Chapter 33
Garden of Minos
Jinx carefully packed the urns into her backpack and they left the ship. Outside, she tried to orientate herself to the direction she'd fled in, getting Deathtrap to help as best he could and they headed out.
It didn't take long for them to find signs of a fight, which let them know they were on the right trail. They went down, following the trail and before long they found the destroyed remains of her pack. They stopped for a moment for her to go through the wreckage, seeing if anything was salvageable, but most of the clothes had been torn apart and the canteens and food were broken or exposed to the air. Still, she managed to find one of her tool kits, most of which were specific to fixing cybernetics, which was a relief to both of them.
They continued on, which was when they found the blood, which made Gaige try and say something, but she gave up when nothing came out, after all, what more could she say. Still, it only made her feel worse about what had happened between them.
Gaige also marveled at how far the other girl had run. She herself had been chased by the Orochi, even if it was only a little ways, so she knew how fast the thing could catch up, but despite that, Artemis had managed to dodge it all the way to the wall, and not just that, but managed to get away, though the blood was enough to tell her that it wasn't without cost.
Jinx didn't let the blood disturb her, she'd been expecting it, though she was amazed at how much of it was splashed around. She couldn't figure out how she'd managed to keep going, especially with that much blood lost, but it at least helped keep them on her trail.
They quickly found themselves in front of the wall, the blades of which were bent out a bit and stained in blood. They looked at it, and tried to see through it as they looked down, trying to find the point that Jinx had landed at, but they couldn't make it out from where they were.
"So, uh, how do we get through?" Gaige ventured while looking at the wall. She thought that it was a valid question, especially since they'd relied on Deathtrap to toss them over on the way in, and where they were was a long way from the top.
"We jump." Came the terse reply. Jinx thought it was obvious, after all, that was how she'd gotten out the last time.
"Urgurru" Deathtrap said, interjecting himself into the debate, causing both of the girls to look at him and then back at the wall.
"Yeah." Jinx said eventually as she tightened the straps on her pack "That probably's the safest. I'll go first."
With that she hopped into Deathtrap's waiting hands and grabbed his shoulder as he carted her over to the gap in the wall and then once he'd braced himself, she jumped through the gap as he pushed her forward. She landed safely on the other side and turned back to give Deathtrap a thumbs up.
It wasn't long before Gaige landed next to her and turned around to see Deathtrap pick the stack of bundles that he'd been carrying up again as she called back "Wait, what about you?"
"Urgurr" He replied, motioning up with one hand.
"All the way?"
He just shrugged in response and nodded to the opening between the blades. The girls looked at it and then back to him, both of them realizing that he was right, he would barely fit even without the stack of trophies so he would have to go over the top no matter what.
"We'll be waiting here for you."
"Urur" He replied "Urgurr"
"Fine, but don't take too long." Gaige replied.
"And don't get into too much trouble." Jinx added.
"Urggurg" And with that, he flew straight up as the girls watched.
"Well, let's get going." Jinx said looking down and without waiting for Gaige to reply, she stepped off the edge of the ship. Gaige shook her head, and after casting one last look at the retreating form of her robo-bestie, she followed.
They kept going down, trying to find where Jinx had landed and after a while, Gaige was starting to think that they'd missed it, when Jinx spotted a blood splatter a ways further down.
About the same time that they got to it, Deathtrap came floating down to join them, almost like he knew where they'd be.
"Well, this must be where I hit." Jinx said, examining the impact sight with a small wince "There isn't any immediate blood trail, which lines up with what Mentes said."
"Which was?"
"That he used the last of my Insti-health vials on me here, to stabilize me."
"Ah. So which way did he take you?"
"Huh? Oh, that way." Jinx said with a casual wave of her hand.
"And you know that how? Not that I doubt you, it's just that you were unconscious at the time, and you just said there was no blood trail to follow, so I'm just curious."
"Yeah, so, slight scuff mark here, this bit of blood got smeared when I got turned to be drug, which means that he had to turn me this way, plus there's a bit of shattered Whibbler shell that must've fallen outta my arm going that way. See? Right here."
