Kai held up his hand, and then spoke – pitching his voice just loud enough to carry through the cavern.
"I just want to check on the rules – this is an unarmed fight, yes?"
"Yes, as they specified. As you issued the challenge, they are the ones to choose the terms – and the Bogbuster declared that this is an unarmed fight."
"So if their fighter pops his spur that is concealed in his right hand – then he's cheating?" Vishtar turned to face the fighter, standing across from Hunter.
"Yes. He would be in breach of the rules, and would be punished for his transgression. Most severely." He enunciated clearly, leaving no room for misinterpretation.
"Ahh, very good. Well, carry on then." With that Kai took a step back and moved closer to Stripes and his team, moving up behind Noodles. Now he lowered his voice, speaking quietly so that his voice barely carried.
"My mage is a little busy keeping an eye on them, I just wanted to check something with you. We're not allowed to cast magic into the arena, right?" Noodles raised a glass in a cheer, and spoke. It was probably meant as a subtle whisper, but the voice carried none the less, making Kai wince.
"THAT'S RIGHT. NO OFFENSIVE OR DEFENSIVE MAGIC INTO THE AREA AT ALL. AGAINST THE RULES."
"What about shouting commands. Or directions?"
"WELL, WHAT WOULD BE WRONG WITH THAT?" Noodles looked confused. Kai was about to explain, but then realised that it would involve a very loud conversation that probably wasn't what he wanted. A second later the rest of his brain caught up, and he realised that Nelly had never heard of his techniques, and it bought home to him just how rare his talents might be.
Shimazu meanwhile had been studying the fighter, watching his body language and how the rest of the Bogbuster crew reacted to him. While they were whooping and cheering for "their guy", there was fear and discomfort on several of their faces when he got near them, and flashes of hatred when his back was turned.
"Hey, this guy is a bully. Half his crew over there are scared of him too. He's likely going to try and get a psychological edge as well, pick on some obvious flaw or perceived weakness. But he's not going to cope well with indifference or smugness – as a general rule that really gets to bullies. Might give you a bit of an edge, don't know." Hunter nodded, rolling his shoulders to loosen up as he listened to the chatter behind him.
Kai stepped into the arena, and clapped Hunter on the shoulder as he walked past him, giving him a broad smile as he drew level. A few steps took him close to the enemy fighter, who got a respectful nod and a smile as well. He stopped there, and then faced the commander of the Bogbuster crew.
"So, who's in charge here then?"
"I am, you can call me Ivan. Until my fighter destroys your man. Then you can call me sir…" A laugh ran through the crowd, spreading out in a ripple. Shimazu cocked his head to one side, studying the body language and dynamics of the crowd. In his head he could see the pages in his book, the section on sycophantic personalities and cults making so much more sense now. Kai seemed unphased though, and just waited for the laughter to die down.
"Well, Ivan, how about a little bet then. From captain to captain. A wager to make things more interesting. I bet you ONE Nuyen that we'll win." Ivan looked at him in confusion for a moment, then forced out a belly laugh, before responding.
"Pah, you wish to mock us? As if you had any chance at all. Well, how's this then. I take your one Nuyen bet, but with one condition. The loser has to lick clean the boots of the winner!" A cheer burst out from the crew, laughter and pointing at Kai from several of those near Ivan as they contemplated what was to come. Kai just nodded, and walked past Hunter, giving him a nod of support as he passed.
The two fighters squared off against each other, and Vishtar started the bout with a shout.
The Bogbuster crew started a rhythmic shout, several of them clapping or slapping their thighs in time.
"Ox! Ox! OX! OX!" The huge and squat orc raised his arms and flexed, muscles rippling under the dermal armour. Hunter stood still and watched him, keeping still.
"You, you are like nothing! I will snap you! I will rip out your tusks and use them as trophies. You stand there quiet – afraid to speak! Your voice would whine like a child!" Contempt curled from his words, disdain evident on his face. A broad sickly smile as he tried to gain psychological dominance over Hunter.
Hunter stood still, slowly breathing in and out, deeply. Inside a tiny flame of rage built up, and he focussed all of his concentration on his opponent. He was huge, and the armour plating implanted beneath his skin was obvious now he was posing for the crowd, deliberately flexing to show off his enhanced musculature. Hunter analysed him carefully, looking at the traditional weakspots. Well. There was only one thing for it – and he'd only get once chance.
Ox moved forwards, hands spread in front of him in a stance midway between a boxer and a wrestler. He still mocked Hunter, spitting words at him and picking up on his unresponsiveness, mocking him for being paralysed with fear.
As Ox finally closed the distance, his massive right arm swung towards Hunter, aiming for a huge cross that would pulverise Hunter's jaw. But Hunter moved with the speed of a striking snake, taking a half step to the side to take him into the perfect position. His right leg lifted and his powerful quad muscles contracted, driving his lower leg forward with brutal speed and power. With toes pulled back, the ball of his foot smashed into the unarmoured and exposed testicles of his opponent, the leg powering forwards and upwards in a vicious scythe.
