The Last Spartan 2: DJ's Mission

by A. E. McCullough

  “Once upon a time. The big guy is Mörder. He’s a sadistic bastard and as blood thirsty as they come. The redhead is Hurricane Venus. Don’t underestimate her. She’s as deadly as she is beautiful.”

  DJ nodded.

  Jax’s voice seemed slightly far away as he muttered. “I’m not sure why she’s here. She isn’t really the type to raid and pillage. She is more like the Venus flytrap; lure her unsuspecting prey in close and then strike suddenly.”

  “Sounds like an old girlfriend of mine.”

  Jax guffawed. “Yes.”

  DJ was unsure if he was agreeing to his joke or admitting that she was an old girlfriend. But before he could ask, Pridgen made an appearance. Flanked by five of his SIS thugs, the dwarf shook hands with the giant pirate and led them inside.

  DJ nodded. “Now I know why the Coalition has been having problems with the pirates. They’re being funded by Titan Avionics. And with their connections, they would know the location and strength of all the patrols.”

  “Damn. I wish I had had access to Raptors when I was pirating. All we had were Sparrows.” Jax shook his head. “No, I cannot afford to think like that. I’m never going back to that life.”

  DJ placed a comforting hand on Jax’s shoulder. Not that he could feel it since he was wearing the Red Falcon armor but it was the thought and gesture that counted. Seeing the pirates and the dwarf disappear into the factory complex, DJ slipped on his mock restraints and assumed a defeated posture.

  “Showtime.”

  Jax drew out one of his guns and placed the other hand on DJ’s shoulder. With a slight shove, he guided him toward the same entrance. No one even questioned them as they moved through the outer perimeter of guards. They hung back several hundred meters from the pirates and Jax did a great job acting like he knew where he was going. Only once did a guard try and question them.

  “Why?” Jax’s voice took on a cold tone made even colder by the properties of the helmet. “Do you pay the bounties around here?”

  The guard stammered.

  “No? Then get out of my way, you piss ant.” Jax shoved DJ forward and the two continued deeper into the factory. Once they were out of sight, Jax looked over at his partner and asked, “Too much?”

  DJ shrugged. “It seemed to work, so I guess not.”

  Turning a corner in the hallway, the bounty hunters came to a stop when they saw the bow of the Horus right in front of them. It was impressive. Wrenching their eyes from the massive dreadnaught, that they were in fact on a balcony overlooking the shipyard and that they weren’t alone.

  DJ smiled when they spied the lone occupant. An SIS officer had obviously snuck out here to catch a quick smoke break. DJ signaled the ex-pirate turned bounty hunter.

  Jax called up the electroshock emitter on the Red Falcon helmet HUD, pointed his gauntlet and fired. A fair sized lightning bolt shot out of his raised gauntlet to strike the unsuspecting SIS officer.

  “Wow! That was cool!”

  DJ grinned as he slipped off the fake handcuffs. “Yes, it is.”

  “This armor is amazing.”

  “Yes it is but if you like this, you should see Iaido’s ARC armor.”

  “Iaido? As in Iaido Spartan?”

  DJ nodded.

  “I remember him. He rescued me on from that awful mine on Mercury.”

  “You were pretty out of it when we pulled you out, I didn’t think you remembered that.”

  “You were there?”

  DJ nodded. “Yep, but I was wearing my HAVOC armor.”

  “The big guy in the back with the Gatling gun, I remember you. Why didn’t you mention this before?”

  “Didn’t seem relevant.”

  Jax shrugged. “True but now, I owe you double.”

  “Nope. After this, for better or worse, we’re even.”

  They stopped talking as DJ stripped the SIS officer down to his skivvies and donned the liberated uniform. He took a deep breath in order to fully zip it up. “It’s a bit snug but it’ll work.”

  Jax grinned. “No offense but this idiot wasn’t anywhere near your size. I’m amazed it even fit you.”

  “No kidding.” DJ grabbed the fallen cigar and took a drag on it. “Holy shit.”

  “What?”

