Chapter 36
Garden of Minos, The Bear's Den
They dashed after Alec as she left the holding area, quickly joining the others in the guard room and Gaige asked "What happened?"
"Don't know yet, but it's probably an attack." Alezander replied as the girls grabbed their gear and followed him out. They quickly joined others heading to the wall around the ships, where they found a large number of people gathered near the base, including a few familiar faces.
"What happened?" Gaige asked Nikko as they neared him.
"Bandits, I think." He replied even as they pushed past.
"Out of my way." Alec demanded, pushing her way through the crowd. The others followed through the opening that she created and they soon were dashing up the stairs to look over the wall.
What they found made the siblings pale. A number of ships away a mass of bandits and psychos were gathered, each one dressed similar to the ones the girls had fought when they'd rescued Alezander. In the middle of the group was a massive frame that was wearing armor across most of it, but on its back was carrying something that Gaige couldn't make out.
"Is that what's his name?" Jinx asked massaging her temples like she could work the answer loose "McStripe or whatever?"
"McStumpy? I donno, I can't see him." Alezander replied, squinting at the mob.
Gaige pulled a scope out of her pack and lined up on the mass of bodies, taking in the details of them, the orange-brown of their armor plates on the ones that were wearing any, the stripes of blood and other things marking their bodies, the way the massive person was wearing a mask with horns on it. But then she spotted the figure on its back, it almost looked like he was standing in a metal basket, but even at the distance, she could tell by the way he moved that he was built like a Tink and that he had a peg-leg.
"I'd say yes." She said, taking in the rest of him, not that it took long, he was wearing spiked armor dotted with rust and wearing an oversized demon mask with a ridiculous white Mohawk towering over it. He was currently directing the troops, trying to hold them back till he gave the order to attack.
"How you wanna play this?" Jinx said, unslinging the sniper rifle and laying it across the edge of the wall "You want me to take him out? A pack without their Alpha is always easier to fight off, often they just break and run."
"That probably works for most animals, but those psychos are only being held back by him at the moment, so if he dies, they'd all attack."
"And?"
"And while we could easily take them, it'd be a waste of ammo, so let's try and not waste any, plus if they get close, someone from here might get injured and then negotiations would be harder."
"Fine, so what's the plan?"
"I'm gonna try and negotiate."
"You what? They're psychos, remember?"
"I know, but it's better to try and fail. Besides, if things go bad, you'll get to drive home the point on why they should flee."
"Alright."
Gaige paused and added "By which I mean, kill the guy who's carrying him."
"Ah, right." Jinx nodded and adjusted her aim down a touch.
Gaige looked to Alec, who shrugged and shook her head, like she couldn't wait to see this fail, but was going to give it a try, if for no other reason than to buy her side more time.
Looking back at the mob, Gaige cupped her hands and yelled "Any chance you could leave before you get hurt?"
The bandits stared at her for a moment in disbelief before laughing and their leader stood up as tall as he could and yelled back in an almost indecipherable accent "Oi, you, girly, ifin ye donna wan anywon ta ge hur ye should surenda naow."
Gaige blinked a few times as she tried to interpret what she'd just heard before giving up and turning to Jinx and asking "What?"
"I think he said something about if you don't want anyone to get hurt, we should surrender."
Gaige nodded and turned back "Not happening, but before you make us waste valuable ammo on you, I thought I'd give negotiations a chance, after all I heard that the leader of the Rust Devils was intelligent, though that might not be you. You are the one they call McStumpy aren't you?"
The Tink let out a blast of profanity, or at least Gaige thought that was what was happening considering the impenetrability of his accent but finally he called back "Gor blamit ye daft git da nam's nae McStumpa is Straip!"
"Did he just say Strap?" Gaige asked Jinx
"That's what I heard."
"Oi, did you just say your name was Strap?"
"Nay yea blammin cur, dig ta wax outta dem decoratons on de si o'ya 'ead, I dinna say me name was Straip, I say it wa Straip!"
"That made even less sense than the last time." Gaige muttered.
"You know, I'd complain about not being able to understand him, but I don't even think he understands himself. I mean, half of those words were made up and I'm not talking about how all words start that way, I'm meaning that he made them up on the spot."
