This is probably very long winded, full of grammar and sentence errors, and not the most smoothest written text, but it should put the RPG into motion again.
English is still a learning experience for me
* * * * *
The Ranger, informant, sympathiser, whatever she was seemed to take Syphon on an entire tour through the smaller streets and alleys running behind the larger main street.
They seemed to have walked around entire blocks, counting the many times they have turned left or right and Syphon started to get the feeling they had gone through some part before from the sounds, smells, and state of the ground.
Most likely the woman wanted to be sure that Syphon would not be able to find his way back to the safehouse, should he decide to turn on the Rangers for some reason later.
'Not a bad tactic' Syphon thought, it is what he would have done himself had he been in their position, and it showed that the Rangers and their allies were well prepared for unforeseen situations across their path.
At some point Syphon was guided into a place that has a distinct smell you would find in a metal works.
Clearly the safe house they were going for was in Lone Star's industrial area.
People might work here but only the most financial strained would stay here for more than a couple of hours because of the vapors of various chemicals that were used for metal manufacturing.
At first Syphon thought that this was a mistake on the Rangers' side as it would give their safe house's position away, but then he started to consider that what he was being led too was probably just a location the Rangers had set aside for situations like these when they wanted to talk to people without giving away any more crucial information about themselves.
Syphon doubted that even the Rangers would be stupid enough to actually stay for a long time in a place that could give you lung cancer by just taking a deep breath.
Suddenly the hand guiding Syphon's pulled firmly on his shoulder and he was given the order to stand still.
Syphon and the woman were finally 'here' wherever that may be.
He heard a knock on a steel door, 'Definitely a warehouse' Syphon thought as he heard someone on the other side slid open an eye hole.”
“It's me” The woman told the unknown person on the other side of the door.
“As for this varmint, I picked him up near main street when I found him looking for anyone connected to the Rangers, only a few hours after he and some others got out of the casino.”
“What makes him so interesting” The voice, clearly belonging to a man asked her.
“Apparently he and the people he is with got into some financial problems with the house after their bluff at the tables was pulled. But rather than sending them on a dirt nap like anyone else that can not pay their debts and has nothing to offer to the Fist personal-wise, the load got recruited for some mission, and Bariston even send Munro along to keep an eye on them.”
“Oh?” Was the curious response.
The woman continued “Apparently the Fist wants this lot to find out where Bliss is coming from.”
“I see. Okay, bring him in. After you have been debriefed fully we will have a chat with our drug tracker.”
Syphon had wanted to jump into the conversation now but instead he got a push from behind, it was moving time again, and from the slight change in temperature he was experiencing it was clear he was entering the building they had stopped in front of minutes earlier.
Like before he was forced to move while being guided, a few times scraping a wall or bumping into objects that were piled up, but never so much as an apology for any of the discomforts he felt.
Then they reached the end point and he was told to sit down.
Syphon was never told if there was actually a chair behind him and it felt like a leap of feat before his ass felt the comfort of a chair seat, be it somewhat rickety.
He wanted to raise his arms and take of the blindfold but instead the woman (or the man) grabbed both his arms and tied him up firmly.
“Hey not cool man, remember I actually wanted to talk to you people in the first place about all this Bliss crap the Fist wants us to track down.” Syphon said as he pulled at the rope holding his arms down.
“Just a little precaution” The man which Syphon now decided to identify as a ranger said with with fake friendliness. “Just want to make sure you are not going to anything that might result in us doing something we all will regret. Now you just sit still like a good boy, we will be back for you soon.”
'Prick' Syphon thought as he heard the male Ranger walking away and closing a door behind him. “Perhaps I should not have looked for these people in the first place.”
As Syphon sat in isolation and darkness several thoughts started to go through his head, the biggest being his concern regarding the Black Fist merc.
Disappearing for an hour or so would not arouse suspicion so quickly, being gone for several, if not half a day would be much harder to explain.
Syphon was about to start thinking on how to escape this mess he was in if the Rangers took to much of their sweet time catching up amongst themselves before they would finally talk to him, when he heard the sound of the door opening again and several pairs of booted feet enter and move towards him.