  “If I didn’t know better, I would say that this is an actual Cuban.”

  Jax whistled. “Damn. Those are rare even on the Black Market. Trust me, I know. I would get a box every six months or so and it would cost me a small fortune.”

  DJ checked the magazine on the liberated pistol. It was a Ŝkorpion Vz99, a small semi-automatic gauss pistol that used electromagnetic coils to accelerate a magnetic projectile at extremely high velocities. The magazine seemed full, which meant about 250 rounds but he also had two full magazines in the mag pouch. All in all, it was a decent weapon and very deadly.

  However, the biggest surprise came when he put on the sunglasses that the SIS officer had been wearing. DJ thought they were just part of the look the SIS had cultivated but once the glasses were settled into place, up popped a HUD display. “Nice.”

  “What’s that?” asked Jax.

  “These glasses must interface with the circuitry of the suit.” DJ fiddled with a small control box on the belt. “I have a detailed layout of the entire factory.” He scrolled through the entire map. “There are only three areas that marked off limits and no detailed information is available about them.”

  Jax nodded. “Sounds like a good place to start.”

  “The Conference Room is one floor up and the Control Room is two floors down but the one marked Interrogation is just around the corner.”

  “Lead on MacDuff.”

  DJ laughed. “And damn ye who first cries, hold…enough!”

  Jax slapped his partner on the back. “Well I’ll be dammed. You’re the first person who’s ever completed that quote.”

  DJ took a long drag on the cigar and blew out a smoke ring before responding. “MacBeth. Shakespeare was never one of my favorites but my drill Sergeant back in the Corps used to be an English Lit professor before he was activated. He used to throw out random quotes during calisthenics. If you got the name of the play right, less time doing reps. If you got it wrong…”

  Jax nodded. “So, you became a fan out of necessity.”

  “Yeppers. Come on, let’s roll.” And the two bounty hunters made their way back into the factory.

  * * * * *

  When Spike woke up, he knew he was in trouble. He had a pounding headache, cotton mouth, had been stripped nearly naked and strapped to a chair. Worse, he had dropped his guard and the High Councilwoman that was his duty to protect had been captured. It was not one of his best moments.

  The slightly metallic smell of fresh blood assaulted his nose even before he opened his eyes. Once they were open, he found that he was in a large dark room with six identical chairs surrounding a large metal table. An assortment of knives and other sharp tools could be seen on the table, some of them were still covered in blood. The only light in the room was a high spotlight beaming down on the table, reflecting its light off the tools of torture.

  Slowly turning his head to the left, he saw that he wasn’t alone. His longtime partner and friend, Sponge Bob, was strapped down in a similar situation although his left eye was swollen shut from a terrible bruise. To his right was an empty chair. On the other side of the table were three more people although only the good looking blonde was awake. She had also been stripped down to her undergarments but outside of that, she didn’t look injured. She wasn’t looking at him at the moment, so Spike continued to scan the area.

  To her left was a tall, lanky fellow with pasty white skin with dozens of bruises all up and down his body. It looked as if someone had used him for a punching bag. But he wasn’t in the worst shape in the room, the young black man to the blonde’s right was. Spike counted at least two dozen cuts all over his body. None seemed deep or super fresh but many still oozed blood. Large areas of his torso were also covere
d in white granules. If Spike had to guess, it was salt. Rubbing ordinary salt into a bloody wound had been used as a torture and an interrogation device for centuries since it caused an intense burning sensation.

  Spike looked back at the blonde and noticed that she was looking at him. “Psst. Who did this?”

  “I did,” came a deep voice from behind.

  Spike craned his neck around to find Sheriff Kassinger dragging the bloody form of Teana Carpenter back into the room and unceremoniously dumped her at the foot of the empty chair. Spike struggled against the restraints but they wouldn’t budge. From his vantage point he couldn’t tell if she was still breathing so he had to ask, “Is she?”

  Kassinger wiped his bloody hands on a white towel from the table. “Dead? Not yet but she will be soon. I just finished having a very enlightening conversation with her.”

