Chapter 5
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Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars or Prototype.
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Previously
Alex answered. "So what's our objective, save Monraux or take out the Kura gang?"
"I'm contracted to take out the gang, Monraux is of no importance."
"Then let's split up, I take care of Monraux and you deal with the gang."
Canderous nodded. "And where are they?"
Alex grinned. "No idea."
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His body tensed, nostrils flaring noisily and his jaw clenched.
"What do you mean No idea" Canderous narrowed cold eyes. "You didn't just bring me here all the way from Thule, and not know where they are."
"Well I don't know exactly where they are, more like in a general sense." Alex paused. "They're here…somewhere…on the planet."
"Oh gee thanks, can't you try to be a little less specific?" Canderous sneered. "Now I have to search all over again."
"Well if it's too much trouble, I guess I could incapacitate you." Alex made a half-hearted shrug. "You don't have to search and I don't have to hear you bitch about it. Problem solved for the both of us."
Canderous's posture stiffened. "I've never believed in evil, but there's something seriously wrong with the way you think."
Alex snorted. "Evil is such a silly notion. I am simply free of all limitations and have all of what 'normal' people would call illegal and immoral options available to me."
"But no, I wouldn't hurt you too much Canderous. I have become quite fond of you." Alex strokes his chin. "Like how you have fondness for a pet, kind of like a hamster."
Canderous clenched his teeth. "I am a Mandalorian Warlord. I'm nobodies pet!"
Alex took a step back. "I apologize. But I do seem to remember something now; yeah the gang is definitely here."
"In fact, I would even say they have been absorbed into The Black Vulkars."
Canderous took several deep breaths. "Oh that's great. So what, you just wanted to mess with me?"
"Yes," Alex rubbed his neck. "I was… bored."
"I swear one day I'm going to kill you."
"I would have taken your threat seriously if I thought you had even the slightest chance of acting on it." Alex smiled. "And remember, you promised to challenge me one day."
"So can we do this? I promise I'll behave… most of the time."
"As much as I would to get rid of you, your…unique talents might come in handy."
"Good, then you gather intelligence or whatever while I take a field trip downstairs."
Alex left without waiting for a response, heading straight through the dull grey corridor. He felt very satisfied with himself, messing with someone's mind always left him so invigorated. At first he thought his Mandalorian friend was the kind of guy who always had his emotions under check, but clearly even he couldn't deal with Alex's unique talent to get under someone's skin. There was some deep-lying anger and frustration buried inside, now he had only to figure out at what.
His current path led him to a large open-spaced room with several different beings, he counted four guards patrolling, three people lifting and organizing a lot of boxes, and lastly a single green being with two tails. Only they were on its head, and they had no hair whatsoever. A Twi'lek if he remembered correctly and he always did. Alex thought there was something off about those boxes; they were packed but seemed to be very light. But he decided it probably wasn't anything important. Still looking as a Chiss, Alex stepped into the room and continued to the far corner. It had taken him all but two seconds to learn the walk of belonging, and he passed the room without raising any suspicion. The problem now was he had no idea where the elevator was located, and this place was built like a mace.
"I need a snack."
He followed the corridor for about fifty meters before coming to a crossing, the path to the left had several connecting rooms while the right path just continued to another crossing. Alex opted for the left, and accessed the controls to the first room. The durasteel door slid open with a low hiss, and revealed what looked like the staff housing. The room had four double beds lined along the side walls, and someone was sleeping on one of them. Alex grinned.
Alex manipulated his body to become as light as possible, and moved over to the bed. Towering over the person, who he now saw was a female human, he noticed a silver collar of sorts around the woman's neck. It wasn't hard to figure out what it was for; he doubted anyone in their right mind would want to work for The Black Vulkar's willingly. He felt sorry for her, being forced to do whatever they wanted can't be a happy existence. It would be much better if she worked for him instead.
Reaching down, he chook her lightly. Green eyes met sickly light blue, and the woman jumped out of the bed, terrified. Judging by her face going white, she probably shouldn't have rested at the moment. Add to that with trembling lips and a downward look, it was a pathetic sight. Alex actually felt angry, The Vulkar's had really done a number on the girl. And her constant apologizing didn't help settle his mood, at all.
"Be quiet." He growled.
The woman shut up immediately. Even for someone like him it stung to see someone so broken.
"Where is the elevator?"
The woman kept her eyes on the floor. "I...It's down the corridor to the right, then left and right again. My Lord."
He nodded and continued to watch her in silence. Her blank eyes, devoid of all hope settled it. "Do you want to get out of here?"