The next voice Syphon heard was from a different man that the one he had met earlier at the front door of his place and who had put them here.
“Sorry about all these precautions stranger.” The clearly older man said to him “My younger colleagues may have been a little to cautious with how they treated you, but we have to be careful these days, us Rangers aren't as welcome in this city as we used to be.” There was honesty in the older man's voice.
“Yeah sure, you are forgiven. Now get this rope loose, will you?”
“Unfortunate I can't do that yet. My fellow Rangers here insist on keep you like this until we are sure you are on the level and not some Black Fist mark sent to us to set us up.”
“Jesus! I thought we were beyond the initial 'sniffing each other out' part by now.” Syphon responded somewhat angry, he was getting tired of this cloak and dagger crap.
“You have a big mouth you know” Said the man Syphon had decided to give the title of Prick Ranger. “That will get you into trouble one of these days.”
“Yeah yeah, it already got me decked by Bariston's dog once.” A chuckle from the Prick Ranger followed on hearing that quickly got muffled.
“Now can we get on with it? If I stay away to long from the others, our babysitter might decide to start looking around for me. Then we are really in trouble and all of this is for nothing.”
Some quick whispering followed before the older Ranger took lead of the conversation again.
“You have a point, and if what you want to tell us is true the last thing either of us wants is to be caught in each other's company.”
Syphon felt hands moving on his back as his arms were set free. The woman Ranger Syphon concluded as it felt quite different from earlier when the Prick Ranger tied him up.
“I do advice you to keep up that blind fold though.” The old Ranger said, “It maybe in the best interest for us both if me and my fellow Rangers remain anonymous to you.”
“Sure, whatever” This game had become old a while ago and he was definitely not interested in prolonging it any longer by doing something like pulling of the blind fold, having a good look at the Rangers, and then have the two younger trigger happy Ranger getting a fit.
“Shall we talk business now?”
“Go on, tell us what the Black Fist wants you to do and what you propose” Old Ranger asked.
Syphon continued with summarizing what had happened in the Black Fist casino, how he and his friends were originally intended to take that final journey into the desert when Fenn intervened, Bariston giving them the assignment and the details on it, and what little he knew about Bliss and why the Black Fist wants it.
When he was finally done with that he gave the three Rangers in front of him a few seconds to process all this information.
“Now the way I see it, you Rangers are pretty much against the Black Fist for what they have pulled in the past and what they are doing now.
Putting an end to this expedition would certainly mess up the Black Fist's plans for Bliss, delaying it for who knows how long. And all you would have to do is help me and my friends out.” Syphon suggested in a suggestive tone.
“I get what you are hinting at.” Prick Ranger responded, Syphon could already hear the mocking tone as he continued.
“Let me guess, you want to suggest we set up a little ambush outside Lone Star in advance, you, your pals, and your new friend-until-you-have-paid come along. We jump you all, take out big, armed, and mean attitude, putting an end to this effort by the Fist to get their hands on Bliss and setting you all free.”
“Basically bailing you and your friends out the deal you made with the Black Fist, let you go happily along, having screwed the Fist out of some caps for equipment, and then the Rangers saving your combined asses.”
Prick Ranger's voice turned very serious now “No dice.”
“It is one thing to protect people from being abused by the Black Fist such as black mail, being forced into indentured service, or being robbed through any kind of way of your own belongings. But getting people out of bad deals they made after they pissed the Fist off themselves is another.” The woman Ranger added.
“Truth of the matter is” Old Ranger decided now that he should take over from the others now “We are kind of curious ourselves where Bliss is coming from and who is making it, and your little expedition into the East would be a good starting point. Having our own agent within the ranks who was already there from the start would be quite useful.”
Suddenly this deal Syphon had in mind was taking a turn for the worst.
The goal had been to inform the New Texas Rangers of the Black Fist's latest efforts to track down the source of Bliss and shut it down before it got anywhere far, freeing him and the others of their unwanted employment.
Instead now the Rangers want to use him as well to find the origins of Bliss so they can shut production down at its heart.
“Now wait just a fucki...” Syphon wanted to complain before the Old Ranger shut him off.
