Here's the fourth chapter for SB :'3 Things get BEEFY AND RAWR from here out! >:D
In such a desperate time as this, the tunnels seemed to be never ending. Every time Zethus turned a corner he truly believed led back to Mithra, it seemed as if the tunnels expanded in all directions, mocking him in spite of his desperation. Upon learning how Damali's case of Digitarox was enhanced, the fifty-three hours she once had were now down to twelve, and now she only had three hours left. Zethus knew he would reach Mithra before the disease would take her, but that wasn't his main concern. Digitarox dealt irreversible damage to the host over time before ultimately taking their life. He feared the damage it would deal to her body, and seeing as how this was an enhanced virus, the side effects could be even more vicious.
How could he have let this happen? He should've known better then to drag other's into his escape. He swore under his breath as he cursed himself for his stupidity. If he would've just stayed clear of Hobbit Hole, this wouldn't be happening. Damali didn't deserve to suffer like this, not in this manner. That was when he decided, after Damali recovered from Digitarox he would leave her in Mithra. He knew she would be safe there, it was her home after all. She'd be better off if he left. Besides, she didn't even like him to begin with.
But as he these thoughts ran through his mind, a piercing pain overwhelmed Zethus' entire body. Shocked from the sudden rush of pain, he feel to his knees and clutched his chest, gasping for air. Veins in his arms and hands became clearly visible under the skin and took on a sickly blue coloration as the pain elevated. The sound of his heart pounded in his head and his vision became blurred. Random and incoherent whispers whirled through his mind, all his thoughts about Damali, Rezzio, his escape and the antidote, all of them struck him with overbearing pain when they crossed his mind. He desperately searched his mind for some thought that eased his pain, all while forcing himself to stay conscious. But the more he struggled with this unnatural pain, the harder it became to focus on his own thoughts, as it seemed foreign thoughts and ideas were being forced into his mind. But as these new emotions flooded his mind, only one thought, which stood out more as an order then anything else, eased his pain and clearly registered to him.
Kill everything. Show no mercy.
To anyone.
A devious grin spread across Rezzio's face as he watched the confusion on the streets below. After finally losing his dimwitted underlings in an alley, he slipped off to the other side of the streets and hid on the roof of a building overlooking the southern section of the Wrathgate street. He was waiting patiently for the commotion to die down and for the other's to give up their search and head back inside. When the roads were clear, he would be able to head for the Hobbit Hole safely. But then the fact that his true mission still remained unfinished crept into the back of his mind. Vin was still alive, he was still getting away with what he did four years prior. Rezzio's hands tightened into fists as these thoughts ran through his mind, how he hated that man with every fiber of his being. And the best part of it all, Vin had absolutely no idea. In fact, Vin had taken somewhat of a father-figure role over Rezzio and treated him so. But no matter how positively Rezzio responded to Vin's fatherly treatment, it made his insides twist in the most uncomfortable manner as he suppressed his rage and hatred towards that man. Rezzio had the perfect spot for waiting to take Vin down, as the Left Hand of Wrath, Vin would've never suspected him for a minute. Especially with his ridiculous idea that Rezzio was like his son. But even with this strategic position, Rezzio had to put his own ambitions on hold to help Zethus, who looked like he was in a tighter spot then Rezzio. As a Runner, Zethus was in a very bad spot, runners from Nazca did not get far and everyone around them were included in the killing spree. It was a sport and a way of life for the Nazca mercs to hunt their own kind, seeing as how they were forbidden to kill one another unless they were flagged as Bounties. Rezzio knew that Zethus would need all the help he could get if he intended on escaping.
He rose to his feet as the last of the mercs fled the streets, now was his chance to head for the Hole. But he had to clasp his hand over his mouth to keep from shouting as the sight before him startled him. A man clad in all black stood beside him, staring over the edge of the building at the streets below.
"How long have you been standin' there?!" Rezzio spat viciously, his heart pounding in his head as it fought to regulate it's pace. But the man only turned and gave Rezzio a malicious grin, the brilliant green of his eyes seemed to glow in the dark, despite how most of his face was obscured by the darkness.
"You'd better hurry," The polite overtone of his voice was layered with the thick sense of malice and hatred as he spoke. "Shark's are usually induced into a feeding frenzy when exposed to blood." He turned back towards the street, his grin growing more maniacal with each passing second.
"What could you possibly be talkin' about?" Rezzio said as he folded his arms, casting the man a bored glare. There was no way blood would send Zethus into a killing spree, he wasn't the kind of person who would even be subject to something like that in the first place. The man tossed a small vial to Rezzio, which he snatched out of the air when it came near him. A thick, transparent substance filled the inside of the vial and tiny specs of black pushed their way through the goo.
"Those little devils are infamous for inducing these blood frenzies, in both sharks and humans." He cast a side glance to Rezzio, who was visibly shaken by these words. If what this man was saying applied to Zethus in any way, it would mean trouble for just about everyone he'd come in contact with.
"That's right..I can see the fear plain as day written on your face." He grinned devilishly as he read Rezzio's emotions. "You know this will be fun, don't you?" But Rezzio didn't answer, instead he turned and made his way down the building and took off at full speed towards the Hobbit Hole grating. But the black-clad man just stood there laughing, laughing at the bloodshed to come. How he loved it so.
But Rezzio most certainly did not. He know that if Zethus experienced a nanite induced frenzy, he could go for days without stopping. He would kill everything and everyone that was unfortunate enough to cross his path, no matter how tired or weak he became, he wouldn't stop until his body literally fell apart. Rezzio had to stop him before he reached Mithra, but he must've been there by now. He might've already killed the girl and all the refugees. But Rezzio kept running, he knew that even if Mithra had been wiped out, he had to stop Zethus no matter what. Aside from the fact that Zethus would mindlessly kill anyone he could get his hands on, Rezzio knew that when, or even if Zethus recovered from the frenzy, this would weigh heavily on his heart, he'd never forgive himself for what he did, even if it wasn't his fault.
After wrestling to fit down the grating, which was a tad bit to small for his muscular body, Rezzio was finally in the tunnels. How long had it been since the last time he came here? A few years maybe, but he didn't have time to look for landmarks and street signs, he just ran as fast as he could through the tunnels. He knew he most likely would not catch Zethus in time, but he had to try. Even though Zethus was insanely fast on his feet, Rezzio was no slouch either, still slower then Zethus, but fast enough to at least keep up with him. He just hoped it was enough to catch him this time.
Just up ahead the next corner, the sounds of panicked refugees echoed through the caves, confirming everything. Calling upon speed Rezzio never imagined he had, he sprinted out of the caves and into the center of Mithra. But it was too late.
Several of the refugees had already crossed Zethus and paid dearly. Even refugees Rezzio recognized as former members of Wrathgate had fallen to Zethus. He was half relieved and half disturbed to see Zethus standing before a teenage boy. The boy's spiky hair was a darker shade of silver, almost a pale gray, and his bright blue eyes were full of determination as he held his ground against Zethus. Fresh cuts and bruises decorated the boy's arms and face, clearly he had been doing exceptionally well holding his own against Zethus. But Zethus looked as if he were in worse shape then the kid, his bright green eyes took on a darker sick green coloration and the random sections of his face and arms were covered in sick displays of blue and purple and his expression was far different from his default expression of oblivious happiness. He looked as if he hadn't slept in days and his mouth was curled into a sickening grin as he waved his shark-blade through the air.
"I knew you would be trouble! I can't believe this girl trusted you!" The boy shouted, clearly shaken by the current events. Armed only with a survival knife, the boy looked ready to take several more gashed before he would even think of faltering. He wasn't about to step down.
"I would offer you your life if you would step aside," Zethus' voice was heavy with malice and maybe even a sense of insanity, he seemed to be enjoying himself. "But what fun would that be?"
Without warning he lunged himself towards the boy, blade first, but the boy expertly dodged the oncoming attack and shoved his fist in between Zethus' ribs. Shocked from the sudden blow, he clutched his side as he stumbled to the side and caught his footing. Rezzio was surprised to see the kid avoid his attack like that, no one was capable of avoiding Zethus when he was set on killing them, he must've been weakened by the nanites. But Zethus cast the boy a mocking grin as he swung for him again, seemingly fully recovered from the blow. But the boy hadn't recovered from his counterattack, and Zethus' oncoming attack could not be blocked or avoided. As the shark-blade came near the boy's chest, a strong, darker toned arm appeared in the knife's projected path.
Rezzio gritted his teeth as he fought back the pain and grabbed a hold of Zethus' arm and slowly began bending it backwards. He glared at Zethus as he cackled maniacally and effortlessly wriggled free from his grasp, the jagged blade ripping flesh and muscle as it retracted from Rezzio's arm. Without giving him time to react, Zethus swung for Rezzio with amazing speed, much faster then that he attacked the boy with. But then Rezzio realized it, Zethus was only toying with that boy. Now the gloves had come off and Zethus wasn't afraid to kill Rezzio, even if it was he best friend.
The blade sank it's jagged fangs into Rezzio's shoulder just before he could dodge completely. His legs briefly went limp as the blade tore through his arm, but as he went down he grabbed a handful of Zethus' platinum hair and pulled him down with him, using the momentum in his advantage as he slammed the side of his face into the gravel streets. But suddenly a warm sensation spread out over his chest and he could feel his strength fading. He passed his hand over his chest, only to find the shark-blade embedded deep in his chest, blood flowed down the front of his torso from the wound.
