I wouldn't want to make M'yin-de angry. That would be a very bad idea. Iron Man rocked so good! I loved it. Easily the best Marvel movie in years. Everyone should see it. I just got hired for my new job, so I should be starting monday! So, once again, give me many reviews as I have been starved of them lately. Thanks to those that have reviewed!
Pauk- Fuck.
Pauk-de- Fucker or fucking.
Thwei-Tjau'ke- Blood Stone.
Nihkou'te- Tooth or tusk.
Guan-Thwei- Night Blood.
Paya- Term of respect.
Chapter 10
The ship hummed as it took off, leaving the facility behind. As it diminished, there was a sudden krumph! as the bombs detonated. Fire fountained up in a sinister mushroom cloud rose. Matt fancied that he could feel a slight shudder through the ship as the shock wave passed them. Matt knew with a grim satisfaction that all that would be left would be blackened rubble, dotted with lumps of melted metal. Once the ship reached stable orbit, he got up and went to the medical bay, for the ship was large enough to have one.
…..
M'yin-de and J'nana were tending the wounded. Nihkou'te was sitting up, looking better than ever. Standing near him was Gts-paik, radiating an air of stubbornness. She was shaking very badly now, like an Elder with a palsy. She was sheened with sweat and quite visibly thinner. M'yin-de kept one eye on her at all times. Quickly, her attentions proved worthwhile as her daughter's eyes rolled up in her head and she collapsed in a dead faint. M'yin-de caught her nimbly and deposited her on the bed she had been so obviously ignoring. Nihkou'te trilled with laughter, not worried in the slightest. When Gts-paik woke up, she'd be weak as a kitten, stiff, achy and guaranteed to be in a foul temper. That was the downside of the supposed 'miracle' drug. Even a tiny, safe dose like the one she took had burned up all fat reserves, had drained every last drop of energy from her. Matt had heard the horror stories of warriors who had become addicted to the stuff, turning into skin-covered skeletons or having their own muscles ripping themselves off the bones, or even their bones snapping under the huge stresses. He shook his head. Wonderful, but nasty stuff. He was almost glad it would not work on him. There was the smell of burned meat in the air; someone had just had wounds cauterized. Thwei-Tjau'ke was sleeping, heat packs on his cramping scars. M'yin-de returned to Celia's side, patiently bandaging the injuries she had received. Matt's stomach clenched. He wanted to kill that foul old man again.
"M'aat-hew. You are filthy. Go wash. You shall not enter the medical bay again until you are not a walking pile of bacteria. Guan-Thwei is already in the baths." the Elder said firmly.
"Sorry Paya M'yin-de. I wanted to see Ce'lia."
"She will see you later."
"I… I'll be okay for now, Matt." she whispered.
Matt's mouth tightened. He left.
…..
The ship had a fairly small, though well equipped. There were two deep stone tubs, one for hot, one for cool. Cold water was the last thing he needed right now.
Guan-Thwei laughed, his voice ringing around the room. "Did you fall in a corpse?" he asked.
Matt reached up, feeling the blood crack and crumble under his fingers. He leaned over the sink and rubbed what he could off. Then he stripped and plunged into the large tub with Guan-Thwei. Yautja had little worries about their bodies.
"Give me the soap. I smell like a corpse!"
Guan-Thwei tossed it over.
Matt started scrubbing. When he was sufficiently clean, he leaned back to soak like Guan-Thwei. He passed over a bottle of cnt'lip.
Matt took a swig. He coughed and made a face. "That Kainde Amedha blood? Pauk, I think I lost some stomach lining."
Guan-Thwei shrugged. "It takes away the pain."
"Does it hurt?" Matt asked, making a vague gesture towards his face. The older warrior touched the ruin that was once his eye.
"A little. It throbs. I feel like it should be there, but it is not. It feels empty." Guan-Thwei sighed. It was a serious injury to a fighter.
"I meant other sorts of pain more."
"When you have been around as long as I have, the death of other warriors hurts less. It was shocking, horrible, but… I cannot really explain it. It just gets easier to witness death. You will find it easier to cope with it." They were silent a few minutes, before the Yautja decided to get out. He wrapped a towel around his waist and left to tend his own injuries. Matt stayed longer, dozing and sipping cnt'lip.
…..
Once Celia's wounds were treated, M'yin-de took her and led her to a private room. Lee was confused, until M'yin-de pulled out a drawer and took out clothes. They weren't much, a kilt, a pair of sandals and a wrap around shirt. But they were clean and soft. Celia took them and gratefully got out of her torn, dirty clothing. The kilt and shirt were luckily adjustable, as were the sandals, though they were a funny shape, allowing for the Yautja's slightly opposable toe.
"Why do you have stuff so small?" Lee asked.
"Sometimes we take our young for training hunts. This was left behind." M'yin-de replied. The female paused a moment, mulling a thought over in her head. "Did that ooman… Do anything to you?"
"Yeah. They fuckin' tortured me."
"No…" M'yin-de crouched, so she was at eye level with Celia, her hot orange eyes meeting the ooman's brown ones. "Did he force you to do anything you did not want to do?"
Lee's lip trembled and furious, hurt tears stood in her eyes.
"Ah. I see. Are you with child?"
"I… I don't know." Pregnancy had never occurred to Lee, but the full horror descended upon her. To be pregnant with that, that scum's child! She started to hyperventilate. The Elder pulled her close, rumbling deep in her chest, stroking Lee's hair.
"I can give you something just in case. We have drugs that should work on you just fine. While I have never had to worry about… Uh, over-zealous males, there have been times where I would have found a child inconvenient, or dangerous."
"Oh god! That asshole! Why would he do that to me?!"