"Yeah, though listening to him, his accent is a little familiar. I'm starting to think that he's more of an O'Stumpy rather than an McStumpy."
"You think that's what he's mad about?"
"Nah, I think he's just mad and not in just the angry kinda way."
"So, can I shoot yet?"
"One second." Gaige turned and yelled back "You sure you don't want to just pack it in and walk away?"
"Ye ca shoov yur wakin awa up yur"
"Yeah, you can shoot."
Jinx didn't reply, instead she squeezed the trigger of her rifle. The loud crack seemed to echo across the open space and before anyone could react, the massive man carrying McStumpy's head tore almost completely off as the bullet caught him in the throat.
His massive frame fell slowly to its knees, where it sat for a second, before tilting sideways and crashing noisily onto the deck, dumping the Tink out onto the ground.
He hobbled to his foot, giving them a good look at his peg-leg. He nudged the large frame and spun back at them screaming obscenities before settling down a bit to end with exactly how he'd fornicate with their body, living and dead.
"What did he just say?" Jinx asked, cocking her head as everyone else blushed slightly at the imagery that had been spouted.
"Nothing repeatable."
"So, he hasn't learned? Now can I kill him?"
"No." Gaige said before turning and yelling back at the Tink "Still have a chance to leave here intact."
His reply was a rude gesture followed by more screams of things he'd do to them. Gaige didn't take her eyes off of him, but said "Could you remove that ridiculous thing from his head? The Mohawk, not his face." She quickly clarified to the disappointed girl.
"Fine." Came the reply followed a second later by another crack of the rifle. The next instant the tall white Mohawk tore down the middle, sending white hair and a few bits of scalp flying as the Tink flew onto his back screeching in pain.
"Quit making me waste ammo and just walk away!" Gaige yelled at him, only to be met by another rude gesture. This time Jinx didn't wait for permission and her rifle fired again, tearing the middle finger off of the Tink's hand.
"Next one goes in an eye socket!" She yelled at him "So would you prefer right or left?"
The Tink leader was rolling on the ground holding his bloody hand and letting out noises somewhere between screams and sobs.
Gaige took a moment to glance at the other girl and whisper "Next time wait for my signal."
"I think this drove the point home better."
Gaige shook her head and turned back to see the Tink ordering a number of the troops to form up around him and carry him away as he unleashed the rest to attack.
"Should've let me shoot him." Jinx grumbled as she watched the defenders open fire on the few attackers.
"Odd" Gaige said watching the two dozen or so troops get taken apart "Why would he throw away troops? It doesn't make any sense."
"Well, probably to save face in front of the rest of them." Alezander said as the last of them fell.
"Well, that takes care of that." Alec said.
"Yep." Jinx said reloading "All that's left is the ones about to drop from up there."
Everyone followed her hand wave just in time to see a dozen psychos jump off of the ship above them, aiming to land inside the Den's wall.
Even as Alec yelled orders, Jinx drew her pistol and shot one of them while Gaige unleashed a clip from her assault rifle and Deathtrap flew under two of them, letting them fall through his Digi-claws.
Thanks to the heads up, the psychos barely touched the ground before they were wiped out. Still, there was a bit of a panic amongst the people on deck, not just cause psychos had made it inside the wall, but since they were attacked in such force in the first place.
The siblings quickly started calming them down as Deathtrap floated back over to the girls.
"So how do ya like it?" Gaige said, watching the siblings work.
"What?"
"Your sniper rifle. How do you like it? This was your first time using it, right? So, what d'ya think?"
"Well, it's got good stopping power, and a surprisingly flat trajectory, so the only real negative that I can say is that it weighs too much."
"Pistol seemed pretty good too."
"Eh, I mean it's fine, but I preferred my old one. Same for the rifle actually."
"Of course you do, you're always more comfortable with what you know."
"Is that why you had such a problem with me? Cause you didn't know?"
Gaige slowly looked at the other girl, who wasn't looking at her but at the gun in her hand.
"No. I had a problem because I'm a bitch."
"But I thought we were comfortable with each other." Came the almost too soft to hear reply.
