by Tex Leiko
“I hear a single man talking now,” Zarfa stated. His voice was shaky.
The rain poured down upon them; the sky flashed with a brilliant, radiant white light. Thunder boomed and roared as the electricity arching from the ground upward hit the clouds and crackled. The raindrops splattered upon the concrete and asphalt that surrounded them and that fresh, clean smell filled the air. Despite the distractions of this and Max’s voice, he held his thoughts on the lone voice now echoing in his brain.
“What’s it saying, Zarfa?”
“He…it’s a he. He is saying…”
* * * *
“Looks like we have another visitor tonight! Not backup either, poor Crimson doll,” Badger said as he backhanded her so hard across the face the room spun and a bit of blood trickled from her lower lip.
“Aww, too bad. I really thought a white knight was going to come and save me too,” she said as she giggled like a little girl.
Her eyes stared into Badger’s deep blue, almost purple irises. He stood several inches over her and was close to three hundred pounds. He wasn’t fat by any means; he had a very muscular frame covered by only a thin layer of fat and a small paunch on his belly. He was one of the hairiest people one would ever lay eyes on; thick black and white hair peeked up through the collar of his tank top and caressed his chin, which displayed a neatly-kempt salt-and-peppered goatee.
His arms looked like a werewolf’s; the hair was so thick one could barely see any skin. It crept all the way up the forearms and to his knuckles. One could swear he looked like a wombat who had put on a poorly crafted man costume. The hair on his head was wiry and wild. It looked as if he hadn’t combed it for a week. Judging by his wrinkles and hair, he looked to be in his fifties, not your typical rock star these days. Then again, it wasn’t your typical rock star that played music a person had to get his or her nerves modified to hear. It also wasn’t the typical rock star who could command his fan base to do whatever his wishes were.
“We will see how funny you find this all when I use whatever means I see fit to extract information from you,” he said as he uppercut Crimson, his blow striking her diaphragm.
Crimson fell to the ground, her diaphragm in spasm from the strength of the blow. She had been winded by his brutal attack and could barely breathe. She would have tried dodging it if she even had the faintest idea as to how to get out of here alive. She wasn’t a quitter, but she was smart when it came to being obstinate; no need to completely anger the dangerous man in front of all of his adoring fans, or fanatic army.
“Surge, Zax, take her to the back room. Chain her and guard her. She is more dangerous than you could even imagine. Don’t let her get away. I want to know what she is planning,” Badger commanded his lackeys telepathically.
Crimson knew he was doing it. She knew if her mind wasn’t so clouded from the pain, she could make out some more of what was going on. As it stood right now, she couldn’t concentrate enough to get more than faint, crossed signals and the occasional intermittent sentences. She was barely beginning to recover her breath when she was hoisted up by Badger’s two cronies and taken away.
“Well, ladies and gentlemen,” Badger said as he clapped twice, “open up the door and welcome our new guest.”
Right as he finished his grandiose introduction, the doors swung open. They made a slight creaking noise as they did. In the doorway stood two shadowy figures; flashes of lightning illuminated the imagery behind them. The dim lighting inside the warehouse didn’t do much to immediately reveal their faces. As they stepped forward, the crowd could see that there was a new face, as well as one they had told to get lost only ten or fifteen minutes ago.
“I thought I told you to get lost and forget about your friend…the girl.”
“You did. I thought you would forgive me, however, seeing as I was coming with a guest of honor. I treated this man with the Psyker bots this morning. You see, he wanted to know where you all were so he could join your little club and that’s why I teamed up with Crimson to come here.” Max had come up with that little lie on the spot and hoped Zarfa wouldn’t fail him.
“Well, he is of no use to us yet…doctor. You see, we can sense him right now, but he can’t sense us. He would have been able to find us on his own once he had completed his last round. So if you think you’re helping by bringing fledglings that are still wet behind the ears, you’re not. Make this one your last, or we will.”
“I heard your voice from outside! Badger, right?” Zarfa piped up.
