At the edge of the Mind (Vincent, Blue)

S-
Blacksmith Shop, 7pm. Man with tussled brown hair, young face.
-C

That's it? That's the only information he has for me?"

Mr. Cho, her consultant and task-assigner, typically has a tad more information than a blase description and time frame. And the manila envelop to which the note was neatly attached too is eerily light. Too light. "What do you hold, little note?"

In her time working with Mr. Cho, delivering assignments, she never sneaked a peak into the envelopes. Well, almost never. Her first assignment, she attempted to open the flap without ripping it, when the edges to where she was separating the flap from the envelop started to spark and smoke. Since then, it seemed a better plan to just hand it over then attempt another break-in.

Solis grabbed her black leather coat and tossed on a pair of lime colored flats. After she kissed Iko, her northern inuit puppy, she bolted out of her condo door, her messy brunette hair bouncing behind her into the wind. One long cab ride later, she stood in front of the run-down, dilapidated doors to Therim Ortas' blacksmith shop. Quaint name.

The bell at the top of the door tinkled softly as she walked into the packed store room of the shop. Row after row of tools, metals, and fire. A creater could get lost in here. Somewhere in the back, amongst the tongs and unforged items, stood a slender man, his back to Solis.
"ahem?"

No, that is not how I wanted it. It needs to have a 48 degree bend here, and then, over here, it needs to have another one that is 34 degrees but in the opposite direction. Like an 's' you understand?

Look girly, I do my best. I don't understand why this piece won't work.

Because, it is not the specs that I request from you. I asked you, specifically, for what I needed, and you give me this.. and it isn't even smoothe. I heard you were the best in the business, and I brought my business to you.

The man grumbled as he sighed. He knew he had done a shit poor job on the piece of metal that Blue had ordered. He also knew that if he did it right chances were she would be back for other metal parts she needed cut down or otherwise changed. Things that were harder for her to do herself. She was a novice and could do some things on her own, but others she sought outside help for. He knew too, that if he did well, she would probably send people his way from time to time.

I'll see what I can do, give me a few minutes.

Blue looked up and over as the sound of the bells over the door chimed and someone walked in. A woman, brown curly hair. Blue was dressed as she normally was. Jeans. Tshirt. All of the above were stained, and her fingers were still the color of grease from messing with the metal here in the back room while talking to the Blacksmith. The girl was much cleaner, more represented the female population. Lovely, she guessed the word was. Silently, Blue turned her blue and green eyes back to her own business of typing into the small hand held computer she held in her hand. One that she had built herself.

The piece the blacksmithe was working on was for a really neat invention. A new vehicle. She wasn't sure what she was going to do with it yet, but she had an idea, and a bug in her mind. And she would have to make this thing before she was able to get rid of that nagging in her brain. So she was making it, she would probably sell it or try to show her bosses what it was capable of. So she had added some darker modifications and hoped that the Bossman would be happy with some random invention.

Can I help you? asked the blacksmith to the woman that had just walked in.

“I don’t know why ye keep trying to figure it out, lad. Yer father never did, or his father before ‘im. Just give it up already and move on. If ye can’t figure it out by now, yer not gonna.”

“I’m sure it has something to do with the mind. Bronze give me telepathy; limited, yes, but telepathy just the same. The metal pairs are all related somehow.” Vincent ignored Therim’s exaggerated eye roll. He’d had this same argument with the grizzled old dwarf countless times in the past decade. Vincent didn’t understand why he could Burn Copper, but not be able to tell what the effects were. He had to vocalize his thoughts, though, and the dwarf was the only living person besides Vincent himself who knew exactly what Vince’s abilities were.

The two of them were walking back to Therim’s smithy from the small diner down the road. Vince needed work done but Therim refused to take money from him for the job, claiming it wasn’t right to charge the descendent of the man who had saved his life over a hundred years ago. The dwarf was the only person in whom Vince felt he could place his trust entirely, possibly the only person he considered an actual friend. Vince was dressed in every day clothes, jeans and a short sleeved polo; clothes that would fit in just about anywhere. What made Vince stand out, and drew the stares of everyone they walked by, was the massive claymore strapped to Vincent’s back. It was his pride and joy, crafted by the very dwarf walking next to him over fifty years earlier.

“Ye didn’t need ta buy me dinner ta get me ta fix yer hilt, ye know. And nothing else is wrong wit the sword?”

“I did need to buy you dinner, since you won’t take my money for the work,” the two of them had had this argument countless times before as well. “You know very well that nothing is wrong with the blade. Nothing has been wrong with the blade since the day it left your forge. It doesn’t dull, or marr, or get scratched. Just like my knives.” The dwarven made blades that Vince used had been infused with mana during their forging, a secret technique the dwarves kept close to them. No non dwarf was ever taught how to do it, if it was even possible for someone without dwarven blood to do it. Therim grunted in agreement. He knew the answer to his question, but still insisted on asking it for some reason.

