Chapter 6
While the federation higher ups were discussing their next course of action Ridley was putting his own plan into motion. He'd managed to crack into the coding on the cuffs around his wrists and even got them opened at one point. Of course he didn't want his captors to know this so he'd out them back on but made sure the sleeves on the federation uniform's shirt put some distance between them and his skin. Now that he'd managed to crack their code he just had to wait for his chance to put his plan into action.
He hoped he wouldn't have to wait too long.
"Come on," he muttered, looking up at the window of the cell. "Come and get me, you whore."
He waited for quite awhile for her to actually show up and had nearly fallen asleep when he became aware of the sound of footsteps echoing down the hall toward the lab where he was being held.
Ridley chanced a peek out. The woman had sat down in front of one of the computers and was looking at the screen. It looked like she was going to be there for quite awhile.
No big deal, he could wait. if there was one thing he was used to it was waiting.
The woman continued to work on the computer a little while more then got up and left. Not too long after that a few other scientists entered the room and a few of them headed toward the cell.
Ridley they intended to check on him that would be the last mistake they ever made.
Dr. Ivory was heading toward the exit, ready to clock off for the day when she was suddenly startled by a loud high pitched noise. She clapped her hands to her ears as the lights flickered and then went out. As the place plunged into darkness before the generators kicked in he ears were assaulted by another sound, the sound of screams. She froze in place, the shrieks echoing around her. It didn't take her long to figure out what it was.
"No..." she whispered.
The female scientist spun around and rushed back to her lab without another thought. Hopefully she'd get there before it was too late. But when she got there she abruptly came to a stop, staring in horror at what she saw before her.
Bodies of her colleges lay scattered in a bloody mess around the room. In the midst of the bloody mess a figure sat hunched over with it' back to her. By the look of the rumpled federation uniform she knew exactly who it was.
"Ridley." she gasped.
The space pirate turned to her, his face covered in blood. she also saw the blood running down his face from his mouth. As she stared in horror he smirked and then moved his mouth, assaulting her ears with a crunching sound. She gasped in horror and backed up a step, realizing what had happened.
Just then he rushed at her. She turned to run but he caught her by the arm and yanked her back, forcing her to look at him. She stared into his glowing yellow eyes as he grinned, showing off his sharp blood stained teeth. "Going somewhere, Professor?" he asked, his voice a mocking hiss. "we haven't even had our fun."
Dr. Ivory shoved at him with her free hand, making him let her go. she fell backward and landed on the floor. She landed on her side and forced herself up, groping inside her lab coat. When he grabbed her again she pulled the control for his shackles out of her pocket and aimed it at him, hitting the button hard.
Nothing happened.
Her eyes grew large as his smile widened. "What's the matter, Professor?" he asked. "something wrong with your little toy?"
She shoved him away again and hit the button once more but still nothing happened. She swore hitting it again and again and getting the same results.
"Don't bother," he told her, coming back toward her again. "I already disarmed your little toys." he laughed as the buttons on the bracelets on his wrists remained red. "You no longer have any advantage here."
The federation officials had just entered the science building when they realized the place was unusually quiet and the lights were acting up,flickering on and off.
"What was that?" one of the men asked.
Before any of them could volunteer an answer a scream ripped the silence. Two lower ranking officers touting guns instantly took off down the hall with the others rushing after them.
A moment later the group of men came to a compete stop when they came upon Dr. ivory laying sprawled out on the floor in the doorway of her lab. She was covered in blood.
The two men with the guns rushed over to check on her, one placing a hand on her neck. he urned to the other men saying in a relieved voice. "She's alive."
The men exchanged relieved expressions as the two soldiers helped the woman into a sitting position and tried to wake her by gently slapping her cheeks.
While they did so one of the other officers stepped past her and looked at the bodies laying on the floor in the lab. "What happened here?" he asked, completely taken aback by the carnage.
The high commander stepped into the lab and noticed the door to the cell that had housed ridley was open. He stared into the empty room, eyes growing wide with the realization. "No..."
Ridley was gone.
Ridley had been bout to kill the women when he'd heard the sound of running footsteps. He would have stuck around to face them but there had been quite a lot of them and he decided it would not be wise to stick around to do so. so instead he'd jumped over the woman, to which she'd fainted, and took off in the opposite direction down the corridor. Now that he as free he intended to stay that way.
Confronting the federation forces would only put an end to it.
So he turned and ran toward one of the other exists, hoping he didn't run into anyone on the way. He really didn't have the time to deal with anymore interruptions. He just wanted to get out of there.
Hopefully he wouldn't have and trouble getting out this time. He rushed toward the docking bay to find himself a ship.
The place was empty of all activity but he was cautious anyway, remembering the event from the previous day. He didn't want to go through a repeat of that.
But luck seemed to be smiling on him this time and the place was empty. No soldiers came to stop him and he even managed to find a ship but as unable to get inside. Ridley swore and punched the side of the ship in anger.
Now what?
He stood back, studying the ship. It seemed to have a panel on the side for typing in a code. he leaned closer, studying it carefully. Maybe he could figure out the code and get inside? He sure hoped it was an easy one.
