Junction Pt. 01

Jace cleaned up his fingers and ejected the eye out with an empty augmentation cylinder for upgrades. He installed the bio scanner, a requirement with the Vamp unit he installed into his sternum. Outside of the military anyway. It was required to work with civilians to ensure the transaction would not kill them.

Humans were not allowed to spend their last point of Ki even in death, the units had built-in safeguards for that if a bio scanner was installed. He reinserted his eye and blinked a few times for the processor to sync with the new device. He nodded to the tech and noted the John Greggor had a 10Ki vamp unit installed. He had to have a corporate sponsor out there and would likely be dangerous. He left the tech store.

He re-equipped his armor once he was out of his line of sight of the store. Jace knew better than to trust blindly in these border towns and he had tech that slimeball wanted. Greggor's drooling was apparent as was the altered tech he sold or tried to sell to Jace.

---

Greggor wasted no time. "Have a target, will need the van. I will follow with the drone. Could not get him to take the tube. He is on the streets and carrying a bow. No gun. The vamp unit I sold him is disabled. He's got some fancy tech. The full team as he is prior military and his file is classified."

---

Jace headed off down a tree-lined side street away from the small business district. Jace activated his '6 o'clock' camera in his armor to watch behind him as well as in front of him. They tried miserably to stay hidden, he had 2 behind him. He noticed the transport as it approached along the street 5 minutes later, he figured 4 or more in the van.

Also, the drone monitored his movement from outside of a standard bow's range. He carried his bow in one hand. Destroying a drone with no registration was permitted. This one lacked a registration according to his search of the Weave. He rolled over his shoulder and did a quick strike on the drone with a plasma bolt. He damaged it and it dropped below a fence line. Jace took out at least 1 if not 2 of its 8 motors.

He ran the registration on the transport and found that the plates did not match the vehicle according to public records. Those plates belonged to a small family vehicle and not a van. He did not have access to the licenses database but a search for the plate number in posted pictures showed him enough from social media.

That made it 'fair game' to take on immediately. They would be protected from a plasma discharge and any damage he could muster from a physical arrow would require upgrades he did not have as of yet.

He activated his evoker gloves which he hated doing. He used a telekinetic grapple on the vehicles from the side which blocked the passenger sliding side door from opening. Someone went for a window and the driver went to get out.

He lifted rapidly and sent the vehicle spinning from side-to-side in the air twice before it dropped on its side blocking the sliding side door. That cost him 8 Ki to do. The driver dove out of the way. The one coming out of the window was not as lucky.

He was bent in half, crushed, and obviously dead as his head was under the vehicle which laid flat on the ground. The men 2-4 inside the vehicle in the back were pinned on incapacitated. From that sudden maneuver.

He got fired on and hit by two arrows from the trailing guys on foot. One was a plasma bolt and got partially absorbed by his armor and the other was solid and skidded off the exterior of the armor. That made them fair game now. He fired on the one with the plasma bow and hit the tree he dove behind.

Jace moved behind a tree near him. He shot the driver as we went to get up. He screamed in pain from the shock. The shot damaged his Ki as reported by his bio-monitor. He was down to 21 Ki from 22 Ki. Jace was on the verge of losing a point of Ki if he got hit again before the damage repaired from his troll blood.

He activated his stealth net and started climbing. One of the men with a bow from the back looked to try to rush his position. Jace jumped back, rolled away, and fired a plasma bolt into him hitting him in center mass. He suffered some form of critical failure as he dropped down from 30 Ki to 25Ki from the shot.

The other archer got a shot off into Jace and he lost that point of Ki, taking him to 71 Ki. The driver did the same to him but took 2 points instead of 1 as the driver used a gun, a series K47G 30mm revolver with nine shots of solid ammunition. By that it was bullets. Down to 69 points of Ki.

Something completely illegal for a non-military type or law enforcement to own, at least that model of a gun. He was happy it was not armor-piercing rounds but that subject just became his primary target.

He used the evoker gloves to grab him and throw him into the tree in front of him, another 3Ki to activate that, down to 66 Ki. Jace then used him as a shield from his 'friend' as he dropped his gun in mid-flight. Jace called out, "Walk away now and you might live to see tomorrow."

