Honor amongst thieves

Layton looked up at the spaceship and cursed under his breath. The girl clearly didn't intend to stay for long. But he had a trick up his sleeve. She thought she could take the cubes and leave him in this mess? Well too bad! Because Layton would make sure she would either leave empty handed or not leave at all.

He quickly dashed sideways, fired and swung his zipline gun like a whip. Just before Nuli could grab the cubes, struck them away from her grasp. He almost missed, if he did, it wouldn't have ended well. "Eat that, space bitch!" he thought to himself. He then proceeded to fire 3 shots at her. One at her stomach, neck and groin area. But he didn't expect them to hit.

Jane didn't listen to the screams of the other people. Somewhere above her, she heard yet another explosion, this time to far away to throw her off her feet. She was just a few feet away from the cubes when the alien girl leapt in the direction of the cubes as well. The girl took one big breath and jumped in the direction cubes grabbing for them. "Hell no those are mine," she called out at the girl. Ignoring the warning the girl gave out before.

Vir stood there in anger, her vision blocked by the smoke. Everything smeared up into a mono-colored pile of heat in front of her eyes. She sighs as she puts her hand upon her eyes as she turned off the heat vision. She then ventured into the darkness of the smokey cold room. She held her gun in her hands as she listened to the sounds of others speaking. Using the sounds she heard she took rough estimated aim at the trio, shooting remainder of her clip by holding down her trigger as she let all hell loose. She screamed bloody murder as she did so. She hoped to atleast one of the blind shots to hit their target. As the clip got empty she quickly let the empty clip fall to the ground and make an echoing clink. She then loaded her 2nd clip taken for this task as she loaded it into her gun, ready to shoot at the smokey obscurity that hid within itself three scrawny thiefs.

Bullets flew like it was going out of style the moment both Layton and Vir began firing at everyone. Nuli managed to not get hit, luckily however something did get hit. One cube she managed to get a hold of ended up with a couple of bullet holes in it. It sparked and it glowed, not liking being shot. "Oh," Nuli said and took a deep breath. She looked at the cube, then she managed to face Vir. "Catch." The girl said casually, tossing the damaged artefact to the person.

It's going to explode, much greater than any other grenade, especially since it's broken. This mission is a bust so Nuli decided to just leave the three and attempt to make her way away from them. Intending to return to the ship and find some other artefacts. But how can she make her way so high up in just a few tiny minutes?

"Seriously!? Again with the shooting!?" Layton thought to himself as bullets flew past him. This woman was either completely insane or trying very hard to appear that way. The situation was getting even more chaotic than before, if that was even possible.

His eyes widened when one of Vir's shots connected with one cube. Then suddenly the other girl threw it in her direction. "OH SHIT!!!" he exclaimed. Unlike a grenade, this one single cube could probably level the whole room.

It was time for Layton to leave. He had seen everything.

Nuli's ship was in perfect position for his zipline gun. But he had to be quick, or else he would be fried to a crisp. As he got ready to leave, Layton noticed that Nuli must have been thinking the same. Judging by the way she was eyeing the hole in the ceiling. Then he got an idea. Seeing as how she was the only sane one here like Layton himself, he decided to do something he might -in fact- regret.

He quickly sprinted towards Nuli and grabbed her by the arm. He then shot his ziplinegun at the ship above them, elevating both of them to higher ground. They were eventually hanging right below the ship.

Expecting the cube to explode violently, Layton looked down at Nuli, who he had been holding by her arm. "Don't get the wrong idea, just consider this a professional courtesy." he clarified with a struggling voice.

In the chaos of all the shooting Jane grabs the other two artefacts, pushing them against her body. As she noticed the third one was missing she turned around, anxiously looking for the third. Looking up, she noticed the two others trying to leave. Without thinking about the consequences she pushed the two artifacts under her arm pushing them against her bosy as she grabbed her battery with one hand and pointed the other in the direction of the two people going up towards the ship hovering over them. "No, Stop," she called as she shot yet another electric bolt in their direction.