He crumpled onto the ground and clutched his chest, gasping for air and swearing under his breath as Zethus rose to his feet. The whole left side of his face was covered in newly acquired cuts that bled a profuse mix of blood and dirt, but despite that, he kept his maniacal smile as he ripped the blade from Rezzio's chest.
"Ha hah..I expected you to be more of a challenge..How disappointing." But the smile faded from his face as the roar of a bullet tore through the caves and spot of blood erupted from his stomach. He passed his hand over the blood and smiled as he looked up at his would-be assassin.
Damali was barely able to stand as she had to lean on the doorpost of the inn for support, but in her hand she held an unusually shaped pistol in her hand, aimed right for Zethus. He only smiled and stepped over Rezzio, who was barely even able to breath anymore. He stroked the blade of his knife with his finger as he came closer to Damali, but suddenly another gunshot roared through the streets as a second and a third bullet tore through Zethus' chest and shoulder. He cried out in pain and fell to his knees, clutching his shoulder. Damali caught his eye as the sickly green pigmentation faded away, leaving only his bright green eyes and the sick coloration on his face and arms vanished. The expression on his face was a mixture of exhaustion and fear as he quickly registered what Damali had done to him.
"W-Why...?" Was all he could get out before his whole body went limp.
Damali dropped the pistol and sank down next to him, rolling him on to his back. But she was stopped by Apollo, who pulled her hands away from Zethus.
"No! Don't help this monster, let him die!" He cried as he pulled Damali to her feet and away from Zethus. But she broke away from his grasp and knelt down between Zethus and the black haired man who tried to stop him. The man's brilliant yellow eyes followed Damali's every move as she sat down next to him, his breathing was slow and shallow and his eyes were half-open. He was slipping fast.
"Apollo, take the bullets out for me, I have to help him." She said in a weak-toned voice as she took off her hooded jacket. Apollo cast Zethus a glare of disgust, but finally set to work removing the bullets. He was surprised to see that they were lodged just below the skin, they hadn't gone far enough to cause too much damage, if that was so then why did he pass out?
"What's the deal? They're not even an inch into his skin?" He dropped the three bullets onto the gravel and looked over at Damali. She had placed her jacket over the man's chest and was applying pressure to stop the bleeding.
"They sent an electric current through his entire body, it disrupted the.." Her voice trailed off as the black haired man held up a small vial, it was full of nanites. "Those..! Where did you get them?!" But before he could answer, his eyes rolled back and his whole body went limp. Damali felt along his hand to feel his pulse, it was slow and weak, but it was strong enough.
"Help me take them inside. Zethus will be okay, but this one will need lots of care." She struggled to her feet and planted her hands on the walls for support as Apollo carried the two of them inside. The scene before her was devastating, refugees who wanted nothing more then a safe haven were killed in their safe haven, the surviving refugees would never accept Zethus here now. What would he do now?
This was too much, way too much. Apollo was not comfortable with the situation at hand at all, this was way to much for him to handle on his own. He stood with his back to the wall as he watch Damali work her magic. Even though she was extremely weak, the effects of the antidote were slowly coming into play. Before she went inside the inn, Damali had found a small syringe full of a pale pink liquid which Apollo recognized as the antidote for her sickness. Instead of resting and allowing the antidote to take full effect, Damali set to work taking care of Zethus and the other man, who's stab wounds were still bleeding. Apollo couldn't understand her, why was she taking care of Zethus? Zethus had tried to kill him and managed to kill most of the refugees in Mithra. In Apollo's opinion, he didn't deserve to live. But Damali insisted, so he had to go along with it.
"Apollo, do you still have the bullets?" He was surprised at her question, but he fished around in his pocket and produced the bullets. They were quite short for a bullet and the mouth at the point was almost as wide at the bullet itself, this was most likely what stopped them from going so deep in his skin.
"What are these anyways? They're definitely not meant for killing." Apollo poked and prodded at the bullets in her hand, a slight spark jumped from the bullets to his hands.
"Whoa!" Damali giggled and held up one of the bullets, pointing to a blue line that went down the side of the bullet.
"These are seeder bullets. When fired, they open up before they reach the target, keeping it from going so deep in the skin. It was meant to subdue walizard's that were effected with nanite probes."
"Eh? Probes?" Apollo gave her a confused look as he examined the bullet closely.
"Yeah, my brother, Lukasz, is a genius. Ever since he was a boy he would make these crazy inventions that were actually very helpful to our daily lives down here. He created the probes to control the walizards, we would use them as sentries. But occasionally they'd go crazy and the seeder bullets would bring them down." Apollo glanced over at Zethus who was still fast asleep, he was sprawled across the bed like a child, his arms were wrapped around the pillow as if he were hugging someone tightly, a tendril of drool rolled down his chin as he snored loudly.
"Well it looks like he's doing better." Damali rolled her eyes and threw a rag at him, which he ignored completely as it landed on his face, the only reaction (if you could call it that) was a loud grunt as he rolled over into a position that looked quite uncomfortable.
"I just wonder how he ended up with nanite probes..It looks like these were remotely accessed."
"How can you tell?" Apollo glanced down at the bullets once more, but nothing abnormal stood out, save for their small size.
"The probes release a certain type of gas that feeds the host the thoughts and ideas of whoever is manipulating the probes. This gas effects pigmentation of the skin, veins and eyes, but it changes depending on how long the probes have been in his body." She held up the small vial of probes for Apollo to see. "The longer they are in a body, the harder it is to activate them on contact. After several weeks they must be activated remotely."
"Yeah I figured, but how can you tell?"
"The pigmentation effect is drastically increased after it's been remotely accessed. Instead of just effecting the eye color, it effects the veins and skin."
"I see. Who do you think could've done it?" But Damali shrugged and tucked the vial into her pocket. But she did indeed know who activated it, only one person could activate the probes remotely. Lukasz, her brother. But why would he do that? Why would he release probes in Zethus' body? She shook her head, it couldn't have been Lukasz, he has no reason to do something like this. But then she realized that as long as the probes were in his body, they would regenerate and prep themselves for activation after a twenty-four hour recharge. This could cause problems in the future for Zethus, because not only did it allow the user full control of his body, but they knew where he was. At all times.
She was finally torn from her thoughts as the black haired man stirred from his sleep.
He slowly opened his yellow eyes and looked around the room cautiously, until he saw Zethus asleep on a cot in the corner of the room. He shifted his head towards the girl who stood against the wall near the door. Her bright pink hair caught him off guard, he'd never seen such an unusual hair color such as that. Her deep blue eyes stood out under her bright hair, she was kinda cute, even for an underground street urchin. Rezzio smiled as he thought about it, no wonder Zethus was so determined to get the antidote for her.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" The girl asked him in a gentle voice. He nodded and motioned to Zethus in the corner.
"How's he doin'? You nailed him several times before he went down."
"Oh, he'll be just fine," She crossed the room and sat on the edge of Zethus' bed and slapped him with a pillow, but he only flinched and kicked his blankets off the cot as he rolled over, oblivious to the sudden blow from the pillow. "The only thing that will cause him problems will be his left shoulder, the slug went pretty deep." Rezzio's eyes focused on Zethus' shoulder, it was kind of hard to see as he vision was still blurred, but he could clearly see the bloodied bandage wrapped around his shoulder's. The whole left side of his face was covered in bandages and stitches held the skin above his eyebrows together.
"He just needs some rest, that's all." The girl pointed at Rezzio and gave him a stern look. "And so do you!" Rezzio rolled his eyes and pulled the blankets over his face.
"You're Damali, right?" He asked from under the blanket.
"Yep, that's me."
"I know your brother." Damali looked over at him with a surprised look on her face as he pulled the blanket off his head. "He's not a bad kid, actually." He knew after seeing that look on her face he had to lie. She wouldn't do very well knowing it was her brother who created the sickness she almost died from, it was better this way.
"That's good, I'm happy to hear he's doing well. I was worried about him." She stood up and headed towards the door. "Oh, I didn't get your name.."
Rezzio yawned and folded his arms behind his head as she turned out the light. "Rezzio Galfrin, Former Left Hand of Wrath." She nodded in response and left him to get some rest, the use of his title didn't seem to phase her any. Either she didn't care or she was going to kill him later.
Rezzio didn't really care at the moment, he just wanted to get some sleep. He looked over at Zethus, who was still sleeping in the most unusual position Rezzio had ever seen anyone sleep in. Even after taking three bullets to the chest, Zethus was still as air-headed as ever, even in his sleep. Rezzio giggled slightly and closed his eyes. He hoped that by tomorrow he'd be able to get up and move around, how he hated being bedridden.
Third chapter!! This one is really fun, I introduce one of my favorite characters into the story : )
He is so awesome lol Enjoy!
