A.N. A chapter with Maya in it? That's just ludicrous...
The nonchalant siren looked over to the sound of the voice, a smile breaking out on her pale face.
"Yeah, I've only been waiting for 4 days!" She joked, enjoying the company of the soldier after her long absence.
"Well, I mean, you were in a coma." He shot back, shooting her his traditional boyish smirk that sent her heart running amok. "Thanks again, for saving my life."
The usually confident siren glanced away, hiding her burning face as she let out a timid, no problem.
She rubbed her wrist, not minding the awkward silence since she had been out of commission for such a long time.
Axton let out a quick chuckle, walking forward before giving her a gesture to follow, which she quickly did. "Still surprised you said yes to this date thing. I thought you would be angry at me for draining all of your energy..."
Maya didn't regret anything. "Hey, I chose to help you, it would be dumb of me if I got angry at you for something I did."
"Still though..."
"Still nothing. I did it of my own volition and I would gladly do it again. You mean a lot to me Axton..." She put her hands behind her back, her pale face turning red as she had just realized what she said.
Axton didn't reply, he could only stare at the woman, a woman so rare that most could only wish they could be in their present vicinity, and she had just admitted that she would put her life in risk just for a lowly soldier like him.
Axton thinned his lips, following the girl down the stairs as they quickly passed through the bacon-smelling lab and out the door, giving a small wave of their head as the guard outside saluted them as if they were heroes. Axton chuckled mildly at this.
They were nearing the costume station when the siren decided to break the tension. "So, where are we going?"
Axton began acting like normal and gave her a sidelong glance, a smirk on his face. "You'll see."
The siren gave a puzzled face in return before breaking out into a smug smile mirroring his own.
Now what could he be thinking of.. She though before the soldier clicked the fast travel station, putting his thumb in his pockets as he chose an area.
"Please! I don't know anything!"
The hyperion soldier shouted at the top of his lungs, his hands writhing around frantically as he attempted to seemingly jump out of the bounds put upon him by a tired soldier.
"Alright then." He simply responded, grabbing his long, bloody knife and jamming it into his leg, leaning close into his face. "Then tell me someone who might?"
The night was cold, the only light coming from the weirdly shaped entrance to the cave, the weirdly large moon being its source. Snow still fell from the sky, making people wonder if it's a permanent weather since it has been doing so for the past week! Starting ever since that train blew up.
Axton wiped his sweaty face, some streaks of blood left lingering on his stone cold face. He was exhausted.
The man let out muffled whimpers as he forced his mouth shut, tears beginning to well up on his eyes as he has one open to stare at the ruthless man. "P-Please, man. I know nothing! J-Just lemme go!"
Axton wasn't pleased with this response, his mouth thinning as he narrowed his brows.
"If you tell me who would know anything about the tapes, I'll let you go." He twisted the knife that was still latched into his legs, earning him several shouts of pain and anguish that caused the torturer to wince.
The broken man was hunched over, his shaggy hair looming over his downcasted eyes. His armor no longer shined with the bright yellow it once did, it was now covered with red, turning the yellow into a orange hue. The soldier tilted his head up, slapping the man a couple of times to get his attention before he passed out.
"Hey, hey! Right here, buddy!"
The man let out a wicked chuckle before he jolted down, leaving himself dangling as he passed out from all the pain.
The soldier let out a sigh, looking over the hunched over figure, his brows slightly narrowing. "Fuck."
He pulled the knife out, using some rags he had brung along to tie around his leg, effectively stopping the blood flow as he did a quick pull to make sure it was tight, and gave a slight nod. He went around to the back of the man, cutting off his restraints as he grabbed his shoulder as to make sure he didn't fall down, laying him down on the floor as he gazed over him.
He hadn't hurt him a lot, only a couple of bruises and scratches over his face, nothing that would render him handicap though.
He groaned, knowing how hard it would be to get him to tell him now that he had cut the ropes-and not only were they the remaining pieces of rope he had- but they costed a shit ton!
He lazily walked over to the fire he had set up, extending his arms over it as he warmed himself up, looking over to the body as he leaned against the rock wall, letting himself fall down it into a sitting position, leaning his head back as he rummaged around his thoughts, trying to find out why he was doing this in the first place.
He had a smile on his face, Oh, right. It's all for her.
He closed his eyes, falling into an uncertain sleep as the man he had just tortured slept across from him.
...
Axton awoke in a jolt, feeling a sharp pain in his shoulder as it felt numb, he let out a groan as he looked up, seeing the sadistical smile on the broken man.
"Oh, did you sleep well?"
"Y'know, you never told me where we're going!"
The siren shouted over the roaring wind as she kept a keen eye on the road, running over skags without a care.
The soldier opened his eyes, quickly shielding them as the sun surprised him. "What do you mean? I thought I told you?"
There was a bump, signifying another skag dying.
"No you didn't. You just told me to follow my map." She swerved around, dodging the rocks that protruded from the sides of the road.
The soldier yawned, stretching his arms aimlessly into the air as he rubbed the sleepiness over his eyes. Honestly, when did he start getting barely any sleep?
"Well, after finding that one tape mentioning how Jack found you," He rested on the mounted rocket launcher of the grey runner, not minding the slight bumps that hit his chin every so often, "I decided to find more."
He didn't say anything else, knowing that the siren needed no further information.