“Aww, how cute. The neonate heard his first words. Has he yet to speak any, though? I’ll admit this is impressive you selected a voice so easily, but you still aren’t past the most dangerous part. We all know it is the third round of injections that has the highest mortality rate. How about you come back here once you’ve shot in all five? Okay? Now, scram!”
“How about a deal? I’ll come back after the next four injections are done and join you? All I ask is that you let my doctor’s friend go, fair?”
“Ha! Fair? You don’t know what that woman is capable of, do you? Not surprising. Sorry, but I need her, or the information that she has anyhow. My offer is this, turn around, leave, and don’t suffer the pain of being beat to death by an angry mob.”
“Where is she?” Max demanded.
“Cute. She did mention a white knight coming to her aide; too bad it’s you. I’ll tell ya where she is and what I plan to do to her too…”
* * * *
Surge and Zax weren’t too gentle as they threw her to the cold floor of the tiny back room. It couldn’t have been more than ten by eight feet. It had a single bare bulb dangling from the ceiling keeping the room barely lit. There was a chair placed over the top of a drainage grate sitting as the centerpiece of the room. The chair had leather straps for the hands and feet and a chain collar connecting to the ceiling and dangling down to the seat of the chair.
Surge kicked Crimson in the ribs to usher her to her feet; it worked. The pain prompted her to jump up from all fours to a standing position. She knew what they wanted. For her to sit in the chair. Screw that. Her eyes went wild, like a beast cornered. These two seasoned henchmen could see that she was still in control of herself despite her wild-eyed, crazy-looking mannerism.
Surge grasped at her wrist as fast as he could. He thought it would be as simple as pushing her down into the chair and overpowering her. She dodged backward as quickly as possible. His movement seemed like a geriatric trying to catch a fly. Before either he or Zax realized it, she was behind the chair and had already thrown it at his head.
Her aim was true; the chair rebounded off of Surge’s head, dropping him like a sack of bricks. Zax still barely realized that a fight had even begun. He pulled his pistol and aimed it at Crimson. In the time it took for him to draw his weapon, she was already flying in his direction, swinging on the chain that connected to the ceiling, using the steel collar as a foothold to gain momentum and balance.
As he raised his gun but before he could shoot, she had already closed the gap and was sending the toe of her white leather lace-up heel straight into his temple. He dropped to the ground in immense pain, his pistol sliding across the floor. He wasn’t unconscious like Surge was already.
He stumbled as quickly as he could to his feet, muttering profanities at Crimson. Before he could even launch an attack of his own, she had managed to get behind him and put him in a sleeper hold. He shook wild and viciously with all of his strength to get her off of his body; he couldn’t and, in seconds, he too was unconscious.
It isn’t time to start a war yet. I’ll leave them alive.
Crimson ran over to where Zax’s gauss pistol had slid and picked it up. She didn’t have any pockets in this dress to discreetly hide her newly acquired weaponry.
What the hell, I guess I will just have to run out toting two of them as accessories to my lovely ensemble.
Before stepping over the unconscious Surge, she stopped to examine his forehead. The chair had gas
hed it pretty hard and he was bleeding profusely. He won’t die from this, just be a little uglier. Then without hesitation, she removed his pistol from his person and held it in her other hand. She was dual wielding gauss pistols like a maniac you would see in some kind of comic book.
Her red hair was frazzled and flowed down to right past her shoulders. Her eyes darted wildly and mischievously, examining for any hidden trap, ambush or enemy. Her muscles rippled as she paced quickly back toward the front entrance. Her cute party dress was swaying loosely over her toned physique as her heels clattered on the hard floor in the room that would be otherwise empty if it weren’t for the nearly two thousand fans standing behind Badger. Someone other than her was currently holding their attention, but not for long.
