08-11-2015, 03:51 AM
How long had Ditto been there? Diesel was certain he had left much earlier in the day. He was vague about his reasons, but being their new boss afforded him that perk. How much had he overheard?
"What is this?" Diesel said, blinking. "We saw you leave."
Ditto shot a glance at the ex-leader. "So ... what? As soon as I walk out the door, you start planning open rebellion? Is that it?"
"And you thought we'd be perfect angels while you were gone? Huh? You don't deserve this place!" Skaggs fired back, spittle flying from his lips. "This is our gang! And we ain't letting some suit take over because he got lucky!"
"Yeah!" Tor threw in meaninglessly. He smiled widely, apparently happy that someone finally agreed with his longstanding opinion.
Diesel's face muscles tensed. He had a strong urge to leap up and tell them to shut up. They were obviously so wrapped up in their own outrage and hatred that they couldn't see that this was their best chance. Diesel had led the Skullbangers for six years officially as it was now, but longer with certain members. Life had never been easy, but the straight and narrow was a joke in Coruscant. The only way they could ever have the life they wanted was to take it. But while Diesel's leadership was the reason they moved up from Tier 6 to 5 and had their empty warehouse, with Spook Eye in the picture, it was as high as they could climb.
A shaking, blinding rage overtook Diesel as he lied down to sleep every night, but it subsided by morning. Ditto, despite who he was and what he did to Diesel's legacy, might just have what it takes to get them where they deserved to be.
But Skaggs and Tor's pride ignored the ugly truth standing in their faces. No more. If they wanted to throw their lives away to satisfy their petty anger, then that was a choice Diesel couldn't make for them.
"Didn't you hear what the rest of your compatriots said?" Ditto said, shifting the edge of his blazer sleeve. "They don't stand with you. They accept me as the leader of this gang." He looked up suddenly, face blank. "And you should feel privileged."
"Because you came in and started barking orders?!" Tor yelled. "Where's the fucking privilege in that?!"
"I earned that privilege," Ditto stressed with a steely edge. "I was clearly outnumbered and nothing any of you did was enough to stop me earning it. Most of your intelligent companions -"
"They ain't my 'companions,' you cockhead!" Tor shouted.
" - have submitted to the order of things, and they will be much happier and productive," Ditto went on, completely ignoring the mohawked thug's interruption. "However, if you two have a problem, perhaps we should be discussing ... redundancy packages."
"Ha!" Skaggs barked. "You're going to fire us, are you?"
Ditto exhaled sharply through his nostrils. "Again, you fail to pick up on the subtleties of my phrasing. It won't just be a redundancy package from your life as a filth encrusted miscreant working for Team Rocket. It'll be a redundancy package from your life as a filth encrusted miscreant - in all its entirety."
"So you'll kill us?" Tor said. "I'd like to see you try."
Ditto stared them down for a moment, eyes sharp, face chiseled in cold anger. A moment later, he burst out laughing.
"What's so fucking funny?" Skaggs said.
Ditto shrugged. "You got me! You called my bluff. The truth is, you're both too valuable to me to kill. You - " Ditto pointed to Tor, " - have a connection to Spook Eye, whom I very much intend to meet. Having a contact will facilitate the meeting, I feel. And you - " he said, pointing at Skaggs, " - have an as yet undefined but powerful relationship with Enigma. Something tells me I wouldn't be able to trust her even if I saved her life, and killing you certainly wouldn't engender her to me."
"Ha!" Skaggs laughed. "You just admitted you won't kill us! What'll stop us from killing you, I wonder?"
The door crashed open. Diesel turned and his eyes went wide.
Ditto smiled. "Him?"
At the door, light streaming around his body, stood a second Ditto.
Diesel shook his head. "How - that's - you have a twin or something?"
Ditto sprinted into the warehouse, shoes clapping on the concrete ground. Sweat clung to his face. "Where is she?!"
"Where's who?" the original Ditto asked.
"Enigma!" his clone replied. "She and I have urgent business to discuss."
"Wait!" Shingles called out. "Why are there two of you?"
