13710/When a hard place meet a corner.

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When a hard place meet a corner.
Date of Scene: 07 August 2021
Location: An alleyway in New Troy
Synopsis: Sarah meets Hellequin over a dead terminator. Apparently she's just as paranoid as him.
Cast of Characters: Sarah Connor, Hellequin




Sarah Connor has posed:
Sadly, she was trapped.

Sarah had run into the alleyway, thinking she would catch the sidestreet behind it. Not so. Someone had barricaded it off, and, unfortunately, the terminator had her back to the wall, so to speak.

"Damn." Just a simple curse. Not yelled, or anything else. Just calmly the single word. She had to fight back out of the alleyway, rather than trap 'her'. Not easily done, but not impossible. Just, this way she would be more visible to the main street.

The guns on her person were powerful. More than usual. Hopefully they will work.

Hellequin has posed:
So, this 21st century is indeed quite different. Of course, over the centuries, the Hellequin has witnessed a lot of changes, cultural mostly, and also the decline of worship. But since he arrived in New York, what he noticed more acutely is the increasing grey zone between good and evil. It seems the rules have changed dramatically in recent centuries.

While thinking about this all, and also about his own mission in afterlife, Henri de Fontainebleau is walking down a seedy alleyway, seeking more insight into the notions of good and evil. Alleyways are often a good place to witness these notions in action!

And coincidentally, it does happen right here and now, as he walks down the alley and notices a woman looking a bit distressed, and another man facing her, rather menacingly. From the distance - about 50 feet away - Henri can't be sure enough to asses the situation, but it doesn't look like a village fair. Still walking in this direction, he doesn't haste his pace and rather slows down, as for now he's human and could just get in trouble without any mean to protect or defend anyone efficiently.

Sarah Connor has posed:
The terminator doesn't speak. She just strides along to her objective: Sarah.

Sarah is almost at the end. A brick wall, which is taller than her, stretches across the entire end of the alleyway. The terminator gives a steely smile.

That does it. Sarah opens fire. First with one gun, and then the other.

Hellequin has posed:
The scene unfolded rather quickly before Henri's eyes. Unafraid of stray bullets - not that Sarah would miss her target, but he doesn't know that - Henri stops in his tracks, eyebrow raised in surprise. Women using guns, this invention of the Devil. And they are not target shooting, they really seem to want to kill each other.

Despite his reassessment of good and evil, one thing remains clear: killing is, and has always been, wrong. Wars excluded, of course. So to Henri, this is murder happening, and whoever kills the other, will have to be punished. For now, he's just watching who's going to win the punishment.

Sarah Connor has posed:
Finally, the head of the terminator swings back and with a jerk of her limbs, fell backwards.

CRASH!

Two and a half minutes remain. Sarah worked fast, but not fast enough it would seem. Hellequin saw it, and was bearing down on her. She wasn't able to get beside her terminator when he tried to stop her.

"Fuck." Was all Sarah said under her breath.

Hellequin has posed:
Now that the shooting is over and one opponent is down, Henri hastes his pace to check on the victim, who fell to the ground. Frowning, he looks first at the Terminator, noticing that something doesn't look quite right: no blood? How could it be?

Unaware of the existence of things that look human without being human - like Terminators - Henri then looks at Sarah, frowning. This woman just killed another being! But before passing judgement - which really is included in his job description - the Hellequin tries, for once, to asks questions before judging.

"You have just committed murder, madame," he says, matter of factly, his deep low voice carrying his French accent. "But I am willing to consider self-defence, if you can demonstrate that it was such a case."

Sarah Connor has posed:
"Murder?" Sarah laughs very lowly. "I'm sure it looks that way."

Two minutes 22 seconds.

"If you don't mind, that *thing* has very little time before it gets up and tries again. So, if you don't mind?" She really would like to get its CPU out, and barring that, she'd like to get away. Either/or. Then again, this.. man.. had put himself in danger. Really stupid danger, but he didn't understand what he had done. For all he knew *she* was the bad guy.

Hellequin has posed:
And indeed, she doesn't know much and Henri really is and looks human presently, by daytime. That he doesn't fear death is something Sarah cannot know. The only annoying thing with death, when it comes to Henri, is that it basically ends his day shift, so rather than try to stop Sarah - who showed how she can handle guns - Henri steps back, and observes what she's doing.

"A thing?" he repeats, trying to have a better look at the victim. "I admit that humans, hit by a bullet, should bleed. Are you saying that this is some sort of animated mannequin?" He grins at that, "Trying to kill you?"

Sarah Connor has posed:
Two minutes. And a few seconds.. give or take.

"A mannequin?" Sarah quirks a brow. "If you say so. Do you mind?" She gestures towards the body. "Listen, either let me finish what I got to do, or let me go before it wakes up."

Funny, she seems so calm.

One minute and 55 seconds.

Hellequin has posed:
Henri is not obstructive at all, and stepped back, curious to see what Sarah is so intend on doing to the victim. At this point, the word victim might not be applicable since it seems the body on the ground isn't human.

