Junction Pt. 01

Her mind drifted back to when she had Marshal Cooper in her office filling her holes; having been a previous subject years ago. He was good and slightly longer where it counted, but nowhere near as good as Jace in girth, scales, or staying power. She needed to get home and get some sleep.

---

The minister of Defense made the call directly, "Marshal Cooper. The Royal Family has a vested interest in a man called Jace Rivers. He came out of the service today, is a bounty hunter now, and has gotten a few corporations up in arms. I need you to get to the 3rd level of the parking garage in Angels Mall as soon as possible.

He is an extremely talented prior military Captain, former Spec-Ops, and a job in the Marshal Service might ground him some. See what you can do for the Royal Family in this matter to secure him a spot, the wilderness would be better for his skills. We have some corruption in the local police force which is hampering his efforts in the city."

The Marshal nodded, "I am in my unit on my way home. I can detour and check out this candidate for the Marshal Service."

Marshal Cooper went and put his lights on after entering the name into his data search. He shook his head and spoke to himself, "Out of the service a day and brought in 12 bounties already. This man is on a mission."

He noticed his limited access to his service record. "2 Years and a Captain! Former Spec-Ops at that age? A damned fast burner that the Royal Family is interested in?"

He wondered what was special with this one? Besides the obvious.

---

Jace took the stairs down to the garage level above his and walked down to look into the van from level 4. There were 2 men in the van. One was in the driver seat and one appeared to be on comms in the back. He had bounties for both of them; he just pulled up the first on both when he took action.

The database was still compiling a list when he used the evoker gloves to flip the van onto its roof; another 8Ki. He checked the meter on his bounty; it was 30 now and falling. He got grazed and he was dead. Not that he had enough to live now and was likely brain dead thanks to the mall cop.

He scanned his vehicle for explosives and found some attached to the fuel core. He shook his head as the 2 men came crawling out of the side door after they forced it open. He pointed the Judge at them, "Remove the explosives from my vehicle, or die."

He finished getting the scan data on both of them. They had 7 bounties on each of them in other across 11 other City-states, one was for 50,000 DC's wanted Dead only on the angry man getting up who was an explosives expert. Jace shook his head as that man went to draw down on Jace.

Jace shot him in the stomach and then the chest twice; he ensured he had no part of his heart left. That ensuring his life was over. His friend hit him with a gunshot but it went through the bounty on his shoulder He still lost a couple of Ki as it was a 50-caliber round.

Jace was down to 1069 at the moment, his bounty was a corpse. The one-man ran for the back of the van for cover. Jace slid the van into the railing and crushed him against the wall, that was only a 4Ki cost.

Another mercenary came out of the elevator shooting a sub-machinegun. He was fairly accurate with it. Yet another L54 model that had yet to make it to the military. Jace grabbed the man with the evoker gauntlets and threw him on top of his vehicle as he started firing at Jace.

The mercenary hit his vehicles 'trunk' and that set off the explosives. Jace tossed his dead bounty to the side for the moment. He lost or used a total of 50Ki in that exchange and was getting pissed.

The new vehicle blew up and into the ceiling. It tossed that last man in the ceiling as he slid off the trunk and down onto the concrete floor behind the burning vehicle. Jace shook his head, "Fucking amateurs."

He got knocked on his ass and flew back another 50 meters from an RPG round shot from down the ramp. His armor absorbed a good chunk of damage from that but now needed repairs for the dent. Jace lost 304Ki from that RPG shot. He cracked a few ribs but the new mesh helped with holding the bone together. Jace took his judge and put his targeting on full magnification. He had bounties on that man. He shot out both knee caps as the man went to reload.

The man crumpled and fell on his face as another round went off from the RPG and hit the ceiling in the garage above the flipped van. He looked around and started pulling all the bodies together and stowed the weapons. He moved the one machine gun out of his bag and put it with the other L-54 and the RPG launcher.

He did not want the cops to give him a hard time about military-grade weapons. At least the ones who would show up on a corporate pay role, probably more. He chucked the 50-caliber 'sissy pistol' on the pile.