"Oh yeah, totally woulda missed that myself. Well, lead on."
The three of them continued on across the deck of the ship at a slower pace, allowing Jinx to keep the trail until they came to the edge of the ship, where she stopped and pondered which way to go, eventually settling on jumping across and searching around a bit before coming back and stating to herself "Just as I thought, he musta went down."
Seeing Gaige's expression, she cut the other girl off and answered her question before she asked "The trial didn't indicate that he'd sped up, which he woulda had to do to get across, but I figured it would be easier to make sure now rather than possibly having to come back up later."
Gaige nodded "Makes sense, well, down we go."
Jinx stepped off the edge and landed a bit harder than she'd intended. "Hmm, gravity's increasing." She muttered to herself as Gaige landed next to her with a little stagger.
Jinx didn't say anything, but made her way a little ways back on the ship, turned back and jumped across to the next one, where she picked up the trail and followed it across that ship and onto the next, where she stopped in front of the hatch.
"It's this one." She declared "Or at least, he drug me inside."
"Good enough for me, lemme look at that door." Gaige said as the other girl stepped aside to let her see that the door was already busted in.
"Wait, is that how you knew it was this ship?"
"No, the trail does lead in, but that was what confirmed it for me."
Gaige groaned inwardly at her own uselessness, but still looked at the door for a second before muttering "Bandits. I'd recognize a buzz-ax strike anywhere."
"Yep. Well, let's go." She paused and turned to Deathtrap and said "Sorry buddy, but could I get you to watch our backs out here again?"
"Urru" Came the reply as he took position next to the door.
Jinx patted him on the arm before she turned and pushed the door open. Stepping inside, she ducked to the side and let her eyes adjust. Outside wasn't all that bright, but there was almost no light at all in the ship. She heard Gaige stumble over something and let out a curse.
After a few moments, when she could see well enough, Jinx started moving again, padding down the stairs and into the hall without a sound. Gaige knew well enough to let her lead, since she couldn't move anywhere near as quietly, so she waited a bit and then followed as quietly as she could.
It didn't take long for them to start having to step around piles of books that were strewn across the floor. Gaige couldn't figure out what kind of ship this must have been to have a virtual library piled up on it, but Jinx knew that she was on the right ship. Mentes had spent years collecting all of the books he could from the nearby ships, anything to pass the time, and that when the bandits had raided the ship, they'd trod all over the collection without a care for the knowledge stored within.
It didn't take them long to make their way through the ship, it wasn't all that big and most of the rooms were either filled with books, or were obviously for something else, like the small kitchen. Near the end of the ship, they found a small bedroom that Jinx recognized.
The smell in the room was unpleasant to say the least, the vomit on the floor was still there, as was the blood. The tangled sheets that had been pulled off the bed with her still stunk of sick and sweat and the food that had been left in the bowl next to her bed had been flipped onto the floor, where it had soaked into the books and carpet.
Gaige bit back a comment, seeing the state of disarray that the room was in told her that this had to be where Artemis had gotten beaten by the bandit and it wasn't like this Mentes fellow was going to come back and clean it up. She watched as the other girl gingerly stepped across the room before pulling the sheets off the bed and laying them on the floor.
Using them to avoid the worst of it, she knelt down and looked under the bed, spotting something she reached in as far as she could, only to have to lay down and wriggle her way under. Gaige tried not to watch and instead looked around the room, her eyes falling on a picture of a young man standing next to a pleasant, if rather plain looking woman who was holding a baby.
Right as she was thinking of getting a better look, she heard a muffled "Gotcha." from under the bed and turned to see the butt wriggling backwards.
"Need a hand?"
"No, I got thi...Yes."
Gaige smiled a little and stepped over, carefully gripping the other girls' feet and pulled her back. Jinx slid out from under the bed, her jacket flipped up over her head. Gaige let her roll over before offering her a hand, which she took.
