The Watcher: Adaptability Of A Bounty Hunter

Chapter 11) Collection Planning

Roman, Mari, and Cliff left the Trashed Whale behind and started down the road. Clutched inside Roman’s palm, was the holo-pic Elizabeth- or the Toymaker used to brief them on the targets. The man was frequently cycling through the profiles, all while absentmindedly staring at the deadbeats who couldn’t pay the poor lady back for her services.

Cliff could never understand how Roman was feeling at any given moment. Well that is if you discounted all the annoyed sighs, and mumbled curses underneath his breath. But when things looked grim, the tinman’s face didn’t clue anyone into what he could possibly be thinking. That… inexpressive, wall that barred anyone else from entry, it’s what Cliff despised most about him and Agma. Mari was adamant in the belief that the two men shared nothing in common. But he wasn’t convinced, hell if anything the signs were clear as day.

For starters, there were the factors so blatant anyone could point them out. First and foremost, Roman, or as he’d like to be known as ‘Watcher’ and Agma both have a strange fetish for hiding their identity. Or had-- at the very least, given the fact that Agma unmasked himself willingly the night they had brought Roman to him. Cliff hadn’t the faintest clue why he did that, but all masks came off eventually. And while some shed that burden themselves, others cling onto that perceived safety until life catches up and rips the damn mask off. Cliff scratched at the fuzz which coated the lower half of his face.

“Huh… Maybe there's a difference between them after all.”

Mari looked at Cliff, “You say something?”

“Just wondering how we ended up getting roped into this mess…”

“God I know right,” She sighed, looking down at her feet, “How’d we go from a simple capture mission to running collection jobs for some random chick.”

“Same way we ended up following the tinless, tinman over there. Agma has some elaborate scheme that can only work if we don’t know all the details.”

“Cliff I know what you're trying to say, and you’re wrong.”

He scoffed, “Oh yeah? So I’m guessing Roman’s gonna fill us in on every detail of whatever plan he comes up with right? And surely Agma must have filled you in behind my back right? Well come on, spit it out, why’re we with the tinman Mari?”

She didn’t respond.

“That’s what I thought.”

The group moved along at a sluggish pace. Slowly they retraced their steps, going down the same series of twists and turns used previously to enter this section of the district. The Trashed Whale and the other local businesses disappeared once they entered the same alleyway that Cliff had soiled with his self proclaimed trash cannon. Remnants of that incident lay sprawled out on the ground. Rotten food, random articles of ripped and torn clothing, and disgusting patches of indescribable muck. Roman and Mari tried as hard as they possibly could to skillfully maneuver around the spilt garbage. But it was futile, one wrong step and Mari’s boot was covered in repulsive slime, same for Roman.

The two of them twisted around and stared daggers at him. And for the life of him, Cliff had no idea why they were so upset with him. He thought that it was a rather ingenious method of clearing an obstacle. Climbing that small fence, would’ve taken at least four seconds or so. By hurling the trash can, Cliff shaved precious seconds off the clock, making him the sole reason they reached the bar as soon as they did. Still didn’t stop the others from eying him down though.

“We’re here,” Roman said, coming to a stop in front of the moderately sized highrise the group had passed early. Also where the chase with the Blinker bot started. Cliff spotted a rusty slide, with a barely leveled set of high bars stitched onto the right of the wooden shell which held all the equipment all together. Were he still a child, Cliff would sooner roll around in the dirt then touch that poor excuse for a playground.

Mari moved ahead taking a spot next to Roman, “Wow, it’s an abandoned building. You really do take us to some exciting places dontcha?”

“Apparently it’s not so empty.”

“Huh?”

Roman bent down to one knee, letting the already simmering Holo-pic droop out of his hand and onto the ground. He tapped the center twice, just as Cliff rejoined the group. As could be expected, the projector sparked up! Meticulously building up an enlarged image pixel by pixel. Like pieces of a puzzle, the digital parts fell into place, forming a poster sized outline of blue light. Once the skeleton frame was finished the picture quality became fuzzy for less than a second. And when the distortion disappeared, the process was complete. Cliff took a look at the full image, it was a man in his late thirties, notably lacking most of his hair. Cliff recognized him as the first of three targets given to them by the owner of the Trashed Whale.

“Paragraph two, sentence five,” Roman said.

Mari leaned in towards the projection. Mouthing the syllables of words as she made her way through the sentence. Cliff, though not directly told to do so, took a look at the aforementioned passage from the profile.

“... We don’t have all day.”

“I’m going, I’m going, geez… '' Mari shook her head, and centered her gaze on the start of the fifth sentence, “Yelena has no publicly listed place of residence, effectively making him homeless. This would’ve made tracking him down a hassle were it not for several Blinker Bot patrols catching the guy entering the abandoned, housing complex 1A.”

Cliff took a glance at the towering building, even the wooden planks that blocked off the window’s seemed uncomfortably dirty, “I’m guessing this 1A?”

Roman nodded, “It’s 4:30, all the bars in this part of town open up in a couple hours from now. The alcoholic should be either asleep, or lounging around until happy hour. Either way I want you and Mari to search the place for him.”

In perfect synchronization, Cliff and Mari turned to Roman.

Cliff tried to say something-- but Mari was louder, “HUUH! And where are you gonna be huh!? Looking for more time alone with miss overalls, pathetic!”

Roman rolled his eyes, evidently Mari wasn’t a big fan of that gesture.

