Quest of the Valkyries, part five

In the slums of Halifax is where we find Steve Awesome and D walking through an alleyway between old apartment buildings that were built for low income families. It’s dark out, even darker in the shadows. A few hookers and drug pushers step out of the dark to greet them, but few stay to converse once the picture of the Valkyries comes out for them to look at. D sighs as the pair walk.

D: Just ask people if they have seen the Valkyries. That will work.

Steve Awesome: You have something that will work better?

By the light of a burning barrel of garbage is where they see a flamboyantly dressed pimp backhanding one of his hookers before she gives him more money and leaves. Steve walks up to the man with a bright smile, D just rolls his eyes.

Steve Awesome: Excuse me, my good pimp. Have you seen these lovely ladies? You see…I have a type. It’s not skanky.

The pimp looks from Steve to D with a WTF look on his face.

Pimp: I have a fuckin’ name, you know. Call me Danno. You two don’t look like you belong in this neighborhood and nor do them girls you be showing me. Now, if you ain’t gonna spend money on my girls, you best get to steppin’ before someone busts a cap in yo asses.

Steve Awesome: What? Did you just speak English? I think I understood that your name is Danno.

D: We can’t play these games.

D grabs Danno by the arm and applies a hammerlock. He uses one hand to press the back of Danno’s head to press his face toward the fire.

Danno: Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Lemme go and I tell you anything you wanna know!

Steve Awesome: Come on, D. Let Danno go. He wants to cooperate.

Danno: You bet. Please?

D releases Danno, who promptly draws a gun as he spins around to press the barrel against D’s chest. He licks his lips in a “ha ha” sorta way.

Danno: You got the drop on me, bitch. I’ll give you that, but now you gonna die. You two are goons for that crazy German chick.

Steve Awesome: Goons is a strong word. I would go with allies or associates.

Danno: Shut it, beefcake. Once your friend is breathing through the holes in his chest, I’ll ventilate you.

D: You have one last chance to tell me where the Valkyries are, Danno.

Danno cocks his head to look at the perfectly calm looking D before throwing his head back to laugh. That’s when D grabs the gun, turns it away from him and out of Danno’s hand, and takes possession of it. He manipulates the gun with his hands quickly before tossing it into the fire. Danno’s eyes go wide.

Danno: Jesus! You’ll cook off the ammo, bitch! We gotta fly!

That’s when D slaps Danno with the clip out of the gun, gouging open the pimp’s cheek.

D: Where?

D slaps the man again, drawing blood again.

D: Are.

D slaps him again with the clip.

D: The.

Another slap.

D: Valkyries?

D grabs Danno by the back of the head and presses his cut face against the side of the burn barrel. The pimp screams in pain.

Steve Awesome: D!

Steve grabs the pimp from D, ripping his face from the burn barrel where skin had already stuck to the metal. He throws the man to the ground and glares at D before looking down at Danno.

Steve Awesome: Tell D before he kills you, man. Can’t you see that he’s insane?

Danno lays on the ground, bleeding profusely from the tears in his cheek from where the flesh was ripped away. His teeth are visible though the tears in his face.

Danno: I don’t know anything! Leo would know. He’s in charge of all the pimps on this side of town! He’s at the Lusty Stag. He rules from on high like a Lord amongst the roosters. You would think he was King of Lower Halifax!

Steve Awesome: See? He told us. Let’s hail a cab and get to the Lusty Stag.

D seems to consider attacking the pimp again, but eventually nods. Him and Steve begin walking toward the street when Danno gets back to his feet. He puts his hand to the side of his face to feel the blood flowing through his fingers and his teeth through the side of his face.

Danno: You think you fuckers can get away with this shit?

He takes a cell phone out of his pocket and hits a button on it.

Danno: Get these mother fuckers, Road Rage!

A car with its brights on pulls into the alleyway from the street, two guys lean out of the back windows with uzis in their hands.

Steve Awesome: Crap. What now?

D: We run.

Steve Awesome and D run back down the alleyway as the gunmen open fire, spraying the walls and ground behind our heroes. The car begins to move into the alleyway, stopping only to allow Danno to get into the passenger side.

Danno: I want them dead, man! Dead!

Steve and D turn down another alleyway, Steve stopping only to pull a dumpster to block the path of the car. It plows through the dumpster, knocking it up against the wall.

They quickly realize that they are coming close to going out into another street when D leaps through the air. He lands sideways against the side of a building where he comes to a full squat before leaping away from the building in a springboard action into a flip where both feet impact the speeding windshield.

D goes through the glass and smash into the the face of the driver with his feet. He comes to a crouch again, totally entering the car through the windshield and drives his palm into the side of Danno’s head to smash his face against the closed window that also smashes. The corner of the car smashes into a dumpster, coming to a halt suddenly as the dumpster catches the wall. D comes out through the windshield as a straight leap, flipping through the air again, and coming to a sliding stop next to Steve Awesome.

The gunmen you say? They were thrown from the car upon the sudden stop and are unconscious on the ground. Steve blinks as he looks down at the carnage before him with the car as D dusts broken glass off of his outfit.

Steve Awesome: I could have totally done that. I just didn’t want to step on your toes, man. Good work. Shall we go to the Lusty Stag?

D gives Steve a half-grin, knowing full well that the acrobatics just put on display could not have been reproduced by his partner that was forced upon him.

D: We can go to the Lusty Stag.

Steve gets out his cell phone and makes a call.

Steve Awesome: Hey, we have a lead. Leo at the Lusty Stag. You too? That’s great! We’ll meet you there.

Steve hangs up the phone and smiles at D.

Steve Awesome: Esmeralda and Minerva are going to meet us at the Lusty Stag.

D nods as he motions for a taxi to stop so they can get a ride to the nightclub.

Steve Awesome: That Leo won’t know what hit him!

D: That’s some truth.