As soon as she was back on her feet, Jinx let go of Gaige's hand and turned her attention to the toy in her other hand. With a soft, innocent look, she ran her fingers over the mane and muttered to it "Hey there, I've missed you." Before noticing that Gaige was conspicuously looking away.
Clearing her throat, Jinx could feel the heat coming off her cheeks as she hooked the equine to her belt loop, when suddenly she froze.
"Hey Mentes." She said without turning "You wanna put that pistol away?"
She turned slowly to the door, where the older man was aiming a pistol at least as old as he was at them. When he saw her face, he quickly lowered it, looking slightly abashed. He started to pull out a pad of paper when Jinx waved her hand and pointed to her ears. Mentes looked at her in horror and started to look around for another set of headphones, when Jinx motioned for him again and shook her head. Slowly Mentes stood up and stared at her, before reaching up and gently lifting one side of his own headphones and then, when he heard nothing, pulled them off completely while giving her a sad, but knowing look.
"You...cough...You...kill..ed...it...didn't...you?" He asked in a rough voice, as if each word pained him from unuse.
"Yeah. I know you didn't want me to, but I had to. Besides, you couldn't stay living here, not with the bandits knowing where you lived and being willing to raid it like that."
"I know...but still...I...didn't think...you could...do it."
"I couldn't, that's why I had help." She nodded to Gaige.
"Um, you gonna introduce us or what?" Gaige asked.
"Yeah, right, Mentes, Gaige, Gaige, Mentes."
"I hear you saved her, you have my thanks." Gaige said, trying to cover for the poor introduction.
"Couldn't leave her...there."
"Sure you could've, most people would've, but you didn't, you're a good guy." Gaige said, flashing him a warm smile.
"So, what're you gonna do now?" Jinx said, moving the conversation back to more important matters.
"Find a new...home...I guess."
"Why don't you go to the Den of Bears, or whatever it's called?" Gaige suggested "We're gonna be going there before too much longer and I'll bet they can find a place for you."
"Why would you...go there?"
"Cause we're getting outta here, and in order to do that, we need their help." Gaige said with a smile.
"Can't...be done."
"Sure it can. Just cause no one's succeeded before doesn't mean it's impossible."
"Do you...think everyone else just...sat around? No...they tried...and...failed."
"Yeah, but we know what we're up against."
"Again...with that." He said turning to Jinx.
"Well yeah." She replied "You told me yourself what was down there, we've both seen that before. Me and her I mean, so we know what we're dealing with, and if we know that, we can be prepared for it."
"Besides" Gaige added "It's not like we have much choice, we can't live here much longer and we're gonna need help, so if you don't believe us, then head to the Den of Bears, we'll be there in the next day or so, cause we need their help to do this, so we'll have to convince them, and with them, we can do this."
The old man just shook his head "A fools...dream."
"Better to chase a fools dream then waste your life chasing nothing." Gaige replied before turning to Jinx and adding "Come on, let's go, we've made Deathtrap wait for us long enough."
"You go, I'll be along in a moment."
Gaige shrugged and walked out. As soon as she heard the footsteps fade, Jinx turned to Mentes and said "I know you don't trust anyone, that you don't think it can be done, and you have good reason, but you didn't think that anyone could kill the Orochi, and now it's dead. You don't think that anyone can face what's all the way down either, but me and her, we already have, we've faced what's down there on other planets, with worse odds and no preparations. This time we know what we're facing. You saved my life, so I owe you this much, go to the Den of Bears, you'll be safer there then on your own, listen to our plan, if you still don't think we can do this, you can walk away, or you can stay behind. You can't stay here any longer and where else do you have to go? And not to hit too low, but this might be your last chance to see your son again. Isn't that worth the risk?"
With that, she turned and left the old man standing there alone.
She exited the ship to find the other two waiting for her.
"You all done?" Gaige asked.
"Yeah, oh shoot."
"What?"
"I shoulda asked him the best way to get back up."
"You wanna head back in?"
"Nah, I left him to ponder his future."
"I guess we either have to walk around till we find something, or have my babe here carry us up one at a time."