A terrible storm roared as it rolled it's way across the Mars skies. Storms on Mars were far more dangerous then even some of the most destructive hurricanes that plagued Earth. These storms were granted existence through the artificial atmosphere, but the traces of Mars radiation still interfered with the artificial skies, creating the most dangerous storms. The origins of the Mars radiation in unknown, even the greatest scientists of Earth could not pinpoint the true origins of this mysterious radiation, but it proved completely harmless to humans and actually seemed to enhance several human traits. For example, prolonged exposure to this radiation made humans virtually immune to many natural diseases and medical anomalies that usually afflicted them through their natural lives. Sicknesses such as the common cold and the flu were absent in this atmosphere, as research revealed these types of germs were incapable of surviving in this atmosphere. The radiation, which had been named Valkyrie's Breath, did not appear on the planet until the naturally barren land was terraformed. This led to speculation that Valkyrie's Breath was a result of mixing the natural gases on Mars with the chemicals used to terraform the planet. It was called Valkyrie's Breath as it had a terrible effect on all forms of technology. Machines, electronic devices, everything mechanical was rendered ineffective if the materials used to build these machines came directly from Earth. Only if these objects were built from parts that had been exposed to Valkyrie's Breath for a prolonged period of time were capable of working, which was rare because the amount of time required for exposure was almost thirty to forty years. Mars cities resembled those of cities in the eighteen-hundreds when technology relied on steam and gears to work anything required for daily use, as radiation-aged parts were few and far between and the development of new machines was just now beginning to sprout up in the Mars community. Because of the radiation, most of the firearms sent here from Earth were also rendered useless, as almost all of Earth's firearms were now powered electronically. Because of this, violent disputes and rank challenges within the mercenary organizations were decided through swordsmanship. But the worst and most imposing feature of this radiation were the storms that were produced through the mutated atmosphere.
Thunder roared through the empty streets that were lit by the brilliant displays of electricity that stretched through the artificial clouds. It rained so hard and violently it was near impossible to see just a few feet in front of you, which explained the empty streets. Obscured view, the overbearing noises of thunder that could drown out any screams and a crime-infested city streets, obviously a bad combination that all of the inhabitants recognized and feared. Except for one, who was either too stupid to know any better or too brave to even care.
Zethus was soaked from head to toe as the violent rain pelted him relentlessly. The raindrops were so large and fierce that when they made contact with the gashes across his cheek, the repeated force of the water scraped away the dried blood and dirt crusted on the surface of the gashes, leaving a trail of fresh blood that trickled down his face. He had to pull his goggles over his face to shield his eyes from the violent impact of the raindrops. Aside from being so large and abnormally painful when the rain made contact with his skin, it served as the perfect cover for him to make his way through the city streets unseen. Anyone in their right mind would immediately recognize him as Shark and go for the Bounty, and where he was going, it was imperative that no one saw him.
He stopped at a corner and looked across the flooded streets. The outline of a run-down building was barely visible in the chaotic rainfall, but the imposing structure of the building was still as menacing in the rain as it was in the clear days. The Wrathgate Headquarters.
Now, others would've considered Zethus plight to be either suicide or ignorance, as no one marked as a Bounty ever made it out of Wrathgate's clutches alive. But Zethus had to stay hopeful, he knew Wrathgate owed him dearly for helping them contain a Digitarox outbreak a year prior. They would have to help him now that their own virus had been brought into the picture. Either that, or he'd have to resort to calling on an old friend, and how he'd hate to do that again.
The rain filled the rims of his goggles, giving him a view equivalent to that of being on the surface of the water, but it was still clear enough to see through to the Headquarters before him. His clothes were soaking wet, so much he had to discard his white and blue sweater several blocks back. The heavy cloth absorbed most of the rain water that fell on him, but grew heavier and made it hard to move about comfortably through the rain. Now he wore only a thin tank decorated with a black stripe stretching from the back of the shirt over the left shoulder, where it ended at the collar. Below that, a rather large, black Z was hand-sewn onto the fabric, which now sagged from being soaked. It was barely enough to keep him warm in the cold rain, but he didn't pay much attention to his current condition, save for the soaking sweater hindering his movement.
All Zethus could think about was getting a dose of the Digitarox antidote. His time to retrieve it was limited, getting to Wrathgate didn't take much time at all and returning to Mithra wouldn't be very long either, but he only worried about the time it would take to convince Wrathgate to provide him with the antidote. With a deep breath, Zethus crossed the street and approached the Wrathgate Headquarters.
"Hell no, I ain't doin' that!" A black-haired youth expressed his utmost disregard for his superior as he shouted his protest. Rezzio ran his hands through his wild hair and rolled his deep blue eyes at his new orders. Shocked and appalled at his subordinates response, Vin Karzen shot up out of his chair and stomped his way over to the urchin, who gave him a bored and aggravated expression.
"What? Got somethin' else crappy that'll ruin this lovely, rainy day?" Vin's face turned an abnormal shade of red as Rezzio spat his response. This kid is out of his mind to speak to the Right Hand of Wrath in that tone.
Rezzio's eyes were normally narrowed, giving off a half-asleep, half-awake look to his face, this was usually a common expression seen on him. But this time his narrowed eyes gave off an expression of pure aggravation and annoyance, emotions he was not afraid of sharing openly, even with his boss.
"You better watch yourself boy, only because your the Left Hand doesn't give you the authority to speak to me like that." Vin gave Rezzio a firm shove, knocking him back into his chair that slid a few inches before squealing to a stop. But Rezzio only sighed and crossed his arms, giving Vin a mocking stare.
"Shark is your new assignment, kill him and bring me his head before those fools at Nazca can catch up with him." Vin said as he settled down in his chair across from Rezzio.
"They ain't gonna catch that kid, you know that." But Vin shot Rezzio a piercing glare as he stroked his grayed beard. Vin had been the first mercenary official to rise to power out of all three organizations, and because of this, his entire organization was granted authority over both Nazca and Xibalba. But after thirty years of mercenary work, Vin's face was wrinkled and leathery, clearly showing the years of stress that wore off on his body, both physically and mentally. His gray hair was combed back into a thin, but neat, mass that covered the ever-increasing bald spots that began appearing all over his head.
"Why do you want Sharky dead, anyhow? He ain't done nothin' wrong to you." Rezzio's thick accent reflected that of his parents, who were dropped on Mars after being involved with a bloody drug war in New York back on Earth. It fit his strong face and even more so with his reckless personality, but it seemed to be an annoyance to Vin. In spite of his boss, Rezzio always added strong emphasis on certain words, just to push his buttons.
"Because, that kid is dangerous. You saw what he did to the last Shark, tore the poor guy to shreds before he even knew what was happening." Vin shook his head as he thought back to that day. "If I know that kid well enough, he'll soon realize there's no escape from the mercs."
"Considerin' how long he's been in this line'a business, that's kinda obvious to him then, eh?" Rezzio grunted as he slummed farther into his chair.
"He'll come after us, you know he will."
"What? He ain't got the nerve to even think'a somethin' like that."
"I think he does. If he kills off the mercenary officials of all the organizations, hunters and other mercs will be intimidated. They might call off their hunt if Shark kills off their leaders."
"See," Rezzio pointed at Vin and chuckled slightly. "Now you're givin' the kid too much credit."
But just then, the rusted doors of the main hall swung open violently, clattering and screeching as they slammed against the metal walls. Both Rezzio and Vin were shocked at the sight when a silvery figure came into view, a dark-clad mercenary squirmed as the silver figure pressed a shark-like knife to his throat. Zethus looked up at Rezzio and Vin, his bright green eyes shone from under the metallic blue lenses, still rimmed with rainwater.
"Well damn, I think you're screwed now, Vin." Rezzio burst into laughter at the sight of Vin's outraged face, that took on that amusing shade of red again. But Vin turned towards Zethus and motioned to the mercenary, who Zethus promptly let go and shoved towards the main doors.
"What are you doing here, Shark?" Vin's deep, bear-like voice bellowed through the empty all, giving him an intimidating aura. But Zethus could clearly see he was struggling to keep his composure and suppress his fear. Of what, Zethus hadn't a clue.
"What can you tell me about the Digitarox antidote?" Zethus asked bluntly, quickly getting on the subject. He was not too interested in wasting time with formalities, he just wanted to get the cure and go. Vin turned to Rezzio with a questioning expression, but Rezzio only shrugged and grinned, obvious he was containing his laughter.
"What do you want to know?"
"How I could get a dose of it."
"And why would you need it? Nazca is forbidden to use Digitarox for anything."
"A friend of mine has been afflicted with it. I think her jealous lover is out for blood, she's been spending alot of time with me lately." Zethus offered them his cat-like grin, hoping Vin would take the bait. But Vin shook his head and laughed, leaning against the railing on the edge of the platform.
"Jealous lover, eh? I don't think so." Zethus' grin faded as Vin spoke. "I know you're a Bounty, kid." Vin's eyes followed Zethus' hand, which curled around the fitted grip of his knife.
"That girl is probably an escort for Hobbit Hole, eh?" Rezzio knelt down by the railing and grinned at Zethus, who cast him a piercing stare. He was caught off guard by this transition in his expression as Shark wasn't known for an aggressive appearance, this could mean trouble if he's turning out like this.
"That doesn't matter to you anyways. If the two of you had any problems with escorts and runner's, you would've dealt with it a long time ago." Zethus' countenance became more menacing and malicious as he spoke, his voice thick with an impatient overtone.
"Now, I don't have the time to sit around here and listen to your blabbing. Either give me the antidote or I'll get it myself."
Rezzio stood up and nudged Vin in the arm, motioning to the knife in Zethus' hand.
"Alrighty Vin, better think'a somethin' before Sharky here kills us all."