Before the clatter of her heels had even registered as a noise out of the ordinary to anyone, two gun shots that definitely were unexpected rang out, causing everyone, including Max, Zarfa, and Badger, to jump. There was a clamor of swearing and remarks as the crowd turned to face Crimson. Badger, too, turned to face her. She could see him. It took a few steps to get from the pit where she was standing up to the entryway where the doors were. He was elevated barely enough above the crowd that the two of them could look each other in the eyes.
“Your cronies are still alive, dick weed! That’s what you get for trying to interrogate me. Next time, skip the theatrics and put a bullet or two in my head! Cut off my arms and legs or something! Give those guys a chance to handle me, all right?”
“Very well! Are you ready to fight my horde of faithful fans?”
“Think again,” she screamed as she fired a warning shot that grazed Badger’s ear.
Badger grabbed his ear as Max screamed, “Crimson!”
“That was a warning. I didn’t come here looking for a fight. I didn’t come here looking for a war. I came here to show Max some answers. I believe we have all we came for. Let us go or your brave and fearless leader Badger here will catch a double tap to the head. After that, I don’t give a damn if you stomp me into the floor. At least I’ll die happy!” Crimson ranted out.
Her eyes were crazy as ever and now she had a wide grin on her face. Badger could see it and if he didn’t know any better, he would think that she was about to bite out his throat with her elongated feline-looking eye teeth.
Badger raised his hand and signaled for the crowd to do nothing. His other hand still pressed tightly to his bleeding ear. He didn’t savor the idea of losing this fight, but he didn’t savor the idea of losing his life either.
“Let them go,” he said sternly.
“Oh, how kind of you, sweetheart,” Crimson said with a chuckle as she made her way across the warehouse, up the few steps, and stood between Zarfa and Max.
Zarfa was on her left; Max was to the right. Both were shocked at what was going on. Zarfa hadn’t planned for this to happen, neither had Max. Max was relieved they would all be leaving in one piece. Zarfa still wanted to know more, but assumed it would be better for him to come back after he finished the injections rather than press the issue tonight. Crimson knew she shouldn’t press the issue and spark an outright war with the Psykers this evening, but her fingers were twitching on the triggers of her acquired pistols as if she wanted to unload every round into Badger’s body.
She ran her tongue across her lips and tasted the blood from the split she had on her lower lip from Badger’s fierce backhand. “Call that graze on your ear even for the mark on my lip, friend. I’d love to kiss and make up, but I’ve got my hands full. On that note, I say g’night, pal. Don’t even try to retaliate. You’ll regret it.”
Badger didn’t say a word, just stared at her with the occasional glances over to Max. His solid expression screamed one word—murder. He would gladly do it the moment the time was right. He knew, too, that if he so much as gave her an inkling, she might die tonight, but so would he.
“‘Til we meet again, love,” he said with a wink.
At that, the three of them were off into the night. The darkness and the rain quickly shrouded which direction they headed. Their pace was quick until they were back into Crimson’s part of town. It was about three in the morning. It was still dark, but the rain had subsided. They all looked tired and were still sopping wet from the rain.
“Well, doc. That wasn’t how I thought my night would go at all. Look, in this backpack here, I’ve got the next four treatments. I watched you well enough I think I can give them to myself. I left two pieces of tech that I found on your desk as payment. I think they’re cloaking devices, but I’m not sure. I’ve never seen tech like that. It’s a long story, one I don’t have time for now,” Zarfa said as he turned his back to them and began his journey down the road.
“But! Wait!” Max shouted.
Zarfa hesitated then halted.
“Look, I’m grateful to you. You can have the bots, I don’t care! You saved my life. I don’t need your money. But re-think it, please? Didn’t you see what was going on in there? The Psyker Scream phenomena isn’t some mere craze over fad music. It has to be something deeper.”
“I’m already involved in something deeper, but thanks for the concern, doc.”
“Max is right, you know. You might want to reconsider. If you don’t choose wisely, you may wind up on the wrong side of a war that is about to begin. That isn’t a threat, just a fact. Look, I would love to explain, but after tonight, I am quite tired and need to get my beauty rest. Zarfa? That’s your name, right? Look, I recognize you from earlier today. I saw you stumbling around. First treatment today, right? You can’t do another for, at the minimum, five days from now. Meet me tomorrow, mid-day at Max’s clinic. I’ll explain.”