Vir stood there as she waited to see any change. As she stood there she saw sparks and glowth becoming visible within the thick smoke. She saw the glowing ball flying towards her. As this occurred Vir quickly begun to run back to the cockpit. While she could stay in the cockpit and wait and see what the sparkling object that somehow was able to shine through the thick smoke does she had a gutfeeling telling her of danger. If this mysterious glowing ball could pierce the smoke with its light then it must be really bad. She decided to take steps out from the cockpit as she walked back out through the escape pod chasm that she had opened previously. Once she would be outside she held her gun ready in case she saw any of the guards still standing outside or if she found the other thieves escaping through some other exit.

For the very first time in his life, Layton felt waves of electricity flowing through his body. It wasn't a pleasant feeling, at all. He lost all control of his body and let go of both the girl and the zipline gun. She was lucky enough to fall on top of the ship bellow them, while Layton was not so lucky. He crashed on his side on the same ship as Nuli, and then rolled off and fell onto the ground bellow. Probably breaking a few ribs in the process.

He slowly looked up, his body shaking. The last things he saw were dozens of officers marching in to arrest them. Then, his consciousness failed him.

For a moment the girl felt euphoria as the two people tumbled down back to the ground. As soon as they hit the ground she rushed in their direction to get the last artefact. But, before she reached them more people rushed into the room shooting something into the room. She felt her muscles stiffen in the air that was even colder than before. No, no it couldn't be, she was so close, so close. "No," she tried to bring out but, the words froze on her lips.

She tried getting closer to the others but, her muscles refused to work. Her vision started to blur as she desperately tried to look for the third artefact clamping the other two as tight against her body as she could.

Vir stepped out and she had made a mistake. The guards had arrived and surrounded the side entrance aswell. ''Freeze!'' Shouted the guard that aimed their freezing ray gun at Vir. Before Vir could shoot the ice cop's ray hit her and made her body get covered by a layer of ice that locked her in place. Vir, much like others, was at the mercy of the cops. Her finger was on the trigger. If only she had been a bit faster she may have made the eventual punishment by the cops worse.

Well, everyone was arrested one by one, perhaps they spent too much time fighting each other and blowing up stuff.

Time Skip to 3 days.

Everyone was arrested as much information as possible was gathered about them. It seemed that the Commerce Partnership was unhappy with the destruction to their ship, and thousands of dollars of grants having to be paid to the security guards who died. Plus one of the damaged artefacts were completely worthless and they wouldn't be able to sell any of them since the police are using them as evidence anyways.
"So, what exactly do we got?" The Manager of Commerce Partnership Transportation asked.
"Four suspects, multiple counts of murder, attempted armed robbery, destruction of property, use of illegal or unlicensed weaponry. Reckless parking of a ship and a few other crimes. We got Vir Permyakid, a 31-year-old human she worked in the slums hunting down Cracklord Karatt’s gang, there's Layton Mccall 26 another human and petty thief. There's some 20-year-old Allurian named Jane, not record of serious criminal activity though we're still going through some files. Finally, the alien called Nuli, we don't have any records of her or the species on file."

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The suspects, they were in a rather large class cell together. There were 2 beds and four food trays right by the wall. The room itself was rather large, quite a bit of space. They were in a planet's police station, where their case was being processed. They shared a lawyer who was out of the cell, reading a book while they waited. Waited for what? Well, confirmation that the Commerce Partnership would be pressing charges.

Nuli was in bed though, she hasn't woken up for quite a few days. But still very alive.

Layton was in bed next to Nuli. He was still as a statue, only occasionally changing pose. He turned to lay on his back, staring at the ceiling with distant eyes. He found it funny how he wasn't at all concerned about spending his life in a federal prison. Yet, he was scared of something... Was it the simple fact that he was caught? Or maybe that there was a big possibility he would never get a chance to explore any further talents that he might have had.

