《Outbound》


 Prologue

    The midnight sun beat down on nexus prime as Lieutenant Jason Hill scanned the barren wastelands for any signs of life. Jason always hated coming to the outer rim, but nexus prime took the cake for shitty places to be stationed. The mining operations here were imperative to the successful growth of the core worlds, but for a soldier it was a nightmare. Nexus prime was a moon that rotated in such a way that one day here was equivalent to 3 days Galactic standard time. If long days weren¡¯t enough nexus prime was in the outer rim which lead to the near Infinite sun brought very little warmth or life to the moon. Jason landed with a platoon of battle ready coalition rangers 3 days(GST) prior and the combination of waiting 3 days and the endless sun had made every member of the rangers irritable.


    They were stationed here to defend the mine against some of the local militias in the area that had taken up arms against the capital after prime minister Beaumont made a ¡°declaration of power¡± during the last grand address. This declared it unlawful for class 3-4 workers to work under 20 hrs a day. This address was supposed to promote growth and unity but some for the more degenerate workers in the outer worlds became enraged and attempted a pathetic and disjointed rebelion. They were why he was here, they were why he was forced to protect this mining outpost on a shit world rather than attending galas and boozing with politicians back home¡­ he wouldn¡¯t forget that.


    ¡­


    The sun had been setting since noon so the rangers were preparing the quickbase for a long frozen night, then they heard the horns. Jason¡¯s head snapped up, ¡°Was that really them?¡±, he thought, ¡°Of course it was that sound was unmistakable.¡±


    ¡°To the line men, take up defensive positions and hold fire till they close in!¡±


    As Jason ran to the barricade, thoughts were racing through his mind, ¡°Are we too late? How many are attacking? Why had corporal O¡¯Brian not called in the attack?¡±, the last question was answered when Jason arrived at the front. O¡¯Brian laid just below the forward watch tower, blood painting the sand crimson. Jason sprinted to his side and saw that there were two large arrows in his back and neck, quickly he studied the scene and noticed that the arrows had an angle indicating that the arrows had come from above the tower. He spun around just in time to see a revolutionary pulling back on his recon bow. Reacting quickly, Jason rolled behind the dead body of corporal O¡¯Brian propping him up as a shield. The act of using an ally and more importantly a friend as a shield made Jason feel physically sick and made all the worse by small spurts of blood exiting O¡¯Brian¡¯s lower back where the broad head found purchase. There was a short window where Jason could make his move and he took it. Moving up to a knee he steadied himself, took aim and fired a quick burst. Jason let out a sigh of relief as he was rewarded with a red mist of viscera where the revolutionist stood.


    All of a sudden a blinding hot pain erupted from his side as an arrow buried itself deep in his flesh.


    ¡°two arrows, two archers¡­.. how could I have been so stupid.¡±, Jason thought.


    The arrow dropped Jason to the ground once again, instinctively he tried to pull the arrow out, but by the color of blood staining his uniform, he could tell it was deep and so he thought,


    ¡°It¡¯s no use, right now I need to deal with this other archer.¡±


    By the time Jason had picked up his rifle the second archer was already on him with his jackknife drawn. Jason tried to catch the man with a blind burst to no avail. The rev straddle Jason and started pressing the jack knife into Jason¡¯s battle armor. He summoned the last of his energy and brought his knee up as hard as he could and connected with the small of rev¡¯s back. This thrusted the man forward causing him to lose his grip on the knife; however so did Jason. The rev gathered himself quickly, raised his arms over his head to thrust down and end Jason in one swift movement. Before he could bring the knife down, Jason thrusted the arrow that was once lodged deep in his side into its new resting place slightly left of center and watched the life drain out of the revs eyes. It was always much more traumatic to have to look at a kill close up, the mix of the warm sticky blood, dead eyes, and the potent taste of copper made Jason want to vomit but he managed to hold the sickness at bay. He rolled the body off of him and attempted to get to his feet but the damage that the arrow left proved to be worse than he first suspected. He had to reach some stabili-foam and fast, there was most likely some in the watch tower since it was recently stocked. Jason, half crawling and half limping, made his way up the watch tower and began searching through the boxes of equipment. After sifting through ammunition, guns and optics he finally found the stabili-foam. Jason loaded in a fresh tube of the aqua green gel like substance and placed the deep tissue attachment. He was unsure of how deep the wound was so he inserted the long nozzle into the wound until he found the end and began to spray the foam. It felt as if his insides were on fire but at least it would stop the bleeding¡­ for now.


    After a short jog he made it to the main front, this was located at the main entrance to the mine. Large, heavy, steel doors sat in the center of a short fence line which connected the canyon walls; though this one defense almost completely closed off the mine there was a small mountain pass located to the rear of the entrance. This treacherous pass had only one fence and the guard tower that O¡¯Brian was stationed to. This pass could not be used by a larger force but if the revs could exploit it with a smaller force they would have a very dangerous flanking position, Jason couldn¡¯t let that happen!


    After arriving at the main front, Jason saw that the majority of his forces had held the position and created a hellstorm for the attackers at the bottom of the hill. From what he could see, there may have been approximately 100 rev casualties from the first assault. This was a good thing, but the coalition ranger battalion also had some casualties: 2 dead 3 injured. this was not crippling by any means, however the feeling of letting a ranger down never set well with Jason.


    ¡°Sargent Escalante¡± Jason shouted over the reverberating ring of battle


    ¡°Sir¡±, Escalate replied with a salute.


    ¡°Take squads 2 and 3 to the top of the passand dig in. be prepared they know that the pass exists and may try to overwhelm you.¡± Jason pointed at the ridge line at the top of the natural bowl created by mountains.


    ¡°We will hold the line no matter how many of these dirty revs come up for us. SQUADS 2 AND 3 WITH ME!¡± Escalante shouted the order and the six rangers that remained battle ready removed themselves from the firing line to follow Escalante up the hill.


    Escalante was a very large and intimidating man but he was equally qualified to lead troops due to how calm and collected he was when under fire. If anyone here could hold that pass it was him Jason thought.


    ¡­.


    The first attack came at sunset. The darkness was thick and cold which in turn made waiting for the next attack all the more agonizing. Jason had to give it to the revs for attacking at night like this, since they were on a moon there was almost no light and due to this fact the citadel forces had to use thermal visors which had a much shorter sight range. They wouldn¡¯t see the revs until they were on top of them. Jason could barely get this thought off before the faint sound of footsteps turned into a deafening roar of yelling men. There. They are close enough.¡± Jason thoughtYou might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    ¡°Men open it up!¡± Jason shouted the order, and a storm of bullets tore through the crisp night. Wave after wave broke on the citadel line, but there was no way to tell for sure how many revs there could be in the offensive. The bodies of dead and wounded revs began to pile up on the edge of the killzone but they kept coming in with no regard for their life.


    ¡°Lieutenant, Can they see they are being slaughtered?¡± A soldier asked from the darkness next to Jason.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure what.. what they are...¡° Jason could not complete his sentence because a massive explosion came from the mountain pass. It was so powerful that it took Jason off his feet. Luckily He was not looking toward the pass like some of the soldiers were, the heat from the explosion lit up the thermal visors and many soldiers dropped to the ground blinded by the Thermal overload. The line broke and now a steady stream of revolutionaries flowed into the base. the defenses had been exploited and now the front line was at grave risk to fall, Jason had to make a decision, and quick.


    ¡°Fall back to the mine! Fall back!¡± He shouted.


    Bullets were flying out of the darkness in seemingly every direction, and coalition troops were dropping all around. There was only 100 yards to move to get to the mine and temporary safety, however the last 20 yards would require running almost directly at the revs coming down from the pass, and they were going to have to take this chance. Jason moved quickly blindly firing in the direction of the pass to provide any amount of cover for his remaining troops. Firey pain shot through his right shoulder as a bullet ripped through, and in quick succession one wizzed right by his ear, It was time to move.


    ¡°COVERING FIRE¡± a ranger shouted from the mine and three other men leaned out and began to suppress the revs from the pass and Jason sprinted to the mine just as he reached the mouth one of the men that had provided cover took a burst of bullets square burrowing deep in his chest with wet thumps. Jason pulled the downed man inside the cave but quickly realized he was already gone.


    ¡°What¡¯s our situation, sir¡± a recruit asked.


    Jason looked around the mine and saw how few men had made it, ¡°It¡¯s not good¡± Jason replied, ¡°we need to find cover and hold down this door.¡± There were only a handful of soldiers left, not nearly enough to stage a defense, this was looking Bleak.


    ¡°Citadel troops!¡± an unknown voice shouted into the mine, ¡°If you value your lives come out and surrender your arms.¡±


    ¡°Come in and take them¡± Jason shouted back. He knew what a life in a rev prison camp was like from the holotapes that were shown to him during his training. They would be better off dead.


    ¡°We are sending in one of yours to take your weapons .¡± The voice said and Sargent Escalante stepped into the door. Jason was in disbelief that Escalante survived the massive explosion from the pass however it looked like he was in bad shape. His right eye was swollen shut and bleeding his nose was twisted painfully to the side most likely due from being hit. The right side of his body was severely burned and exposed to the open air, and most importantly he was wearing an odd retrofitted vest.


    ¡°Hand me your weapons and come out with your hands up or the workers republic of nexus will bury you with mine.¡± Escalante said this obviously being coerced.


    ¡°We aren''t coming out, you bastards!¡± Jason replied, ¡°Escalate come in here we will cover you.¡±


    Escalante shook his head with a fearful expression. All of sudden there was a high pitch squeal from the vest, ¡°Get down!¡± Jason yelled but it was too late. a massive concussive blast came from where Escalante once stood. The mouth of the mine crumbled in on itself during the first explosion and three more explosions rocked the mountainside. The mine began crumbling in on itself and large rocks started falling down on the remaining men. Soldiers screams were cut short as the mountain came down on them, as Jason stood there in disbelief unable to accept what was happening around him. He looked up as a large portion of the ceiling came down near him dislodging the platform he was standing on sending him into the darkness of a cave below.


    ¡­..


    Jason floated in darkness suspended in an ethereal ink. He looked around and saw all the death that he had been a part of, ¡°were all these deaths my fault? I failed them all.¡± He thought and to his surprise and horror all the dead, soldiers and revs alike, snapped to look at him with glowing green eyes, and all at once they charged him. He couldn¡¯t move, he was a fly caught in the dark web of the abyss. They reached him clawing and tearing him apart with their hands and gnashing teeth. He felt all of it, Jason tried to scream but only a gargled death rattle came from his lips as his lungs were ripped from his body and he blacked out¡­ suddenly he was snapped from unconsciousness spiraling through what seemed to be a red nebula to a planet unknown. landing on the black sands of its surface the first thing he noticed was a city in the distance with towers built in with mesmerizing geometry that enthralled and also nauseated him. The second thing he noticed was that he was alive and in one piece. His chest was unripped and he could move, thought of what he had just experienced made him sick. He looked around the unknown landscape, there looked to be 20 or so miles between him and the huge city in the distance.Between him and the city was winding rough topography painted sanguin by the light of a dying sun. There was a massive lake of bubbling liquid that let off a sour acidic scent, around this lake was a long dead forest of blackened woods. In the opposite direction lay a mountainous landscape full karst pillars Jason looked up and saw five figures on five different peaks. The figures each looked different yet the same, all were partly shrouded in cloaks that looked to be made of pure darkness and they were all holding a different item; However the distance caused Jason to not make out the details of any item. As he observed these figures, he noticed a one pillar was empty. As he pondered the implications of a fallen figure, he realized his back was to the open maw of a massive cave. He turned and looked into the void and saw faint glint of movement.


    ¡°Hello? Is anyone there?¡± Jason shouted not knowing what to expect.


    ¡°WHO COMES TO MY DOMAIN¡± a disembodied demonic roar came from the cave and also from within Jason¡¯s head. He was silent.


    ¡°AH A SILENT ONE. NO MATTER YOUR EAR ARE ALL I NEED¡± a fleshy monstrosity crawled from the cave. It had two large pincers attached to long spindly arms that were connected to a worm like head. The monster had a large mouth with rows of sharp human esque teeth however the rest of it¡¯s head was bare with no other features. The rest of the body snaked down to a large arachnid abdomen which sprouted four bulbous legs, Jason felt sick by just the sight of the beast.


    The monster placed its large pincers on either side of Jason, and lowered its head down as if to examine him.


    ¡°YOU WILL BE MY SEEKER, MY HARALD, MY APOSTLE. SEARCH THE UNIVERSE FOR MY UNHOLY ARTIFACTS AND TELL ALL YOU MEET OF MY HORROR, FOR ONE DAY OUR WORLDS WILL MEET AND I WILL ENSLAVE ALL BUT THE CHOSEN FEW THAT YOU HAVE GATHERED. TOGETHER WE WILL BRING DESTRUCTION AND TORMENT TO ALL.¡± The monster said this and moved past Jason who was still frozen with fear. The monster raised his arms to the sky and shouted something in a language that seemed ancient. The ground shook with the echo of its voice caused the land began to buckle and break, a massive pyramid rose from the ground. It was so large that by the time it stopped growing the tip could no longer be seen from the ground.


    ¡°GO FORTH AND RETRIVE THE GIFT I WILL BESTOW UNTO YOU, USE IT IN NAME OF THE LORD OF THIS REALM¡­. LORD AZOTHOTH.¡± And with that the monster pushed Jason into the doorway of the pyramid and slammed the door shut. There was a faint glow in the room and Jason, in what felt like a lifetime, took a step. The room was smaller then it seemed from the outside and odd hieroglyphs marked the walls each had a strange blue glow. The other side of the room had a mirror of blackness and after a moment of consideration Jason took a step toward it. He looked in and saw himself surrounded in darkness but it was his reflection. Just as he was looking into it tendrils of the inky blackness shot out of the mirror and attached to him. Jason tried to pull away but there was no use, the darkness had him and yanked him into the abyss once again¡­ he once again awoke from unconsciousness, this time in the crumbled mess of the mine. Jason looked up and saw the hole he had fallen through much higher up. He sat up to clear his head of the nightmare he just went through, when he opened his eyes he saw a box, and It was inscribed in the same odd symbols as the pyramid. Jason walked over to the box and found it to be humming with energy, he had to open it. Inside was a large light blue crystal. Jason felt himself seemingly lose control of his actions and picked up the crystal with his right hand. Instantly white hot energy crawled up his shoulder. The immense burn began to eat away at Jason¡¯s arm until it was nothing but blackened bone. Through the blinding pain and horror of his arm being reduced to charred bone, Jason noticed the crystal began to pulse with light. All of a sudden it exploded, embedding shards in his body and face, and destroying the remains of his right arm in the process. Jason fell back landing flat. As he faded into blackness once again he saw revolutionaries looking at him from the top of the mine and 2 repelling down into the hole.


    ¡°Just my luck.¡± Jason thought as he blacked out.

 Chapter 1

    Jason awoke from a restless sleep, his dark skin covered in a glistening sweat. The cold nexus night was leaking In through his cracked polyethylene window pane; it made him shutter. It had been five years since the battle at the mine and his meeting with Azothoth, but it still felt like yesterday. Every night Jason went to sleep he was right back in front of the monstrosity, right back to being torn apart by his dead friends. At first he tried to not sleep at all by prolonging his consciousness with dermal stems and perk brews, but when sleep finally took him the dreams seemed to be more vivid... Then he turned to alcohol. The alcohol made his dreams feel more distant, like looking at them through a dirty stained glass window, less clarity and less pain. One undesirable side effect was the constant hangover he experienced every morning; however it was better then the nightmares. He set up and placed his feet on the rough textured flooring that covered the ground in all of the pod units in this part of Xenon city. He hated Nexus, and he hated xenon.


    Jason stood up and walked to the mirror and examined himself. He had slight bruising and dried blood around his left eye from a fight he half remembered. By the bruising pattern, cuts and the small shards of glass still stuck in his skin he concluded it must have been an alcohol bottle that was smashed across his face. He picked up a set of tweezers and began pulling the shards out of his face in a morning ritual that was more common than he cared to admit. He was glad that at least these shards came out with a slight sting, unlike the light blue crystal shards that seemed to be fused to his skeleton.


    Five years ago he came in contact with an artifact that gave him visions of other unexplainable phenomena that haunted him nightly, but during the day they served as a painful reminder of his unholy destiny. Each shard of crystal was about an inch in diameter and they were scattered in about his right side like a morbid tapistry. He could hide the shards on his body easy enough but ones that crawled up his neck gave him a very Distinctive look, which in his line of work could get you killed.. that and his lack of a right arm didn¡¯t help.


    He noticed that his appearance was suffering from the night before, but luckily that made fitting in with the patrons of xenons¡¯ red light district all the easier. His beard was slightly overly bushy which made it a pain to tame so most mornings Jason just let it be. His hair on the other hand looked all the better from the lack of trim, the growth at the top allowed his faded sides to grow into a mass of tightly curled hair.


    ¡°If the rangers could see me now..¡±   Jason thought back on his time with the citadel military and all their needless regulations. He went to the closet and changed out his booze stained clothes for some less dirty ones and then threw on his favorite bounty hunting jacket. The jacket was a light brown colored bomber jacket with an artificial heater in the collar and back which gave off a faint orange glow. He had taken off one of his first bounties, a coalition bomber pilot, who had a price on his head for hitting a local drug lord''s supply warehouse. Jason tracked him to a known coalition bar called ¡°the colony¡±, and started buying him drinks. The pilot was talking about all his missions and how excited he was to be a week from the end of his deployment. At the end of the night Jason offered to take the pilot home, which was welcomed by the man, but instead of going home Jason took him drug runners. Jason wasn¡¯t exactly sure what the fate of the pilot would be but he did know two things: first, it wasn¡¯t going to be pleasant, and he wouldn¡¯t be needing  his jacket after they were finished.


    Jason grabbed his Justice 10 shot revolver, his shoulder ammo dispenser, and walked out the front door of his residential unit and into the bustling streets of xenons¡¯ red light district. The smell of sewage and body odor was potent enough to sting the nostrils and made Jason¡¯s eyes water. Despite the fact that it was almost 7 in the morning GST, the nexus sky was still dark as pitch. The long nexus days meant the ¡°night life¡± of xenon essentially never stopped. Jason headed down the crowded street being jostled by residents trying to get drugs, weapons or women some were trying to get all three. The crime in the red light was basically unrecorded by the city officials because of the undesirable residents that live here. Most were gang members, junkies or outcasts that had no place in the main city of xenon and because of this there were checkpoints placed around the red light that was supposed to keep all the less fortunate in the slums.


    ¡°Hey big boy, are you looking for some company?¡±


    A hand grabbed Jason by the arm and he spun to face who had touched him. It was a toppless girl no more than 20 years old, she had a thin but fit physique and obviously fake breast. She had a pretty and kind face but the faint trace of dark veins on her neck said that under the makeup this girl was hiding a bad drug habit, possibly Phenol hydroxy.


    Before Jason spoke he released the grip on his gun. Sure there were escort assassins that were employed but most were just people that were down on their luck just like he was. ¡°Hey lady, I don¡¯t pay for sex.¡± He said in a calm but commanding tone to indicate he was not interested in making this a negotiation, she didn¡¯t get the hint. ¡°Come on, with your scars¡± she eyed Jason missing arm,  ¡°and other deformities you probably aren''t getting for free honey¡­. how about I lower the price for a fellow outcast like yourself.¡± She said looking up at him biting her lip.


    Jason yanked his arm away from her grip, ¡°I said get out of here!¡±, he said with a much harsher tone. Her expression soured to a frown.


    ¡°You know what, FUCK YOU ASSHOLE!¡± She turned around and walked away back to a group of women under a heating light in front of a dinghy club called ¡®The Dirty Lemon¡¯. Jason didn¡¯t blame her anger, he understood how hard life was in the streets, but he learned it was even harder if you care for others. With that thought he turned around and walked the rest of the way to the bounty office.


    ¡­¡­


    The bounty office smelled like smoke, which made sense because it was in the back of a bar. The bar was a front that allowed people who knew how to make a ¡°request¡± to do so in a way that wouldn¡¯t draw the eyes of unwanted observers, It also provided cover for the hunter. Jason sat in the back stirring a smokey capital gin, while observing a couple at the bar. They were discussing a string of murders happening in the district which were targeting sex workers. Jason didn¡¯t understand how murders in the red light district could make city wide news, no one usually cared. Jason continued to study them from a distance until a  glass of whisky was placed in front of him with enough force to snap him out of his stupor. Jason saw that the interruption came from salv, a bar back who would handle the special requests. Jason looked up with him.


    ¡°The man in the suit at stool seven bought this for ya, he said he needed a drinking buddy.¡± salv said with his thick gruff accent. Jason leaned to the side to get a view of the man who was being obscured by salv¡¯s husky frame. The man looked clean cut and put together, he was wearing a sleek sports jacket and slim pants. His hair was shaved up to the top of his ears but the hair on top was longer and slicked back. His face was smooth like someone who had never crossed into the redlight district.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°What do you know about him?¡± Jason inquired


    ¡°What, you think he gave me his calling card? You know the people we work for don¡¯t like giving out their personal information.¡± Salv said, sounding annoyed.


    ¡°You know you should be vetting clients, I need to know the details of what I¡¯m getting into.¡±


    Salv¡¯s face went from showing annoyance to frustration.


    ¡° I don¡¯t care what he has done, he bought you a whisky, so get off your ass and go see what he needs or I can put a price on you!¡± Jason knew that salv didn¡¯t mean what he was saying. He couldn¡¯t afford to kill off bounty hunters who turned down contracts, there was an abundance of work but an ever shrinking pool of bounty hunters. Jason looked up at salv with a cold gaze, drank the rest of his gin, picked up his whisky, and walked over to the client.


    ¡°So I hear you are looking for help¡±


    ¡°Are you my man? Wow! I¡¯ve never hired one of you before, I love your hiring process.¡± The man seemed more excited then any one he had been hired by before.


    ¡°You need to calm down, talk quieter this is not exactly legal. Now tell me who you are, what do you need me to do.¡± Jason said


    ¡°Straight to the point, that¡¯s something that I value.¡± He turned over to face Jason who was now sitting next to him Jason noticed that the man''s right eye was an implant which made Jason nervous, the man continued, ¡°I am the spokesperson for an upcoming tech and implant development company called sapphire industries, maybe you have heard of us?¡± The man said questioningly.


    ¡°I haven¡¯t, just get to what I need to do.¡± Jason replied, trying to be as cold and professional as possible. The man looked taken aback from the starkness of the reply, after gathering himself he replied, ¡°sapphire industries is just starting out on the market and we have recently come into a little competition with a black market group that is undercutting our business. They have been stealing our implant tech and selling them to our client base. We need you to find them and ensure that they are put out of business.¡±


    Jason looked toward the bartender making it look like he was considering the offer, in his head he had already accepted but in this line of work there is value found in negotiation. After a few moments he turned back to the man and said, ¡°If this group has high quality tech then it could get dangerous fast, I won¡¯t take less than 5,000 Credits.¡± The man looked at Jason with a sly smile, ¡°We are prepared to pay you 100,000 credits to make the job happen tonight, we will pay you half now and half after the job is done. Will this deal work for you?¡±  Jason¡¯s mind was spinning, that amount of money was unheard of for one bounty, he could buy a ship with that money and leave this hell hole! Things were finally looking up!


    Jason looked at the man with a forced neutral expression. ¡°I think that will be fine.¡±


    ¡­¡­...


    It was nearing 11pm GST but the blackness of the nexus night was wearing off and giving way to day. The somehow xenon city looked even worse during the day, Jason alway thought it had something to do with the buildings. During the many dark hours the buildings were lit up with colors and signs but during the day all the buildings were a disgusting beige color that looked like the embodiment of  depression.


    Jason neared the warehouse where all the stolen tech and implants were stored. there were two options he was considering, first was a bridge that was high enough to launch a zip line onto the roof, The other option came in the form of an eroded sewage pipe.


    ¡°On the one hand zipping into the base would allow me to get a good vantage point to take out all the thugs but I wouldn¡¯t be able to do that quietly, on the other hand I don¡¯t really want to climb through that shit pipe. If I take the pipe I could get in and do the work from the inside out this would be more quiet and efficient.¡± With an audible sigh Jason started walking towards the sewage pipe. The smell hit him first, a mix of shit, lake water, and something rotting that Jason could only hope wasn¡¯t human. The sewer gate looked like it was sturdy but one swift kick was all it took to break the screws holding it in place. Jason looked into the darkness and saw a faint light down the tunnel, ¡°that zipline is looking really good right about now.¡±, Jason thought and started the walk down the tunnel.


    Upon reaching the end of the tunnel Jason realized that this was definitely not just a black market, the bloody tools and hanging meat made that abundantly clear. He had seen rooms like this often associated with drug lords who wanted to make rivals disappear. ¡° I guess that explains the smell¡± Jason thought while looking around the room. It was a large area with a handful of guards roaming the floor. The nearest guard was close to the tunnel exit looking out of the warehouse doors into the bay. Jason claimed out of the tunnel like a predator stalking its prey. Once behind him Jason plunged his knife into the guards neck, he tried to scream for help but only a gurgle escaped his dying lips. Due to the amount of blood Jason could tell the man died nearly instantly. The next guard was standing at the top of the staircase overlooking the main floor, this would make him hard to sneak up on him but if Jason could get the guards attention away from the main floor he could cover that ground quickly and make his way up the stairs. ¡° This should work.¡± Jason thought finding the dead man''s keys. He took aim and launched the keys at the wall near the over watch guard, however Jason was not left handed.  instead of hitting the wall it caught the railing in front of guard due to throwing with his off hand, the guard looked directly at Jason ,¡±Damn it¡±  he muttered and the warehouse lit up with the sounds of shouts and gunfire. Jason dove behind a box or implant chips just as the wall behind him became riddled with bullets. The zing of bullets rang over his head and he pulled out his gun to retaliate right as a guard appeared over the dead man in the doorway. The confusion allowed Jason the time needed to turn around and fire two shots at the man, which sent him flying back 3 ft off the dock and into the bay. Jason spun fast and fired off 4 more shots at the men across the warehouse only hitting one in the arm, which left the man screaming. He would most likely die from that wound but that thought couldn''t linger, he took aim at the man at the top of the stairs but right before he pulled the trigger there he was hit in the chest by a burst of burning hot pain.