The foot crashed into the soft meat, driving upwards with speed and fury. First one, then the other burst under the massive force of the impact, but the strike kept driving upwards. The crowd started to react, a ripple of sighs spreading outwards as mouths dropped open and men flinched in sympathetic reaction. The reactions were slow and languid to Hunter, his reactions working overtime. Still the kick continued upwards, driving the ruined flesh up into the abdomen, behind the armour plating. With nowhere to go, and constrained by the implanted armour the organs were further crushed and mangled, nerves firing messages of distress that could not be ignored.
Hunter ducked to the side, avoiding the reflexive grasp of his opponent and danced away. Time seemed to catch up with him as the spike of adrenaline his combat booster had dumped into his system was absorbed.
Ox stood almost still, his body in shock at the brutal and unexpected savagery visited upon him. A whine of pain escaped from his lips, and he staggered into a turn, facing Hunter and trying to grab him – but his body seemed to betray him and refused to cooperate. He flailed again, his arm spreading wide as he flinched from the acute shuddering pain wracking his body. Hunter took advantage and darted in, sending a straight jab into his throat. He felt his punch impact the armour plating, but it didn't absorb all of the force, being too thin over the neck to fully protect him.
Hunter circled around, jabbing and striking where he could while Ox lumbered after him. Again and again he was hit, but the thick armour implants and his huge physique absorbed the hits. Hunter worked around him, keeping light on his feet and forcing Ox to turn constantly, knowing that every time he did, those powerful legs and hip muscles were aggravating the injury further. Balanced against that was the knowledge that the pain would pass soon – the nerves would only cope with so much before he went into shock.
Kai spared a glance around the cave, assessing the mood. Vishtar was impassive, an admirable poker face in place. Stripes and his crew were drinking champagne from fluted glasses, and Gemini looked to be actively enjoying the situation, a wide smile plastered across her face. The Bogbuster crew were quiet now, their cheers having faded away with that first massive hit and replaced with a primal empathy of pain.
Hunter dummied a hit to the left, suckering the staggering Ox into raising his guard that way. Swiftly he lunged to the right, taking a half step towards Ox. His left leg was tucked up, knee bent tightly up towards his stomach, while he stood on his right. He let the right leg collapse, releasing all tension and his body dropped. As he fell, the left knee extended downwards, smashing into Ox's leg, catching him just on the bottom of his thigh. The leg bent backwards, Hunter's bodyweight driving the knee into hyperextension and then there was a horrible snapping noise and Ox went down, his leg bent at a horrific and unnatural angle. A single cry of pain echoed around the chamber before the shock drove him into unconsciousness.
The crowd fell silent, watching as Hunter rolled to the side and stood up, apparently uninjured.
"To the death?" Hunter asked Vishtar, getting a nod in return. He brushed his hands off, then turned to face the Bogbuster crew and slowly let his gaze traverse over them, working his way across the silent crowd from left to right. Without a word, he took the step required to stand over Ox, then knelt down, his knee pressing into the throat of his unconscious opponent. He applied more and more weight, until he was resting almost entirely upon his right knee, pressing deeply into thick hewn neck. The armour didn't save him, and his windpipe and artery were crushed and closed with the pressure.
Hunter reached into his back pocket, pulling out his phone, and then made a show of scrolling through his messages, studying the emails one at a time. Beneath him the body twitched slightly as the autonomic functions fought for breath, but the pressure was inexorable. The message to the Bogbuster crew was clear. Hunter had not just defeated their champion, he'd annihilated him. And now he was making use of the time to catch up on his reading, while he crushed the life out of him.
The arena was deathly quiet now, everyone watching the scene play out. Several of the Bogbuster crew glanced at Ivan, and those close to him seemed to be edging away, clearly expecting some kind of reaction.
Hunter moved suddenly, ripping open the trousers of his opponent. Everyone watched in confusion, wondering what he was up to. His massive hands grabbed the flaccid penis of his opponent and then wrenched, ripping the organ from the body. Cries of anger erupted from the Bogbuster crew at the mutilation, but everyone was too shocked to respond physically. Hunter turned and stalked over to Kai, then dropped to one knee and carefully placed the torn flesh on Kai's boot.
"Someone's gonna lick that clean in a minute, aren't they?" He looked up at Kai, and the smirk was back, then he cast a glance over at the other side of the cavern. Ivan had turned a deep red, barely supressed anger colouring his features.
Tads was standing at the end of the line, watching. Her eyes were round, and fixed upon the robed figure who stood behind Ivan. A shudder of revulsion rippled down her as she watched his reaction. He'd seemed excited at the combat, not caring who had been hitting who, but revelling in the anger and aggression. But when Hunter had mutilated the body – she'd seen him. Seen him lick his lips and look with hunger at the events. Her mind tried to comprehend what kind of personality would enjoy something like that but she shied away from the answer, not wanting to pollute her own mind with the results.
