by Justin Sloan
The women introduced themselves as Thing One and Thing Two, then cracked up laughing.
“Not your first interaction with humans?” Samantha asked, not thinking it was as funny as these two did.
“We dated one a while back,” one of them said.
“We as in…?”
“Yes, my sister, Agathe, and me, Voira. It’s a pleasure.”
“Right.” She nodded again, feeling overwhelmed. Fighting and killing she could handle. Weird situations with two sisters dating one guy or walking in on foursomes or whatever they called those… not so much.
“Meet our Guides,” Hadrian said, giving her a knowing glance. “Come, we must hurry.”
The journey back seemed to take twice as long, likely because Samantha was so anxious to be done with the place.
Arriving back at the ship, they were met by Jackal, who told them none of the others had returned yet. That didn’t surprise Samantha, at least in regards to Carma.
Hadrian turned, looking back at the planet below, and quietly cursed.
“Take note, Sam. As perfect of a team as you ever put together, they’ll always have issues.”
That was for sure. She nodded, then followed him as he made his way back out to go find the rest of the team. With a quick shout back at Jackal, he led the way while continuing to give orders, including to watch the guides and keep them on board.
“What’s your issue?” he asked. “I want to be ready for it, so I’m not surprised.”
“You mean like a weakness or vice?” She thought about it. “I guess I’m a little too eager to kill my enemies. Maybe that’s ruthless.”
He nodded. “Maybe. Right now though, that might be more of a strength.”
She smiled as she said, “Good.”
NAPALM HAD FULLY INTENDED to stay out of trouble, but when he was close to the planet his mind started flashing back to images of the locals snickering as he walked past, completely naked. He had nothing to be ashamed of, but that didn’t make it less humiliating.
At first he had sat back, eyes closed, focusing on his breathing while he told himself to stay on the ship, go back to his room and sleep or train. But he just couldn’t do it.
He saw that bastard Fairaway’s toothless grin, the way he had poured that last glass of wine for Napalm. If only the woman hadn’t been so beautiful. If only she hadn’t leaned forward as she had, revealing her cleavage as she reached out and helped lift the glass. The wine had stung, his eyes already fuzzy from one too many.
Then he’d had two too many, and then… somehow they managed to get another in him. At that point, he couldn’t tell which was the woman and which was Fairaway. He had ended up in a hotel room, feeling hands undoing his belt, pulling at his pants... and then he was out, succumbed to the alcohol.
As Napalm walked down the streets now, he glanced up at the tall, arched roofs over the walkways, pipes leading like metallic spider webs overhead. The scent of shit mixed with local drugs brought back the burning in his arms and chest, the craving to take Fairaway’s life.
There was a way to his people. If they had a burning passion, they saw it through until all that was left was ash.
Well, right now his passion said he had to kill that son of a bitch.
He turned into a tall building at the end of a series of metal stairs and walkways, the lending house where his fortune had changed. The worst part was he hadn’t even come there for himself, but to tell them to back off a friend of his. It was only after the fact that he had recalled seeing the woman here, and he wanted to punch himself for not making the connection earlier.
He remembered the beating they gave his friend, the one he had come to this hellhole to help out. Beat to an inch of his life, all because Napalm thought he could erase the debt.
Though he was vaguely aware there could be repercussions against the crew for his actions here, he didn’t care. All he cared about right now was releasing the fire.
“Oh, shit!” a voice shouted, followed by the scuffling of someone running. It wasn’t Fairaway, but one of his men.
Napalm gave chase, lifting his blaster rifle and sending two shots through the wall. Metal melted and gave him a view of the room beyond. The runner darted through a doorway that led to the room and joined three armed men, one of whom tossed him a pistol.
They all turned on Napalm as he entered, fingers moving for triggers.
Not gonna happen.
With a shout and release of energy, the guns exploded, taking hands with them and leaving the men to collapse to the floor in agony. They each had the three rocks that showed they were Acome. To attack Acome in the neutral zone was punishable by death, since they couldn’t hold your people responsible as many nations and planets did.
Instead of leaving them to talk or do more harm to people he loved, Napalm walked past them and glared. He turned the middle man’s wrist-pc into an explosive device that took their heads and splattered Napalm in blood.
He glanced down, and then kept moving. Footsteps sounded upstairs, followed by someone making a call.
Reinforcements would be here soon, and a voice in his head whispered that he should be gone by then. But he was too focused to heed its warning—like a fly’s buzzing, one that you’re mildly aware of but too focused on the hornet’s nest ahead to care.
Instead of bothering with the stairs this time, he aimed up and shot, spinning in a circle until the floor dropped out, bringing one Acome with it. He quickly darted forward and took the man’s weapon, then tossed it back up through the hole with a charge of his energy. He rolled and used the man as protection as the explosion sent flames to cover both levels. Cries filled the building, and now he was up, darting past screaming, burning bodies of the Acome men and kicking in the door on the top floor.
He had visited Fairaway in this office before, and was pleased to see him standing there, coil rifle aimed at the door.
“You…?” the man said, eyes wide.
“Being a debt collector, I wanted to let you know,” Napalm said, grinning. “I owe you one.”