    Jason¡¯s chest became tight and his breathing was labored¡­ he had to end this quick. Jason quickly scanned the grounds and saw a large oil barrel was located at the main entrance of the warehouse that would have to do. His first shot rang out and landed right in the center of the barrel draining its dark contents onto the floor. Another burst of bullets ripped through the air near by and one lodged its self in his hip dropping Jason to his knee. More men streamed in through the main doors and began firing adding more suppressive fire. The blood loss from the wounds was making Jason weak, but he had to get off one more shot. Jason summoned all his strength and stood up once more and fired off a shot. His bullet smashed into a metal support sending sparks cascading into the spilled oil. The fire moved quick and the men near the entrance began screaming and flailing in the flames, ¡°this is a fucking shit show!¡± Jason yelled just as another bullet tore through his tricep.


    The inferno reached the oil drums, and for a moment Jason''s ears popped from the concussion force of the blast.


    BOOM!


    The explosion hit Jason like a truck cracking his rib and throwing him 50 feet into the bay. As the fireball dissipated Jason floated motionless in the water. The water stung in his wounds but at least he was alive, but if he wanted to stay that way he needed to get help. ¡°ughhhh¡± Jason groaned weakly as he turned over in the water and started the swim toward the shore.

 Chapter 2

    By the time Jason reached the shore the sun had just begun peaking over the horizon. The burning red sunrise filled the streets with a macabre hue, which luckily hid Jason dripping blood allowing him to move relatively unnoticed through the busy streets. By moving he learned that he wasn¡¯t hit anywhere vital but there was a sinking feeling in his gut that if he didn¡¯t get help soon he would still bleed out and that would be the end of it¡­ he had to hurry. Jason picked up the pace but his hip wound put a hard cap on his speed. looking around he was unsure who would be able to help patch him up while not contacting the enforcers, that was something that he could not deal with right now. Rounding the corner to the red lights Main Street Jason saw the same woman who tried to go home with him earlier that day. She was still topless but the women she was with at the start of the night were replaced by an angry looking man who was yelling at her. Jason only caught part of the conversation but from what he could make out the woman owed this man money and if she couldn¡¯t pay up she would regret it. The woman started to say something in a response but before she could get a word out the man hit her so hard she fell to the ground, then Jason had an idea. He walked up to the angry man and noticed very quickly that this man was most likely the owner of the club these women were working for.


    ¡°Hey, man I just had a long night and I¡¯m looking for some company.¡± Jason said with all the sleeze charm he could muster.


    The man looked at Jason and noticed the wounds that were becoming more visible with the rising midnight sun.


    ¡°Unfortunately all our workers are out for the night you will have to come back some other time¡± the man said coldly while cleaning the woman''s blood off his knuckles with a cloth.


    ¡°Damn¡±, Jason thought ¡°I¡¯m going to have to negotiate¡±,


    ¡°It looks like you have a bitch right here how much would she cost.¡±


    The man''s scowl deepened, ¡°I said no workers are available, and if you don¡¯t get lost I¡¯ll add a couple more bullet holes to your fucked up frame.¡± And the man put a small handgun to Jason¡¯s chest.


    ¡°I¡¯ll pay triple!¡± Jason said quickly, staring into the man''s eyes that were now very close to Jason¡¯s face.


    All at once the man''s scowl lifted, ¡° it will cost you 10,000 credits, and they will need to be up front.¡±


    Jason¡¯s hand released its grip on his gun and took out his credit pad. ¡°Bit steep but that''s the price you pay for a ticket to ride.¡± Jason said and transferred the units. The man looked over his pad smiling, ¡°Oh one last thing¡± the man said, tossing Jason a small needle with a clear yellow liquid inside. ¡°Give that to her after and if she doesn¡¯t want to do something you want then threaten to break it. This one will do anything for that shit..believe me.¡±


    Jason yanked the woman up by her arm hard, ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind she will be needing it.¡± Jason said and shot a sly smile to the man, and began to pull the woman somewhat violently toward home. Jason could tell the woman was scared, hell she was trembling, he couldn¡¯t imagine what she was thinking. Being beaten by her boss then sold to a man she doesn¡¯t know who was covered in blood. She probably thought she was going to die, Jason couldn¡¯t reveal his true intentions yet they had to sell the lie. The two walked up the stairs to Jason¡¯s unit and he released her to enter the room. He placed the syringe on the table near the bed and took off his shoes. The woman, still bleeding from her mouth  began taking off her pants.


    ¡°No, keep them on.¡± Jason said when he noticed what she was doing. She looked at him with a puzzled expression, Jason took off his coat and approached her, ¡°I don¡¯t want to hurt you, I just need your help to fix these.¡± Jason said pointing to his wounded body. He placed his jacket over her naked chest, and zipped it up. ¡°I don¡¯t need you for sex but I had to make it look believable so your boss would let you go, I¡¯m sorry if I made you frightened.¡± Jason turned from her and made his way to a cabinet, the woman still looked confused and untrusting but he couldn¡¯t blame her because she had the tell tale signs of severe abuse. Jason grabbed a large bottle of whisky from the cabinet and a towel from the counter which he gave to the woman, ¡°for your mouth¡± he said softly trying to convey compassion, ¡° I¡¯m Jason by the way.¡± Jason walked to the kitchen bar and slumped down on a stool with a heavy thud.


    ¡°I¡¯m Julie.¡± The woman said, Jason finished a swig from the bottle. ¡°It¡¯s nice to meet you Julie.¡± He said with a smile, which turned into a labored cough. Julie moved closer, ¡°what happened to you?¡± She asked, looking over Jason¡¯s bleeding body.


    ¡°I''m a bounty hunter, and sometimes bounties don¡¯t want to be hunted...  uhggg¡± Jason grunted with pain as the adrenaline started to wear off¡­ what he would give for capital medifoam. ¡°I don¡¯t mean to be rude but I do need your help quickly if you don¡¯t mind.¡±


    ¡°What can I do.¡± Julie asked


    ¡°There should be a first aid kit in the draw next to you with synthetic thread and a needle, I would do this myself but¡­¡± Jason lazily pointed to the empty space beneath his right shoulder where his arm had been. Julie grabbed the supplies and made her way to Jason¡¯s side.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to have to get you out of this shirt.¡±


    Jason looked at her and nodded, she then lifted his shirt over his head and was met with more grunts of pain. After the shirt was off Jason took another drink from the bottle.


    ¡° These wounds look really bad Jason, don¡¯t you think you should be in the hospital?¡± Jason looked her dead in the eyes, ¡°no hospitals. Do you know how fast enforcers would be on me if I went to the hospital with wounds like these, hospitals are not an option.¡± Jason said with a stern tone, he didn¡¯t mean to be rude, his demeanor softened he reached out and put his hand on Julie''s forearm, ¡° that is why I need you.¡± Jason noticed her hands were still shaking, he let go of her arm and handed the bottle of whisky to her, ¡°here it will help your nerves.¡± Jason said,


    Without a moment''s thought Julie grabbed the bottle and took three large gulps before putting the bottle down. The burn of the whisky  made her cough.


    ¡°Damn¡± Jason said jokingly but still astonished, and Julie cracked a small smile, the first genuine smile Jason had seen in a long time.


    Julie grabbed the forceps and looked at the first wound in Jason¡¯s chest.


    ¡°I can¡¯t do this!¡± She said frantically.


    ¡°Julie, you just need to relax, don¡¯t worry about me I¡¯ve had worse¡­ here every wound you stitch up you can ask any question that you want and I¡¯ll answer whatever it is. Then I¡¯ll ask you a question, that way we can calm down and loosen up.¡± Jason said reassuringly. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°Ok.ok.ok¡± Julie took a couple deep breaths and plunged the forceps into the first hole. The pain was intense pain but manageable due to the heavy buzz from the whisky. Julie found the bullet quicker than Jason had expected and pulled it out with a fleshy squish.


    ¡°UmphI...see you''re a pro.¡± Jason said through gritted teeth.


    ¡°Yea you really don¡¯t sound convincing¡± she replied jokingly as she picked up the stitching needle and thread. ¡° If you thought that was impressive just wait till you see my sewing ability.¡± She poured a little whisky in the wound and moved in close to start stitching up the hole. After the first few stitches she briefly looked up and their eyes met. ¡°So why are you in xenon city, you aren''t like the other people who live here.¡± She asked, she then continued to stitch.


    ¡°Well it is not originally from nexus at all. I was born and raised on citadel.¡± Julie stopped her stitching and looked up with a furrowed brow.


    ¡°So you are with the capital forces then,what are you a spy then?¡± Julie said this with a venomous tone, Jason had to be careful with his answers the people on nexus hated the capital forces ever since they set up a planetary enforcement armada that changed most nexians life for the worse, but he owed her the truth. Jason re-engaged eye contact, ¡°Actually I was a captain of the capital rangers galactic frontier force, but that was over five years ago before I was discharged and given outbound status.¡± Julie¡¯s expression softened and went back to stitching, Jason continued.


    ¡°5 years ago I was part of battle with the revolutionaries, we were defending a mine of some sort, I don¡¯t even remember what purpose it had, but we were defending it. One morning the revolutionaries staged a daring frontal assault and we¡­I wasn¡¯t prepared for it. We were vastly outnumbered and I was the only survivor and was taken captive.¡± Jason grimaces as Julie pulls the thread tight and tied off the first stitch clipping the excess with her teeth. She looked back at him waiting to hear if there was more.


    ¡°For the next few months I was in their captivity being tortured and questioned, but I was trained to never break and I did not. The revolutionaries got tired of getting nowhere so they tried to us me as a ransom and get some of their captives back in return. The capital denied this request and sent them a video of their friend in captivity being executed by the empress¡¯ master of the guard. I thought the revolutionaries were going to kill me but months went on and nothing happened, they eventually just released me. I didn¡¯t want to stick around any longer so I booked the first flight back to my old life and soon realized I had been deemed ¡®outbound only¡¯, Since then I¡¯ve had to scrape by as best I can here.¡±


    Julie thought for a moment, ¡° did you lose your arm when you were with the revolutionaries?¡±


    Jason looked at her with a slight smile and shook his head ¡°it¡¯s my turn to ask a question, how did you get to working for that seedy nightclub?¡±


    Julie poured whisky in his arm and began sewing up the entry wound. ¡°I figured that would come up.¡± She sighed. ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t have the happiest home life, In fact I would say it was downright awful.¡± She glanced away from Jason¡¯s arm and met his eyes for a moment then turned away. ¡°When I was younger my parents used to fight a lot and when they got extra mad my sister and I could get caught up in the crossfire. She did everything she could to take the brunt of the abuse herself to protect me which took a toll on her. One day after an especially bad fight my father beat my her so bad that she had to get rushed to the hospital... The damage was very bad, and it left her with one eye.¡± Julie stifled a tear but not quite enough to let it not affect her voice. ¡°The next morning, I woke up to a peacefully quiet morning and I knew something was up, I walked into my parents¡¯ room and found what was wrong. My mom was laying in a pool of her own blood. It looked as though she had been pushed hard against the wall, but unlike all the other times this sort of thing happened; this time it looked like she tripped and caught the corner of a nightstand on the way down. That was nothing compared to my father. His head had been crushed to the point he was no longer recognizable by a hammer which was still lodged in the bloody mess.¡± Julie stopped to gather herself, and this time Jason noticed a tear rolling down her face; She quickly wiped it away. I remember running from the room to throw up. It was a horrible sight but what was worse was how I felt¡­there was relief.¡±


    ¡°How did your sister feel about it¡± Jason spoke up in the pause. Julie looked at him with sadness in her eyes.


    ¡°There was a note placed in the kitchen from my sister. In the note she said when she woke up that night, she heard the fight. It was about something trivial, but our dad was very mad like usual. When she walked in the room, she witnessed our dad push mom and she saw her lifeless body hit the floor. she said in the letter she didn''t remember exactly what happened next when she regained control, she was sitting on top of our dad covered in blood. she had to skip town because the enforcers would kick in the door looking for her, but she felt confident that I would find my feet. That is when I hit the streets and eventually picked up my drug ¡°interest¡±. The only way to pay for a habit like that was working in the clubs and that¡¯s what I¡¯ve been doing for the past few years.¡±


    She pulled the stitches tight and tied it off, and took another drink of whisky. ¡°It can be tough, but you know the money is really good and I can get my elisium for cheap so it all works out for me.¡± Jason looked at her with a pained expression but didn¡¯t say anything.


    ¡°Where else did you get hit bud?¡± Jason shifted uncomfortably from the bullet lodged in his hip and his embarrassment from the location of the wound .


    ¡°Well this will be the worst one.¡± He said with an anxious tone. Jason said as he stood up and pulled his pants down alittle to expose the bullet hole in his lower hip. Julie knelt down beside Jason and staralized the site and began digging in the wound for the bullet. This one would be tougher to fix since the bullet had broken into 3 or 4 pieces on impact. She pulled the first shard free and dropped it on the counter. She could tell that Jason was uncomfortable being in this compromising position.


    ¡°You know you don¡¯t have to be embarrassed, I¡¯ve seen a lot of asses in my time.¡± Julie joked, Jason stopped tensing up and let out a laugh at his own expense, the laugh turned to a grunt as Julie ripped out a piece of lead that was lodged deep in his hip.


    ¡°Ow¡±, Jason muttered, Julie sighed and rolled her eyes though Jason couldn''t see it.


    ¡°Are all you big tough guys such pussies when it comes to wound care?¡± She said as she grabbed the last fragment and pulled it free.


    ¡°Well Getting shot is the easy part.¡± Jason joked through the pain.


    Julie drank another gulp and began sewing up the last wound, ¡°So answer my last question, how did you lose your arm?¡± Jason was worried about this question could he tell her what truly happened? Should he lie? Would she even believe him? He took a drink from the bottle and swallowed it comically loud.


    ¡°I lost it In a card game¡­¡±


    Julie stabbed him hard with the needle. ¡°you said you would answer truthfully!¡±  She pleaded, Jason shrugged. ¡°Ok wise guy, why haven¡¯t you gotten a prosthetic? It can¡¯t be easy running around the red light with one arm.¡±


    This he could answer,


    ¡°Well as you know there are not many medical resources in the red light for us, that and my outbound status makes it impossible to get access to any prosthetics worth having. But I have gotten used to using my left hand at this point so I figure why bother.¡± Julie laughed at that last statement. ¡°You ¡°should¡± bother, that way you don¡¯t have to hire a prostitute to be your doctor. ¡± Both laughed at the absurdity of the situation. Julie pulled the last stitch tight and placed the equipment on the kitchen bar next to Jason, and leaned against it to look at him. ¡°Well, next time you get shot up, you know who to call.¡± She placed her hand on Jason¡¯s face and drew a line across his chin as she walked by him toward the door, ¡°hopefully you won¡¯t need me too soon.¡± She said jokingly. Jason looked forward at the empty space that Julie was just standing in deep in thought, ¡°you know¡­¡­ I paid for the whole night.¡± Julie stopped walking and stood  in the front doorway. Jason turned slightly and looked over toward her, ¡°if you want some rest you can stay here tonight..I¡¯ll take the couch and you can take the bed, I know it¡¯s not much but I¡¯m sure you could use a peaceful night.¡± Julie''s eyes began to water.


    ¡°Thanks¡±.

 Chapter 3

    Black mist swelled around Jason as dead friends called to him. The only thing that he could see was a massive grey mountain range erecting out of the black mass on which he stood. The smell of sulfur was in the air, it burned into his lungs. Just as Jason took a step toward the mountains a large claw snapped around Jason¡¯s body and yanked him backward, it felt as if his bones were shattering under shear force. The claw rotated and he was now fact to face with the monster Azothoth.


    ¡°HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN YOUR PURPOSE, BRING ME FOLLOWERS AND BRING ME TO YOUR REALM. I AM ETERNAL AND I HAVE WAITED ETERNAL, IF YOU CAUSE MY HOLY CONQUEST TO BE POSTPONED ANY LONGER¡­¡± Azothoth brought Jason in very close so that he was looking right into the stinking maw of the beast. ¡°YOU WILL KNOW TORMENT UNLIKE ANY OTHER.¡±


    To Jason¡¯s horror he was placed in the monster''s mouth head first. Azothoth closed his teeth hard down onto the middle of Jason back. The pain was blinding and he let out a blood curdling scream. The pressure gave way to a grotesque wet pop and his lower half was separated from the rest of him. He was being sloshed around in the monster''s mouth until the second bite sent him into a cold blackness.


    ¡­.


    Jason rocketed up to a sitting position panting and sweating. His first instinct was to check and make sure his legs were still attached, and frantic pat check confirmed they were still there. With a sigh of relief he leaned back against the armrest on the couch.


    ¡°It was only a dream. it felt so real. I can still taste blood in my mouth. Why does this keep happening.¡± Jason thought, he sat up looking around his unit and saw Julie. She was also sitting up on his bed, she was wearing one of Jason¡¯s shirts which was large on her. She was not looking at him but rather at the syringe that sat on the side table.


    ¡°I lied to you last night.¡± She said in a tone that only just covered her emotions. ¡°I said that I didn¡¯t mind working for the club, because the money was good.¡± Jason stood up and limped over and sat next to her.


    ¡°The truth is I feel like a prisoner in my own skin. I get beaten and abused every day and I take the drugs to cope with the pain, but the pain of not having any elysium may be worse then the abuse I go through to get it.¡± She finally broke her stare and looked at Jason, he could tell she was having withdrawals by just how bloodshot her eyes were. Jason looked at her and then to the syringe which he just realized was still full.


    Elysium had an almost dream-like high but the crash was so hard the body sometimes shut down, which was why it was such a power tool for criminals to keep people slaves. How was she resisting?


    ¡°My whole life has been filled with unspeakable cruelty which drove me to elysium but last night your kindness made me not crave it for the first time in years.¡± Julie stifled a cry. ¡° I don¡¯t want to be in this life anymore. I want to leave and never look back.¡± Jason put his arm around her shoulders.


    ¡°What are you going to do?¡± He asked.


    ¡°Well you are a bounty hunter right? I was thinking I could learn the ropes with you and maybe start a new life that way. What do you think?¡±


    Jason looked off for a moment, ¡°I don¡¯t know Julie bounty hunting is a tough job¡­ I mean look what I just had to deal with. Are you sure you want to take this kind of risk?¡± Jason pleaded.


    ¡°I¡¯m sure, I have been thinking about it all night. I really think this is my way out. No one from the club will come after me if I¡¯m in the bounty business and if I have work to do then I can keep my mind off elysium and maybe break the cycle I have been in. Please Jason.¡±


    Jason leaned back and sighed loudly, ¡°ok, but if we are going to be partners you will need to follow everything I say to the letter. Do you understand?¡± Jason said in a very serious and stern tone.


    ¡°Oh Yes, sir!¡± Julie said with an over exaggerated salute.


    Jason rolled his eyes ¡°life is about to get more interesting.¡± He thought.


    ¡­..


    ¡°What¡¯s that one?¡± Julie said from a seat at the back of the smoky bar,


    ¡°That¡¯s a kajik mule, if someone buys you one it means the job they have for you is some sort of heist?¡± The bartender passed the drink off to a man hidden by a large round hat.


    Julie looked confused ¡°Why do they do that?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s better to choose jobs or turn them down inconspicuously, so that everyone has deniability in case an enforcer comes in.¡± Jason said then raised his eyebrow thinking of all the different job orders. ¡°Kajik mules are heists, beers are street level hits like robbery or assault. Then there is vodka straight is a hit mission and if it has citrus then it is a high profile dangerous hit. Tequila drinks are drug related jobs such as drug field burning or sales. Then there is whisky, these jobs are highly confidential and require massive amounts of money to place.¡±


    Julie was even more confused now as she was trying to write down all the different orders and their meanings. ¡°Have you ever done a whisky job?¡± she asked, to which Jason pointed to his chest. ¡°This was a whisky job.¡± He said and Julie''s eyes widened, ¡°what happened?¡± She said feeling embarrassed she was just now asking that question.


    ¡°There was a guy who works for an implant company. He hired me to destroy a warehouse that a black market group was storing stolen product.¡± Jason looked at Julie, ¡° he only paid half of his bounty, that¡¯s actually why we are here.¡± As if on cue Salv walked up to the table, ¡°what can I get you two?¡± He said with his voice made gruff from years of smoking. Jason sat up and looked at Salv, ¡°who was the guy who hired me yesterday?¡±


    Salv feigned offense, ¡°Jason What are you talking about, you know I only deliver the orders-¡°


    ¡°We both know you do more than that.¡± Jason cut him off. ¡°He only paid half of his bounty and I need to find him, I know you know who he is.¡± Jason said as he placed a case of credits on the table.


    ¡°Oh him, we¡¯ll let me think.¡± Salv scrunched his face and rubbed his chin in a mocking manner.


    The man you talked to is named Migo Nakamuri, he is in charge of sapphire industries¡¯ tech department.¡±  Jason furrowed his brow, ¡°hmm that makes sense, he fucked up and lost expensive tech and wanted me to cover it up, did he hope I died in the raid?¡± Jason Questioned to himself softly. He snapped his attention back to Salv.


    ¡°Where is he!?¡±


    The sudden movement startled Salv and it made him take a step back. ¡°I¡¯m sure he is at the sapphire offices in uptown, it¡¯s on the bay, big blue tower, can¡¯t miss it.¡± Salv reached for the case of credits and Jason stood up and smashed his hand down on top of the case before Salv could take it. Jason leaned in close to salv¡¯s face, ¡°don¡¯t make me come back here upset.¡± Jason said coldly, and lifted his hand. Salv grabbed the case and scurried off to the bar muttering something along the lines of happy hunting.


    Jason turned to Julie,


    ¡°Lets go.¡±


    ¡­


    It only took 15 mins and 100 credits to get from the red light district to the upper city. The sky car was empty other than Jason and Julie. Empty sky cars were common because most people of lower status could not afford the trip into the upper city and judging by julies Look of wonder it must have been her first time. The sun was high in the sky but the city wide artificial wind cooled down the otherwise hot terrace.


    ¡°We need to get you some new clothes.¡± Jason said as he stepped out of the car at the bustling station.


    ¡°Why? Don¡¯t get me wrong, I love going shopping, but What''s wrong with what I¡¯m wearing?¡±


    Jason gave her a look over and cocked his eyebrow. She was wearing one of his shirts which hung loose and long on her small frame, a pair of tight leather pants that she had been wearing when Jason first met her, and to pull the whole outfit together she had Jason¡¯s brown bomber jacket that had the right sleeve missing exposing her bare arm.


    ¡° you look like a punk¡­ people up here in the upper city don¡¯t like ¡°red light scum¡± like us and will call the enforcers so fast it will make your head spin.¡± As Jason moved through the crowd he was shoved hard by a heavy set man in a suit who was passing by. Jason shot him a look that said what the fuck man, and then turned back to Julie, ¡°besides I know just the guy, think of it as a make over.¡± He moved his hand in an arc as if reading an imaginary billboard, ¡°hussy to hunter.¡±


    Julie hit him in his shoulder, ¡°yer¡¯a dumb ass.¡±


    The walk only took 10 mins until they arrived at ¡°High elegance¡±. This was a store that many bounty hunters in the upper city frequented. That was because the owner, a man named Omar, was the primary arms dealer in the upper city and had many connections to the red light district. Luckily one of those contacts was Jason and Omar owed him big. Jason hit the door hard to open it ¡°Omar!! How are you old man!¡±


    Omar jumped almost out of his skin, ¡° Jason you son of a bitch! What are you doing here!?¡± The two men embraced. Omar broke the hug after a moment and held Jason at an arm''s length by the shoulders. ¡°What are you doing here?!¡± Omar exclaimed with excitement.


    ¡° Well I wish I could say it was a social visit, but you know me. I need to call in a favor.¡± Jason said and Omar¡¯s joyous expression soured ever so slightly.


    ¡°Ahhhh, this have something to do with her?¡± He looked at Julie. ¡°Do you need an abortion pill?¡±


    Julie snapped ¡°Hey fucker! I don¡¯t know what the-¡°, Jason quickly cut her off with his hand, and Brushed past Omar to walk toward the back of the store where he knew Omar had a hidden door.


    ¡°She is taking up bounty hunting and we need to outfitted with something more,¡± Jason turned around and leaned on a glass case, ¡°her style.¡±


    Omar looked at Julie and rubbed his bearded chin for a moment long enough for Julie to look uncomfortable, Jason broke the silence. ¡°So I need to call in that favor you owe me.¡±


    Omar snapped out of his daze, ¡°akkch, You don¡¯t need to use your favor, I think I have some extra stock in the back I can give you. Omar lead the way to the hidden door tucked behind a shelf and Jason held the curtain out of the way signaling it was ok for Julie to come in. She walked over a little hesitant, swallowed her nerves and walked down the stairs.


    ¡°Welcome back to my real shop!¡± Omar exclaimed with arms outstretched as if in wonder of his own product. ¡°What do we need to get the lady.¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    ¡°The name is Julie!¡± She said with a bit of false confidence. Omar looked back at the pair, ¡°what do we need to get Miss Julie?¡±


    Julie looked at Jason smuggly, and Jason spoke up, ¡°all we need is a gun and holster, some ammo and some new clothes, you got that stuff right?¡± Omar feigned offense,


    ¡°Am I not Omar Zapaldi, the great gun lord of nexus?¡± Omar waved them off and walked to a control panel, I think I have what you need. He pressed a button and the inventory racks rose out of the floor to show more stock, which included weapons, equipment and clothing.


    Jason looked at Julie, ¡°what look do you want to go for?¡±


    She took a step forward in consideration. ¡°I''m thinking¡­..a sexy assassin look, do you have that, Omar?¡± She said this with an almost flirtatious eyebrow raise.