"Urgurr" Deathtrap said, setting the bundle of trophies down.
"Sorry about this." Jinx said to him, but he just shrugged in reply.
"So, who's first?"
"Why don't you go first." Gaige said "You've got better instincts, no that's not quite right, better sense of what's around you"
"Situational awareness?"
"Sure, we'll go with that. But like I was saying, you've got better senses, so you'll be better at picking up danger then I would, plus you can handle yourself better on your own then me."
Jinx arched an eyebrow as if questioning the statement, to which Gaige continued "It's true, without you two around I keep finding myself in over my head."
The other two shrugged and Deathtrap picked the smaller girl up, and after making sure that she was settled, took off flying upward.
It turned out that they needn't have worried, because even by the time that Deathtrap made his third trip up nothing had emerged.
With one last look around, they started following the wall around, hoping that they were going in the right direction.
As they walked in silence, Gaige kept stealing glances at Artemis. She knew that she had to say something, to start them on the path to recovering at least some semblance of what they'd had, but for the life of her, she couldn't think of a single thing to say, nothing that would help and anything that she could think of was more than likely to make things worse, so she kept stewing on it.
For her part, Jinx could feel the other girl's gaze on her, but chose to ignore it. She'd been hurt by what had been said, there was no forgetting that, no matter how much either of them wanted to, but more than anything, Gaige's outburst had reinforced what Jinx had already known, but chosen to ignore, some people were meant to be alone. There was no getting around that fact, and no matter how much she wanted to change things, that fact remained, so it was better if they didn't get any closer, that way, when this was all over, Gaige wouldn't feel any reason to stick around, which would be better for both of them in the long run. So, she trudged on in silence.
Deathtrap was getting sick of this. It wasn't the first time the two girls had been at odds with each other, but it was by far the worst and he feared it might be the last. He watched Gaige glance at the other girl, as if she wanted to say something, but each time she chickened out. He wished that he could tell her what to say, give her some advice, but even if he had some pearl of wisdom to share with her, which he didn't, it was her mistake to correct, so he couldn't have told her even if he had one. Still, he probably should tell her soon to just get on with it, say something, apologize again, or better yet, just talk to Artemis, do something, anything, before it was too late, and he knew that the end was coming.
The truth was that he didn't want to leave Artemis, he knew that if it came to it, he'd be sticking with Gaige, he was too loyal for anything else, even though she'd been in the wrong, but that didn't change the fact that he liked having the second girl around. More than anything, she brought a sense of balance to Gaige, someone else to call her out, to pull her back from her worst tenancies, he just wished that he could figure out a way to express that to them.
As they stewed in silence, they covered a surprising amount of ground and before any of them realized it, they were already at the next corner. Rounding it, they kept an eye out for any bandits and it wasn't long before Jinx spotted a ship that she recognized.
"I think this is the ship we hid on before."
"I don't think we've been in this one." Gaige said, examining it.
"Not inside." Jinx growled "Hid on. Under here, when those bandits with the rocket launcher were looking for us."
"Oh, could be."
"Easiest way to find out, buddy, you think you can take me up a level?" She asked, turning to the robot floating next to her.
He set the bundle down again and scooped her up, before flying her up to the top level. While he'd flown them as high as he could last time, the new layer of ships had started a little ways back, and now they were standing on top of it and could easily make out the blasted section of the deck where the rocket had gone off.
A minute later they were all on the same layer, headed back towards where the ship was parked.
As they got closer, Jinx slowed down and called them to a halt just in sight of the Hunter's Moon.
"What's up?" Gaige asked, desperately wanting to get back on the ship, if for no other reason than to take a shower.
"That ship's new." Jinx said softly, indicating the smaller ship that had been placed next to hers.
"Think that's Orion's?"
"Most likely. I never bothered to learn much about him."
"Think he's home?"
"Well, after we drove him off, that would be one of the primary places that he'd be likely to go, after all, when threatened, most creatures flee to familiar territory."
"How do you wanna play this?"
