Chapter 9: The God that Failed

[Tuesday DeCastro]

Tuesday hears someone knock at the door and stands. Leaving the chain on, she opens the door, seeing that its Alexei, she closes the door, takes the chain off and welcomes him in, locking the door behind him.

"I like your blazer."

[Alexei Nacharade]

Alexei nods and chuckles.

"I like it, too."

He smells a little like Vodka, and has lipstick on his neck and likely other parts of his body.

"Sorry I had to leave so quickly. It's all straightened out now, though."

He stretches a bit and yawns.

"So, have you two talked about what we're going to do at all?"

[Tuesday DeCastro]

"We were just starting to talk about it, actually. We were thinking of leading him to that old warehouse."

Tuesday sniffs a little, she can smell the vodka on Alexei. She looks over at him and sees the red lipstick smeared down his neck. A smirk plays across her lips. "Well, it looks like you've had quite the afternoon."

[Alexei Nacharade]

Alexei wipes off some of the lipstick and looks around, pretending to be focused elsewhere.

"Yeah, I was busy. Lots of work to be done."

He coughs.

"A warehouse? All right. I'm not quite sure what to do, shooting him slowed him down a little, but no way in hell I'm getting in close with that bastard. I've been in knife fight, but not when the guy is swinging around two swords like a fucking madman. I guess if I keep my distance and keep shooting he might go down. Any of you have some other plan?"

[Tuesday DeCastro]

"Ah, work. I see." Tuesday said, with a nod, still smirking. She ran a hand through her hair.

"I really don't know. I'm not so keen on the actual attacking part." She admitted. "I've already seen his handiwork with those fancy blades of his, and I'm not exactly eager to see more of it."

She shrugged. "How long do you think it would take for him to go down if you just kept shooting at him? I mean, in Genetech, you shot him... what, three times? And then he just got up like it was nothing."

[Alexei Nacharade]

Alexei shrugged and rubbed his eyes in order to clear his head a bit.

"If shooting something three times doesn't work," He declares," you might want to try shooting it four or five times."

[Tuesday DeCastro]

"Four or five times? What if that doesn't work? We don't know how powerful he is, or how much he can withstand, whats gonna happen if your manala gun runs out and hes still standing?" Tuesday asked. The more she thought about it, the more doubtful she became. "And what if he doesn't come alone?"

She sighed, clearly stressed. Usually she took a lighthearted approach to things, but everything that had happened in the past few weeks, the shooting in Allwhere, the drive by in Cuba, Malak being captured in Helsinki, and her being cornered in her own hotel room, left her feeling frightened and anxious.

"Is there anything more...foolproof that we can do?"

[Alexei Nacharade]

Alexei glanced around.

"I have some friends that could get us something a little more powerful then this pistol I have. I think he's still vulnerable to manala shots..." Which was certainly more then he could say for his earlier opponent who trashed one of the checkpoints. He'd have to look into that.

[Maeve Cullen]

"I think I'd have a chance, but not with a jackknife." Maeve says mostly to herself, shaking her head in frustration. This was beginning to set her temper off. However, hearing Alexei's comment, she jerks her head back up.

"Connections? Well, obviously you have them..." She goes silent for a moment before continuing. "Anyway, what kind of Manala shots? Like the ones in the needles, or did they develop some other kind?" She questions, trying to get what exactly he meant.

[Alexei Nacharade]

Alexei gave her a quizzical look. Her confidence made him feel a mixture of curiosity, but also caution. First she seemed to be atypically familiar with genetech, and now she seemed confident she could match someone that would kill some of the toughest guys he knew.

The most interesting part to him, though, was that he seemed to believe her. Maybe she was tougher then he looked.

"Do all tattoo artists take combat classes on the side?" He asks carefully, "Or are you just confident for the hell of it?"

He coughed and brushed off what felt like suspicion.

"I'm not exactly an expert on Manala energy, or manala weaponry, but I imagine it works similarly to premanala weaponry. Guns in those days had what you call a 'caliber.' It told you the size and power of the ammunition. Now they're converted manala guns, but I imagine the larger the gun, the larger the manala energy. More killing power."

He shrugged, most of this was just infered. He was no genetech employee.

"But I can get almost anything else. Knives, swords...within reason. Don't expect an arsenal, just some things to even the odds."

[Kaschei Bessmertny]

Kaschei has been busy lately, but Havana is alive with construction thanks to Allmart. New hotels are being built and already curious tourists have gone to the island. Kaschei has been observing things from his own hotel room and quite out of touch with some of the things going on abroad.

When he finally checks his messages, he is angered to find that Alexei was attacked by a Creditor. He blames it on Alexei who must have personal credit problems. Never the less, he determines that he should call Alexei and learn the details about the incident.

Thus, he dials Alexei's number and waits to see if he picks up...

[Hilja Kukkanen/Sasha Pisarev]

The last week or so has just flown by. I mostly busied myself working my three jobs. The days are long and hard, but at least I have had no other problems with the Creditors. After finishing doing some weeding at Charon's garden, I slowly start walking home. Helsinki is particularly nice this evening. I love summer time here. It makes things a lot more cheerful. Since it is June, the sun is out almost all night. It energizes a person and makes me need a lot less sleep.

[Alexei Nacharade]

Alexei frowned as his phone rings.

"Excuse me." He says as he steps just outside the room and looks at the phone. His pulse quickens when he realizes Kaschei is calling.

"Boss." He says, greeting Kaschei.

[Kaschei Bessmertny]

"You mentioned that you were attacked by a Creditor. Could you elaborate on that situation." Kaschei replies to Alexei. He opens the windows of his room as he talks, which lets in a very weak breeze. Kaschei frowns and looks out the window, observing some construction nearby.

[Alexei Nacharade]

Alexei had a feeling he'd better choose his next words very carefully, or he was going to be the next one shot by a moving car.

"I got an urgent text from one of the local Helsinki checkpoints. I went to check it out and when I arrived there this creditor was killing everyone, but...he didn't act like a creditor, you know? And I've never seen one of those fuckers running alone before!"

He realizes his starting to talk fast. He takes a moment to slow down and regain his composure.

"Manala shots didn't hurt it, so I tried going at it toe to toe, and that lead some of the other guys to do the same. I managed to stand against it for a bit..I got in a few good stabs, and it definitely backed off, but then it killed everyone else!"

Much of this was, of course, a lie. Alexei had never engaged that psychotic android in close combat, in fact, he'd stood by and watched as everyone else who did got slaughtered. He still didn't regret this decision.

"He was talking about money. Drug money. I think he wants it. That fucking bastard walked in and thought he could kill us, and take our money!" Alexei almost yells, but lowers his voice, remembering Tuesday and Maeve were just on the other side of the door.

"What do we do if he shows up again, Kaschei? Manala shots didn't hurt him, and he was to strong to overwhlem in a close fight."