    ¡° Unfortunately all of my sexy assassin outfits were picked up this morning by a group of nuns. I think they were going to attack a corrupt priest.. they talked about being God vengeance or something like that.¡±


    Julie was stunned, are you serious? They were nuns?¡±


    Omar looked over at her, ¡°honey, I¡¯m always serious.. I have something else you might like though.¡± He reached in the back and pulled out a  black biker jacket that had lighting installed in the reinforced areas as well as in the inner lining along the zipper and collar. The red lighting gave off a dim glow. There was metal reinforcement along the spine that could, when activated, move upward to create a helmet That encased the top half of the wearer''s head down to the nose.The pants were leather like the ones she had on, but had been reinforced by a metal wire mesh in areas that are most likely to take damage. They had a built in holster as well as pockets along the belt for utilities and equipment.


    ¡° Oh, I love this!¡± She turned to Jason and held it up to her body, ¡°what do you think?¡±


    Jason nodded, ¡°it looks good.¡± Julie and Jason switched places so he could pick her out a gun and she could change In relative privacy.


    ¡°Jason what do you think she can handle?¡± Omar said standing at the end of the aisle watching Jason inspect each weapon. She wouldn¡¯t be able to Handle a justice revolver, since it is so heavy and will kick the shit out of her, but a hand repeater might be the way to go. He thought as he lifted the weapon system up to further inspect it.


    ¡°Julie, are you done changing?!¡± He shouted across the large room.


    ¡°Ya just a second.¡± She replied as she bounded, out of the semi black darkness.


    ¡°Here try this on.¡± Jason said, holding out the hand repeater.


    ¡°Wow I haven¡¯t seen one of these before.¡± She said as she slid the weapon up her arm.


    That¡¯s because they are top of the line in gun technology. Uncle Omar will always hook you up with the best.¡± Omar said swinging his arms in an animated motion. She held the gun out in front of her peering through the sights and squeezed the trigger *click*. A large smile cracked across Julie''s face and her head snapped to look at Omar with an expression of glee.


    ¡°We¡¯ll take it!¡±


    ------------------


    Omar bid them farewell As they left high excellence with Julie''s new bounty hunting gear. ¡°Ah! I feel so new and fresh!! Jason, how do I look?¡± Julie drew the gun from her wrist and mouthed a firing noise. Jason quickly lowered her arm, ¡°you can¡¯t do that here! The upper city doesn''t like to see guns. You do look good by the way, very intimidating.¡± He stated in an effort to flatter her. The truth was she still looked green and untested. No real bounty hunter looked that clean and damage free, the truth was bounty hunting was much harder then she realized. They walked in silence for a few blocks until Julie broke the silence, ¡° how do you know Omar? y¡¯all seemed close.¡±


    Jason thought for a moment, ¡° it had been a long time.¡± He started, ¡°well Omar hired me on his first venture into the lower city to make contacts and build his blackmarket empire. He hired me and 3 other guys from the bar to accompany him as muscle. Most of his meetings went great, but the last one was with a gang called the street rats. It was going well until the leader, a guy named Honcho decided that it would be better to steal Omar¡¯s guns and sell them himself. This minor brawl spread to the streets and before we knew it the most of the gangs in the red light were fighting each other. Omar was wounded and I basically carried him back to the upper city. Ever since then we have been fairly close¡­ close friends that live in different districts can be.¡±


    Julie contemplated for a momet and then said, ¡°I¡¯m sorry I snapped at him earlier about the abortion pill.¡±


    Jason had wondered why Omar was able to get under her skin like that. ¡°I meant to ask Why were you so bothered by him?¡±


    Julie got very serious, it was something Jason had not seen from her before.


    ¡°You don¡¯t know much from the girls that work in the clubs do you?¡± She looked at Jason and he shook his head. ¡°Well once they decide to start renting a girl out, they will use a drug to sterilize us¡­ they did that to me three years ago. I didn¡¯t have a choice. I couldn¡¯t have a child now even if I wanted to. I have always been sensitive toward that and now that I¡¯m having elysium withdrawal¡­ I don¡¯t know, I shouldn¡¯t have lost my temper, so I¡¯m sorry alright.¡±


    Jason was speechless, the thought of the clubs torturing and operating on the girls without a choice made his blood boil, it was truly worse then he had thought.


    ¡°Julie, you don¡¯t have to apologize, because You were abused. If we are going to be partners you need to know I¡¯ll have your back, ok?¡±


    Julie stopped, and thought for a moment. She spoke, ¡°why are you being so kind to me?¡±, Jason stepped toward her and put his hand on her shoulder,


    ¡°When I had no one to help me, you did, you could have left. I wouldn¡¯t have stopped you, but you stayed and helped me, the kindness you showed me had inspired me to try and be a better person.¡±


    ¡°Well, i''m not used to it so it makes me feel skeptical, you know? Other than my Sister i''ve never really had someone look out for me. I don''t know, I like it but it feels weird.¡±


    Jason felt for the young woman. The past five years had not been easy on him either the red light had a way of wearing down the people who lived there.


    Jason dropped his arm and walked over to a railing that overlooked some of the upper city. When I was left here I wasn''t used to not having back up. Being part of the Citadels military taught me to lean on others, to form a unit of trust and loyalty. It''s hard to tell out here on the galactic rim but in the core worlds there is an unquestioning loyalty to Empress Vikander. We all were blinded by the wealth and prosperity she brought to the core worlds that we didnt care who was being oppressed. So when I was abandoned by them 5 years ago and given outbound status I was lost and confused. The rules I had lived by my whole life were now being used against me. I fell in with the wrong people and for a long time I hurt people for the highest bidder.¡± Jason sighed and looked at Julie. ¡°I couldn''t stand on my own for a long time. What i''m saying is I know how you feel. I understand that you are skeptical, but I wish that someone could have taught me to stand on my own when I was starting out and I see a way to help you avoid the mistakes that I made.¡±


    Julie nodded silently as she thought of what to say. ¡°Thank you... I guess what i''m trying to say is I appreciate your help. I just have a hard time expressing that¡­¡± Julie shook off the emotional conversation with a comical head shake. ¡°Any way, let''s get going before we get emotional, yea?


    With a nod and a smirk, Jason turned from the overlook and lead the way to the massive blue building towering in the distance.


    -----------


    The remaining distance to sapphire industries was covered by a brief walk across the sky walk where the filtered water from the bay ran underneath giving the two a beautiful overlook view of the clean and beautiful cityscape. Sapphire industries was housed in a huge 50 story tower that was colored a brilliant blue. The only thing  that was not glass was a dark blue hologram sign that ran up the side of the building with the name SAPPHIRE INDUSTRIES. Julie and Jason walked in the large doors to an even larger lobby. The air was cool and it smelled of artificial ocean breeze.


    ¡°How can I help you?¡± A thin beautiful woman with cybernetically enhanced blue eyes said from behind the desk.


    ¡°We are looking for a man named Migo Nakamuri, we have business with him.¡± Jason said in a calm professional voice.


    ¡°Unfortunately sir, Mr. Nakamuri is not taking any visitors at this time.¡±


    the woman didn¡¯t sound human, she must have a voice modulator. Jason was beginning to get upset, ¡°look-¡° Julie put a hand on his chest to stop him. She leaned down putting her weight on the edge of the desk. ¡°Honey, we just got a call from Mr. Nakamuri himself. He told us he had a very sensitive topic to discuss. Now I know you are on the lookout for people looking to steal from your company or harm Mr. Nakamuri in some way but.¡± Julie spread her arms out to show off her Clean, fresh, and high tech outfit. ¡°I mean does it look like I''m some street hustler from the redlight.¡±


    ¡°Uh,no ma¡¯am you dont, I just..¡± The woman was cut off by Julie who continued her methodical rant. ¡°You just what? Want to tell Migo that he has to call us back because his receptionist couldn¡¯t be bothered to let up his guests? How long before he decides he needs a new receptionist and deactivates that tech you got in your eyes.


    ¡°Uh.. Um..I-I¡¯ll buzz you right up.¡± Jason noticed the woman¡¯s voice didn¡¯t have the robotic tone she had spoken in moments before, Jason smiled slightly, this woman was completely flabbergasted by Julie''s confidence. Julie and Jason began to walk toward the lift.


    The ride up to the top of the building was long and silent. Jason broke the tension after a few moments of awkward silence, ¡°So...uh, good job back there.¡± Julie giggled,


    ¡° No I mean it, that was great! I probably would have never gotten us thrown out. How did you know that would work.


    Julie looked up at him with a coy smile, ¡°There is not much good to come out of working the club, but I do know people. I figured by her outfit and that cosmetic tech she was self obsessed. If I made her feel like she could lose that then I knew she would be easily convinced to let us up. Self obsessed people are the easiest to manipulate.¡±


    ¡°Thats a great skill to have in this line of work. Keep that in mind.¡±


    Jason looked at her, she tapped the side of her head, ¡°Noted.¡±


    The doors opened and the two made their way down the hallway to Nakamuri¡¯s office.


    Migo Nakamuri sat behind a huge oak desk, in an equally obnoxiously large office space. The room was wood paneled with faint glow of neon lighting clinging to the walls.


    ¡° Mr. Nakamuri! I think we need to discuss some business.¡± Jason said as spread his arms put in welcoming jester.¡±  Jason said as he entered the room.


    Migo muttered something into his phone and hung up.


    ¡°Hello? And who are you?¡±


    We have come to collect the second half of my bounty you placed, you only paid half.¡±


    Migo shifted nervously in his chair, but was otherwise calm and collected, a true professional.


    ¡°Sir, I Assure you I don¡¯t have any idea what you are talking about.¡± Migo said as he glanced up at a small camera in the Corner of the room. ¡°If you explain what this is all about then I can direct you to the right office.¡±


    Jason became visually angry, ¡° Are you playing some kind of game? I swear if you are trying to cut me out of our deal then I¡¯ll-¡° Jason couldn¡¯t complete his sentence before he heard the elevator open behind him.


    ¡° security apprehend this man!¡± Migo shouted and ducked behind his desk. Jason wheeled around and six armed men exited the elevator and began to rush Jason and Julie. Jason pulled his gun out but it was just too late as one of the guards put his shoulder into Jason''s chest sending him kareening over the desk. When Jason recovered the guard was on him with a batton. The man swung hard at Jason¡¯s head, but he anticipated this ducked under and countered with a heavy punch to the man''s exposed ribs. The guard dropped the baton and gasped for air. Jason seized the moment and kicked the man''s legs out from underneath him, sending the guard to the floor. Scrambling to catch his breath the guard clumsily crawled toward the dropped baton but Jason lifted his leg and brought his foot down hard onto the guards head with a guttural crack.


    ¡°Ok that¡¯s one.¡± Jason said as he surveyed the room. Julie had shot two guards wounding them but now was being beaten to the flood by the other two that had approached her. Jason jumped into action running the length of the room to pick up his gun that had been lost in the scuffle. Just as he lifted it to take aim a blinding pain shot up his spine as an stun round hit him and a released its high voltage payload taking him down to his knees,


    ¡°Jason!¡± Julie shouted as one of the guards hit her hard in the face with his batton¡­ she was out. Jason tried to stand to his feet but two more stun rounds hit him knocking him to the ground. By now the guards were on him holding him to the ground. *clap clap clap*


    Jason turned his head in the direction of the sound. Migo approached, clapping slowly his wrist mounted stun gun still smoking at the barrel. ¡°Bravo Jason, bravo.¡± He said mockingly. ¡°You crawled all the way up from that shit hole you call a district for what¡­ a little money?¡± Migo scofft, ¡°what were you going to do, extort me? Threaten me? Sapphire industries is one of the biggest most successful companies in all of nexus, and you thought you could come shake me down like a common thug?¡±


    ¡°Migo I''ll get-¡° Jason was cut off by one of the guards hitting him it the head with a baton.


    ¡°While you are here you will not interrupt me!¡± Migo shouted but noticing he lost his cool he gathered himself and continued. ¡°we are going to restructure our little deal, and if you do it well we won¡¯t kill you..¡±


    ¡°And if I refuse?¡± Jason asked,


    ¡° Then we can just kill you and your little girlfriend now and get some other fool to do it.¡±


    Jason sighed,¡±well it looks like I don¡¯t have any choice now do I. What¡¯s the job?¡±


    ¡°Oh! Well that would spoil it! All you have to do is go back to your old life and we will be in touch when the time is right. Take him to the dump site.¡± The guards began to drag Jason toward a door in the far side of the room. ¡°Oh and Jason, don¡¯t ever come back here or we will kill you before you can get into the lobby.¡±


    With that, a bag was placed over Jason¡¯s head and the door shut.

 Chapter 4

    Hours passed as Jason waited, cuffed in a Sapphire Industrys shuttle. He tried getting the attention of passers by but after yelling into the void for some time he decided it was useless. Where was Julie? Was she hurt? Was she alive? He had gotten her into this mess because he underestimated his opponent and now he found himself on the wrong end of some serious leverage. Migo said that he had a use for him that remained a mystery and that made Jason anxious.


    *VERRRRRRRR* The shuttle''s engines started up with a jarring rumble.


    The shuttle ride didn¡¯t last long. Jason figured that it meant they were taking him back down to the red light district. The landing struts sent another shutter through the craft. Two men came up to him and lifted him from the bench he had been tethered to. Within three steps Jason was thrust from the shuttle and into the wet cold mud. The men grabbed his legs and tied them to his wrist in a hog tie fashion. Laying in the mud Jason heard the men heave out a heavy object that hit the wet ground with a thud followed by another lighter thump of a second object. The men walked by him toward the shuttle and one of the two made his presence known with a swift kick to Jason¡¯s ribs taking the air out of his lung. Jason struggled for breath as the shuttle lifted off and flew away. Jason struggled blindly to find anything that he could use to cut his bindings. After Slithering through the mud for some time he came across a sharp object which he found as it ripped into his back as he thrashed about in the mud. Jason moved his bonds up and down against the sharp object over and over until the rope was cut freeing his wrist and allowing him to take the hood off his head. Jason observed his surroundings and saw by the towering piles of jagged junk that he must be in the red light¡¯s dumping zone. He looked back to where the shuttle had been and was Julie laying in the mud still unconscious and bleeding from what looked like an incision her head and next to her was Jason''s gun. Jason moved to her side and tried to wake her but it was no use. As he reholsterd his gun, thunder in the distance alerted him that the humid nexus night was about to give way to rain. He had to get some shelter soon. Placing Julie on his good shoulder he waded deeper into the junk.


    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­


    The sound of a Thunder clap woke Julie up with a violent jolt, in fact it was so violent that she almost knocked herself hitting her head on the metal debris Jason had put her under.


    ¡°Ow¡± she said out loud rubbing the bump she had on her head from their incident with the sapphire guards.


    ¡°Be careful over there.¡± jason said in a low tone devoid of emotion. He was sitting under the wing of a long abandoned spacecraft working hard to get a fire started. Julie got up from where she lay and crawled through the wreckage to sit next him.


    ¡®¡°What happened back there Jason?


    Jason shook his head thinking for a moment silently, ¡°We- I was played. Migo set some sort of trap and I walked right into it.¡±  Julie could see the frustration and anger manifest in the furrow of his brow, ¡°Now we are being forced to play his game.¡± Julie looked at him confused.


    ¡°What game Jason, what are you talking about!?¡±


    ¡°I don''t know¡± Jason said very matter of factly, ¡°All Migo said is that he had some plan for us and that when the time is right we would know.¡± Julie stood up, ¡°Well that Fucker pissed me off, and i''m not going to wait here while someone uses me again! Come on, we know what we are up against now so now if we go in we---``Jason grabbed her arm and pulled her back inside the shelter. He had furry in his eyes.


    ¡°Don''t you get it, he already has us! There is nothing we can do about it. Companies like sapphire have a lot of guns and eyes everywhere. Migo said he would kill us the second we walk into the lobby so we don''t have a chance to get at him. He won, we have to do his job.¡±


    Julie sighed and bit her lip in frustration, ¡°Well¡­ What do we do now?¡± jason looked around arbitrarily,


    ¡°Well our first move is to get out of this junk yard. I know it looks nice but there are some bad characters that live in here, and I¡¯d rather not get caught by some junk head looking for food.¡± After walking for hours through rust covered valleys, the sound of the perpetual rain was broken by the sound of rustling at the top of one of the huge mounds of scraps. Jason looked up briefly and caught a glimpse of a figure quickly ducking behind the empty hull of a ruger speeder. We


    ¡°Be ready.. I think we are being watched¡± Jason stated in a hushed tone.


    ¡°What? Where do you see them? Julie replied, becoming tense. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    ¡°Try to calm down ok. Stay loose. Being tense will throw off your aim, besides you did great back at sapphire tower and there is no way these guys have the skill those corpo¡¯s did.`` Jason said reassuringly, soon after he said this the chanting started. Voices rose over the piles of junk, the chant was in some language Jason could not understand. It seemed like they were using it to organize their approach, Jason had heard stories of the junk dwellers attacking workers who had the unfortunate task of entering the dump zone. Jason leaned over to Julie, ¡°Here''s the plan, it sounds like there are a lot of them coming for us but guns are pretty rare here so they will most likely charge us with improvised weapons. We have the advantage of moving  back the way we came and using the tight valleys so they will not be able to overwhelm us. Ok?¡± Julie nodded just as the horde rounded a bend up ahead some 150 yards. Jason unholstered his gun and pointed it at the oncoming Junk dwellers, this was going to be interesting, he thought.


    The leader of the horde shouted something over the chanting and the roar of at least 50 Junk dwellers swelled into the night sky and they charged. Jason could not make out the members in the back of the group, but all of the front line of the charging horde had only makeshift weapons. Bang! Jason''s shot rang out and found its target exiting the man''s body with a reddish mist.Bang Bang Bang! Julie''s bullets tore down the range with less accuracy but at 100 yards he couldn¡¯t blame her. The night was filled with gunfire Julie and Jason were firing as fast as they could pull the trigger. Jason had killed at least 15 of the oncoming wave before he had to give the order. ¡°Fall back! I''ll Cover you!¡± He yelled, Julie didn¡¯t waste a moment and sprinted back the way had come. Jason walked backwards picking off a few more before a retreat was absolutely necessary . Bang, the last bullet ripped through the air and collided with a man center mass at 20 yards leaving a smoking hole in his chest as he fell. Jason turned and ran to where julie was tucked into a small ravine in between to large mounds. As he moved bullets whizzed past him as she covered his retreat, she was good, he thought as he made it to cover. Jason only had time to turn around and reload before the wave of bodies crashed into the narrow ravine. Jason and Julie fired furiously filling the ravine floor with bodies and blood, it didn''t matter how many they killed, more junk dwellers kept flooding through. Jason knew they were being overrun. He holstered his gun for a moment to hand Julie a long cylindrical tube with a pull pin on top. ¡°I need you to take this flare and climb to the top of this heap. If we are lucky some one might come and help us get out of this shit.¡± he shouted over the noise of gunfire and guttural screams. ¡°What if no one comes?!¡± Julie asked frantically,


    ¡° You can''t think of that right now, just climb!¡±


    Jason moved to where Julie stood so he could get a better sight line of the battlefield. The horde was seemingly endless, he had to think quickly to stem their assault. He looked around in between shots and noticed that the foundation of the trash mound directly to his left had been damaged in the assault and was now unstable, only supported by a single steel beam. Jason maneuvered over to the beam and gave it a hard kick. The beam only moved a little. He kicked the beam again with the same effect. The junkers were almost on top of him, he would probably only have one more kick left before it was all over for him. He shot the nearest one who flew backwards under the influence of the bullet. ¡°Come on you son of a bitch!¡± Jason kicked the beam as hard as he could and to his surprise it broke free and tumbled out of where it was lodged. The junk mound released a loud metallic groan and then began to tumble filling the ravine with huge shards of jagged metal. Frantically Jason scurried the opposite junk mound and began climbing up the side to avoid the raging metal river which was now shredding everything in the ravine. After a few moments of climbing he reached the top and layed down on his back in exhaustion, but thankful he was not part of those below, whom he could still hear screams of agony filtering through the rubble.


    ¡°Get up.¡± Julie said in a tone of disbelief, ¡°Why?¡± jason said in between labored breaths. Julie pointed down from where he had just come, ¡°we are done yet, they are still coming.¡± Jason rolled over and saw she was correct. The second wave of junkers were crawling through the rubble below and climbing up after them.


    ¡°What do we do?¡± Julie asked anxiously. There is not a lot we can do, he thought but would not say out loud. The blue flare burned bright and gave them the most light they had in hours. The night was cool and the air atop the mound of junk was crisp¡­ there were worse ways to die. Jason raised his gun, ¡°If they want to keep coming, we will keep fighting¡± he said as the chaos in his mind cleared and he was focused in the moment. Gun fire tore through the night and drowned out the sounds of agony from below. Julie and Jason stood back to back firing down the sides of the mound, ammo was running low. A Junker had slipped by the two of them and tackled Jason to the ground. The force of the collision knocked Jason''s gun from his hand and it clattered to a halt. The junker swung down with a makeshift sword and slashed Jason''s right shoulder stump. The pain swelled but he knew the blade bounced of the bone and he was fine. The junker raised up his sword again to go for a killing blow. All of a sudden the sounds of a ship''s engine krept into Jason''s ears. It wasn''t close by but there was hope. The junker must have heard the engines too because for a brief moment it took his focus away from jason. Jason used the disracton to deliver a heavy punch that knocked the junker off of him. When the junker recovered he charged jason once more, but this time he didn''t even get close. The hair on Jason''s neck and arms stood up with a feeling of being charged by static, and all of a sudden a pink beam of crackling energy struck the junker effectively exploding his torso leaving behind only the junker''s legs and the sickening scent of vaporized meat. The engines were blasting loudly now as an C Class Ridge-razor hovering above the junk mound shooting down at the now retreating junkers, many of whom were turning into puffs of energized mist when they were hit by the ship''s main guns. The door gunner had on an old school citadel fight helmet and  motioned for jason and julie to get in the main atrium.without a moment''s notice jason jogged over to the ship and followed Julie inside. All at once the engines roared to life and launched the ship into the night cool night sky.

 Chapter 5

    The electronic whir of the ship''s doors were faintly audible over the sound of the whipping wind until the door shut and pressurized the cabin. A dim red light flooded into the central room silhouetting a broad tall figure in a dark colored flight suit and beat up tactical VR helmet that once belonged to a member of the Citadel space corps. The figure quickly pulled out his gun, a light grey tactical dual fire xeno blast, and pointed both barrels toward Jason''s face. ¡°Alright friends, toss them weapons over here, and do it quickly!¡± the voice coming from the helmeted man sounded mechanical from the vocal filter in an obvious attempt to sound more menacing. Jason and Julie unholstered their guns and tossed them in the direction of the shadowy figure. The man kicked the guns back behind him and approached Julie with a set of Mag-Cuffs. He picked up her thin frame and roughly pressed her face against the wall so he could cuff her hands behind her back. ¡° Hey bitch, you better calm down or i''m going to have to kick your ass.¡± Julie said muffled as the large man behind her pressed her face to the wall. ¡°Stop Talking Please.¡± The man asked in an oddly polite way that betrayed the voice modulators effect. He sat her down against the wall and moved to Jason to do the same. Jason was however much larger then Julie and despite the size advantage of the he still had a hard time getting Jason Lifted and pressed against the wall. Before he could get the cuffs on the man froze. ¡°Sam, He only has a single arm! What do I do?¡± the man shouted toward the front of the ship. ¡°God Damn it Eric! Force him down and figure it out! Don''t make me come back there!¡± an unseen man snapped back. Jason looked over his shoulder to look at the man behind him. ¡°This your first shake down? Your inexperience is showing.¡± Jason mocked, the man responded by pressing more weight on the back of Jason''s neck, ¡°Could you please stop talking?¡± Julie Started to snicker, ¡°Hey Buddy, you need to be more intimidating.¡± she jested and  the man spun on his heals to look at her. She could almost see his unease through the smoke tinted visor he wore.


    ¡°Eric, just check their god damn chips and tell me what we caught!¡± The pilot shouted from the front of the ship. ¡°I¡¯ll just tell you wha-¡° Jason tried to speak up but Eric cut him off by forcing his head against the  hard metallic side wall of the ship, the contact made a dull metallic thump. Eric pulled at the collar of Jason¡¯s shirt and jacket exposing the dark skin of where his shoulder met his neck, and scanned the small scar he found there with an ID reader. All at once Eric snapped up and stood ridged, ¡°Sam! He¡¯s¡­ He¡¯s a¡±, Jason complicated the sentence for him, ¡°he¡¯s a bounty hunter¡±. The ship all at once seemed to come to a shuddering halt as the engines were forced to reposition and began hovering. Light frantic footsteps could be heard scurrying down the stairs that lead to the cockpit. All of a sudden a much smaller man appeared in the doorway. He was dressed in a very suave shirt with puffy sleeves that did favors for his thin frame. His pants were the flight tights that the citadel gave their pilots so they could withstand the high G forces of the inner atmospheric travel that they would have to go through and by the yellow stripe along the outside of the legs Jason could tell that this man was part of the medical transport unit which was spoke volume to his flight skill. Before he spoke he traced the thin mustache along his dark lip with his index finger and thumb.


    ¡°Friend, I want to apologize for my colleague, he is still new to this business. Im the captain of this ship.¡± The man put his hand out emphatically. ¡°The name is Samual Peterson, welcome to my ship.¡± Jason took Samuels hand hesitantly and shook it. ¡°Right¡­ why did you pick us up if you were just going to arrest us?¡± Samual moved back as if he were shocked by the question, ¡°Well we are new to the city and heard from some folks that there are lots of convicts that hide out in the dump zones¡­ Figured we could get a quick payday¡± Jason looked at Samuel with annoyance as he spoke.


    ¡°That seems like a waste of time.¡± Jason replied quickly adding, ¡°Anyway thank you for helping out.¡±


    ¡°No problem, where can we drop you off?¡± Sam asked as he started moving back to the cockpit.