“What happened to yer hilt, anyway? Not like ye ta let Excelsior get messed up like that.”

Vince reached his right hand up over his shoulder to grasp the hilt of the giant sword. The leather wrapping the hilt had been torn up, and the hilt itself was dented in three places. By bullets. Vince had found himself working what ended up being the biggest pain in the ass protection job he’d ever done just days before. The man he had been told to protect had been attacked by two different assassins from two different clients at the same time. A hail of bullets had come from a nearby rooftop to start the altercation. Vince had been lucky that the stray bullets that had actually found targets had hit his sword instead of his head. “A little trouble on my latest job,” he murmured evasively.

“Aye, that’s what ye always say when ye nearly get yerself killed,” the dwarf grumbled as he opened the back door to his smithy. Vince heard the small bell on the door to the shop attached to the smithy ring as a customer walked in. As they walked in Therim’s apprentice, Gale Boyle, was placing a rather ugly piece of metal on the shop counter and talking with the woman standing there. She was clearly agitated, probably over the state of the metal. Gale wasn’t very experienced in the smithy yet. Before Gale could pick up his monstrosity to bring it back to the forge to attempt to fix it, Therim stormed in from the smithy. “What is that piece o’ scrap metal on me counter, boy?” Vincent winced slightly. Gale meant well, and he tried his best, but when Therim started using his ‘booming’ voice he knew that they would be back at the forge hammering out whatever Gale messed up for most of the night. Vince heard the bell again, noting the second woman who walked into the shop as Therim continued berating Gale. “Where are the specs fer this piece? Let’s go see how it’s actually s’posed ta look! Vincent, lad, entertain the ladies fer me while I fix this dolt’s mistakes. Yer hilt’ll have to wait a bit.” Therim didn’t even look at Vince as he spoke to him, focusing more on the piece of metal he had wrenched out of his apprentice’s hands as he walked back to the forge, muttering in dwarven and followed by his sullen looking apprentice.

Vince only smiled. He had seen similar scenes with the dwarf his entire life. Turning to the face the other side of the counter he glanced at each of the two women standing there. Both were attractive, though one seemed to be engrossed in what looked to be a phone in her hand. She was the one who had requested the piece, it seemed. The other looked very out of place walking into a dirty and gritty smithy shop. She matched the picture he had received earlier this week from Mister Dark. “A good evening to you, ladies. Is there anything I can assist you with while Therim fixes that piece?” he asked as he unbuckled Excelsior’s baldric crossing diagonally across his chest and leaned the greatsword against the counter.

“A good evening to you, ladies. Is there anything I can assist you with while Therim fixes that piece?”"

Well, that definitely is a boyish face.

Solis was suddenly jarred back to reality in the realization that she was not the only one in the shop. Another woman, who by the sound of it was extremely irate, was standing next to the counter. Her fingertips were stained, a testament to the greasy workroom around them. Solis made a conscious note to not touch anything. The man that she was assigned to meet, if that indeed was him, carried with him the biggest sword she had ever seen. The metal glinted in the low light of the smithy and reflected back onto her watch. How beautiful...

Corner him, hand over folder, relay message, leave. Corner, hand over, relay, leave. Solis knew that this meeting was not going to go as smoothly as the others, mostly because she had the impeccable luck of catching her marks alone. Between this new situation, and the impending low pressure system aching her right arm and knee joints, she hoped to get out of the smithy as fast as possible. She also hoped that this man was aware of Mr. Cho's black swan symbol; if not, then it would be a quick turn and bolt out of the doorway.

Solis moved closer to the sword, and the man, and tucked a stray curl behind her ear. The smithy was certainly a novel place, and she quickly zoomed in on the small Rampuri-like knife. It was a little too big, but it will do. Hello, I'm looking to possibly get a small knife designed, like the Rampuri dagger. I was thinking somewhat smaller though, and with an etching of a black swam in the hilt.

Solis' hazel eyes quickly darted back to the oil-covered woman and back at the sword. Is that a claymore? Who uses those? Would that be a problem?

Blue's eyes shifted as the back door opened and out came a dwarf of all things. Her eyes followed the bellowing man, completely unphased by his loud voice or the fact that he seemed to be laying into the man that had screwed over the component she had come all this way for. She was already contemplating how hard it would be to create some sort of computer program that would create better metalurgy for her. The woman came in, and said nothing, of course, how could she over the yelling of the short man.

Why is it short people think they need to be so loud?

Blue was tall for a girl. Standing at just over five feet nine inches tall she was a fair bit taller than most of the girls she had ever met. Though true elves were even taller than her, as she was merely a half breed.