She was trying to keep her body from shaking, and failing. "N… No no, never my Lord. I would never even think about that."
Alex smiled warmly. "Don't worry, I will set you free."
He pulled her close to him, and let his tendrils crawl up her arms. It took less than a second, and then the sound of metal hitting metal echoed across the room.
Alex stood there.
Alone.
In silence.
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Canderous watched Alex move away without waiting for a reply. How he hated the man at this moment, he really was insufferable. Having the stomach to call him, a Mandalorian Warlord, for a pet. He decided then and there he would make him pay for that after this was done. In truth, if Mercer was normal he would have done so already. That right there was the problem, Mercer was as far away from normal as you can get. If the guy had a bio somewhere, he was sure it would contain the words powerful, intelligent, cruel, and bored.
A very dangerous combination.
Taking care of Mercer at the moment was out of the question, it would require serious planning to even have a chance of success. That was why he then and there decided to glean as much information from him as possible before striking. Right now though, he had other matters to attend. Following the same way as Mercer, Canderous hunched down and observed the room. When all people present had their focus elsewhere, he snuck out and dived to the left and in through another passageway.
Canderous became alert to a clinking metal sound, stopped all movement and crunched down behind a couple of metal boxes. Reached into his pocket and threw a small circular device up ahead which landed in the middle of the walkway. As the sound intensified, he punched in the activation code on his wrist console. A second later, a small energized bubble originated from the device and expanded with a radius of three meters. Canderous waited for a sign of alert, but was only greeted with silence, then moved up to the blast site. A fully intact Mark III assault droid lay motionless on the ground; the ion grenade had done its job.
Judging by its damaged armoring and its second-rate fire arm, the Vulkars must have found and repaired the droid themselves. This kind of assault droid wasn't in production anymore, replaced by the Mark IV version that was more intelligent, had more firepower and accuracy, and better shield technology. With its electronic systems permanently damaged, this droid wouldn't function again unless all its internal circuitry was replaced. Canderous took the droid by its legs and lifted it inside one of the boxes, then continued around the corner.
The sound of two people talking originated behind him; with no place to hide he rushed into a full sprint forward. Up ahead he could see another crossing, this time he had no chance to observe the best route, and so he chose left and hoped lady luck was on his side. Thankfully, this time it was. This pathway led upwards to the upper level of the compound, which had only one main space with several smaller rooms connected to it. He relaxed his breathing before venturing in, blaster drawn, scanning each room as he moved carefully around the area.
Finally he relaxed and holstered his black custom-made blaster, Canderous went back and in through the doorway leading to one of the rooms opposite to the walkway down. Inside he found a large processor of some kind, with various ingredients lying on the table in front. To the left of the device, a small opening containing a compartment of sorts was visibly. On further investigation, there was some trace materials left inside. Canderous scraped it off with his index finger and smelled it, then placed a small amount on his tongue.
"Hm, spice."
He had no idea The Vulkar's were planning on expanding into the drug business, and if he had anything to say about it, they wouldn't. Canderous reached behind the device and found a small hatch, opening the front. Intending to leave a small gift, he took out a round device and attached it to the main processor. Finished, he scanned the area for anything else of interest.
A rectangular metal box hanging on the opposite wall could his attention. The circuitry inside looked like the compound's heating control system.
Before he had the chance to look at it further, the structure around him shook violently. Almost making him lose his balance, the walls vibrated as if a powerful ripple effect went through the durasteel. It was hard as the alarm began shouting, but he could hear several smaller explosions and lots of blaster fire from the level below. Readying his heavy-repeater, Canderous took the same way he came. He had to brace himself against the wall as another powerful vibration shook the walkway leading down; finally reaching the main floor he had to stop himself from gasping.
The standard lights were out; the emergency lightening system cast a low red hue across the area as he moved towards the commotion. Being a trained military man, Canderous ignored the various body parts lying on the floor, too focused on any sign of movement.
What kind of savage beast could… Wait a minute, he did know of one beast alright.
He hunched down against the wall and peaked around the corner, some twenty meters away a severely frightened guard with his back against the wall kept shooting at something. Then it came out, a large silver humanoid of some kind. Its entire form seemed impervious to damage as the blaster bolts just dissipated on impact without any reaction from the creature. The humanoid raised its right arm and scratched three horizontal lines with its massive claws as it moved closer and closer to the frightened guard.
Then in one swift stroke, the guard was dead.
