THE MAGNIFICENT TALE OF THE BALDS
CHAPTER 14: THE BOWMAN
Bald Leon and Slider ran from the centre of London into a more urbanised area. Neither of them could have possibly predicted the level of defence that Julian would possess, he didn't even know who they were yet and he had nearly taken them out with ease.
"What are we going to do Bald Leon?" asked a slightly scared Slider. He had not been prepared for what they had just gone through in the London underground and had spent a large portion of their escape/battle unconscious.
"We will have to continue as we planned and take the battle to him. If we can remain undetected and get to his building, it's as simple as getting in the lift and riding that to his office and fighting him" Bald Leon explained
"Well, how are we going to get to the other side of London undetected? It looks like his security firm is monitoring the whole city and I bet they've got more of those drones waiting to shoot us down, plus local feds, plus he probably has his own militia of security goons plus I bet he's got Optimus Prime somewhere waiting to attack us. So tell me how we are just going to sneak up undetected?" Asked an irritated Slider.
Bald Leon didn't respond verbally and simply nodded his head indicating something behind Slider. Slider turned around to see the empty alley.
"What am I looking at?" asked Slider.
"Exactly, hiding in plain sight, no one would think to look down there." Bald Leon explained
"Down... where?" Asked Slider.
He looked to the floor of the alleyway and saw what Bald Leon was referring to. A standard sewer grate.
"Oh, you are kidding." Said Slider
"Nope" Replied Bald Leon
He stomped on the sewer grate, causing it to spin like a coin on top of a glass bottle, before putting his foot on the top of it, stopping it in place and leaving it open. Slider was apprehensively approaching the manhole, making Bald Leon impatient. Bald Leon rolled his eyes and put his hand on Slider's back, shoving him into the hole, making him scream before hearing him splash into the sewage water. Bald Leon was much more cautious with himself, using the provided ladder on the side of the manhole to lower himself to the platform alongside the sewage canal, before tapping the sewer lid to cover their tracks, closing it behind them.
Slider pulled himself out of the dirty "water", covered in unspeakable liquids... and solids. He shook himself off and wiped himself down, trying to get the worst off.
"I hate you," He said to Bald Leon
"No time for that Slider, come on, This way!" He said, taking off into the sewer system.
Meanwhile, the Alatosh industries investigation department had been working very hard to find any information they could find on the two hoodlums who had trashed their drones. They had had a breakthrough, and a representative of the department had gone to Julian's office to present the information to him. He knocked on the door and was called in. When he entered, the representative found Julian was standing in his office, practising his bow and arrow skills, by firing on a target on the opposite side of the room. three arrows had been fired so far, and every arrow had hit the bullseye.
"what have you got for me?" asked Julian
"Well sir, there's good and bad news. we've identified one of them as "Slider Johnson". He's been in and out of children's prison since he was 14, no stints in an adult penitentiary yet. This other guy though, he's like a ghost. We may have a clue as to who he is, but for the most part, it's tabloid journalism. A story about an alleged "Iceman" been frozen since the stone age, but most people think that the guy is lying and doing it for attention. But we think that this could be that guy. If he is lying about being from the stone age, he's done a lot to cover his tracks, no birth certificate, no dental records, no bank cards, nothing. He's a ghost."
"interesting... What name does he go by?" asked Julian
"interesting... What name does he go by?" asked Julian
"Bald Leon sir."
"And what about the tabloid Journalist?"
"Look's like the article was written by a... Gareth Temple, for some local newspaper"
"Bring him in, I think he could be our lead" Instructed Julian, before calmly breathing out and letting go of the arrow, firing it into the already overcrowded bullseye, hitting it once again, and splintering the other arrows already on the target.
Meanwhile, under the city, Bald Leon and Slider were getting closer and closer to their destination. after several wrong turns, they were finally in the right area. They found a ladder and clambered up it to the city surface. They found themselves a few blocks down from Alatosh industries HQ.
"What now Bald Leon?" Asked Slider
Bald Leon looked at Slider with a cunning smile on his face. "We go in the front door!"
The pair walked to the entrance of the building, stopping at a cart outside selling assorted accessories. They both took a pair of sunglasses without being caught and pushed the glass doors of the building open, approaching the desk with a stride to appear as if they meant to be there.
The receptionist looked them up and down, not entirely convinced by their disguise.
"Hello gentleman how can i help you?" She asked
"Hello, I'm Bald Leon and this is Slider Johnson, we are the ones who blew up those drones earlier and we're here to kill your boss Juli- Oh fuck I was supposed to lie" Said Bald Leon
The receptionist hit a panic button, which released several unmanned security robots into the lobby. they were similar tech to the flying drones that the pair had encountered earlier, however, they had legs and a rubber bullet machine gun, they were slower, but much more resilient. The receptionist disappeared into a panic room under her desk as the securitybots began to fire upon Bald Leon and Slider.
"You fucking idiot why would you say that?!" Shouted Slider at Bald Leon as they charged through the lobby towards the lift.
