them the satisfaction of winning... but she'd rather [i]live[/i]. Even though she's probably going to get shanked to death in a maximum security prison.

"You fucks... fuck all of you if you think you can pull this shit on me and get away with it! Khan will bust me out!" Sulfur shouted at them.

"Yeah, I know." Washe growled at Sulfur. "That's stage two of this plan, here."

Behind all of them, the garage door was pulled upwards by a strong, revealing Agent Michelle Gallus, and behind her was a group comprised of various National Guardsmen, Police, and NEST Agents. Michelle raised an eyebrow, and took a few steps in. She pointed her shotgun at them, and shouted, "Everyone, on the ground now!" The rest of the officers behind her aimed their guns too.

Washe and Grit looked each other, slightly annoyed that they had been caught in this situation in the end. Both of them, in sync, slowly knelled on the ground with their guns set in front of them - Grit's .50 BFR, and Washe's .45 colt and sawed-off triple threat. However, as they did so, Washe said as calmly as he could (which means some semblance of anger and annoyance lacing his voice), "just whatever you do, keep some of your guns trained on this bitch's head."

The two set their hands behind their head. However, this position was also a good opportunity to pinch the back of their masks slip them off their heads. Fortunately, the contained space of the storage unit was enough to keep all the gas contained like a miniature ecosystem.

They might not have worked with agent Michelle Gallus just yet, but it wasn't far-fetched that they might have developed any kind of profile that would help identify them. They have security cameras in their HQ lobby, after all.

"You're... Oh God," Michelle thought out loud, as she realized who these two "Fiends" were: Dreadnaughts. Sam and (after a rather annoying conversation) Lihua told her about them, and she reviewed a few things. Good God, looks like she was beaten to the punch by [i]mercenaries[/i]. That annoyed her quite a bit, since she was looking forward to breaking Sulfur's spine for what she's done to those Agents. All that'd happen now is that Sulfur would look forward to a lifetime of rectal thrashing behind bars - if she doesn't get shanked by a rival gang member by them.

Michelle put her gun in her other hand, and ordered the rest of the Agents, "Those two are on... [i]our side[/i]." She hesitantly spoke about the Dreadnaughts. Because they [i]really[/i] work for whoever gives them money. No honor, or convictions.

However, every Agent trained their guns on Sulfur. "You, don't move a muscle," Michelle said, her shotgun aimed dead into Sulfur face as she took more and more steps closer. With her free hand, she reached behind her and pulled out a power inhibitor collar, and clamped it around Sulfur's neck. Removing that problem. And Michelle quickly reached into her belt, and disarmed her of her pistol. Removing the other.

A pair of NEST Agent had walked around her with handcuffs, and put them onto Sulfur, before they hauled her out of the garage, and into a NEST truck.

"Well... gotta say," Michelle started off, looking at the Dreadnaughts. "Thanks for the assist."

The two stood back up and rearmed themselves with their weapons. Washe brushed the dust off his pants. "I recommend waiting for all the dust to settle down, and later, getting a team to scrub this place clean if you don't want the place going up in flames."

"Yeah, yeah, we got that covered." Michelle said, silently feeling sorry for whatever idiot has to clean up this mess. "Alright, I gotta report this." Michelle nodded her head, and turned towards the garage door with her hand on her communicator.

"I got a man that can handle the interrogation for you." Washe claimed. "Guaranteed results."

"Hmph..." Michelle grunted, "I'll keep that in mind."

Washe turned around dug into his pocket for a cell-phone, and began dialing a number.

[hr]

“Oh, thank you. You've a lovely dress, yourself.” Baron responded endearingly. He made a pleasant glance up at a casually-dressed server who came by to take his order.

"Also, I would like my files back, thank you." Lihua said.

However, as Lihua made her request, Baron was in the process of speaking with his server, prompting a brief moment of confusion. “An espresso, please – uh, hm? I'm sorry, what was that? Your files? Oh, [i]oh![/i] Pardon me, I thought those were copies that you [i]let[/i] Caesar have. Why would you ever want those back?”

