Return : Book One in the Return series

Part 8 - Breakout Crew (Part 1)

  Vulture slowly made his way to the less civilized parts of town, steaming with apparent anger. That fucker Sledge was going to trick him? He didn't think so. Vulture thought "Alright old man, you want to test me? Let's see how unflappable ya are when I steal your prisoner from right under your nose!"

  Let's see, Vulture thought. I'll need a crew, for sure. It would be insane to try and break into the only prison around by yourself. But how would he pay? "Oh yes, the holographic projectors will do the trick."

  So, he would need at least a crew of 4 including himself, to break out Matthew. A hacker, of course. There's no way that he could do this through brute force alone. But there were only a couple of hackers good enough to break into a supermax, which was the only kind of prison on Apollo. Then he'd need some muscle, because he was not going to carry Matthew by himself. Maybe someone to infiltrate the  location first, and get them in the clear. Oh and of course, the getaway driver. He knew just the right guy for the job, so he headed there first.

In the more shady parts of Apollo, and yes, those existed, though most who lived in the better parts knew nothing about it, there were many people just scraping by, and the cost of a holographic projector would be more than enough to hire some muscle. But back to the driver. As Vulture walked into the flea market, he headed straight for the nearest bar, which is most likely where he would be. And as he walked in, a beer bottle missed him by inches. Yep, this is where Hellfire would be. He walked in, looking around for him, all while punching drunken idiots in the face.

  He found Hellfire in the back of the bar, wrestling with someone else. Vulture smacked the man on the back of the head and he dropped out cold. He grabbed Hellfire by the scruff and pulled him out of the bar, throwing him to the ground.

  "Hello to you too, mr. serious", Hellfire said weakly,  waving his hand. "Stop being such an idiot, ya idiot. I got a job." Vulture replied angrily.

  "What? A smash and grab? Nah, I'm not up for it." "No, a prison break. And here's the deal, you can get 20 percent of the take. 10 million."

  Hellfire instantly stood up, wide-eyed , "No way in hell you got a fucking 50 mill contract. You actually caught that dude?" "Yeah, but I got scammed. I gotta break him out and then give him back but actually get the 50 mil this time."

  Hellfire said sarcastically, "Well, Vulture my man, you know I'm in when there's profits to be had, 'specially if it comes from you, the most reliable source."

  Vulture smacked him on the head, then said , "Alright then. In two days, at 8 pm meet me at the prison."

  Hellfire saluted him mockingly, "Sir yes sir!" Then he jovially sauntered right back into the bar, looking to get drunk.

  Vulture thought , "One down, three to go."

  He left the bar and headed towards his next destination.

    The place Vulture was headed was the Armoury. The idiots there were well trained in guns, and good muscle for cheap, but god, were they stupid. At least he wouldn't have it on his conscience if one of them died or got caught. Besides, they were the best in this district.

He stepped into the Armoury and instantly had a strong desire to take off his mask, though he wasn't doing that anytime soon. Nobody knew him, and he planned to keep it that way for as long as possible. The flames from the forges below were intensely hot, and Vulture wondered what the smiths were making down there, given that the whole operation was illegal.

He walked over to a nearby henchman and said, "Where do I find the boss?" The henchman nodded his head to the space behind him, indicating that the place he should go is... deeper into this fucking sauna.

Vulture sighed and said, "Thanks" then walked in. He headed down a flight of rickety stairs, the heat increasing with every step, but he soldiered on, because he really really needed this, otherwise the plan would most likely fall flat.

He headed down the hall and into a spacious room, where someone was sitting. He had his back turned, but the mere shadow of his figure already made Vulture nervous, and not much did that. He coughed a little and waited.

The mass of a human turned to face him. Underneath his gear, Vulture's face turned a little pale. He was tall, but he was nothing compared to this giant. Arms the size of elephants legs, chest like a lions mane. This was the "big boss" of the Armory, although this most likely changed daily. The boss of the Armory was decided by fights between the competitor and the current boss, and whoever killed the other got the spot.

  Vulture nervously asked , "You are?"

  "You just call me the boss."

  "Alright, then... uhh..... mr.. boss? Can I get a couple of your men for a breakout job?"

  "What's the pay."

  "10 million credits each."

  "You get one." The giant shouted , "Juggernaut! Come here !"

  A slightly less massive man walked towards Vulture, but still huge. Now Vulture was visibly shaking, though he tried to hide it as best he could. Who knew what they would do to him?

He shakily said, "Well, I guess it's decided. If you could, meet me at the prison at 8pm, in two days time."

Juggernaut only grunted and turned back to the rifle he was modding.

Vulture subtly increased his walking speed as he got out of there, and breathed a sigh of relief at not being those meatheads' next shooting target. "Two down, two more."

He left the Armory and went to look for his next crew mate.