But Vin didn't move, he didn't even flinch. He only gave Zethus a glare that clearly stated his disregard for Shark's threats.
"We won't answer to you, Shark." Vin turned and started towards the back of the hall, obviously in a hurry to distance himself from Zethus. "You're friend will just have to die." Vin motioned to Rezzio, who pivoted on his heel and followed after Vin. Rezzio chuckled quietly as they walked away, he knew that this wasn't going to turn out well. Either Vin would make the mistake of ordering an attack on Shark, or Shark would make his move first and wipe them all out. Even though Vin was the strongest and best mercenary of all the officials, he held a deep fear of Shark, even though he had never been pitted one-on-one with him. Just hearing stories and bearing witness to Shark's ferocity in battle, which was far superior to his own, was surely enough to steer Vin away from an obstacle he did not want to pass. Rezzio was aware of this, and he knew that if circumstances were different, Vin would've been sending him to his death, since it was now his responsibility to bring in Shark's head.
But thank goodness the circumstances were not different.
Zethus stood in the empty alleys outside of the Headquarters, surveying the building structure. The building was once the capitol of the city back when it was first being built, but after the mercenaries overthrew the Earth Government's hold on Vaire City and now it belonged to Wrathgate. In it's previous days, the capitol was built with seven floors, but now only two of the floors were still accessible. The middle of the second floor, towards the front of the building served as Vin's chambers, where he spent most of his time when he wasn't barking orders to his subordinates. That was also most likely where the antidote was. That was Zethus' target.
The ledges of the building were smooth and especially slippery from the rain, but that only served as a slight delay for Zethus who expertly climbed up the side of the building without a second thought. He kept his head down as he approached the windows, the light inside the rooms illuminated most of the ledge, but has he came under Vin's window, the lights all went out simultaneously. Below, the streets filled with the sound of stamping feet and shouting, sounds that overwrote the noises made by the violent rainfall. He managed to hear a few of the men shouting as they poured into the street from the Wrathgate entrance.
"Full week of freetime to whoever brings me Shark's head first!" Zethus could clearly hear Vin's bellowing voice echo through the rainy alley. They were all coming for him, he had to act fast to get the antidote and even faster to get out alive. But as he turned to face the window, a familiar face met him.
"Y'know, if things were different, I'd have'ta kill you, Sharky." Rezzio said as he pushed the window pane up and grinned.
"But I'd probably kill you first, don'tcha know?" Zethus smiled big and climbed in the window and reached his hand out to Rezzio, who took his hand and shook it rather vigorously.
"You 'bout gave the old man a heart attack earlier, y'know?" Rezzio busted out laughing and handed Zethus a brown paper sack.
"What were you guys talking about, anyways?" His eyes lit up as he opened the paper bag, a small syringe filled with a pink liquid with a smiley face logo smiling back at him. "This is it!"
"Yup, now ya just gotta get back to the girl before she buys the farm." Rezzio gave him a firm slap on the back and a friendly smile. It was times like this Zethus was thankful for having a friend like Rezzio on his side. Ever since the two of them were kids, they had always stood by each others side and even now as members of opposing organizations, Rezzio never passed up a chance to help Zethus. It's good to have connections! Zethus thought to himself as he looked out the window.
"Hey," Rezzio tossed Zethus a pile of clothes as he turned back to face him. "Might wanna put those on. Vin gave everyone your description, they'll find ya pretty quick dressed like that." Zethus pulled out a black and red, collared overshirt and gave Rezzio a disappointed stare.
"Do you have any colors besides black? How about white?" But Rezzio gave him an annoyed looked and shook his head.
"This isn't really the time to be picky, eh?" But Zethus grinned and nodded, then pulled the overshirt over his own white tank.
Finally clad in his new duds, Zethus' platinum hair and green eyes looked somewhat out of place with his new red, gold and black color scheme. The black Z and stripe peaked out from under the overshirt, which was decorated with red and golden stripes. In place of his baggy gray pants he wore a pair of black jeans that weren't as baggy, this offered a better sense of movement as he wasn't scared of tripping over the extra fabric of his pants.
"See? It ain't that bad, eh?" Rezzio smiled as he handed Zethus a pair of black and red goggles in place of his metallic blue one's.
"Alrighty, this is how this'll go down. You take off towards the Hole, I'll lead 'em the opposite direction."
"Vin will suspect you of this. He's gonna pick it up soon enough." Zethus gave him a concerned look before turning towards the window, but Rezzio chuckled in response.
"No worries. After this, I'm leaving." Zethus spun around to face him, caught off guard by his words.
"Leaving? But he's not even dead yet..?"
"That's not important right now." Rezzio kept his toothy grin as he hoisted a large backpack onto his shoulders.
"You said this girl has Digitarox, she was your escort, eh?"
"Yeah, someone in Turel Reach attacked us, not even three minutes later she started showing symptoms." Rezzio's eyes widened as Zethus mentioned this, the transition in his expression disturbed Zethus. Not many things could be said to make Rezzio falter.
"You need to get back to her as soon as possible. That's an enhanced dose. Her fifty-six hour lifespan has just been shortened to twelve."
"What?! I've been out here for six!" Zethus looked at him with disbelief. "How did they get that?!"
"Lukasz defected, we've no idea where he went. But if she has E-Digi, Lukasz' new employer is most likely to blame. Now GO!" Rezzio grabbed a handful of the black overshirt and pushed Zethus out of the side window, into an empty alley. He looked back up at Rezzio and gave him a death glare.
"Rez, what did I tell you about windows?!"
"Kill me later, run now! Get the hell outta here, Sharky!" And with that, Rezzio was gone from the window. Zethus could hear the sound of the crowd turn away from him as he started towards the streets, Rezzio's thick accent could be heard over the roaring crowd as he guided them in the opposite direction. This was his chance. Zethus sprinted out from the alley and back down the wet streets towards the grating that led to Hobbit Hole. With the antidote in hand, there would be nothing standing in his way now.
A shrouded figure stood on one of the highest ledges at the top of the Wrathgate Headquarters, watching the scene before him. Shark going off into the empty streets while his would-be hunters ran off in the opposite direction. The figure smiled with amusement as he took in the scene, it was better this way anyhow. The Shark was his prey. Not Wrathgate's, not Nazca's, not even Xibalba's. His.
His brilliant green eyes fixed on the diminishing figure of Zethus as he ran farther and farther down the streets and finally disappeared in the chaotic rainfall.
"That's right, Shark. Run as far as you can." His smile grew wider and more malicious. "Before I kill you."
-TK
Second chapter of Silverbullet :'3
Enjoy!
They walked for hours through the tunnels of Hobbit Hole, they seemed to stretch on into forever and every turn went off into another direction of forever. Damali had traveled through these tunnels many times in her life and was quite familiar and comfortable with them. She enjoyed the endless tunnels and always looked forward to the sections of the tunnels that opening up into a massive cave, leaving only the narrow pathway through the middle of the caves. There were various types of strange creatures living in the caves, enormous lizard-type monsters that crawled up to the ceilings where they sat a majority of their life waiting for some unfortunate insect to pass by them, completely oblivious to the gigantic lizard that would be their undoing. But it usually ended with the insects escaping the lizard's maw almost too easily, so much so that the insects appeared to turn the hunting lizards efforts into a game, quickly darting out of it's reach when the lizard struck. As a young girl, Damali would come down to the caves on her own and watch the bugs mock the lizards for hours.
But today she didn't have time to watch the lizards, nor did she care to stop. Her patience was wearing thin as she escorted this buffoon of a mercenary through the tunnels. All Zethus did was whine and complain, or bombard her with his never-ending barrage of questions. This guy just didn't stop, did he? And he was extremely clumsy, tripping over just about every crack in the floor and falling flat on his face every single time. He had fallen so many times on the way, he had come to the point where he no longer tried to catch his fall, which nearly cost him dearly as he came dangerously close to falling off the paths and down into the seemingly bottomless caves below. All Damali could think about was getting to the next town and leaving Zethus with some other poor sap, who would in turn be stuck with him for another two to three days. But hey, that wasn't Damali's problem!
"So, who is my next escort?" Zethus asked her for hundredth time. Damali shot him a death glare and grunted, but he only offered her a friendly smile. Oh how she wished she could just punch him right in the face right about now, but as an escort, physically assaulting runner's was prohibited. Even if they might've deserved it.
"I'm taking you to Apollo, he'll be guiding you through the rest of the tunnels to a small refuge town called Mithra." She finally pulled her attention away from her aggression and answered him.
"Oo..Sounds like a mine! Hee Hee!" Zethus said with his ridiculous laugh. Damali's eye twitched as she suppressed her annoyance, of all the annoying quirks this guy had, his laugh was by far the most annoying.
"It was built near an old mine shaft," She said, calming herself. "It's where we send runners like you to be....evaluated." Zethus held out his hands and tilted his head, a puzzled expression spread across his face.
"But..I'm not sick, am I?"
"They watch to see if you're someone we can trust," She ignored his question but shot him a glare that would've shattered a grown man's sanity. "It's safer to leave you in Mithra, because what if we had lead a mindless killer into Waterworks and he goes berserk on everyone?"
"Haa ha, yeah that would be a problem wouldn't it?" Zethus gave her a cat-like grin, which he seemed to use quite often.