    ¡°There is a landing pad in the redlight not far from here you can drop us off there.¡± Jason said slouching back against the wall. Samuel must have heard him because the ship''s engines roared, shaking the whole cabin as they came to life and rocketed across the sky.


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Jason sat in the cabin and began to meditate on the night''s events. First off they were alive, which was an uncommon occurrence for those who were unlucky enough to be left in the dump zone. He pondered this thought while trying to forget the years he spent as an enforcer for the Neon Dragon gang, dropping undesirables in the dump zone was the most effective way to make someone disappear without a trace. The memories of the pleading victims begging him to forgive their actions against his boss just as he forcibly threw them to their deaths, rushed back into his mind. They had been lucky. The second thought was one that had been snaking its way through his mind all night but was just now rearing its head. What did sapphire want with him? He was a nobody, a bounty hunter and not even one of galactic renown. The thing that Jason was most famous for was that he only had one arm¡­ not something he wanted to be known for. As he sat quietly he noticed Julie across the cabin sitting with her knees up as to rest her arms across them. She must be exhausted, he thought as he looked at her. She had gone from working a corner to fighting for her life in a mere three days and by the look of her it was taking a toll.


    ¡°Hey, how are you feeling?¡± Jason asked over the subtle rush of wind flowing through the damaged hull. Julie lifted her head wearily and met his gaze, ¡°I think I¡¯ll make it. Now that i''m sitting down I can''t catch my breath. It feels like my heart is beating a thousand times a second.¡± Jason knew that  had to do with her coming off the adrenalin high she was having, but he noticed the more nefarious reason for her diagnosis. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    ¡°When was the last time you used?¡± Jason asked as he eyed the darkening veins running up her neck. Julie leaned her head against the wall, ¡°Am I showing that bad already? Normally I can get away with a week before I start to really feel it.¡± she looked down her nose at Jason, ¡°It has to have been at least two days.¡± Jason looked at the dark veins running across her now pale skin in a way that made her neck look as though it were fracturing, He was all too familiar with the pattern. ¡°Is it the Ectoneurocaine ?¡± he asked and she chuckled at his use of the scientific name rather than the street name she was accustomed to. ¡°Yeah that''s the one, but call it Elysium or else people will think you are an enforcer.¡± Her breathing was getting heavier by the minute and Jason knew it was not long before she would go into full withdrawal, he was amazed she was not going into it already.


    ¡°When we get back to--¡± Jason was cut off by the sudden rattle of the Ship making contact with the landing pad.


    ¡°Sorry for the bumpy landing, landing struts aren''t that good.¡± Samual said as he made his way back into the cabin. He propped his elbow up against the wall and crossed his legs in a suave manner. ¡°Thank you for choosing the crew of the Cloud Hopper.¡± he said with a smile, Jason sighed as he stood up and helped Julie to her feet, ¡°Cloud Hopper, is that really her name?¡± Jason asked. Samuel slapped the inside of the hull, ¡°I think it''s a fine name for a ship of such..¡± he searched his mind for a moment, ¡°character!¡±


    Jason Stepped out of the ship into the cool wet night air, his boots made a slight splash as they made contact with the wet tarmac of the landing zone. ¡°If I am ever in need of a ship for a job will you be around here?¡± Jason asked over his shoulder.


    ¡°More or less. We spend our time looking for work shipping or moving cargo and occasionally looking for bounties, but we might have better luck in that department with your help.¡± Samuel Admitted. Jason nodded his head in agreement, ¡°Thanks again.¡±


    ¡°Don''t mention it, friend. See ya around.¡± Samuel exclaimed as he disappeared back into his ship. Jason slipped Juile¡¯s arm across his shoulders to help support her weakening legs. For all his annoyance Samual really saved their ass¡¯ back there and Jason intended to return the favor any way he could, Plus making friends with someone who captains a ship has a definite upside. With that thought Julie and Jason made their way across tarmac to hail a cab.


    ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­...


    The ruby light streamed in through the hexagonal plated window. Jason looked over at Julie whose darkened veins had stretched across her face. Her condition was getting worse faster than he thought, they needed to find some meds fast.


    ¡°Have you ever had to withdraw this bad?¡± He asked quietly as to not be overheard by the Cab droid. Julie looked over at him with blood shot eyes, ¡°Only once before.¡± Her voice was quiet and wavering as she fought to get the words out through her heavy shivering. She continued, ¡°It was back when I started work for the club. They would pay well upfront to be a dancer but would also supply the girls with loads of Elysium, but then they would lock us in a room so that we could experience how bad it would be if we left¡­ easy to say no one ever left.¡± Jason thought for a moment, if there was anywhere he would find something to alleviate her symptoms it would be in the club.


    The cab arrived in front of Jason''s housing pod and Jason helped Julie out of the cab and into the pod. It had been no more than 72 hours since he was last here but it felt as though he had been gone forever,  so much had changed. Jason carried Julie over to the bed and turned on the bed warmer, her shivering subsided slightly. He walked over to his cabinet to get himself a drink. As the copper liquid filled the glass, he thought about his situation contrasted to Julies. She may be suffering for because of her addiction but his addiction was keeping him sane. He couldn''t help but feel guilty that she was suffering so much for a life she was forced into and his vices only had the side effect of a hangover and a dreamless sleep. He gulped the glass observing her sleep, he poured another. It had only been a week since they met on the street but somehow he felt connected to her in a way he hadn''t felt before. She had taken a risk by trading one dangerous life for another and he felt like it was his responsibility to not only help her make a successful transition into the life of a bounty hunter but also to help someone he cared for. She had accepted him for who he was, past and all. Not many people in the outer systems would give an Ex-Citadel soldier a second chance. This fact of life had made him a hardened bounty hunting vet, but it had also made him closed off to almost all personal relationships. As he drank the last of the whisky in his glass Julie stirred from her sleep and looked over at him, he spoke, ¡° I have an idea on how to get you some medicine but you are going to have to stay here and rest.¡±


    Julie slowly attempted to get up, ¡°Are you kidding me? I''m not going to just sit here while you do all the work!¡± she debated but Jason put a stop to that but walking over and with a soft push was able to put her on her back.


    ¡°You are too weak to get up much less go on a mission, besides I think I can find some medication for you but I have to go to the Dirty Limon and I don''t think you should go back there just yet.¡± Jason could tell she wanted to protest but she was too tired.


    ¡°You are probably right¡­ I''d probably shoot first and ask questions later.¡± she said this with a laugh followed by a sharp cough. Jason smiled and grabbed the vial of Elysium that was still sitting on the side table. ¡°I''ll be back before too long, while I''m gone get some rest ok.¡± Julie nodded and closed her eyes. Jason walked out the door into a cool nexus morning. He had to figure out a way to get Julie the medication that she needs, it was his responsibility to help his friend.

 Chapter 6

    The Nexus sun had begun its slow ascent above the city skyline casting large shadows over the already bustling street. The shadows had a way of reminding him of the hell he slipped into every night as he slept, his destiny, his utter insignificance in a universe that he had no power in. He shook off the depressing thought and trudged across the street to the entrance to the club. The yellow neon from the sign illuminated the shadowy doorway and Jason thought about what he would say in order to get some medication from the club boss, ¡°This is not going to be easy.¡± he though as he pushed open the double doors into the lobby that smelled of cigarette smoke and cheap cologne. The room was filled with soft yellowish neon that filled the room with almost a fog of light, misty and weightless yet asserting a definite presence. There were girls dancing on platforms scattered methodically about the room so each one could gather a crowd without causing the room to be an unorganized mass. Jason spotted the bar in the back of the room next to the main stage and he began to make his way through the crowds of horny reveliers swinging their credit pads about. Jason leaned on the bar and flagged its tender, ¡°Whos the boss around here? I have a business proposition for him¡­ also a Shizukesa Brandy.. Make it a double.¡±  The bartender nodded in acknowledgement, tipped an ornate bottle, gave a hefty pour, and slid the glass down the waxed counter top. Jason caught the glass as it was sliding past and lifted it to his lips. The brown liquid Tasted heavily of oak but left a slight taste of pear and apple on the tongue, it was delightful. Jason sipped his drink and watched the dancer from his spot at the bar. She was a pretty girl with brown hair and a narrow thin face, the movement of her body and hips aluard his attention away from the bartender who went into the back presumably to find the boss. Her body snaked around the poll with the elegant grace, he noticed a neon tattoo running up her tan ribs. The glowing red symbols shown through her skin in a language he didn''t understand, and for a moment he pondered on their meaning. They probably mean something Naive like ¡°Hope in tomorrow¡±, ¡°Love is eternal '''' or some other such nonsense that Jason knew was too optimistic for a galaxy as harsh as this one was, nevertheless on her skin it looked fantastic.


    This thought was cut short by the feel of cold cylindrical metal on his neck followed by a large hand firmly placed on his shoulder.


    ¡°I hear you are looking for the boss?¡± an unseen man asked in a deep gravelly voice. Jason thought about how odd it was to be looking at a naked figure with what was obviously a gun pressed against his head, it was an interesting sensation. Jason took a sip from his glass calmly and placed it on the bar next to him. ¡°Do you know what her tattoo says?¡± Jason replied coyly, and the hand that gripped his shoulder released, but repositioned against Jason''s head and quickly slammed it down atop his glass. Jason felt the glass shatter underneath his cheek, the sweet brown liquid burning his face as it filled in his newly cut face. Jason, near blinded with pain by the sudden attack, felt himself being lifted and gagged as he was dragged into the back of the bar.


    ________________


    When Jasons vision cleared up he saw a large man standing with his arms crossed in the darkened room. Jason winced as he tried to free himself from the gag, but with every move he felt the wounds on his face open and closed. Blood was running down his face and dripping from his beard onto the floor, creating a small pool of crimson between his feet. He assessed his situation: he seemed to be bound to a chair in the middle of a darkened room, there was a electronic bass beat that he could still feel indicating that he was still in the club somewhere, the man in front of him was huge probably some kind of bouncer, two men walking behind the large man were armed with guns looking like they were patrolling the room.


    ¡°Look at the fucking balls on you.¡±  a voice from behind Jason broke his train of thought, the man continued, ¡°a month ago my girls started going missing from right under my nose, and I think those whores heard some story of a safe haven for people like them and decided to take their chances on the run. So I send my boys out to round them up so I can give them a good..¡± Jason heard the wiff of something cutting through the air, but before he could think further something hard hit him in the ribs with a fleshy smack. ¡°But what did my boys find?¡± the man leaned in close to Jason''s ear, ¡°Your Tapestry of death.¡± Jason had no idea what this man was talking about but couldn''t debate him in his current gagged state. After a moment of what Jason assumed was reflection the man walked out from behind him and stood in front of Jason holding a pry bar. Then a week ago you show up and rent one of my best girls and¡± the man moves his hands out in a shrug, ¡°She goes missing too.. So you show up today and well, lets just say my luck seems to have turned.¡±  The man took a step back and nodded to the large man, who stepped up and grabbed Jason by the shirt and brought a heavy meaty fist into Jason''s face filling his mouth with the salty copper taste of his own blood.


    ¡°Why are you targeting my business? Do you work for one of the other clubs?¡± The man asked this question almost monotone as if this sort of questioning was just a normal occurrence. The large man ripped out the gag so Jason could answer, he spit the blood out of his mouth ¡°I don''t work for anyone, what are you talking about?¡± Jason¡¯s answer must have been the wrong one because he received another hard punch this time to his eye which began to swell up immediately.


    ¡°What have you done with the girl?¡± The man spat out the question with a hint of anger this time. ¡°Julie? I''m here on her behalf... if you get this big fucker to stop hitting me maybe we can talk!¡± Jason spit more blood out. The man was not expecting this answer and his surprise showed across his face. Before the man could say anything his wrist communicator lit up and in a moment the man walked out of the room without a word. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    A short time passed before the man re-entered the room with a knife. He approached Jason quickly and Jason braced for the feeling of the knife against his skin, It didn''t come. ¡°It must be your lucky day.¡± The man cut Jason''s bindings and freed him but kept the pointed at him, ¡°I was just contacted about another attack, I''m not ruling you out as a suspect in these attacks, but ill let you explain what you know about Julie.¡± Jason thought about what he should share for a moment, ¡°I ¡°rented¡± Julie a week ago to help me with some wounds that I acquired on a bounty hunting mission. We talked and got to know each other over the evening. In the morning she explained that she wanted out of the sex industry but knew you would never let her go so im helping her get out..¡± Jason was cut off by the man who pressed the knife against his throat, ¡°Are you admitting to stealing my Product? Where is she?¡± The man was obviously upset by this revelation.


    ¡° I won''t tell you where she is..¡± The knife pressed in harder this time drawing blood, ¡°But, I want to make a deal.¡± Jason stated as calmly as possible as to not set the man off.


    ¡°What kind of deal?¡± The man asked, and pulled the knife away from Jason''s neck, he knew people always had a price, Jason just had to find it. Jason rubbed his neck where the fresh blood was mixing with the old blood the earlier altercation. ¡°There are two things I want¡± Jason started, ¡° The first I need now, Julie is suffering from acute withdraw from this.¡± Jason lifted up the vile of elysium he had taken from his housing pod. ¡°Since you were the ones that got her hooked, Im sure you have something here that can help her with the withdraw.¡± the man took no time to respond.


    ¡°Why would I want to help her get off Elysium when she is just going to get hooked again when she is back here?¡± his question was almost a joke as he laughed slightly as he said it. Jason felt his blood start to boil the comment, but he managed to control himself.


    The second part of the deal is this, I want to earn Julie''s freedom. What will I have to do to get you to agree to these terms?¡±


    He stroked his chin in thought. ¡° Buying her freedom will cost you big¡­.but credits are not the question here. No, what I need is more valuable than credits. For the first part of the deal, I will give you the medicine she needs but she will need more and we don''t have enough right now to supply her. You will get one vile this will get her back on her feet if she doesn''t get more then the withdrawal will come back stronger. That is how you can repay me.¡± Jason looked at the man quizzically, the man continued. ¡°Every month or so a pharmaceutical company will send a huge shipment into the upper city to sell for massive profit. You need to get me the next shipment and Julie will get all the doses she needs. As for the second part of the deal, you can see we are at a loss on how to handle our current situation. I need you to help in the search for this killer that is attacking my clubs throughout the red light district. I will give you some of my best men to help you track him down, and when this killer''s head is on my desk...¡± the man looked Jason directly in the eyes, ¡°Julie will be free to do whatever she wants.¡± Jason held the man''s gaze for a brief moment contemplating his ask. That was a lot of work for no money,but she would be free, what was a few extra Jobs from the bounty office to make up that loss. It was a steep trade but one Jason was willing to make, He held out his hand. ¡°You have a deal.¡± the man shook his hand with a look of relief on his face though he didn''t mention anything about it.


    ¡°Come with me.¡± the man turned and began to walk out of the room and Jason followed him dizzily. They walked threw hallways in the back so deep in the club that Jason could no longer hear the music playing, in fact there was a new sound that sounded like a distant alarm. As the two men approached the door at the end of the hall the sound became one Jason recognised, the screams of agony. The man pushed open the doors to reveal a large room with a medical closet and to Jason''s horror walls of iron cells that were full of men and women suffering from the Elysium withdrawal in a much later stage then Julie was at the moment. Their blackened veins covered their whole bodies and were bulging as if they were ready to burst. One guy was tearing at his clothes attempting to rip them off screaming as if he were on fire, Jason thought this may have been the most heartless he¡¯d seen in years. The man was saying something but Jason stared at the pleading people begging for relief, I think I have made a deal with the devil he thought. The man handed him something and Jason snapped back to reality.


    ¡°Here, we will contact you when we learn more about the shipment, I''m already in there as Mr.L. If I call you have to pick up, that''s the deal.¡± Mr. L handed Jason a prefilled syringe with a dial that read 7 give her one injection every other day and she will have a much easier time dealing with the withdrawal.¡± Jason looked back at the wall of victims and the man noticed where Jason¡¯s gaze had locked, ¡° Interesting insurance policy we have here hm?¡± Mr. L said this with an almost gleeful tone to his voice. Jason looked at him with a cocked eyebrow, Mr.L gave a sly smile back. ¡° you see, if you get them hooked on Elysium high then give them a taste of the low they will never leave you, it works almost every time.¡± Jason looked back at the cages fidgeting with the syringe and fighting the urge to give the prisoners as much relief as he could. ¡°Almost every time?¡± He asked. Mr.L gave a nod to one of the cages at the far end and the two men approached. a man about the same age as Julie lay sprawled out in in the cage black blood oozed from his nose, eyes, and mouth and by the size of the pool of black around his head Jason thought he might have been in that state for days.


    ¡°The process is harder for some than others. This guy only lasted a few weeks.¡± Mr.L snarled and kicked the cage.


    The two men walked down the maze of hallways and back to the front of the club and Mr.L opened the door that lead into the main room, but stopped Jason before he went into the main room. ¡°One more thing, if you double cross me or back out on our deal i''ll find you and kill you both.¡± Mr.L stated this fact and pushed Jason through the door. Jason walked amongst the crowd still bleeding but no one seemed to care in the slightest. On his way out he saw the dancer with the glowing red tattoo standing by the door, he approached her.


    ¡°What does your tattoo say?¡± he asked over the music.


    She replied with a far off gaze, ¡°Savagery breeds survival¡±.


    Jason let out a little laugh and pointed to his bleeding and bruised face ,¡°No shit!¡± he pushed open the doors into the morning air, I guess she wasn¡¯t as naive as he thought.

 Chapter 7

    Jason walked in the apartment unit that was still quite dark despite the rising morning sun. Julie lay in the bed shivering as if she had no blankets. Jason took out the syringe and changed the dial to administer a single dose. He shook her awake, ¡°Hey, I was able to get some meds from Mr. L.¡± he took her arm and injected the liquid into her. The name Mr. L made her eyes perk up briefly, but she was too weary to voice her worries. As serum flooded her system she drifted back into unconsciousness. Jason saw this as a gift, he had no wish to debate Julie on the risk of making a deal with Mr. L, or the price of her life. He place the syringe on the counter and fell back into the couch. Jason reflected on the events that had transpired over the last week and wondered if there was a better option that he had missed or if it was always a work of fate. He peered through the tinted window out into the street of the redlight and the upper city hovering in the distance, gleaming like the bright shiny crown worn by some ancient rotting king. If he could do it all over would he have worked harder to make it into the upper city? He knew this was just a hopeful thought. No one would hire him as even a bouncer in the upper city because of his outbound status.


    When he had been captured 5 years ago and discarded by his commanding officers they just assumed he would be killed since he had no strategic value. He had survived but for what? To be a drug lords enforcer, execute level rivals and perform hits on the competition? He was worth more than this, he was a commander in the citadel rangers. Now look at him babysitting a drug addict.


    He shook off that thought. No, Julie was a good person who was making her first steps outside of the profession she was forced into, and if he was honest with himself she had great potential as a bounty hunter. She had the looks that could make a target underestimate her, but also the poise and courage to take advantage of that strength. She was calm under fire, and had the witty charm that could make anyone like her. Was it natural charisma or was that taught to her by Mr. L? Either way she had all the tools to make it big, all she needed now was the experience.


    As Jason thought something landed on his nose. The tickle of the substance rolling down his nose made Jason react in shock. As he brushed it off more fell from above, it looked like snow but Jason was all too familiar to mistake it for snow. It was ash, and he knew he had fallen asleep. Jason rose from his couch and opened the door to his unit. The streets that were just buzzing with the morning commute were now looking cold and empty, not even the neon lights of the district were glowing.  It all looked dead. Jason took a few tentative steps outside the unit and looked up into the sky. The clouds were dense and spinning as if some unforeseen god was cooking the city, if he looked hard enough at the swirling he could make out the tentacle of some horrible monster that could not be bothered by the existence of man thus would not shed a tear over their accidental extinction. Jason brought his mind back to the city, there was nothing but dilapidated buildings for miles around him. Jason looked down the main street saw that the city of nexus, that once floated high above the redlight, had crashed down into the earth. The city was dim and and lifeless, all but one building¡­ Sapphire industries. The blue hue of the buildings lighting seemed to beckon to him. Jason felt the uncontrollable urge to see why this building had life, so he began walking toward the fallen city.


    ¡­¡­.


    In what felt like moments Jason found himself at the foot of the massive structure. Walking in the front door he noticed how it looked exactly the way he remembered it, almost to pristine. Why did he feel like he was in a trance, what was he supposed to find?


    ¡°Save me.¡±


    Jason snapped his head around to locate the whisper. His hand went to his gun as a reflex and he found it was missing. With a sigh he scanned the lobby intently looking for any signs of life.


    ¡°This way¡±


    This time the voice was behind him, he spun quickly to see the elevator open. The light inside was a warm white light and but the music that was playing was off somehow like it was playing in reverse. Jason cautiously stepped inside, and the elevator began moving up. After a long accent the doors opened to a to a hallway with many rooms. Again he felt drawn to a doorway near the end of the hall. As he neared the doorway he heard a loud scream, Jason started running toward it. He weaved in and out of rooms, between expensive looking lab equipment and a maze of hallways until he found himself looking at some large double doors locked by a keypad. The screams were definitely coming from the room, but how to get in he thought?


    ¡°793624*¡± the voice whispered through the screams.


    Jason approached the door and put in the code. The light on the pad went green.


    The doors opened to a dark room filled with tubes and cords running to 2 large cylindrical tanks. One was dark and the glass had been broken as if its contents had escaped. The other was the source of the screaming. The tank had a figure clawing at the inside of the frosted glass wall, Jason couldn''t make out who or what it was. Before he could ask he felt the building get rocked by a huge collision. After he regained his balance he beat on the glass casing. Bam! Bam! Bam!. he slammed his fist into the containers siding until the cracks he had created proved compromising to the structure of the tank. The glass burst outward as if the inner chamber had been pressurised. Glass and dust flew through the air blinding him for a moment; as he recovered he felt a stabbing pain in his right eye as well as a warm liquid running down his face. Another collision with the building caused him to stumble back. After a few moments Jason regained his composure and took an assessment of his situation; the room was empty, now with two broken cylinder tanks. His right eye was wounded by the flying glass, a piece of which he found was still lodged in place. Jason grabbed it with his fingers and pulled it free. The pain of the glass sliding out of his decimated eye sent him to his knees.


    ¡°The bleeding is worse...Fuck, Bad move.¡± he thought as he climbed to his feet, and moved to the room he was in before. As he entered the room he noticed two things: First, the landscape of the broken city of nexus was replaced by an expanse of an ink black sea rolling far below. The second thing he noticed was a short figure with skin dark like midnight broken by bright silver of what seemed like cybernetics. She stood looking over the black waters, Jason began to move toward the figure when a voice stopped him.


    ¡°Find me Jason.¡±  The figure spoke with a feminin but disembodied voice that seemed to echo in his head.


    ¡°Where are you? How can I find you?¡± Jason asked cautiously, as his attention was caught by what he thought was motion in the distance outside the window, ¡°Did that mountain just move?¡± he thought to himself.


    ¡°Finding me is the key to everything, the fate of the universe lies in your hand. Follow the clues left by hate. I''m found where rage meets the monolith built by misplaced genius.¡± the figure turned from the window to reveal it had no face. The figure had skin pulled tight across its skull creating a canvas for a series of glowing blue runes written across. Jason took a step back partly from shock partly from the increasing rumble of the building which was now at a fever pitch.


    ¡°Most importantly..¡± the figure pointed to its neck and the crystal shards that had embedded themselves in his neck all those years ago began to glow and pulse with heat. ¡°Follow me.¡± This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Unable to stand due to the rumble, Jason fell to the floor. Now looking up at the figure it looked infinitely more sinister, It stood with ease despite the rumble as if aided by some unseen force.


    As Jason thought this, the mountains in  the distance shifted and multiplied exposing the massive length of a scaly leviathan from the depths of a nightmare. Its massive head rose past the window until it''s glowing eye filled the length of the windows casting a sickly orange light throughout the room. Jason felt his brain twist and his mind tear as the beasts peered into his soul. His nose began to pour blood down his chest and onto the floor. The pressure inside his head felt as though it would burst forth. He tasted blood that he was now coughing on. The beast''s pupil sent shockwaves through its iris, at first it was slow but it built up to a ferver. There was one final bright pulse as Jason''s head exploded its contents all over the room.


    ¡­.


    Jason awoke with a jolt, jumping up off the couch damp with sweat. His breathing was loud enough to wake Julie from her sleep. She looked at him groggily, her hair was matted where she had slept motionlessly for hours. She rubbed her eyes, ¡°what''s up with you?¡± she said through a yawn.


    ¡°Just had a really vivid nightmare. Don''t worry they happen all the time.¡± Jason really didn''t want to dwell on the thoughts he had just escaped, lucky for him Julie didnt ask. She was sitting up and Jason noticed that the darkened veins on her neck were starting to subside a little.


    ¡°How are you feeling, By the way.¡± Jason asked as he approached her with the next dose of the medicine and handed it to her.


    Julie injected the does and rubbed her neck as if she was going to pop her neck. ¡°Still feels like I got hit by a truck.¡±


    ¡°Im sure you will feel  like that for¡­¡±


    ¡° Why did you go to Mr.L! You know what he does when one of his workers tries to escape, he makes them relive the elysium withdrawal torment, and that''s if he''s in a good mood. Ive seen him beat a man to death just for mentioning he wanted to leave. Fuck Jason, What were you thinking?¡±


    Julie looked furious, but Jason knew that this fury was a mask to hide her crippling fear of the man. He spoke up, ¡° I was thinking that I wasn''t going to watch you die on my couch. I was thinking I was willing to make a deal with the devil to make sure that wasn''t how your story ended.¡± He pointed at his face which still cut up and covered in dry blood. ¡° It''s not like getting you that medicine was a cake walk or anything.¡±


    The fire in Julie¡¯s eyes cooled slightly.