  “You bastard. When I get loose…”

  Kassinger threw his head back and laughed. “You’ll what? Kill me? I don’t think so.”

  He picked up a large knife from the table. The faint overhead light reflected off its mirror-like finish as the sadistic sheriff limped his way over to the bound SWAT officer. Placing the razor sharp point on his chest, Kassinger slowly pulled the blade across his skin.

  “Let me tell you something. You’re gonna do nothing except scream. You have no value to me except the pleasure you’ll bring when I cut you up in little pieces, all while you’re still alive.”

  Spike’s body was afire with pain as the blood began to flow down his chest. He clenched down on his jaw to keep from screaming. He’d be damned if he gave this bastard the pleasure of his screams…at least not yet. He knew that barring a miracle, he would break. That was a certainty. It wasn’t a matter of if but a matter of when. The interrogator always had the power not the prisoner. He was alive at the moment only by the sheriff’s whim and he knew it. Before Kassinger could do more damage or ask another question, his pet dwarf came walking into the light.

  “Sorry about the delay boss, Mörder and his crew just landed. I showed them to the Conference Room before retrieving the package.” Pridgen gestured with the large black bag with two feet sticking out of it. “Where does he want her?”

  “Give her to me. I will swing by the Control Room before heading up to entertain our guests.”

  Pridgen nodded and passed over his bundle.

  Kassinger nodded toward the bleeding black man. “I’ll let you finish playing with Mocha.”

  Spike found the grin on the Jovian’s face sickening.

  “Thanks boss.”

  Kassinger limped out of sight but his voice came back through the darkness. “Have fun. Just remember that we have one hour until the Admiral needs us.”

  Pridgen rubbed his hands together in anticipation. “Plenty of time.”

  When the door slammed and Kassinger was gone, Pridgen pulled out a long knife and moved alongside of the man the Sheriff had called Mocha. He leaned in and whispered something into the black man’s ear before that first cut. Mocha’s eyes flew open and his screams filled the room. The demented dwarf just laughed and cut him again and again and again. It was one of those awful moments in life when you want to look away in order to shield your soul from the evil of the world but at the same time, it is so horrifying that it captures your attention and holds you captive. That was where Spike and Virginia found themselves, powerless to act and yet, unable to look away.

  Finally Spike was able to rip his eyes away from the gruesome sight only to witness one of such heroic proportions that he knew he’d never forget it either. It was obvious from the gaping hole in her back and the blood oozing out that she was mortally wounded. But somewhere inside she found enough strength and tenacity to pull herself across the floor until she reached the table. Pulling herself upright with bloody hands, she was shaky but she was standing. Grabbing the knife off the table, she unsteadily crossed the ten feet until she was behind Pridgen. He was so intent on his torture that he didn’t notice the danger lurking behind him until it was too late.

  Teana wanted to make sure her first attack counted. She tested the edge of the blade before reversing it, where the blade was pointing down. Judging from her weakened state, she realized that she would only have one shot. Leaping onto Pridgen’s back, she plunged the knife all the way to the hilt in his stomach. She’d been aiming for his heart but she didn’t take into consideration how much smaller his body was compared to a normal human. Either way, she was committed to her path now. Teana wrapped her legs around the dwarf’s midsection and her arms around his throat and held on for dear life.

  The next few minutes of their struggle was epic. It was the age old battle of an irresistible force, Pridgen, meeting an unmoving object, Teana. The dwarf backed into the tables time and time again, trying to knock her off but Teana held on. He tried cutting her leg with his knife but when that didn’t work; he stabbed her deep in the leg and left it there. Pridgen next tried just to reach up and pull her off. He even managed to get a handful of hair but even when he pulled the whole clump out, all he got from Teana was a scream of pain and the tightening of her grip.

  Finally, the Jovian must’ve realized that he was running out of time and options. Reaching across his own body, he managed to get ahold of her with one hand and grabbed her leg with the other. With a grunt, he gave a mighty yank. She screamed and he howled but after a moment of resistance, Teana was slowly being pulled around to the dwarf’s front. With one last heave, the Jovian pulled with all his might. A loud popping noise filled the interrogation room and they both fell to the floor.