Kai eased his foot out of his boots, then leaving one behind, carefully lifted the other up, walking across the sandy floor with his grisly trophy. The men in front pressed back, clearing the approach to Ivan. Kai stopped well short though, and held the boot out, before clearing his throat.
"I take all major credit cards…" A ripple of laughter, genuine laughter, ran through the maintenance techs and the crew of the Mondrian.
"You… you CHEATED! You broke the rules! You CANNOT win like this!" Ivan exploded, the words coming out thick and fast. Kai looked over his shoulder towards Vishtar.
"No rules have been broken. No magic was used in the fight, there was no outside influence. Your fighter has lost, and you have lost the challenge."
"Nyet! It cannot be! I reject this!" Ivan spluttered. He lunged forwards, his hand swinging up to try and flick the boot out of Kai's grip and send it flying across the room. Kai saw it coming and moved the boot to the side smoothly, the flesh wobbling for a moment, but remaining in place.
"Ah ah ah! I believe we had a deal. Time to get licking."
"I will crush you, all of you! You cheated us, and you will pay the price."
"Man from the east say…. Puuuussssy?" Shimazu stretched out the words, and gave the boot a little wiggle at the end to add emphasis. He didn't speak loudly, but it was loud enough to carry across the small space. Ivan turned and strode off, his crew parting before him, pushing back against the tunnel walls to avoid his wrath. Kai let him get a few steps away before he acted. He called out, no lilt in his voice, no humour. Instead he used his powers to shape the words, lowering the pitch and timbre, modulating the sound to cut right through to the core of his opponent's mind.
"Stop right there." Ivan stopped, suddenly, as if he'd run into a physical barrier. His head snapped around in surprise, staring at Kai standing barefoot in the middle of the sandy cave, holding his bloody boot in front of him. "We had a deal, sir. You owe me one Nuyen, and one lick."
"I will fucking end you! You miserable pieces of shit! I will carve out your entrails and scatter them over the countryside as a warning to anyone that picks a fight with us!" His voice trembled with emotion, but also sincerity. Kai ignored him though, just staring him down.
Tads snapped her attention away from the other mage, and raised her voice.
"Hey Vishtar, if they leave, is their accusation of cheating cast out, yeah?" Vishtar nodded at her, but didn't speak. His bottom lip quivered though, as if he was having problems keeping a straight face. Across the cave, Ivan turned again to leave taking one step then another.
"I said stop". Once again, the body froze in place, responding to the power and subliminal commands. This time though, the Bogbuster's mage looked at Kai, his eyes widening a little. A subtle shift in the body was seen as he caught a glimpse of the power flowing through Kai. His hands moved a little, fingers twisting slightly.
Marius stepped forwards and away from Kai, his hand curled loosely around the grip of his pistol, ready to quickly draw and fire. On the other side, Shimazu took a step forwards, his hand clenched around the grip of his sword. The mage glanced over, and then paused. Behind Kai, Tads had extended her magical protection, covering the team with a blanket of force. It wouldn't make them immune to his attacks, but it would make them far less effective.
Kai dipped a finger into the blood on the boot, and then slowly raised the finger to his mouth and licked it, staring at the mage all the time.
"Try me…"
The motion of the mage's fingers ceased, and then he turned, and headed off into the darkness, silently leaving. The Bogbuster crew glanced from their mage to their captain and back again, unsure of what was going on. Ivan turned once more to stomp off, and once again Kai gathered his power, determined to finish the humiliation and defeat.
"KNEEL BEFORE ME!" This time there was no disguising the power, which rippled and flowed through his voice. Several of the maintenance workers twitched, their bodies wanting to obey the command and their minds reacting with confusion. Ivan sunk to his knees, his body betraying him. A little fleck of white spittle escaped from the corner of his mouth as he tried to resist the command.
"All of you, back to the craft. Await us there!" The mage spoke for the first time from the darkness, his voice raspy and harsh. The crew reacted at once, filing past him in the tunnel, heading off into the darkness. He stood in the centre of the tunnel, as the crew squeezed past on either side, watching his captain and Kai to see what was going to happen.
Kai approached, the boot held at Ivan's head height, getting closer and closer. Ivan struggled to his feet, his body still wanting to obey the command and his brain fighting for control. Kai paused, holding the boot still, Ivan's eyes fixed to it, clearly expecting Kai to rub the boot into his face while his body was paralysed. Instead though, Kai just stopped, then turned away, leaving Ivan behind him. Dismissing him. Making it clear that he could have done whatever he wanted – but that Ivan was too insignificant to bother with.
A primal noise of incoherent rage escaped from his teeth, the eyes bulging and more spittle bursting from the corner of his mouth, blowing into small bubbles that popped and dribbled down through his stubble. They saw the mage grab Ivan by the shoulder, dragging him off into the darkness.
The tension broke, and there was a collective sigh from the remaining spectators. Vishtar finally allowed the grin to show, while the maintenance techs cheered and hollered at Hunter. One of them came over holding his camera aloft to get a selfie with him, holding the phone up high to get his manic smile in next to the now-trembling body of the orc.
