Chapter 43
Garden of Minos
The girls looked over and found themselves staring at a familiar older man.
"Mentes?" Artemis asked in confusion "What're you doing here?"
"I followed...along. But...more to the point...why are you...not taking in...other options?"
"Wait, followed us?" Gaige said standing up and giving him a suspicious look "How'd you do that?"
"You all...drew the...uh, creatures? Away, so...I followed from...a distance."
"Huh. So, what're you doing here?"
"I followed along...wanted to...see, I guess...what was down here...so I entered...heard you two arguing...sorry to listen in, but I couldn't...figure out...why you were so...intent on dying."
"It's not like that." Artemis said with a sigh "Neither of us wants to die, but there isn't another option."
"Sure there is...why not go and...get someone else?"
"Cause by the time we found someone and discussed it, the Guardians would've resurrected. It's an annoying trait they have. Tannis said it was something about them not being alive properly or something. To be honest I didn't really pay that much attention when she talked. What? It was all science science science, I have no pants, science science whenever she talked. It was too much like being back in school, except she would often be trying to say all that stuff while we were being shot at, so I didn't really pay attention."
"Wait, what was that about pants?"
"Nothing, it wasn't always pants anyway, point being, we're on a timer here, so we need to get this done before the Guardians come back."
"Hmm...I see...that does limit you." Mentes said, putting his chin in his hand.
"So, you see, not really any other options."
"There is." Mentes said with a nod.
"Really? What'd we miss?"
"I will do it."
"Wait, what?" Gaige said spinning to face him completely.
"You can't do that." Artemis said "What about your son?"
"If he is still...alive, and still... thinks of me, I would be...surprised. He no doubt thinks...I am already...dead."
"Then isn't that all the more reason to get outta here?"
"But someone must...stay. I am old...you are not...it is not a hard...choice to make."
"But.."
"Should you really...be trying to...talk me out of this?" Mentes said with a soft smile. "Besides, I am...not the person you...think I am."
Before they could go any further a gunshot rang out and Mentes crumpled, falling sideways.
"She-oot, that guy talks so damn slow." A familiar voice rang out "And what's with him trying to be all noble and shit. Diss-gustin."
"Orion." Artemis growled as Gaige started forward to help Mentes.
"Ah-ah." Orion said tauntingly as he leveled his rifle at Gaige "Now now, we can't have that, now can we? After I went to the trouble of makin it so that he'll bleed out niiice and slooow. Give us more time to chat. You like that don't you little cheater, chattin I mean, but this time, well, there's no bars between us, and I'm armed, so we can have a right proper talk, unlike last time. I mean, do you have any idea how hard it was getting this all set up? Course you wouldn't, see after our last little talk, soon as you ran away, I get myself outta that cell lickity-split and waltzed on outta that place and who should I run into but some o-your bandit friends, so I thinks to myself, these idiots might be useful. And sure enough, that ol boy Stripe was mighty interested in where you was goin, interested enough in fact to go to his rival clan to get their help. An all I gots to do was follow them down, an let them deal with everything between me and you."
"So, what do'ya want?" Artemis growled out.
"Now now, that's not a nice tone to take. You should be more graceful, I mean, I know you've got a vo-cab-u-lar-y on you, so why not use them fancy words of yours to make me feel appreciated?"
"Why would I ever want to make you feel appreciated? And you want words from me? Alright, here you go. You. Are. Scum." Artemis replied flatly "That's all the words I need for you, you blithering idiot, if I actually used more words you wouldn't comprehend what I'm trying to impart upon you."
"I'm not an idiot!
"Of course you are, I mean, do you have any idea what you've done?"
"I've given us the chance to have a proper contest, one without interruptions or distractions. Just a contest of skill, hunter on hunter in a fight to the death."
"Didn't you listen to what I said earlier? Or are you really that dumb? I told you that the Montamore's wouldn't get the estate even if I die, so there's no point in this."
"What do I care about that? I never said that I was doin this for them old fools, I mean, who cares about that old dump."
"Wait, if that's not what this is about, then what the heck are you doing, following me around?"
"Now who's the idiot? I already told you, I wanna proper fight."
"Wait, so this has nothing to do with the Montamore's?"
"Bing-o. We have a winner. Though, to be fair, you could still say it has somethin to do with them, after all, it was the old man's little contest that started all this."
"And?"
"And? What?"
"Well, I was wondering what the contest had to do with anything. I mean, why was it so important to chase me all the way out here?"
"Cause if it hadn't been for you, I wouldn't have lost!"
"You came in third, you moron. Which means that you would've lost no matter what."
"No, it doesn't!"
"Yes, it does. And besides, that was a couple of years ago, so why now?"
"Cause I couldn't keep up with you. Every planet you went to I followed, but by the time I got there, you'd fled, like the scared little prey you are."