Fairaway frowned, cocked his head, and then fired. A shot of electricity blasted the door off its hinges, missing Napalm as he darted down and forward as Dex had been showing him.
He came up on the other side of the desk, grabbing Fairaway and tackling him to the floor. Lifting his fists, he started raining them down on the man. It wasn’t just his memory of the shame that drove him, but the look in the eyes of his friend’s wife when she told him what had happened. She had blamed him, and he could never live that moment down.
The best he could do was to ensure Fairaway never had a chance to do that to another. As he struck, bursts of energy rained down too. Energy Hadrian had shown him how to manipulate, after he had taught Hadrian how to pull on it to begin with. The bursts of energy joined in the barrage of strikes, as if he had a hundred arms all slamming the corrupt Acome man into the metal floor, until he was no more than a pile of blood and chunks of bone.
Napalm fell back, breathing heavily, and looked down to see broken off chunks of the man’s bone on his bloody knuckles.
He listened to the sound of more men and women shouting, of someone screaming in the distance, and the flames from below starting to take whatever combustible material they could find in the metal building.
Instead of moving, he just closed his eyes and focused on his friend. “This was for you,” he thought… and then a calm came over him.
With a startle he came back to reality, realizing what he had done.
He hated it when the passion took over him like that. But now he was at ease in life, having finally put an end to this feeling that had been burning within himself for so long.
What he didn’t like, however, was that he was now out here, separated from his team, and had just earned the wrath of every Acome. It would only be a matter of time before a bounty was put out for him, if they knew who he was. In a place like this, that was tantamount to a death sentence.
SAM AND
HADRIAN had started with asking the locals if they had seen a man with fire eyes, as he would likely be the only one here of his kind. But when the gunshots and explosions started, they had a pretty good idea of where to look.
Halfway to the building with flames blasting out near the top, they spotted Carma and the others running in the same direction. She glanced over with wide eyes and shouted, “I think we found Napalm!”
“Next time,” Hadrian shouted back, “don’t lose him!”
“Noted,” Carma replied. They halted as a hover truck came swinging around a side street, Acome men and women pouring out with guns at the ready.
“On it!” Kwan shouted, jumping to a building for cover and opening fire. This distracted the fighters long enough for Hadrian to use his force to throw their truck at them, and they dove for cover as the Shadow Corps members darted past them for the building.
Dex took up the rear, making a quick pass to cut the weapons in half and kick the closest attacker back into the others.
A figure appeared from a walkway above and dropped to the ground with a grunt.
He turned, and Samantha saw those fiery eyes. It was Napalm.
“There!” she shouted to Hadrian, pointing.
Hadrian nodded and led the charge, his gold cloak billowing behind him. Dex darted through the shadows like one of them, and reached Napalm’s side a moment before the others. It was good timing, because three attackers appeared nearby with knives and pistols. Dex took out two of them before the third nearly caught Napalm. Samantha pulled out her sword and felled the last of them, glad to get some experience toward her next skill point.
“What’ve you done?” Hadrian shouted, lifting Napalm off the ground with a wave of energy.
Napalm glared, not answering, and finally Hadrian set him back down with a growl of annoyance. He motioned toward the ship and they ran through the city, many of the residents figuring this group of running outsiders was likely responsible for the chaos, and rushing to get out of their way.
Two cruisers approached and opened fire, but a wave from Hadrian sent the first careening into a nearby building. A motion from Napalm made the next explode.
They made it to the transports and were halfway to the ship before alarms sounded and display screens turned on, revealing a woman with short-cropped hair and three purple stones in her forehead. She frowned at the sight of them, looking very put out.
“I wouldn’t have expected this from you, Elder Hadrian.”
Hadrian breathed deep, not looking at Napalm, and was about to answer when another screen lit up, cutting in on the conversation. There sat one of their new guides, with Jackal standing behind her.
“Lady Protector,” the guide said, voice smooth with practice. “I trust you can accept our deepest apology. Please check your account to confirm.”
The woman frowned, confused for a moment, then turned off screen. A moment later, her eyes widened and she turned back to them.
“All appears to be in order,” she said, giving them a nod. “Carry on, but… I might advise you all to stay away for some time.”
“Noted,” Hadrian stated. “And thank you.” With a curt nod, the connection with her was broken, leaving just the one with the guide live. “How much do I owe you for that little stunt?”
The guide smiled wide and said, “We’ll add it to the tab. Don’t you worry about it.”
At that, the connection went off as the transport reached its destination.
Hadrian glanced at Samantha and said, “Lesson of the day. Her kind? You don’t want to owe her kind.” With a sigh, he opened the door and motioned them all to move to the ship. “The rest of you… we’re going to have to have a long talk about the importance of the mission and what it means when you put your personal interests above the survival of the universe. For now, though, let’s get the hell out of here.”
20
HADRIAN’S SHIP: TRAINING ROOM
They could still hear Hadrian and Napalm shouting at each other, even an hour later, all the way from the main training room. Samantha showed them the gifts she had gotten at the market, and Carma pointed out they could have been useful on planet, when they were trying to get out of there without killing too many people.