The newest Ditto wiped the sweat from his face and rubbed it on his trousers. "Oh, this. I'm not going to get into the specifics, but let's just say I'll always have my eye on you." He poked the other Ditto in the face hard, and he fell to the ground. On impact, he exploded in pink goo, which bubbled and sizzled as if olive oil had been splashed on a burning hot saucepan. Moments later, it dissolved away.
"Whoa! What the fuck?!" Skaggs yelled. The other gang members, if not jumping to their feet, took a few hurried steps backwards. Except Ricky, who was throwing light bulbs at the back wall, giggling as they shattered into fragments.
"Hey!" Ditto shouted, having lost his usual composure. "I'm not in the mood for distractions! Someone tell me where Enigma is now!"
Diesel hadn't seen Ditto this frazzled before. There had been a lot to process in the last thirty seconds, but seeing his new boss's loss of composure was more unsettling than watching an identical copy of him fall to the ground and evaporate.
He was about to respond when a lithe, black clad figure fell from the catwalk above. "Calm down, will you? I'm here."
Ditto strode over to Enigma, eyes wide. "I don't enjoy being misled, Enigma. Tell me who your contact was at the F-Zero track."
"Ah, if it isn't the real Ditto. Your acid look-a-like was convincing. He even had your mannerisms. But it wasn't you." Enigma narrowed her eyes and stared at Ditto, as if his eyes were obscuring something behind them. "How did you do that?"
The instant she finished her sentence, Ditto shone with white light, and the outline of his form expanded. An extra two arms unfurled from the indistinct silhouette, and Diesel watched as massive muscles chiseled out of nothing. The light faded, and in Ditto's place stood a pale blue humanoid, an almost identical replica of the form he took when he defeated Diesel's gang, except now he lacked a snout and he sported four arms.
All four arms shot out like snakes and wrapped around Enigma's back, thrusting her with a rough thud into Ditto's rock hard abdomen. She cried out at the impact, grimacing.
"Hey!" Skaggs shouted. "Put her down right now, you fucking prick!"
"No more games!" Ditto roared, squeezing the non-compliant informant with an intensely powerful bear hug. Diesel saw, for the first time, Enigma's cool and solid mask crack, revealing true emotion. It was pain. "Tell me it all now before I break your spine!"
"OK! OK!" Enigma yelled, her arms pinned awkwardly to her sides. "The soldier ... I was setting him up to meet one of Spook Eye's bodyguards ... he was there guarding Spook's F-Zero pilot ... he said he had some information ... worth a lot of money!"
"And what happened?" Ditto replied, the anger still burning fiercely in his voice. "What did he know?"
"The explosion ended any chance ... of a meeting," Enigma struggled through shortening breaths. "He wanted to know ... where his soldier friend was ... in the Dataverse."
Ditto's noseless face tightened, and so did his grip. "You're telling half truths, Enigma. You know what that bodyguard knows, don't you? You wouldn't have set them up to meet if the information was false. You're too much of a professional to do otherwise. You insisted on seeing me transform because you had to verify the claims. You would have done exactly the same here."
"Let go!" Skaggs shouted and charged at the four armed boss of Team Rocket. Ditto's head snapped towards Skaggs. As the tattooed criminal threw a punch, hurling all his weight into the attack, one of Ditto's arms released Enigma and backhanded Skaggs across the jaw, sending him sprawling over the ground. He didn't get back up.
"Please ..." Enigma wheezed. "I can't ... can't ..."
"Breathe?" Ditto finished the thought. His face scrunched tightly. "Then tell me the truth!"
"Ah! The bodyguard ... overhead Spook Eye ... they know ... where the ... missing soldier is ... and so ... do I."
"Where?!" Ditto practically screamed.
"Hidden ... in false code ... looks perfectly ... natural ... you'd never know ... just by ... looking."
Ditto's furious eyes burned holes in Enigma for a moment longer, and then he released her. She fell to the ground coughing and spluttering, sucking in air feverishly. Diesel heard Skaggs murmur but he didn't move.
Ditto's muscular alien form vanished amidst a flash of light and returned to his suited human form. His composure had also returned as well. "Get up, Enigma. You will be showing me where I can find this fool in the Dataverse."
Enigma looked up at Ditto, chest heaving. "And if I refuse?"
Ditto smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "I'm sure you've heard about my redundancy packages?"