    ¡°What exactly were the terms of the deal?¡±


    Jason sighed and sat on a barstool, and rubbed his chin. ¡°For you to get all the doses you need There are two things he asked me to do. First at the end of the month there will be a shipment of the meds going from the factory to the upper city. We are going to steal that shipment and deliver it to the club. The second one is what i''m more worried about. There is a serial killer attacking Mr.L¡¯s clubs, he asked me to track down the killer and ¡®handle¡¯ the situation.¡±


    Julies eyes were wide, ¡° Is that all?¡± she said with sarcasm in her voice.


    ¡°He said if I do this for him, it will ¡®buy¡¯ your freedom.¡± as he said this julie jumped in.


    ¡°Why so you can own me instead? SHIT!¡± she stood up out of bed and began pacing the apartment with her hands running through her hair.


    ¡°You know that''s not what I mean.¡± Jason said apologetically. Julie stopped and glared at him again for a moment, then she sighed and her anger seemed to subside a little.


    ¡°I know what you meant¡­¡± She sat beside Jason in the other stool ¡°I just HATE him.. You can''t even imagine how much. The thought of him selling me for a favor makes me sick, i''m sorry¡­ I know that you are just trying to help and I shouldn''t be getting mad with you about that...Lets just get this deal done as fast as possible so I dont ever have to think about that fucker again.¡±


    Jason stood up and put a hand on her shoulder.


    ¡°I promise we will be done with him soon and you will be free to do whatever you want to do. You should eat something you have been out for some time, so help yourself to anything you can find. I''m going to get cleaned up.¡± With that he disappeared into the back room.


    ¡­¡­


    ¡°You ever considered changing your career to cooking?¡±


    Julie Chuckled as Jason took another bite of the exquisite omelet she made with synthetic yoke and various garnishes ment for alcohol.


    ¡°Why, you think I could make it?¡± She commented as she sipped the instant coffee Jason had stockpiled in the cupboard.


    ¡°I mean, considering you made this with fake egg and tequila salt, I think you could manage just fine.¡± Jason mumbled with his mouth full. Julie sat back and sipped her instant coffee, ¡° My sister used to say the same thing.¡± Julie looked off into space reminiscing on times long past.


    Jason noticed, ¡°tell me more about her, what was she like?¡± he asked as he took another bite. Julie smiled, ¡° she was sweet, so kind and selfless. I remember when we were really little she used to carry across puddles in the street so that my feet wouldn''t get wet. That really was the way that Viv was in all things. She was patient with me when I was, you know¡­ Hard to deal with. She was always trying to stop fights. I wish I could tell her that I don''t blame her for killing dad, I wish she had taken me with her.¡± she paused a moment to wipe a tear away from her eye. ¡°Sorry, haha, i''m a mess.¡± she laughed her emotion away. ¡° I think that once were done with all this Mr. L shit i''m going to try and look for her.¡± She finished off her coffee, and jason spoke up. ¡°If you are going to look for her you''re going to need credits, so what do you say we go down to the office and look to get us a job.¡±


    The air was thick at the bounty bar. The TVs were tuned to the city news like they always were at this time. Salv sat behind the bar listening to the story of a club massacre that Jason already knew the inside details of.


    ¡°Jason!? Did you hear me?¡± Julie''s words broke him out of his daze.


    ¡°Sorry, I zoned out for a second. What were you saying? He said apologetically. Julie sighed and repeated herself.


    ¡° What''s your favorite drink? Like not a job type but drink drink.¡±


    ¡°Hmmm, thats a good question.¡± Jason stroked his slightly unkempt beard as he thought. There were so many for many different occasions. A Clasico Margaria was a great taste of caramelized sugar and citrus. A citadel sour was the perfect mix of sweet and sour pulled together with the smoky character of a high priced Citadel whisky. After a moment he answered, ¡°I think it depends on the season.¡±  fascinated by this answer Julie replied.


    ¡°Ok, so if it''s a hot summer day what would you choose.¡±


    ¡°Easy!¡± Jason answered, ¡° Groganic Gin and Tonic, with a Vallha lime wedge for the that perfectly refreshing flavor.¡± Jason answered as he leaned back and reminisced on a time when his life was one of luxury.


    ¡°Ok premadonna.¡± Julie answered rolling her eyes, ¡°what about when it''s cold?¡±


    ¡°The smokiest peated whisky you can find¡­ straight.¡± he said without a moment''s hesitation.


    ¡°Hmmm..¡± Julie thought hard to try and catch Jason off guard. ¡±Ok, what about when its Rainy, like today?¡±


    Jason opened his mouth to answer,but was cut off by Salv setting down a glass in front of them.


    ¡°I hope your answer is a Kajik mule. From the woman in the corner.¡± Salv nodded in the woman''s direction.


    ¡°Do you know anything about her? Jason ask as he looked across the floor to size up his new employer.


    ¡°I haven''t seen her here before but you know that''s not odd in our line of work. Salv said with a sigh, ¡° Also she asked for you, honey. Salv slid the drink over toward Julie and walked back to the bar. Jason observed the woman; She seemed to be older, maybe in her 60s. She seemed to be from the upper city by her clothing and the way she carried herself, in fact she seemed a bit uncomfortable with the seedy bar she was sitting in. she had a tech-cig that was glowing blue in the dimly lit corner. She took a deep drag and blew out the smoke as she met his gaze.


    ¡°What are you thinking?¡± Julie said barley over a whisper wondering to herself how the hiring would proceed. Jason answered without looking away from the woman, ¡°I''m thinking we have a Job,¡± Jason broke his stare with the woman to look at Julie, ¡°And you¡¯re gonna take the lead.¡±

 Chapter 8

    ¡°What do I say?¡±


    Julie seemed to be getting very nervous. ¡°You need to calm down, you don¡¯t have to accept every job that comes through. Remember they have to sell the job to you, just go up to her and listen.¡± Julie seemed to settle down a little at this thought, ¡°I have never seen this woman before which means that she wont know you are new to this unless you act like it.¡±


    Julie took a couple of deep breaths and whispered under her breath, ¡°confidence, talk with confidence.¡±


    Julie glided across the bar with Faux elegance that Jason recognised as uncharacteristic of her, but he had to admit that it made her look like a pro. She slid into a bar stool next to the woman and placed the mule on the bar next to her. Julie slid the drink toward her with a stern look on her face, but had an eyebrow cocked signifying her interest in the woman''s request. Jason slipped in the seat behind Julie and ordered a drink to avoid suspicion from the other patrons.


    ¡°Thank you for coming over. My name is Jessa Conley, and I desperately need your help.¡± The woman admitted. Julie''s expression softened if only slightly, ¡°I''m listening, what''s the job?¡±


    The woman searched her thoughts on how to start, ¡°My family was part of the first group of colonizers on nexus a century ago and have since risen to prominence in the upper city. My father was accused of sympathizing with the revolutionaries outside the city. The citadel investigators found reasonable evidence to suggest this and we were stripped of our political power and disgraced by the socialites in the upper city.¡± the woman paused for a moment as if for dramatic purpose. Julie spoke up in the void of conversation. ¡°That''s sad, but I don''t see what that has to do with my line of work?¡± Julie''s words seemed to snap Mrs. Conley out of daze.


    ¡°Oh of course; my father passed away a few days back and the city has already organized a gala to auction away all his possessions, and they didn''t ask my permission to do so. In Fact a group of enforcers showed up last night and took much of my fathers private collection. One piece in particular is of substantial value to me and I''m going to hire you to steal it back. Its a classic ¡°Tyson TYPE 2 cruiser¡±. I know it sounds ridiculous but this vehicle has been in my family''s possession for over a century, in fact dating back to the old world.


    Julie¡¯s Fasaud broke as her eyes widened. ¡°Oh, well this not what I expected..¡±


    ¡°We will take the job, but something like this is going to need a lot of preparation. What does the timeline look like?¡±


    Jason spoke up to Jessa''s surprise.¡°And you are?¡±


    ¡°This is my partner,¡± Julie started to say ¡°but he''s right, what''s the time frame for this job? Its going to take quite a bit of work.¡± Jason realized that Julie was a class A bullshitter. Every line, whether it was the truth or a bluff, was delivered as if she knew exactly what she was talking about; he wondered how much of that she learned from the club and how much she was just inherently gifted with. Either way she was great at thinking on her feet.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    ¡°Well, we will have to work fast. The gala is coming up in a week, I didn¡¯t think that there would need to be that much planning. I hope that''s not a problem?¡± Jessa said, embarrassed by her lack of forethought.


    ¡°This Complication is not going to be cheap¡­¡± Julie rubbed her chin, ¡°I think we will have to have a significant bump up in pay to even come close to that timeline.¡±


    ¡° I can pay 100,000 credits now.¡± Jessa sounded confident in her price, but she could tell by Julie''s expression that the price was not right.


    ¡°If we are stealing a car we can''t just get on the fiber rail and ride it home. That price will barely cover a ship and crew for evacuation, and I can¡¯t take a risky job like this for such low pay.¡± To Jason''s surprise Julie stood up to leave the table. Her exaggerated refusal to do the deal came most certainly was a sales tactic she learned from the clubs.


    ¡°Wait!¡± Jessa was obviously frantically searching her mind for a new proposition. Julie stood with her back to Jessa waiting for the rebuttal that was obviously coming.


    ¡°What if I hire you and the ship''s crew separately?¡±


    Julie flashed a slight smile to Jason as she turned back to Jessa. ¡°I''m more interested now, would I have my choice of ship and crew?¡±


    Jessa waved off the question. ¡°I know nothing about ships. Ill leave it up to you.¡±   Julie picked up the mule and raised it as if she were going to give a toast. ¡°We have a deal?¡±


    Jessa lifted hers in agreement.


    ¡°We have a deal.¡±


    ______________________________________________________________________


    Jason and Julie didn¡¯t stay for pleasantries, they had one week to prepare and execute a heist from the center of the city. That meant high levels of security, high levels of risk, and no room for mistakes. Julie had made their potential gain from this job quite lucrative, it was very impressive. The two walked in silence back to Jason''s apartment. Jason poured two glasses of whisky and slid one to Julie.


    ¡°How can you be drinking right now?¡± Julie said with a small amount of judgment in her tone. ¡°We have one week to prepare for this thing and we have not even the slightest hint of a plan.¡±


    Jason sipped his drink, ¡°But I do have a plan, or atleast the start of one. To get the full picture I need the layout of the Gala venue. We also need a crew, but I think I know the perfect one.¡± Jason sipped from his glass again, we need this stuff fast. ¡®Give me your communicator.¡± he asked, Julie took the wrist mounted unit off and handed it to Jason. After tinkering with the unit for a moment, he handed it back to Julie.


    ¡°I transferred a list of things for you to get from the upper city, and the directions to Omars, in case you Don''t remember how to find his place.¡±


    ¡°How could I forget it''s like the only place in the upper city that I know. What are you going to do?¡±


    ¡°I''m going to see about our flight crew. My plan involves their ship and a tractor field emitter, which I didn''t see on their ship when we were with them. We will meet you at Omar¡¯s when we have everything Then we can stay there and we can come up with a full plan.¡± Jason stated downing the rest of his drink.


    ¡°Sounds good¡± Julie replied as she walked from the apartment before she turned back for a moment, ¡°If you need anything else let me know ok?¡±


    Jason nodded as she left. He knew that he was going to have to figure something out if he wanted to get a his hands on a tractor emitter since they had been outlawed for the public for over a decade. That issue would need to be resolved later, the job at hand was getting Sam and Eric to agree to this risky  job.

 Chapter 9

    Jason''s steps splashed through the wet tarmac of the landing zone. I hope you''re here though scanning the grounds. The grounds were quite large but there was not much ship traffic in the redlight compared to other areas in Xenon city. Just as he was going to turn around and look elsewhere, he noticed a blot of smoke rising above the last row of ships. ¡°Hmm¡± he thought, ¡°I hope that''s not them¡±.


    Jason wandered cautiously past the line of ships and saw the smoking hull of a crashed ship; it was the cloud hopper. Jason approached the wreck quickly to assess the situation, but as he came closer, he heard the tale tell signs of repair. He looked inside and Sam was crouched at an electrical console in the main cabin of the ship.


    ¡°Eric! I swear to fuck, if you crank the stabilizer rod into the coms tower one more time, I¡¯ll stick that power cable up your ass and strap you to the roof.¡± Sam stood up and began clapping his hands on his pants in order to clean the dust off. Jason leaned on the entrance way observing the situation, as Sam turned around and saw him there. Sam immediately became uncomfortable, with the situation and it showed in the way his arms dropped slightly. His hesitation only lasted for a moment as he swung back into gear.


    ¡°Well, hi, Jaxon right?¡±


    ¡°Jason¡±


    ¡°Damn it your right.¡±


    Jason sighed, ¡°Of course I am.¡±


    Sam rubbed the bridge of his nose with his index finger and thumb.¡± Sorry, you caught me at a¡­ bad time.¡± As if on cue the ship shudders that threw Sam off balance.


    ¡°Damn it Eric!¡± he shouted after the shudder had subsided. Jason smiled and placed his hand on Sam''s shoulder as he passed to go outside. ¡°I''ll wait outside while you shove the power cable up his ass. I hear people make good coms receptors.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll be right out.¡± Sam sighed in defeat. Jason took a moment to think over the plan as he stood in the field. He needed a ship for this job, and by the look of the Cloud Hopper, he was worried he would need to look elsewhere. Sam came out of the ship, shortly and stood next to Jason.


    What do I owe your visit? Sam said without his usual performative flair he tried to speak with. His eyes were sunken, and his skin was missing a certain glow it had had before, his face had an overall weathered look to it. He slid a black cigarette out of its box and offered one to Jason, he waved them off.


    ¡°You look like you need them more than me. I will say, I didn''t take you for a Blacs guy.¡± Jason said as politely as he could.


    Sam scoffed and lit his cigarette on a piece of smoldering hull. He took a deep drag, ¡°You come all the way down here to judge my vices?¡± The smoke that came out of his lungs had a slight tinge of blue, as was the Blacs trademark. Back on the citadel Jason had been a huge fan of Espacio vaquero Classico cigars. They were made traditionally but with the enhanced tobacco from Grogan.


    ¡°I actually came down here to talk to you about a job.¡±


    Sam perked up to the tune of a potential pay day, ¡°And what might that job be?¡±


    Jason looked off toward the city, ¡°Julie and I have been hired to steal from very powerful people. In order to do that we need a crew. I think you and Eric could be a pivotal part of my team.¡±  Sam rubbed his chin in thought, but it was not he who spoke up.


    ¡°We are in.¡±


    Jason turned his head in search of the voice. It came from a large burly man with tan skin, and a stern strong unshaved face. Jason remembered the man, not by his face or voice, but rather the man''s size.


    ¡°You must be Eric, Good to finally meet you.¡± Jason extended his hand and Eric took it with a nod. Sam spoke up exhaling another cloud of smoke, ¡°He said it, now we will need to fix up the ol¡¯ ship as you can see, is there funding for that?¡±


    Jason leaned back against the ship, ¡°well not enough to make her look brand new¡­ I''m sure we can get funding from my employer to at least get her airborne. ¡± Jason looked at the smoking hull. ¡°By the way what happened to her.¡± he asked.


    ¡°Sam, wanted to look for more fugitives in the dump zone, well the good news is we found one bad news is they did not like that we were going to collect the reward on him. He went wild and downed the ship.¡± Eric said matter of factly.


    ¡°Did you get the reward?¡± Jason asked quizzically.


    ¡°NOPE, Eric closed the door on that when he snapped the guys neck¡± Sam snapped glaring daggers at Eric who just lackadaisically shrugged and returned to managing the rough repairs.


    ¡° I told you that was a waste of time.¡± Jason scolded, Sam rolled his eyes as he took another drag. Jason continued, ¡°The employer and Julie came to a deal where we can choose the flight team and then the employer and you can work out the price for your services.¡± Jason paused for a moment looking at the wreck. ¡°When you talk to her only ask her for money to fix what''s absolutely necessary to fly¡­ the full repairs may make her wary of hiring you.¡±


    ¡°Well, you are right on that.¡± Sam sighed.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------


    Jason waited outside as Jessa and Sam haggled over a comms link. From what he could make out, Sam was asking for full pay upfront so he could fix up the cloud hopper as soon as possible.  Jason realized that Sam was not very skilled in the art of striking a deal, not like Julie had been. Sam knew what he wanted and wasted no time getting to the point. His ship was wrecked and the only thing that mattered was getting that ship back off the ground. There was some sort of bond between Sam and the ship, that was obvious, but Jason was not sure of how that bond was formed.


    ¡°I think that''s all sorted out,¡± Sam leaned on the cloud hopper in an exaggerated exhaustion and took a deep drag of smoke, ¡°I''m not one for making deals with the elite¡­ so what''s your plan anyway?¡±


    ¡°Well first we need to steal a military grade tractor field emitter, and I need your help to do it.¡± Jason looked at Sam who was grinning in what seemed like agreement. He remained like that for a few moments before his face turned. He raised his finger at Jason.


    ¡°No... WE¡± Sam signaled to Eric and himself, ¡°are to not going anywhere near a military installation.¡±


    ¡°We have to.¡± Jason said, not missing a beat. ¡°It¡¯s integral to the plan that you just agreed to. Besides all the way in the outer systems I am sure any citadel forces guarding any base will be fairly light.


    ¡°NO!¡± Sam was obviously not convinced, ¡°We can''t do anything like that. ERIC! Call us a ship we are leaving, tell Jessa that she needs another crew because we aren''t going to raid a citadel base.¡±


    Jason did his best to calm down Sam who was acting frantic. He knew that there were two kinds of people that were this scared of the Citadel troops: Rebels and ex-citadel military personnel.


    ¡°How long have you been outbound?¡± Jason said calmly.


    Sam stopped what he was doing instantly, and glared back at Jason, ¡°How did you know about that?¡± Sam asked.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Jason pointed to his neck right behind this ear. He knew that anyone who was once part of the citadel forces would know what being outbound meant. By Sam''s reaction Jason knew that he had to be ex-military.


    ¡°You too huh.¡± Sam sighed and sat down on a jumpseat. ¡°It''s been a clean break for two years, and I¡¯m not trying to get my status changed.¡±


    Jason looked at Sam with a confused look, ¡°What is your status then.¡±


    ¡°Dead¡± Sam said without hesitation. ¡°Eric and I both¡± he mouthed the word boom along with animating an explosion with his hands.


    ¡°Shit...¡°Jason sat down in the seat opposite Sam, ¡°This does throw a wrench in the plan.¡±


    The two men sat in silent reflection until Sam spoke up.


    ¡°I have an idea. There is a light star cruiser further out in the desert, I have caught some of its transmissions over the coms. It seems they are looking for rebels in the deserts and since I''m a gambling man, I¡¯d bet that a ship like that has a tractor field emitter installed.¡±


    ¡°What makes raiding this ship so different than just hitting the base?¡± Jason asked.


    Well, there is a difference in terms of reporting. The bases, even small ones, have access to the citadel net. They could easily look up my ship''s ID and see that we have been MIA for years and that would be investigated by detaining me followed by a thorough interrogation, and that''s if we decide to land and surrender. With the light cruiser, they can only download information from the citadel net at a base and since they are sending so much information to the base already searching the desert, they will not be able to also search up a lone Ship ID so I have some wiggle room.¡±


    ¡°Hmmmm¡± Jason stroked his chin in thought, ¡°You are sure they will have a tractor field emitter on board?¡±


    ¡°They did when I worked with them.¡± Sam stated as he stood up from the seat. He walked through the cabin and peaked out of the broken doors. ¡°Eric, when can we get the old girl airborne?


    Eric took off his head set and set down his plasma torch, ¡°I''d say with the right parts maybe a day? But Sam, it''s going to be impossible to fly with the damage to the cabin and cockpit.¡±


    Sam cracked a smile, ¡°I could fly a toolbox if it had engines, and you know that!¡± He slid back into the cabin and slapped Jason on the shoulder. ¡°Get whatever you need and meet us back here tomorrow¡­ Oh and be prepared, it will be a bumpy ride.¡±


    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    The wind that whipped through the ship was ice cold. Jason was bundled in multiple jackets and even then, the cold was still biting.


    ¡°Sam said you will need these¡± Eric Handed Jason a set of metal boots.


    ¡°What are these?¡±  He asked Eric as he started putting them on.


    ¡°Mechanic MAG boots. They are used for inflight repairs that require a mechanic to exit the craft.¡± Eric said matter of factly.


    ¡°Why do we need these?¡± Jason asked hesitantly and Eric gave him a knowing look.


    ¡°MADE RADIO CONTACT, YOU GUYS ARE ON IN 30 SECONDS!¡± Sam Shouted over the rushing wind.


    Eric handed Jason a plasma cutter and clipped a tension line to Jason''s belt.


    ¡°Follow me and do what I do ok, oh...and stay calm.¡± Eric said as he got prepared to repel from the cloud hopper, Jason did the same.


    ¡°GO!¡± Sam shouted.  Eric and Jason jumped from the ledge and began to free fall towards the light cruisers hull. As they neared the hull the tension line tightened. *Boom **boom* Jason and Eric landed and decoupled from the ship as the tension lines shot back up to the cabin where they were stored. Jason watched as the ship disappeared into the light cruiser¡¯s hanger, they only had a short time to get the tractor field detached. Jason looked around and found Eric standing on the edge of the hull. When Jason approached him, Eric swung himself under the lip of the cruiser causing him to walk inverted on the belly of the ship. Jason tried to do this but with much less grace. It took him at least three tries to stick his mag boot to the underside of the cruiser. Once he had gotten attached his orientation made him sick. As he looked up, he saw the desert stretch on and on. Its size was dizzying¡­ that or the fact he was miles up in the air upside down. Jason and Eric approached the tractor field emitter, and began the work cutting the emitter free. One bolt, Two bolts, Three bolts. Jason got into a groove halfway through the job the roar of engines could be heard.


    ¡°GO FLAT!¡± Eric shouted, and Jason did as he was asked. They both got close to the Emitter and held still.


    Recon fighters roared underneath them making their way to the hanger. They were so close to Jason that the wind that came off their wings left a cold burn on his face. There were seven or eight ships, this might make things harder, Jason thought as he uncurled from the emitter to continue cutting it free. After ten minutes the Tractor field emitter was hanging on by cables that Jason and Eric attached for quick release and the wiring for operational purposes.


    ¡°Now what, we just wait?¡±  Jason asked.


    ¡°That''s right, I signaled Sam so he will either be her soon¡­ or we are about to get caught.¡± Eric said calmly.


    ¡°Great...¡± Jason exclaimed, head burning with the excess of blood making him dizzy.


    All of a sudden, the cloud hopper dropped under the edge of the hull rumbled to a hover underneath the emitter. Sam looked up at Jason and Eric, Eric cut the wires connecting it to the ship,¡± Eric shuffled over and sliced the wires with the plasma torch. ¡°Ok... on the count of three cut the cords. Ready?


    1.. Eric and Jason moved over to their respective chords.


    2... they readied their cords for quick release.


    3¡­ the cords released, and the emitter fell near 10 feet to the roof of the cloud hopper while Sam simultaneously cut the engines to lessen the impact on the ships roof, it buckled but remained intact. Sam raised the ship high enough so Eric and Jason could get on the roof as well. They grabbed the chords so they could fasten the emitter to the roof.


    Bullets filled the air, Eric and Jason crouched to avoid the sudden bullet fire. It seemed that an alarm must have gone off when the wires were cut and now there was a response from the fast-acting recon ships. They flew by in a blur, to circle back with an attack vector. Jason remembered what these ships were like: One man crew, fixed engine fast moving ships with the body of a reverse teardrop... A copper teardrop.


    ¡°Drop! Jason, Drop!¡± Sam was shouting up at Jason, who had zoned out for a moment. Eric was already securing the Emitter to the roof and the ships had turned around and were headed straight for them. Jason Reached up to his feet and cut the power on his MAG boots, he fell. He fell the remaining distance to the roof landing with a thud. The air escaped his lungs as he gasped for air. As he writhed on the roof attempting to catch his breath Sam cut the power sending them into a free fall narrowly avoiding the enemy fire. Jason heard the engines rotate and kick in with a jolt. He began to slide off the roof, before a large hand grasped his shoulder and held him firm.


    ¡°Turn on your MAG boots.¡± Eric said calmly, and Jason did so. His feet clamped to the roof and he regained his balance and looked up to see three copper dots against the grey sky.


    ¡°We got to get inside.¡± Eric said as he squatted down, grabbed the railing and swung inside.


    Jason ducked as a hail of bullets narrowly missed the ship. I am not staying up here any longer, he thought as he clumsily swung himself in the main cabin. The ship was rattling incessantly as it underwent more stress than it was used to.


    Jason paced to the cockpit steadying himself against the wall with every bump and rattle.


    ¡°What''s the plan Sam?!¡± he shouted over the wind.


    ¡°See that?¡± Sam pointed his finger toward a canyon with tight walls. ¡°That''s where I¡¯m going, it will be tight, but it will put us and those recon ships on even footing. That is where we can lose them. Go grab that door gun and give me a bit of cover will ya?¡±


    Jason nodded and stepped back into the cabin; Eric had already begun firing back. Jason planted his boots firm to the floor and leaned out to attack. The recon ships circled and moved evasively avoiding the return fire. As the desert floor neared the ship, Sam flattened the angle as the cloud hopper zipped into the first canyon.


    The first recon ship miss judged his approach and clipped the wall and spun into a flaming inferno. The other two flew through the fire and smoke and shot off a burst that dusted the wall next to Jason. He coughed and rubbed the dust out of his eyes.


    Eric clipped the wing of the next ship in the canyon, not enough to destroy it right but enough to have it bury itself in the canyon floor. The last ship had a smart pilot, he followed the cloud hopper at a distance as to avoid any fire from the door guns.


    ¡°Sam, we need an angle¡± Jason shouted


    ¡°Give me a second!¡± Sam shouted back and he whipped the ship broadside. ¡°Left side Now!¡±


    The unsuspecting ship came around the bend and took heavy fire from Eric with the door gun and Jason with his Justice revolver. Jason saw a mist of red from inside the recon ship as one of his bullets struck true. Eric¡¯s door gun took care of the rest, fire erupted from the body of the ship and it was quickly engulfed in flame. Sam wasted no time and continued down the canyon.