"For power?" M'yin-de suggested, tilting her head to the side. Rape was almost unknown to her. But she had dealt with those who performed such an ugly act. "Come with me." Celia hiccupped and trailed after the huge female.
They descended deep into the underbelly of the great ship. A huge metal door blocked their path. M'yin-de punched in a code and growled something in Yautian. The door ground open obediently, with ponderous slowness that really said it was a strong door. M'yin-de stepped in, the dull orange lights illuminating her hellishly. It was a dungeon. Celia was suddenly struck with an irrational fear that she was going to be thrown in there. She crushed it. It was stupid. Voices rang out. Human voices!
"Let us out of here, you monsters!"
"Please, oh Jesus, please! I'm so fucking sorry! It was just a job!"
M'yin-de gestured to the nearest cage. Inside was Terence.
Nausea gripped her, sending Lee reeling to the far wall, face a rictus of terror.
"Come. It is no good to run from your fears." the Elder coaxed. She held out her metal hand, beckoning her back over. Lee took a few trembling steps nearer, feeling as though her knees were made of jello. "He cannot reach you. He is just an ooman. Just a man. He does not deserve to be feared. You should not give him so much of you attention." M'yin-de rasped in her low voice.
"What the fuck?!" Terence snarled, switching abruptly from his pleading persona, "Listen, the big nasty Predator is trying to calm you with its stupid psychobabble!" mocked the caged man. "I own your body, bitch!"
Celia flinched and gagged. She was going to be sick!
"NO!" barked the Yautja. "Face it! Conquer it! Do you think I shied from the creatures who tore off my hand? Who nearly blinded and killed me? Do you think Guan-Thwei flinched from his duty, terrible though it was?"
She sucked in a deep breath. He was foul, a human with a twisted soul and no conscience. "T-Terence… You are nothing. You are just a man. You don't own me. I won't dwell on this all my life! I have control of my body, not you! You are a fucking degenerate piece of shit!" Her voice rose in volume until it was nearly a shriek. Something cold was pressed into her hand. It was a knife. She stared blankly at it.
"Go revenge yourself." She slid the door open.
Terence leered angrily at them, straining at his chains.
"Slut! Whore! Bitch!" he yelled.
Celia looked at him, and then down at the knife. She raised it, hesitated and lowered it. "No."
She handed it back to a surprised M'yin-de. "I'm human. I can't just solve my problems by killing them. It's not my way and I don't want to murder. Terence isn't hurting me now and I don't think he ever will again. Thank you, though. This did help."
M'yin-de nodded. "It is your choice. You know how to get back up to the medical bay? Yes? Ask J'nana for the medicine; he will know what to do."
Celia nodded.
When Celia was out of earshot, M'yin-de walked into Terence's cell, rasping, "You have not escaped you're grisly deed, pauk-de."
He sneered. "So? I'll tell everyone back on Earth about you. Someone will believe me and then we'll get you monsters!"
She slit his throat, sudden and harsh.
"What makes you think you will be getting back to Earth?" she said as he bubbled helplessly in his own blood.
…..
Hearing the all-too familiar sound of someone's throat being cut, Adam's heart began to beat faster, as if it was trying to escape, smash its way out of his ribs.
"I have not forgotten about you, ooman." M'yin-de called sweetly. He heard her footsteps, claws clicking on the floor. A rattling noise began. He heard a few clicks of approval. His door clanked open. In the uncomfortable orange light, he saw the female Yautja's demonic form, a cat o' nine tails hanging on her belt. It was constructed of leather, the ends knotted and strung with wicked little carved bone beads. In the shadows he imagined that he could see dark stains marring the thing. The Yautja grabbed his chains, pulling him up off his feet. She turned him around with a push and set him back down, facing the wall, arms stretched painfully high.
Adams had always prided himself on his composure, rarely even losing his temper, but now he screamed and struggled wildly.
M'yin-de tutted. "I have not even started. Coward." Using her prosthetic hand she tore away his jacket and shirt. Cool air licked his sweaty skin. Charles Adams suddenly became very aware of every sensation on his back, feeling every drop of sweat that tickled down his spine, every breath from M'yin-de. The whip clattered again. He imagined the female combing her fingers through the strands, insuring they were not tangled. Something whistled and hit him, his back going numb instantly. It took a moment for the pain to reach him, but when it came, it came with a vengeance. He made a strangled noise.
"This whip-" CRACK! "-is normally-" CRACK! '-used when I-" CRACK! "-am interrogating-" CRACK! "-Bad bloods. But-" CRACK! "-I thought I would-" CRACK! "-make an-" CRACK "-exception!"
Within three blows, Adams felt his back bleeding. Within three more it felt as though his flesh had been cleaved to the bone. It paralyzed him with its lethal venom. Barely conscious, he sagged in the chains. M'yin-de let him down. She let the cat o' nine tails caress his face, smearing his own blood and skin on himself. The Elder rolled him over with a hard foot and sat on him, pinning him firmly though he didn't think he could ever hope to escape.
Adams screamed as the links of chain running underneath him sank into the lacerations.
"You hurt my daughter. You imprisoned those I chose to protect. You killed my warriors. Some younglings think I am an incarnation of our god of death. When I am through with you, you will find his mercy more inviting than mine and then, when I am finished, if you live, which I have no doubts that you will, I am very good at keeping things alive, you will be my slave. Until the day you die."
She drew the same knife used to kill Terence and deftly cut his nose off. Then she shredded his ears, slashed his cheeks and forehead.
"Your own mother will not even recognize you now." She pried open his clenched teeth and split his tongue. In the agony of his disfiguration, Adams lost consciousness. In a way, it was a blessing because she started to cauterize his wounds.