A smile found its way onto Haley’s lips as Chloe rambled. “You’re fine… I’m just glad for the backup myself… can’t say I care much for working alone, even though that’s often the case. You’re right though, the Major is definitely not telling us things. Still… that’s pretty much par for the course, right? We’re military… er… sort of. Need to know and all that.” She said, though even as the words came out of her mouth the idea seemed strange. She was in something resembling a military organization? It certainly wasn’t how she had expected her life to go. All things considered though, it could have turned out much worse.

The redhead reaches up to the communication array across her neck and jaw, testing to make sure they were on the same channel. She’d tested as such at every single location they’d searched… it seemed Chloe wasn’t the only one with nervous habits. “I like your thought of watching the back… you wanna check for a back door while I go in the front? Doubt they’ll be happy to see me but you never know. This is supposed to be an upscale place… music even sounds nice.” She admits.

Seeming to be in agreement, the young women split up, and Haley slung her rifle over her shoulder before walking into The Blue Note…

“Yeah that good old need to know,” Chloe grinned then headed to the back.

Entering the Blue note once Chloe got into position she would be greeted by a large four armed alien with an exoskeleton that was going to check her firearms had she not been ADD. She had to pass through a metal detector that did much more than scan for metals being calibrated to detect energy signals and advanced weaponry.

It was good no one in here should be armed or so she could hope. There was a bar area where she got more than one look from the various aliens there as well as a stage with a live band. The place had it's share of seedier types but all in all the place looked classy.

Of particular note no one was wearing any body armor so anyone here just about other than the multiple limbed doorman could be Eighty-Eight.

The place was moderately busy with tables near the stage, seats at a bar and a few servers that took drinks from the bar to the patrons at the table, one of which was a wheeled humanoid server droid.

Haley smiled at the doorman on the way in… it was rare that even agents got to keep their weapons, so she made a mental note to try not to cause any trouble in the club for them in return. The club itself seemed nice enough… not to mention seeing a live band was a rarity for an agent.

Not seeing anyone that looked like the person she’d encountered, the agent went over to the bar, taking a seat towards one end of it so she could see most of the establishment. She tried to go over what little they knew of the target… trying to look for something she could search for. It seemed unlikely that they’d still be wearing their armor and helmet in public…

There was a large mirror above the bar making it easier on the old bartender to view most of the club at a glance. Who needed refills, who seemed ready for their checks and so on. The servers were directed by the bar at times if it got too busy on the floor or in the kitchen.

The man still had a certain charisma about him even if the prime of his life had past. He looked good for his age whatever that was as it was difficult to pin a year on him. He looked human too, a human male being somewhat of a rarity in deep space but not totally uncommon.

“Don't think so hard. Relax. Enjoy the music.” He smiled glimpsing toward the weapon slung over her back. “No one here is going to shoot back. On official business I see. Well, what will it be? You're sitting at my bar you have to have a drink.”

She met the bartender’s smile and nodded a greeting. “I’m hoping there’s no shooting at all… if I even find what I’m looking for that is. Still, it’s a nice club you’ve got here. I’ll have to remember it for when I’m off duty.” She chats, still glancing about the bar for anything that stood out. “I’m on the job but you make a good point. Rum and cola, light on the rum this time.”

She tosses her hair a bit, looking about once more but not really getting anything helpful. She hadn’t heard from Chloe either, which mean nobody had run out the back. “Hate to ask…” She spoke up to the bartender again, “but know anyone by the alias Eighty-Eight that’s here? Guess they’re a regular…”

She had no idea if the man would help her or not… it seemed unlikely he’d want to give up a client even to authorities. “Honestly no clue if they’re male, female, human, something else…” She said, trailing off as she explained as if realizing how absurd this mission was. “I feel like “Need to know” should be more than I know.” She laughs to herself.

“Light on the cola,” the bartender smirked twisting her words though the drink was made to her specifications. Again she looked around.

“You ought to use the mirror. Everyone here already knows you're looking for someone but you don't need to advertise that fact,” the bartender stated as he set down her drink. No one brought attention to themselves and as far as she knew Chloe was still in position.

As she asked her question the bartender went wide eyed then hooked a thumb at his chest. “I'm Eighty-Eight. No, not really but if you could see your face. He's … oh, he was right there.”

The bartender pointed toward the table the guy was sitting at. From memory she could sort of recall the person over there though she didn't get a clear look. Dark hair, fair skin, brown clothes, humanoid, looked human though she was gazing at him from behind and couldn't say for certain.

“Back door's that way through the kitchen,” he pointed.