    ¡°We can''t land at the pad because of our cargo, so I¡¯m going to have to put her down somewhere out here can you get anyone to pick us up?¡± Sam asked as he looked intently at the winding canyon.


    ¡°Yea I have a guy who can come get us, Just land and I''ll get him the coordinates.¡± Jason said as he walked back to the cabin and sat on the floor next to Eric. Jason took out a flask and gulped down the brown liquid.


    ¡°AHHH,¡± he let out the exaggerated sound and offered some to Eric who accepted the flask gratefully. He thought about what the next step of his plan was going to be and how this might have been the easy part.

 Chapter 10

    Julie walked the upper streets of Xenon city alone. She had not been alone like this in some time but the feeling of being watched still sent a shiver down her spine. When she was out with Jason or even alone in her leather jacket, she felt she could bleed into the background, but now¡­ Now was different. She approached the Basilica found in the center of the city; her elegant golden dress lightly fluttered in the artificial breeze. She stopped for a moment to take in the gilded towers of greed, overlooking a city in need.


    When she was doing any thing to survive in the red-light district, she would often look up at the upper city and dream of this moment; the moment she would be dining and dancing with the elite at a gala such as this. In her young and naive mind achieving something of this caliber meant she had made it. A rich woman of high repute would whisk her away to her new life, but as she grew, she only knew the atrocities the rich could inflict with their dirty money. At one time standing here would have given her a feel of awe and wonder but now it only made her sick.


    ¡°Miss Julie, I presume.¡±


    Julie was surprised by the sudden voice that had broken her thought. She turned around calmly as if she done this hundreds of times, but she was fighting the urge to confront the voice as fast as possible.


    ¡°Your presumption is correct, Mr. Balfor.¡± She held out her hand and he took it with grace and gave it a light kiss.


    You look as beautiful as a star glistening in the purple dusk of eternity, burning with the fires of passion no mortal could ever hope to contain. I¡¯m so glad that Mrs. Conley would set us up this evening.¡± he bowed with false respect. His flowery word play signified his status as a one of the privileged prestige. She took his arm, and they began to walk toward the Gala.


    ¡°Ok, Julie if you can hear me brush your hair behind you left ear.¡± Jason¡¯s staticky voice caught her attention, and she did as she was asked, covertly tucking the strands of newly dyed chestnut brown hair behind her ear.


    ¡°Great we have eyes on you. Remember the plan and everything should go fine, we will await your signal¡­ Be careful.¡± Jason¡¯s voice cut out, and Julie sighed. Of course, she was going to be careful it wasn¡¯t like she was confident enough in her abilities to go off script if she had no backup.


    ¡°What do you think?¡± Mr. Balfor asked,


    ¡°About What?¡± Julie asked embarrassed by her obvious disregard for the conversation at hand.


    Jessa Conley, what do you think about her working with revolutionaries? Pity that a family of such an esteem could fall into dealings with that rabble. Utterly shameful, don¡¯t you think.¡± Mr. Balfor said this dripping with disgust for the woman. This took Julie by surprise. Jessa said that her data would be a family friend, but here he was all but spitting on Jessa¡¯s good name.


    ¡°I think that Mrs. Conley is a very compassionate woman, whom looks only to help others. I¡¯m sure what ever caused her to dabble in dealings with this so called ¡®rabble¡¯, it must have been out¡­¡±


    ¡°Mr. Everston! Well met old friend¡± Mr. Balfor interrupted Julie to speak to a man by the door. His disregard of her opinion reminded her of what it felt like to work the streets, the rage built in her chest, but she remained calm.


    ¡°Mr. Balfor! This must be your date.¡± Mr. Everston held his hand out to take Julies and gave it a kiss. Superficial level of chivalric virtue made Julies skin crawl. ¡°Thank you for joining us this evening. Go inside and mingle with the other guests until the auction begins. Well met.¡±


    ¡°Well met.¡± Mr. Balfor shook Mr. Everston hand one more time and the two walked inside. The main ballroom was made of white marble and decorated with elegant golden tapestries strewn about the walls. There were hundreds of people making there way around the room in what seemed like predetermined paths as to meet with as many revealers in the fastest manner possible making the main floor look as if it were a machine, each person a gear.


    ¡°Care for a drink my dear.¡± Mr. Balfor asked as they descended the massive staircase to join the party.


    Julie nodded with emphatic emotion. ¡°Yes, Please.¡±


    Swerving through patrons Julie finally made it to the bar after briefly losing hold of Mr. Balfor. Why was he always in such a hurry? It was if had to hit a quota of handshakes by the end of the night or he would lose social standing. She looked around and saw him meeting with a well-dressed man with dark hair. ¡°Good evening Mr. Blah bleh, wonderful night this is, is it not. T¡¯was but a fortnight since you entered my thoughts last. Say, would you allow me one kiss of your bum for old times sake. Be a sport.¡± Julie scoffed under her breath at her own stupid humor. Mocking the customers who paid for her time was a trick she had learned working the streets. No matter how suave or sophisticated people from the upper city tried to present themselves as, they were always outsiders. Like if their use of flowery language were some how able to get them into the elite. It was not hard to learn, Julie could speak it well.


    ¡°One whisky, straight.¡± Julie asked the bar tender and he looked at her sheepishly.


    ¡°I am sorry madam; we don¡¯t have that.¡± The bar tender answered.


    Julie looked skeptically at him, and then at the shelves of alcohol behind him, she pointed at a bottle of brown liquid. ¡°What is that?¡± she asked coyly.


    ¡°Well that is a 25 year citadel reserve, really quite a wonderful year. You can really taste the strength of the mighty Oak trees used in the barreling.¡± the bartender responded with the memorized line.


    ¡°Well, they must not have been that mighty if they were reduced to barrels, wouldn¡¯t you say.¡± Julie responded. The Bar tender began to stammer a response, but she held up her hand. ¡°Put that drink in this glass, and fill it two fingers, wait.¡± Julie looked at the man¡¯s dainty small hands and took note. ¡°Make that three fingers high. Thanks¡± The bar tender shuffled off with out saying a word and returned with her drink. Julie leaned against the bar and took a sip of the drink. It had mellowed with age making it quite smooth. Then the Oak hit, the bar tender was not lying about the oak. He had obviously never tasted It in its simplest nature, but the tasting notes were very accurate. She could taste the tree as well as its rich and vibrant years. Funny how the brutalization of nature really makes whisky pop.


    ¡°This is my date this evening.¡± Mr. Balfor said as if Julie was some how his trophy to show off. Annoyed, Julie rolled her eyes covertly and looked at the person who she was being introduced¡­ her eyes widened.


    The man held out his hand, ¡°Mr. Nakamura, pleasure to meet you miss¡­¡± Migo asked politely.


    ¡°This is- ¡°Mr. Balfor started but Julie stomped hard on his foot as she gave migo her hand.


    ¡°Mrs. Nilsen¡± Julie replied hoping that Mr. Balfor would not say her real name. Migo looked at her with a cynical glare.


    ¡°Nilsen? You must be related to Anton and Grace. How are they? I Heard they couldn¡¯t make it this evening.¡± Migo asked as if he were probing her backstory. Sweat dripped down the nape of her neck. Did he truly know a Nilsen? Did he expect a specific answer to he made up family? She had to act quick!


    ¡°No, unfortunately they couldn¡¯t make it this marvelous evening; for grace had a dreadfully awful cough, and well Anton couldn¡¯t bare to come with out her. I do so hope you understand.¡± She replied with the most proper language she could muster, Migo Seemed to be buying it.


    ¡°I can¡¯t place it¡­ have we met before? Im sorry to be so forward, but some one of your¡­¡± Migo ran his finger down her face, his touch was cold and metallic. ¡°Beauty surely could not be forgotten.¡±


    How long could this cognitive sparing last? Julie replied with feigned fluster. ¡°Oh, you do me a kindness serenading with this praise, Good sir. Surely, we have not met but for tonight. You must be mistaking me for some one else. You see years ago I underwent a surgery to repair a hideous grown one should be dismayed to call their nose. After I came out, I released it was the same model so many others in the upper city have received.¡± Julie chuckled raised her nose as if to show Migo.


    For a brief moment his cynical look returned but was broken by his own laughter. ¡°Forgive me for being so obtuse. I must make my exit be for I make myself more a fool.  It was a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Nilsen.¡± Migo made a small bow and turned to walk into the crowd. Julie sighed with relief, but it was cut short.


    ¡°One more thing Mrs. Nilsen.¡± Migo turned around dropped his fa?ade and glared at her as if he were looking into her soul. ¡°What are you drinking? It smells wonderful.¡± Julie straightened her spine in discomfort.


    ¡°It¡¯s a glass of citadel reserve, neat.¡± Julie said.


    Migo eased his glare to a knowing look that some how made her even more uncomfortable. ¡°Bar keep, can I have a bottle of citadel reserve delivered to my man at the end of the bar.¡±


    The bar tender pulled down a large bottle of the drink and walked it to the end of the bar where a gaunt bald man sat in a grey suit. That must have been his man. ¡°Have a good evening Mrs.¡± and with that he was gone, lost in the crowd.


    ¡°ATTENTION EVERYONE! ATTENTION!¡± a man atop the stair spoke loudly into a microphone. ¡°This evening we gather here at the behest of our friend and neighbor Mrs. Conley. She has ask that we give her the floor before the auction for her to make announcements and other such statements on her unfortunate accusation and like wise events...¡± as the man was talking Julie knew that was her que.


    ¡°I must powder my nose and freshen up before the auction. Where can I do that.¡± She asked Mr. Belfor


    ¡°There is a restroom in the back but do be quick. Accusations such as these are not easily escaped. Listening to her desperate pleas will be a treat.¡± Mr. Belfor replied with glee.


    ¡°Take notes for me darling.¡± Julie replied with false interest as she walked out of the back of the room.


    ¡°Jason¡­ Come in Jason. Migo Is here!¡± Julie spoke into her earpiece.


    ¡°What!? Did he recognize you? Is your cover blown? Jason asked franticly.


    No. No¡­ I don¡¯t think he recognized me. It was just weird.¡± Julie answered quickly as to not cause worry amongst the crew. ¡°Where am I going?¡±


    ¡°There is a room at the far end of the atrium on the left before you walk into the auction hall. That¡¯s where the security is but wait for phase two to begin.¡± Jason said clearly and calmly.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    As Julie neared the door, she heard a commotion down the hall as Jessa began raving like a madwoman. She was cursing and shouting accusations at all who were listening. She began fighting and scratching people in the front rows. Phase two wait for the diversion.


    A group of security guards rushed out of the surveillance office and stormed down the hall toward the commotion. Julie caught the door before it shut and peered in. only one guard stayed but his attention was also held on what was happening in the main room. Great only one... finally some good luck. Julie pulled out the stun baton that Omar had customized to fit tight against her leg. She snuck up behind the guard and stuck the baton in his back. He convulsed a few times before dropping to the floor hard.


    ¡°What am I looking for in here, there are like hundreds of buttons.¡± Julie muttered into the coms.


    ¡°Well, there probably isn¡¯t a button that turns off the security. Look for a breaker box or something that houses all the cords.¡± Jason replied and Julie looked about the room. There in the corner of the room behind a rolling cabinet there was a light grey box. She opened it and saw that there were many switches.


    ¡°There are a lot of switches here which one do I need to turn off?¡± she asked franticly scanning over their labels.


    ¡°Turn them all off, the is just the security system so no security is best for us. Besides, we will be out of here before anyone notices any way.¡± Jason reassured her and she hit all the switches. Julie wandered into the main auction hall where they were to rendezvous. She waited no more than a minute or so before a pop followed by the whistle of wind came from the lofted ceiling. Julie looked up to see Jason toss down a length of rope, followed by Jason and Eric repelling into place.


    ¡°Are you alright.¡± Jason asked as he handed Julie a duffle bag full of equipment.


    ¡°Yea, no one has caught on yet. I think we may be in the clear.¡± Julie stated as he changed out of the golden dress she had been wearing revealing a tactical infiltration suit underneath. ¡°How was it on the roof?¡±


    ¡°Haha Funny. It was Fucking cold.¡±  Jason said from underneath the car. Tysons were all fitted with trackers in the event one was boosted, there weren¡¯t many road cars now a days but that only meant it would be easier to track.


    ¡°We are not out of the woods yet either... look.¡± Eric growled through clenched teeth. He nodded in the direction of the atrium and the hum of people were getting louder and louder.


    Jason looked at his wrist communicator. ¡°Well, that was fast. They were not going to take with Jessa¡¯s Shit huh?¡±


    ¡°I guess not.¡± Eric Jumped into the front seat and began looking for a port in the dash he could hack into. ¡°Hey, we have a minute and a half until the hack is complete.¡±


    ¡°Guys we don¡¯t have that kind of time!¡± Julie pleaded.


    Jason pulled out the tracker, tied it to the tension rope and sent it back up to the roof. ¡°We will have to hide in the car.¡± Julie nodded and they join Eric in the car, laying flat as to not be seen immediately. Just as they had climbed in the lights of the auction hall flashed on.


    ¡°Everybody take your seats please¡­ Sorry for any stress Mrs. Conley may have caused.¡± The host lead the ensemble to the gallery to view the floor, and the workers trudged about bringing pieces to the for front to sell. One of the workers picked up an ornate vase right next to where Jason hid in the back seat, all the workers had to do was take one step over and look in the convertible¡¯s back seat, but he remained hidden.


    ¡°First up we have an early colonial painting by the late Darcy Hues. Bidding begins at 100,000.¡± The host announced.


    ¡°Eric, what¡¯s the time looking like?¡± Jason asked, voice heavy with stress.


    ¡°Ten seconds but everyone can see us, I¡ª¡± Eric was cut off mid-sentence.


    The second we hack in punch us out the back windows, people seeing us doesn¡¯t change our plan.¡± Jason whispered back, ¡°Ready?¡± Julie nodded.


    ¡°500,000! Going once¡­.¡± The host said emphatically. ¡°Going twice.¡±


    The hack was complete, and wrist mounted unit beeped softly. ¡°Here we go.¡± Eric grumbled.


    ¡°Sold! The man in the back.¡± The host exclaimed excitedly. Eric punched the ignition and slammed the gas. The wheels squealed as the Tyson roared to life. People in the gallery gawked in awe as Eric turned the car toward the rear windows, accelerating to a speed enough to break out of the window. Jason stood out of the top of the convertible and fired a few shots toward the window to give it more leeway when the car made contact.


    *Crash*


    The Tyson went airborne, flying through the window and falling the ten or so feet to the pavement with a jolt.


    ¡°Everyone ok?!¡± Jason shouted over the whipping wind. Eric grunted in agreement, and Julie stared back at the ever-distancing basilica.


    ¡°Yea, I¡¯m glad to be out of there! What is next? We just drive out of town like nothing?¡± Julie scoffed.


    Jason gave her a skeptical look, ¡°It can¡¯t be that easy¡­ in all my years of work, I haven¡¯t found anyone more protective of their property then the rich.¡±


    Julie broke her gaze from the basilica to look at Jason. What are you being so tense about? She thought, what do you know. As if her thoughts became realized, the whistle of bullets zipped past her ear. Jason grabbed her by the back of the head and shoved her face in the seat, he quickly followed suit as the bullets ravaged the vehicles metallic frame.


    Jason drew his gun from his holster and swiped the reloading cylinder across his chest to activate the auto loader on his left pec. He looked at her almost sarcastically. ¡°See what I mean!?¡±


    ¡°Hold on!¡± Eric shouted and he whipped the wheel to the right sending the car into a tire squealing slide. Julie tumbled about the back seat still in shock of the how quickly danger could kick into gear. Jason looped his arm around Julie an helped her gain her footing. ¡°When that ship comes back around shoot at the cockpit in the front. If we can shoot the pilot, we can get away easy but I¡¯m sure that glass is fully tempered and bulletproof, if that¡¯s the case then at least we can give us some cover.¡±


    Julie nodded and aimed down her sights. The roar of engines filled the empty streets as one large Xenon security craft closed the distance, they got so close that Julie could read the departments motto: X-SEC security secured.


    ¡°Open fire!¡± Jason shouted and the two opened fire and watched as their bullets bounced off the front glass shielding. The pilot did however, back off the Tysons rear bumper just enough for Eric to try another evasive maneuver. Almost without warning, Eric cranked the wheel right and tore off down a street that ran perpendicular. They had a moment to breath, Jason and Julie reloaded and scanned the sky waiting the ship.


    The ship finally reappeared but seemed to keep its distance to avoid drawing fire. Jason and Julie trained their sights on the craft, but their attention was directed to the wrong threat. They were blindsided by another X-Sec craft coming down a blind corner. The Tyson swerved back and forth under the force of the hit, but some how eric was able to keep the car in a straight line. Before Julie could find he balance a man from atop the X-sec craft jumped down to the vehicle and took a swipe at her with a large knife that seemed to come out of nowhere. The blade tore through the fabric of her shirt and sliced into the flesh of her chest. Blood welled in the wound, but it was a glancing blow. The figure wore a skintight black outfit that shown with a metallic glare. He had glowing blue trim running the length of his suit, and by the way the light pulsed it looked to be a power source of some kind. He raised back up to deliver another blow and Julie realized that the large knife was coming from out of the man forearm. She raised her and fired a burst that collided with the man¡¯s metallic coated arm, but to her surprise the bullets did not ricochet of like they did the X-SEC craft. No, this time they cracked the man¡¯s arm as if it were made of ceramic. Black fragments broke away in large fracture exposing the wires and metal under neath the black suit. The man recoiled again and caught three more rounds of Jason¡¯s Justice revolver. The man¡¯s suit once again shattered away, but this time he seemed unphased. With a primal shout and the whirring of mechanics the man lurched across the back seat toward Jason making a meaty smack as they collided; The man¡¯s forearm knife burrowing deep into Jason¡¯s shoulder. As the two tussled for control Julie got a good look at the damage Jason¡¯s bullets did to the man¡¯s chest, she also realized the glowing blue trim on his suit must be wires running power to his now exposed core. She climbed up in the seat but not high enough to draw fire from the X-sec craft and shot directly into the man¡¯s chest. With a roar the man recoiled in pain and back handed her with enough force to knock to the opposite side of the back seat, but this action gave Jason enough time to grab the man by his mask pulling his head down and kicking the man over him and out of the vehicle. Without a moment¡¯s notice Jason pulled back up and resumed shooting at the X-SEC craft which was now flying broadside to allow its passengers an angle to fire. Julie peaked over the seating, and before she took her shots at the. When abord the craft she saw the man with glowing blue liquid speckling his face and bald head. She turned her attention to the threat at hand and shot at the crafts occupants, who, now were cowering from the casualties that Jason had already inflicted on them.


    ¡°We¡¯re coming up on the exfil point Jason, you guys need to hold on to something!¡± Jason looped the seatbelt around his arm and couched down, Julie did the same but not before glancing a head at the ¡°Exfil point¡±.


    ¡°Um are we going to stop?¡± Julie said franticly as she peered at the edge of the upper city getting closer and closer. Jason gave her a knowing look, and she closed her eyes. The railing of the upper city gave way with a light metallic *ting* and Julie for the first time in her life felt the feeling of true weightlessness. The car sored from the upper city at a high rate of speed and then dropped like a rock toward the fields miles below. The wind was defining as they all held on for dear life, soon though, it all stopped being replaced with the engines of the cloud hopper.


    ¡°HAHA!¡± Jason shouted with glee as they were suspended in air by the tractor field emitter. He leaned back into the seat and placed his hands behind his head as the flew through the sky. ¡°Nothing like a well-executed plan, aye Eric?¡±  Eric sighed and grunted in agreement.


    ¡°Jason what about X-SEC? wont they follow us?¡± Julie said looking around for the craft.


    ¡°Relax.¡± Jason said calmly, ¡°Those craft are not rated for high altitude flight. They know they cant follow. So, sit back, relax, and let Sam take us to payday.¡±


    She sighed and, for the first time in hours, let herself relax.


    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    The flight was not a long one. The meet up point with Jessa was just outside the city in the hills of the bad lands. They arrived first and set about deciding how they would explain the excessive damage that had occurred the cars body.


    ¡°Did you tell her it could be a hot exfil?¡± Sam asked,


    Jason looked over the car. ¡°Not exactly.¡± He sighed, ¡°There wasn¡¯t much choice, right?¡±


    Sam threw his hands up, ¡°Hey, no casualties is a win in my book, but I guess were about to find out what she thinks.¡± Sam nodded at the approaching convoy of vehicles.


    ¡°Show time everyone!¡± Jason shouted and everyone formed a line in front of the car. The convoy of vehicles stopped, and Jessa got out and stood before them. Jason sighed and took a step forward prepared for the worst. We have most of your car ma¡¯am, hope this will suffice, he thought. Before he could say anything, Jessa ran towards the car giddy with excitement. Confused he followed her to the car and saw she was toying with the radio.


    ¡°Ummm, Whatcha doin?¡± Julie said speaking the mind of the group.


    ¡°I haven¡¯t been completely honest with you all.¡± Jessa spoke up turning dials and pushing buttons on the dash. This is a beautiful car, but its contents are what¡¯s priceless to me.¡± A metallic pop and hiss followed by a small container rising out of the dash. ¡°This is the first ever fully functioning biochip.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s it do?¡± Jason asked curiously.


    ¡°On this chip, A person¡¯s personality, thoughts, and consciousness can be stored as data and in the right system can become a living AI. It truly is a wonder of technology.¡± Jessa explained as she admired the chip.


    ¡°Is some one on this one¡± Sam asked hesitantly.


    ¡°My son.¡± Jessa spoke through her emotion. ¡°he was killed by a rival family that wanted to use this tech for profit, and selfish gain. When he realized his death was imminent, he downloaded himself onto this chip and for years I have been working with the revolutionaries to create a vessel for him. We were almost done when my house was raided by citadel troops and all my belongings were turned over to the city. You have brought my son back to me and for that I am in your debt.¡±


    Jason let the moment linger before asking, ¡°We could use some help now if that¡¯s ok.¡±


    ¡°Yes, Yes anything!¡± Jessa said excitedly.


    ¡°We need a place to lay low for a while, and if we could fix up Sam¡¯s ship that would help a lot.¡±


    ¡°Of course!¡± she snapped her fingers, and men leaped out of the back of one of the vehicles to gather the car and the biochip. ¡°You may stay with us as long as you need. Tiago, Help them with their things would you.¡±


    Jason¡¯s fist closed and his jaw clinched as a tall man with sun kissed skin and vibrant green eyes got out of the driver¡¯s seat. He had a strong build and he stood in a way that showed he was a weathered veteran of many battles, but Jason already knew this from his time under Tiago¡¯s captivity.


    ¡°Jason, are you ok?¡± Julie had noticed his sudden tenseness.


    With out looking away from Tiago, Jason muttered back to her, ¡°That Fucking son of a bitch.¡±

 Chapter 11

    The desert road wound in and out of the canyon for what felt like hours, not only because of the heat but also slow crawl that the convoy elected to set as pace. Jessa had made comments about the recent attention the Citadel ranger forces had been giving to locate the revolution¡¯s base and assets, But Jason thought it may be worse than she let on. Every 15- 20 minutes, the roar of scout ships reverberated against the cavern walls.


    ¡°Every day they get closer to finding us.¡±  One Rev said as one ship howled by over the top of the canyon. Jason reminisced on his time in the rangers, looking for these very men was riding with now. Even after his time in captivity he sympathizes with these men. He understood what it would mean for them if even one scout ship located them.


    ¡°why do they care so much? Its not like nexus is part of the requisition.¡± Julie asked.


    ¡°Not officially. These guys are rangers, probably the same battalion I was part of. Their main goal here is to acquire resources to transport back to the hub worlds. Since Nexus is so volcanic there is an abundance of Titanium and other luxury minerals.¡± Jason air quoted the last part of his sentence bringing attention the stark difference of the word luxury for a citadel citizen and a Nexite; one wanted Gold, Silver, and Diamond the other wanted another day to live. Jason continued, ¡°Besides, the citadel has a hard time with letting things go. They could want to destroy the revolution out of spite.¡±


    The convoy turned down the mouth of a deep black cave. The drivers cut their engines, and exited the vehicles, Jessa walked up to the darkness and held up her hand, when suddenly, a green flash of static burst out from the center where her hand was, and the darkness lifted like a curtain.


    ¡°We push from here.¡± She said casually.


    Jason joined some men who were already pushing one of the vehicles along and began to help when two familiar hands were placed next to his.


    ¡°Welcome back ¡®Del.¡± Tiago grunted from a mouth somewhat hidden beneath an immaculate beard, almost to immaculate for Jason to believe he had been living in a cave all this time.


    ¡°What the Hell do you want, Tiago?¡± Jason Hissed back at him. He had not heard the derogatory term since he left his imprisonment. The though of his time here made the scars on his body start to itch, most of which had been put there by Tiago himself.


    ¡°Woah now, no need for that¡­ Things are different this time, you are my guest. That should count for something right?¡± Tiago asked politely and only got a stern look from Jason in return. ¡°Look I just Want to talk. When you guys get settled in meet me in the cantina, there is something that we need to discuss. Come alone¡­ OK?¡± Tiago again asked politely, some thing Jason was no accustomed to.


    ¡°Fuck you!¡± Jason snapped as the vehicle came to a stop in its parking area. Tiago recoiled. Jason could see the anger welling up inside of Tiago, but he remained calm.


    ¡°It¡¯s important¡­ it has to do with her.¡± Tiago nodded in the direction of Julie who was chatting with Eric as they helped push the vehicle pulling the cloud hopper into its parking space. Jason snaped his view from Julie to Tiago. ¡°Meet me in the cantina.¡±


    With that Tiago turned and walked off to what looked to be a control room, leaving Jason with his thoughts.