The one who hit him constantly took cover and laughed, "You are outnumbered."

Jace smiled, "But better equipped." As the prisoner screamed from being drained 2Ki from him. "Including a Vamp unit, I am using to get restitution. Any damage you do to me I will drain from him...for starters. Every arrow that flies my way will cost him, hit, or miss. What he gets for pulling an illegal gun on me."

He looked up the files on the local law enforcement to find one of the ones who was supposed to be in law enforcement was the man he had by the neck. He whispered to him, "I ran your vehicle and It is unregistered and then you shot me with an illegal gun. You are not military, your precinct does not authorize a stupid traffic cop to carry a gun. That gun is not street legal either."

He looked back at Jace, "Fuck you." Jace sucked 2 more Ki out of him. Back to 70Ki.

He yelled out to his buddies, "He keeps this up and he will kill me. I thought you said the vamp unit was supposed to be deactivated and blocked from this kind of use?"

Jace chuckled, "You are no mastermind of a criminal. Thank you for letting me know that the shop owner was aware of the disabled pathways; my processor corrected them when it ran diagnostics on the unit and removed the restrictor code forcing it to be consensual. It only has to be consensual from me. That means he has a factory sealer somewhere or his source does."

Jace also removed the code restricting it to only humans as well. At least he put a blocker on that code to ensure everyone registered human. He knew how to do this from the field as he had drained a few 'Entitled Races' from other City-States. That also included a few points out of dragons on a couple of occasions.

Jace got hit from up and behind by a plasma blast that came from the drone. That injured his prisoner as well. Jace pointed a hand back with one of the evoker gloves, grabbed it, and threw it at the man standing with the plasma bow taking him off of his feet for another 4Ki in the damage he took from the shot and then throwing the drone. Back down to 66Ki.

The one-man with a regular bow fled. Jace drained an additional 2 Ki from the man he held onto. He really hated using those gloves because they burned up Ki to do those tasks. The bigger the task the more Ki it consumed.

His first captive screamed out, "I surrender."

Jace laughed, "You used a gun, you gave up that right when you did so." Jace saw a patrol car approaching in the distance and he zoomed in on the plate and ran it against public images for this border town. Jace sent a message with the video file to Doctor Sylvia Xioroz.

Jace drained 2 more out of the man and he was crying. Jace picked him up and walked him to the man with the bow who was out cold with the destroyed UAV. He walked up and grabbed him by the neck and started to drain Ki out of him 2 points at a time. He screamed awake.

Jace looked down at the car that stopped in the distance.

---

Sylvia watched the message, "I got one in hand who is a traffic cop and a second to drain. Your friend at the tech store sent them after me. I have it all recorded and attached to this file. That looks to be this town's Chief of Police transport. You might want to warn him he is messing with the wrong Spec-Ops soldier."

Sylvia had just finished cumming loudly as she had watched the exchange. She contacted the Police Chief Carlos Rease, overriding his display in his vehicle. She had her lab coat on so he did not see her naked form.

She sighed, " Chief Carlos Rease. The man you are looking at is a former Spec-Ops officer named Jace. Get the man who runs Gregor's Tech shop. He sent those men after him. They took on a one-man army. Else I will send this file to the King, along with several others involving you with a few subordinates at the last Police conference to your wife.

Men and women. Giving and receiving. Trust me, I have more on you, but you don't have a corporate sponsor which puts you one up on the 'honorable' side given most of the police captains and chiefs I know about in the city. It is better to let this one go, especially after you talk with him." She ended the call

The Chief went to John Gregor's Shop, He arrived as one man with a bow ran inside. The Chief looked at him, "You, in my car. Now John! I heard you started a war on my streets with a former Spec-Ops officer."

John Gregor got up and walked out with him, "I have been in my shop, which Spec-Ops officer you referring too?"

The chief sighed, "Jace. I was sent a video file as well. I have not looked at that yet."

John sighed out and got into the car, "Nothing he might have recorded in my shop would be admissible in a court."