"What is this?" Diesel said, blinking. "We saw you leave."
Ditto shot a glance at the ex-leader. "So ... what? As soon as I walk out the door, you start planning open rebellion? Is that it?"
"And you thought we'd be perfect angels while you were gone? Huh? You don't deserve this place!" Skaggs fired back, spittle flying from his lips. "This is our gang! And we ain't letting some suit take over because he got lucky!"
"Yeah!" Tor threw in meaninglessly. He smiled widely, apparently happy that someone finally agreed with his longstanding opinion.
Diesel's face muscles tensed. He had a strong urge to leap up and tell them to shut up. They were obviously so wrapped up in their own outrage and hatred that they couldn't see that this was their best chance. Diesel had led the Skullbangers for six years officially as it was now, but longer with certain members. Life had never been easy, but the straight and narrow was a joke in Coruscant. The only way they could ever have the life they wanted was to take it. But while Diesel's leadership was the reason they moved up from Tier 6 to 5 and had their empty warehouse, with Spook Eye in the picture, it was as high as they could climb.
A shaking, blinding rage overtook Diesel as he lied down to sleep every night, but it subsided by morning. Ditto, despite who he was and what he did to Diesel's legacy, might just have what it takes to get them where they deserved to be.
But Skaggs and Tor's pride ignored the ugly truth standing in their faces. No more. If they wanted to throw their lives away to satisfy their petty anger, then that was a choice Diesel couldn't make for them.
"Didn't you hear what the rest of your compatriots said?" Ditto said, shifting the edge of his blazer sleeve. "They don't stand with you. They accept me as the leader of this gang." He looked up suddenly, face blank. "And you should feel privileged."
"Because you came in and started barking orders?!" Tor yelled. "Where's the fucking privilege in that?!"
"I earned that privilege," Ditto stressed with a steely edge. "I was clearly outnumbered and nothing any of you did was enough to stop me earning it. Most of your intelligent companions -"
"They ain't my 'companions,' you cockhead!" Tor shouted.
" - have submitted to the order of things, and they will be much happier and productive," Ditto went on, completely ignoring the mohawked thug's interruption. "However, if you two have a problem, perhaps we should be discussing ... redundancy packages."
"Ha!" Skaggs barked. "You're going to fire us, are you?"
Ditto exhaled sharply through his nostrils. "Again, you fail to pick up on the subtleties of my phrasing. It won't just be a redundancy package from your life as a filth encrusted miscreant working for Team Rocket. It'll be a redundancy package from your life as a filth encrusted miscreant - in all its entirety."
"So you'll kill us?" Tor said. "I'd like to see you try."
Ditto stared them down for a moment, eyes sharp, face chiseled in cold anger. A moment later, he burst out laughing.
"What's so fucking funny?" Skaggs said.
Ditto shrugged. "You got me! You called my bluff. The truth is, you're both too valuable to me to kill. You - " Ditto pointed to Tor, " - have a connection to Spook Eye, whom I very much intend to meet. Having a contact will facilitate the meeting, I feel. And you - " he said, pointing at Skaggs, " - have an as yet undefined but powerful relationship with Enigma. Something tells me I wouldn't be able to trust her even if I saved her life, and killing you certainly wouldn't engender her to me."
"Ha!" Skaggs laughed. "You just admitted you won't kill us! What'll stop us from killing you, I wonder?"
The door crashed open. Diesel turned and his eyes went wide.
Ditto smiled. "Him?"
At the door, light streaming around his body, stood a second Ditto.
Diesel shook his head. "How - that's - you have a twin or something?"
Ditto sprinted into the warehouse, shoes clapping on the concrete ground. Sweat clung to his face. "Where is she?!"
"Where's who?" the original Ditto asked.
"Enigma!" his clone replied. "She and I have urgent business to discuss."
"Wait!" Shingles called out. "Why are there two of you?"
The newest Ditto wiped the sweat from his face and rubbed it on his trousers. "Oh, this. I'm not going to get into the specifics, but let's just say I'll always have my eye on you." He poked the other Ditto in the face hard, and he fell to the ground. On impact, he exploded in pink goo, which bubbled and sizzled as if olive oil had been splashed on a burning hot saucepan. Moments later, it dissolved away.