“Then why’re you skipping out on work mhm?” She grit her teeth, her entire face was scrunched up in seething hatred. “Oh ho ho I get it. You’re trying to get rid of us aren’t you? Thought that maybe you could make it to Acropolis without the extra baggage huh?”

“No. That’s not--”

“Well I got news for you boy! Agma ordered us to join you on this little mission. So like it or not, we’re coming! So man the f**k up, and come clear this deadbeat with us!”

“If you’d just let me talk--”

“And let you weasel your way outta this? No dice, now come on!”

Mari jumped ahead and grabbed the man’s arm. Though Roman protested, Mari’s grip was like a vice, until she wanted to let him go, the guy was stuck. She dragged him forward, passing by Cliff. The whole spectacle was pretty funny to the burly man. It was like watching a parent drag a child to a doctor’s appointment. But the height difference between the taller man, and shorter woman made for an even better experience. Still though, Cliff knew that wasn’t the reason he was trying to bail, he choked it up to a gut feeling, but that was enough for him.

“Let the guy talk, Mari,” Cliff interpreted.

She slowed to a stop, giving Roman the opening he needed. He pulled himself away from the weirdly tight grip and quickly walked over to Cliff.

“Thank you Cliff,” The man exhaled, “As I was trying to say, no I’m not heading back to the Trashed Whale. And though I’d much rather take care of Agma’s business alone, I’m not abandoning you both.”

Cliff folded his arms, “Well. what exactly are you gonna do then?”

“How many targets do we have?

“Three. The alcoholic, the restaurant manager, and the mage.”

“Well I’m heading off to meet the mage.”

Mari bolted over and shoved a finger in his face, “How stupid can one man be!”

“Ladies got a point,” Cliff uncoiled his arms, instead sticking his hands into his pockets, “You’ve got no armor, no gimmicks, nothing. All you are is a dude with a handgun. Ain’t no way a fully trained mage is gonna be intimidated by you. So how about you handle the drunkard, we’ll take the wizard.”

The tinman’s gaze shifted upward, forcing the two men to share a heated stare for the briefest of moments. Roman’s face, typically void of expression, was still mostly the same. But there was a small hint of something else, the corners of his eyelids flexed open more than they would usually. And his mouth which would stay shut unless the man spoke, seemed to be forcefully held in place. If Cliff had to guess, it was to keep himself unaware of the man’s true feelings.

But Cliff lived for anger and rage, and these traits formed the foundation of his fighting style. So if anyone was qualified to point out these features in someone else, it would be him. Cliff saw right through this calm and collected B.S the Tinman had been spoon feeding them this entire journey. Roman wanted to sock him in the mouth, it was plain as day. Not that he saw anything wrong with that, hell if anything Cliff sympathized with the guy. Constant belittlement can grind on someone’s nerves like nothing else. Really makes you want to pound someone into the ground, and Cliff placed his bets on Roman taking a swing. That’s all he’d need, the perfect excuse to pulverize him, all he needed now was for the magicless man to make his move.

Cliff didn’t move a single muscle. If this was gonna happen it would need to be apparent that he made the first move. He allowed his mouth to contort into a sadistic smile, something to sweeten the deal. Must have worked too, because Roman balled his hands into fists. Mari was uncharacteristically quiet, perhaps she was just as interested in seeing how things played out as he was. The seconds rounded into a minute, both men still locked in their staring contest.

“Plucked chicken closes at 8:00. No idea why, but that’s your opening to get money from Leon Ashford.” Roman said with only a hint of malice.

Roman’s tightened fists softened, the hint of edge in his face vanished. Leaving behind the same, silent condescending expression Cliff despised. He couldn’t help but frown, try as he might, Cliff couldn’t hide his disappointment. After being defeated in not one, but two fights really does something to your ego. Whatever, he’d get another chance in time, he would only need to be patient. Roman started to walk away from them, and in an ironic twist of events, Cliff felt himself squeezing his hands as tight as he could manage. The blood rushed to the surface underneath his white skin, transitioning it into a light red coloration. All this happened subconsciously of course, the moment Cliff noticed, he released the pressure in his fingers.

Roman made a decent pace, somewhere between a casual jog and a power walk. The cloak’s tails lapped in the wind, gently flapping up and down as he walked away. Mari popped up next to Cliff before he knew it, and she had plenty to say.

Mari snorted, “See if I care! Hey you think Agma will let us off the hook if this guy gets hacked into pieces.”

“Agma can apparently see the future, right? If the tin man was supposed to die, we’ll know about it somehow.”

“I don’t wanna piss off the boss, but I reaaally want this guy to die.”

“You and me both…”

“Just a reminder,” Roman’s voice butted into the conversation, when they turned to see him, All they saw was the man’s back. He stopped walking somewhere around twenty feet away from the apartment building, “I didn’t need magic, or the suit to beat you both. So don’t try to compare our strength.”

And with that, Roman made his exit. Quickly fell out of audible range, or more likely he made the conscious choice to ignore Mari, who tried desperately to refute his claims. Cliff on the other hand, well, shockingly enough he was impressed. Don’t misunderstand, he was still confident in his ability to destroy the punier man. But there was an element about him he had to respect. Roman, or the Watcher, he didn’t care which one, was always able to maintain a level head. Sure he hated that fact about him, probably most of all. But he couldn’t deny the strength it takes to walk away from a fight when someone’s talking all kinds of s**t.

“Come on Mari.”

“Where are you going?”

“To find that drunk guy, the faster we finish up the sooner I can go home.”