Midway Blues/eps/1

Summary

The year is 2043. In a city of great technology, Midway, lies rampant crime. The police force can barely handle this, so people have begun hiring bounty hunters, or 'blues', for this job. This is the story of the Vanatori, a group of dysfunctional blues led by Nicoleta Lupei. They fuck shit up.

Transcript

{Vroom! On an outskirt of Midway City, there's some sort of chase going on. A sports car, around 2039 model..is being chased by a 2014 model RV. The sports car is just in front of the RV, but this is more because the driver is toying with the RV than the RV actually being fast. The RV is blue and black, and has the words TOMA II sprawled upon the side. The inside is crowded, with about six people at different stations. Up at the front, a large man is driving, while in the passenger seat, a woman is shouting at him.}

NICOLETA: GOD DAMNIT! Faster, Barge! We're going to lose him!

BARGE: Ay, this thing's at max speed! He's toying with us!

{Nicoleta firmly plants her palm to her face, as she scratches her head with her other hand.}

NICOLETA: Maybe Nicholai or Le-

LEX: Nah, I'm cool, man.

{He waves from a small couch.}

NICOLETA: Nicholai then?

{Nicholai is behind her in seconds, startling her.}

NICHOLAI: You called?

NICOLETA: Fuck, don't do that. I nearly died. Nicholai, could you..uh..do what it is you do?

{He grins, nodding, as he grabs his rapier.}

NICHOLAI: Alive, or dead?

NICOLETA: He's worth more to us alive.

NICHOLAI: Alright. Be ready for me.

{Nicholai climbs up the ladder in the RV, onto the roof. The driver of the sports car looks up, laughing, until suddenly, Nicholai leaps off the RV, onto the back of the sports car.}

DRIVER: JESUS FUCKIN' CHRIST, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!

NICHOLAI: It's business. Nothin' personal, babe.

{The driver tries to swerve, to shake Nicholai off, but Nicholai calmly approaches the passenger door, and proceeds to slices it open with his rapier before sitting in the passenger seat.}

NICHOLAI: Let's pull over calmly, shall we?

{The driver screams, as Nicholai grabs the wheel. The two have a scuffle as the driver tries to kick Nicholai out of the car. However, before he's able to do so, the car slams right into a nearby tree, causing the airbags to immediately puff out. The driver is knocked out instantly by the blast, but Nicholai, climbs out of the car with his unconscious body, relatively unscathed. Toma II pulls up alongside the wreck, as Nicoleta leaps out, kneeing the driver right in the crotch area.}

LEX: {from inside} Whoa, dude. That's a bit extreme, don't you-

NICOLETA: Fuck him. Remadin, we're bringing him in, patch him up, but keep him sedated.

REMADIN: Uh..right!

{Nicholai and Nicoleta drag the driver in, placing him on a small mat Remadin has set up, as he begins to work on him.}

LEX: I still don't understand why you had to do that to him. I mean, he didn't do anything to us personally.

NICOLETA: Pfft. You and your Zen bullshit. The guy totally had it coming.

LEX: Do you know how much that shit hurts, dude?

NICOLETA: Hey, you men have no right to complain about that. Try bleeding for an entire week every fuckin' month, okay?

LEX: ...I'll shut up now.

NICOLETA: Wise choice, buddy.

{A few hours later, the RV pulls up at a gas station in a small town just outside of Midway. Two men in a van await, as Nicholai drags the driver over, and tosses him in the back. As one of the men negotiates with Nicholai, the other climbs into the back of the van to inspect the bounty. A few moments later, he climbs back out and gives his partner his approval. They hand Nicholai a parcel, and he heads back into Toma II.}

NICOLETA: Full amount?

NICHOLAI: All here.

{Nicholai shows Nicoleta the parcel. She smirks.}

NICOLETA: Fuckin' A. Alright, let's head back into the city. Good job, guys.

{They pull forward, as a sign overhead reads "MIDWAY, DEAD AHEAD". They drive straight for the city.}

THIS IS...

MIDWAY BLUES.

{Timeswipe: Two weeks later. Pulled up at one of the few gas stations remaining in Midway, the Toma II is refueling their engines. Lex and Nicoleta are arguing with each other. Nicoleta's disposition is not particularly pleasant.}

NICOLETA: Lex, it's been two weeks, and you're telling me you haven't found a fucking thi-

LEX: Hey, don't blame me, alright? What am I supposed to do, huh? It's not my fault there's not a particularly high demand for kidnappers at the moment. I mean, it's not a particularly popular nor legal business now, is it?

NICOLETA: What the hell am I even paying you for?

LEX: Oh, get out with that, man! You haven't paid me in two months!

NICOLETA: ...Oh. Well, um... about that, it'll still be a little while.

{Nicoleta grins at Lex, who loudly sighs and goes back to his computer}

LEX: This isn't fai-

{Lex is interrupted by a beep on his tablet computer.}

LEX: Ooh, what's this?

{Lex types code into the computer. The BlueNet GUI appears onscreen with an update on a new bounty.}

LEX: Nice.

{Lex taps Nicoleta on the shoulder.}

LEX: Oi. Found something.

NICOLETA: Do tell.

LEX: This one doesn't seem too hard. Any boso can do this one.

NICOLETA: Who is it?

LEX: Real name's unknown, but he seems to be going by the name of... huh. Alright.

{Pause}

LEX: His name seems to be "Noxigar". Wonder what that means. But anyway, the dude's apparently got a few things wrong with him. According to this, he's wanted by several agencies all around the country for a wide variety of offenses. Murder, Crimes Against Humanity, playing God, the standard mad scientist thing, it seems. The guy seems to love poisons. How fun. Chemicals and toxins. It says that he's so adept at using them that he's managed to create a unique compound that's practically untraceable. More finesse than a Chinese spy, it seems.

NICOLETA: Untraceable, huh? If that's the case, how the hell do we even know this much.?

LEX: Calling cards. He left symbols like... these. Not only that, but he also leaves little notes at the scene, detailing his methods, and... well, it's pretty darn strange if you ask me.

{Lex pulls up the Org XIII symbol on the tablet, from KHII.}

NICOLETA: Huh. Neat symbol. Never seen anything like it.

LEX: I hadn't either. Apparently, it's from one of those old games from the beginning of the century. Super old graphics and all that shit.

NICOLETA: I'm not a gamer.

LEX: I can tell. You should look into it, might loosen you up a bit.

NICOLETA: Who's got time for that stuff when our life is already so exciting?

LEX: What? You mean, waiting around, waiting for leads and lazing around? Whoo, so exciting.

NICOLETA: Oh, shut up. Anyways, any way we can find this punk?

LEX: Well, from what I can see, he seems to have some sort of a pattern to his killings. His victims... a high proportion of them happened to be morally corrupt, like government officials and such. You know, bad people.

NICOLETA: So what? He's a vigilante? What makes him so different to us in that regard?

LEX: That's the thing. They're only about half of his killings. The other half? They just seem to be random people. Hell, innocents.

NICOLETA: Is anyone really innocent in this scumhole?

LEX: These people were. Charity workers, nuns... veterans? People known to be morally upright in society at least.

NICOLETA: So this guy kills both incredibly bad people... and incredibly good people? Excuse me for questioning, but how the hell does that work?

LEX: Hey, I'm a computer scientist, not a mental analyst, alright? Anyway, judging from the pattern, his next victim happens to be another innocent. He's probably gonna go kick a puppy or something.

NICOLETA: Not cool. I could tolerate someone who exclusively deals with the morally corrupt, but genuinely good people in society? Let's get this son of a bitch.

LEX: Right behind you, boss.