Suddenly he heard the sound of footsteps behind him, getting louder as they drew closer. he turned his head and swore. They were coming and he wasn't looking forward to it. He turned back to the ship and started randomly punching in numbers, hoping he'd eventually get the right code.
Suddenly it was as if he were seeing it through an inferred scope. A series of numbers on the keypad lit up brighter than the others. He instantly started hitting those buttons in random patterns until there was a satisfying beeping sound and the ship's entrance hissed open.
Just then he heard shouting behind him and looked over his shoulder to spot some federation forces rushing toward him. Without another thought he jumped into the ship and hit the button to close the door. It hissed shut and he rushed up to the control panel, hitting the power button. it lit up in front of him and he pressed the buttons to get the ship up and running.
As it began to rise off the ground he heard vices yelling outside the ship and banging on the hull. he ignored the sounds, focusing on just getting out of there. he hit the controls with all of his fingers and the ship began to slowly turn toward the exit portal. the engines began to power up more and he gritted his teeth pulling the control stick forward. The ship shuddered slightly then in a burst of speed that nearly knocked the space pirate off his feet it raced toward the exit.
He held on, gripping the stick and digging his feet into the floor to keep his balance. only seconds later the ship burst out of the exit portal and into the sky.
Ridley didn't relax until he was out of the planet's atmosphere. Once he was out in space he let out a breath he was holding and slumped to the floor of the ship. He wasn't out of the woods yet, since he was still in view of the federation planet but he had to take a breath for a moment and let his brain work on his next course of action.
He knew the federation wasn't going to let him get away. They would come after him and find him. He didn't have much time to get moving. He got back up after a moment and went back to the controls, his mind working speedily.
He had to disappear and fast, just go out into deep space and vanish. Where he didn't care just as long as It put as much distance between himself and the federation as possible.
With that in mind he set a course and got the ship moving, warping quickly out of federation space.
Samus was nearly expecting the call hen it came the next morning and didn't look even a little surprised when she picked up and heard the news about ridley's escape from the federation labs the previous night.
She focused on the little holographic image flickering before her and stated knowingly. "He escaped."
The figure in the image gave her a look of surprise. "How did you know?"
"Because I know ridley," she replied. "and because I know him I knew he wouldn't allow himself to remain a prisoner forever."
The figure said nothing.
"No, why don't you tell me what you contacted me for, as if I didn't already know," she continued. "I might be willing to help you... for a price."
Of course, and it would be a large amount too if they actually hired her for the job. She'd also make then sign something that whatever she did to him after she found him wouldn't be used against her ever. The man on the other end made a pained expression as if that were what he was afraid she was going to say that.
This bit of body language actually gave her a small form of satisfaction. she was making him uncomfortable and that was a good thing. After that foolish stunt his superiors had pulled he deserved to be uncomfortable. "Well?" she said, leaning toward the hologram. "what do you have to say? Do you want my help or not."
He looked like he was about to answer when another person stepped into the hologram and spoke in. "No."
She was startled by this answer. "No?"
"No." the other said, nodding. "we won't be needing your help, Miss Aran."
Then why did you bother contacting me?!
Samus did not say this though. She pretty much concluded that the reason they called her was to hire her for it but something had happened between the time they called her and during her conversation that made them change their minds. She just had to wait and see what excuse they were going to give her.
It didn't really matter. Even if they had decided not to have her go after ridley for them she fully intended to do so anyway. She felt it was her responsibility to deal with Ridley as he was a part of her life and thus her problem even if they didn't think so.
I hope you don't think I am just going to sit back and do nothing about it.
She figured it would be a good idea to find out what they did plan on doing about Ridley so she leaned forward and asked. "If you don't want me to help you find him how exactly do you plan on accomplishing it?"
"We have perfectly skilled people competent enough to deal with this," was the answer she got.
"Oh?" she asked, interested now."and who would that be?"
"It doesn't really concern you, Miss Aran." the man responded. 'But they are highly skilled people with plenty of experience, that is all you need to know."
Samus inwardly doubted the man's claim but didn't bother arguing it. Instead she simply said. "For your sake I hope you're right." before she ended the call before the man could say another word.
The woman got up and went into the kitchen unit of her apartment where she took a deep breath and slammed her fist against the wall to release the pent up frustration inside her.
Ridley had gotten free just as she knew he would. Why did nobody ever listen to her about these things? Bringing him back had been such a bad idea and now they were regretting the very thing that could have been avoided by leaving well enough alone.
Why did the Federation always do things to make her job harder?
Samus took a few deep breaths to clam herself before dropping her arm and opening to fridge where she took out a carton of milk and drank right from it. She was going to have to do something about Ridley. She knew the federation said they didn't need her for this but she didn't care.
She had to take care of this herself, no matter what they said or did. It didn't matter. All that mattered was dealing with ridley, once and for all. Samus put the milk back into the carton and headed out of her apartment.
Time to get involved and she knew exactly how she was going to do this.