  “Councilor,” screamed Spike.

  Spike struggled against his bonds once again, not to escape but to move enough so he could see the two combatants. Finally he found an angle where they were visible under the table. Even from this angle, Spike could tell that his neck was broken since Pridgen’s head was facing the wrong way. There was no movement from the councilor. He couldn’t even tell if she was breathing.

  However after several minutes, she rolled over and began to crawl once again. This time to the trail of blood wasn’t a trickle, it was a torrent. With each pause in her trek she left a pool of blood. Spike was unsure if anyone would have enough strength to make it anywhere after losing that much blood.

  Several agonizing minutes, Teana reached Virginia’s table and somewhere deep inside herself found the strength to pull the knife from her leg and pushed its handle into the blonde’s hand. With her last breath she whispered, “Save them,” before collapsing into a bloody heap.

  * * * * *

  Virginia had never seen so much strength of character and willpower in anyone before. The older black woman must’ve known the whole time that she was going to die and had latched onto the Jovian in such a way that once he applied his superior strength, that he would end up breaking his own neck. It had been incredible to watch. She could only imagine the pain she must’ve felt. Hell, Virginia didn’t even know the name of the woman who’d sacrificed herself for them but the vaguely Latino bodybuilder guy had called her councilor and seemed to know her.

  Virginia was shocked when the dying lady had thrust a bloody knife in her hand but she wasn’t going to pass up this opportunity nor waste her sacrifice. Even though the blade was slick with blood, she carefully cut through the web restraints on her right hand. Once she was free, she checked the pulse of their rescuer. There was none. She looked over at Spike and shook her head. No words were needed.

  Teana Carpenter, High Councilor of Terra and retired FSA agent was dead.

  Virginia cut Spike loose first, since he was the only one conscious at the time, and then started on the rest. By the time everyone was free and awake; Spike had laid the body of the councilor in a more respectable position and looted the body of the Jovian. When Virginia arrived at the black man that Pridgen had called Mocha, she checked for a pulse even though she didn’t expect to find any. There were so many cuts on his body but the blood was no longer flowing. Bowing her head
in silent respect, she closed his eyes and turned away.

  Sponge Bob had done a complete search of the room and found no trace of their clothes and equipment.

  After introductions were made, Spike handed the captured disruptor to the commander and asked, “What now?”

  Alex glanced down at his semi-naked body. “We aren’t going to get very far dressed like this. We need clothes and weapons.”

  Spurgeon tested the edge of his captured knife. It was razor sharp. “After that?”

  Alex looked over at Virginia and answered. “Payback.”

  Spike grinned. “Roger that.”

  Before they could implement their plan, the only door in the room opened and in walked a big, burly SIS officer. He was flanked by a hulking figure in red armor. Both had their weapons at the ready but seemed stunned to find them free and hesitated.

  Alex wasn’t going to waste this opportunity. He raised the captured Peregrine Mk3 Disruptor and fired. “Attack!”

  Chapter 19

  DJ quickly found that he missed the Red Falcon armor.

  As odd as it had been compared to his HAVOC Bodytank armor, it had become comfortable. Of course, the liberated SIS uniform was better than nothing and it did have built in trauma plates covering his vital areas. Additionally, it gave them easy access to the facility. The workers, regular security guards and the few deputies they passed gave them nary a glance as they made their way through the bowels of the factory.

  When they reached their destination according to the internal map of the SIS uniform, the door was marked with a red and white placard: No Admittance.

  DJ turned to Jax in the Red Falcon armor. “Remember, act like we belong here. If they question you, say you have information on El Gato.”

  Jax nodded and they opened the door. It was nothing more than a vestibule with several sinks and another door with the same warning. Whatever they were expecting on the other side of the door, finding five nearly naked and battered humans wasn’t it.

  Before they could say anything, the tall pasty white fellow with bruises all over his face, raised his gun and fired. “Attack!”