Before Gaige could say anything, the siblings walked up and Alec said "We need to make a report to the Commandant."
"Alright, good luck with that?" Gaige replied a bit confused as to why she was being told.
"We thought that you would like to be there. You know, to try and convince him to help you."
Gaige blinked "Wait? You're on board with that?"
"Of course. You think we want to live here? To die here?" She asked, seemingly genuinely confused.
"Yeah." Alezander added "We want out, someplace where every moment isn't life or death."
"Well good luck finding a place like that no matter where you go." Jinx muttered.
Gaige ignored the snark coming from her side and said "Good to know. I think I've got an idea of how to convince the old timers."
They headed down the stairs only to see Gregor run back out, ashen faced.
"Now what." Artemis muttered.
He spotted them and ran over, puffing for breath as Alezander asked "What? Report."
"It's...It's the...prisoner."
"What about him? He didn't do anything to himself did he?"
"No, least I don't think so...it's, well...he's gone."
"What do you mean, gone?"
"He's gone."
"You just said that. You mean he's dead? Or that he's escaped?"
"Escaped. I got back down there to find the locker open and his stuff gone, so I went in to check on him, but his cell door was open, and he was gone."
"Wait." Alec said butting in "What do you mean, got back down there? Why were you away from your post?"
"Uh, the general alarm sounded and I just thought that I might be needed on deck?"
"Of all the incompetent...you never leave prisoner unguarded!" She spat in his face, causing him to flinch back.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's just I, well, thought we were under attack and..."
"And what? You think you turn it around yourself? It was under control. You had job, you stay at it." She was fuming so much that her accent was growing, even as Gregor was shrinking back.
Alezander stepped between them and said "Sorry but he's one of my troops, his disciplining falls to me, I understand you're mad, so am I, but this is not your place to chew him out. Follow the chain of command, remember." He then turned back to Gregor with a disappointed look on his face, even as his eyes brimmed with anger "As for you, report to Havlig and explain what you did wrong, tell him you're on disciplinary leave and that I've ordered you to be punished, he'll know where to send you."
Gregor shrank back, noticeably paling, but even so, he saluted and ran off, leaving the rest of them standing there.
Alezander just shook his head and turned to the girls "I apologize about that, it seems that that Orion fellow is back on the loose."
"Maybe he's returned to his ship, now that he knows that his job is useless." Gaige said.
"Maybe." Jinx replied "At any rate, let's hope so."
She started to take a step, when she paused and looked at Alezander and asked "What was he in the cell for anyway?"
"Huh? Oh right, he lied to us, so we threw him in there until we could figure out why. I mean, what was he planning and why'd he lie."
"How'd you know? That he was lying?"
"He said he was your fiance."
"And how'd you know he wasn't?"
"They asked me." Gaige said "When we were...separated, I called back here and Orion had apparently just left, but Alec asked me if you had a fiancee and considering things, I felt it was safe to say, no."
"But then how'd he get, uh, you know, captured or whatever?"
"He showed up yesterday, said he was still looking for you and wanted to know if we'd seen you, so we grabbed him and locked him up. As a preventative measure. Didn't think he'd be lying about something like that if he wasn't looking for you for some reason, and not a good one, so we thought that it would be safer if we knew where he was, at least until we could learn the truth."
"Well, it was a good plan." Gaige said, patting him on the shoulder.
"I am still wondering, why did he tell that lie?" Alec said, looking at the girls.
Jinx looked up at her and answered "We didn't get that outta him." She paused, mulling over whether to tell them the truth, when out of the corner of her eye she caught Gaige nodding, as if to tell her that it was all right, so she continued "But if I had to guess, this wasn't the first time we've met. He was hired to represent someone at a, uh, contest. He didn't win, I did. And he's either resentful of that, or more likely he's still on retainer for the person that he was representing there and they want me out of the way so they can claim the prize."
"And that would be this estate? What? You mention it when talking to him in cell." Alec said.
"Yeah, that's right. And like you heard, killing me won't get his employer what they want, so hopefully he'll drop it."
The siblings nodded, finally getting the rest of the picture, or at least enough of it that they could understand why Orion had acted and lied the way he had.