Artemis snorted "How could I be scared of you? I didn't even know you were following me."
"Some hunter you are." Orion snapped "This is exactly what I'm talking about. I'm better than you. I'm the best hunter. Me!"
Artemis just shrugged her shoulders "Says the man who couldn't keep up with his quarry."
Orion's face twitched uncontrollably as he tried to hold in his anger as he continued "Like I said, you ran. And then, after Tartaris, you went into hiding and I lost your trail. I'd nearly given up when I got a call from those fools."
"Uh, which fools are you talking about, cause I'm having trouble following this rambling mess of a story?"
"Shut it! The Montamores of course."
"Ah, of course."
The twitch was getting stronger but he managed to continue "They call me up and say they want me to finish you off, which I was going to do anyway, but they tell me where you were and had followed you to Eden 6. After that, I followed you here. All for this moment."
"I was right. You were working for the Montamores."
"No, I wasn't!"
"You just said that they asked you to do this."
"But I'm not doing this for them! This is for me! I'm the best! And I'm gonna prove it, right here, right now!"
"And if I say, no?"
"Then I kill this old bastard and then your friend there. Then you'll have to die to get out of this place. And even if I can't kill her, I still win, since one of you will have to die here anyway!"
Gaige leaned over and whispered "I think this guy's lost it."
"I don't think he had it to begin with."
"What are you two whispering about?" Orion shouted, pointing his rifle at Mentes "Try anything and he dies."
"I was just trying to convince her to take you up on that offer."
Artemis looked at Gaige for a second before looking back at Orion and sighing "How's this gonna go down?"
"I'm gonna kill you. Slowly."
"Uh, no thanks?"
"Yeah, that doesn't seem like a contest of skills to me either." Gaige added.
"No one asked you! You, you...who are you anyway?"
"That doesn't matter." Artemis said, drawing his attention back to her "What does, is how you want to play this."
"Fine, you want it to be skill? How about a standard duel? We move over here a bit and then we fight."
"Not much about that says 'hunter' to me." Artemis flatly stated, but when he pushed his rifle against Mentes's wound, she quickly added "But it's fine. We can do it this way."
"Knew you'd see things my way." He cackled.
Artemis drew her pistol slowly and popped open the cylinder, dumping the rounds into her hand and fishing out the unspent ones with a sigh.
"What's the matter? Out of bullets?" Orion asked with faux interest.
"No. Just down to two left."
"Oh. Maybe I should empty mine down as well, make it even." He paused before breaking into a hearty laugh, like he'd just told an incredibly amusing joke. Once he'd recovered, he straightened up and looked at her "Moron. As if I'd say that. Bein prepared is part of being a hunter after all."
Gaige was about to start forward when Artemis nodded "You're right, it is. Besides, two bullets is plenty to take you out."
Orion's face fell for a split second before he laughed again. "False bravado. How fitting for your end. Well, shall we then?"
"One thing." Artemis demanded, getting a raised eyebrow from her opponent as if telling her to continue "They'll stay out of this, so let them see to him."
Orion looked down at the wounded man at his feet, and then back at the girls before weighing his options. He must have known that if he didn't agree, they would all attack him immediately, so he nodded and circled away from Mentes, allowing Gaige to rush to his aid.
As soon as Gaige got there, she pulled out an Insti-Health vial and injected it. Seeing this, Artemis nodded and turned her full attention to the fight at hand, rolling her neck from side to side, still lamenting internally that she couldn't get it to crack dramatically.
Orion held his rifle loosely in front of him, angled down slightly, his eyes on her, gleaming with malicious intent. He seemed to be waiting for her to make the first move, confident that he could take the shot, even if she beat him at speed. His outline flickered slightly in the dim room, the only light coming from the shimmering portals and the glowing console.
Still, Artemis waited, hand resting on her pistol. Waiting as the droplet of sweat ran down the side of her face. Gaige held Mentes up as the medicine worked its way through his wound and they watched, no one daring to make a sound. They could all tell that Orion was getting annoyed, his front hand twitching slightly on the grip, but he was still patient, waiting to see what Artemis would do, after all, if she was waiting to tick him off and make him make a mistake, then all he had to do was wait patiently.
Finally she moved, drawing her pistol and firing. He dodged to the side as the gun came up. She fired again, her aim following him as he threw himself to the side as the second shot sliced through the air where he'd just been.
Straightening up, he let out a laugh "Seriously? You missed, at this range?"
As he brought his rifle up Artemis let out a dismissive snort "You failed as a hunter."
"How's that?" He sneered.
"A hunter needs to know their environment." She answered as her bullets exited their portals and slammed into his hands from both directions, knocking the rifle from his grip.
As he danced in a circle shaking his hands, Artemis drew the buzz-ax from her left hip and casually flipped it from her left hand, catching it with her right as she cocked her head.
