Chapter 6: Minx
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Author's note: *I don't own anything from Buffy the Vampire Slayer or the character, Spike.* These characters will only be used twice or more. But they are not apart of the story. There isn't any vampire slaying! Just merc kicking. Lol!
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Once again she woke up in a blindingly bright white room. But no sunlight drifted in this time, and no huge bump on her head, only a slightly sore arm, and aching tail bone. She cursed not knowing where she was, again. She didn't know how the mercs caught up with her, or how they snuck up on her so fast. All she knew was she was probably on her way to a female form of slam. Deo would have gone to slam too if he hadn't. don't think about that! She whispered out loud. She missed him terribly. For those first few nights she couldn't sleep. Every night she'd always slept in his bed, with him curled next to her. But ever since that night he died, her bed was cold and lonely, not only her bedbut her entire life. Shaking it off, while wiping a tear, she heaved a tired sigh.
Minx was so tired of being knocked out, and having to run from mercs that she didn't know if she could do it again. "Lights to 30%." She groaned sitting up in her bed. Just then the door opened. She held her breath, hoping it wasn't that merc who knocked her out the first time. But it turned out to be Hocks. She relaxed, and let a ghost of a smile show, as she slumped back against her pillows. "How are ya Jen?" Hocks asked, taking a seat beside her bed. She almost didn't answer, not used to being called her real name. She smiled. "Oh, I've been better. I'm glad to see you though. Because I was about to call you, then some dip shit knocked me out. That's the second time this week. When I get my hands on that asshole I'm gonna," But she stopped when she saw the big smile on his face. "What?" She asked, a smile creeping onto her face as well. "I donno how to tell you this but.the asshole is closer then you think." He said, still smiling. Although it had faded some. Suddenly Minx was confused. "Huh?" She said, looking at him. "I knocked you out." Hocks said plainly.
"Oh really. Why?" She asked suddenly defensive and worried. Did I fall into a trap here, is he working for the mercs? Her mind suddenly sprang into overdrive. No! This can't happen, not my own family. She must've looked worried, because Hocks touched her arm. "It's nothing like that. I'll tell you everything once you get some rest, you're safe now." He said reassuringly. Minx shook her head, "I appreciate that Hocks, but, I want to know what's going on." She said, noticing how he wasn't meeting her eyes. "Jen, I don't think you wanna," But she cut him off. "Listen Hocks you have no idea what I've been through lately. My best friend in the entire world went into hiding, my job, all my money, accounts and credits have been frozen, and to top it all off my boyfriend was shot dead right in front of me, so whatever it is your going to tell me, is no worse then what I have been through, or what I am expecting!" She was yelling now. And it wasn't until her vision blurred, that she realized that she was crying.
Minx blinked quickly trying to clear her eyes, while quickly turning away from him. She didn't want to loose her cool like that, in front of any body. She felt the bed shift under her as Hocks sat next to her on the bed, his arm slung around her shoulders. She let herself be pulled into a hug, even though she felt like she was too old for them. "I had no idea all that happened. I should have known, but I was so blinded by getting you here, that I didn't think about it." He said quietly. "What were you going to tell me?" She asked, whiping a tear off her cheek again. "You need some rest." Hocks said. She broke away from him, "Hocks what did I just say?" She asked stubbornly. He shook his head, and threw up his hands in utter defeat. "Alright, I'll tell you. Jen your as stubborn as your mother. When we were kids she'd ask me something, and if I wouldn't tell her she'd bug me all day." He stopped at the look she gave him.
Minx was worried about what he was going to tell her, she knew Hocks was never the type to beat around the bush, so this had to be something big, maybe even threatening. She held her breath once again, bracing herself for what was to come. "I'll tell you, but on one condition." He said firmly. Minx nodded, watching him carefully. "Don't go after anymore information on this subject on my ship, or anywhere else. This is a dangerous game, that you play with your life. No information is worth that." He stated firmly.