The young woman grinned at the barkeep. “Like I said, next time we’ll make it harder. And yeah I suppose you’re right, but like you said everyone already knows. I feel a bit silly walking in here in full uniform. Not that I’d make a great spy either.” She admits.

She managed a sip of the beverage before he pointed someone out… or tried to. When she turned to look they had vanished. “Hopefully they didn’t make for the front…” She said, standing… taking another look at the drink and taking a much bigger gulp of it. She transferred some credits, much more than the drink’s worth, and gave the bartender a wink before running towards the back door.

“Chloe, might have a suspect heading your way… do you copy?” She said into her communicator, starting to get a bad feeling about something.

Fortunately the instincts of the bartender was right and Eighty-Eight was attempting to exit out the back before she figured out who he was. Passing by the robotic server that was carrying a tray of food the kitchen was fairly large that possessed an array of cooks fast at work.

“Copy. I got something out here. Halt!”

She heard forcing her to hurry. By the time she made it outside Chloe had been down clutching at her chest. Her blaster rifle on the ground next to her. When seeing Haley she gestured down the alley.

“I'm fine. He went that way. I'll catch up.”

She could see a blur of brown turn the corner at the end of the alley less then ten yards away. Eighty-Eight was quick or lucky. He could have dropped Chloe with a single blow.

Recalling the buildings near here was tough. It was in a decent neighborhood but there was no telling what sort of public transportation was here or if he had a vehicle parked nearby … then she recalled seeing a parking lot not far from here. There was nothing parked on the streets in this area as the streets were too busy around here so all parking for the club and other nearby businesses had been located there.

The young agent ran through the kitchen, trying not to run over any of the poor staff before crashing through the back door to find her partner on the ground. “Chloe!” She got out before the other girl responded. Haley nodded and saw (possibly) Eight-Eight round a corner at the end of the alley. Making a split second decision she took off after them, trusting that her partner would be ok. “Call the others!” She managed before focusing on the run.

She went over the possible escape routes in her head and eventually concluded that unless they planned on hiding out nearby, he was probably trying to escape by vehicle… and there seemed to only be one parking area in this part of town. Though she tried to keep the suspect in her sight, if she lost them she’d make for the lot and try to catch them there.

Her pre-enlistment transformation at the hands of slavers hadn’t exactly been a blessing, at least as far as Haley was concerned, though at the very least the aliens had given her a great deal of endurance. Yes, it was definitely not meant for cross country running originally, but that hadn’t stopped the redhead from using it as such. She probably wasn’t as fast as Eighty-Eight but she might just be able to outlast them in a long enough run, she hoped.

Keeping the suspect in sight as best as she could there was the advantage that she wasn't being shot at. Given where he was coming from Eighty-Eight was probably unarmed though she doubted that he wouldn't be without something that was likely short range that wouldn't have been triggered by those advanced metal detectors.

A sharpened piece of plastic or wood was both simple and served as a knife. It was low enough in tech not to trigger any of the advanced features of that detector too.

The suspect ducked into the parking lot garage. The interior was lit with rows of all manners of cars. She saw Eighty-Eight hit the door to the stairwell as he raced upstairs. While in the stairwell he threw something at her which she evaded giving him a whole second or two as he popped out onto the third floor.

The level had been like the floors below with plenty of cars. Eighty-Eight had to be somewhere on the floor hiding behind or beneath cars or trying to work his way towards his own which had to have weapons.

For the moment she did not see or hear anything unusual.

The clacking of her own reinforced shoes against pavement filled Haley’s ears, drowning out the city’s ambient noise a bit as she tried to listen for a similar set of footfalls out in front of her. She managed to keep sight of her target, but couldn’t close the gap before they reached a large garage, much like she’d see on earth. As the subject seemed to beeline for the stairwell, she hopped a stray parked car’s hood to try to close some of the distance. She must have managed to do so, for the suspect was waiting just above her in the stairwell as she burst through the door, and hurled… something… at her. She didn’t bother to check what it was; dodging the object had given her target their lead back already.

The door to the third floor was still closing as she reached it. The redhead put her shoulder down and plowed through, unslinging her rifle off her shoulder as she came back up and sweeping it across the garage level. There was no sign of them… but they had to be here, perhaps hiding between the alien vehicles. Agent Young ran across the rows, trying to get a cross-section view of the level as best she could and searching for him. “Eighty-Eight! You’re wanted for questioning in the attempted assassination of Directorate leadership! If you cooperate, you’ll be treated fairly!” She called into the garage… it never worked but she had a habit of trying to be fair.