Damali shook her head, she couldn't believe how dimwitted this boy was. Even when he smiled or showed emotions other then pure ignorance, there was still an unmistakable sense of oblivion around him. She just couldn't understand how someone could be so stupid, especially in a place like Vaire. The unfortunate souls cursed with stupidity were either culled or used as messengers, but never had Damali ever heard of Mercenary Official's with virtually no walking-around smarts. But then that was probably just it, maybe he wasn't too smart when it came to normal life, perhaps working as a mercenary official was him in his element. Maybe that's were his smarts kicked in. But then Damali thought back on the cloaking device near Waterworks. She remembered the first time she saw him, Zethus was waist-deep in the machine, fixing it! Rather quickly and accurately actually. Maybe he's just some mechanical genius with very little common sense.
"Hey, how did you end up fixing the cloaking device, anyway?" Damali asked out of curiosity, maybe if she could drag him into a conversation about mechanics he would show his smarts. But he scratched his head and looked around nervously as if he were looking for a way out or at least a hiding place.
"Umm...I..uh.." He offered her his ridiculous grin, it seemed as if he were trying to give off a sense of innocence. But Damali stopped and turned to face him, giving him a piercing stare.
"What did you do?!"
"It was an accident, I swear!"
"What was!?"
"I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW IT WAS THERE!" His voice became shrill as he covered his face and ducked against the wall protectively.
"I was in a hurry running from Rocky and Bullwinkle back there and came across the river." He made childish running imitations with his fingers as he explained, still covering half of his face with his hand.
"I tried to swim across, or maybe deeper into the river.."
"That current is too strong for anyone to swim, what were you thinking?" Damali rolled her eyes and planted her hands on her hips as she listened to his story.
"Yeah, I know that..Well at least now I do. The current pushed me towards the wall, but it's like this big rock came out of nowhere and stopped me."
Damali's eyes grew wide as she registered his words. The sensors monitoring the issues with the machine indicated the source of the damage originated from a sudden collision, and now that Damali thought back on it, Zethus was soaked from head to toe.
"YOU broke the machine?!" Damali's voice roared through the tunnels as she jabbed an accusing finger in Zethus' chest. He shrieked and crumpled onto the floor as she stood over him, swearing and cursing him for his stupidity.
"That's a rare and valuable piece of equipment!"
"Well, I fixed it, didn't I??" Zethus peeked out from under his hands briefly to bark his response, then quickly shielded his face again. Damali swung her foot towards his stomach, then stopped suddenly in mid-swing. He had indeed fixed it. Instead of just leaving it to ruin, he stopped to fix it even with those goons after him. And even in a hurry, he managed to restore it to it's former glory.
Zethus slowly opened his eyes to see Damali's hand reaching for him, she had an aggravated expression on her face, as if she was obligated to do something or suppress rage towards something she didn't fully agree with.
"Come on, get up!" He quickly took her hand as she barked the order at him. Finally back on his feet, Zethus turned to her and grinned his annoying grin. Damali sighed and started down the tunnels, at least he wasn't laughing.
"Come on, we better get going." She called over her shoulder to him. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and followed behind her, apparently the near-death encounter at the hands of an enraged Damali didn't seem to phase him for very long as he quickly discarded any visible signs of fear.
Zethus was quite happy with his current situation actually. Sure, he was wandering a seemingly endless series of tunnels and caves, not to mention with a guide that seemed none-to-pleased with her job as an escort. He got the slight feeling that the girl didn't like him very much, as Zethus was usually subject to her violent rage, seeing as he was the only person with her in these tunnels. But then again, it might've been Zethus himself who set her off. He shrugged and smiled, he couldn't think of a single reason for her to target him. Maybe she was just moody. He grinned and looked up at the ceiling, admiring the natural designs that curled intricately across the ceiling and all around the stalactites. He glanced down at the ground and noticed the designs were absent from the gravel floors, but then he noted they had probably been kicked out from under the feet of the refuges living down here. He looked back up at the ceiling and followed the designs with his eyes as he followed behind Damali. But with his eyes skyward, he didn't notice Damali had stopped in front of him until he bumped into her back. He quickly jumped back and shielded his face, almost sure that she would turn around and attack him like a vicious tiger that was rudely interrupted during it's meal. But she didn't flinch, she just stood there. Only when Zethus looked past her did he realized why.
A ruined billboard hung from the ceiling by a rusted chain, the words 'Turel Reach' were painted sideways across the dangling billboard. To Zethus, this looked perfectly fine to him, until Damali sprinted off in the direction of the town. He glanced up at the billboard once more then started after Damali.
The town was in worse shape then the billboard. Buildings had been completely destroyed, as a majority of the town lay in rubble. It looked as if someone had released a raging elephant in the town that had promptly began destroying everything that it came across. Only a few buildings stood among the rubble, but abnormally large puddles of scarlet blood stained the tan gravel outside of these surviving buildings. Immediately upon noticing this, Damali started towards the buildings, but was met by a surprisingly strong arm that pulled her backwards, nearly knocking her onto her back. She was surprised when she realized it was Zethus who had pulled her back and before she could express her contest, she noted his expression, which was extremely different from his typical appearance of oblivion. His eyes were narrowed and his brow furrowed as he surveyed the area cautiously. He put a finger to his lips and produced his knife from a sheath hidden somewhere on his person, and slowly started towards the center of the town.
The smell of death was stifling as he approached what appeared to be a small tavern and the gravel street was soak with blood that Zethus had to steady himself to keep from slipping on the slick ground. He pushed open the swinging doors of the tavern cautiously, but was only met with a horrific sight. Countless bodies littered the floor of the tavern, it looked as if someone had piled every inhabitant of Turel Reach into this one building. They weren't settled in any significant pattern, they were just piled one on top of the other as if they were garbage. Zethus stepped back from the doors, which swung back into place as he let go. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, why did something like this happen here, in Hobbit Hole, of all the places on Mars. Why here? This was a safe haven..wasn't it?
But when he turned towards Damali, his suspicions were confirmed. A shrouded figure held an oddly surved knife to Damali's neck, only the figures murderous grin could be seen under his hood. Black, skin-tight clothes clung to the figure's skin but it made no noise when he moved, it was a perfect outfit for sneaking around these barren tunnels, which were notorious for relaying echoes all through the tunnels. Without a word, the figure suddenly shoved Damali towards Zethus and stuffed a suspicious object into his belt pack. Immediately Zethus stepped in front of Damali protectively, his hand grasped tightly around his knife. For the first time, Damali managed to get a close look at the knife, it was shaped rather oddly, the blade itself was simple and looked to be well made, but subtle features of the blade gave it a shark-like appearance. The jagged edge resembling the shark teeth had been stained with the unmistakable appearance of blood oxidation in the small crevices of the teeth.
"Well, well..I thought we were having fun...but you always have to pull your pitiful little friends into our game, don't you, Shark?" The figure spoke, his voice was heavy with malice and bloodlust. But as the man spoke, Zethus' posture stiffened and Damali could tell that he was clearly disturbed by this man's words.
"But since you brought the girl into the game.." The man tapped his own neck and motioned to Damali. "She will die." And with that, the man turned and started towards the tunnels. "Hey!" Zethus sprinted off towards him, knife in hand, and when it seemed he would overcome the shrouded man, he turned and grinned at Zethus and briefly his bright green eyes glinted in the darkness of his hood before he took off down the tunnels. To Damali's surprise, Zethus did not pursue the chase any farther, but instead he stood there staring down the tunnels in disbelief.
"Zethus..W-What's going on?" Damali found it hard to keep her footing as she started towards him, her ears rang and her head felt as if someone were inside her skull, beating the inside of her head with a stone hammer. Her head swam and she stumbled from the pain, so much she reached out and grabbed handfuls of Zethus' sweater to steady herself. When he looked down at her, his eyes widened as he noticed the sick purple coloration on her neck. The fear in his eyes frightened Damali, but for the first time since she had met him, all sense of oblivion around him was gone. But before he could react, her eyes rolled into the back of her head and her whole body went limp in his arms. His hands shook so much he was barely able to keep a good grip on her, he was deathly afraid of what was happening and he knew that if he did not act fast, Damali would die.
After wrestling with Damali's dead weight, he finally managed to get her onto his back. He glanced back at the tunnels behind him, recounting the events. That figure knew exactly who he was, but how? He didn't recognize the man's voice, and of all things, Zethus was quite proficient at identifying people by their voices, but he had absolutely no idea who this could've been. But he didn't have time to think about that, the coloration on Damali's neck was growing and moving in all directions across her neck. He knew exactly what this was, and he was afraid of what it could do to her. This was a specialize chemical weapon the Right Hand of Wrath developed to keep the other Organizations in check. Members or Officials rebelled against Wrathgate for power, the Right Hand would promptly release this sickness in the ranks of those rebelling, and only Wrathgate had the antidote for this. They had come to name the terrible disease Digitarox as it was created mainly from digitalis. The first symptoms of Digitarox were a severe headache, delirium and later effected one's pulse and cerebral disturbances, this finally ended in heart failure. But it only took thirty-six to fifty-two hours for this disease to kill, which meant Zethus now had that much time to retrieve an antidote.
