Out of the Cage
A/N: I don't know why, but it's centered. So umm...it's centered.
With no other lead on the crystal, Kenros and LJ are forced to interrogate the wounded Stinkfly. Elsewhere, Sproksin decides to meet with the other captains and generals.
Chapter 7: Devotion
Several miles away from the crash site, Sproksin was meeting with all the of the Remquist cronies in an underground bunker. It was hollow and had little light inside, containing a couple light bulbs and some fluorescent tubes sticking out the ceiling. It wasn't a very formal meeting; in fact it wasn't formal at all. Almost none of the captains and generals liked each other and ALL of them would be very pleased if Sproksin wound up "dead" within a few days. So there they were, all sitting and standing around the table like they were some big committee.
"Whadaya mean it wouldn't make any difference?!" yelled Rust, pounding his fist on the table. He was one of the Remquists' Diamondhead captains.
"I already told you; we lost all the weapons on the spaceship and can't track them!" yelled Sproksin.
"Yeah, after you fled the ship like a coward!" boasted Ficks, a yellow XLR8.
"I do not come to these meetings just to be chastised by all you low-level followers!"
A blue wildmutt named Harsbreath growled deeply at the general, revealing a set of pointy white teeth.
"I came here to discuss what position we're in before The Remquists get here."
"And what is that exactly Sproksin? Do you even know about the enemies we're facing?"
Sproksin scoffed. "The mercenary's name is Leslie Tyverz Junior. He's 39, Caucasian, father deceased, mother raped when he was a child. He found the guy that did it and beat the shit outta him and wound up going to jail for it. So he suddenly decided to become a mercenary so he can go around beating the shit outta other people and legally get paid for it. He's been at it for 10 years and was in the army before then. I don't see why the army would accept someone who was in jail for three years, but whatever. He received weapons training, tactics, all that crap. He's got this thing for wearing blue and red camouflage and has hair so spiky that everyone thinks it's pricklier than a porcupine."
"So you have been doing your homework." said Ficks.
"Shut your mouth Ficks!" said Sproksin, breathing rapidly.
He was slowly dehydrating, like any normal Piscciss Volann would do. He grabbed a water bottle off the table and squirted it all over himself.
"I don't even have to tell you about Kenros."
"Of course not. You killed his family back on his home planet. I'm surprised he hasn't started gunning for you yet." said a green Splixson named Swimp.
"That cause he's smart not to just go gunning for the top. He kills me, you guys take over in finding and killing that Loboan."
"Or we could just leave your ass to die…" muttered Grizo, an Upgrade.
"I'm sorry Grizo, I didn't hear that. Did you just say you wanted to kill me?" asked Sproksin, holding a black Colt M1911 to his head.
"No, but if I cause an accident that led to your death--"
Sproksin fired his gun at Grizo…and if he hadn't caught and absorbed the bullet at the last second, he'd be dead. Grizo laughed.
"I was just kidding!"
"I wasn't."
Everyone suddenly went quiet. It was so silent that the only thing that could be heard was the wildmutts' growls and pants.
"Now…are we done talking?" asked Sproksin.
No one responded.
"Good. Now let's get back to our positions."
"What about the Lepidopterran Acknit?" asked a Heatblast.
"He should be fine, as long as no one breaks his colonel."
Back in the Brazilian jungles…
LJ and I were interrogating the wounded Lepidopterran inside one of the warehouses stored nearby. It wasn't going exactly as planned.
"Cuff his mouth LJ; I'm tired of him screaming." I commanded.
"This is only gonna hurt a lot!" he said, putting his right hand over the Lepidopterran's mouth.
I took a set of shears and cut off his second finger clean off, like I did with the first one. He simply shut his eyes tightly and grunted sharply, trying to ignore the pain. But let's face it; I just cut his finger off. He started vomiting all over LJ's hand.
"Aww, man! He got slime all over my hand!"
"That's not slime…" I said, smiling.
"I don't understand why low-level cronies like you just don't make life simple and tell us what we want to know."
"I…I'll never tell you what you want to know."
I punched the Lepidopterran in the face twice.
"The only reason why I haven't castrated you is cause I can't find where your balls are so you better be lucky that the only thing I'm cutting off is your fingers!"
"Let me tell you how this is gonna work: First, we're gonna cut off your last finger, then we're gonna cut off your other three fingers, and then we'll cut off your arms, and then we'll cut off your legs and wings. We're gonna keep cutting you and cutting you and cutting you and cutting you until you tell us what we need to know. Got it?!"