And of course it didn't work this time either as she called out to him. There she saw him crouched down between two cars and immediately he sprang at her like a pouncing cat. In one hand he had something that he hurled at her, a first she would have thought that the object was a stone but the way it glinted it was clearly metal, a hood ornament of some sort.

But his target wasn't her but rather the blaster attempting to knock it out of alignment while contorting his body a bit in the opposite direction. The object was hurled with plenty of force behind it to nudge the weapon out of alignment just long enough for him to slam into her with all that body weight.

Knocking her prone Eighty-Eight's grinning face filled her vision as one hand grabbed at her wrist to control it and keep the blaster from targeting him. The forearm of his other hand rested upon her neck as he pressed down on it with his weight behind it either attempting to render her unconscious or kill her.

“Nothing personal toots.” Eighty-Eight spoke with that same grin etched on his features.

The agent swept over the rows professionally, though her heart was beating in her ears as she did so. Much as she wanted to call for help, she knew there was no time for that. She passed another row…

… and there they were. Haley didn’t freeze, but she also didn’t want to injure the suspect, and so only aimed her rifle towards Eighty-Eight. But in the time it took her to do that, the assassin had reacted even faster, throwing something that glinted in the light at her and striking her firearm, knocking it up and causing her to pull on the trigger too late. The weapon discharged into the ceiling uselessly, the energy dissipating on the cement garage’s ceiling. Before she could readjust he was upon her… too close to aim her rifle, toppling her backwards to impact painfully against the floor. The young woman’s chest bounced in the soft-skinned “armor” that she wore while she grit her teeth and growled.

“Get-AAACK!” She started to order, getting choked slightly as his forearm rested against her throat. With only one free hand, she balled it into a fist and threw a punch at that annoying grin, trying to get him off of her before he could choke her out…

Wile her fist did damage he was somewhat use to being hit at close range. One of the martial arts he used employed grappling and having to deal with strikes while in close. Granted most of the time he spent sparring didn't focus on strikes but when he fought in competition he had to endure blows.

It didn't take long to choke someone out if you knew what you were doing and he did. He would have her out before her friend could get her to assist her. With the blow he delivered on that agent it would be a struggle for her to get here in time and he didn't think there were more than two agents after him.

He wasn't grinning any longer, those blows stinging as they struck him. Then as the edges of her vision had been going black she saw a hand cover Eighty-Eight's mouth as someone moved behind the pair in silence, someone that brought a black blade across his neck then must have inserted it into his back for good measure.

“Slade should have sent me from the beginning.”

Eighty-Eight was dropped next to her and she could see a humanoid female standing there licking blood off of that blade while taking her in. It felt as if she was pondering what to do about the agent. Her grin was far worse, far more creepier than Eighty-Eight's.

Haley could see a second dagger on her hip, white clothes and gloves. Other than large pointed ears she would have passed for human though her long brown hair could easily conceal them.

“Hm … I shouldn't have said that … now should I just kill you too? That would be such a waste. It's not like I said anything that isn't already known. I know, I'll turn you over to Demi.”

She watched Haley for any signs of movement, scanning over her weaponry and appraising the situation in those scant seconds.

Haley could see the knives and what looked to be a sidearm of some sort but it was fairly small and one she nearly overlooked as the white weapon matched in with her clothing. It could hardly pack a punch and probably only had enough power to get off one or two shots, a weapon that could be concealed and used as a last resort if trouble broke out.

Haley rained blows on him but couldn’t dislodge her attacker… Eighty-Eight seemed to have been male after all. Punch after punch found the side of his head but it wasn’t phasing him… just pissing him off more. She could swear she felt his weight press down on her even harder. Her lungs burned and her large chest heaved beneath him, but she knew it wasn’t the lack of air making her black out. The young woman’s attacks grew weaker…

… and then he was falling off of her, stabbed in the back. His killer stood over her, leering, somehow managing to look even scarier than the man who had nearly killed her. She choked and sputtered for a second, catching her breath while this… woman?... mentioned a “Slade” as she gloated over the corpse. For a naïve moment, Haley thought she had been saved. She looked almost like an elf with her elongated ears.

Haley stays still, save for getting her arms underneath her to prop her head up a little. Her rifle remained in her hand but pushed off to the side. Her sidearm was on her hip and a few of the grenades she had brought were on her belt, though her batons were hidden beneath her thanks to her position. “Shouldn’t have said what? Sounds like nothing important happened here… we could both just walk away.” She suggested calmly. She had no idea who either her ‘rescuer’ or this ‘Demi’ were, but figured she didn’t want to find out. The redhead had the feeling any fight with her would be much like the fight with Eighty-Eight… though she had her opponent beaten in firepower, they probably vastly outmatched her in actual fighting skill.