Tads walked up to Vishtar, then pointed down at the mutilated body lying in the middle of the sandy arena.
"Nothing was agreed about the body. I don't want to leave it where that other mage can get to it. Is it possible to get it disposed of? Properly?"
"Normally – no. That's not something I'd do. But in this case… certainly. It was worth it." He turned towards Kai and Marius. "I'm guessing you don't actually want to swap pods right now, given the condition of your craft?" Marius shook his head, contemplating how long it would take to put everything back together, move, then take it apart again. "I will go an update the board though – just so everyone knows about the move. Oh – but I need your team name. Have you decided on one yet?"
They looked at each other, contemplating their choices. Around the cave, the others started to split up and head off, leaving just the team and Vishtar, along with the corpse. Vishtar suggested "Into Orbit" which made Hunter smile and several of the others wince, but after a few minutes of increasingly bizarre suggestions, Shimazu spoke up.
"Do you know what, I really actually like 'The New Fish'. I think it's got a certain something to it." With nobody having a better idea that they could all agree on, they went with the default option instead.
"By the way, I'm going to get your pod watched, just in case. If you see anything watching from the walls, don't worry. I just don't want there to be any more unpleasant surprises." The team frowned and looked at Vishtar, but he didn't elaborate further. Instead he nodded to them, then turned to leave, pulling out the mining radio from his belt as he did so and calling for the maintenance team to come back with some plastic wrap to deal with the corpse.
The team headed back to their pod, sticking together as they wandered through the dark limestone tunnels that wound their way under the hill. The journey back was quiet, each of the team being wrapped up in their own thoughts.
When they were back in the pod, Marius went to work clearing the table, moving off all of the miscellaneous gear that had accumulated there, and then setting up his toolkits around the area. When he was done, he beckoned Aswon over towards him.
"I want you to build a bomb. A big bomb. I was thinking, we can build an electromagnet on it, and a radio detonator. Then we dig a hole outside, and plant the bomb. When their craft goes over, first of all we trigger the first stage, and it attaches to their hull. Then, when they are far enough away we detonate the device, and take our revenge. Why are you looking at me like that?"
Aswon shook his head at Marius, for even asking that question.
"First of all, just how big a bomb do you think we'd need to take out that thing – it's massive. Secondly, I'm not sure I want to risk planting a bomb in the quarry in case something goes wrong with it. Thirdly – they already hate us. If we try and blow them up, and don't get them all – they're not ever going to stop hunting us down. I'm not sure this is a good idea at all…."
Marius pouted, and an obstinate look formed on his face. He slapped down a kilo of C4 on the workbench and held out some tools towards Aswon. Kai had drifted over and listened in on the conversation as well.
"How would you set it off? By sending it a signal, or would you have the signal being the thing that stopped it from exploding and just let them get out of range?" Marius immediately perked up at Kai's interest in the plan, and launched into a consideration of the two methods of controlling the detonation. Tads mentioned that they should make sure it didn't explode in the town either, as that would not only hurt too many civilians, but also garner too much official attention. Soon Marius was bogged down in complex planning based on radio signal analysis, traffic patterns and complex encryption methods, going into intricate details about how the explosion would be set off, while no actual work was being done on making the device itself.
"Well Marius, while you plot this out, I'm going to the rec area, I'll have a look at the craft on the way past and see if we can find anything else out. See if we can do some recon. Come on, Shimazu." Marius gave a choppy nod and continued working on some fast-fourier transforms, working out the maximum transmission ranges for his detonators based on the signal strength from his deck. Kai and Aswon's eyes met for a moment and Kai gave a tiny shake of his head. Aswon in returned gave a slow blink and a very subtle nod, then turned back to the table, ready to ask more questions to stall Marius on his quest for vengeance.
As Kai and Shimazu wandered past the entrance to pod 5, they glanced in and saw the huge hovercraft sitting quiet and apparently unattended. Nobody was visible in the pod, or on the craft at all – though it was certainly big enough they could all be below decks. They pushed on towards the rec-area, not wanting to provoke any trouble. As they got to the main tunnel, they saw the board had been updated with their new team name. There was also a new addition, in the number two slot – replacing the Zephyr crew was "Pennywise".
In the rec-area they found the new team relaxing with a beer. There were three of them, wearing formal suits, who all turned to look at them as they entered.
"Hi friend!" one said with a wide smile. Kai wandered over and introduced himself and Shimazu, mentioning that they were the 'New Fish'. In turn the speaker, a dark-haired elf introduced himself as 'Feely', along with his two team-mates. 'Spindle' was human, his hair shot through with silver but a pleasant look about him, and a baby-faced human with obvious cyber-eyes was introduced as "Double". Each of them wore an armoured suit, similar in style and cut to the ones Shimazu favoured when he needed to dress for the occasion – loose cut to conceal a pistol in a shoulder rig and with enough flexibility to permit a certain level of acrobatic prowess.
"Can I buy you guys dinner?" Kai offered.