"I had a guy come in to my office about two weeks ago, right after you contacted me. He asked me about you, and your whereabouts. I played dumb, but I could tell he didn't fully believe me." He paused to shift in his seat. She waited patiently, but wanting to know desperately. Finally he continued, "I asked him if he needed any assistance finding you, and he said yes. Then handed me a cell phone. Before I knew it, I was talking to 'The Boss', a guy that goes by the name of, Salvador Jackson." He paused, "Do you know of him?" He asked warily. "No." She said, starting to get antsy. "I'll get to that later but, anyway, I offered to capture you and then hand you over to him, but only on the condition that you come to my space port, with the thought in mind that my ship would be here to take you away. Of course he had no idea of my hidden agenda, so he agreed and I cancelled your cabin. I didn't intend for anyone else to reserve it though but there was a slight complication."
"What type of complication?" Minx asked, wanting to know everything about the circumstances of her escape. "Well the guys in security detected some outside surveillance of our activities, by Jackson. Turns out Jackson knew your cabin number, before hand. Any activity on that and we'd be suspicious. So, when it was taken, I couldn't do anything about it." He finished, but Minx could tell that he knew more.
"What else? Didn't you run a background check on this Jackson?" She asked firmly. Hocks nodded gravely, "Yeah." He said, not offering anything else. "Well?" She asked stubbornly. He let out a long sigh, "This Jackson character was linked to Deo." He stated bluntly, acting as if he'd just eaten something awful. Minx eyes widened, "How?" She asked. Hocks just shrugged. "Well he was a business partner for the most part, but this mourning I found something in one of our background check flies." He stood to walk across the room, where on a table there was a stainless steal brief case waiting for him.
It was slim, and in the dim light it looked particularly dark. He hit a button and a mini scanner popped up from the top of the lid, with a soft beep. He put his palm flat on the scanner, a few seconds later simultaneously the latches popped. He opened the lid swiftly, taking out a credit card, that was covered with a silver type material, that formed a pocket around the card. A rectangular device that she couldn't see. Along with the card and the rectangular thing, he brought a manila colored folder. Soundlessly closing the brief case, he sat next to her again. Although he didn't rush to hand either of the items to her. He just briskly opened the folder and took out a thin sheet of paper. It was the type that left no finger prints. She looked onto the piece of paper and found it was a list of names.
Salvador Jackson Lyle Richards Mark Hallburg Jerry Talon Rose Valstrom Salvador Jackson Guy RiffMinx knew about hit lists but, as far as she knew they never had the same name on the list twice. "Hocks I know what this is, but how can you hit the same person twice, I mean kill someone twice?" Hocks shook his head, "This is a pre-hit list. These people owed Deo money. Jackson's on there twice, because he took out two loans from him, and also he probably owes him twice as much as anyone else on that list." Minx's head spun with questions.
"But why would he be out for me, Deo's dead," She said, choking on the words, "so the debt is paid, I don't have anything." Hocks shook his head. "I donno. But this guy is bad news. He has connections, but also many enemies. Including Deo. But this concerns you now. For some strange reason he wants desperately to find you. He had eight mercs out already. But they are personal mercs, thugs. You know the type." He paused to look at her, she met his gaze. "What else do you know about him?" She asked, almost afraid to find out.
He handed her another sheet of paper. This time it was a criminal record.