"That's right Lepidopterran. Maybe you tell us what we want to hear and I'll let you go. This way you can say some cougar bit your fingers off. Does that work for you?"
The Lepidopterran sighed and said, "I don't know what you want--"
"TELL US WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT THE GODDAMN CRYSTAL!!!" screamed LJ, hitting him in the head repeatedly with a wrench.
"Go to hell." he moaned.
LJ swore and threw the wrench to the ground.
"This isn't working. We could cut this guy's eyes off and he still wouldn't talk."
"He'd scream…"
"How's screamin' gonna help us LJ?"
LJ shrugged. "Dunno; I just wanna hear him scream again. It sounds funny!"
"…I think I know what we should do. LJ?"
"Yeah?"
"You still got that--"
"Dead raccoon? Yeah, it's in my pocket."
I raised an eyebrow and looked confusedly at LJ.
"LJ…"
"What?"
"Why the fuck is there a raccoon in your pocket?"
"I told you, I like raccoons!"
"So you killed one and just…stuffed it in your pocket."
"Basically."
"…Does it have rabies?"
"Probably."
Damn! I was gonna eat that!
"Wow, you took me to a waterfall. That's so scary." said the Lepidopterran.
"It will be. LJ, dump the water on him."
"The what?"
The Lepidopterran started sputtering and coughing when LJ poured a full water bottle on his whole body, including his wings.
"Wow. You poured water on me. That's so badass."
"Shut up and jump!"
"NOOO!!!" squealed the Lepidopterran.
I grabbed the Lepidopterran by one of his legs and held him right over the waterfall. If I decided to let him go, he drops like a sack of potatoes and drowns.
"It's funny…out of all those gory horror movies they make today, they never decide to add the three worst ways to die: Burning to death, bleeding to death, and drowning. See, since you 'Stinkflies' can't fly when your wings are wet, you're gonna fall right to the bottom of this waterfall. If the thousands of galloons of water doesn't crush you to death or if the impact doesn't kill you, you're gonna drown…painfully."
"C'mon stink-breath! We just want to know about the crystal!" demanded LJ.
I loosened my grip so much I almost dropped him by mistake. He squealed.
"OKAY! I'LL TALK, I'LL TALK!!!"
"My name's Darcay, I work for a Lepidopterran named Acknit."
"So he's got the crystal?" asked LJ.
"Did I say that?"
"You didn't deny it."
"All I know is that he got the crystal when it fell from outer space. I don't know if he handed it off to someone of if he still has it or if he lost it."
"So where is he now?" I asked.
"There's a large section of shacks and houses that reside next to city inside a rainforest. It's like a giant mountainside of roads and small houses that you walk down upon. Amongst other things…"
"What 'other things' do you mean?" I asked.
"I've heard rumors about a whole platoon of umm…Vulpimancers stationed there. Something big is going to happen tomorrow, maybe even tonight."
"There's a whole platoon of vulpimancers in that city?!?"
"Yeah…and they're ready to be released."
"We gotta get there now."
"What for? What's a vulpimancer?"
"A Wildmutt."
LJ's eyes grew wide. "There's a whole platoon of wildmutts in that city?!?"
"I just said that!"
"No, you said vulpimancers."
I groaned. "Whatever, let's just go."
"Um…what about me guys?"
The two of us looked at the Lepidopterran.
"You're coming with us." I said.
"What for? I already told you everything I know!"
"Because we need collateral damage in case there's a firefight."
"Yeah! You're just cannon fodder!"
"I just said that."
"No, you said collateral--"
"Shut up LJ."
5:16 p.m.
The three of us arrived on the hills full of houses and shacks, hiding behind the forest and overlooking the various citizens walk around. It seems impossible that a whole army of Vulpimancers could be hiding somewhere in here, but then again, many things seem impossible these days.
"I don't see any wildmutts." said LJ.
"Oh, they're here…I can smell their breath from here."
"How can you--"
"What you humans need to understand is that we can smell practically 1000X better than you humans do. That's why even when you do bother wearing deodorant and taking showers every night you still stink to us canines."
"Damn, that sucks."
"How are we gonna get through without someone seeing us?" asked the Stinkfly.
"We wait until nightfall. Everyone will be asleep by then. That's when we'll strike."