But first, they had to reach the next town and get her somewhere safe, then he could go from there. He could feel the hot skin of Damali's face against his bare neck, he immediately noted the different symptoms effecting her. While those few symptoms were the most common, it wasn't uncommon for it to afflict people with other symptoms, and Damali's high fever appeared to be one of them. Satisfied with the grip he had on her legs and the grip she had around his neck even in her fevered unconsciousness, Zethus started off towards the northern end of the tunnels, heading deeper into Hobbit Hole.
He ran as fast as he possibly could, with Damali's loose grip, it was all Zethus could do to keep from dropping her. He passed maybe seven different cave systems that broke off from the main tunnel's pathway which he used as markers. He remembered hearing from his childhood friend on the surface that miles were marked in Hobbit Hole by how many cave systems you passed, or at least it wasn't an approximate measurement of a mile, but it seemed to work for those down here. The makeshift street signs he passed were all marked in a similar fashion, the last one he passed was labeled 'Mithra - 10 CM' which he assumed meant 'cave miles'. This gave him hope as he now had only three CM's left til he reached Mithra. But then he thought back on what Damali had told him. It was a town for runners like himself, apparently inhabited by former mercenaries who were monitored periodically to assure that they were not mindless killers. This made his heart sank, what if there were people like that there? They wouldn't be too keen on helping him then, would they? He tore his mind from these thoughts as the town lights came into view around a corner up ahead.
Finally in the town streets, he couldn't help but notice how empty the town was. Barely any people walked the streets and there were only a few buildings set up here. But he stayed hopeful, at least there were some people here, maybe someone would help him.
On the other side of the town, near the northern exit that lead to the mine shafts, a young teenage boy sat on top of the rather large inn on the edge of town. While the inn was abnormally large compared to the rest of the town, it was home to the seven townsfolk that lived here in Mithra. It was a quiet place actually, even if it was home to former mercenaries who once lived their lives in bloodlust. But to Apollo, this was a very peaceful town indeed. The mercenaries that did live here were very polite and actually quite friendly, it was almost as if they were ashamed of their previous lifestyle that they believed the best way to redeem themselves was to treat others with respect and kindness. And to Apollo, this was exactly the type of people he liked to be around. He had recently received word from Waterworks that an escort would be bringing a runner here to Mithra, where he would stay until deemed acceptable to live in other towns of the Hole. And so Apollo had spent most of his days sitting on the edges of the town, waiting for the runner to arrive.
Apollo was a young boy, about sixteen years of age and full of spunk. He always seemed to have a 'glass-is-half-full' outlook on everything in life, regardless of the situations. This made him quite the optimist and the perfect selection for the Overseer of Mithra. He had alot of faith in the runners that came here and always strived to help them become the best person they could, despite their terrible background. On the surface, Apollo and his twin brother, Achilles, lived in a surprisingly happy part of Vaire, where he had become very accustomed to his daily lifestyle. He enjoyed the daily grind of waking up in the morning, going to school, coming home, going to bed all to start over the next day. In fact, he assumed he was the only person in that district of Vaire that enjoyed that type of life, but he didn't care. But ever since his brother disappeared, Apollo was unexpectedly torn from that life and thrown into this world under Vaire. Hobbit Hole. Never in a million years would Apollo have ever considered the existence of this place wasn't a myth at all, he was overjoyed to see it was real indeed. And even more so when he was asked to oversee Mithra.
He stared off into the distance of the northern tunnels, they stretched so far off into the darkness that Apollo always wondered if suddenly some large Mars-creature would appear from the darkness. Of course, he knew that all the larger creatures that lived in the Mars terrain lived deep under the planet's crust and never came to Hobbit Hole or the surface. Only walizards and giant bugs lived down here, and neither caused any problems for the inhabitants of Hobbit Hole. But something caught his attention as he glanced back towards the rest of the town. A tall guy wearing silver and teal clothing was running through the semi-empty streets of Mithra, his platinum hair stuck out among the rest of the townsfolk. Apollo had never seen this guy before, maybe he was a runner? But then he noticed the girl on the white haired guy's back, the frantic expression on the guy's face sent up a white flag that Apollo immediately recognized.
He jumped off the inn and ran towards the guy, but when he turned to the side did Apollo get a clear view of the abnormal and sickening coloration on the girl's neck. Only then did he realize what had happened.
"Hey! Bring her in here!" Apollo cried out to him, his voice was quite deep for a teenager of his age, but it suited his strong face. He motioned towards the inn as the guy looked his way and immediately started towards it.
Inside, they had brought the girl to an empty room in the inn where she could rest. Now that the guy was closer, Apollo could get a better look at him. His face was scuffed with dirt and soaked with sweat, as was his platinum hair that clung to his face and the blue lenses of the metallic blue goggles on his head. His bright green eyes were narrowed and focused on the coloration on the girl's neck, it was apparent to Apollo that he knew exactly what was happening to her. What struck Apollo as odd were the deep gashes on his face. Dried blood mixed with sweat and dirt encrusted the exterior and interior of the gashes, which hung open in what Apollo assumed was a painful manner. He immediately realized this man was a KOS Bounty, something he found troubling. He glanced out the window towards the southern tunnels and went over the facts carefully. If this guy was a Bounty and this girl now had Digitarox, that meant that hunter's were close behind this guy. Which also meant they would reach Mithra soon. Very soon.
"Hey, you can't stay here." Apollo turned to the guy, who nodded in agreement.
"I know, but I can't leave her here like this." He took a wet cloth and placed it over her forehead in hopes of bringing down her fever.
"Why are they after you?" Apollo asked him bluntly, seeing no reason to beat around the bush.
"Because, when Shark defects, people see this as the perfect time to bring him down." With the man's answer, Apollo's eyes grew wide with disbelief.
"You're....Y-You're Shark?! Zethus 'Silverbullet', Shark of Nazca?!" He couldn't believe what he was hearing, this guy couldn't possibly be Shark, he would never defect from Nazca!
"How do I get to the surface from here?" Zethus asked, ignoring Apollo's question.
"The surface? Going to the surface would be the worst thing for you to do right now, Shark." But Zethus stood up and started towards the door without a word to Apollo, if he wouldn't help, Zethus would find it on his own. But Apollo stepped in front of him and held out a keyring.
"These are the keys for the West Grate, it's the only way to the surface from here." Zethus nodded and took the keyring from him, then looked back at the girl. "Her name is Damali, if she wakes up while I'm gone, tell her I've gone to get the antidote." Apollo nodded then registered what he had said. He's going to the surface to get the antidote...He's going to Wrathgate.
"I don't think that's a good idea. It was most likely a merc from Wrathgate that did this. They won't help you." But Zethus smiled and shook his head.
"The Hands won't, but I don't need help from them. Just take care of her while I'm gone."
"How do you know I'm not going to just kill her when you leave?" Apollo's words stopped Zethus in the doorway, but he turned and gave Apollo a friendly grin.
"Because Achilles said you don't have what it takes to take a human life."
Apollo's eyes widened at the sound of his brother's name. Why does Shark know his brother? This must be some kind of sick joke! But before Apollo could say anything else, Shark was gone and he was alone with Damali. He looked down at her and sighed, he realized then that this was the escort he had been waiting for. He'd been waiting all day for her, excited to see the runner.
But he had absolutely no idea that his runner was the legendary Shark of Nazca. Did Damali know? Did she know she was escorting perhaps the strongest mercenary of all of Vaire? But then he thought back to his brother, Achilles. How did Shark know him?
Maybe those lies his cousin told him weren't lies at all.
WEE! Well I finally finished the first chapter of my new story I've been working on! I hope you guys will enjoy reading it : P I'd like to see what you guys think of it :D
Thanks!
-TK
Why me? Why's he go and leave all this to me!? Damali rolled her eyes and swore under her breath as she made her way down the tunnels. Hobbit Hole, as the tunnels had been named by the inhabitants, stretched for several hundred miles under the city above them. Fbhair City far above them was one of the first cities built on terraformed land, it served as the main travel hub for those entering and leaving the Mars Colonies. Oh yes, even though the terraformed landscapes of Mars only became inhabitable forty years beforehand, it's become quite active in that short period of time. As Earth had grown to be quite overpopulated in the late 3200's, scientists and World Leaders had no choice but to send a majority of the population to Mars Colonies.
But even though it was a new city, Fbhair was not the safest place to live. As the groups of people jettisoned to Mars were usually the bottom of the food chain, World Leader's began sending unsavory figures and those deemed to be a 'hassle' to the Earth Government. Criminals of all sorts were sent off to Fbhair and a time came when even orphans and the homeless found themselves on a shuttle to Mars Colonies. Literally flooded with the 'scum of the Earth', the new inhabitants of Fbhair were left to create their own government however they saw fit, if these people could stop killing each other long enough to converse with one another.
Fbhair's government grew in the form of Mercenaries. Quite the unsavory bunch of mercs also. Murderer's, thieves, con artists and even those awaiting their time on death row are pulled into the Government as leaders. This has left Fbhair to be possibly the most dangerous city in the Mars Colonies, cities like this are completely unheard of to the people of Earth.
Aside from the corrupted Government, there were three primary organizations of mercenaries designated to the separate districts of Fbhair. The first and foremost being the group known only as Wrathgate. The members of Wrathgate were few in numbers as only the strongest mercenaries were able to survive the harsh lifestyle they were presented with on a daily basis. If weaker mercs were thrown into the ranks, they would be whittled down to just the backbone of the ranks which in turn became the officials of Wrathgate.