It only had a 4-shot capacity and technical augmenter for the other ammo slots to help negate the kickback. It canceled 50% of the kickback, making it a 'sissy pistol' to those in the military. He tossed that on the military pile as well because of the caliber of the rounds.

He moved the other weapons to his bag. 3 were still alive and he sucked the Ki out of all 3 of them until his unit recharged after pulling their expansion units. He fulled topped off sucking it from one of the one expansion units from a bounty who had died quickly. He ensured most of it came from them but left them all at 50 Ki if they still lived.

Then he took his expansion unit offline again. The police arrive and he displayed his Bounty Hunter ID to the officer on a holoprojector. He knelt next to the bodies as he showed the posters one by one. He had a total of 385,000 DC's for these 6 men across 21 City-States.

Jace pulled their credit chits and augmenters while he waited for the first 2 cops to decide if they were going to shoot him. Those 2 officers approached with their guns still drawn. One had shaky hands.

Jace sighed, "Officer, 3 of these 6 are alive and in need of medical attention. I sent you all of the footage up to where I gathered all 6 bodies together. I need a receipt from a Captain, Commander, or a Chief for these bounties if I am going to release them to you. Else I will contact a car service to have me drive them to the station and they can do it there."

An unmarked car arrived with the hidden interior lights at the top inside of the windshield going. 6 other squad cars arrived with him. One had a local Captain and the Chief of Police for the city. He saw Jace kneeling there in his tactical armor. Jace stored the armor as they approached. "My identity is confirmed, my bounties are here on the ground. I don't know if they worked for 1 of the 12 that I brought in earlier. I have all of the combat footage, after identifying the bounties on these 6. One at a time."

The Chief looked over, "We may have to revoke your bounty hunter status."

The man in the back looked at the Chief, "Who's fucking pocket are you in?"

He flipped out his badge. "State Marshal Service, Commander Cooper. I heard the call on the police band and had to check this out for myself."

The Chief looked at him, "This is my city to watch over."

Jace stood and made the call. He got the Royal switchboard. Jace looked at her, "Asset 47Lima4917 Passcode 10079284, Requesting assistance, this call should hopefully take care of the immediate issue."

The next image that came up was the Minister of Defense of the City-State on the holo display, "Jace, you have been out of the service for a day and you are already contacting me?"

Jace smiled, "I kind of overachieved on my first day collecting 18 bounties. The Chief of Police wants to pull my bounty hunters license, the one you authorized. I cannot seem to get a voucher for these last 6 out of any of the local police present, especially your Chief here to do their damned jobs.

The only one who has attempted to intercede on my behalf is a State Marshal, who is technically outside of his jurisdiction in this particular matter unless you order an investigation of the Police Chief for obstruction charges at a minimum. Corruption is possible."

The Minister of Defense looked at the Chief of Police through the holographic display Jace turned the image, "What charges, if any, do you have on Jace?"

He looked over, "This garage was hit with RPG rounds!"

Jace pointed down to the man with no legs, "Both fired by him and still alive but in need of medical assistance as soon as they claim him."

He threw over the recording of where he got shot in the chest by one and where he shot out the man's knees and the second went into the ceiling. Jace looked over, "I sent them all relevant combat footage including the mall cop who pulled an illegal gun on me, shot one of my bounties slung over my shoulder in the head with it, me in the arm before I shot him in the face.

He had been on the phone minutes before with Phantom Corp. who told him to delay me and he came down and said, 'Cops were on their way.' They had not been dispatched at that point. They probably alerted the 6-man assault team to my location in the Mall. Sent you the hijacked communications of that conversation."

Jace dialed the number and the president of the company came online from the other side of the room but his back was turned. "Did you kill the bastard?"

Jace looked at the man, "I got all 6 of your bastards, but only 3 of them are dead at the moment."

He turned to see the Minister of Defense as Jace brought him into the conversation in a split-screen with the Police Chief as well. The president's head slumped.

The Minister of Defense shook his head, "Jace this call is free. Chief, get his damned receipt and leave him the fuck alone. I will get with the King on possibly opening up an investigation into your department. I will deal with Phantom Corp. myself."

Jace left them connected to each other and dropped from the call, "Chief you want to get me that fucking receipt right now for these 6? Better yet, I will give you the account number to transfer the funds directly. In case you have a problem later locating the funds."