“How about if you consider this your part of contributing to the cause of bringing law, order, and peace to the Texas Wastelands.” The Old Ranger said gently to Syphon, but there was a hint of hidden force in his words.
“And if I am not interested?”
“We would have to make you interested in carrying out this task for us.”
“You would sell me out?”
“Of course not. We are the Rangers, that star on our jacket wouldn't mean a thing if it didn't stand for something better than all this backstabbing, murdering, stealing, and manipulating that is so common in the Texas Wasteland. But if we have to make you to cooperate in order to save lives, we will do so if you force us.”
“So what is your interest then in finding out where Bliss comes from and put a stop to it permanently? Last I checked the New Texas Rangers are not an anti narcotics brigade.”
The response of the Old Ranger was filled with concern “We are not dictating what people can and can not put in their own body, all we do is give people an honest and fair chance to make a living for themselves, how they use that opportunity is their own choice. But Bliss, Bliss is something else than just an escape for the desperate, I am not even sure if you would call it a drug in the conventional sense.”
“Huh, what does it do then?” Syphon asked
“It makes you stop caring about all the shittiness in the world.” The woman Ranger answered, there was somewhat of a shudder of her voice when she told Syphon.
“But not by making you forget it, oh you remember all details that could make you curse heaven and earth, but it doesn't affect you anymore.”
“So far like most other drugs.”
“Oh definitely not, Bliss doesn't send you off way high. You can still function like you do now when you are on it, run a business, handle a gun, get into trouble with your big mouth in your case. But all that stuff that is suppose to get on your mind and haunt you, perhaps even throw of your aim or senses, it doesn't happen.”
“You mean, like all that crap you made me go through for the last fifteen minutes, it wouldn't get to me despite that it now pisses me off enough to want to put a boot up someone's ass?”
“Yeah, you would still know that it stinks but what should make you feel pissed doesn't get to you. All that anger, stress, rage, or shock, it never comes up.”
“The ultimate I-don't-feel-a-thing” Syphon whistled as the idea went through his mind and presented him with scenarios.
Syphon could see it; not loads of creepy smiley people that are drugged out of their gourd and completely into their own world, almost senseless to any stimuli from reality like most of the druggies found in anything resembling a town.
Instead Bliss takes the piss out of anything life can throw at you that could drive anyone to drinking.
You still know what makes you feel angry or unhappy but it doesn't have the bitter sting anymore instead of a drug that sends you up high while improving your personal drooling record.
He could imagine what a big market Bliss would have if it was available in greater supplies.
Plenty of sods who want fucking every day life to get off their back without it meaning getting more friendlier with a bottle or getting a dealer as a new best friend.
“But like every regular drug Bliss starts to loose its effectiveness after a while, giving back weight to all that nastiness you feel or remember.”
“And once you get rid of that load you don't want to pick it up again.” Syphon added as a conclusion. “Why have unwanted distractions on your mind when a pill or a syringe can make it all go away.”
“Even if people don't use it out of their choice, think what this would mean to LSC's richest employers and politicians. Plenty of anger amongst the common folk on how the upper class are distributing the wealth and the power, every day the elite is risking a shut down of the economy or a political uprising because how they have tightened their grip. Bliss may not make it all go away but it can certainly take out the fire of any opposition, it is a bit hard to get people passionate for a protest when they can't feel how wrong they are treated now.”
“The LSC would be foolish not to go into business with the Black Fist for a steady supply of Bliss. And should the rare thing happening of the LSC not being interested, I am sure the System's Chairman would be very interested.”
Truth be told, Syphon in general did not really care much about politics or what governments would be doing to screw their own people.
As long as he had his freedom and ability to use it he would just move on to the next place.
If people tolerated their own leaders' rule and did not move up against it when it goes sour, it is their own fault on what happens.
But this was rather disgusting, slavery... no, mind control through drugs even if it doesn't give you full control of the subject.
The result was still that they are much pliable, much easier to control and accept what you tell them.
“Now you know why we want your help, and that of your friends if you can convince them without alerting your escort.” The woman Ranger said to Syphon as if sensing his inner turmoil.