He turned his attention to Nuli who was still unconscious. He wondered who was in a worse state, him or her? With a painful grunt, he sat up in the bed, still clutching his chest with his right hand.

"What a fine mess..." he thought to himself.

''Not fine enough of a mess because you are still breathing, scum.'' Vir guttered as she sat at the opposite bed's side. She was truly not pleased with how the situation had turned out. If it wasn't for these... these... craven things Vir could have easily gotten in and gotten out without much trouble. Vir was audibly breathing as her anger was growing within her as she sat there. Even if her body is unharmed - albeit still a bit stiff from the freezing - her state of mind definitely is not. ''...How long do you think those chickens are going to keep us here? Keeping you alive will not make the station any purer, and keeping me locked does not let me cleanse this station of rest of your kind.'' She said as her eyes glared over the trio. She held one of her hands upon the pillow of her bed. She clawed into her pillow with her strong grip.

Jane was seated in the corner of the room, her arms wrapped around her knees as she observed the others in the room. Her face was still glowing from the explosions and she was covered in bruises and scratches. But, other than that and the worst muscle pain she had ever had in her life, she was pretty much fine. The cell was much more spacious than her house. That is if you could call the rundown room they shared with way too many people a home. It was relatively clean and there was food. All in all the most luxe she had in a very long time even though there weren't beds for everyone.

She wasn't all too happy about the people she shared the room with though. "Not long I hope," she replied looking up at the woman on the bed.

"Yeah, it's not looking very bright for you four, Ms Jane might get off a bit easier." The lawyer commented, flipping through some pages of his book, "Assuming the Partnership would press charges which is a pretty much a guarantee." The lawyer wasn't human at all. He was a rather small alien about the size of a 10-year-old, but with very big bug eyes and long fingers.

Of course, confirmation via hologram. The Manager of Commerce Partnership Transportation appeared via a lifesize hologram, just in the middle of the cell. He's a very long and tall alien, wearing expensive everything from the robe to the shoes, the glasses even his hair was somehow expensive. "I would like to speak to your clients, personally."

The lawyer didn't care about the legality, just leaving the live hologram in the cell, and walking off to the nearest cafeteria.

Layton ignored his cell mates as he stared blankly. Understanding the situation he was in was key. By now, the partnership and the cops knew who they were. And what were they going to do? Sue them for damages? Something wasn't adding up. He was pretty sure that even with their combined funds -which were unknown to him- they could not pay the damages. And putting them away in prison would not do it justice...

So he thought to himself; What would a multi-billion credit corporation do with 4 diverse thieves? Layton looked up at the hologram, the individual was clearly wealthy and carried themselves as such. He had a feeling he wouldn't like the situation that would ensue.

Vir's eyes glued upon the hologram as she hissed at it. ''Well hello Mr. fancy pants. What do I owe this pleasure for?'' She said. She wasn't assumed by their current situation. Deep within Vir's anger was a fear: Is it finally over? Is her self-imposed vigilance finally put to an end? NO, she must continue her quest. She must continue her fight against the criminials of the station. She must not be sent to prison to rot. She is doing this station a favour!

Jane glanced up at the hologram of the rich important man. She didn't really say anything just stared at him. There wasn't really anything to say. The man wouldn't care nor understand. He probably never had to worry about his family. Never had to choose between stealing or going hungry. She had made the mistake of yelling at someone like that before and that didn't go well. So for now she just stared angrily at the hologram, waiting for him to say anything.

It's not so easy being rich, all the expensive stuff was heavy. He looked around, very proud and confident, mostly due to not physically being there. "Legally, there are some limited options to take. Pressing charges are an option but it close money to hire lawyers and we still make a loss. So, the next option is that you four work for us. Earn money for us, around 40 million credits by doing some of the more dirty work, and you're free to do a crime again. Just not against us.."

40 million credits, that can make someone live comfortably for several decades. That's the earnings of some of the most famous millionaires. That's the worth of entire asteroid factories. But still a tiny fraction of what the Commerce Partnership owns. Hardly their worth at all.