“Fine,” Zarfa said, then proceeded to make haste in the direction he had originally started walking.
“You’re staying the night with me,” Crimson said with an eyebrow cocked.
Max’s heart began to race and thump. He was nervous. The night had already been unpredictable, and now he had a beautiful woman not asking, but telling him he was going to stay the night? A beautiful woman still holding two loaded guns like they were toys. A beautiful woman who could kill him with ease regardless of which of the two of them were holding the pistols.
He cleared his throat and said with his voice crackling, “I am?”
Crimson could tell he was blushing, even if it was dark out. His face was a dead giveaway that he had taken her wrong. “Yeah, you are. They know you’re Max. They know you’re a doctor. They know your clinic is in the slums. Whether you’re helping them or not…you’ve been seen with me; that makes you their enemy. I would say sorry, but you are the one who wanted answers.”
“So you’re protecting me?”
“I’m protecting myself. If they got to you, they would use you like a bartering chip to get me. I sorta like you. I don’t want to kill you unless you give me no other option. So you are staying here until I can escort you back and watch you. Once I explain it all, you will have to make a choice.”
“What choice is that?”
“To make a difference, like you’ve always wanted to.”
“And if I choose wrong?”
“You’ll die, sooner or later. But hey, even if you choose right, the outcome will be the same. So don’t let it get you down, chump.”
They stood there staring at each other for a while before Crimson turned toward the building that her apartment was in. She pointed to it and Max thought it was a joke. There was no way she could afford an apartment in this building. It was on the upper west side; this skyscraper was home to some of the richest individuals in all of Alexandria, let alone Alexarien.
“Right. You realize that apartments start at about a billion credits a month in this building? It’s known to be a hotspot with every amenity anyone could want included in the fee. The person who built this was a genius.”
“I know she is,” Crimson said slyly with a Cheshire grin.
It took a moment to register in Max’s brain. He felt the blood dra
in out of his face as he pondered what she meant. Finally, he opened his mouth. “You mean to say you built this?” he questioned.
“Exactly,” she said, pointing to the top floor. “I own this whole thing, and I live on the top floor. So, you coming up by your own volition or am I going to have to make you?” she asked, placing the barrel of one of the pistols to his stomach and raising her right eyebrow in a playful manner.
Max’s heart was fluttering and he was definitely overly excited about everything that had taken place in the last day. His life always seemed so dull and boring, but now, in mere hours, it seemed to be getting turned upside down.
“I guess I have no choice. Some mad woman wants to take me hostage as a sex slave,” he said, smiling.
“Watch it, buddy. I can pull this trigger with ease. Now come on, let’s get off the street and get dry.”
The two of them rode a private elevator to the fifty-seventh floor. As the elevator dinged and they stepped off, Max realized that the elevator must be only for her. She had to swipe a key to get into it and it let them off right in her living room. The apartment was massive. It appeared to take up the entire top floor of the building. If she didn’t own this building, it would have cost more than any sane human would pay to live in a high-rise complex.
The moment they stepped off the elevator, Crimson had tossed the pistols across the room, pulled her dress over her head, and tossed it as well. With her back facing him, he could see all she was wearing now was a pair of thong underwear and her white leather high heels. His heart began to throb and he was clearly aroused by the sight of it. Unknowingly, he let out a slight gasping grunt that caught her attention. Crimson turned her head and stopped to look at him standing there awkward and confused.
“What? You’ve never seen a naked girl before? You’re a doctor, right? And I was wet, give me a break. I’m going to my room to get something dry and comfortable. I’m sure I’ve got something in one of the guest rooms you can wear.”
“I’ve seen naked women before socially and professionally. It’s just…you’re beautiful, and I didn’t expect you to rip your clothes off like it was nothing.”
