Author's Note: I changed the name of the story because this new title goes a lot better with the overall plot in my opinion. Of course no one else knows the overall plot. X3 Oh yeah, Fred Luo makes his appearance in this chapter. I was gonna have him appear in chapter 4, but I changed my mind.
Disclaimer: I don't own Outlaw Star.
On with the show, here's Chapter 6 of Outlaw Star: Omega Project...
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The room was mostly pitch black. Except one small area of the room, lit up by the moon's light. There sat a 12 year-old child, Jim Hawking, staring off into the darkness. He had his legs as close to his body as possible with his arms wrapped around them. All he could think about was where he was and how he could escape safely. The shocked expression on his partner's face as Jim vanished with Thera kept playing back in his mind over and over.
"Oh man, this is bad." Jim said to himself quietly.
Chapter 6: Reluctant New Pet
Elsewhere, The Four Pillars of Hell met to discuss what happened at Heiphon. Angelglory was still furious about Kyen's interference. Thera played with some of her hair, looking off in another direction. Onsen stood quietly while Kyen stood face to face with Angelglory.
"Why the hell did you stop me?!" Angelglory shouted, his voice tipped with rage.
"Stop acting childish...You'll get another chance." Kyen argued, staring down Angelglory.
"I could've killed her right there if you hadn't interfered!" Angelglory yelled back.
"Tch, you're so immature Angel." Thera scoffed, while rolling her eyes.
"You shut up, Thera! I could've finished them all off by myself if I wanted to!" Angelglory boasted.
"You'd probably fail...and come crawling back to us for help." Onsen hissed.
"Speaking of failure...you failed in capturing Melfina and the child." Kyen stated harshly, turning towards Onsen.
"But, that was your--"
"Excuse me?! Were you just about to blame me?!" Kyen yelled, his eyes filled with anger.
"N-no, I was--"
"In fact, you're the one that caused our FAILURE!" Kyen shouted at the top of his lungs.
He grabbed onto Onsen's mask fiercely and squeezed down. The mask began cracking. Onsen groaned in pain under Kyen's grip. The mask shattered seconds later, only the part covering Onsen's mouth remained intact. Kyen fingers dug into Onsen's skull as the pieces of the mask fell to the floor. Onsen fell to his knees, as blood started to flow down the sides of his head.
"Please Lord Kyen, forgive me! Give me another chance!" Onsen pleaded.
"As much as I like to believe you won't fail again, I'd like to see you swim in an ocean of your own blood even more." Kyen said, he grinned demonically then he took his fingers and dug them deeper into Onsen's skull.
Onsen's eyes widened. Kyen removed his fingers from Onsen's skull. Onsen fell face first onto the floor. He was dead; the blood oozing from his head was proof enough. Kyen looked at his hand, now covered in Onsen's blood, and start laughing wildly. He wiped the blood across his face.
"Ah, such a wonderful feeling." Kyen said, laughing some more. He turned to Angelglory. "If you ever want the chance at killing that Ctarl Ctarl, then I suggest you shut up and wait. Unless, you want to end up like Onsen."
Angelglory remained silent while he looked down at Onsen's dead body. "Call when you have a mission for me." He muttered, disappearing from sight.
Kyen watched Angelglory leave then he turned to Thera. "Thera, I have to talk to you about your new 'pet'." He said, calming down.
Thera blinked innocently. "What about him?" she asked.
"Don't kill him. He could be of some use." He stated.
"Does that mean I can kill my old pet?" she asked, fluttering her eyelashes.
Kyen smirked. "Do whatever with that one...he has no value to us anymore." He remarked.
Thera clapped her hands together and smiled cheerfully. "All right! Thanks sweetie!" she squealed.
Kyen growled slightly. "It's Kyen!" He exclaimed.
Thera giggled in her delight a little more then ran off into the darkness of the room. Kyen shook his head the walked over to a door that had and opening in it. He looked in and saw Jim sitting there on the floor. Kyen looked to the left, into the dark part of the room and said, "You're replacement is here. You'll be freed soon enough."
Jim blinked and tried to follow Kyen's gaze to see what he was looking at. It was so dark, he couldn't tell if there was even anything over there. Kyen walked out of view, laughing.
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Back at Starwind & Hawking Enterprises, moral was low. The room was silent. Everyone was either thinking about what to do next or what exactly was going on, except Aisha. She was lying in her bed, still unconscious from her fight with Angelglory. Melfina finally broke the unsettling silence.
"Gene, what are we going to do about Jim?" she asked, her face full of concern.
