Impromptu Hunt [Cortes]

[Hazel 'Hobbs' Yeung]

It was half past one in the morning when Hobbs’ computer broke through the encryption. It would have been wistful and incorrect to say that Hobbs was sleeping at the time; she was, as ever, wide awake. The young techie was sat on her bed – a piece of furniture almost never used for its intended purpose – and was cleaning out the hydraulic mechanisms of her leg, having disassembled, cleaned, performed maintenance checks upon and reassembled every firearm in her rather large arsenal.

Her tablet computer had been sat on her desk in the corner of her room, steadily chipping away at the passwords and strings of code for six continuous hours, and the second it was clear, the system beeped and the screen lit up. Bluish light illuminated the far corner of her room, throwing, for one brief second, her shelves and clutter into sharp relief and monster shadows across the walls.

Hobbs got up, used her furniture to prop herself up as she hobbled one-legged across the room and collapsed onto her desk chair. She disconnected the micro USB that had linked the two devices and proceeded to scan the contents of the smartphone’s files on her tablet screen. Frowning as she browsed, there was a whole goldmine of information here; names of a few individuals thought to be traitors and rogues who were being watched, safe houses, a supposed enforcer training base. This was fantastic, but some of it was supposition and assumption; too little information to justify organising an attack, and even so the Hunters didn’t have the manpower to go after the big game. They could, however, target the smaller nests; pick off more vulnerable groups one by one.

This was big. The sooner they got on this the safer the world would be. Hobbs set the tablet to sync with her phone to share the information, then got up, hopped across the room, quickly replaced the mineral oil in her hydraulic knee and stuck it on. She grabbed her jacket, phone, pulled on her Docs and holstered her newly cleaned Glock then left her room without locking it. She jogged down the hallway and up the stairs to Cortes’ room, before pounding hard on the door with her fist.

[David Cortes]

Truth be told, Cortes thought tonight would be a slow night. He hadn't planned on going on any hunts, and had completed what homework he had received at least an hour ago. The result? Him sitting in his small room, on his bed, in nothing but his skivvies, with a game controller in his hands, playing Skyrim. Was it a bit dorky? Yes. Were there better things he could be doing? Probably. However, sometimes, you just want to sit in your underwear and go kill dragons. And that was exactly what David was doing.

Right as he was about to land the final killing blow on this damned dragon when suddenly he heard loud banging on his door. He jumped, dropping the controller. "Joder" he muttered, reaching to grab the controller. By the time he reached it, the dragon had eaten him, and the game was over. "Joder! Hang on I'm coming dammit!" he called to the door. Who the fuck wanted to see him at this hour? Grabbing his sweatpants, he walked over to the door, still without a shirt, and opened the door. He was barefoot and shirtless, and on his left arm was was a black tattoo of the eagle, globe, and anchor.

"Hobbs, what the hell? Did a bomb go off or something? What happened?" He asked, rubbing his eye a bit. "It's my night off tonight..."

[Hazel 'Hobbs' Yeung]

Despite being in a hurry and having something important to say, the second Cortes opened the door her mind was occupied by something else. She knew he was in good shape – what Hunter wasn’t – but she hadn’t expected him to answer the door in... this, even if it was half one in the morning. It was an immense battle of self control.

Don’t look down don’t look down don’t look down...
Fuck it.
Hobbs glanced down, then back up to his face. Daym. Now that was out of the way...

“I cracked the smartphone,” she said, her voice bubbling with excitement as she pulled out her Samsung and stuck it under his nose for him to take. She edged past him into his room, pacing quickly and talking with her hands. “There’s all sort of stuff on it; nest locations, names of rogues, safe houses...” she trailed off, turned to face him and plopped herself down on the end of his bed. “We need to get out there and start taking these things out. Get dressed, we’re heading out right now.”

Hobbs glanced across to the video game screen, then back at Cortes. “Clearly you don’t have anything better to do,” she said, gesturing to Skyrim.

[David Cortes]

David chuckled a bit as he noticed Hobbs give him a quick once-over. He was about to comment with a quick do you like what you see, but she quickly changed the topic to the smartphone, which she proceeded to shove in his face. Taken aback a bit, he took a step back as he grabbed the phone (nearly dropping it, but he caught it regardless) as she barged her way into his room and and began to talk a mile a minute, using her hands. It reminded him almost of his aunt to be honest, and he would have appeared amused where it not for his mild fascination with the phone. So... It proved useful after all.

"Well that's great." David replied, looking at the phone a second, than at Hobbs sitting on his bed. Placing the phone on his dresser and chuckled. "No, I really didn't have anything better to do. Fine, let's go kill some vampires."

He pulled open a drawer and tossed on a black t-shirt. He then looked over at Hobbs, giving her a a bit of a curious look, yet still with a smirk on his face.