"No way..." She let out an impressed chuckle, her lips resorting back to their usual smirk as she leaned back into her seat and drive with one hand, the other resting on the car door, mindlessly tapping away at it. "Did you actually..?"
Axton finished her thought for her, "Yup."
Axton leaned back once more, putting his hands behind his head as he began to dream once more.
"...I mean, yeah." Axton answered his rhetorical question, a pained grin on his face as he looked up to the shaggy haired Hyperion worker, enjoying how his face twisted into an anger that he's seen many times before.
"You sonufa.." His lowered voice barley registering as a whisper as he started to think of ways to kill the putrid man.
Now, messing with a trained soldier with nothing to lose was his first mistake, taking the knife out of the soldier was his second.
Once the knife was painfully jerked out, Axton struck like a viper, punching the man square in the balls, using his immediate reaction of hunching over to bring his fist straight up his jaw, sending him jaggering backwards as he stood there in a daze before he hunched over once more, this time to throw up.
Axton winced, he didn't really like using that move, but when someone has you pinned down with a knife and their genitals are in plain view, it was obvious what he had to do.
"You.. You..." The broken man spoke once more, his voice betraying him as it cracked many times. "You ASSHOLE! IM GOING TO RIP YOU TO SHREDS, FORCE A PIG TO EAT YOU, AND SEND THE SHIT TO YOUR FAMILY."
Axton narrowed his brows, noticing just how much he sounded like his old pal, Kreig. He quickly stood up and took a fighting stance, clenching his right fist only since his left was completely immobilized. That still doesn't mean that the chances were in his favor.
"AND THEN I WILL FORCE YOU DOWN ON THE GROUND AND RIP OFF BITS OF SKIN UNTIL YOU SLOWLY BLEED TO DEATH!" He threw his arms around, stepping into his purple vomit as tears of anger streamed from his bloodshot eyes.
"Are you all talk or are you actually gonna do it?" The cocky soldier gave him a smirk, circling the rage-fueled worker with careful eyes.
He let out a vicious scream, charging at the soldier with the knife raised into the air. He slashed at the soldiers waist and only hit air as he quickly dashed back, leaving dust to fly into the air as he commenced his attack, quickly moving forward to swing his fists to hit him in the side of his head, hearing his knuckles crack as he did. Did the man get stronger? He didn't have any time to question as he went for his left leg, effectively slashing it up as Axton had no time to react. He was going to hiss in pain before he could barely register the fist coming for his face. He flew back, denting the wall as he was sure he had broken another rib. Yup, he was stronger.
"AND THEN, I WILL STARVE YOU FOR MONTHS, ONLY GIVING YOU WASABI FOR FOOD BEFORE I THROW YOU OUT INTO THE DESERTS, LETTING THE VULTURES HAVE THEIR WAY WITH YOU."
The soldier opened up one of his eyes, spitting out some blood as he groggily stood up. He knew he couldn't do this without a weapon.
He quickly scanned the room, searching for his backpack before he eventually found it: Right next to chair that the man was tortured in, aka, across the fucking cave. Great.
He scoffed, grabbing a nearby rock as he slammed it against a stalagmite, watching it as it crumbled to the ground. This had gotten the psycho's attention, and he began to sprint towards Axton.
Axton, seeing the impending danger, quickly grabbed one of the sharper stalagmites before he had been tackled by the man, being thrown onto the ground. It took him a quick second to recover as he kicked the man away, crawling backwards as he began to crawl back at him. Using his knife, he swung down on Axton, who, upon seeing no other way, held up his right hand, watching in grimace as the knife had completely impaled it, blood seeping down the blade and falling onto his shirt. Axton resisted the urge to scream as he used the remaining strength he had to push his hand down further and grab his hand, moving it to the side as he head butted him in the face, making sure to his the nose bridge as he heard a crack, followed by a crazy shout.
He watched his fall back, his nose streaming blood as Axton pulling his hand out of the grips of the blade and stood up, watching the man struggle to breath as his nose was flooded with blood and mucous. He huffed, making sure to finish the job.
He quickly swiped the broken stalagmite and went over to the man, stomping his boot over his chest as he coughed up blood.
"P..Please... Let me go.." He seemed normal... As if something made him revert back.
Axton let out a chuckle, putting the stalagmite into his pocket as he grabbed the resisting man by the collar, dragging him over to the wall and throwing him up against it, leaning over to meet his eye level.
"Tell me where they are." He pulled out a brown map, practically shoving it into his face as he waited for an answer.
After a reluctant conclusion, he looked up to the man, his towering figure striking fear into his heart, and the way the wound on his hand still bled sent shivers down his spine. "Alright. As long as you let me live, ok?"
He gave him a half cocked grin, "Of course."
"D..Do you have a pen?"
"Oh, no, sorry." He looked around before he had a sly grin, "Actually, I might."
"Oh, where is i- ARGHHH" He felt a sharp pain in his leg once more, this time it felt more rough and numbing.
Axton held up the bloody stalagmite with a smile, "Here it is." He shoved it into the psycho's mouth, "Now write."
The man whimpered, quickly marking 4 spots on the map before he spat the rock out. "Can I go now?"
Axton looked down before he gave the man a deadly stare. "I think you know the answer."
Some say, that if you listen closely enough, you could still hear the man's chillingly screams coming from the cave.