Gene scratched the back of his head. "I dunno. We don't even know where they took him." He said.
Suddenly, an idea popped into Melfina's head. "Oh! Maybe we should try asking Stev. Maybe he knows something that could help us." She exclaimed.
"Hmm, it's worth a try. All right, Melfina, you stay here and keep an eye on Aisha. I'll go talk to Stev." Gene said.
Melfina nodded. "All right." She said, slightly disappointed she couldn't go with Gene
"I'm going with you, Gene. I need to have a word with this Stev person." Suzuka said, standing up.
"Uh, ok, let's go." Gene said, walking out the door.
Suzuka followed Gene out, leaving Melfina and Locke alone to watch over Aisha. The familiar silence returned and settled in for several minutes. Locke sat on the floor looking at his injured chest while Melfina watched him with curiosity. She finally spoketo tried to cheer him up.
"Locke?" she said.
Locke turned his attention to Melfina. He waited to see what she wanted to say.
"We, um, got something for you." Melfina claimed, standing up and walking into the kitchen.
"I would've given it to you earlier, but I forgot about it." She came back out with a small paper bag.
She handed it to Locke then knelt down beside him. He blinked a couple times in surprise then opened the bag and reached in. Shortly after, he pulled out a small handheld computer. He looked back to Melfina with a surprised look still on his face.
Melfina smiled happily. "It's a little computer. You came type what you want to say and then we can read it. It was Jim's idea to get it for you." She said.
Locke looked down at the computer screen and then an overall good feeling overcame him. He smiled and typed "Thank you, Melfina." He showed to Melfina and she smiled.
"You're welcome, Locke." She responded.
He typed something else into the computer than showed it to her with a less happy expression.
She read it aloud. "This is the first gift I've ever gotten." Her happy expression died down as well.
"Really? Why is that?" she asked politely.
Locke looked really sad as he typed his response. "I've never been considered a living thing. To them, I was just a bunch of letters and numbers. I don't even know who my parents are. And this is the first time someone's given me something as an act of kindness."
Melfina read the screen and then looked at Locke, who looking down at what he had typed.
"I had no idea." She said.
She then wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug. "It's all right now. You have us. We'll take good care of you." She said, trying to comfort him.
Suddenly she heard muffled whimpers. She looked down and noticed that Locke was crying. She continued hugging him for several minutes before Aisha emerged from her room and saw Melfina and Locke. Melfina opened her eyes and noticed Aisha standing there.
"Oh, Aisha, you're awake." She exclaimed.
Locke wiped some tears away from his eyes and looked over to Aisha.
"Where is everyone?" Aisha asked drearily, looking around.
"Oh, Gene and Suzuka went to Fred's. And Jim is...he's..." Melfina looked away from Aisha.
"What is it? Is there something wrong with Jim?" Aisha asked, a worried look on her face.
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The roads were lit up by the streetlights of Heiphon. The sky was cloudlessand the stars shimmered beautifully.Gene and Suzuka had just arrived at Fred Luo's place. They stood in the lobby thinking about what to do next.
"Where the hell could hehave gone at this time of night?!" Gene complained.
Apparently, Stev had left on some business and wouldn't be back until tomorrow.
"It's rather suspicious." Suzuka added.
Gene crossed his arms and sighed. "I wonder what he's up to. He was acting weird when we first met him too." He said.
"There's no use in staying here if the person we came to see isn'there to see us." Suzuka stated.
"Yeah, you're right let's--" Gene said, before getting interrupted by a familiar voice calling out to him.
"Gene! Is that you? It's been over a year!" the person shouted happily.
Fred Luo walked up to Gene pulled him into a big hug. Gene struggled to break free of Fred's clutches. "Uh, yeah, it's good to see ya Fred. Really..."he said, finally freeing himself of the hug.
"So Gene, what brings you here at this time of night? Did you want to tell me something?" Fred asked, winking afterwards.
Gene shook off Fred's wink and shook his head. "That's not it at all. We were just here to talk to Stev. But apparently, he's out on business." He remarked.
Fred got a more serious expression. "Oh really? He told me that he was just going to meet a new customer. He's been awfully secretive lately. He used to be more open with me." He exclaimed.
"Is that so? So he didn't tell you who he was going to see?" Suzuka asked.
"Not at all. He told me he was leaving to see a new customer then immediatelyleft." Fred answered.
Gene put together an assumption. "Suzuka, let's head back. It's kinda late anyway." He said, wanting to leave.
Suzuka nodded and headed out of the building.
"Gene, is something the matter?" Fred asked.
"Nothing, well, see ya 'round Fred." Gene replied.