There was no indication of pleading in her voice, but there was still something in it, something that was trying to appeal to any honor Syphon might have.
“Perhaps asking a man such as you to undertake such an effort for the sake of decency alone is a fool's request. But you seem to me the type that can't stand the idea of loosing their own personal freedom, be it even temporary because of a big mercenary with a big gun watching over you.
Now think that on a more permanent basis because some faceless bureaucrat manipulates your thoughts and feelings through the drug dosed food and water that is being put on the market.”
The Old Ranger almost sounded fatherly which Syphon found rather annoying, the whole 'You can't escape the truth when you are confronted with it' spiel.
'Bloody wasteland what a mess' That inner voice that was Syphon's instinct for self preservation was telling him now. 'If we are looking for a sure way to get ourselves killed horribly this is it.'
And yet, to walk away now, look for a way to escape into the wasteland far enough that even the best bounty hunters and enforcers of the Black Fist would give up on ever finding him (meaning he would have to abandon the rest of the group) felt more and more like a coward's way out.
Normally he would not have cared about that if he was honest.
But somehow, whatever the thing was that had made the New Texas Rangers to take up arms and ride into the wasteland to protect the innocent and defenceless, even going undercover into those places where they are not wanted, risking their own lives if they are caught.
Whatever it was, it had started to rub off on him in that short while that he had been with the Rangers.
This 'spirit' for a lack of better words was now towering over Syphon's sense of self preservation, staring directly into his soul with fierce eyes while saying “Walk away from this you cretin and I will make your existence a miserable experience for the rest of your pathetic life.”
It seemed to take ages before Syphon gulped down and finally gave his answer “Okay I will do it. Just tell me that you guys come through for us when the time comes.”
“You have the word of the New Texas Rangers that we will be with you along the way, how long that may take. You might not see us in the field but one of us will be watching twenty four hours a day. Should a problem or situation arise you and your party can not resolve yourself and death is imminent we will intervene, but you must try to carry out the assignment the Black Fist gave you as long as possible. We need to find out where Bliss comes from and put an end to it permanently.”
Afterwards the Old Ranger gave Syphon the details of the operation; a Ranger squad would be trailing Syphon's group a day behind them, always staying out of visual range but keeping a close eye on them.
Should the expedition enter any settlement the Rangers would also stay outside its limits for a day before entering it undercover to see if Syphon and the others are still alive and alright.
If they are the Rangers would maintain their cover and wait a day again after the expedition had left before pursuing them again.
If Syphon would have the idea that the expedition's trail would become to difficult to follow he would have to plant signs to give indications in which direction had gone next, but in such a way that it would not arouse the suspicion of the Black Fist enforcer.
Now fully instructed the woman Ranger took him by the shoulder again and escorted him out.
“For what it is worth Syphon, you are a brave man” The Old Ranger told him before he was led out of the warehouse/whatever building the Rangers had been using.
“Hurrah for me” Syphon said with little enthusiasm in his voice.
This was so not him, doing something like playing hero, coming up for the innocent, downtrodden, justice, and all that jazz.
“I am so going to get myself killed” He told himself.
The journey back to where the woman Ranger had found him actually took less time than the journey to whatever place the Rangers had used as a rendezvous point.
Syphon had made his case clear to the Rangers, especially that he had to go back to the group as soon as possible before the enforcer started to get wise on what was going on.
When he was back in the alley he took his blind fold off, expecting the woman Ranger to be there.
It was really surprising that when he looked around himself she was nowhere to be found, she probably had led him back into the alley and then quickly had taken off.
Syphon grunted “You best be there when I really need you.”
Quickly he made his way back to the area he had left the group earlier when he went off to get into contact with the Rangers.
Elva, William, and the others acknowledged his return when he saw them.
The enforcer like usual barely seemed to acknowledge his existence like he normally did, but Syphon could feel the enforcer's gaze on him, inspecting him thoroughly like back in the casino, checking for any potential trouble.
'He suspects something is out of order' Syphon's instinct warned him, 'Best not give him more reason to find out what that is'
Next; on the road to Fort Ranger