The man took the apprentice back into back to work on the part that she actually needed and not that piece of crap that had been brought out to her. She understood that not everyone was as gifted with their job as she was. Or as the dwarf was. But in the same breath, she had come here hearing that they were among the best and she had expected work second to none.

There was a man left, Vincent apparently, left to man the store. Blue looked up over at him when he addressed them as ladies. Blue's eyes shifted over to the girl who took the chance to step up and ask about some sort of dagger that she wanted with a black swan on the blade. Strange idea for a symbol. Unless she was planning to kill someone, to have some sort of signature weapon or something.

Blue's brows furrowed in confusion for a moment.

See to the woman's request, I am merely waiting for my part in the back. she said as she leaned her hip against the counter. Putting her palm computer away and watching the two. Wondering just what was going on. Something was niggling at the back of her mind and she was just.. not sure what the point of it was. What it was trying to tell her. So she was watching the two, merely another customer.. in the store.. that was all.

Vince looked from one woman to the other as he waited for a response. The taller one on his left he didn’t expect anything from. The reason she was here was already being worked on in the back. This was just a waiting game for her. She responded as he had expected, saying she was fine and that the other customer should be seen to.

The other woman, considerably shorter stepped forward quickly. Vincent knew this was the woman he was waiting for; he had a full dossier on her sitting in his apartment that he had been perusing before coming to the smithy tonight. She had history with Umbra, but apparently had had a memory wipe and didn’t remember anything about that. She now unknowingly worked as an Umbra courier. Tonight, she had a manila envelope for him. He knew what was in that, as well. The whole point of her drop tonight was to put her into actual contact with the Enforcers. The higher ups of the company had been waiting to see if her memory would come back on its own, but impatience was taking hold. They had put a lot of money into this little girl standing in front of Vince, and they wanted to bring her back into the fold.

That was where Vince came in. He wasn’t sure how he was going to do it yet, but he had to convince her to come back to Umbra. They cybernetics that had been placed in her made her ideal as an Enforcer, but her current field of work said she should join the ranks of Umbra’s analysts and lab techs. He couldn’t say anything to her yet, however. She needed to give him the code that Cho used, a black swan. He was curious as to how she would do it with another person close enough to hear their coming conversation.

His smile widened slightly as she pointed towards one of the knives on the shelf behind the counter. A rampuri knife, this one in the switchblade style, and she actually knew what type of knife it was. Not many people did, especially not with an ancient style knife from India shortly after the beginning of the war. And there it was, her black swan code. Engraved on the hilt, a very nice way to throw it in there. He didn’t directly acknowledge the code, obviously, but instead began Burning Bronze. “No, I don’t think that will be a problem. Would you like it in the switchblade style, or the lock back style? I believe Therim can do either one for you,” he said aloud, while at the same time used his Bronze ability to project his voice straight into her head. <Your code is received. I understand you have a package for me, Solis. Delivery is impossible at this time. Remain in the smithy until the other customer leaves as I will have a return message for you to bring to Mr. Cho.>

Vincent guessed that there were at least two things that would cause her head to spin. The first, that she was hearing his voice both inside and outside her mind and both were saying completely different things. Many people had trouble keeping the two voices separate unless they had some way to practice it. The second was that he knew her name.

Before she would get a chance to respond more than a word or two, the bell on the front door to the shop rang once again. Three men entered, two of them quickly moving to other parts of the store as if to peruse. Vince was instantly on his guard as the third man moved straight up to the counter. He didn’t know why but these men seemed to be of the seedier type to him. Therim had had issues with theft in the past, criminals looking to snag some dwarven crafted blades or just to take the silver and gold that Therim kept on hand for when a client wanted something gilded or worked in silver.

His thoughts were confirmed as all three of them pulled out guns and aimed at Vince and both women. Vince began Burning Iron and Steel, the entire room coming alive with what seemed to be blue fishing wire visible only to him that connected each source of metal to him. He Ironpulled the bullet in the chamber of the gun pointed towards him, nudging the bullet forward slightly so that when the trigger was pulled, the hammer would hit nothing and the gun would misfire. He the Pull was so slight that the person holding the gun wouldn’t notice. Vincent couldn’t do that to the other guns without alerting their wielders however; he could only Pull and Push things in a straight line to and from himself. Instead, he decided to try negotiating.