"All right then. Oh, by the way Gene, where's Jim?" Fred asked.
Gene thought up a quick lie to answer Fred's question. "He's, uh, feeling a little under the weather. Well, see ya." Gene waved over his shoulder to Fred as he walked out of the building.
Gene got into the car, Suzuka sat in the seat next to him. Gene started the car and drove off into the night. Suzuka watched him carefully. He looked really agitated.
"Gene, is there something you're not telling me?" Suzuka asked.
Gene sighed. "I think Stev's working with the Kei pirates."
"Why do you think that?" Suzuka continued questioning Gene.
"Well, he knew about our little run-ins with Hazanko and those Anten pirates. And he knew about the Outlaw Star and Melfina, and also he somehow knew that the Kei pirates were looking for us again." He admitted.
"Well, that would also explain why the pirates had Locke stow away with the shipment Stev wanted us to stop from being stolen. That may have just been a trick to identify what we looked like. They were using us to ensure that Locke made it safely to Stev." Suzuka guessed.
"Hmm, it all adds up." Gene said. There was that silence again. "What do you know about those people that were with that Kyen guy?"
"I've fought against each of them separately. Angelglory that man with the sunglasses is very dangerous and very powerful. But he was easy to defeat because he let his emotions get the best of him. Onsen, the masked man, is a powerful Tao master. He started suffocating when I broke his mask off; which means that he isn't human and can't breathe oxygen. And Thera, she is a deadly foe. She uses her mind to manipulate people and things. She also has a twisted sense of reality. She...it's said that she kidnaps men from time to time, and keeps them as "pets"." Suzuka explained.
"Wait, she just kidnapped Jim. You don't think...?!" Gene shouted.
"It would seem she has chosen Jim as her new pet." She said emotionlessly.
Gene felt like he just got slapped in the face with the cold, hard truth. "Damn it. We have to find out where they took him, fast." He murmured.
Just then, a voice called into Gene's ear. His right earring was flashing. "-ene! C-n you --ar -e?!" yelled the voice.
Gene instantly recognized the voice. It was Jim! Gene had completely forgot about his special earrings. "Jim! Is that you? Where are you?!" he shouted.
The voice called back. It was definitely Jim. "I dunno, it's really dark in here. I can't tell. That Kyen guy was just at the door. He said something about a replacement arriving. I can't really make any sense out of it." He said.
"Damn, is there anything around you that could help us figure out where you are?" Gene asked, desperate to find out where his partner was being held.
"Well, there's moonlight. So I guess I'm a planet." Jim replied.
Gene sighed. "Yeah, that really helps." He grumbled.
"Crap! Someone's coming." Jim shouted.
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Jim quickly shoved his communicator into his jacket and resumed his curled up position he was in before. Thera opened the door and walked in with an innocent smile on her face.
"Hi there, my little Jimmy." She said cheerfully.
"W-what do you want?" Jim asked, a little scared.
She walked over to him and kneeled down. "Oh, what's wrong? There's no need to be scared of me. I won't hurt you." She said, placing her hands on his shoulders.
"J-m! Do-'t listen -o h-r!" shouted a voice from Jim's jacket.
"What have we here?" Thera said, reaching into Jim's jacket and pulling out his communicator. "And who might this be?" she asked into the speaker.
Gene's voice yelled back at Thera. "Thera, you bitch! Let Jim go!" he yelled.
Thera looked at Jim. "That's a bad Jim. Trying to contact your stupid friend. I might have to punish you for that." She smiled devilishly, her eye color changing to an amber yellow.
Jim eyes went blank. He slowly took the communicator into his hand and said into it, "Sorry Gene, I gotta go. I might get in trouble if I talk to you anymore."
Gene yelled back. "Jim! Don't hang up! Jim!"
Jim turned off the communicator and tossed it into the darkness of the room.
"Now that's a good boy. You're a good pet." Thera remarked.
Jim sat still, like a puppet, with a blank expression on his face. Thera sat down next to him and hugged him. She played with some of his hair and smiled devilishly.
"...such a good pet." She said quietly.
Meanwhile, a pair of narrow eyes watched Thera and Jim from the shadows of the room. The person knew that he would be free in a matter of time. He chuckled silently to himself and continued to watch from the darkness.
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What's up with Jim? Who's watching him from the shadows? Did Stev really fool Gene from the beginning? Will Jim's location ever be figured out? Find out next time. So, how was that? A bunch a plot twists in this one, eh? What's everyone think of the story so far? R&R please. Stay tuned for Chapter 7 of Outlaw Star: Omega Project!