Murder----Second Degree------Guilty----Life in Prison Illegal Weapon Imports [stolen military explosives, high intensity cannons, laser parts, ect.]----Guilty----Fine of: $250,000 {universal credits} Illegal Change of Identity---Guilty---Fine of: $2500.00 {universal credits} Reoccurring hijackings, and theft of commercial ships and cars---guilty---Life in Prison.She read farther and found more information:
Murder----Second Degree------Guilty----No time surved Illegal Weapon Imports [stolen military explosives, high intensity cannons, laser parts, ect.]----Guilty----Fine pending Illegal Change of Identity---Guilty---Fine pending Reoccurring hijackings, and theft of commercial ships and cars---guilty---No time surved-------------------No time served time still due.----------------------Fine pending fine still due.----
Bounty----Alive: $50,000-----Dead: $75,000----current status: Alive---
She looked up from the paper. "Okay so what their saying is simple. He's guilty of all these charges but they've never been able to catch up with him, so he still owes over $250,000 in fines, and his life in prison. Not to mention he's worth more dead then alive, which makes no sense to me, the plot is thickening, but I still don't see where any of this has to do with me, except that I was involved with Deo." She explained, as Hocks was nodding his head. He was silent for a while, until Minx spoke again.
"Maybe he thinks I know something, have something he wants, like Deo's money perhaps." She said with a shrug. "I donno how to tell you this but, I found something else this morning I think you should see." He handed her another piece of paper, this time it was a bank statement. "This was current yesterday, notice the amount that was deposited." He said quietly pointing at the box labeled deposit amount, "Twenty Five Billion Dollars." Minx whispered out loud. Her mouth dropping open. Hocks chuckled "Keep in mind that it isn't worth as much as you think. Some planets that's only worth about a quarter of that, more like a million. And you and I both know that a good house in a safe neighborhood costs over 25 billion. So that money isn't as much as it should be." He said pointing to the statement. "Yeah, but where's the rest of it?" She asked curiously.
Hocks broke her gaze, and picked up the credit card that he's removed from the brief case earlier, wordlessly he held it up for her to see. But didn't hand it to her, instead he gave her a mini plasma screen, that was flashing 'one new text message.' "Didn't you read it before hand?" She asked, looking up at him. "No, the guys in security tried, but found out that the message only showed if you and you only pressed your thumb print on it." He said. She shook her head. "But how would he know if you tried to open it anyway?" Minx asked looking down and the flashing screen. Hocks shook his head, "This thing is pretty heavily secured, it had a tracing device in it that my boys managed to take out. And it also had some really hairy viruses lurking in it too. So whatever it's protecting is pretty important to Jackson." He said, in a now more serious and solemn tone.
Minx felt beads of sweat form on her face, neck, and shoulders. The air in the room intense. She breathed deeply and pressed the ON button. The screen changed from text to a small box, that read, "thumb print required, press here."
She pressed her thumb to the box, and it beeped quietly. She felt the whole thing vibrate in her hands. After a moment the screen changed, flashing text appeared, "Authorizing.please wait." Suddenly the door opened, a pretty red-headed nurse appeared in the door frame, "Sir, there's a man waiting for you in you office, a Kyle Gets." She said, no smile existent in her voice. Hocks nodded, "Tell him I'll be right up." He said in a firm voice. The door closed then he looked back at Minx, "This is important. He's my financial partner. I have to get up there." He said casually, with a roll of his eyes. She nodded. "Thanks." She said softly. The screen was still flashing the annoying, "Authorizing.please wait." Hocks collected the brief case, and opened the door, "Any time. I'll be back tomorrow to get you settled in the ship, and talk about your job and living situation. Lock up those thing when your done with them, in that cabinet over you bed, and lock it with your hand print. If you need something ring the nurses." Before she could question a thing, Hocks closed the door behind him and was gone.
Minx roughly dropped back onto the pillows, as she closed her eyes and leaned her head back. Her eyes were starting to get heavy. She was starting to doze off, but was abruptly awakened by the beeping of the almost happily forgotten plasma screen. She looked down as the it changed screens again, now slowly flashing, "Opening file..." She sighed heavily, "Just get on with it!" She said out loud to the now quiet device. The screen flashed, and did a little animated flip, as it sounded a little alarm, much like wind chimes. A second later a message appeared. It was medium in length, and was all italics. She stared to read, and was immediately thrown by the greeting at the beginning of the letter.
