12th Exploit: Joao and the Party Packers 2

Antonio seeks to shut off the Packers and stop the robbery in progress, however the SUN Chip weighs heavily on his chest, and some Packers are willing to leave their lives on the line for their boss.

12th Exploit: Joao and the Party Packers Pt. 2

It has been no more then twenty seconds after Antonio darted off toward the other side of the park, and as though through some sort of bad luck Jace spots a S.U.N. Gun laying on the ground not too far from Jason's feet and next to the unconscious body of one of the parks security enforcers. Meanwhile Jason and Sarah speak of Tony's rashness, both for once in agreeance.

"I can't imagine he'll be able to do much with that stamp on him." Jason says. He pokes his own stamp and tsks impatiently. "Knowing my luck any gun that's not been tucked away is in the robbers hands now."

"What?" Sarah speaks, and any hint of agreement is gone from her tone. "How in the world would the robbers get a hold of government property?"

Jace tries to speak up. "Um-"

"You don't mean to tell me the the officers couldn't possibly be irresponsible enough to let their property get lifted do you? I wouldn't be surprised if that crooked King let these clowns have free reign of this place after his speech. Where's the army at anyways?"

"Hey-"

"Excuse me?!" Sarah gets up to Jason and invades his personal space. "To what benefit would our leader have to letting this happen?! The only reason the military isn't here right now is because this was a surprise attack!"

"Sure it was, and it sure was convenient that your leader and his butt sniffing cabinet were gone when these b******s kicked things off!"

"HEY!!!" Jason and Sarah turn their attention to Jace, who by now is frantically waving the SUN Gun he spotted a moment ago around, as if to try and get their attention. "Is this one of those stamp guns you're looking for?"

"Yes!" Jason grabs the gun from Jace's hand and flips a switch on the side of it. 

Sarah glares at Jason before turning back at Jace and smiling. "Good job!" 

Jason lifts up his scarf for a moment and presses the barrel of the gun to the stamp. He doesn't hesitate as he pulls the trigger. A thin needle juts out of the barrel and lances the stamp. The hardly visible prongs on the stamp attacked through the shirt and into the skin of Jason retract back into the stamp. Not a moment later the needle retracts with the stamp in tow and the barrel closes. The stamp slides among a dozen others within the gun. Jason lets out a 'whew' as he pulls the gun away from his chest and raises it upward.

"Now for Tony." Sarah nudges Jason with her elbow and points at Jace. Jason sighs and scratches the back of his neck with his free hand. "Right, right. Thanks kiddo."

"Heh, you're wel-"Jason doesn't wait for Jace to finish as he darts away toward a rough direction where Antonio headed. He is faster then even Antonio, managing to be barely anything but a blur as he runs off. Jace is in shock, Sarah looks annoyed. 

---

There was several unconscious bodies surrounding Antonio, Will and the now equally unconscious Jeff. Jeff is being held up by Tony, his face in a vice grip and his body used for the sake of a shield against Will. The chip on Antonio sent waves through his body, but Tony remains undeterred. Will grits his teeth and looks past the Packer he punched in the kidney and at Antonio.

"How's you gonna do my boy like dis!"

Antonio smirks as he releases his iron grip on Jeff. Jeff immediately collapses on the ground. "Hey, I'm not the one who punched him in the back." Tony lightly boots Jeff in the gut and tilts his head up at Will. "Besides, are you really in the right to be upset about this, thief?"

"You-" Antonio punts Jeff hard, launching him toward Will and almost going limp himself as the chip punishes him. Will is cross-bodied by his companion, but manages to bring his left foot back to brace and not tumble backward. Will grips Jeff and kneels down, setting his pal on the ground gently before throwing a volatile glare at Tony. "You dirty prick!"

Antonio coughs. "Say's the guy who needs to gain up on a girl three to one!"

Will grits his teeth as he steps forward and balls his fist. "I ain't lettin tha gem go! Dat alone's enough to git alls of us outta the pits!"

"Save the pity party." Tony spits to the side and glares back at Will. "I could honestly care less what your excuse is. All I give a damn about is getting this thing off my chest and leaving, but first things first I'm going to break you and your loser bosses face." Wills eye twitches. "Maybe after you get out of jail you'll actually get jobs-"

Will sprints forward, having heard all hes wanted to from Antonio, and throws a haymaker aimed  at the right of Tony's neck. "YOU TINK WE DI'IT TRY AND GIT JOBS FIRST A*****E!?!" Tony swats Wills attack away with his forearm and gets a jolt for his troubles. Will is very quick to take advantage of Antonio's brief distraction and punches him twice just left of the gut. "No one'll hire us here-" Antonio doesn't let Will finish and plants his four clenched fingers just below his nose with a pinpointed strike. Wills upper row teeth crack, with the prominent six breaking in half. Will collapses to a knee and spits out the ivory and blood rolling around his mouth. Antonio tries to stay composed as the chip threatens to make him collapse as well.