"Thanks friend, that's nice of you. Want to join us?" Kai nodded, and after arranging for bowls of food and fresh drinks, they joined the Pennywise team at the table.
"I wish we'd been here earlier today. Apparently we missed an absolutely EPIC fight. Truly awesome stuff according to the foreman." Double spoke enthusiastically, waving his arms around to illustrate his point.
"It wasn't that epic," Kai responded.
"Are you kidding me? Certainly looked epic to me!" Double reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, then fired up his media app and replayed a saved clip. The quality wasn't that great with the uneven lighting and motion from the person filming – one of the maintenance guys judging from the camera angle. However it clearly showed the fight between Hunter and Ox, and from the occasional jerking around most of the Bogbuster crew as well as the team. When it reached the point with the punch, there was a collective 'oooh' from the three newcomers, who had clearly already seen the clip, but were enjoying the re-run in a morbid kind of way.
Kai and Shimazu shared a look of concern.
"Where did you see that?"
"Oh, the foreman had it on his phone, but he uploaded it to a fight site, lots of amateur stuff. But that one's gonna go viral, I bet. Wait until you see what happens after he takes the guy out – you'll never guess what he does!"
The sinking feeling grew stronger in their stomachs. This was probably not going to help them stay covert.
Back in the pod, Tads was just heading back to her lodge when she caught a flash of something fleeting in the astral. Curiosity piqued, she headed over towards the entrance and spent a minute looking around. Finally she spotted a spirit nestled into the wall of the cave, only the eyes showing proud of the rock surface.
"Hello?" she watched the spirit carefully, wondering what it would do. In response a tiny hand appeared and moved slowly towards where its mouth would be if it was human.
"Ssssssshhhhhhh. Watching." She studied it for a moment, but it seemed intent on what it was doing, and she detected no hostility from it. She wandered over to the smaller tunnel at the far end of the pod that led deeper into the hillside – and after a couple of minutes of careful examination, she found another one equally well hidden. It too didn't seem interested in talking. With a shrug, she headed back to the lodge to carry on working on Shimazu's sword. Hopefully they were the protection that Vishtar had arranged.
Kai and Shimazu returned a little while later, having learnt little more about the Bogbusters other than their reputation was poor with Pennywise, too – though they had nothing specific to say about them. They also bought back a bag of additional warding materials so they could re-start the ward in the recreation area.
"I had a bit of a chat with Vishtar as well, by the way, folks. I think it was sort of an apology, without being a direct thing. But he was saying that while the quarry accepts everyone that follows the rules, that does mean that sometimes you have to deal with people that aren't decent. I definitely get the impression that if it was up to him, they'd be out – but that would be bad for business probably. But anyway, we chatted a little bit about the arena, and it turns out that challenges like ours are pretty rare – mostly it's just a place to go have a bit of a ruck to let off steam, or settle pecking order. Never normally goes that far." Kai looked around, then pointed at Hunter.
"You're kinda famous now as well by the way. We checked on the underground fight matrix site that Double told us about, and you're already up at over a hundred thousand views, and climbing. And there's memes about you. So if there's someone you're hiding from, we may have some fun and games." Hunter paled slightly and cursed under his breath, then stomped off to go and clean his rifle. Tads went to follow him, but stopped at a signal from Kai. "Let him be for a while. We'll deal with it if it's a problem."
"Ok. I don't know what I was going to say to him anyway, I was just going to check he was ok. But seeing as you're back now – can I request that we not swap pods with that other team?"
"We weren't going to, so sure. But why?"
"I don't want to go anywhere a toxic or blood mage has been, thank you. They make everything icky." Kai smiled and nodded, reassuring her that they were not planning on moving at all. Kai then filled the rest of the team in on the new arrivals, describing Pennywise and the three members they'd met.
They spent the rest of the day in their pod, relaxing after the excitement of the day, keeping an eye on Nadia, and Aswon trying his best to build a very complex bomb out of spare parts – as slowly as he could. Certainly by the end of the day he had the beginnings of a very complex device that was massively over-engineered and also completely non-functional.
Early on Thursday morning the team roused for their morning jog – and noticed as they walked past the entrance to pod 5 that it was now empty. Clearly the Bogbusters had left in the night, slipping out remarkably quietly it seemed. Marius was enraged that they'd left before he was ready, while the rest of the team were incredibly relieved. They did their normal jog around the quarry, feeling a bit weird with hi-vis jackets and hard hats on, but determined to follow the rules.
After breakfast, the magical part of the team got to work in the rec-area, restarting the warding and working over their previous efforts. The others returned to the pod for a while, getting on with research and supervision of the work on the chopper. Marius spent some time looking into the construction and development of the hovercraft, finding out that it was a modified Zubr class LCAC – and importantly discovering that they were specifically designed to be able to function as mine-layers, and were practically immune to mines themselves due to active countermeasures.