“Gentlemen, I don’t think this is something you want to do. There are witnesses, and you may be very injured before you leave here.” He didn’t think the other two would shoot until the third told them to do so, and if that happened Vince could do something else to mess up their shots and protect the women, if they even needed his protection to begin with. He just hoped that neither the men with guns or the women did something rash. He really did dislike fighting, but if regular negotiations didn't work, he would have to resort to aggressive negotiations; the kind that involved the giant sword leaning against the counter next to him

Vincent flashed a small but subtle smile as he looked over to the knife shelves and pointed to the small switchblade rampuri knife. The edge of the blade looked like it could slice through most anything with a flick of the wrist. Solis had a special place in her heart for any and all swords; after all, the fencing lessons that she took since she was 16 helped to introduce her to the finer aspects of weaponry. Not that she was bad at using them either; she had a 96% accuracy in hitting targets with a small blade from 100 feet away, and with a rapier, she hadn't lost a fight in over two years. There really wasn't anything lucky about it, she supposed, though it did come quite naturally to her. Like most anything she did, she practiced until it was rote memory.

Solis' joints still ached, though she tried her hardest to repress the ache the reached down to her toes. A storm was coming, there was no doubt about that. Iko, her northern inuit, she was sure, was pacing across the living room floor. She looked back to Vincent as he was speaking, when suddenly his voice doubled within her head, causing her eyes to flicker open wide in shock. What the hell?

<Your code is received. I understand you have a package for me, Solis. Delivery is impossible at this time. Remain in the smithy until the other customer leaves as I will have a return message for you to bring to Mr. Cho.>

As the words weaved through and washed through her brain, she tried to muffle out his actual voice for the meaning silently spoken within. He knows who I am? A return message? Oh this is not good. No one has ever provided her with a return message, and she certainly had never called Mr. Cho; he was always the one to initiate contact. She should have been briefed on this man, not just given a vague description. Between his slight cocky expression and that layered message, she really had no idea who she was dealing with. The sound of the bells by the door woke her from her stupor, and she whipped her head around to stare at the three men who had just entered in. Great more pain in the ass people.

One of the men was walking slow but deliberately towards the counter on which Vincent leaned; sadly, also towards herself, and the other girl. These men didn't belong in the shop anymore than Solis did, but for a whole other reason. She didn't need to turn around to know that Vincent had his eyes on the men moving closer. Seconds flashed by as all three men pulled out guns and pointed their muzzles at them. Shit.

It seemed like Vincent kept his cool, though Solis had no clue as to how he did.
“Gentlemen, I don’t think this is something you want to do. There are witnesses, and you may be very injured before you leave here.”

From within her chest, Solis' heart was beating staccato, her breath coming in short, shallow pulls. She had never held a gun, much less had one pointed at her. Goosebumps popped through her skin, sweat glistened at the top of her forehead, and terror fled through her. Unconscious reaction took favor over staying calm, and she slid her hand into her back pocket and pulled out the small can of mace her ex boyfriend had bought her for protection. She had never used it, but always took it with her when she went delivering. Her hand gripped the can tightly and she forced her thumb down on the top in the hopes that the spray would shoot far enough out to distract the main man as she pulled the other woman down for cover and left Vincent to, well, handle himself she supposed. He was supposed to be an undercover cop, wasn't he?

As lucky would NOT have it, however, as she squeezed down hard on the mace, she noticed that in her haste, she had the nozzle not facing the man with the gun, but herself. The mace shot out from the sides of her hands and skirted along the edge of her left eye, causing her to scream in shock, and then pain. She stumbled back to protect herself, and managed to knock over a collection of thin tin bowls and iron bits on her way down, and the high-pitched clanging that reigned down over her sent her head into full migraine mode. Lightning bolts shot into her eyes, and her brain lit up in white-hot pain. Opening her eyes, she spotted a blurry outline of the girl, as well as Vincent. At least she hoped it was Vincent. Oh god, what have I done?

Three men entered the shop and Blue watched them from where she was leaning up against the counter. One leg was bent at an angle with her foot pressing up against the counter, and the other was solidly on the ground. She brushed some of her stray hair out of her face as she continued to toy with her computer, but something about these guys were off. They weren't really looking, they had something else in mind but Blue had no idea what. Maybe they were casing the joint. Maybe something else? She wasn't really quite sure.

Annnnd her gut was right.

In moments the three men had a gun pointed at each of them. Blue's brow rose. Really? That was the way they wanted to go? They had no idea who they were dealing with, hell she doubted anyone in this shop knew who she was except some lady here after a part to something she was trying to build. She was one of New Dawn's best kept secrets, no one really knew about the lead inventor for New Dawn. And if they did know that she existed they didn't know very much about her. Blue was very closed off and personal.

Don't do nothin' funny lady. Put that thing your holdin' down. Dont need you callin' the police or nuttin'

Blue slowly put the device down on the counter top.