Seeing the girl holding her ax, Orion quickly tried to draw his pistol. Seeing that, Artemis charged him. The pain in his hands caused Orion to not be able to draw as smoothly as he wanted, and by the time he'd managed to get it leveled, Artemis was able to catch the barrel with her left hand, twisting it out of the way and bringing the ax down on his arm.
He managed to twist his arm back, the ax cutting deeply into the muscles across the back of his arm, which while painful, was much better than having the tendons be cut. Roaring in pain he punched her in the face, sending her sprawling onto the ground and the pistol flying away, before kicking her, sending her rolling through the water.
Rather than chasing her, he fumbled to draw a Insti-Health vial and inject it. He flexed his fingers as the medicine worked on fixing his hands and arm.
While he shook some feeling back into his limbs, Artemis sat up, shaking her head to stop the ringing. She'd managed to twist with the hit as best she could, but he still had rung her bell. But she'd managed to keep her hand on the ax, so she pushed herself to her feet and gave it a spin to limber up her wrist before charging him.
He caught her arm as it came down and pulled it in while twisting, using the momentum to chuck her across the room. Artemis did a partial somersault in midair before splashing down.
Orion drew his own knife and started advancing as Artemis sat up, reminding Gaige of something out of a horror movie.
Not wanting to give his opponent an opening, Orion charged, thrusting the knife at her, forcing her to twist and back up to avoid getting stabbed. With his longer arms he was keeping the fight on his terms, driving her back across the room. A grin spread across his face as he continued forcing her back, occasionally nicking her with the tip, drawing blood.
He went to thrust again, but this time Artemis lunged forward instead of retreating, her left hand grabbing onto the blade and twisting, locking it. As Orion grunted in surprise and tried to tug the blade loose, the girl used her grip as a fulcrum to spin low, lashing out with her buzz-ax, slicing across the front of his leg, just above the knee, tearing through muscle all the way to the bone.
Orion staggered back, his leg buckling beneath him unable to straighten it with the severed muscle. He pushed his hand against it, forcing it straight and swung the knife recklessly to try and create an opening as his left hand dug out another Insti-Health vial.
Not about to let him do that again, Artemis dashed forward, bringing her buzz-ax around to catch the knife and thrusting her left hand forward, popping the blade within to shatter the vial.
As she continued to turn, the locked blades tore out of their hands and went splashing into the water a good ways away. Now unarmed, Orion limped as the smaller girl circled him.
"Not fair, me bein unarmed and you still havin a weapon. Why don't you just put that away and we'll settle this properly."
"Now now, being prepared is part of being a hunter, wasn't it?"
"Get in here and I'll choke you, you little condescending, cheating bitch." He roared while making swings at her.
She could see that he was using the swings as cover to try and draw another vial, so she decided to oblige him and darted in. Dropping to her knees, she slid through the water on her way under his arm and popping her Digi-blade slashed through the front of his other leg, the shock of which caused him to drop the vial.
Finishing her slide, she spun to her feet and gave him a kick in the back, sending him falling uncontrollably forward. His hands hit the water and shot out from under him, sending a wave out.
He tried to push himself up, but as he did so, Artemis danced forward and sliced him across the back of the arm, severing muscles and sending him splashing back down. Before he could recover, she repeated the same cut on the other arm and then dropped herself onto his back.
Sitting there, she casually pushed his face under the shallow water as he flailed and thrashed, trying to get up without any ability to succeed.
As his panic grew, Gaige shouted out "Just finish him already."
Artemis looked over at her with a bored expression, but popped her blade into the back of his head, killing him instantly.
Standing she walked over to where her buzz-ax had landed and fished around for it while calling out "So, how's he doing?"
"He's dead."
"Wait, what? Weren't you helping him?"
"Wait, which he are you talking about?"
"Mentes. Which one where you?"
"Orion."
"Why would I be asking about him? I mean, I literally just killed him."
"I know, that's why I thought it was weird."
"So, how's he doing? Mentes I mean."
"I will live." Came the reply "Though I do not think...for long...given the...circumstances."
Artemis came over to where they were, having finally fished her ax out of the water. Gaige looked at her with concern written on her face and asked "You alright?"
"Sure, why?"
"Cause you were kinda going full psycho there at the end."
"What? You didn't think that he deserved that?"
"No one deserves to go that way. Well, maybe a few people, but it's still pretty nasty."
Artemis rolled her eyes and Gaige decided to change topics by asking "Still, you not gonna go get his rifle? Seemed pretty good."
"I want nothing of his. You want it, feel free to grab it."
"Eh, maybe later, right now we need to talk." She said, turning back to where Mentes was sitting.
"I see nothing...to talk about. Nothing...has changed."
