Chapter 23: Little victories but have you won the war?

Payne was pleased. Who wouldn't be? Everything had gone off without a hitch, and the beauty of it all was that everyone was so unsuspecting of his people, both the empire and the republic blaming the stupid supporters…who were, in fact, back at the mansion. Leaving him, Payne, to play merry hell with everyone's lives.

"Khem." He said through the link of his Zoid to his lieutenant. "Report."

"They fell for it, sir. The Guardian Force has just about left the base unattended, and Rhyss had already slipped in to find Lynette…we can't seem to locate the Rare Hertz, though. We also lost contact with Rhyss herself…and Ina."

"Ina is gone?"

"We can't find her…Sir…there…"

There was a drop in air pressure and the ground shook. "I felt that. What the hell was that?!"

"A charged particle beam, sir." Khem's eyes were wide, his skin pale. "…There are no Zoids in the Guardian Force capable of that…and only one in ours that can perform that attack…"

"Hiltz…bringing out the heavy artillery, I see." That boy was strange. Very strange.

"I don't think you understand. We lost contact with him soon after the attack started, and one of our spies spotted the DarkSpiner in the base. Ina went over to investigate."

"I swear over my mother's fucking grave if that fucking turd had hurt a hair on my bitch's head, I am going to split him in two…" Payne snarled.

He didn't know why he was attracted to Ina. Her name, before accepting the power of the Mern, had been Sharris, but she'd changed it over to get in with the image of being what she was. A Reaper. She was different from the other girls, so quiet and shy, so very gentle. He'd been playing her originally, taking her virginity, and using her for sex to forget the ones he lost. But over time he realised he had been falling in love with her – some of the things she did really annoyed him, but she was always so nice. He'd always taken her for granted over that, but having sex with Rhyss in front of her had just about been the breaking point for her – she'd refused him back into her bed.

Payne felt disappointed.

He liked her body. She wasn't a waif like the other girls, big hips, plump little belly, someone to cuddle when you felt depressed about the world. And okay, so she wasn't so good in bed, those little noises she made when they were screwing turned him on no end. She was the kind of girl he'd…

Don't say it

…raise a family with.

She couldn't be dead.

No way in hell.

He balled his fists. "Do you have Lynette?"

"We're fetching her now. She's a little worried, but she seems okay…Ayla's with her…oh shit…"

"What?" Payne's head snapped up.

"Yan just came back. Hiltz was shooting at…he was shooting at Rhyss and Ina. He got the imperial too."

Payne stared at the monitor, then carefully reached up and turned it off. Then he started to laugh. He laughed long, and loud, and madly, just as he had always done.

He was going to get Hiltz, and his pretty little Rare Hertz too.

~ to be continued.

Yeah, let's all have a big cry for Payne. He has problems.