"By all means, madame, do what you... hrm, want or need to do." Whatever that is. "And, must I point out, mannequins do /not/ wake up."

Having stepped back, Henri looks curiously at what will be done next. Grab the mannequin to bring it somewhere? Try to destroy it? What is this all about.

Sarah Connor has posed:
"She's not a mannequin, I'm afraid."

One minute and 20 seconds.

"I've got to dig out the CPU.." Sarah kneels at the head and tries to figure where it is. She got the right area, but occasionally it moves here or there. Still in the basic area. She quickly pulls out her jackknife and roots around for it. Up and to the back of the ear.

This one was being particularly difficult.

Hellequin has posed:
The good thing is, it's definitely not a human, otherwise this would be such a butchery! Nonetheless, Henri can't refrain from wincing as he watches Sarah searching for the CPU. The woman obviously did this many times before. Which brings more questions.

"I do not know what is a CPU," he honestly states, "But if it makes this thing walk and attack you, then this CPU most be evil. Are there many of them, and who created it?"

Sarah Connor has posed:
"A CPU. Central Processing Unit. It is the brain of this highly dangerous computer. It's hard to kill. Can make repairs to itself. Sounds like anyone you've seen.. Looks like a person in all ways but one.. Ah got it!"

As the time was ticking down, Sarah had been concerned. She didn't have many more guns on her person. And the real guns sat in her truck.

A block away. Which means, again, she was going to throw it in the dumpster and hope it will be waiting when she came back.

Hellequin has posed:
"Oh," Henri comments, "I know what are computers," he says, smiling. Yes, well, he didn't say he knows how to use them.

Stepping forward, he looks down at the thing in Sarah's hand, the so-called CPU. "So small," he says, "And yet, so dangerous. Incroyable."

With the tip of his boot, Henri kicks the leg of the Terminator, as one would do to make sure someone is down for the count. "It really looks human, indeed. How can you tell it wasn't, from a distance?"

Sarah Connor has posed:
If he kicks it, it begins to give like a human. If he really kicks it, he will begin to notice the subtle differences. The underframe is light, yes, but very strong.

Sarah wrapped the CPU in a rag, and put it in her pocket.

"There are subtle clues. Usually." Those were the pleasant ones, not really ones who had been sent for annihilating Sarah, and ultimately John. "And then there are just bastards coming after me. You?" She shakes her hand. "It wouldn't be any problem for you. They'd be just someone walking along on the sidewalk."

In other words, the machines were after her (and her son, but she hasn't mentioned him).

Hellequin has posed:
Actually, Henri kicked just hard enough to notice a slight difference indeed. An expert hunter - with humans among his preys - he's used to the reaction of a corpse to a kick, and here there was a slight difference indeed.

Listening to Sarah's explanation, it leaves something unsaid that requires clarification. "You say they would not attack me, but it attacked you. You see, I am a hunter, and this makes no sense that a predator would only attack one prey. Do they have a reason to attack you?"

Sarah Connor has posed:
"Hunters. Predators. It's all the same." Sarah dragged the terminator towards the garbage bin. "As far as I know, they are in their own way hunters. And I am their prey."

"Would you mind?" Helping her, she means.

Hellequin has posed:
"But of course," Henri replies, grabbing the Terminator and hauling it right over his shoulders. Yes, he's strong, stronger than his city clothes would reveal. The body is carried like a dead deer would be and it's done with a swift movement that denotes years of practice. Srah is excellent with guns, Henri is good at carrying the preys.

It seemed that the nearest dumpster was the destination for the body, so Henri heads this way. "I am quite curious. Do you think I could come back later to retrieve the body?"

Sarah Connor has posed:
"No." Sarah doesn't explain. As far as she's concerned the less he knows the better. And he's just a tad too nosy to begin with.

Besides, she was planning on retrieving and burning the corpse long before he could. That's her plan.

Hellequin has posed:
With a nod, Henri throws the body into the dumpster, then gently dusts off his nice suit.

"Very well," Henri replies, stepping back from the dumpster and looking at Sarah. "I guess we can say it is your kill, so all yours." Such are the laws of the hunt.

Sarah Connor has posed:
"Trust me, it's better if you forget about me." Sarah threw some garbage onto the body of the terminator, and dust her hands off. "And before we get all chummy and exchange our numbers and sign up on each other's Facebook.. don't."

Hellequin has posed:
Henri gets a semi-shocked look on his face. "I do not get /chummy/ with strangers," he corrects. Heck, he doesn't get chummy with anyone. That's a very long, and lonely, afterlife for him.

"And I do not know what Facebook is."

On that, he nods at Sarah as a mean of parting salutation.

Sarah Connor has posed:
She really meant he was better off not knowing her. Seriously. But a little wee place in the deep of her mind remembers how it used to be when she had friends. And the hardest thing she had to do was pick between was shoes to wear on Friday night going dancing.

Or so many other types of decisions that she now look back upon and should her head it how frivolous it was.

But she is determined to keep John safe. This is her life.

But she was lonely.