    ¡°FUCK!¡± Sam¡¯s distress just barely lofted above the sound of steam jettisoning out of one of the engine cooling systems. The noise beckoned Jason back from the depths of his thoughts, and he hurriedly approached the spot where Sam was standing.


    ¡°what¡¯s going on?¡± Jason asked clueless to the mechanics involved with the cloud hoppers engines.


    ¡°Where to start¡­¡± Sam paused as he rubbed the bridge of his nose out of frustration, ¡°Due to my hasty repair job I must have overlooked argon insulation chambers, which in the previous crash, were ruptured. The engines were running well but were only being cooled by liquid nitrogen running in those tubes and the air blowing in as we fly. Flying it like this caused internal components to melt and now the whole engine is shot.¡±


    ¡°That sounds bad.¡± Jason replied.


    ¡°you¡¯re telling me.¡± Sam sighed.


    The two looked on the ship for a few moments, witnessing the super-heated gas spewing into the air. When suddenly Jessa appeared out of a doorway.


    Sam, I talked to my mechanics and they are going to head up here shortly and see what they can do.¡± Jessa said reassuringly but Sam was not convinced.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure I trust your guys. This is state of the art Citadel tech, and no offence to your mechanics, fixing a CH-1LD oscillating engine is more complex than Frankensteining together an engine in a V8 Quad. Hell, without citadel tools its damn near impossible.¡± Sam argued but Jessa was unphased.


    ¡°Gentlemen, come with me there is something you need to see.¡± She replied with a smirk and lead them through the door she had come from a moment ago. In fact, the door was basically part of the wall itself. It was so well disguised that if you did not know exactly where the door was you would not be able to detect it. Jason had to give it to the revolutionaries, they really knew how to hide. Jessa ushered them through a labyrinth of hallways and atriums until they opened a final door to a sight Jason had not expected. There before him was a bustling city tucked in the back of a random cave in the desert¡­ It was amazing.


    ¡°When did the revolution get this lucrative?¡± Jason asked dumbfounded by the sight of this hidden city.


    Jessa chuckled, ¡°Five or six years ago many people in the upper city became fed up with the Citadels crack down on our business and resources, so a group of powerful families came together to support the revolutionaries with secrete investments. From there the cause grew dramatically since word got around that there was a lot of money with the revolution and that bolstered their recruitment and they thrived.  A little over three years ago the citadel decided they couldn¡¯t find the revolutionaries hide outs, so they did the next best thing.¡±


    ¡°And what was that?¡± Jason asked knowing she was already going to answer.


    ¡°They went after bank records, transactions and found out who was funding the revolution and quietly paid off or blackmailed each one until I was the only one left resisting¡­ and you saw how that ended.¡± Jessa had sorrow in her voice but quickly hid it, ¡°Anyway here is where you will stay.¡±


    The building was on the outskirts of the town. It was a large building of geometric design, and in color pristine white. Jason recognized what the building was, or what it uses to be.


    ¡°Where did you get this?¡± Jason asked quizzically.


    ¡°What, the building?¡± Jessa feigned ignorance.


    ¡°No Jessa, I¡¯m talking about the Citadel officer cabin that is right in front of me.¡± Jason stated getting Annoyed by Jessa¡¯s Vagueness. ¡°I have seen these before, and I know they are only found inside of Citadel flagships¡­ Did the revolution take down a flagship? No wonder the Rangers are looking so hard for you.¡±


    ¡°Jason looks around you, this city was not built from rock. It¡¯s built from defiance and citadel metal.¡± Jessa announced passionately.  Jason studied the buildings around him and found them to all have the sheen of citadel alloy, Jessa continued, ¡°We can¡¯t afford to waste resources and a downed ship is a hell of a resource, I¡¯m sure you understand.¡±


    Jason did understand, the Citadel was ruthless and cruel. That went for their enemy and their friends alike. If a ship went down then that ship was replaced, if a solider died then that solider was replaced. That was a fact of life for a citadel citizen, and one that was better learned early, when you lost your usefulness then you were replaced.  Jason scratched at his chip implant site and though about how fast they discarded him once he was captured.


    ¡°Sam, go on inside with the others and get settled, I¡¯m going to get a drink. Jessa where is the canteen?¡± Jason asked politely and she pointed down the street to a building that was glowing with a yellow golden light. Jason began the walk into the cave. This group was more self-sufficient than he had given them credit for, if he was completely honest with himself, it was quite impressive.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    Jason stood outside the glow of the cantina for a long while contemplating his next move. On one hand Tiago was a master manipulator, some one who could get near anyone o do anything he wanted¡­ Jason knew that firsthand. On the other Julies condition was going to take a turn for the worse again and from what he gathered from her appearance and the subtle darkening of the veins around her neck it would be sooner rather than later. Jason noticed Julie ran out of Elysium Recovery serum in the week leading up to Jessa¡¯s job, and now they needed more but they needed to wait for the shipment. Jason was sure Mr.L gave them a rigged syringe, one that administered to much serum  so they would run out faster and be more desperate. If Tiago had an angle that did not involve getting in deeper with a crime boss, then he had to at least entertain the idea. Tiago could be a mean ruthless son of a bitch, but at least Jason knew where he stood.


    Jason approached the front doors, and with a sigh he pushed them open and walked inside. The bar was livelier than Jason had expected. There were patrons laughing at a table in the back, sharing stories and living life as if there was not a galactic superpower sparing no expense in hunting them down. Jason missed the feeling of being carefree like that. He scanned the room and quickly located Tiago; he was sitting in a booth in the corner with his feet up on the table, smoking what seemed to be a large cigar. Jason approached the booth and sat down opposite from him, placing his gun on the table with a thud.


    ¡°Wow... that was dramatic, Nice piece by the way¡± Tiago joked seemingly unphased. The two men stared at each for a moment, until Tiago broke the silence. ¡°Are you just going to sit there and stare or are you going to get something?¡± Tiago questioned. Jason was taken aback by the offer; he was not expecting Tiago to act so casually.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine right here.¡± Jason snapped back.


    ¡°really, put your gun away and get a drink.¡± Tiago responded.


    ¡°I told you I¡¯m fine.¡±


    ¡°Why are you being difficult?¡±


    ¡°What you think that because you let me go, we can be friend?¡±


    Tiago sighed and waived over a waiter, ¡°No, I think this conversation will be easier if we are relaxed and look at you. Slamming down a gun on the table, you are super tense.¡±


    ¡°What will it be T.¡± The waitress asked very politely. She glanced at Jason and gave him a warm smile. People were nicer than he had expected, this whole place was nicer then he expected; it hurt his brain to think about. He remembered it very differently when he was here over three years ago. Dark cold cell. Hours of interrogation, most times it got physical. Was the revolution just now getting to be a nice place or had it always been nice but was Jason just denied that. He was not sure what was worse.


    ¡°what are you having?¡± she asked Jason. With reluctance he replied.


    ¡°what do you have? ¡± Jason asked and Tiago¡¯s face lit up.


    ¡°Give him some of Juanas stuff¡± Tiago turned back to Jason, ¡°This stuff is great, its like a spicy Tequila that¡­¡± Jason wouldn¡¯t give him a chance to finish.


    ¡°WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK THIS IS!? We aren¡¯t Friends, Tiago! What are you doing?!¡± Jason could not keep civil any longer. The sudden snap drew the eyes of all the patrons in the bar. Tiago took notice and waived off the waitress. Eventually he broke the tension.


    ¡°Look I know you don¡¯t like me, I mean nor should you, I¡¯m just trying to start over.¡± Tiago said solemnly.


    ¡°No,You Don¡¯t get to do that¡­ Not after what you put me through.¡± Jason chest started to get tight, almost as if he were having a panic attack. The memories flooded back to the front of his mind . ¡°Do you not remember all the times you used my face as your personal punching bag or were you too preoccupied picking my brain for every thought I had?¡± Jasons small cranial port itched for a moment as the thought of the neurojack ripping files worth of information from his brain.


    ¡°I remember all of it! I remember you held me here until I was deemed good as dead by the citadel council, and they gave me outbound status.¡± Jason could feel his pulse heightening. ¡°Tiago, you took everything from me!¡± Tiago just sat there and listened. He looked genuinely upset about the situation. Its weird to see him like this, Jason thought in between sentences. It was hard to get angry with him.   ¡°You Took my life away! When I was no use to you anymore your thugs threw me into a city that I didn¡¯t want me. I did not know what to do or who to work for. What I had to do to survive still gives me nightmares!¡± The words got stuck in Jason¡¯s throat as a knot began to form. ¡°One night they were worse than usual, and I decide to end it all.¡± Jason gave his Justice revolver a spin to indicate that this was indeed the very gun. ¡°I can still feel the ice-cold barrel against the roof of my mouth and the feeling of pulling the trigger.¡± Jason slammed his hand on the table, ¡°Then I woke up on the floor, I must have blacked when I pulled the trigger. I tried over and over again to the same effect. It would seem that something wants me around, so now I drink¡­ AND NOW I NEED A GOD DAMN DRINK!¡±


    With out a word Tiago stood up and walked to the bar. After a short deliberation with the bar tender, he returned with bottle in hand.


    ¡°I think there is somethings you need to see. come with me.¡± Tiago said as he beckoned Jason to the doors. Jason, wiping the tears forming in his eyes, was too emotionally drained to argue. He got up and followed Tiago out.


    The two men walked silently through the calm evening streets, the artificial lighting getting dim to simulate the long night of Nexus. The path they took made a sharp turn toward the cave wall and Jason could see a faint foot path leading up, and after a short hike they stopped at a ledge overlooking the settlement. ¡°This is it¡­ what it was all for.¡± Tiago said as he popped the cork off the bottle and took a swig, then offered it to Jason, who, drank it eagerly.


    ¡°You know I use to be a farmer?¡± Tiago admitted in between drinks. ¡°My dad had a plot of land out here away from the city. Peppers, bean, corn, you name it, my dad could grow it. I remember, my brothers and I would spend hour in the fields with him picking the harvest in the hot sun¡­¡± Tiago chuckled. ¡°It was Awful, but when we brought our harvest to the other farming settlements, people¡¯s faces would just light up. Times were just simpler then, you know.¡±


    Tiago stopped talking for a moment to reminisce on the way things were. Jason knew where this story was going. He knew the only thing that changed the way people lived on nexus was the citadel mining instillation that was set up over twenty years ago.


    ¡°What happened?¡± Jason asked anyway.


    ¡°The Citadel landed. At first, we were excited. The hostile animal population went down, we started selling our crops to the soldiers, and for a brief time we had happiness. Soon the crops stopped growing, the soil got harder, and unable to sustain growth. Soon the facility deemed all the land in the valley hazardous; demanded that we leave. My father gathered representatives from all over and marched on the facility to demand answers.¡± As Tiago spoke Jason remembered this event. They called it the red bean revolution. He had heard about it during his training. The commanders said that the farmers, claiming to be under paid, stormed the facility to take their pay by force. It was plausible, but the Citadel had a policy that any force over twenty members was to be treated as hostile. That policy always leads to bloodshed.


    Tiago continued, ¡°we couldn¡¯t even make it to the gate before the shooting started. Bullets ripped through the crowd creating a field of chaos and death. No one brought any weapons, so we were gunned down like cattle. I only survived by hiding in a mass grave until the guards went on patrol. From that day on more people from the surrounding settlements came to these caves looking for refuge and the revolution was born¡­ ever since that day I have hated the citadel. These people have nothing, but this cause and I will stop at nothing to keep them safe.¡± Tiago took another drink and pointed to the city. ¡°I know this is not what you want to hear but the information I got from you directly saved everyone here many times. I hate that it must be done, but if it keeps these good people safe then I will bare that burden for them. I hope you understand.¡± Tiago suddenly got tense as if he were expecting Jason to attack him, but, in reality, Jason understood where Tiago was coming from. Jason had tortured and killed people for nothing other than money, at least Tiago was doing it for a noble purpose; besides Tiago could have killed him all those years ago but did not¡­ He would have not let his prisoner go. Reluctantly Jason let his anger subside and he took solace in the idea that he may have helped these people, and he may be able to again.


    ¡°did you just want to chat about our past or did you have something to ask me?¡± Jason sighed as he reached for the bottle.


    ¡°Yes, I did have something to ask you, Let¡¯s keep walking.¡± Tiago motioned to the trail ahead and the two men kept walking on the trail until they arrived at an outpost positioned along the cave wall. Tiago opened the door and building, and he continued talking, ¡°We have recently started recruiting in the red-light district. With that comes a lot of people with Elysium addiction.¡± Tiago said as he pushed a final door open leading to a large medical holding bay.


    Jason looked around the room they had arrived in. The room was dimly lit but he could see many medical beds filled with people suffering from late-stage Elysium withdraw. The thick black veins snaked up the side of their faces in a black spiderwebs. The scene reminded him of what Mr. L was doing but these people all seemed to be under anesthesia.


    ¡°Does this work?¡± Jason asked motioning to one of the beds, and Tiago shook his head.


    ¡°Most of the people that have an addiction this bad don¡¯t make it. Id says there are forty people in this medical unit with late stage Withdraw, and maybe ten will make it out and that¡¯s if we are lucky¡­ One of my informants that works in the club scene says there is a shipment of Elysium serum going to the upper city soon and funny enough that one of the club owners has hired you to get it for him¡­ I¡¯m asking you to help us get it instead.¡± Tiago asked.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure about that. I am kind of in a bind¡­ The woman I am working with, the one I came in with, use to work for that club owner. The deal I made with him was that I would get him the serum and her would give her what she needed to get clean, and her freedom.¡± Jason said defeated. ¡°I can¡¯t risk her life to bring the serum back to you.¡±


    ¡°By the way, who is she?¡± Tiago asked bluntly, but Jason could tell by his voice it was just a question.


    ¡°She¡­ She is my second chance.¡± Jason said and could tell Tiago was confused, so he continued. ¡°For a few years I found work with gang leaders and war lords. I hurt a lot of people, guilty and innocent. I Built my bounty hunting career on pain and death, but when I met Julie¡­ I don¡¯t know, I felt like I could finally do something good. You know if I could help just one person.¡± Jason started to say but cut off his thought before he could give himself to much hope.


    Tiago sighed and nodded. ¡°I understand¡­ I just wish we could help these people too.¡±

 Chapter 12

    It had been weeks since Jason had been in the bustling streets of the red-light district. Walking the streets in anonymity made him feel oddly safe; hidden amongst the masses.


    ¡°I never thought I would be back here.¡± Julie admitted as they stood across the street from the Dirty Lemon night club.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to do this; we can find some other way to find your meds.¡±  Jason said encouragingly, though he knew finding Elysium serum would be near impossible.


    Julie rolled here eyes, ¡°You know that¡¯s not an option¡­¡± She sighed, ¡°Lets just get this over with.¡±


    ¡°We are so close to getting out of this. Once we do this job, you¡¯re out.¡± Jason said reassuringly.


    ¡°Finally free¡­. Thought it would feel different.¡± Julie sighed again as they crossed the street and pushed open the doors to the club. Music and lights ripped through Jason¡¯s senses briefly making him dizzy. A woman with bright red hair twirled about on a pole; breasts on full display. Patrons hooted and hollered obviously enamored with the woman, they obviously did not notice the woman¡¯s unenthusiastic expression on her face.


    Julie, hiding her shapely figure in a large jacket as to not draw attention, led the way through the crowd deftly flowing between groups of people till she arrived at the back doors. After a moment of struggling with the crowd, Jason arrived with her at the back.


    ¡° ¡¯Bout time.¡± She joked as she pushed the doors open exposing the maze of concrete corridors that snaked endlessly, but lucky for Jason, Julie was very familiar with the path.


    Left,


    Left,


    Upstairs,


    Right, and there it was. Mr. L¡¯s office.  The pair walked in and saw that Mr. L was standing with his back to them looking at the club floor through some Transparent window panels. There was a naked woman bound to a chair in the corner of the room. She was bloodied and bruised from a obvious beating, by the dripping blood Jason knew It had been recent.


    ¡°Turn in your arms, Mr. L¡¯s request.¡± The guard by the door demanded as he presented a tray.


    ¡°That is NOT happening!¡± Julie debated as her hand tightened on the grip.


    ¡°You made it here faster that I expected. Normally people have a hard time navigating the halls.¡± Mr. L jeered. ¡°Please turn in your gun Julie, as policy I don¡¯t do business with armed individuals¡­ gets messy.¡±


    Jason drew his revolver and briefly twirled the gun around on his finger until he caught it by the barrel, presenting the grip to the guard. As the guard took the gun, he gave Julie a reassuring smile. Julie relaxed slightly and complied with the request hitting the release trigger on both parts of the arm harness and it released as the sleeve stock coiled down to the guns grip and she placed it on the tray.


    ¡°Ahh, how long has it been Julie? A month? Two? I can never remember¡­ the turnover for whores is so fast I figured you¡¯d died already.¡± Mr. L commented. Jason noticed that, despite her snarky attitude she was very afraid of what Mr. L was capable of, and now he could see it in her eyes.


    ¡°Hey, your business is with me, so let¡¯s do business. What¡¯s the plan? how are we doing this?¡±  Jason said calmly attempting to defuse the situation. Mr. L turned to face them, with a sinister smile on his face.


    ¡°Oh, on the contrary Jason¡­ she is my business.¡± With a snap of his fingers Mr. L¡¯s guards grabbed Julie and put a gun against her head. ¡°she is the collateral.¡±


    ¡°Whats the fuck is this?¡±  Jason shouted as Mr. L pulled a gun out of his desk and trained it on Jason¡¯s chest.


    ¡°This is business! You think I am just going to let you take her with you? The girl who needs the medicine, do you think I am an idiot?¡± Mr. L stated, and Jason couldn¡¯t say he didn¡¯t think about that option. Just steal what serum they needed for Julie¡¯s condition and then just leave the city. Mr. L continued, ¡°No, she is staying with me and we will make the trade when you get back then she can be your good little whore.¡±


    ¡°I swear to god if you hurt her¡­¡± Jason started but was cut off.


    ¡°.. You will kill me? Ughh all you muscle heads are the same, where is the nuance, huh? Where is the showmanship?¡± Mr.L sighed , ¡° I swear, I won¡¯t hurt her¡­ but if I get even the hint you are trying to scam me.¡± Mr. L quickly pointed the gun away from Jason and discharged a round into the woman sitting in the corner. With a sharp squeal, she snaped back in the chair from the force of the bullet and toppled over backwards crashing to the floor. Blood pooled under the woman¡¯s head as her eyes rolled back into her head, Jason knew immediately that she was dead. With the click of a button the woman¡¯s restraints unlatched and Mr. L callously kicked the lifeless body free of the seat.


    ¡°Bring her here.¡± Mr. L stated, and the guards pulled Julie to the chair and restrained her. ¡°This is only a precaution, I¡¯m sure you will get the job done.¡±  Mr. L let a slight smile break his lips, ¡°Now go, it¡¯s almost time[JR1] .¡±


    Jason looked at Julie one last time before he exited the office. She looked at him pleadingly but did not say a word. Jason knew that he had to do the job, but Julie had the hard part. The thought of her just sitting here and waiting with her abuser gave him a sick feeling in his gut but he also knew that if Julie was not present at the tradeoff, then he wouldn¡¯t get the serum¡­ he¡¯d been on both sides of these negotiations before. Gathering his scattered thoughts, he focused on the task at hand and made his way down the hallways to meet his new crew.


    The Gravtrain was not hard to find, the dust kicked up by its magnetic pulse engines could be seen from miles away.


    ¡°Lock and load everyone.¡± A large man standing at the exit ramp, as the freight hauler careened out of the sky. Jason had only just met this man, but he knew instantly that he was the leader of this ragtag team. Mr. L had matched Jason with one of his elite teams for this particular mission partly to ensure Jason got the job done and also possibly put a bullet in his back if it came to It. Jason was fully aware of the policy these men followed. Get the job done for the boss and tie up loose ends on the way out; Jason just happened to be the biggest loose end in one hundred miles.


    ¡°Tag, you want to use the jump packs, right?¡± a small nimble man shouted over the rushing wind. His name, or code name rather, was ¡°sights¡±. He was the only semi friendly one in the bunch. Standing at 5 foot 6- and 145-pounds Jason was taller and much bigger than him but, being an infiltrator, this build was ideal. He was armed with Trovosi slug shot rifle for long range engagements and a small energy caster pistol for if things got close. The other three men not including Tag, went by the names Takae, Osi, and Bradley, all three armed with Jaros energy rifles and liquid explosives. Jason had not talked to them much on the flight but he had heard them talking about hunting down one of Mr.L¡¯s runaways¡­ by the description it sounded a lot like the girl that was in the chair in his office.


    Tag on the other hand was all business. He was Larger than Jason by half a foot and his hulking muscles rippled out of his shirt sleeves. His hair was light brown and shaved into a short mohawk exposing his tattooed head, one of which caught Jason¡¯s eye. Snaking up the back of his neck were what looked like branches from a tree, or in this case roots. This tattoo was a tree growing upside down, every conquest a new trunk every kill a branch... This was the telltale sign of a scourge berserker, some of the most fierce and brutal warriors in the galaxy. Jason shivered with the thought of his past run ins with the scourge when he was part of the Citadel rangers. The scourge was the main reasons the citadel-built outpost 38 all the way out in deep space, despite what was said in the press about bullshit unity. It still surprised him that the scourge was the only threat that the citadel truly feared.


    ¡°Strap up. We jump in thirty seconds.¡± Tag barked as he slid on his jump pack. Jason did the same, and moved to the doorway with Tag.


    ¡°So, we just jump out?¡± Jason asked tentatively looking down at the train far below.


    Tag snickered, ¡°First time new blood? Place your landing zone with the targeting scope and Jump out. The pack will do the work for you¡­ Just hope you don¡¯t miss the train.¡±


    Jason thought about smacking the ground at terminal velocity and shook it from his mind. ¡°Are we expecting resistance?¡±


    ¡°Of course, Look!¡± Tag pointed down far below and Jason could faintly make out X-Sec forces scrambling to mounted weapons and AA guns. ¡°They will put up a fight, they always do. It shouldn¡¯t be a problem right, NewBlood?¡± His question hung in the air like a taunt, and Jason rolled his eyes and prepared for the jump. Through the targeting scope he could see every one of the squads landing spot and placed his behind them.


    ¡°Sights, you stay and give us cover fire. Everyone else with me!¡± Tag shouted and leapt from the Feight hauler. Takae, Osi and Bradly followed him out. This was crazy, they were to high they would never make it... Jason took a deep breath to pull his mind together and, stepped off the ramp.


    Only moments into the fall energy cannons began firing up at them. At first the beams of energy were filling the sky at random easily missing the men falling with speed, but once the suits slowed down to move to the landing zone, the beams got to close for comfort. He busted into the cloud of dust and saw the train was only 100ft away.


    Boom!


    It happened so fast Jason could barely process what had happened. An energy bolt hit one of the men further down and he had exploded; Viscera and gore filled the air. As Jason jump pack followed the group down and thus right through the fine pink mist filling his lungs as he gasped for air; a metallic taste filled his mouth. As his suit slowed down the fall Jason closed his eyes waiting for a bolt to hit him¡­ it never did. The next feeling was the hard metallic clang of his boots on the train. In one swift movement he dropped to his knees and rolled over to a nearby hatch for cover drawing his revolver as he turned over.


    Tag was in front of him standing in the center of the train, the two rifles that he wielded glowed red hot against the brown dusty sky. ¡°Osi, give me a sitrep!¡± he shouted in-between bursts.


    ¡°We lost Bradley on the way in, other than that no casualties.¡± Osi stated while toying with a function on wrist mounted holocom.


    ¡°Damn,¡± Tag cursed, ¡°New blood you and Takae go in here, Osi follow me to the front of the train¡­Once we clear the train, we will start prepping the product for the freight hauler.¡±


    Jason looked at Takae, who motioned him to go down the hatch. Jason leapt from cover and slid down the hatch door, narrowly avoiding the energy blasts charging the air over head. Takae followed him down closing the hatch door behind them, Plunging them into a momentary darkness. Slowly the buzzing of chem lights lit up the room. Jason made his way down the corridor but halted midway down. ¡°there is some one in here¡­¡± Jason said looking around the room for the source. Takea Begin to get nervous, twitching his head left then right. The humming of his rifle drowns out any hope of locating the sound again.


    The zing of an energy bolt zipped by Jason head as a X-sec solider leapt from his hiding place at the front of the train car. Jason ducked down behind a rack of plasteel containers just two bolts smashed into the container: sending molten plasteel showering across the back half of the train. The weapons the soldiers used were much less powerful than the mounted AA gun that had taken out Bradley, but they could still blow man apart if they hit just right. Jason adjusted to look toward the assailant who now had backup as two men ran into the train car to support them. The bolts flying around the room in rising to a crescendo, creating a cacophony of superheated death. Jason hated energy-based weapons for two reasons: The first was that the wounds created by medium sized rifle bolts could be up to a half a foot wide in diameter if they hit direct creating a melted mess that was near impossible to fix. As for the second¡­


    Jason stood abruptly and took aim. He would only have a second to make the shot before his enemy turned their sights on him. He let all the air out of his lungs to steady him self and fired. His bullet ripped out of the barrel with an air splitting crack as traveled the length of the train. As it moved Jason threw himself to the floor knowing his shot would strike true. With a deep clank the bullet pierced the energy chamber on the X-sec soldier¡¯s rifle. Before he could let out half a scream the rifle lit up with white hot energy and burst. The explosion was so powerful that the top half of the train car opened like a tin can. The smell of charred flesh stung Jasons nostrils, which was made worse by the rushing dusty wind.


    ¡°That¡¯s why I hate energy rifles.¡± Jason said as he stood up in the recked train car. Takae looked down at his own energy rifle with horror.


    ¡°Fuck me man! Can they do that to us!?¡± Takae stammered.