"If you're so upset about not getting a job then think about relocating, dumb-a*s." Will gives Antonio a hateful glare before passing out. Antonio turns to Rosaline, who is mostly still trying to gather what went down in the last two and a half minutes. "You might wanna tuck that shiny rock away until things cool down around here." Rosaline looks down at her heirloom and back at Antonio. She actually looks irritated as opposed to thankful. "What's wrong?"

"Did you just call my treasured necklace a shiny rock?"

---

Jason was closing in on Antonio's current location. There's a good amount of chaos unfolding around him but Jason has his sights set on delivering the SUN Gun to Tony. This single minded effort is cut short as a bullet passes just inches in front of Jasons nose. He turns his head over toward where the bullet soared and gives a look of dissatisfaction. The word 'carelessness' crosses his mind as he sees an officer with a gun pointed at his fellow cop, and indirectly towards his direction. The gun is of course smoking, indicating recent use. 

The officer in front of the pne with the gun is licking a knife, and not too far from the two of them is a Tai Corps employee, gripping a recent knife wound to his shoulder. This familiar TC member is Bo Lucas, and in spite of his wound his attention is very much aimed toward the area Jason was heading toward until a moment ago. Around these three are several Packers and cops scattered around, most are unconscious or dead on the ground, though there are still a couple Packers standing. The cop with the knife points it at the cop with a gun and licks her lips.

"Rash move, fresh meat." The fake cop with a knife Dante says coldly, twirling the knife and smiling. "do you not recognize the uniform?"

"Oh I most certainly do!" The actual officer shouts angrily. "That's bobby's attire, and you're the crazy b***h that murdered our lieutenant!" The officer pulls the hammer. "We're not letting someone like you get away-" Dante flicks her knife at the officers hand and pierces it through the knuckle before he can pull the trigger. "Agh!" He drops the gun. Dante is upon him with a different knife, holding the point to his throat. she hisses as the gun hits the ground.

"Guilty as charged!" Dante says gleefully as she presses the tip of the blade onto the adams apple of the officer. "I get a real kick out of messing with peoples throats, especially this thing right here." Dante winks. Bo doesn't turn his head away, but is visually disgusted.

"You're sick."

"You're next!" Dante says with a pep in her throat. "I'll get to you in a minute, after I deal with sir justice here."

"Nah, I think you should let him go." Jason is standing three feet behind Dante. Her three packer cronies didn't even notice him until now. All her glee wipes away and a cold, focused glare grows on her face. She doesn't turn to meet Jason. "See, Ive got a couple of words to say to him about gun etiquette and not shooting a stray bullet into a crowd of people. Besides-"

"Move on or I'll pop your apple out too." Jason smirks under his scarf and lays a hand on Dante's shoulder. Her eyes go psychotic.

"My patience for crap's wearing thin today dear. I think you should forego this whole 'apple popping' shtick and-" 

Dante releases the knife she has to the cops throat and in an instant has Jason airborne, flipping him over with his arm. Jason uses the momentum and flys over the officer in front of him. As he begins to land Dante boots the officer in the sternum and chucks a knife at Jason's head. Jason rears his head back and the knife grazes past his horn, at the same time he plants his left leg on the ground and stops the cops momentum with his right calf. 

"Whew!"

Dante's eyes nervously twitch. "What?! Are you a higher ranking Tai corps member, or maybe special ops?!"

"You kidding?" Jason rudely pushes the officer aside and steps forward. "Lady, I just came here to kill time, I'm just your average guy looking to fit in." Jason smirks with his shaded eyes and speaks in a condescending tone. "Though I suppose you could say I'm a little more talented then a below average street thug."

Dante lets a hidden knife slide out of her sleeve and flips it in the air. She gives Jason a murderous glare and grins. "I wanna see you yodel on about averages after I open your throat."

---

Sarah and Jace walk toward the direction their impatient companions darted off, though they're not nearly in such a rush. Sarah looks over to the left and right, biting her lip and struggles just to keep herself from charging at any packer she notices. Jace is a little more calm, but anxious. His prior experience with Veto and that guys set of bandits have steeled him just enough to not be in a panic now. Jace smiles uneasily and looks up at Sarah.

"If you're worried about Tony then rest assured, even with that chip he's a lot more scary then he used to be!"

Sarah sighs. "I'm only a little worried about him." Sarah turns her head back to the left. She looks for wherever she may be of the most use, whether its against a congestion of Packers or with wherever Jason or Antonio are. "I'm more worried about rounding up these rouges asap." 