Two officials kept the ranks of Wrathgate in check, these high-ranking mercenaries were granted official titles for their ferocity and viciousness towards their own kind. To the Wrathgate mercs, you only attained the right to be recognized as a high ranking member when he had defended yourself against your bloodthirsty comrades, all while working to ascend in the ranks. You ascended in the ranks by challenging and killing those ranked above you. If a low level recruit challenged The Hands of Wrath and managed to bring them both down, that recruit would be named the highest official. The Hands of Wrath were the highest ranking officials of Wrathgate with Vin Karzen being named the Right Hand of Wrath, while his subordinate Rezzio Galfrin named the Left Hand of Wrath. This was the more commonly known and respected organization in the city.
The second organization in-line was Nazca, which was also based on a dog-eat-dog lifestyle, but was kept in check with their strict law prohibiting the murder of another member of Nazca. Ranks were attained in a similar fashion to Wrathgate, but killing your challenger was punishable by death. While Nazca had a tighter grip on their mercs, their numbers were also very few, ranging from only fifteen to twenty mercs at a time. Five officials ruled over their organization, the Headmaster being the highest and four lower officials named according to their rank, even as officials. Below the Headmaster, the four officials were listed by rank; Giant, Shark, Spider and Lizard. Giant was the highest rank above the other three and directly under the Headmaster in terms of power. Giant was granted unlimited freetime and could leave the Nazca Territory of the City as he or she pleased. The Giant was even granted immunity to the Nazca Law and was allowed to kill members of Nazca at will. Giant specialized as a dispatcher, handing out jobs to the other mercs.
Shark was the second highest rank with authority over Spider and Lizard while being directly under Giant. Shark was granted no free time off duty, but depending on the Shark's performance in the field, the amount of free time that had in the non-Nazca Territories was determined. After a field mission, the Shark had to use immediately use his or her free time right after the mission, if they did not use it, their free time was rendered useless until the next mission. Unlike Giant, Shark was not granted immunity to the Law and could not kill other mercs in Nazca. Shark was a highly sought after title as all the members of Nazca, including Giant, feared and respected the strength and lethality of Shark ranked officials. The Headmaster had power to remove officials from their positions and could choose who received a title even without fighting their way to the top.
Spider and Lizard were the lowest on the chain of officials, but they each held equal power over the lower members of Nazca. They were granted free time off duty, but this was determined also by their performance in the field and unlike the Shark, their time was not wiped if they did not spend it immediately.
The third and lowest organization of mercenaries was Xibalba and had one high ranking official. One Death was the highest official and had control over the entire organization. One Death was free to remove members of Xibalba or recruit as many mercenaries as he or she wished. Because of this, Xibalba was filled with mostly adolescent mercenaries who were low level thieves and gang members, which resulted in Xibalba's low rank on the chain of command. Mercenaries were not labeled by ranks and were not allowed to challenge One Death for his or her position. All the members of Xibalba were granted unlimited free time, which also caused them several problems.
But under the vicious streets of the city, the Hobbit Hole ran all through the city and even out to uninhabited parts of Mars landscape. The Hole was so long and expansive that it was large enough for small towns and villages under the city. While knowledge of Hobbit Hole was known throughout Fbhair, there was absolutely no way to find it. All the manholes and subways the mercenaries were tasked with searching, everything came up empty. For years, the location of Hobbit Hole eluded the Fbhair government that people began to believe Hobbit Hole didn't exist at all, this led most of the government to give up their search for the tunnels as it took up most of their resources and time.
Because of this, Hobbit Hole proved to be the safest place in all the Mars Colonies as it was home to most of the homeless and orphaned children dropped on the cruel streets of Fbhair. There was no government for Hobbit Hole, only a few small towns dotted the expansive space through the tunnels which now served as a safe haven for those working their way out of the city.
Damali was a young girl living on the edge of the Waterworks, a small town settled near a network of water that originated from a spring deep in the Hobbit Hole. The Waterworks was the only spot where the spring was visible before it flowed into the city. The current of the spring flowed so fast and viciously that no one could move about in these fierce waters, which made it the perfect place for Waterworks to be set up. Since Waterworks was so close to the surface, barriers and checkpoints had to be set up and regulated to make sure the location of Hobbit Hole was never discovered. As the seventeen year old daughter of Barrier Man, Walter Levitz, it was Damali's job to regulate the barriers near mouth of the spring-fed river. She used to alternate the job with her brother Lukasz, after their dad died, but ever since Lukasz ran off to join some gang it's been up to Damali to keep up with the barriers.
As she made her way through the tunnels, she passed under gratings and several manholes along the way. These entrances were quite subtle from the surface, appearing only has slabs of concrete or even grassy areas of parks and medians. This simple covering proved to be the best form a camouflage for the manholes. But today was the mandatory check for the Waterworks Barrier. Built mainly from recylced parts of a cloaking device once used for the war shuttles the Earth government had developed for spacial warfare, which was now becoming the common battlefield for wars. The device served as a barrier quite well, though, as it generated a field over the Waterworks side of the river that made it appear as if the river stretches deeper into the tunnels. This did wonders for the protection of Hobbit Hole, as with a few modifications to the device, it would steer would-be intruders away from the Hole when they were met with a never-ending river.
But on some occasions, these recycled parts would malfunction and give a clear view into the Hole. To prevent this, Damali would come down here periodically and repair the barrier. The central computers back in Waterworks had determined that there was a system malfunction on the barrier and wasted no time sending Damali to fix it. She figured it would be nothing more then replacing the power cells as rats and other filthy critters would climb inside and sleep against the warm cells during the cold Mars nights. But when she arrived at the barrier, she was shocked to see what she did.
The tunnels peeled back into an enormous cave with approximately twenty-five feet high ceilings and maybe even thirty to forty feet across each wall. The river spewed from a crevice in the wall at least ten feet off the ground and flowed through the middle of the cave and right into the city through a small hole that seemed a tad bit too small for the massive amounts of water that passed through it every day. The barrier device was situated on the banks of the river where it could easily spread the cloak across the shores, hiding the rest of Hole from unwelcome eyes. A small corner formed between the river banks and the rock walls was just large enough for the barrier and a normal sized human to sit comfortably while he or she worked on the device, all while being concealed from view. But as Damali made her way up to the river bank, her heart skipped a beat as she took in the frightening site.
A boy was bent over the large device, his top half was engulfed by the large opening in the rounded machine. His clothes were soaked and clung to him and the small scratches all over his arms bled fiercely in unison, giving his arm the illusion of deep lacerations. Only when Damali's feet shifted across the floor did the boy stir and pull his head out of the machine.
His platinum hair was a wet and messy mass sprawled over the top of his head that stuck to his face and neck. He wore a white and blue sweater that bore several black scuff marks and fresh blood stains, most likely his own, and his pale grey jeans were ripped at the knees and fresh blood seeped through the fabric. He pulled his metallic blue goggles off his eyes and pulled them up over his pale hair, revealing his deep green orbs that stared back at her with a mix of surprise and relief. On his left cheek right under his eye were two deep gashes that bled furiously, but he paid no mind to the blood and wiped it off onto the back of his hand. The expression he gave Damali was a mix of surprise and relief...or was it..oblivion?
It wasn't until Damali produced a plasma pistol from her belt did the boy's eyes widen with fear. His arms shot into the air and his bottom lip quivered.
"Whoa! Hey, WHOA! Don't shoot me! OH PLEASE don't shoot me!" He cried in a shrill voice.
"How did you get in here?!" Damali kept her arms locked as she steadied her aim on the boy. Only the strange sounds erupting from the far end of the tunnel on the other side of the river managed to pull Damali from her focus. Someone's coming! She reached down and grabbed the hood of the boy's sweater and dragged him back towards Waterworks. Without warning, he wrestled free from her grasp, disarmed her and pinned her against the wall all in one swift movement. Damali gasped as a cold sensation met the back of her neck along with a slight sense of pressure.
"Doh, Sorry!" He apologized in a sympathetic voice as if the whole reaction was a complete accident. "We can't leave yet, it's still broken!!" He let go of Damali and ran back towards the device, only when Damali notice the screwdriver in the boy's hand did she realize he had pressed the screwdriver to the back of her neck. He could've killed me... She was torn from her thoughts as she watched him stuff parts of the device back into the core and bolt them into place. He kept glancing up across the river as he stuffed part after part into the interior of the device, obviously nervous about whatever was coming.
Damali stared in awe as she realized his hurried assembly of the device wasn't random or sporadic, he was placing every object in it's predetermined slot and was perfectly reassembling the cloaking device rather quickly. He's fixing it..?
Only when the exterior plate was placed back over the mouth of the device did the faint whir emanate as the device set it's one-way cloak over the river banks. The boy looked up at Damali and grinned, then grabbed her by the arm and started into the deeper parts of the Hole towards Waterworks. As they turned the corner and were out of site of the river, they could hear the faint shuffling of feet and impatient voices.
When they came around a third corner the boy finally stopped and leaned against the wall, breathing heavily as he tried to catch his breath. Damali kept her distance from the boy, eying him carefully. Who was this guy and how did he get down here? She tucked the pistol back into the holster, but kept her hand over the guard and watched him cautiously. As far as she was concerned, he had already shown that he was capable of killing her.