Hunter meanwhile had taken Nadia out for another walk around the quarry, alternating between walking and running to help her build up her stamina. When they were on the far side of the quarry, Nadia signalled a stop after one of the run segments, pausing for breath until she'd recovered enough to talk. Hunter kept trying to get her to walk to keep her pulse up, but Nadia refused, making him wait until she had her breath back and could talk without issue.
"I have a question for you, Hunter. A serious question." Hunter examined her carefully, hearing the change in her voice. Her deep brown eyes seemed guarded, her facial features tight. He nodded for her to continue. "I have heard about the fight. I have seen the footage." She looked away for a moment, and swallowed. "But I need to know." Hunter waited, sensing that she was having issues with expressing herself on this subject.
"Did it feel good?" She spoke softly, and there was an edge of shame in her voice. She stared at him directly though, as if daring him to laugh at her. Instead he looked around until he could find a large enough boulder to sit on, motioning for her to relax.
"Yeah. Yes it did." He realised that there was more to it than this. So, he described what had happened, blow by blow. What Kai had said, what he had done. The mutilation. The humiliation. What Tads had seen of the other mage. He told her as much as he could remember, recall or replay from his internal cyberware systems – so it took a while. Through it all, Nadia listened without saying a word, listening to him describe what the team had done.
"You didn't have to do all that."
"Yes, we did. You're part of the team." He spoke flatly, and without inflexion, and on seeing the look on her face, shook his head at her. "It's not open for debate. You're part of the team. End of story." She looked back at him and nodded, then leant forwards and gave him a brief hug. He froze at the unusual show of affection and watched as she stood up then turned and started to walk briskly up the quarry track before breaking into a jog. "Guess talk time is over, then?" he muttered to himself. He pushed himself up from the boulder and loped off after her.
After the ward was done, Kai and Shimazu went to pod one again while Aswon and Tads returned to their own pod. Kai called out from the entrance and was told to enter by Stripes. All three of the Mondrian crew were waiting by the side of the craft, relaxing in deck chairs with drinks and a plate of nibbles. Noodles motioned for them to help themselves from the selection of food and drink on offer, then to pull up a stool.
They chatted for a while, discussing the fight the previous day. Gemini expressed her satisfaction at Hunter's performance, acting like there was some kind of personal stake involved. Stripes however was somewhat more cautionary.
"You need to watch that one, Kai. Gorbichek used to work in the KGB, and he still has lots of contacts that he does business for. It's how he managed to get the Bogbuster stricken off the list and disposed of in the first place. The man is a mean, vicious piece of slime, and you destroyed his reputation in front of his men. I'm not sure how his position is now – there's a man who rules with an iron fist. But he's almost certainly got you right at the top of his shit list."
Kai nodded, and made a note of his name – at least they could do some research on him now and make sure they knew who they were facing and what they could do about it. Checking the time, Kai announced that they needed to head back to the pod to check in with the others, and true to form, Noodles insisted they take something with them – "for the road". Piling up supplies on a disposable platter, she asked Shimazu what he would like.
"I don't suppose you have any Sake do you?"
"SAKE? WHAT IS THAT?" Shimazu stared at Noodles, somewhat amazed.
"Um, it's a rice wine, well normally it is, it can actually be several things. But yes, a rice wine, best served gently warmed."
"WARMED EH? OH! HOW ABOUT THIS?" With a click of the fingers, a cup was filled with a deep red liquid giving off a fruity smell. Shimazu tried some, then made an appreciative noise and took a deeper swig.
"That's nice – what is this?"
"MULLED WINE. HAD SOME AT A HUNTING LODGE IN SCOTLAND A WHILE BACK. NICE IN THE WINTER, YES?"
"Yes indeed, that's very nice, thank you. I strongly recommend you try some Sake then – it's a clear alcohol so a little like alcohol from fermented grains, but it's more about the taste than the smell. There's hundreds of different taste sensations, based on the grade, the brewing process, which mountain stream the water has come from, all manner of things." He realised that Noodles was staring at him intently.
"WE MUST FIND SOME OF THIS SAKE TO TASTE AND EXPERIENCE. DO WE NEED TO GO TO JAPAN? STRIPES? CAN WE GO TO JAPAN? WHERE DO YOUR PEOPLE HANG OUT?" Shimazu almost made a rude comment at 'your people' having been subject to casual racism in so many walks of life – but realised that Noodles really didn't mean it – she looked far too excited. He decided to respond in kind.
"Karaoke bars, normally."
Kai intervened, grabbing the food and guiding them both towards the exit while Noodles turned on Stripes full force wanting to know information on where the closest Japanese Karaoke bar was. As they headed over to the exit, Gemini fell into pace with them
"Listen, Gemini – thank you. I, that is we, really appreciate what you did. You didn't have to get involved."
"Yes I did." Kai paused – there was something in her voice, some quirk of personality or trait of character here, and he felt like he could say something that could make or break the relationship between them if he wasn't careful. Instead he just repeated his thanks again.
"Kai – before you go. Just make sure you mage really understands. One free shot is all she gets. I mean it." Kai nodded again, keeping the smile off his face, before turning and heading back. On the way back, he asked Shimazu what he thought that was about, and Shimazu explained about how Tads had been assensing her, trying to determine the truthfulness of her statements about what had gone on in the tunnels.