Naw, step away pretty lady, no need you pickin' it back up when you think I ain't lookin' sos you can call som'one

Blue moved several feet to the side, not that it mattered but then he didn't know that anyway. They were dealing with a technopath. Which meant that she could use her device from anywhere but she certainly wasn't going to let on about that as she watched the man. Trying not to show that she was cocky.

A hiss sounded from the other side of the room and Blue's multi-colored eyes shifted over to see the girl grunting and crying out in pain.

What. An. Idiot.

Blue rolled her eyes, had she seriously maced herself?! Oh, Geez. Blue moved quickly. Well not moved quickly, but her fingers twitched, and she was instantly connected to all the electronic devices in the room. On one hand she alerted the Terran Guard to the situation through a nice little text from her device that was easily six or so feet away from her. Then she did something that would be vital to their current survival. She disabled the guns.

Most of the guns these days had microchips in them. Only really rare, and really old school guns seemed to have nothing so she was able to disable two out of the three guns so only the leader in front of the boy who worked here's gun still would work. That was important at least, now they were going to get the upper hand, she hoped.

I need to help her. She's hurt! Blue said to the man. Can I take her to the bathroom to wash out her eyes?

The man narrowed his eyes. You think I dunno what you do in there. Get out some phone or sumthin' sos you can make a call all secret like. I know what you do. She hurt herself.

Great... and asshole.

Blue thought about getting him in the groin. The two lackies didn't have working guns, only the guy that was in front of Shop Boy, and the girl was out, basically on the floor in agony. Which left Blue at least two of them. Shame she couldn't control some metal, but she was a technopath and a cyberpath she had nothing she could do with metal that she didn't need a blowtorch for. Her eyes flickered to the Shop Boy to see what his next move was.

Vincent waited for the assailants to make their demands. He knew they would, and he had a pretty good idea what they’d want. He also knew that in a short while, they’d be regretting ever walking into this shop. The lead man who held his now useless gun to Vince glanced quickly at Excelsior and back. “Don’t try anything funny now, boy. I’ll put a bullet in your head before you can get that weapon over the counter. I just want the money in the register, and any precious metals that might be around here. You give me those, and no one has to get hurt. I’ve got boys all around this shop now. No one is leaving without my say so.” Vincent’s smile didn' waver. It also didn't touch his eyes, which now looked like small orbs of green ice.

One of the men began talking to the other customer, telling her to put her phone down and move away, which she did. Solis seemed to be frozen, in either fear or shock or both. Vince’s mind was working furiously; he had to figure out a way to take these guys out, but do it before the other two fired on the women. The two men focused on the women looked like mere lackeys, a thought that was reinforced after hearing the other guy speak; he obviously wasn’t the brightest bulb of the bunch.

“I’m sorry to say that I don’t work here, and I can’t help you. I’m only a customer here.”

“We’ve been casing this joint for weeks. I know that you are a regular customer here, and friends with the dwarf who owns this place. I’m sure a personal friend would know where everything is kept. And with the ward I put around this room, the dwarf won’t hear anything out of the ordinary. Too bad he’s so busy working the forge and won’t even come back in here for a while, huh?” The man smiled, thinking he had all the cards.

From his right, Vince heard a slight hiss followed by a scream. Quickly glancing over he saw Solis doubling over and covering her face. There was a can in her hand. It looked like a mace can. Did she just mace herself? Really? Vince was shocked for a moment. This was the woman that Umbra wanted to be brought back into the fold? Maybe it would be better if he just disposed of her so she couldn’t bring embarrassment to the company. As quick as that thought crossed his mind it was discarded. He couldn’t bring himself to kill such a pathetic woman, and orders were orders. It was up to the bosses to figure out what to do with her. Right now, she needed to wash her eyes out, though.

The other woman spoke up, speaking aloud what Vince had in his head. Her guard denied her, but then quickly glanced over at his boss. The slight shake of the head that the leader gave confirmed that he had been looking to see if his boss had wanted to allow it anyway. Apparently he was content with letting her sit there with a burning face. Vincent didn’t blame him, not really. In that situation he might have done the same thing. He was not in that position, however. He needed her whole and well, and she was in obvious pain right now, knocking things over and making a general ruckus. “Johnny, kill her so she’ll shut up!”

Johnny, who had lowered his gun slightly when Solis maced herself, brought his gun back up. He hesitated, though. He obviously wasn’t as cold hearted as his boss wanted him to be.

“I wouldn’t do that, Johnny,” Vince said quietly. Johnny shot a startled look towards Vince. In that moment, Vince acted. He Flared Iron, Steel and Pewter. Iron and Steel let him Push and Pull on metals, giving him a rough telekinetic effect over them. Pewter enhanced his physical attributes: strength, speed, dexterity, etc. While Flaring Pewter, those attributes were increased to six times that of a normal person. He began Ironpulling the metalwork around the shop’s walls, specifically the ones directly in line with the men aiming at the two women and himself. The pieces of metal began flying towards Vince in a straight line, straight into the backs of the other two men, knocking them off balance from the force of the impact.

