Chapter 4

"Well, I guess I'll go next." Itchy said as he shifted in his seat, getting more comfortable. "I was born and raised in Area 18. Nothing too exciting, eventually I joined up with ArcCorp Security. Started out on city patrols, worked my way up the ranks and eventually found myself posted at one of their bunkers as a newly promoted Sergeant."

"How you ever earned that rank, I'll never know." Nixie commented, earning a chuckle from Itchy.

"Beats me, but that's besides the point. Things were going pretty good for a while. Good pay, nice benefits and just enough action to keep things interesting."

"I'm guessing things went south?" Reaper asked when Itchy had paused in his story.

"Things always go south. Wasn't long before we got this shipment of new weapons and some pretty nice armor, well guess someone tipped off some mercs, cause next thing we know, bullets are flying and people are dying. We sent out a distress beacon and we held out as long as we could. Gave em a pretty good fight all-in-all, but it wasn't enough. Soon it was just me and two of my men out of a garrison of thirty."

Itchy glanced out at a point above everyone and looked ad though he were contemplating something. Before anyone could speak, he continued.

"We continued to hold. Made ourselves a nice chokepoint in a hall and barricaded the hell out of it. Ended up killing so many of em that they had to risk getting shot just to clear the bodies so they could advance."

"Christ..."Reaper whispered. "How many were there?"

"Hell, kid. I don't know the exact numbers, but there had to be at least a hundred in the initial assault. Luckily our bunkers are designed to be killing fields. By the time they'd whittled us down, I'd imagine we killed..." He leaned his head back to think. "Probably over half that. Didn't really matter in the end. Guess they got tired of dying, cause next thing I know I whole swarm of grenades and a couple rockets came flying down the hall. Couldn't react fast enough and got caught in the blast."

"Luckiest fucker in the system." Ginger chimed in his two cents.

"How'd you survive?" Reaper pressed, sitting on the edge if his seat.

"Honestly, stupid amounts of luck and good armor. The rockets hit the walls and the barricades absorbed most of the blast wave. What hit us, knocked us out cold. When we woke up, all the weapons and armor were gone, I had a concussion and a dislocated shoulder while my guys were sporting broken arms and cracked ribs." Itchy drew a deep breath and sighed. "I don't know why they left us alive, maybe they didn't check if we were dead or maybe they just didn't care. Either way, we were alive."

"Eventually reinforcements arrived, but the mercs were long gone. They took us back to Area 18 where we gave our reports of what happened." Itchy's hands tightened into fists in his lap. "Those motherfuckers actually had the nerve to blame us for the loss of equipment. Said we should've done a better job of defending the bunker. Twenty-seven people dead and it's our fault."

No one said anything, but they all gave their silent support. Bacon, who was closest, tapped Itchy's shoulder with a fist, an unspoken sign of comfort.

"After that, I just couldn't do it anymore. I couldn't be part of a system that cared so little for the people under their command. I finished out my contract a few months later and decided to do my own thing. I'll admit that I was a bit lost at first." A snort from Hat had him glaring, but he continued. "Eventually I decided to try my hand at bounty hunting. I enjoyed the thrill of combat and God knows there's plenty of criminals in the system, so I figured I could make some money doing something I enjoyed and was good at."

"As time went by, I started taking on tougher contracts, bit I wasn't dumb enough to think I could do it solo for long. I started teaming up with other hunters, some were one time affairs, but others would be repeat partners. Hat being one of the latter. "He nodded his head toward Hat who gave a nod in return. "After going on more than a few missions with him, I realized I trusted him to have my back and asked him if he wanted to team up permanently. Shortly after that we took a contract for a gang leader on Grim Hex. While we were planning the op, we realized that no matter what, we'd need a third, a pilot. Lucky us, we heard word of a guy who didn't ask questions and wasn't afraid to make runs to Grim Hex as long as the pay was good."

Itchy nodded towards Ginger who wore the biggest grin on his face.

"The pay was pretty damn good. And the partnership has been quite lucrative ever since."

"Shit... I couldn't even imagine..." Reaper leaned back in his seat. Comparing how easy his life had been compared to Itchy' experiences. Judging from the looks everyone else had, this was just the tip of the iceberg.

"Alright, I guess you still wanna hear everyone else's tale." Bacon stated with an exaggerated stretch. "I'll start by saying I'm self-taught. Countless hours on Hurston spent staring through the scope of a rifle, studying bullet trajectory and what-not. Unfortunately, that doesn't really mean shit when you're looking to get hired on to a crew. Everyone wants people with prior experience, some kinda legit training, but I knew I wasn't cut out for life in security."

"It's true." Ginger added. "Experience is the greatest teacher of all."