The Chief nodded, "Yes, but this one is well connected. I don't think the courts are where it is headed. Unless you're talking the Royal Court."

---

Jace looked at the one man, "Corrupt police and I sent the information to an influential member of society that you do not want to piss off. You will note he is not coming this way but is probably headed to the tech store."

He drained more from the bow user because he had extra to pay for the others, he took himself back to a hundred Ki before he stopped as the man turned on a 50 Ki unit to keep from getting killed. The gun user was down to 2Ki at that point. The 3 men in the transport started crawling out.

Jace called out, "I have your movements being tracked and I could just as easily flip that transport over a few times. Best to leave any and all weapons behind and sit on the curb over here.

These 2 actually damaged me and I am collecting reparations from the attack. You behave and I will not lay a finger on you. One of you gets out of line and I will squash you into the ground with your own stolen transport. Like the fool who tried to escape out the window."

They moved over and sat on the curb as the police cruiser showed up with the shop owner.

Jace looked at him, "I knew you were crooked as soon as you wanted to put me under to do those upgrades. She knew I did not need that, you wanted to check out all of my technology and figure out what was safe to take without incurring her wrath. The answer was and is none of it. I have it recorded from the moment I stepped into your shop until now."

The owner looked at Jace, "Not admissible in court without my consent."

Jace nodded, "She does not care about the court and neither do I. I can bleed these 2 down and then top off on you."

He groaned, "How much do you want?"

Jace smiled, "I am showing you with a 170 Ki. I want your expanded Ki unit for your part in this mess."

He glared, "I got another 100 Ki capacity unit at my shop I could let you have on a trade-in for what you have."

Jace chuckled, "I doubt that is full. I have one that size already. Let me show you more of what you are up against."

He held those 2 down with a knee in the center of their backs. He reached behind him with both hands, grabbed the stolen transport telekinetically, and hurled it past the police transport. It bounced end over end before the fuel cell ruptured and caught on fire.

He drained Ki from his 2 hostages to account for what he spent using those evoker gloves on something that large and throwing it that far. Leaving both men at 1 Ki. He was at 95 Ki now. Jace glared at the owner, "I could do that with you instead, sending half of you one way and the other half another."

Jace looked at the policeman next to him and smiled, "Police Chief Winslow. Yes, I can pull that information up concerning you and a lot more. Including this off-duty traffic cop under my knee who happens to be without a job now. The illegal gun will be destroyed like any left in that transport. Bring me Gregor's Ki expansion unit. Yes, I know who you are and the complaints against you."

The Chief held out his hand to John Greggor. John Greggor slit opened his thigh and extracted the unit and he handed it to Jace himself. Jace looked at him, "I think that 10 Ki vamp unit must be illegal. Unless he has a corporate sponsor. Do you wish to claim a sponsor for having that?"

John Greggor squirmed as he could not say so even if he did. He extracted the unit from his chest and pulled it out. John held out his fingers with the unit to the police chief. John crushed the vamp unit before dropping it into the chief's hands.

Jace looked at the three on the curb, "Best if you simply walk away right now before I pull up your files."

The 3 of them ran for it. He already had their files in case they showed up again. He picked up the plasma bow. "Mine is better." He stored the bow to sell. He tossed the gun onto the bonfire that was the wrecked transport. He could hear the bullets exploded in the heat within the revolver's cylinder. He picked up the crashed UAV and chucked it onto the fire to burn.

He looked at the two still face down on the ground, "I collected reparations from these 2 and the store owner." As he grabbed the owner by the neck and drained 2 more units from him as he screamed out. "As long as I am not bothered or harassed in town you will never see the video of this encounter anywhere. At least not from me. She, on the other hand, might have different ideas and want compensation.

Especially if she cannot contact me. Now I was going to go in search of personal transportation, but I am rethinking that at the moment. Take your men and go. In case the shop owner did not tell you Chief, my entire military file was classified. I left as a captain after 2 years of service. You can guess who has the authority to do that and restrict it to Royal Family, Kings Eyes Only. For a Spec-Ops Captain!"