Jace nods and begins to look around himself. "That said he does have that chip on him and I guess he'll be in a bit of trouble unless Jason got to him quickly enough." Jace laughs. "I doubt these guys can hurt him any worse then anything in those Eastvine woods!"

Sarah's attention turns to Jace in surprise. "The what?! He didn't actually-"

"For three years!" 

Sarah has to stop for a moment. Her urgency gives way to an upset relief, not sure whether to be agitated that Antonio would be crazy enough to enter that forest or happy that Tony survived such a decision, as well a sense of awe. She decides on the latter and resumes her brisk walk.

"W-well either way I can think about all that later. For now I need to stop twiddling my thumbs and-" A clang catches her ear to the right and she turns her head toward it. She spots something that nearly sets her off immediately. "HMMM?!"

---

Dante tossed two daggers straight at Jason, but he flicks his wrist and the two projectiles are redirected upward. Dante angrily grunts as she glares at Jason's right hand. On it is some kind of glove-like equipment, and at the end of each knuckle, save the thumb, is a long thin string of steel that extends three feet, and at the end of each strong is a metallic spiked weight no more then 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches. Dante's eyes were screaming in rage, but she remained silent. As soon as the two deflected knives hit the ground she tosses two more, this time one aimed at his throat and another at his left knee. Her aim is to overwhelm Jason, but with a slight yet sharp twist of his hand he deflects these two with ease as well. One of the knives snaps in half while the other gets tangled by two of the other three stringed weights. Jason makes a twitch with his middle finger and the tangled knife is released drops harmlessly to the ground. He makes a twisting motion with his unequipped hand and smirks under his scarf.

"You're not twisting that forearm enough when you throw." Jason chuckles. "A spinning projectile's a little harder for me to deflect then one going in a predictably straight line you know." Jason lifts his head and raises a brow. "Then again I guess that would mess up that dangerous accuracy you seem so proud of-"

"Stop talking!" Dante finally pulls out the holstered gun on her left and aims it at Jason. "It might not be as satisfying but I will kill you with this! Bet you can't deflect a bullet!" 

Jason smirks. "I suppose we'll find out." Jason hides his nervousness and brings his forearm to his stomach. He straightens his wrist and keeps a careful eye on Dante's finger. Sarah's voice breaks the tension as she nonchalantly storms past Dantes.

"Hah I knew it!" Dante's eye twitches. Jason sighs as his stance is broken. "I thought you we're a suspicious one and hear I find you confronting an officer of the law!" Sarah looks down at several of the bodies on the ground, including the officer from earlier. Her fist begins to shake. Jace catches up in time to see Sarah poke Jason in the chest. "I can't believe you did all this!"

"Hey now wait a second-"

"Whatever your opinion on the government is is fine, but this is too far!" Bo, who had been paying attention to the action between Dante and Jason up until now, hides a smirk and keeps his mouth shut. This turnabout is rather entertaining to him. "Let me guess, you're a Packer aren't you?!"

"Hey now you're being irrational-"

"I was just starting to warm up to you a bit too!" Sarah shakes her head,  disappointed. "But by the looks of this scene its apparent what's up! I-"

Dante has the edge of one of her knives at the neck of Sarah. She also grabs Sarahs left wrist and twists it hard behind her back. Sarah is completely caught off guard. Jason slaps his forehead with his unequipped hand and Jace stumbles back. Bo himself stands and nonchalantly begins to walk away now that there is zero attention on him.

"Can your trap TC flunkie." Dante grins psychotically as she glares a hole through Jasons head. "I'm going to use you to kill him, and if you struggle I'll make you sing out of your throat!"

Jason sighs angrily. "Damn it."

---

"-And that's the difference between a 'shiny rock' and this gemstone! Okay?" Antonio looks exhausted. He shakes his head and looks over in the direction at the just about visible stage where Joao is and grits his teeth. 

"Good god, could you shut up about that trinket already?" Rosaline gasps. "I might've been done by now if you would stop holding me up."

"How could you be so insensitive and rude?! Ive dedicated my life to keep this piece of my heart safe, not to hear some bumpkin insult it as a rock!"

"Come on if you really wanted to keep that thing safe just keep it at home instead of flaunting it all over the place." 

"That's not happening! Not with the high crime rate where I live! I-"

"Shush." Antonio gives an irritated smirk taps on his wrist. "I don't have anymore time to spend talking about this crap. Ive got a party to crash." Antonio winks. "Gotta say though I think its 'cute' how you wrinkle your chin every time you get upset."

"What?!" Before Rosaline can retort Antonio dashes off toward the stage, and more importantly to where Joao is. Rosaline clinches her fists and wrinkles her chin as she calls out to Tony. "You wait a second, you can't just run off with the last word!"

Author's Note

An apology wouldn't justify my loooooooong hiatus so instead of a sorry I'll let my actions speak up and make an effort to not stay gone this long again.