While he was doing that, his hand flitted out almost too fast to be seen by normal eyes and grasped the hilt of his sword. In the same motion he brought the blade up, and then swung it down on the thug leader’s extended hand holding his gun. The force behind the blade, even though Vince was only using one hand, was easily enough to sever the hand. It fell to the floor with the useless gun still clutched in its fingers.

The man stared in shock for a moment at the stump where his hand used to be before he started screaming in pain, falling to his knees. Vince pulled his sword back and now gripped it in two hands. His smile had not wavered in the moments it had taken him to act, and now he glanced see if the other two men were still feeling brave with their leader on his knees in a growing pool of blood.

"I thought you said you'd put a bullet in my head before this sword came over the counter?"

My eyes burn so much…I’m so mad, so unbelievably mad…

The mace that had shot towards her face has only skirted the corners of her eyes, but it was enough to cause the feeling of fire ants gnawing at her irises. Solis' body laid splayed out on the floor, a mess of iron and steel scattered around her, a few still slowly rotating on their axis points. Clearly she had never been in this kind of sticky situation, and while it looked like Vincent was trying to telepathically implode the three men who stood there, the grease-covered girl just continued on the way she was, taking a moment to place her cellphone onto the counter. Then all hell broke loose and Solis found herself on the floor in agonizing pain.

I need to help her. She's hurt! Can I take her to the bathroom to wash out her eyes?

Pure, unadulterated rage flared within her, radiating heat from the soles of her feet to the top of her migraine-filled head. Rage that fueled a desire to kill, a desire to rip apart their rough, pock-ridden faces from their skulls. This feeling was unlike any other feeling she had ever felt; through fights at school, stress in class, and failed relationships, nothing had ever made her feel so, very, alive.

You think I dunno what you do in there. Get out some phone or sumthin' sos you can make a call all secret like. I know what you do. She hurt herself.

The migraine and pain that she felt so strongly, both in her eyes and head, was diminishing at a rapid pace, and in place of that emptiness came a wash of primal fury unlike anything she had ever felt. It was as if her body was no longer herself, no longer human and stable, but something that had been possessed by a form she couldn’t name. There was something hot and hard within her right arm, and in her legs. Bone most likely, yet, honed, made stronger. Each breath she took brought her heartbeat faster, louder, and it shook the cage within her chest like a frightened and feral wildcat. She opened her eyes and caught her reflection in a knocked-over steel shield. Golden eyes.

Vincent warned the man not to get near Solis, and when the man did not back down from his crude demand to hurt Solis, Vincent swiftly and with beautiful grace, pulled the claymore from where it was resting, and used it to slice the man's hand off with the gun still wrapped in the fast-bleeding fingers. The other two men were knocked to the ground, and one wound up near her, his face clearly showing how unsure he was of his next situation. Blood...

“Holy Shit! Com’err you, you’ll make a good nice hostage, won’t cha you bitch?”

As the rough fingertips grabbed hold of Solis’ right arm, she allowed him to pull her back on her feet. After gaining her balance, she raised her head then, and caught his eyes in hers. “What in hell…”

With a swift pull, she used her left hand to grab hold of the man’s arm that was attached to her right arm, and with a force unbeknownst to her, pulled so hard everyone in the room must have heard the audible pop of his arm being severely dislocated from his shoulder. The force that she used sent his massive body flying towards her, and with cat-like reflex she pushed him back, and then jumped into the air and sent her foot straight into the thug’s solar plex. Eight feet and one cracked skull later, a result of Solis conveniently sending the thug back into the edge of one of the dwarf's strongly-built shelving units, Solis looked up from her half-crouching, half-starting position of were she landed, her mouth in a fierce, toothy grin.

You want to get into this fight too, asshole? Solis said to the only remaining thug.

Guys all around the building huh?

Blue tilted her head for a moment. Her eyes lost focus as her mind went into the world of technology. Computer language whispered in her ears as she felt the warmth surround her like a blanket. It felt good to drop into the logical world of straight forward answers. She let her aura expand, picking up all the devices in the area. Looking for any that were standing still, circling the building, or acting differently. There were none. Her eyes opened and she looked at Vincent hoping to catc his gaze as she gave a stiff quick barely perceptible shake of her head.

The man was lying. It was just the three.

Then things went weird. After saying they were going to kill the girl that had shot herself in the face with mace.. the boy behind the counter had gone nuts. Not that the gun would work anyway. But of course, not everyone recognized who she was, she tended to order things over the net or the phone and have them shipped to her lab. Or the corp. And even fewer people knew that she was a technopath. She had disabled the guns that had chips in them, and they would no longer fire. But then there was no way to tell Vincent that.