Jinx mulled it over and then with a sigh of disgust said "Hand me your sniper rifle."
Gaige almost made a snarky comment, but thought better of it and just handed the rifle over. Jinx took it without a word and brought the scope up to scan the ship.
After a tense few moments, she lowered it and said "I don't see him. Doesn't mean that he's not there, just that he'd be hiding if he is."
"Wouldn't that be expected?"
"Yeah, but only if you know where your prey's coming from. Otherwise, you need a blind all the way around."
"And you didn't see anything that looked like that?"
"Wouldn't be much of a blind if I could."
"OK, point, so how do you wanna play this?"
"We head straight for my ship."
"That's it?"
"Carefully."
"Oh, that's so much better." Gaige muttered, unable to hold it in any longer.
Luckily for her, Jinx chose to ignore the comment and headed out. Gaige quickly caught up and took the lead, playing the part of bait as she headed towards the ship. She made a tactical decision to get as close to the other ship as possible, trying to see anything out of the ordinary on it, but nothing stuck out, if there was a blind on the ship, it was either really well made, or built into the ship itself.
Behind her, Jinx was paying more attention to the ships around hers, an intelligent hunter wouldn't set up the blind on their own ship, but one a little ways away. But even as she racked her brains, trying to remember what they'd looked like the last time she'd been there, nothing seemed out of place, but then again, that had been about a week ago, so her memory wasn't spot on.
Still, nothing happened as they approached the ship, meaning that either Orion was waiting for them to drop their guard, or he wasn't there at all. She sincerely hoped it was the latter, since she didn't want to get into a gunfight at the moment, she just wanted to go home.
When she got to her ship, she found Gaige waiting. When she spotted her, the other girl muttered to her "Why is it that it's always so much worse when nothing happens?"
Jinx just shrugged and did one last look around before crouching down and opening up Shadowstar to remove the part she needed. She stepped up to the hatch and paused.
"What is it?"
"Someone tried to get in."
"Did they succeed?"
"I said tried, didn't I?"
"Think it was Orion?"
"Probably, any bandit would've tried bashing the door in afterwards, if they even tried to open it properly in the first place."
"Point. Still, good move disabling the door like that."
Jinx ignored her and got to work, it didn't take long and Gaige could tell that the other girl had done this often by how easily she reattached the part and in less than a minute, the hatch opened up and even though it felt much longer, for the first time in a week the girls went in.
Once they were inside, they immediately split up, Gaige set off to do a once over of the ship and make sure that no one had in fact made it on board, while Deathtrap took the load of trophies and deposited them in the hold, and after waiting for Gaige to finish her search, headed back out to get the rest of them. And Jinx carefully unpacked the urns and after securing them, set to work on repairing the damage to her cybernetics.
Having finished her sweep of the ship, Gaige unpacked the stuff she was carrying and after making sure that she couldn't help Artemis with anything, went and took a shower and then, after promising herself that it would just be a short nap, fell into bed and was out in seconds.
By the time that Deathtrap had brought the rest of the material from the Orochi back to the ship, Jinx was finished with the repairs on her limbs. She couldn't fix the anti-electric layer, but she had replaced them with her old armored plates, as well as fixed her blade.
With that done, she set about sorting the trophies, both from the Orochi as well as the weapons.
Since that didn't take her long, she decided to get changed back into something more comfortable and headed to the bedroom, where she found Gaige snoring softly. To her surprise, Jinx only felt a tiny twinge of annoyance about the girl sleeping in her bed, but decided that it wasn't worth waking her up over and instead, grabbed a change of clothes and headed into the shower herself.
Exiting, she stopped and was hit by a wave of exhaustion. She looked at the other girl, torn for a moment on whether she should wake her or just crawl in next to her and after giving in next to no thought muttered "She chose to sleep in my bed, this one's on her." and crawled in on her side and immediately let the exhaustion take her consciousness away.
Deathtrap floated in and watched the two of them sleeping for a moment, wishing that they could make up, before tucking them in and turning out the light.