As they'd talked, they'd made their way to just down the hall from the Commandant's room, so they broke off the conversation and made their way the last little bit and knocked on the door.
"Enter." Came the stern bark from inside, so they made their way in, the girls getting met with a less than hospitable glare.
"Report." He demanded turning his attention to his kids "What was noise about?"
"Sir. The Rust Devils made a minor incursion against us." Alec said saluting "They were repelled with assistance from these three."
"Damage?"
"Minimal to none for us, they lost a few dozen, full count is being made as we speak."
"Anything to add?"
"Yes sir. It was led by McStump...sorry, Stripe himself."
"Is he among the deceased?"
"No sir, he got away, though his personal carrier was felled and he did take injury."
"I see. Good."
"One last thing." Alec continued, shooting a sideways glance at her brother.
He stepped forward and announced "Sir, the prisoner used the confusion of the attack to get away."
The Commandant looked at him hard for a moment before saying "That is troubling, is guard injured?"
"No sir. He is being punished for his oversight as we speak."
"Is no good, man was not violent when arrived, now, he may hold grudge."
"Sorry," Jinx said leaning forward "But you've got him pegged wrong. He's the kinda person that would stab you in the back while smiling. Probably more so since it'd hurt."
"And you think to speak to me, why?"
"Cause outta everyone here I've interacted with him the most."
"Ah yes, the fiancee."
"Never. No way, and ew." She spat.
"Yeah, that was a lie so that you'd trust him." Gaige added.
The Commandant looked at her for a second before turning back to Alec and asking "Why these two here?"
"They're here because you need to listen to them."
"Already did."
"Yeah, but things've changed since then." Gaige said in a no-nonsense way "Last time we spoke, we talked about how the Rust Devils were getting bolder, now they've just attacked your doorstep. And next time, they're not gonna be coming with a scouting party."
"We can defend."
"Once, maybe even twice, but what happens when the Bloody Gear join in? Or if the Devils get serious? You can't hold them off, this place is too accessible, heck, this time they made it inside and things woulda been a lot worse if she hadn't warned us about it." She gestured to Jinx.
"What this about?"
"They used the upper levels to drop into our base." Alec said "And she warned us about them in time for us to minimize the damage."
"And how she know?"
"She heard them." Jinx replied.
"The point is" Gaige said, cutting off the increasing nastiness "They've already figured out how to breach your defenses, next time they'll probably just come full force that way. And before you tell me that you'll drive them back, let me ask you this, how many people have been added to your ranks in the last ten years? I mean from outside of here, like from other settlements and ships?"
"Off top of head, do not know."
"Twenty-six." Alec replied.
"And you aren't including us?"
"Correct."
"And how many births in the same period?"
"Seven."
"And how many survived?"
"All seven."
"Well, that's good. But you see, in ten years, only thirty-three people have been added to your base, and how many have died?"
"Fifty-four." Alezander replied this time.
"Fifty-four. So, a net loss of twenty-one. You see, you can't keep this up. You're dying faster than you can replenish. And why were there only seven births in ten years? Not enough women? Or is it more that most of the people here can't bring themselves to bring a new life into this place? Either way, you can't stay here any longer, we all need to get out, and to do that I need your help."
"We can survive here."
"Haven't you been listening? No, you can't. The bandits are going to overrun this place, and then it'll all be over. And just for the sake of argument, let's say that you can defend this place, then what? You live out the rest of your life a prisoner here? That might be fine with you, but what about your kids? Do you seriously want them to die here? Never having seen what's out there? Never having a chance to find someone to fall in love with? To have kids of their own? Do you really want them to have to choose from the luck of the draw to see what arrives?"
"Out there is nothing, only pain, only death!" The old man shouted, raising up from his desk "Out there, war, corporations, tyrants. We hear in here, we hear about the wars and killing, the people getting trodden upon, the corporations and their wars and planets. But here, here we have peace. Here we have none of that."
"No, you don't, you have bandits and tyrants all of your own."
"OUT!" He shouted nearly falling across his desk as he gesticulated wildly "OUT!"
Gaige looked at him with pity "You may be happy playing war here, but soon, you need to realize that that's all you're doing. Playing. And with your follower's lives."
With that, she turned and walked out.