The chief sighed, "I don't know how..."

Jace cut him off, "You likely never will and still be alive to speak of it! My file is sealed by the Royal Family, Kings Eyes Only. I have a direct line into the Minister of Defense. That is all you fucking need to know asshole!"

The Marshal sat back and chuckled at the situation. He liked this kid he had style to him. Cooper watched as the Chief transferred the funds and got the ambulance service in to pick up the 3 survivors.

Jace looked over and started walking with his bag in hand. Marshal Cooper looked at him, "You need a lift?"

Jace looked at him, "I haven't even found a place to sleep tonight and they blew up my new vehicle. Not that I could get 6 bounties bodies into that 2-seater."

The Marshal chuckled, "Come with me."

He got in the car with the marshal and sat in the front seat with him. The marshal did not seem to care. He got them out of the garage, "You are registering at 100 Ki. Yet you took an RPG round?"

Jace nodded, "I shut off my expansion unit before they arrived. I kind of ensured I got reparations and it was back to full after that. Hard to do with a 2Ki vamp unit."

The Marshal chuckled, "Getting them to agree had to be at gunpoint."

Jace smiled, "In a matter of speaking. All 3 alive were all well over 1,500 Ki. They just took injuries that needed time to regenerate. I have a 1,000 Ki storage unit. Not counting the six 2,000Ki units I pulled from them so there is over 4,700Ki from those 6.

Along with their cred chits I still have to deal with. Sucking it from them or their expansion unit, which I did to top off, made no difference in the scheme of things. I left them with 50Ki each. More than they fucking deserved but it kept them alive to let their corporation deal with them or the Dragons who will fight over who gets them. Something tells me they won't live long in the hospital wing of that jail.

The Marshal chuckled at Jace's comment. He really liked this kid.

---

The Minister of Defense was livid, "Did you not get the message from Sylvia that he was off-limits?"

The man nodded, "She said nothing about you and I despise that viper of a woman."

The Minister of Defense connected in the CEOs from the other 3 weapons' manufactures she had identified. He looked across at them, "Any activity you have going in regards to Jace Rivers, bounty hunter, stops fucking now. Pull them back, kill your assets if you have too, but end it. He is a protected asset the Royal Family would prefer NOT to piss-off."

Carmicle Ross from Sands corporation looked at him, "Who in the hell is he and why is he protected?"

The minister growled, "You will never get specifics but if you know what a Mastro97A assignment is? Know he is the only one to complete 15 of them back-to-back successfully. Twice he was the last man standing! He still collected intelligence data as the missions went to shit.

He is a fucking killing machine if he needs to be. He is a blasted sniper with a bow and over 72 confirmed kills in 2 years of service; trust me the number is much higher that is just in the only 4 files I have access to from his record. He also handled 7 defensive missions for the King, ensuring nobody fucking escaped! All of those are redacted...EVEN TO ME!

He was never in any war and his missions never existed! He survived and Sylvia has more than a vested interest in him as she designed him. There was one drawback to putting his mix into service as our new army. He could live 1,000 years or more as his aging at the end of puberty retarded back.

He was a near-perfect military asset that the Royal Family may call upon again. They reserved that right on him! Especially given his longevity capability without life extensions, which he is still eligible for when the time comes! The King gave me those files and told me to ensure you received this fucking message. Back the fuck off!

You Franklin tender your resignation effective immediately and you MIGHT live to see tomorrow. You just gave him over 480,000 DC's in one day! ALL OF YOU! Not counting what he might have stripped from those bodies. He is very fucking through.

Upgrades, weapons, or funds. He would pull anything he found of value to him. Stop monitoring him, bothering him, and deal with your own businesses and keep them legitimate.

That is for the other 3 of you as you would not be looking at him unless he disrupted some of your nefarious activities. I am glad he did. He did in one day what our police force refused to do over the last 10-20 years.

Do not think the Royal family is not aware of this discussion or his activity? They monitor him and all of those who monitor him. He now has the funds to switch to any City-State he wishes. That marshal that 'showed up', showed because the Royal Family had sent him.