"Whoa! What the fuck?!" Skaggs yelled. The other gang members, if not jumping to their feet, took a few hurried steps backwards. Except Ricky, who was throwing light bulbs at the back wall, giggling as they shattered into fragments.
"Hey!" Ditto shouted, having lost his usual composure. "I'm not in the mood for distractions! Someone tell me where Enigma is now!"
Diesel hadn't seen Ditto this frazzled before. There had been a lot to process in the last thirty seconds, but seeing his new boss's loss of composure was more unsettling than watching an identical copy of him fall to the ground and evaporate.
He was about to respond when a lithe, black clad figure fell from the catwalk above. "Calm down, will you? I'm here."
Ditto strode over to Enigma, eyes wide. "I don't enjoy being misled, Enigma. Tell me who your contact was at the F-Zero track."
"Ah, if it isn't the real Ditto. Your acid look-a-like was convincing. He even had your mannerisms. But it wasn't you." Enigma narrowed her eyes and stared at Ditto, as if his eyes were obscuring something behind them. "How did you do that?"
The instant she finished her sentence, Ditto shone with white light, and the outline of his form expanded. An extra two arms unfurled from the indistinct silhouette, and Diesel watched as massive muscles chiseled out of nothing. The light faded, and in Ditto's place stood a pale blue humanoid, an almost identical replica of the form he took when he defeated Diesel's gang, except now he lacked a snout and he sported four arms.
All four arms shot out like snakes and wrapped around Enigma's back, thrusting her with a rough thud into Ditto's rock hard abdomen. She cried out at the impact, grimacing.
"Hey!" Skaggs shouted. "Put her down right now, you fucking prick!"
"No more games!" Ditto roared, squeezing the non-compliant informant with an intensely powerful bear hug. Diesel saw, for the first time, Enigma's cool and solid mask crack, revealing true emotion. It was pain. "Tell me it all now before I break your spine!"
"OK! OK!" Enigma yelled, her arms pinned awkwardly to her sides. "The soldier ... I was setting him up to meet one of Spook Eye's bodyguards ... he was there guarding Spook's F-Zero pilot ... he said he had some information ... worth a lot of money!"
"And what happened?" Ditto replied, the anger still burning fiercely in his voice. "What did he know?"
"The explosion ended any chance ... of a meeting," Enigma struggled through shortening breaths. "He wanted to know ... where his soldier friend was ... in the Dataverse."
Ditto's noseless face tightened, and so did his grip. "You're telling half truths, Enigma. You know what that bodyguard knows, don't you? You wouldn't have set them up to meet if the information was false. You're too much of a professional to do otherwise. You insisted on seeing me transform because you had to verify the claims. You would have done exactly the same here."
"Let go!" Skaggs shouted and charged at the four armed boss of Team Rocket. Ditto's head snapped towards Skaggs. As the tattooed criminal threw a punch, hurling all his weight into the attack, one of Ditto's arms released Enigma and backhanded Skaggs across the jaw, sending him sprawling over the ground. He didn't get back up.
"Please ..." Enigma wheezed. "I can't ... can't ..."
"Breathe?" Ditto finished the thought. His face scrunched tightly. "Then tell me the truth!"
"Ah! The bodyguard ... overhead Spook Eye ... they know ... where the ... missing soldier is ... and so ... do I."
"Where?!" Ditto practically screamed.
"Hidden ... in false code ... looks perfectly ... natural ... you'd never know ... just by ... looking."
Ditto's furious eyes burned holes in Enigma for a moment longer, and then he released her. She fell to the ground coughing and spluttering, sucking in air feverishly. Diesel heard Skaggs murmur but he didn't move.
Ditto's muscular alien form vanished amidst a flash of light and returned to his suited human form. His composure had also returned as well. "Get up, Enigma. You will be showing me where I can find this fool in the Dataverse."
Enigma looked up at Ditto, chest heaving. "And if I refuse?"
Ditto smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "I'm sure you've heard about my redundancy packages?"
![[Image: jimsig.jpg]](http://www.cytokineindustries.com/chevereto/images/2017/07/07/jimsig.jpg)