"Em, not that I'm gun shy or anything, but were you expecting a free show or are ya gonna let me change?" He chuckled, pointing to the door. "You want the show you gotta get me liquored up first." He grinned wildly, winking, then taking off his sweat pants and reaching into his closet for a pair of cargo pants, still in only his skivvies and a black t-shirt

[Hazel 'Hobbs' Yeung]

Hobbs grinned. Hunting time it was. Cortes almost seemed to greet the idea of a hunt with defeated resignation, and while Hobbs could understand the desire to sleep or relax or wind down, such past times were a rare luxury for her. Sleep especially so. So if Cortes figured he would hunt if he must, Hobbs jumped at the chance to put her restless mind to use if she could not put it to rest.

She crossed her legs on his bed, put her elbows on her knees and propped her chin on her hands, watching him expectantly as she waited for him to get dressed. Cortes on the other hand, didn’t seem to want to put on a show. Hobbs raised an eyebrow with a smile; she’d never taken him to be the bashful type.

He pulled open a drawer and tossed on a black t-shirt. He then looked over at Hobbs, giving her a a bit of a curious look, yet still with a smirk on his face.
"Go ahead," she said with a shrug. "I’m not stopping you." Indeed, when he began to change Hobbs didn’t move for the door. She sat there, head on her knuckles, quite content with just sitting there and allowing him to get ready, and not once perving on him as he did so.... Honest.

[David Cortes]

"Go ahead," Hobbs said with a shrug. "I’m not stopping you."

At that, David couldn't help but chuckle as he put on his cargo pants. Heh, and they say guys are the pervs. He thought to himself, then opened another drawer and grabbed a pair of socks, then grabbed a pair of converse high tops from the closet. Taking a seat on the bed next to her, he slipped on his socks and shoes, bending down to tie them. He then looked up at Hobbs, who appeared to almost have a childish look to her, sitting on his bed with her legs cross and her hands under her chin. He had to admit, she did look a bit impishly cute, with her contented look, thin frame, high cheekbones and small nose. He shook his head for a moment, taking his mind off the almond eyed amputee (something he rarely thought about anymore. The leg was just part of what she was but didn't define her in his mind.) as he started to tie his second shoe, he asked.

"All right, so what's the target? We going after a nest or an individual? How large a group? What's the layout of the target area? Oh, and most importantly..." He pointed at the wall as he sat back up from tying his shoes. On the wall were several weapons hanging on racks. "Which would be the most efficient way to deal death today chiquita?" He smirked, the term chiquita being a term of endearment, meaning adorable small one. The wall had several weapons on it, weapons he preferred to keep close instead of stored all the way in the armory. They were his own personal weapons, or those he had simply taken a liking to and decided to keep there near him. They were a m21 sniper rifle, an m4 carbine (his personal favorite, to be honest), a mossberg 590a1, and his colt m1911. His colt he would be taking regardless, but the others depended on the kind of mission. Maybe take all three?

[Hazel 'Hobbs' Yeung]

Uncrossing her legs, Hobbs clambered off the bed and grabbed the phone that he’d put on the dresser. She cast her eyes to the wall mounted weapons racks that he gestured up to. There were three that Hobbs didn’t instantly recognise the make and model of, but possibly could have done given better lighting and a second or two more to look at them. She shrugged. "Hell, bring all three. We can make it a party."

She paused for a second there, eyeing Cortes as he tied his shoes, "I’m gonna go grab my stuff and meet you down in the garage in the car, " she said, pocketing the smart phone and she backtracked to the door. And then she was out of there like a rabbit down a hole. She did a detour back to her own room, grabbing her usual walking arsenal of weaponry and took a moment to tie her shoelaces and wedge a knife down the back of her boot.

Fully loaded up with her usual gear, she made her way down to the garage. There were a lot of Hunter’s own cars down here, bikes, sporty little numbers with convertible roofs, but there were also surveillance vans fully loaded with equipment and painted up to look like window and conservatory fitters. The landline numbers and websites advertised were dead ends.

Hobbs swiped a set of keys for a big green Land Rover Defender that looked like it had been driven through a few fields. She climbed into the driver’s seat and Googled a route to one of the smallest and nearest nests. Starting off with small fry seemed like the most sensible option, it was late and the operation was haphazard at best. Besides, she could plan heavier hits once she knew what they were dealing with. She was propping up the smart phone-turned GPS in a visible position when Cortes joined her in the car.

And they were off.

Hobbs thumbed the remote for the compound garage door and quietly pulled away from the Hunter Headquarters and out into the city. The map on her phone gave her a winding red path to follow, and although it appeared to be a long journey, it seemed to take almost no time at all for them to reach their destination.
Hobbs pulled up to the mansion as quietly as she could, having cut the headlights a while ago. She parked in shadow, turned off the engine, and sat for a moment, watching for movement in the windows. Had they noticed the vehicle? It seemed not.
"I think we’re all clear. Let’s roll."