When the corrupt Mall Security guard's body hit the floor. He plans to offer him a job, likely outside the city. Given the Marshal Service's areas of responsibility normally. I don't know where, but you can bet your ass the Royal Family has an idea where they would want him used.

A job with the Marshal Service, if he takes up the offer. He stays in the city and he will likely run out of targets by the end of the week! He leaves the city-state and you will all likely be held accountable. His application has already been fast-tracked and approved.

He will become a Captain for the State Marshal Service over a region of state-owned wilderness. It is up to Marshal Cooper to convince him. If the Royal Family has any say in the matter it is a done deal. They have left the location blank thus far. Mark my words. Any of you fuck with him and you will all pay for it!"

The Minister of Defense dropped from the call but left the 4 of them connected. Sands President Ross looked over, "What did you do?"

Franklin sighed, "I sent the best 6-man strike team we could put together against him. I wanted him captured if possible, dead otherwise. Him being a bounty hunter let him know of all of the outstanding bounties across all City-States.

He went to war with those 6 in a parking garage, killed 3, maimed 3 that are still healing and regenerating. Not that they will recover. Listen to him. They were the best I could get my hands upon on short notice."

He looked up in a moment of surprise. He was shot in the middle of the forehead; clean through was an 8cm hole. His connection went dead. The other three dropped from the call immediately.

---

Marshal Cooper nodded, "Ex-military, with a 47Lima asset number to the Minister of Defense. You must have pulled off some serious shit in your service. You look young."

Jace nodded, "2 years in service and a Captain when I left, started as a private. 3 years if you count the year in Spec-Ops training."

The Marshal chuckled, "Rocket style fast burner. 18 fugitives in the first 24 hours out of the service are what I got out of that."

Jace nodded, "I went after 12. The other 6 threw themselves at me. Who was I turn down the DC's being handed to me? They were worth far more but most of those warrants were in other City-States. One of them was a 50,000DC's Dead only warrant. The explosives guy who rigged my vehicle brought a building down on a Dragon.

Member of their royal family of BoYork State. He survived the attack but was pissed off that he wanted to eat the fucker. He did eat 4 co-conspirators on live vid to the local population, not counting those in the crowd. They were still alive when he started and uncooked. When he drew down on me, I put 3 into him as that bounty was set in stone, DEAD."

The Marshal smiled, "You can crash at my place tonight and we can take you to a transport dealership so you can get another vehicle. You can afford it from what I saw."

Jace chuckled, "Over 480,000DC's in one day out of the service. That the government knows about. I had tracked them, the first 12, for weeks before I got out. I got my license and brought half of them back alive. As to a car, I may head out of town for a while. Get out into the wilds. Let things settle here."

The Marshal looked at him, "Looking for work? We got a few openings in the wilds. One we have lost 2 marshals in the last year trying to fill."

Jace looked over, "Sure as long as I keep my bounty hunter status alive. I won't wait forever though. I have places to get too."

The Marshal smiled, "You will and you will find a few bounties out there. The hours and pay sucks but the bounties pay the bills, as you damned well know. I have a couple of friends that could hook you up with some woodland garb.

Like your armor but geared more for hunters and bounty hunters, instead of the military armor you wear. Some of them have some enchantments on them. You seem to favor the Judge. Unusual choice and you are far more accurate with it than any man I know who could even attempt to fire that weapon."

Jace smiled, "When my position is known. I prefer my bow when it is not. It is quieter and deadlier because they do not see it coming. I get a center mass, front or back on them before they get armor up and they are mine."

The Marshal nodded, "Sniper training at the very least."

Jace smiled, "Classified, regardless. Spec-Ops as I stated."

The Marshal nodded, "Alright I will stop pushing on your service, but going straight into Spec-Ops is unheard of, as you likely know. I am Marshal Cooper by the way. What are you going to do with your new-found wealth?"

Jace shrugged, "No thoughts on the matter. Live a long life and see what I need to spend when the time comes. I know you are Richard Cooper, 47e005, General G-1 retired Army. As high as you could go being human with a hell of a war record. Two wars over your 20 years of service. No Spec-Ops missions listed in your public profile, but a tactical commander dealing with mechanized units mostly. Marshal service for 31 years now.