Darling,
Please accept this as a token of my deep affection. You probably don't know who I am, but in time you will. You've worked hard for this money, and I feel you deserve to have it now. I am sorry about Deo, and you have my deepest condolences, we were very close friends, even to the point of being practically family.
I am not going to turn you in to the mercs, I'm not an enemy, more like a friend. I've watched and loved you for a long time. Hopefully you'll learn to trust me.
Yours truly,
Sal
P.S. Insert the credit card in the slot on the right side of this screen and it will activate. If you want the other half of the 500 billion you'll have to come to me, although I warn you I do think of the other half as mine.
With that the screen went blank. She put it down beside her thigh, and thought for a moment. Why did he think of half of the money as his? Why had he called her darling? How did he get off with being one of Deo's close friends and not knowing her? What did he mean by having been in love with her for a long time? And lastly the thing that tested her comfort was the last question, What did he mean by in time she'd know him? She was so confused, and decided that the only thing that could possibly calm her was a shower.
She almost rang the nurse when she remembered what Hock said. She gathered the credit card, the manila file, the papers, and lastly the plasma screen, and put them into the metal cabinet above her bed. She looked around the room for anything she might have missed, then noticed the dim light reflecting off a piece of plastic. She walked over to where it lay by the door. It must have fell out of Hock's pocket. She picked it up and turned it over in her hands so she could see the front. It was a white plastic badge, with a picture of a young looking merc. Looking something like that vampire on that old earth TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Spike. He had the almost white spiked blonde hair, like him, and everything else was also almost identical. She remembered how her best friend Raven used to almost obsess over that show, but mostly just over Spike.
She reopened the cabinet over her bed then put the badge on top of everything else. Before re-locking it she gave the room a second once over, then when she found nothing she locked it again. "That better be all for the night, enough surprises." She said out loud with a exasperated sigh. She got back into bed and rung the nurse. A few minutes later, a nurse walked in. "Can I help you Miss Valance?" She asked kindly. Minx looked at her and stifled a laugh, "Pleaseer" She paused to decide which name to use. "Call me Jenny." She said with a slight smile. The nurse nodded. She was skinny and bird like, with pale skin, and big black eyes, her blond hair was up in a tight old-maid's bun. "Uh, I was just wondering, where can I get a shower around here?" Minx asked, looking around her room, she noticed a door that had no handle. The nurse nodded, and pushed open the door that Minx had just laid eyes on. "Here. Do you need any help?" She asked. Minx shook her head, "No don't think so. Does it have shampoo and soap?" Minx asked getting out of the bed. "Yes, it should." She held the door open for Minx.
Minx was wondering why she was treating her with such a fuss. "Just a warning the hot is scalding, so stay within the cold to warm zone on the knobs." She warned. Minx nodded. "Thanks." She said, feeling like she should saw something else. "Is that all?" The nurse asked, her tone still that of a servant. Minx nodded. "Goodnight." She said and was gone.
After the shower she felt renewed, and her body felt calm. It was just her mind that was still tense, as the questions of earlier buzzed around her mind, clamoring for attention. She stretched out in bed and groaned as a thought occurred to her. If all the bunks and cabins were full, that meant that she would have to be a roommate with someone. Thoughts of who Hocks would possibly trust clouded her mind. It came to her in a flash, his only real friend was another ex-con from Slam! "No it couldn't be." Minx said quietly, to no one in particular. "Could it?" She said. Thinking about him she remembered the story she heard about the woman from the brothel that swore he had been one of her customers. She recalled the pictures from the news, but drew a blank. Shaking her head she closed her eyes, but sleep was long time coming. At 3 am, her mind finally joined her body in sleep.
Meanwhile a meeting was being called in a warehouse on the east side of Pluto ll. Where the now only seven of the eight mercs were sitting at a long conference table, along with a couple of other people, who were new comers. They were all waiting for The Boss, Sal Jackson.