The police chief looked at the shop owner, rolled his eyes, shook his head as he walked back, and got into his transport. He drove away without the store owner or the other 2. The 3 of them walked off together.

---

Chief Winslow called the station, "Send a cleanup crew over to Main street near Vine. The investigation is already closed on this. Officer Todd Winslow is fired from traffic. He was one of many involved in an attempted personal tech theft. The aggrieved already collected reparations from those involved so this only needs to be cleaned off the streets."

He ended the call and went back on patrol. The woman never gave him a name but he saw a CGR logo on her lab coat. He knew better than to fuck with that place. The main page listed her as the head researcher for the facility. He sighed, "Fuck what did they just release onto the streets." He wondered out loud.

---

Sylvia contacted Mr. Greggor as he got back to his shop. She smiled at him, "You fucked up going after Jace. Like I knew you would. That was why I selected you."

John Greggor looked at her, "You owe for what he stole from me!"

Sylvia laughed. She sent him 40 files from his own security cameras for others he had stolen from in the last month alone. "I knew you would be dumb enough to try something. I have files going back years on you.

You owe me 1,000 DC's and a recorded confession with whom and what you did. I will hold onto it to ensure you never go after Jace or myself in this matter. I will also contact the Sun's Bank who holds the note on your business. Have them call in the outstanding loan immediately if you don't comply. Do we understand each other Mr. Greggor? I would leave your corporate sponsor out of it, you will end up dead if you fail to listen and by their hands. Not mine."

John looked at her, "You set me up?"

Sylvia smiled, "Everything you needed to know about him you scanned and ignored from his ID chip. You knew of my reputation, just as I knew of yours. I just have a lot more data to hold over you."

John transferred the funds and recorded the statement, listing the names of the other 6 involved. He sighed, "Don't send any more business my way."

She laughed, "With this, I will send whomever I want your way. Just stay away from Jace and don't fuck with those I send your way." She ended the call.

John thought about sending a message to his corporate sponsor but decided against it. She would be watching and she was likely right. It would cost him to replace those pieces of tech as well. He had spares, he just had to 'repair them' to be functional instead of disabling.

He went to work on fixing himself up as he sent his little 'hit crew' away. The 2 he fired as they were not likely to live out the year as they only had 1 Ki on one of them. The other was at less than 30.

He was the 'brains' of that group of kidnappers. Their leader who failed and ran into his shop. John worked the Drone himself and had to replace that as well. Overall an extremely costly day for him.

---

Jace grabbed his bow and double-checked the unit. He thought to himself, "A 200 Ki expansion unit. Today was a good day."

He sent the file and a note to Sylvia, "I never used your name but got my point across."

He got a message back 20 minutes later from Sylvia, "I spoke with him directly. He has settled his reparations with me in this matter. It was a very costly day for him. Loved your approach with him by the way. I monitored the encounter and what you got out of it. He had the nerve to complain when I contacted him."

He could tell she was naked and masturbating again while talking to him. Jace ended the comms and chuckled to himself. He never called her out by name and he knew she would be monitoring his activities for years to come.

Especially if he did not get out of this fucked city and take steps to curb her ability to monitor him. He did not change his destination and ended up in the used transport shop.

He used the men's room and installed the unit being careful to keep it sterilized using the sterilizer in his medkit. He turned off the internal link to the expansion unit in case he was scanned upon existing he would now show at 100 Ki and not 167 Ki. The unit topped him off automatically for that 'small amount' of damage.

Larger amounts would take time to transfer from the unit but it would draw from it if the damage was done in the meantime when active. He walked out and looked over the list of personal transports. He selected 3 after cross-referencing them and inspected each vehicle. He looked over how much they wanted for each vehicle.

He glared at the salesman who owned the place, Vince Smith. He had run his background and was not happy, "This one has structural damage to the support pillars. It has been in a crash of some type and is not worth not nearly half of what you are asking for it. It is structurally unsound and should be condemned as it sits. That one is missing half of its fuel cell capacity.

The other has more problems than even I could list. That leaves me with one option here before I walk across the way and just buy a new transport. You have been informed that these 2 units are unsound to be on the road and are condemned vehicles.