She watched as metal began to pelt the thugs in the back. Blue took that moment to act. She aimed a well placed kick right at the thugs balls and felt more than heard the sickening crunch. She pulled her own gun out now and used the butt of it to bash in part of the guys skull. Just enough to get him to collapse on the floor in an unconscious heap. A loud scream errupted from the other side and she looked over to see one of the thugs had lost his hand and was screaming like a girl.

Who knew he could squeal so high. Though the sight of all that blood make her a bit squeamish.

Wait.. was mace chick's eyes golden suddenly? She could have sworn they were a more normal color before. What was IN the mace?

POP.

Right before her eyes, the girl who was kind of not a girl now.. some other beasty .. or something. It was hard to tell, had grabbed the last remaining not girly-screaming or passed out man and dislocated his shoulder. The sound of bone.. was just nasty. Then she jumped, did somethin' fancy, and the guy was dead with a caved in chest and skull in the bits of a shelving unit. But when Solis turned around, there was no other thug, well there was.. the ass with the bleeding stump of a wrist. But Blue had taken care of her own guy.

He's out, and the Terran Guard is on the way.

She didn't explain how she knew that. But it didn't really matter. The cops were coming and the sirens could be heard now over the weird silence that had taken over the shop in the aftermath. That was if you could ignore the pitiful crying of the man with a bleeding stump. She looked over at Vincent and then back at Solis.

Did you still need to get the mace out of your eyes or did your little.. umm transformation help that?

As quick as it had started, it was over. All three men were on the ground in various states, from unconscious to dead with a stop at slowly dying along the way. The man whose hand Vince had relieved from him ceased screaming. His face was turning very pale; it looked like he was going into shock from the blood loss. He didn’t have much time left on this world, it seemed. Vince almost felt bad for him; he had been fairly helpless when Vince attacked, though no one was aware of that besides Vince himself. However, mercy for thugs had never been part of Vince’s training.

Vince began looking around. The extremely short struggle had caused one hell of a mess. Between Vince Pulling on the metals, Solis falling after macing herself, and Solis’ assailant being thrown backwards from her kick, there were pieces of Therim’s work strewn all around the tiny shop. Not to mention the rather large puddle of blood around Mister One-arm. Inwardly Vince cringed. He’d have to spend the next few days helping Therim clean all this up. Or rather, spend the next few days cleaning this up with Gale while Therim supervised.

Vince reached behind the counter to where Therim kept a grease towel and used it to wipe the blood of off Excelsior. He looked back to the two women. “Are the two of you alright?”

As the two of them would answer, the door that separated the forge from the shop slammed open and the dwarf walked through. “Well, missy, I’ve correctly crafted the piece you-” He stopped mid-sentence as he took in the devastation to his shop. Eyes turning stony, he looked at Vince still wiping blood off his blade. “What in the blazin’ abyss happened in here, boy?” It seemed that the lead assailant had indeed soundproofed this room with his ‘ward’ as he had said. Therim hadn’t heard a thing.

“A group of thugs thinking to rob you, my friend. As you can see they are no longer a threat.” A soft thump brought Vincent’s eyes back to the man swimming in his own blood. His face was now deathly white and he had fallen over from a kneeling position. Vince guessed he had finally died; there was only so much you could do to staunch a flow of blood like the one that came from an unplanned amputation. “Once the authorities are gone I will help you begin cleaning up.” He could hear sirens now, coming closer. Local authorities and, because Therim was a dwarf, the Terran Guard would poke their noses in as well.

Placing his sword back against the counter where it had been before he used it, Vince sat back and listened to Therim’s tirade, which switched from English to Dwarven and back several times. The dwarf had completely forgotten Blue’s piece in his hands. Vince only knew a small amount of the Dwarven language, but what he picked up wasn’t flattering in the least. Paying only half a mind to his dwarf friend Vince glanced over at Solis and used his Bronze-speak again to talk to her telepathically. <Stay here until the cops are gone. We still need to have a chat, especially in light of what I’ve just seen.>

Oh yes, Vincent Harper was very intrigued by this girl now.

Adrenaline sped through the veins in her body, rushed like golden fire through her skin and into the depth of sinew and bone. Alive, so very alive and so very afraid; one tumultuous ball of terror that was much more than superficial. Solis wanted this terror, this wave of primal strength as much as she craved the air in her fast-moving lungs. The grease-girl had managed to quite successfully debilitate one of the idiotic thugs, and fate had begun to see to the last remaining thug Solis spoke to, who was currently prone in a prayer-style fashion on the floor, his dark, metallic blood slowly spreading out onto the dusty, oil ridden floor. Fate seemed to be taking it’s toll on the man, who was going quite pale.