"This is Hobbit Hole, right?" The boy asked between breaths.
"Don't you know Hobbit Hole doesn't exist?" Damali lied in response, it was mandatory to keep the existence of Hobbit Hole secret as long as she could until she learned who this boy was. "This is an abandoned mine." The boy just chuckled and shook his head.
"Yeah sure, a high security mine that requires a cloaking device to keep it hidden." He sank down against the wall and looked up at Damali, who still had her hand placed protectively over her pistol. She couldn't stop staring at the gashes across his left cheek. This was a special mark given to high ranking officials of the mercenary organizations on the surface. These officials were marked this was for disobeying direct orders, this flagged the official as a Kill On Site Bounty and was free game for anyone who was willing to or was able to take him down. That meant that his guy was recently marked, he could be trouble. As a mercenary official, he had to be a dirty, stinking, rotten, cruel person to have reached that title, and he would most likely use others as expendables to escape, not to mention his hunters would be two steps behind him. That's why he was so nervous back there, those were his hunters.
"I don't mean to be a burden, but perhaps you could point me in the direction of the Train Station?" Damali's eyes widened when he spoke, the Train Station was the code word for those who had been directed here by Hole Informants on the surface. They direct ex-mercenaries and victims of the mercs to the Hole to escape capture. Only someone who had earned the trust of an Informant would know how to get here, let alone the code word. Immediately Damali knew what she had to do.
"You've come to the right place. My name is Damali and I'll be guiding you to the Train Station." She took her hand off her gun and held her hand out to him. Just to be safe.. He smiled and took her hand. "My name is Zethus, thank you Damali." When he withdrew his hand, Damali found a small talisman in the palm of her hand. Phoebe's mark. She held the mark up for her to get a good look at it and nodded. The mark was another way to keep the security between the Informants and the Hole. There were several ways to make sure a meeting from someone claiming to be a runner was legit. First off, they had to request passage to the Train Station, which was the code name for the series of tunnels that lead out of the Hobbit Hole. Second, when the escort reached to shake the runner's hand, the runner slips the talisman of the informant into his or her hand, proving the informant did indeed entrust this person with the location of Hole. And Zethus had done all of these things.
"Well it looks like everything is in order, then!" Damali planted her hands on her hips and offered Zethus a friendly smile, who had this ridiculous cat-like grin across his face. Even though the boy seemed to be friendly and polite, something about him was off, but no matter how hard Damali tried she just could not put her finger on it. But she torn herself from these thoughts and motioned towards the town, but as they started towards the town, she was met by a tall, muscular figure accompanied by an extremely skinny man.
"Ahh, here he is. Didn't take long, eh Vic?" The muscular man said with a devious smile as he shoved Damali out of his way. She immediately realized what was happening, but when she turned to give Zethus a dirty look, he had already vanished.
"Damn, that kid is fast!" The muscular man grunted as he turned towards the other man he referred to as Vic. This man, Vic, was just about the skinniest man Damali had ever seen, it was as if this man had absolutely no fat to his body structure at all. It was a wonder he was still able to function properly with his unhealthy appearance. He had a lazy look to his eyes and very pale skin, but despite this abnormal appearance, Damali knew he had to be a powerful adversary to be hunting someone like Zethus. Before Damali knew it, the muscular man had grabbed a handful of her pink hair and forced her to her feet. "Alright, Bullet-Boy. You have ten seconds to get out here or I'll kill Pinkie here." His words echoed through the empty tunnels as he held Damali's head against the wall. Then suddenly a blur of silver sped up behind the man, which Damali could see the man was visibly shaken by the sudden response.
"You know that's a bad idea.." Zethus stood behind the man, who was a good foot and a half taller then him, with an unusually shaped knife pressed against the side of his neck. His eyes were concealed behind the blue goggles he had pulled over his eyes, the dim lights of the tunnels glared off the metallic surface of the goggles. "Considering I could've killed you long before you ever realized I was here, Wulf.."
But before Wulf could respond, Zethus jammed the knife into the back of Wulf's knee and before Vic knew it, Zethus was in his face. With a quick and accurate jab to his chin, Vic's eyes rolled to the back of his head and his body went limp and fell to the cold, stone floor. When she finally registered the split-second attack, Damali rolled out of the way and started towards the deeper parts of the tunnels. Wulf howled in pain as he pulled the knife out of his leg and threw it carelessly onto the floor, just in time to watch Vic go down with a shocked look on his pale face. Ignoring Vic's current condition, Wulf went straight for Zethus who was now unarmed. He swung his weight around behind him and kicked for Zethus' head with his left leg. So much force went into this movement that the tunnels shook when Wulf's feet hit the ground, if this had hit Zethus directly it might've taken his head right off his shoulders. But he ducked just as Wulf's kick whistled over past his head. Though his kick was rather quick and powerful, Wulf had a terrible time recovering, but this was all Zethus needed to take the reins of this fight. As Wulf shifted his weight to maintain his balance, Zethus swung for his stomach with his right foot, but as Wulf threw up his hands to block the oncoming kick, Zethus quickly recoiled and clocked him right under the chin. His eyes rolled back and he slumped against the wall as he fell into unconsciousness. Zethus stood over his former comrades, shaking his hand at the wrist as he recovered from punching Wulf.
"That guy's skull must be made of stone! That crap hurts!" He complained as he looked over at Damali. He gave off a sense of nonchalance as he stepped over the motionless Wulf, it was almost as if this scenario was no different to daily life to him, he had a expression of terrible boredom on his face as he pulled his goggles up over his hair.
But to Damali, this was no normal day for her! Absolutely not! Never in a million years would she ever consider a day with a gigantic man pinning her to a wall and threatening to kill her normal! Perhaps she should just let Zethus deal with his escape route on his own. But then it occurred to her..
These men now knew where Hobbit Hole was. They could lead others here.
"Zethus! We have to do something about them, they know where the Hobbit Hole is now!" But Zethus shook his head and grinned. "No they don't. I didn't turn the device on back there." He smiled big as he stuffed his hands in his pockets, obviously proud of what he did. But Damali was outraged, what was this idiot thinking, anyways? "What..? You didn't turn it on?! No wonder they found us, what in the WORLD are you trying to do here!?!" Zethus kept his cool composure as Damali shouted and screamed at him, to him, he knew exactly what he was doing.
"All we have to do is drop them in the river and turn the device on. When they get back to the city they'll try to come back here, but what's that? The river isn't the way it used to be!" His grin grew more and more devious as he explained his plan. He knew those two like the back of his hand and he knew well enough that they could be easily confused. "They'll be so confused, hah hah! Even with Vic's crazy IQ he'll never figure out what's going on." Damali paused for a moment and thought hard about the situation. How would someone be fooled by that if they had already been here, it just didn't make any sense. But before she could ask, Zethus held out his hand and put on his serious face, which looked quite ridiculous actually.
"Don't. I know what you're going to ask. Even though Vic is extremely book smart, he's not exactly walkin' around smart, y'know? And Wulf there is as smart as a bag of cookies!" Damali tilted her head, puzzled by his words. This guy can't be a mercenary..as dumb as he is... "Um..do you mean..bag of rocks..?" But Zethus only gave her a confused look and shrugged, then half-nodded. "No..I'm sure it was bag of cookies.." He stood there staring at the ceiling in contemplation, he seriously believed that was the phrase.
"ENOUGH! Let's just drop them in the river and turn the device on! It might stall them for a while, that will give you a chance to get the heck out of here!" Damali's patience was wearing thin with this guy, there had to be some kind of mistake, this guy couldn't possibly be a mercenary, not to mention an official. Maybe it's all some kind of joke. But the gashes on his face, they symbolized the bounty on his head, that wasn't a joke. How he took down both Wulf and Vic in such a quick and effortless motion, that wasn't a joke. Zethus must be the real thing if he's down here. A real mercenary official who's now a KOS Bounty. Damali never imagined she'd ever escort a merc official through Waterworks, especially one who's been flagged. But then again, she never imagined an official to be someone quite as dumb as this either. But she didn't have a choice, as a Barrier Man - or Barrier Woman even - it was her responsibility to regulate the barrier and escort runners...even if they are stupid.
After dumping both Vic and Wulf in the river and the device was actually up and running this time, it was time for them to head deeper into the Hole. From here, Damali would take Zethus through Waterworks, past the Plant Pothole and then he'd meet up with another escort from there. It was only a two-day journey, hopefully Damali could put up with this air head for that long. Hopefully. She would have to convince herself to leave her weapons in Waterworks, lest she would end up murdering the poor soul half-way through the trek. How dim-witted people aggravated her so. There were just somethings in life that are too easy to mistake, even for an idiot.
But at first glance, Zethus didn't appear or even talk like he was an idiot, he even had some sense about him as he managed to formulate a plan to delay Wulf and Vic. Maybe he's just slow on some areas, maybe he's not really that stupid. She thought back about how he had protected her, coming out of hiding to confront two hunters to save her. Even though part of his brain seemed to be useless, he had enough sense to step up and do what was right. He at least deserved some respect for that, Damali thought. But still, that didn't change the fact that she might end up strangling him for acting stupid. She knew that somehow, it had to be some kind of act and he really couldn't be that dumb.
Could he?
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