Thursday night passed uneventfully, with the team getting food and a few drinks, but mostly keeping to themselves, before starting their next day of warding in the main area of the base. Marius and the mechanical crew were on the home stretch, finishing the modifications to the chopper and starting to button the craft back up. Marius had been checking on their work, finding it all to be of good quality – but in turn the detailed examination of the chopper had revealed some areas that displayed significant signs of age and metal fatigue, which he'd have to keep an eye on.
Hunter did some research on the KGB and Ivan's links to them, finding out some general background information but nothing of any major significance – it looked like all the juicy stuff was stored on secure hosts, and that would require a full on matrix hack to get at – certainly not something he wanted to try over a somewhat flaky wireless signal from the quarry.
As they settled down on Friday evening, Tads found an opportunity to have a quiet word with Nadia while she was taking her turn clearing away after the evening drinks, trying to chat to her 'woman to woman'. Nadia was a little hesitant talking with Tads still – after all, she was a witch, but realised what she was doing. After a few minutes of Tads skirting around the issue, Nadia stopped and just told her directly. Her voice wobbled a little as she described how she felt about the assault – knowing now how close she'd come, and how lucky she'd been. Her eyes flashed open again though, and she talked about the fight – clearly having seen the footage as well. She made it very clear to Tads that she was "ok" – after all, she was part of the team.
"I know you all stood up for me. That you were ready to fight for me, even though it would bring trouble. Marius, I knew would fight for me. But the rest of you? You owe me nothing. You all save me from my uncle. Now you save me from this. So, I like you all. Even you, who are a witch." She smiled a little as she said the last, making sure there was no sting in her words, as she grabbed some disposable towels to dry out their eating bowls. Tads felt that unless someone wanted to take her to see a proper counsellor that she was probably as good as she was going to get.
On the Saturday the team started early, with the mundanes working to get the craft double checked and the supplies packed and put away neatly, while the awakened went off to put up the last ward over the main entranceway, using up the last of the materials given to them by Vishtar. They had to pause twice during the day as new craft arrived, clearing the entrance way to allow the smuggler craft to enter.
The first, arriving around midday was a large box van that had been heavily modified – it had large armour glass panels set into the side, and was carrying four caskets, surrounded by flowers. Two of the caskets sat on a second level, above the bottom two, making a weird multi-occupancy hearse.
The second craft landed mid-afternoon, and was towed in rather than driving in like the first. It was a sleek-looking jet with tilting nozzles and swept back wings – looking like a hybrid between a fighter jet and a transport. The surface of the craft was a futuristic-looking silver when looked at from one direction, but rippled with iridescent flames when looked at from another. Both headed into pods, the hearse-van into pod three replacing the Half-Pint, and the chromed jet into pod four, replacing Rocket and his truck.
Hunter had finished his work by mid-afternoon and headed down to see the magical part of the team, watching them as they crawled over the floor of the cave working on the incredibly precise inscriptions before covering them with a thick layer of quick drying varnish and sealant to protect them. He watched for a few minutes, but it still made no sense to him, so he started to wander off towards the rec-area, when he saw a heavy-set human walking towards him. The man stopped and looked at him carefully, then slowly started to walk towards him, pulling out his phone as he did so, comparing Hunter to something on the screen.
Hunter paused, looking at him suspiciously and felt his combat senses tingle – the guy was definitely giving him a look. The phone was put away suddenly and the human approached him at speed. He was of average height but broad-chested, brown curly hair with a receding hairline pegging him as late thirties or perhaps early forties. He wore jeans and a check shirt, with no obvious signs of weapons about his person, though even from here Hunter could spot his cyber eyes and a datajack on the side of his head. He continued to close, and just as Hunter was ready to kick into combat, the man spread his arms wide and a broad grin broke across his face.
"It IS you. I thought it was. Dude! That was AWESOME!" He moved in, enveloping Hunter in a hug far too friendly for someone he'd never met. The guy squeezed once, revealing a fair bit of strength and making Hunter add cyber-enhanced musculature to his list of probably implants, before releasing and stepping back. "I just want you to know that it was one of the most enjoyable things I've watched this year. Brutal – and what you did with his cock – amazing."
He pulled out his PDA and pressed play, showing the clip to Hunter, and freezing it at the point where Ox had hit the ground, dazed and insensible.
"Now this bit – this is the bit I like most. Where I can, I always try and make sure you get a good tea-bagging in to really rub things home. Let them know they've been well and truly ganked…." He burbled away, discussing the numerous methods of humiliation he favoured to his fallen foes, before seguing into different techniques of taunting his foes and making them angry, while Hunter stood listening, slightly confused and wondering just who the hell he was.