"But why would you do this?" Gaige asked "Surly you also have something to go back to. I'm pretty sure you were talking about a family not that long ago."
He nodded "I might have...family left...I might not...I do not know. But they will have...moved on. And I have not done...good in my life. I am not...a good man."
"You were the pirate crew, weren't you?" Artemis casually said. When Mentes turned to her in shock she continued "What, I knew from the get go. Some of the things you said made it obvious that you weren't a Jakobs man."
"I did not mean to...lie. Not at first...but I didn't think that...others would welcome me...if they knew the truth. So, I lied...told them I was...from the other ship. No one else...survived to...counter me, so I kept saying it."
"Doesn't matter." Artemis said with a shrug.
"Of course it...matters." Mentes angrily declared "I was a...bad man. I did bad...things."
"Really? Cause you don't seem like the kind. Are you just saying that to try and make this easier on us if we let you do this?" Gaige asked.
"Why do both of you...seem so intent...on talking me out...of this?"
"We don't want anyone to die." Artemis said.
"I was always going to...die here, this just makes it...worth something."
The girls looked at each other, looking like they were going to continue arguing so Deathtrap intervened with a "Ugrrgurr"
Everyone looked at him and after a moment, the girls slumped.
"Fine, we'll let you have your moment." Gaige said before explaining how the device worked.
"Just make sure to give us as much time as you can before you press the buttons. But don't wait too long, or else the Guardian will be back."
Mentes nodded and grabbed onto the console as Deathtrap grabbed a girl in each arm and after making sure they were secure gave the old man a nod.
"Anything you want us to tell anyone?" Gaige asked.
"No. If my family is...alive, let them remember...how I was."
"But don't you want them to know that you died a hero?"
"They never knew...about what I really...was. This is...fine, just another...soul lost to the void."
Seeing them try and say something else he smiled and continued "Go. Now. Don't...delay any...longer." Then as if it was an afterthought "I am glad...I saved you."
Artemis bit back her tears and nodded as Deathtrap flew up the tunnel and out through the portal.
Mentes watched them go. He was truly happy to be doing something right for once in his life. For all these years he'd just hid. Even back when he had joined the pirate crew, it hadn't been for the riches, or the fame, but because he was too scared to tell them no, so he hadn't been all that sad to see them die. But then he'd spent the rest of his time here afraid that someone would find out who he really was, not that he was a pirate, there were plenty of others that had similar backgrounds. No, what he was afraid of was that they would find out that he was a coward who'd just let his crew die, so he'd hid.
He had no idea why he'd really rescued the girl, he just knew when he saw her that he couldn't leave her there. It wasn't that he'd thought that she might be a kindred spirit, despite the fact that it was clear that she'd fled the creature's home, he could see that she'd fought it and managed to get away. Nor was it just loneliness. If it had been that, he would've long since went to one of the camps.
No, it was a mystery even to himself. But he was glad that he had. He wasn't afraid of death, or rather, he was probably less afraid than most people, the benefit of having spent decades living in the creature's shadow. Over the years, in the unending grind of days spent searching for food and books and then eating and reading he had lost himself somewhere along the way and it was only now that he realized that he wasn't afraid of dying, he'd been afraid of it not meaning anything. That all that time wouldn't amount to anything. But now he was here, and his journey was at its end.
And to be honest, he was glad. He was tired. So, if this was it, he was good with that.
He had no watch, no way to tell how long it had been since the girls and their robot had left but when the hairs on the back of his neck stood up, something he'd learned meant imminent danger, he pushed the buttons.
The room started to shake and dust and debris fell around him, but he didn't let go. The longer he held, the worse the shaking got, till he had to hold on to keep his footing, but his hands never slipped. It was almost like they couldn't, like they were being held in place by some other force.
The gauge in front of him filled to the top and suddenly vanished, along with the shaking. For a split second he thought that he'd failed, that this wasn't the self-destruct that the girls had thought it was. But then the glowing in front of him started to rapidly flash shots of far-flung planets in front of him as the chamber turned white.
He saw them as they flashed by.
A city bustling below.
A psycho chasing a person across a deserted stretch of nowhere.
A temple overgrown by jungle.
An imperious woman shouting in front of a factory floor of robots.
An old man hooked up to an array of machines.
An empty void of space.
A person disintegrating as a girl screamed in fear.
A woman wreathed in fire, who looked straight at him.
And then a family gathered. A man holding a glass in one hand, a baby in the chair next to him being tended to by a woman a bit younger than him. And a picture sitting on the mantel.
In slow motion he saw them lift their glasses to the picture of a young man, grinning wildly next to an exasperated woman as she held a baby.
He couldn't hear anything, but they silently mouthed out 'Happy Birthday Dad.' and Mentes thought to himself as everything around him vanished 'Ah, that's right, today was my birthday.'
And then he was gone.