    Jason rolled his eyes, these guys were supposed to be top of the line, he thought. ¡°No, you rifle is protected from energy blasts by that conductive chamber, otherwise it would blow up when ever you shot a bolt.¡± Jason stepped through the carnage, ¡°The only time you need to worry is when some one starts throwing lead at you.¡± Jason stopped and reached down to pick up one of the other X-sec soldiers Energy rifle and held it up, ¡°See, good as new.¡±


    Takae gaged as hanging from the guns handle still gripping was a charred arm, blown off from just above the elbow. Jason tossed it across the train to Takae, who scrambled back away the gun that landed with thud. ¡°Fuck you, That¡¯s not funny!¡± Takae scolded.


    ¡°Come on we still have a few cars to clear.¡± Jason said as he opened the door to the next train car and began to open fire on the unsuspecting soldiers inside.


    BANG!


    ZISSSS!


    BANG!


    Takae and Jason fired in tandem felling the X-sec soldiers in quick succession. A sizzling hole exposing charred ribs in one man, another with his jaw half blown off by one of Jasons rounds slumped against the wall gurgling on his blood with his final breaths. After the action had subsided Jason looked around the train car. The boxes here were different, smaller, white plastic with a green cross adorned the top of the boxes. Jason opened one up and found that there was a familiar syringe inside.


    ¡°Takae, contact Tag and tell him we found the shipments.¡± Jason asked. Takae nodded and began to fiddle with his holocom. When his back was turned Jason placed a few of the syringed in a pocket on his pants.


    ¡°They are on the way, but Tag mentioned there is an unknown force coming in from the west.¡± Takae stated and Jason shot him a confused look.


    ¡°Unknown? What does he mean?¡± Jason asked as he moved to a near by ladder.


    ¡°Ummm, Its unknown dumbass!¡± Takae berated. Jason just rolled his eyes and climbed up to the roof hatch. Peering out Jason could see 10 or so figures riding on hover bikes tearing across the desert at a high speed. The figures approaching wore solid black with shrouds covering their face, giving them a supernatural look to them.


    ¡°New blood!¡± Tag entered the room drenched in blood from what Jason could see, the blood was not his. ¡°get up there and start prepping this car for extraction! Osi go with him!¡± He shouted and threw the anchor and cables violently at Jason. The two men climbed the ladder to the roof of the train car and begin fastening the anchor to the center of the car. For a moment, as Jason ran to one side of the car to attach the cables, he though they might just be able to get the job done before the incoming revenants were able to get to them¡­ that moment was fleeting.


    Bam!


    One of the bikers shot a harpoon into the side of the train car shaking the vary ground Jason stood on.  Again, and again more harpoons pierced the metal walls of the train car and with uncanny coordination all the bikes began to pull the train to a stop. The violent shock of the sudden slow down knocked Jason from his feet and he slammed against the ground. He could hear that fighting had broken out from within the car, and by the unintelligible shouting of Osi, it was about to start up here too.


    As Jason looked up, he saw Osi locked in a fist fight with one of the figures and three more climbing into the roof to attack them.


    ¡°Don¡¯t let them disconnect the anchor!¡± Osi Pleaded in between receiving heavy punches. For a moment Jason and one of the two figures locked eyes, the emerald green of them was all the more vibrant set against the tan of his skin. Suddenly the figure lurched forward toward the anchor. Jason leapt into the air bounding across the roof of the train to meet the figure, he thrusted. His knee hard into the figure¡¯s ribs, casting the air out of their lungs. As the figured staggered back and was met with a swift kick to his head. Jason knew it had landed square as the figure stumbled back visibly dazed. That moment only lasted for a moment as the black robed figure gathered himself and regained his composure.


    Jason noticed Osi was having a hard time dealing with the two men he was fighting with, constantly being batted about: blood dripping from his mouth. Jason knew he would not last much longer, and he didn¡¯t like his odds if it were three on one. He made up his mind and charged the man in front of him deftly dodging the punch he threw. Jason put his shoulder square in the man¡¯s chest, wrapped his arm around him, lifting the man from his feet with a grunt. Using the acquired momentum, Jason closed the distance and when he was close enough body slammed the figure into one other assailants. Casting both enemies into the walkway connecting the train cars. Jason turned his attention to a Osi and his fight¡­ it was not going well.


    Osi was bleeding profusely from his nose and a cut above his eye painting his face bright red. His hardy conscious body was being drug across the train to the edge. His assailant stood him up and brandished a knife to put an end to Osi¡¯s life.


    In an instant Jason sprang into action wrapping his arm around the hooded figures neck and kicked off Osi¡¯s chest, freeing him from the figures grip and but also knocking Osi from the train to the desert below. Jason tightened his arm around the figures neck and stared to choke the man out, but soon the knife found the flesh of Jason¡¯s leg. Due to the blind nature of the attack the wound was not deep, but it was painful enough for Jason to release his grip. Quickly the figure snaked free and started slashing wildly at Jason¡¯s chest. The attacks were slow and sloppy indicating he mans in experience using the weapon. Methodically Jason dodged the incoming attacks, waiting for openings to deliver hard jabs to the figures face. The two fighters circled each other but never stepping out of range to strike. Tired of waiting, the attacker lashed out at Jason in frustration, overreaching and exposing himself. Jason intended to take full advantage. Quickly, he side stepped the attack and delivered a hard kick to the attackers extended knee, his boot crushing the cartilage with an audible pop. The man¡¯s leg collapsed under his weight putting him on his knee. As the man groaned in agony, Jason switched his stance and delivered a straight kick directly into the man¡¯s chest, sending the man sprawling across the roof of the train. Jason waited ready to reengage with the attacker but that never came. As the man sat up, a slug decimated the side of his head sending blood and brain matter across the train in a sickening spray, and the man lay lifeless on the on the metal roof.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    ¡°About time! I thought you would never get away from him.¡± Sights snickered over the coms, ¡°Next time if you don¡¯t get so close to them, I can help you out. It¡¯s almost like you wanted the fight.¡±


    ¡°Yea, well¡­ Thanks for the assist.¡± Jason looked at the lifeless man that lay before him, blood already creating a substantial pool.


    ¡°Assist are you shitting me?! That was a perfect shot! No, I¡¯m taking full credit for that one.¡± Sights laughed.


    ¡°Have the pilot go back for Osi, my read out says he still has a heartbeat. Once you guy gets back, I¡¯m sure we will have this handled.¡± Jason suggested, ready for sights to argue.


    ¡°But Tag said¡­¡± Sights started but Jason cut him off.


    ¡°I don¡¯t care what tag said, we are not leaving him behind.¡± Jason demanded.


    ¡°OK, we¡¯ll go get him¡­ but if Tag beats my ass, you¡¯re getting it too.¡± Sights shut off the comms and Jason watched as the freight hauler veered off to go get Osi, feeling relief wash over him for the first time. This might work, he thought.


    Inside the train car the air was electric as Takae and Tag, pinned down by an overwhelming force, fired weapons blindly about the car; the stench of burned ozone filled Jasons nose as he fell in behind the pair. He could see the robed figures taking crates of the serum off the racks and out of the car.


    ¡°What are you doing, you are letting them get away with boxes of the serum!¡± Jason shouted at Tag who just huffed at him.


    We are pinned down, if you can¡¯t tell. What do you suggest we do, New blood?!¡± Tag barked. The nickname was starting to piss Jason off.


    ¡°Well obviously, we need to move up!!¡± Jason suggested but Tag did not move, Jason needed to try something different. ¡°By your tattoos, I thought you were some scourges bad ass, but now you look to be just a cowardly little raid wife. Should have Known I was working with a Bitch.¡± Jason jeered, and caught a swift right hook from Tags massive fist. The blow busted his lip and slightly loosened his teeth. Jason smiled with a bloody grin. ¡°There you go, That¡¯s more like It. Now let ¡®s fucking move!¡±


    Tag Burst forth to confront the enemy, the sight of the massive man barreling towards them sent the enemy scattering to cover. Behind him came Takae, whose rifle was glowing red with heat from the use, took cover slightly behind Tag and shot one of the enemy soldiers trying to steal a crate.


    Jason saw his chance. Rushing the length of the train car as fast and low as he could jumping into the stack of crates that Takae was currently hiding behind. The force of the impact knocked the crates loose.


    ¡°What are you¡ª¡± Takae started but was cut short by 3 slugs hitting him in the chest; one after another slamming into him with wet dull thumps, Takae slouched against the wall lifeless. A quick glance through the break in cover, Jason saw that it was the man with vibrant green eyes who had shot Takae.


    The green-eyed man reached for another crate of serum and did not realize he had just opened himself up for Tag. A smile cracked across Tag¡¯s scared face as he took aim. No, Jason thought, this was his business, Jason rolled over Takae¡¯s lifeless body and moved up to Tag¡¯s position suddenly standing up directly in front of Tag¡¯s rifles, blocking his shot. Tag shouted something unintelligible that Jason didn¡¯t even register, he was in his zone.


    The barrel of his gun positioned perfectly between the man¡¯s green eyes; check mate, he thought.  In one smooth motion that would be missed by those without a keen eye, Jason¡¯s mover the barrel of the revolver ever so slightly at the same moment as firing. The bullet ripped through the air and clipped the man with green eyes in the top of the shoulder. The sudden shock of being grazed caused the man to jump backwards to cover. Jason felt a wide meaty hand grasp his shoulder and force him to the side.


    ¡°Get the Fuck out of my way, New blood!¡± Tag shouted as he fired his rifle manically at the location where the man had just been.


    ¡°We have enough! Everyone get back to camp!¡± One of the assailants shouted and with professional coordination they all as one swarmed out of the doors and were gone as fast as they had appeared Jason sprinted to the doors and shot the rest of the rounds in his chamber at the quickly distancing enemy.


    ¡°GOD DAMN IT!¡± Tag roared from behind him, Jason turned to face him. ¡°I have run this op hundreds of times with out much more than a scratch, then you show up¡­¡± Tag rolled over Takae to reveal the substantial exit wounds. ¡°And my whole squad gets wiped.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t have anything to do with this Tag. Your guys weren¡¯t lucky, this shit happens.¡± Jason said searching for a response.


    ¡°This shit huh¡­¡± Tag let out a subtle laugh, while looking at Takae¡¯s. ¡°Ive lost all my guys, what¡¯s one more? How¡¯s that for SHIT!


    With out much warning Tag reared back and lunched his rifle at Jason, the collision was enough to cause the rifles frame to crack on impact with Jason¡¯s torso dropping him to his knees. Vision blurry Jason could barely make out the hulking mass approaching. Jason rolled to the side narrowly avoiding a massive boot crashing down on his face. Using his remaining momentum Jason popped up to the balls of his toes smoothly he spun sweeping Tag¡¯s legs out from under him. Tag crashed to the ground sending a small shock wave throughout the train. Jason reached out to grab hold of the nearest rack and pulled as hard as he could. The metal groaned and came loose, tumbling the crates down on top of the raging giant. Jason stood back to await what would come next. The pile of crates began to shift as a hand shot out from within and started to claw its way out.


    ¡°Tag, I didn¡¯t kill your team! I was just as surprised as you were those guys showed up.¡± Jason pleaded to no avail.


    ¡°I don¡¯t believe you.¡± Tag replied finally free from the pile of crates, ¡°And for that I am going to rip your bastard head off!¡± Tag swung a crate at Jason who, though stunned by Tag¡¯s brute force, managed to step just out of range. The second swing however, found its mark and Jason took the full force of the crate, sending him hard into the train wall. There was no time to catch his breath, because right after Jason opened his eyes, he dodged Tags fist, which slammed into the wall leaving a dent and Jason¡¯s ears ringing. Before he could rise to his feel a large hand enveloped his chest and effortlessly toss him the length of the train car. Jason hit the wall and fell to the ground. Still dazed Jason came up with and idea, one he probably would not do if he were in his right mind. God, I need a drink, he thought as he pulled out the jump packs targeting scope. He scanned the opposite wall and locked in the landing location. The jump pack heated up and gave the collision warning light, Jason hit the override and got a running start. After a moment of running the jump pack booted up and shot Jason toward the targeted wall¡­ he would have to go through Tag. The jump pack launched Jason forward.


    20 meters,


    10 meters,


    5 meters.


    This tactic surprised Tag and caused him to stop moving for a brief moment, but when he did finally move it was too late. Jason knee made contact with Tag¡¯s nose completely shattering it and surly some of his skull, dropping him to the ground in a bloody heap. Jason kept moving until he reached the wall but fortunately, Tag¡¯s face has slowed him down enough not smack into it.


    Jason scrambled to his feet and bounded over to the downed giant keeling on hid chest. Jason drew his gun and pressed it hard against his tag¡¯s bloodied forehead. At the last moment he pulled it away from Tag¡¯s face and shot next to the mans head sparing his life.


    ¡°I¡¯m just here to get the serum I need, and I¡¯m gone. I am not looking for a fight with you or your boss so cut out this bush league shit and pull it together!¡±  Jason demanded, Tag just lay on the ground and coughed up blood; The mixture of saliva and blood dotted his face and shirt. Jason stood up and fiddled with the coms link, ¡°Sights¡­ Sights, come in.¡± Jason repeated into the silence and hoped that they would be there.


    ¡°Go for sights, is that you new blood?! Good to hear ya!¡± Sights joyfully exclaimed into the comms.


    ¡°Can you have the pilot bring the freighter down ill get us attached.¡± Jason replied and began to climb up the ladder.


    ¡°Sure thing! By the way have you heard from Tag? He has been coms silent for a while.¡± Sights concerned for his captains well being asked tentatively. Before Jason could answer a gravelly voice answered.


    ¡°He¡¯s here. He is pretty beat up, but I think he¡¯ll pull through.¡±


    Jason completed attaching the cables and connected the freight hook. Two small explosions on either side of the train car indicated they were free. Tag clumsily climbed out of the train car to join Jason, clearly still rocked by their fight.


    ¡°We Square?¡± Jason asked preparing for the worst. Tag just grunted in annoyance, which Jason took as a yes. The freighter engines roared as the remaining crew soared into the sky, the only thing louder then the rushing wind was the sound of the now destroyed train crashing into to the desert floor.


    The streets of the Red light were not the same as the streets they had left. After the shoot out in the upper city and the recent loss of millions of credits of goods in a mag train robbery, X-sec had presented a sizable force to confront the recent unruly citizens of the lower district. Traffic checkpoints, patrols, and random searches kept most citizens off the main streets in an effort to not be taken in for processing. Jason had experience dealing with X-sec and getting around patrols but the chip sniffers that were attached to the patrol squads presented a serious risk. Chip sniffers or COR-299¡¯s was the citadel¡¯s biggest infringement on personal privacy. This short four-legged armored combat support drone was outfitted with a sensor that could scan a large crowd in a matter of seconds, processing the all the data off their chips to find any threats or wanted individuals. These drones could even track a chip¡¯s ID number using data from security cameras and local data bases. Jason, being an outbound citizen, would have to carful not to get scanned.


    As the three approached they could tell something was off the front doors were usually adorned with girls advertising the product, but now the front was quiet and desolate. This suspicion was confirmed when Sights opened the door to the main floor. The pulsating music was silent and the purple neon lights flickered and cast an unsettling light on the horror that lay all around the room. The dance floor, once packed with life and energy now lay as silent as the dead who were upon it. The blood a hundred victims painted the walls a deep red.


    ¡°Fuck man¡­ Wha... what did this?¡± Sights asked through frightened breaths, as he accidentally kicked the decapitated head of a once beautiful woman. It rolled across the room until it got stuck in the sticky warm blood from another mangled corps.


    Jason observed the room to take it all in, he was having a hard time processing all this death; his mouth tasted of copper. On the stage lay half the body of a naked woman, she had been bisected diagonally from the right shoulder to the left hip. He faintly recognized this woman, not by her face, but by her glowing red tattoo that read: Savagery breeds survival.


    ¡°Whatever it was could still be here, so keep your eyes open.¡± Tag huffed as he drew his rifles and began to charge them. ¡°Let¡¯s get the boss and get out of here.¡±


    Jason nodded and started wading deeper into the carnage. The dark back hallways were equally ravaged but this time instead of innocent dancers and sleezy customers, the floor was littered with the bodies of the bruting guards that forced them into servitude, making the horror before him disturbing but also justified in Jason¡¯s mind. Tag climbed over bodies piled in the stairwell and pounded on the door to Mr. L¡¯s office.


    ¡°Boss, You in there?¡± Tag asked and only silence answered. ¡°We are coming in!¡± tag turned from the door to briefly look at Jason and sights, motioning for them to go in with guns ready. Jason pulled his from its holster and readied it. With a powerful kick, tag knocked the doors off its hinges with a loud crack. The trio bounded into the room checking corners to clear the room; only Mr. L was present in the room.


    He stood gazing over the blood-stained dance floor below, a beverage in a glass. ¡°That was very dramatic captain.¡± Mr. L spoke with a very smooth and calm tone. His clam was incredibly unnerving to Jason, it felt like he was more annoyed then horrified by what he witnessed. ¡°Did you get me my serum?¡±


    ¡°Yes sir, but don¡¯t we have a bigger problem now?¡± Tag asked motioning to the death all around him. ¡°there is no one to use it?¡±


    ¡°Oh don¡¯t think so hard Tag, its not your strong suit.¡± Mr. L Jeered. As he turned around to face the trio. ¡°Whores are not hard to come by. This¡­ This is just the price of doing business. Give it a few weeks and we can be up and running like this never happened.¡±


    Jason thought about all the people that were now considered to have the same value as a broken object, it sickened him. As he was thinking this over, his eyes locked on Julie gun¡­ in the same place it was when Jason had left. ¡°Where is Julie, L?¡± Jason asked, words filled with anger as his gut knotted up.


    Mr. L met Jasons gaze, ¡°Let all go down to the storage bay and ill explain everything.¡± Mr. L motioned for them to follow him through a hidden passage that had opened to his left. As they walked the long dark hallway, Mr. L explained how the events unfolded. ¡°Shortly after you all left on the freighter, a commotion stared in the main room. I Figured it was a dancer getting out of line or a touchy patron, but the screams started. When I looked out my window over the dance floor, I was a man, if he could even be called a man, attacking the girls at the door. They tried everything to get a way; some ran, some tried to fight back and some hid¡­ they all had the same end. This man moved so fast, cutting through everyone with precise efficient slices the people down there didn¡¯t stand a chance. When I saw him making his way into the back hallway, I sent all my guys down there to stop him, while I came down here.¡±


    ¡°What happened to Julie.¡± Jason asked again to remind Mr. L that he had still not answered his original question.


    ¡°Well, I left her there of course. There was no time to bring her with me, besides now you don¡¯t have to deal with incessant attitude.¡± Mr. L explained as he led the group into the large storage bay. Jason instantly recognized it as the room with all the Elysium addicts crying out in pain and agony, secluded in their cells. By this time, the shipment had been separated from the train car and had been deposited neatly into the storage room. This room was separated from the larger room by a thin wall and a metal grate door. Jason looked at them longingly; a tinge of sadness broke through the anger raging in his heart. As he stood there observing their pain, Mr. L walked with sights and Tag over to the shipment of serum and looked on it with relief.


    ¡°Thank God, you got the shipment! Now we can start recruiting more workers so we can start making money again! good work guys, your pay is well earned! Mr. L Exclaimed overjoyed to see signs of life in his near dead enterprise.¡±


    Tag put a Broad hand on Mr. L¡¯s shoulder, ¡°No Problem Boss, there is no job we-¡°


    BANG


    Tag¡¯s Throat erupted, as a round ripped through it. Blood splattered all over the neatly stacked crates, as the gaping exit wound made a wheezy gurgle. Tag slumped against a crate and grasped at his throat. Sights tried to turn around a draw his rifle but was to late.


    BANG


    The round hit him square between the eyes and blew out the back of his head spattering Mr. L with gore.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you Fucking move!¡± Jason commanded, and Mr. L stood with his hands by his side. Jason could tell by the way Mr. L¡¯s hands were shaking that he was finally showing some sort of emotion¡­Fear. ¡°You left her? And what you thought that I would be ok with that.¡±


    ¡°I didn¡¯t-¡° Mr. L started,


    ¡°Shut up, you pathetic piece of shit. If you say one more word, Ill drop you right here.¡± Jason demanded as he thought of his next move, Tag looked at Jason, his eye bulging from lack of oxygen. All he could do was mouth you¡­.you¡­you. You what Jason would never know.


    ¡°She-¡±


    BANG Jason shot a round at Mr. L lower back smashing through his spinal cord. With no support Mr. L Bent at a sickening angle as he crumpled to the floor. A shrill cry came from Mr. L as he tried desperately to crawl away. Jason walked over and stepped on his leg to stop him from moving any further.


    ¡°That computer over there attached to security?¡± Jason nodded his head to the secluded room with a computer and filing cabinets. Some sort of office that held papers that could be destroyed to hide evidence. Many crime bosses had rooms like this, but Jason could care less about the shady deals Mr. L was running; only the man who attacked the club.


    Mr. L nodded, ¡°Good, what kind of inscription does it have?¡± Jason asked the now terrified husk of a man, Mr. L.


    ¡°It¡¯s got a finger scan lock.¡± Mr. L, who was beginning to grow pale, looked at Jason in the eyes, ¡°Drag me over there and I¡¯ll¡­ I¡¯ll get you in.¡±


    Jason grabbed Mr. L¡¯s Hand as if to lift him but stopped. ¡°I don¡¯t have time¡­¡± A sinister smile broke Jasons lips, as he slammed Mr. L¡¯s hand against the concrete floor, placing his revolver right behind the knuckle of Mr. L¡¯s Index finger, and pulled the trigger. The shot rang out and shot hot lead all over the room as the round passed through Mr. L¡¯s finger and smash apart against the hard concrete floor. The finger had only been partly severed but a quick tug was all Jason needed to pop it free. Mr. L rolled in agony as Jason approached the computer and place the severed finger on the scanner.


    Beep,


    Beep,


    BEEP! The computer booted on reviling a list of folders, one titled security.


    ¡°Good thing it wasn¡¯t a retinal scanner, ay L. That would have gotten gross.¡± Only screams of agony responded. Jason quickly scrubbed through the nights events and found the one he was looking for. Julie sat attached to the chair he had left her in, as Mr. L raced from the room. Moments later a figure appeared clothed in black combat gear and approached Julie. She mouthed something to him, but the security recording was non audio, damn it he thought.   The figures arm opened along the length of his forearm and exposed a large knife, one that was familiar to him¡­ It belonged to the cyborg that had attacked them weeks ago in the upper city. To Jasons surprise the cyborg broke the bindings to Julie¡¯s wrists and carried her out. The last Jason saw she was thrown over the cyborgs shoulder and she was kicking as punching him, though he looked unphased.


    What did it mean? Was she alive? Why after all this killing would he just not kill Julie? The thoughts swirled in his head, but then an idea occurred to him.


    Franticly Jason searched the other files on the computer.


    Blacklists


    Contracts


    Pay


    Security


    No, no, no¡­ it had to be in here. In his time with other shady organizations, Jason learned that employees often had their ID chips registered into a company database in order to keep track of their comings and goings. This was to cut down on corporate espionage and in this case, catch runaways. There! Jason found it in a folder titled whores. Of course, it was there, why didn¡¯t he think that a scum bag like Mr. L would have a whore registration folder. With a sigh Jason opened it and scrolled through the long list of names. Hundreds of names flew by, some were labeled active, and many were labeled deceased. Come on¡­ where are you, Jason thought. Finally, he found her:


    Julie Anne Sinclair- ID 7804038293¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.. Runaway


    Jason wrote the ID number down on a near by scrap of paper and tucked it in his pocket, then deleted her from the data base; she did not deserve to have her name in this computer.


    ¡°Now for you.¡± Jason turned his attention back to Mr. L. ¡°I have been forced into dealing with you and made to play nice for the sake of getting Julie medicine¡­ and now you have no use to me.¡± Jason gripped the collar of Mr. L¡¯s fitted shirt and drug him out of the storage room. ¡°The way I see it, I can either let you go. You can go get yourself some new legs, get your spine fixed up¡­ get this operation back up to full speed in a couple of months, or¡­¡± Jason slid him into the room housing all the cells. The Elysium addicts had some what fallen silent fighting the pain of the drug in order to see what was happening, it was quite impressive.


    ¡°Or I can kill you and spare a lot of people a lot of pain.¡± Jason looked down at Mr. L, ¡°but the decision is not up to me.¡± Mr. L looked at him confused.


    ¡°What do you mean! I can make you rich! I can get you women! I can find some one to fix your arm!¡± Mr. L pleaded.


    ¡°Shut up! I need to make a call.¡± Jason demanded, and Mr. L fell to a whimper.


    Jasons wristcom lit up and Tiago¡¯s voices chimed in. ¡°What¡¯s up?¡±


    ¡°Hey, Listen. The situation has changed the whole shipment is yours. Can you come to my position?¡± Jason asked.


    ¡°Yea we can be there within the hour¡­ what changed?¡± Tiago asked tentatively sensing that something must have happened.


    ¡°I¡¯ll explain when you get here. Oh, and have Sam bring a ship.¡± Jason ended the call and looked back down at Mr. L. ¡°Like I was saying, your fate is not up to me¡­Its up to them.¡± Jason nodded toward the cells of junkies now growing ravenous. The sudden realization finally dawned across Mr. L¡¯s face.


    ¡°No! No! Please have mercy! Don¡¯t do this!¡± Mr. L pleaded grabbing ahold of Jasons pants, tugging them to get his attention. Jason grabbed Mr. L¡¯s arm and pulled it taught, causing Mr. L¡¯s face to come near to his own.


    ¡°Don¡¯t beg me¡­ Beg them.¡± Jason raised his foot and crashed it down on his arm wrenching his grip free with a guttural pop. Mr. L began screaming incoherently grabbing at the bone now poking through the skin of his upper arm. Jason closed the security door separating him self in the storage room, and found the computer was still open. Jason scrolled to the security folder and hit the command ¡°Open all cells.¡± Jason looked on as Mr. L¡¯s screams to terror were replaced by the sounds of broken bones and ripping flesh, as the Elysium junkies Mr. L had created, finally found their vengeance.