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#FreedomFalls – July 27, 2017
Renala chuckles to herself when Henrik tries to pass that nonsense again. It didn't work on her, and she doubted it would on him. She winces at the sounds of gunshots, knowing full and well what had just happened. Renala shakes her head, deciding to focus on the task at hand; leaving Steve to do his thing as she does hers. She starts looking through the message history. If he's lying about everyone being dead,
Henrik is definitely more of a professional than the owner of the previous omni-tool hacked by Renala. He seems to clean his messages out regularly as there's few messages that remain from beyond the past few days. His history implies that he's only been in touch with two people over the last 24 hours. One was Quinn. The message corroborates Quinn's story but seems to imply that Quinn also set Henrik up with this place to stay. Their
relationship doesn't seem to extend beyond business, however. The second person was named 'Julia'. Henrik seems to have sent her a message a few hours after the exchange at the apartment. "I need backup. Nearly the entire team is dead because of that nutcase." he said. Julia's response: "You contacted us with an offer for the L2 and now you're asking for help in coming through with your side of the agreement? What use do we have for you if
you can't even follow through on your own offer, Mr. Richter? I'm sorry, but I believe this concludes our business." Henrik didn't seem ready to call it quits there, however, and continued to send Julia messages. "Please. I know you have the manpower. All I need is a squad or two. I've seen what he can do, it will be well worth the effort, I promise you." He continued to send similar messages pleading for assistance throughout the night. At
around 4AM he finally recieved a response from this 'Julia'. "You have proven to be unreliable, Mr. Richter. We are no longer in need of your services." Henrik's next attempt at contacting 'Julia' was met with a 'Failure to deliver message' notification.
Steve gives a humorless snort. "I'm exactly what I need to be to survive, Henrik. You taught me that, remember?" he taunts, "But, sure. I'll bite. If this ain't about revenge and you didn't just send a whole team of armed, washed up mercenaries to kill me, then what were they tryin' to accomplish by wavin' guns around at me?"
Henrik voice is low. He knows he's a dead man walking and all emotion is drained from him. "I never said it wasn't about revenge." he says distantly, "I said I wasn't trying to kill you."
Renala picks up the omni-tool without shutting off its projection. "Just perfect," she mutters bitterly as this implies that there are still more degrees of separation between them and the conclusion to this operation. With a sigh she walks over to the doorway. "He's telling the truth, for what it's worth," she says not sounding very excited about it. "He came here to capture you for someone named Julia. Know
Steve gives an exhausted sigh as Renala speaks up, but gives a shake of his head. He keeps his pistol trained on Henrik as he reaches out to accept the omni-tool. As Renala most likely assumed, the woman has a gunshot wound right in the center of her forehead. Henrik is kneeled beside her body just staring at her. "No clue." Steve sighs as he looks over the messages. Once finished, he passes the omni-tool back to Renala and looks
down at Henrik. "It's over, Henrik. I did your lil' friend here a favor that poor Karen didn't get." he continues to taunt, "I made sure it was quick. But I got all day for you if I need it." He falls silent for a moment to let that settle in before continuing, "...Don't make me do that. Tell us what this is about and I'll end this quick. Who is Julia?"
Henrik continues to stare at the body of his friend. "Like I said. Death was too good for you. After Eclipse was wiped off the station I had to find someone else to throw my cards in with." he begins to explain, sounding quite hollow at this point. He just wants it to be over. "People like us are always going to have the past knocking on our door, Steve. It's about making sure you put a nice cushion between yourself and them if
you're going to survive." His gaze moves pointedly to Renala, "I can see you figured that lesson out on your own." He licks at his dry lips and lowers his attention back to the corpse beside him before continuing, "They were looking for L2s. I heard the stories. The kind of shit they do to people." He gives an empty snicker, "Figured I'd hand you over. Get their protection. Two birds with one stone."
Renala takes the omni-tool back while listening to his story. "And you clearly didn't," she says, responding to her interpretation of the part directed at her. "You kocked on the past's door, while making new pasts to haunt you in the process." She puts the omni-tool in a pouch attached to her holster, and looks at Steve. "Mind if I leave you two alone for this?" she says. "I've had enough of this."
Henrik looks to Renala, almost with a sense of pity. "You should be thanking me. I could've saved you. It's only a matter of time before he turns on you, too." he says.
Steve's jaw clenches tightly and his finger twitches on the trigger as Henrik speaks up, but he restrains himself. It seems Henrik may have struck a nerve "Shut the fuck up." he instructs before glancing Renala's way to address her question with a nod. "I'll be right behind you."
Henrik falls silent for a moment. "I do hope they come for you." he says distantly. Almost to himself. "My only regret is that I won't be around to watch them take you apart."
Renala snorts. "Of course you would," she says to his first point as she steps out of the room. "I'm on comms if you need me." She heads over to the back door, opens it and steps outside. The cold breeze does evoke a shiver, but she'd rather deal with that than another millisecond of Henrik Richter. Once the door closes behind her, she lets out a long, frustrated sigh. "Just perfect," she repeats.
A minute or so passes before the telltale sound of a muffled gunshot can be heard. It's not long after that Steve appears through the door.
Steve steps outside, wiping at his hand with the sleeve of his jacket. There's a bit of blood on his hand and cheek. Backspatter from the execution, most likely. "Don't let him get in your head." he says softly as he focuses on cleaning himself up. "This is what Henrik does-...did." he corrects, perhaps worried that what Henrik said may have gotten to Renala, "He was always good at manipulating people."
Renala doesn't go anywhere in the meantime, only letting out another sigh as the inevitable gunshot sounds. When Steve emerges, the blood catches her attention, causing a frown. "No, no, it isn't him, it's just... is there ever going to be an end to this?" she asks. "Your enemies are just making Nallie's argument about this place."
Steve remains silent after Renala speaks, simply wiping at his cheek with his sleeve once his hand is cleaned. "It ain't this place..." he finally says. He seems much more somber than usual. Putting an end to Henrik may have been harder than he'd care to admit. "It's me. You dig a hole deep enough and it's only a matter of time before the walls start cavin' in on ya." He glances around, the cold air taking hold of each breath he
takes as he zips his jacket back up. "Get out of here, Ren." he adds, finally looking her way. There's still a small smudge of blood on his cheek that he missed. "Go see your lil' girl. Tell Redrock you need time off. Just get away from-... from this place for a while." he says, though 'get away from me for a while' is what he'd rather have said, but the words just didn't come out.
Renala sighs. "It's not that simple," she says. "If something goes wrong, or more likely when something goes wrong with the technical systems, only I can fix it." She looks down, and shakes her head. "I'd rather not be half a galaxy away when it does."
Steve gives Renala sidelong glance. "Who gives a fuck? Let Redrock deal with their own problems." he says, "You've got someone you love and care about, Ren. Don't just let that slip through your fingers." Seemingly not wanting to let that statement linger for too long, he adjusts the collar of his jacket and starts to round the house.
Renala is quiet for a moment as they round the house together. "You don't know how ridicolously unstable some of it is," she sighs, "but you're right. I'll make them an off-switch and tell them to hit that if something goes to hell while I'm away."
Steve gives a subtle nod, unable to commit the mental capacity at the moment to tell whether she's joking or not about an off switch. He tucks his hands into his jacket pocket and gives one last glance back at the house before starting on his way. "You just-... you do what you have to do, Ren..." he says somewhat distantly.