[i]'Looks like she caught on already - I've got a sharp one on my hands.'[/i]

"Oh? From what I remember, I only gave him the information on the Fiends, and the Undercover Agents - [i]not[/i] the shipping records." Lihua couldn't help but grin. He was either playing dumb, or he didn't have any idea what she was talking about. But, she was certain that he was the one who made off with the shipping records. She kept her eye on them, and neither of them got close to her desk. "And, in my line of work, you can't make rookie mistakes like giving someone the [i]wrong[/i] information by mistake."

"Shipping records..." Baron repeated curiously. "Why would we ever... [i]oooh![/i] Okay, that must be it, it makes sense now. See, when we turned in last night, one of the papers had a bunch of time logs and company names and we couldn't make heads or tails of it without any context. Shipping records... that makes sense now. I must have taken it by accident when I set [i]my[/i] papers down. I must have mixed them up! My mistake, I'll own up to it. I'll see if I can drop it on your desk at headquarters soon today."

Lihua didn't exactly buy Baron's story... but she wasn't going to raise a big fuss about it either - because there was no real need to. There was nothing in those files that were incriminating, or top secret. Just something that pertains to her investigation. Long as she got them back, she would be happy.

"I need those files, they are relevant to a separate investigation the Director assigned me to." Lihua said,

"Yes, of course." Baron conceded, bowing his head and pressing his palms together in apology. "I am so sorry for inconveniencing you like that. I'll get them back to you as soon as I can, cross my heart."

"Thank you." Lihua genuinely said, taking a sip of her coffee. Like she said before, long as the files got back to her. Though, she was personally wondering what he'd do with it [i]if[/i] he intentionally took them. They were just shipping records useless to [i]his[/i] mission. 

Regardless, she wasn't going to mull on the subject any longer. It was a date, after all. She took one more sip of her coffee, and said, "I have to say... it [i]is[/i] surprising that the Dreadnaughts got involved in all of this," Lihua started off, "Taking on a gang of drug addicts seems... below your pay grade."

Baron laughed quietly and softly to himself. "Yeah, I suppose so..." He admitted. [i]'So now she's asking about our mission. I supposed it wouldn't hurt to tell her as little as possible. Enough to lead her in a faux direction.'[/i]

"You see... the mission, as its core, is to help return Verthaven to stability. For the government to regain control of it."

The server returned with Baron espresso, who gladly took it from him and took a sip from it - guaging its flavor and how hot it was. He set it back down on the table.

"...And I think we both know that a couple of drug gangs aren't really the problem causing this instability."

"Of course not," Lihua answered. She understood his first statement (while wondering if this mission was really above him). "It's more than obvious that someone is pulling the strings... because, since when did a band of worthless meth heads get enough weapons to arm a small nation? Or get drugs that give them pseudo-powers?"

"That's right." Baron agreed. "My mission pertains to activities within the city, though I have no problem deviating from that boundary if it is to my benefit. Calling for [i]my[/i] back-up now might take some time for them to mobilize. I don't know if this is within NEST's or this city's jurisdiction, but here's my suggestion: once you get your logs for your investigation back, and you think you found a shipping route that supplies the enemy, terminate the source before you hunt down the receiver to starve them."

Once again, Lihua couldn't help but grin. [i]Of course.[/i] She thought to herself. "I [i]will[/i] do everything necessary to put an end to this." She said. "I have a lead, in fact," She said again, quietly. Hopefully drowned out by the chatter of the cafe. "During the Fiend's attack, there was a shipment arriving in the Eureka Harbour... that strangely has no information on it."

She took another sip. "So, that means that [i]someone[/i] got a little... [i]sloppy[/i]." Lihua wasn't going to say [i]when[/i] she was going to investigate it. That would be rather idiotic, even if she was hoping that their conversation would be inaudible.