"Exactly and since I didn't have that, no one wanted me. I spent quite a while doing odd jobs and trying to get my foot in the door, but I just couldn't catch a break. Eventually I started looking into...less reputable contracts." Bacon shifted in his seat before continuing. "Found a pretty simple job, provide overwatch for an op and no experience required. I jumped on the opportunity and next thing I know, I'm meeting my contact on Grim Hex and he's giving me the low down on the mission."

"I was one of ten people who signed up, every one of us looking to prove ourselves and start building a rep. Unfortunately I was too desperate to realize what kind of rep I'd be building." Bacon pulled down his flight suits top to show a tattoo on his shoulder. Three slashes behind a skull.

"I'd unknowingly signed on with a pirate crew. That first op was providing overwatch for a raid on a bunker on Yela. I was so desperate to prove myself, to show I had what it takes that I didn't hesitate. I dropped four security guards without batting an eye and watched as the gang rushed into the bunker and slaughtered everyone inside."

Reaper was speechless and the looks everyone had showed that they weren't exactly thrilled with Bacon's past deeds, but had forgiven him at least.

"It wasn't til we got back to Grim Hex that my actions fully hit me. I wanted to leave, wanted to run away and be done with it, but it was too late for that. I'd proven myself and they accepted me with open arms." Bacon wiped a hand down his face. "I made a mask for myself. I was a cold-hearted killer to them, but that mask would break when I was alone. Every mission, every kill buried me deeper in that life and I never thought I'd be able to break free."

"How'd you get out?" Reaper asked, his voice a tentative whisper.

"I seized an opportunity. See, all this time spent doing missions for this gang, while moraly terrifying, was very lucrative. I'd managed to stash away a good chunk of money and had even purchased myself a ship of my own. An Anvil Arrow. I'd convinced the gang that I should keep the title clean and avoid putting their logo on my ship in order to infiltrate targets easier and avoid any unwanted attention. In reality I was just waiting for the right moment to escape."

"That moment came in the form of an attack by a couple of bounty hunters and a ginger pilot flying an overly modified Cutlass."

"Don't you bad mouth Olga!" Ginger shouted in mock rage. "She was the best damn Cutlass Black I ever owned."

"It was the only Cutlass Black you ever owned." Nixie sighed in exasperation.

"She was the reason your ass didn't get stranded on Daymar when your hunk-of-junk Titan got shot outta the sky."

"As I was saying." Bacon interrupted before the two could start another argument. "When Hat arrived on Grim Hex, the gang took notice. Bounty hunters aren't rare on the station, but they're monitored heavily by the gangs. I knew my chance was here. He was asking about our leader from some of the locals, naturally they reported what they'd told him, hoping to get in our good graces I guess. So we decided to set up an ambush for him."

"Wow, thanks a lot." Hat muttered while crossing his arms.

"But I had other plans. I figured if I could sabotage the ambush and Hat could grab our leader, I could slip away in the ensuing chaos under the guise of chasing them down. It wouldn't be hard to fake my own death, ships get blown up around Grim Hex all the time and getting shot down by a bounty hunter trying to escape is more than believable."

"And so, we laid our trap. Fed some misinformation, made it sound like our leader would be traveling with a light guard through a fairly unoccupied part of the station. In reality, we had at least fifty guys laying in wait for Hat to show himself."

That's a bit overkill, don't ya think?" Itchy asked while scratching his beard.

"I'm actually a little flattered." Hat added.

"Maybe it was a bit much, but they didn't wanna take chances. I was supposed to provide overwatch and, if possible, take you out. Instead, I altered the course. Caused some doors to malfunction forcing our leader to redirect away from the ambush point and thatd when Hat struck. He took out the guards easily enough from what I'd seen and captured our leader. When the call came out that Hat had him, we were directed to attack, but then Ginger slammed into a hangar and Itchy showed up. We had to split our attention and I knew my chance had come. I rushed to the hangar where Ginger was, heading for the observation deck where I could pretend to try and disable the ship."

"Long story short, they escaped with our leader and I took off after them with my Arrow. A few missiles and some exchange of fire, I'd ejected from the arrow, let it slam into an asteroid and made my way to my back to the station. I had a gear stash where I swapped out my armor so I wouldn't be immediately recognized, booked passage to Hurston and disappeared."

"Damn..." Reaper whispered, leaning back heavily into his seat. "How did you end up with Dysfunction? And how did they take it when you told them?"

"Not well." Ginger answered, casting a glare at Bacon. "When he told me he'd pretended to shoot at my baby, I almost killed him on the spot."

Hat sighed as he leaned forward.

"Don't listen to him, Ginger didn't even care. Literally took one second to process Bacon's story before welcoming him to the group."

"Yeah." Ginger's face broke into a wide grin. "Never really saw the point in holding grudges. People do what they gotta do."

"We were on Hurston and looking to recruit. Bacon was the only one who showed up and he didn't tell us the story until after he signed his contract." Itchy explained, actually answering the question.

"It all turned out well in the end." Bacon stated. "Now we're family."