His question was answered when two more people wandered down the passageway towards them. On the left was a tall bear of a man, bearded and wearing a classical black suit and white shirt. On the right was a shorter figure, a female with bright red hair and green glowing cyber eyes. She wore a set of coveralls, like a paramedic – but underneath and clearly visible through the open front of the jumpsuit was a woolly jumper with pictures of cats playing with a ball of yarn as the pattern.
"Gank?" The voice was deep, but pleasant, rolling towards them. "Are you bothering the nice man?"
"Not at all Doc. This is the guy from that clip. Mr Punchy!"
"I see. You were supposed to be checking the board and then meeting us in the rec-area. But I see you got distracted, huh?"
"Well I can't pass up a meeting like this!"
"Have you even introduced yourself?"
"Well, um. No. Hey, hi there. I'm Gank, and this is Doc, and Kitten. Repatriation Inc."
"Hunter. The New Fish".
"Ahh cool – what's your mode?"
"My mode?"
"He means, what do you do? We provide repatriation services, for poor unfortunates that have died overseas, and need to be bought home to where their loved ones can say goodbye and lay them to rest with dignity and respect. And the fact that customs agents and border patrol officers normally don't check caskets too hard and disturb the dead, certainly doesn't make it easy to bring materials across otherwise closed borders." He grinned at Hunter.
"Oh, I see. Well, Kai's our boss, and we had a truck, an army truck – but we've just upgraded to a chopper – big cargo bird. We just move things around, here and there."
"Well, perhaps we can have a beer later then, and talk about here, and there, and I can share some stories with you." Hunter nodded, wondering if it was a good idea to let Kai talk to these people. He had the Doc guy pegged as being from one of the Scandinavian countries based on his accent, while he couldn't place Gank at all – his accent was a real mish-mash. Kitten had yet to speak, seeming a little shy.
They moved down to check the status board, then headed back to the rec-area, nodding as they went past him again, before they disappeared into the tunnels ahead of him. Hunter headed back to the pod, giving Marius and Nadia a heads up about the two craft that had arrived, and his meeting with one of the teams, before heading back to the warding crew, where he waited for them to finish and relayed the same information.
They headed to the rec-area for a quick drink, wondering if they were going to see either of the teams, but it was empty apart from the cook, who was slumped in his chair quietly dozing. He roused just long enough to take some money for a few drinks, then seeing that nobody wanted food, settled back down to get some more sleep.
The team had their drinks, working out the kinks from the shoulders and backs and relaxing after the eight hour marathon of painting and inscribing required to put up the ward. They were all tired after the efforts of the day, and even Aswon looked like he was ready for a nap to recuperate. Just as they finished the last of their drinks, they heard footsteps approaching – weird footsteps. A strange clattering that bounced off the cave walls, echoing into the cavern. Turning in the direction of the entrance, they all saw the red skinned oni walk into the room then stop, striking a pose. The oni, a particular variant of ork only found on the Japanese mainland was dressed in a tuxedo of all things, holding a black cane with a large silver skull moulded onto the end. His features appeared to have been bio-sculpted – certainly the horns he sported were more common to trolls than orks, and as he spun on the spot, they saw a long thin black tail that twitched and writhed sinuously behind him. He finished the spin, and then froze in place for a second, as if he was being photographed for some fashion production, then sashayed across the floor further into the room.
Behind him entered a centaur that appeared to be wearing armour over his body – but as it stepped further into the light it appeared to be not actually a centaur, but a cybernetic horse body that was a replacement for everything below the ribs of a human. Or maybe it was a centaur that had external dermal plating fitted as permanent armour – it was hard to be sure.
The figure that walked in behind this pair looked positively normal, wearing a dark jumpsuit and a crash helmet with the mirrored visor down. They immediately moved to one of the sets of tables and chairs, and sat down neatly in the corner, bolt upright and waited, hands loosely clasped in front of them.
The last person to enter the team was a tall slender figure with raven hair that flowed down to her waist, pale skin and ruby red lips. She wore a simple black dress that was slit up one side, highlighting her pale and very long legs. She walked across the floor with her hips swaying, following the centaur and oni. As she walked, behind them, she glanced over to the team, revealing a set of beautiful indigo eyes.
Shimazu raised his bottle to his lips as cover and murmured to the team.
"That's a spirit," he wiped his lips and then looked around the room, deliberately not looking at her.
The oni reached the middle of the room, and did another of his little spins, then struck a pose, glancing down at his nails, while the centaur stood waiting behind him. The spirit moved to his side, then lowered her head demurely, glancing up at them through her eyelashes.
With an effort, Kai broke eye contact with her too, then stood up.
"Hi there, sorry, don't mean to be rude. But we were just leaving, got to get ready to ship out." Without pausing, he headed for the door, with the team trailing after him.
Behind them, the oni pouted.
"Do be a dear and fetch me a drink." He sighed heavily, then went to sit next to the figure in the crash helmet, with the centaur moving to stand behind him, while the slender woman went to fetch drinks. Tads was the last one out, and could have sworn that the woman or spirit hissed at her quietly as she left.
Back at the pod, the team made final preparations to leave, and begin their journey to war-torn Yakut.