Baron took a sip of his own drink, his smiling face dimming to a colder, serious demeanor. "If it wasn't a gang that was on your hands, I'd consider looking at the other shipments from other routes. A blank spot in a sea of information. If your target is someone clever, then they just lured you right into their trap. It's an obvious lead. Have you considered the idea that some of those apparently filled records might be forged?"

Hmmm... Yeah, she hadn't considered that. It could be a trap, and she couldn't afford risking her life for this. "I... hadn't thought of that." She said, speaking in a lower, more hesitant tone. Like it hurt her pride to admit. "But... I have little other leads... hmmmm...." She thought out loud. She was still considering going - just not [i]alone[/i], perhaps.

"Think of this like chess." Baron explained. "You make your moves based upon whether or not your prediction is true. If you walk straight into their trap, they're not gonna be just one step ahead of you. They'll be two steps. Three steps. Five. Ten. If you follow their prediction, they set the playing field for the rest of the game."

"... You are [i]very[/i] correct there, Baron." Lihua admitted. Walking into their trap would screw NEST over, and possibly get her killed (or permanently taken out of action). "This means that I'll have to change the game." She said, starting off. "Come up with a different method of going about this investigation of mine."

Baron couldn't help but laugh to himself. "Look at us," he started, "on a date and all we can talk about is work."

"... You can say that I'm really dedicated to this job." Lihua said, with a smirk on her face.

Baron just grinned. "Well since it doesn't look like you'll be asking..." He said as a joke. "I'm a neuropsychologist. I come from Quebec, have a history in the psychology, psychiatry, and investigative fields, and I like really old wines. I have a shelf full of them... and I have a Great Dane I named Pavlov, though I didn't bring him with me. Hobbies include traveling, collecting music records, and linguistics."

Looks like they're done talking about business... which Lihua was perfectly fine with. It started with her asking about the files, and went on from there. Baron told her about himself, and she figured that she should do the same at least.

"I enjoy wine every now and then, too." Lihua started off. "I figured that it's my turn... I'm a Chinese immigrant that served in the PLA for a long time, before I was booted because they found out about my ability. I came to America at the suggestion of my brother, and joined NEST as an intelligence officer." That was somewhat incorrect, but she hoped that Baron couldn't [i]read minds[/i]. "And... I have two daughters, and I enjoy yoga, and the finer aspects of life." She finished.

"Amen to that." Baron said raising his espresso at the mention of the "finer aspects of life". Though a flag went up at the metion of her daughters. Not necessarily a problem for him, but in Lihua's line of work, that was a liability. A liability that Baron personally could not afford.

Before he was able to take a drink of the espresso, his phone began to ring. He reached into his pocket, and there it read "Caesar" (best to keep the identities of his comrades safe in every medium), and he raised one finger to Lihua in a request to pardon him. He answered his phone.

"Zombie speaking." He answered at the risk of an enemy getting a hold of the phone, or if someone tapped the line.

"Sulfur's been caught. Meet up with us at NEST HQ, we could use ya."

"Right, heard that. See you there."

He hung up the phone with a click and gave Lihua a friendly smile. "Well, that was one of my colleagues. Looks like they apprehended Sulfur."

Two Fiend lieutenants out of commission in barely the span of a day? Well, this is good news at least. Not surprising, however, as they are all drug addicts. They can't be [i]that[/i] clever in a gang like the Fiends. Though, that line of thought is why they became a problem in the [i]first place[/i].

"Excellent," Lihua said, "I think I'll head over to the Headquarters, I want to see this for myself. And who knows? Maybe she knows something."

"Then it works out perfectly. I've been called in as well..." Baron informed. He seemed to hesitate at first. "Miss Vuhong... if it looks as though she doesn't intend on talking... please, let me ask you to leave for that time being."

Lihua nodded her head, "Affirmative." She got the idea of what he planned on doing.

Baron's smile returned to his face. He shot back the espresso, set it on the table, and stood up from his chair. His eyes glimmered as he offered Vuhong a hand. "We'll be off then."