“I’m sure we’ll have another situation arise at some point where stunning is preferred,” Samantha argued.
“Good point,” Kwan said, taking his and slipping it into a spot on the thigh of his armor. “I’ll never argue against free weapons.”
Carma shrugged and took one as well. Dex had accepted a baton wordlessly, then gone over to retrieve a sword to start training.
Samantha put the remaining baton in a bag and hung it by the swords, then joined Dex, trying to mimic the being’s form.
Carma and Kwan moved into a sparring circle and were having a good go at each other, when Kwan hit her a bit too hard and started apologizing profusely in Korean. Sam noticed Carma seemed distracted during the fight, and had kept looking over at Samantha. After assuring Kwan it was her fault, not his, she stood in the corner and waved Samantha over.
“What?” Samantha asked, spinning and then ducking as she had seen Dex do a moment before.
With an exasperated sigh, Carma gestured towards the door. Being summoned like that wasn’t one of Samantha’s favorite things, but she nodded to Dex, replaced her sword, and followed Carma out. She was glad to hear the shouting from down the hall had quieted down.
“About back there…” Carma started.
Samantha’s eyes went wide, trying not to let her memory flash back to what she had caught Carma doing with those two women and the man. She glanced around, wondering if walking away and ignoring this conversation would work out somehow.
“Listen, okay?” Carma leaned in, closer than seemed natural. “It never leaves your mouth, right? I mean, this is a huge deal for me. If the women of my planet ever found out I was with a man, I’d be ostracized. It wasn’t my fault, it was the Devil’s Wine, right?”
“Listen, Carma—”
“No, just say you agree. Say you’ll never tell anyone, please?”
Samantha nodded. “Honestly, I’d prefer to forget all about it as quickly as possible.”
“You and me both, kid.” A weird look came into Carma’s eyes, then a hint of a smile.
“Ew!” Samantha took a step back. “You’re remembering it right now, aren’t you!”
“What, no!” She tilted her head from side to side. “Well, maybe. I mean, have you ever been with two women and a man?”
Samantha frowned, then promptly spun on her heel and walked off, back to training. To get that out of her head, she was going to have to go extra hard on the punching bags today.
She was about to walk back into the training room when Hadrian called out for her. Trailing him was a worn-down looking Napalm, along with the two guides they had picked up on planet.
“Bring everyone to the mess hall,” he commanded.
“Roger that,” she replied. She waved the others out and was soon following him to the mess hall.
Hadrian gestured for the guide, Voira, to step under the domed ceiling. She was about to speak, when Hadrian lifted a hand and everyone turned to him.
“Before we start, I trust you all learned a lesson today. In case you are confused about what that lesson is, it’s that your personal shit will not get in the way of our mission. It could’ve cost us dearly back there, and someone could’ve gotten hurt. As is, I can’t imagine we’ll want to return there anytime soon. Remember, the universe and our survival are more important than…” He turned to Napalm with a glare. “More important than revenge and petty bullshit.”
Napalm nodded, cleared his throat, and said, “I’d like to apologize. To everyone. That was rash. Stupid. It won’t happen again.”
With a grunt, Hadrian gave them all one last look, then motioned aside for the guides to speak.
Voira looked up at the dome above, smiled and said, “You all got it fancy up here.”
&nbs
p; “Hey, you’re with us now,” Hadrian said, his mood much lighter now that he had gotten his frustration off his chest. “We. We have it fancy.”
Voira laughed with a humored glance over to Agathe, and then started. “You all are going to Zeus’s Mouth, or rather, we. Got it. But here’s what w…” She froze, eyes on Dex. Apparently, she hadn’t seen the dark-robed figure there before.
Agathe now saw Dex too, and turned on Hadrian. “You said you were on the side of the alliance. So what the hell is that thing doing here?”
“Watch it!” Samantha stepped forward, caught off guard by their reaction as well as her own, but going with it. “Dex is one of us.”
Agathe and Voira both turned on her now, looking furious, but Hadrian stepped between them.
“Does it matter?” he asked. “I thought you all were neutral.”
Agathe spat on the floor. “That’s what I think about neutrality, and you, if you’re with them.”
Hadrian looked at the spit on the floor with a hint of annoyance, but shook his head. “Dex is not with the rest of their kind, anymore. We are with the alliance, as is Dex.”
Voira and Agathe shared a doubtful look, but Voira nodded at her sister. “If that’s the case, we’re willing to continue. But…”
“Keep that thing away from us.” Agathe finished the thought. “They’ve done our people too much harm for us to be one-hundred percent okay with this.”
Samantha was about to say something again, when Dex held up a hand to her and made a calming sound. She got the picture, thinking of herself having to partner with the Syndicate and how that would affect her. Like the old days if a Jewish fighter suddenly found out a Nazi was fighting at her side. Yeah, she could understand.
“Please, carry on,” Hadrian said. He glanced back at Dex, and added, “My apologies.”
Dex gave a bow, then stood back, leaning against the wall.
With one more cautious glance toward Dex, Voira said, “As I was about to say, the journey leads through the land of the Dexolitiatite. There, we’ll have to leave the ships behind.”