Solis straightened herself from her crouched position slowly, taking notice of how her body moved and reacted. Her muscles felt like over-pulled rubber bands coming back to their original shape, and the rush and synthetic feeling that had permeated her legs and arm was fading into her subconscious like a dream. Reality shifted back to it’s proper place after a moment, and Solis became acutely aware of the semi-stinging pain in her eyes from the mace.

Did you still need to get the mace out of your eyes or did your little.. umm transformation help that?

Um…no I’m fine, really. Just burns a bit. Um, yea I’m okay, I think.

Solis’ eyes must have gone back to it’s normal color, or at least she hoped. Wouldn’t like to be seen out in public carrying such obvious mutat-- mutation? Why the hell would she have a mutation? Realization like dominos began to fall around her. The gravity of the shift her body had taken had changed her physically, mentally, and emotionally, and for the first time Solis was at a loss of words as to why and how this happened to her. She was just another girl, just an average girl who had a mother and father, both human, both dead from human error and fault, but she was no killer, no, no assassin. She was perfectly average, right?

“Are the two of you alright?”

Solis’ eyes looked into Vincent’s face. Maybe he, out of this whole shit show, would be able to help her. “I’m alright, really.” Sirens rang softly in the distance, signaling their impending rush onto the smithy. “I’m guessing we should wait for the cops to get here?” Sure, let’s explain this situation away. Shivers ran through the small of her back. She could lose her job, she’d be labeled a criminal; Solis was no criminal, they were, these thugs, these…dead thugs. Gulp.

The backdoor slammed open as the dwarf wandered in with grease-girl’s requested piece. Needless to say, his face was quite priceless upon seeing the complete destruction of his shop. Solis hoped that Vincent would not get into too much trouble over it…hell, what more trouble could that dwarf bring him, after all, the police, and probably the Terran guard too (knowing this shop has being under dwarf control) were on the move towards them.

OH! Vincent was in Solis’ mind once again, telling her to stay until the police were done with their documentation. A chat? Was he an undercover agent? Someone with the Terran guard? Instincts told her to run, and if fear of what was to come wasn’t gluing her shoes to the floor, she would have bolted minutes ago. The noise of the cop cars got closer and closer and she keep her eyes firmly fixed on Vincent. “Okay.” If things got ugly in here, she had no idea if she would be able to do what she had just done before, and a part of her hoped she never would have to. Solis needed answers though, answers to everything and yet nothing firm that she could identify, and for that, she’d follow Vincent anywhere to get them. Solis wandered over to the counter, between Vincent and grease-girl, and stared at the door as the police grew closer and closer.

I am fine, thank you for asking.

Blue looked at the men, various stages of dead, unconscious, or bleeding slowly to death. But she felt they deserved such a fate. As it was, they had come in here intending to rob the place. Sadly for them, they had picked a day where the young man had visitors that were of the calibre to make a difference. The man that owned the shop came through the double back doors and stopped mid sentence, seeing the wreckage and the carnage of what had happened while he was busy in the forge.

The boy explained and Blue nodded along. The Terran Guard would be here shortly and Blue knew many of them by name mostly because of her Uncle. Still, she was glad that there would be men here that could really take up the job and make sure that the men that had attacked the shop were dealt with properly.

Thank you for fixing my part. Normally, I would have tried to do it myself, but this one took a bit more finer of a skill than I have at my disposal.

She handed over the due sum and she ran her eyes over the piece. Her fingers brushing over it and her mind matching it up with the blueprints that she had locked away in there. Perfection. She gave over a little bit extra, for a tip and hoisted the metal bar over her shoulder almost like it was nothing. The man that had done it wrong the first time nearly offered to take it from her but she seemed to be just fine carrying it this way.

The Terran Guard, the police, and the paramedics rushed into the building. Blue pulled one of the men to the side, she was obviously friendly with him, knew him, and some of the others recognized her as well as she gave her statement of what had happened and how everything went down.

I disabled all the guns, except the leader there, his gun was old fashioned, no chips, but the others wouldn't have fired. Still, they were a threat, and they were going to kill the girl there as well. But we all fought together, and were able to over come.

She gave no idea how she had disabled the guns considering she hadn't touched a single one or how she had called the cops from a phone that had not been in her hand. She finished her statement up and then she was ready to leave. There was no reason to stay, she knew they would want to clean up and the girl still needed some sort of knife or something.

Thank you for your quick and excellent work. I will reccomend you to my superiors as well as those that may seek any sort of metalurgy.

As she turned the New Dawn symbol on the back of her shirt would be seen and she headed out the door walking back towards her lab with the large metal bar over her shoulders.

[/exit Blue]