Canderous was just about to duck back behind cover, when the creature looked at him. It had no visible eyes, but Canderous knew it had looked right at him. Staring at the beast, he readied a frag grenade with his hidden left arm. Just as he was about to attack, the humanoid shifted, and what now stood before him was the familiar sight of someone with a black leather jacket along with a raised hood.
Canderous let out a breath. "So it was you after all."
Mercer nodded under his hood.
"Any particular reason you massacred everyone?"
"I met a slave." Alex stated.
"Strange." Canderous raised a brow. "Didn't think someone like you cared about slavery."
"I don't, slavery is just the natural order of things, weaker beings are used by stronger ones." Mercer stopped for a second. "But you didn't see the girl. They had broken her completely. Whoever she was, was completely gone."
Mercer growled. "She was basically a walking, talking meat suit. To be stripped of your identity, that I will not accept."
Canderous nodded and remained silent. Maybe Mercer wasn't so bad after all; he was still a cruel asshole, but he at least had some standards.
"Did you find Monraux?" Canderous inquired.
Merced looked surprised under his hood. "I actually forgot about him."
"Then let's head to the elevator."
With the way cleared, it took all but two minutes to the elevator, much less to ride it down a level. With some excellent marksmanship from Canderous, the two guards stationed outside the elevator doors dropped before they even knew what hit them. Alex saw a middle-aged man work on a device through a transparisteel viewport on the right; a couple of speeder bikes and various other equipment also inhabited the area. On swift stroke with his fist and the console by the door broke.
The middle-aged man ran towards them. "Please tell me you're here to rescue me."
"Something like that." Alex answered.
"These guys took me on Thule and bombed my apartment." The man ran his fingers through his brown hair. "Are you guys with Taris Civil Authority?"
"Were private contractors." Canderous butted in.
The man let out a huge breath. "Good…That's good, now take me out of here."
Canderous took the man by the arm and was about to lead him out.
"Not so fast. I want to know why they kidnapped you?" Alex asked.
He swallowed hard. "They wanted me to recreate my newest invention. A device that could basically hack any system…almost any system."
Alex went over to the table and pointed towards a small wrist console. "Is that it?"
"Yes! But it's not finished, I tried to stall as much as possible. Now can we please go?"
"How much left is there?"
"Just a few adjustments really, but even if I fixed that, only I have the codes and know how it works."
The man shook his head. "But even so, I'd never let anyone use it. I…I'd lock it away."
Alex marched over and pushed Canderous aside. "Imbecile. Do you have any idea how valuable it is in the right hands?"
"T...That's exactly why I have to lock it away or destroy it."
Alex growled. "Unsightly."
One quick thrust and he allowed his tendrils to absorb the middle-aged man. The familiar rush of memories flashed in his mind, he picked up the device and punched in a nine-figured code. The device flared to life, ready to serve its new master.
"Was that really necessary?" Canderous asked.
Alex jerked his head towards him. "The idiot wanted to destroy it; he couldn't even image what it could do in the hands of someone like me. He didn't deserve it."
"I think he knew exactly what could happen if someone like you have it."
"Point taken." Alex stroke the side of his new toy."By the way, you don't seem agitated at all that I just ripped someone apart."
Canderous shrugged. "Actually I had a hypothesis about that, you said you consist of biomass, and you learned a hell of a lot from the Chiss on Thule in basically no time."
He took a deep breath, than continued. "And then you transformed into the guy at the entrance, so I figured you had downloaded his memory or something. But you actually absorbed all of him."
Canderous readied his heavy-repeater. "Only question now is, what will you do now that I know?"
Alex stared at him, and then laughed. "We've been over this. If I was going to get rid of you, I would have done so already."
The Mandalorian relaxed. "Well then, no point in hanging around here anymore."
Alex followed him out and up the elevator back to the entrance. The blast doors were wide open and no sign of any life.
"By the way, what did you do after I left?" Alex asked.
Canderous snickered. "I found a spice lab on the upper level for a drug called pyrepenol."
When Alex just raised a brow, he continued. "Basically it grants its user a sense of invincibility."
"Don't need a drug for that." Alex smiled.
"Yeah well, I left a nasty surprise for whoever tries to make some more."
"Not to burst your bubble, but what is that." Alex pointed towards the sky.
Looking up, Canderous gasped. "That's three Sith Interdictor cruisers."
"I take it that's bad."
Canderous nodded. "Very."
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Au
Well, there's obviously some trouble in paradise between Mercer and Canderous. Can they work it out? Or will it end with one of them dead? Guess you have to wait and see. Now we're basically at the beginning of the game for those who are unsure about the timeline.