"I don't know I got anxious!" Bald Leon shouted back.
They smacked the button to call the lift, but the light had gone out on it because it had been disabled, the pair were left with no choice but to use the stairs. They looked back and saw the security robots jogging towards them, still firing. The staircase door took many of the rubber bullets as the pair slammed it behind them and charged upstairs.
Meanwhile upstairs, Gareth was being tortured by some of Julian's men.
"Mr Temple, I'm only asking you a simple question. What do you know about the Bald Iceman? We came to you and offered you money for your co-operation, and you claim that you know nothing, despite clearly having written a full article on the subject, so tell me, what are you hiding?"
Gareth was shirtless and his chest was coated in a mixture of sweat and blood.
"I already told you, I didn't write that fucking article. It was Jack Smith, my old colleague!"
"Then why is your name on it? I know you're wasting my time by blaming someone else, so just cut the bullshit and tell me what you know"
Just before they can continue to torture Gareth, the door is kicked open by Bald Leon, who is followed closely by Slider.
"There you are fucker" Said Bald Leon, before drawing his sword and rushing Julian.
Unable to counter with any weapon of his own, Julian is forced to dodge all of the attacks, being forced back by Bald Leon. Julian is able to block some of the strikes with his clothing, as he was wearing a custom suit with a fabric that was both bulletproof and blade resistant. Julian turned around and dived over a sofa that was in the office, grabbing a small coffee table that was in front of him and swinging it at Bald Leon. The table smashed instantly, staggering Bald Leon and leaving Julian with the metal frame. He quickly snapped parts off and bent them into shape so that he possessed a long metal rod, capable of parrying Bald Leon's sword strikes. The two of them rushed each other, Bald Leon attempting to land blows under Julian's suit, and Julian attempting to disarm Bald Leon.
While those two were fighting, Slider had been running around the office trying to find something he could use on the rapidly approaching security bots. He had been mostly unlucky, so he decided to dive for cover behind the operating table that Gareth had been strapped down to for his torture. The robots burst into the room and began to fire in Slider's general direction. The rubber bullets almost all hit Gareth, blackening his skin with the mass bruising, and blinding him in one eye.
"Sorry mate," said Slider.
Bald Leon and Julian had been unbothered by the incoming robot's, continuing to fight among themselves. Bald Leon attempted several rapid strikes on Julian, every single one of them being parried by the highly trained swordsman, but unfortunately for Julian, a kick to the chest is a lot harder to block. Bald Leon kicked Julian through the glass wall of the office into Julian's main office, however, this would prove to be a mistake for Bald Leon, as it gave Julian access to his own weapons. He picked up his weapon of choice, the bow, and began to fire multiple arrows at Bald Leon, who was forced into cover.
"What do you want with me you bald freak?" Questioned Julian
"I have to kill you to be worthy of my sword, the man who gave it to me was crippled by your father" replied Bald Leon
"My father never crippled anyone during his fighting career!" Shouted Back Julian.
"Well the shop guy who gave it to me said you did" Shouted back Bald Leon, still avoiding arrows and rubber bullets.
"That old moron? He lost his mind years ago! He lost the use of his legs when he slipped on a bag of marbles and shattered his legs!"
"Oh"
Slider crawled under the operating table, desperate for anything he could use. He picked up one of the torture implements, a blow torch, and crawled over to one of the robots, melting its optic servo's, rendering it blind, he then turned it around, forcing it to fire upon its fellow robots, destroying them, but before he could disable it, an electric shock travelled through it, sending Slider flying into the office with the other two.
"Oh hi Slider" said Bald Leon
"Hi Bald Leon, why isn't he dead," asked Slider
"Turn's out I don't need to kill him cause the guy who sold me the sword is mental, Me and Julian are friends now"
"I don't know about friends, but we've come to the mutual conclusion that this 'Violin Man' you told me about is a bigger threat than you ever will be" interjected Julian
"Speaking of threats, that robot is blind and has just switched to live ammo because the threat level has increased, and it's blind too, so it's gonna shoot at you as well Alatosh" Explained Slider
"Oh shit get down!" Shouted Julian
The trio dived under a sofa, which was quickly being ripped apart by the bullet storm being fired upon them.
"What do we do now Bald Leon?" asked Slider
"Don't worry, I've got this" Said Julian
Julian pulled out his phone and pressed a button on an app. within a moment another side door in the office was kicked open, and a man wearing a tracksuit entered. He expertly dodged every single bullet and pirouetted out of the line of fire. He then unholstered his weapon and attacked the robot. There was a loud whipping sound and then silence. The robot had been destroyed.
"What the hell was that!" Shouted Slider
"Yeah actually, who was that?" asked Bald Leon
"Gentleman, allow me to introduce you to my personal bodyguard and assistant," said Julian
the man turned to face the trio, stood amongst the debris of the destroyed offices.
"Meet my friend, Dog Lead Man"
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