Ianisse stared at them, unable to come up with something.
"No, it's going to piss her off. If she sees you, hit her with that taser and drop those nades. It should give you time to get out of there." Reaper pointed.
"So, what are we doing?"
"Just watch her. Follow her. That device will record everything you see and hear and feed it to us live." Reaper answered.
"Oh, and avoid Mako." Jackal chimed in.
"Mako?"
"Her dog. He’s like a fucking shark. He's the alert. If he suspects anything, you'll be found out. You've got to stay out of his radar."
"You should have something to help mask your presence."
"Yeah, it's in the bag. Forgot to mention that. It's a long lasting EMP shield. It'll cloak you from Mako and anything she may have."
"Check around Solstice first." Reaper instructed. "She likes to drink."
"More than the Lieutenant?"
"Even more."
"Hey, fuck you guys." Jackal blinked. "I don't have a problem."
"All right. We'll head there first." Ianisse took the bag and left.
"Are you sure about this?" Jackal asked. "This ain't right. He's a flower and we have literally, I mean, literally, thrown him to the wolves."
"Sparrow is a klutz. Ruby can't even walk quietly. Mjolnir is too big. She could spot the two of us a mile away." He sighed.
"Fenris?"
"Sure, the big wolf… Machine thing… He glows in the dark and I'm pretty sure he doesn't know the word 'stealth'. He's also too big."
"At least him and Mjolnir could handle a fight."
"Ianisse has killed a dozen people and has never been seen, or caught."
"Until we got put on detail."
"I don't think she'll hurt him. She saw him sitting with us."
"I just want it on record that I'm not okay with this, Captain."
"Shut up. Let's get to the war room so we can get the footage."
Ianisse slung the bag over his shoulder so it rested on his hip. He headed from the docks and back to the heart of the station. His hands trembled at the possibilities. Finally, he had a chance to prove that he could do it. He wouldn't let them down.
Spectre never came back to the club. In fact, he almost missed her in the crowd of the evening. She walked down the busy street, seemingly chatting to nobody at all.
Ianisse followed her. She stuck out like a sore thumb with red hair done up like a mohawk. Her dog was right at her side.
He expected to see something organic, yet Mako was a machine. Obviously modeled after the real thing, his design was sleek without a single exposed wire or soft spot. He was nearly as big as Spectre.
Just on her other side was her companion, Phantom, hands stuffed down into the pockets of his jacket. Half of a helmet rested atop his head, shaped like a wolf's skull. Ianisse figured it was positioned like that so he could see, because there was no way with it down where it probably was meant to be.
Reaper and Jackal failed to mention Phantom. Maybe they didn't think he'd be with her today. He nearly dwarfed her in size. Yet she was supposedly the threat. If human females were weaker than their male counterparts, then this man was an even larger threat.
Ianisse fought and killed eldiravan. They were superior to humans! If he could handle that, then these guys stood no chance. He was not tasked to kill though, only watch.
They wandered the station. Went through the market where Spectre browsed the items. Phantom stood back, watching her and what was going on around them. She inspected random things. Foods, jewelry, tech, weapons. She had not even bothered to buy anything. Not even haggle.
Ianisse dared to get closer, pretending to browse a stall two spots down. While she checked out some sort of gadget, he pretended to be interested in a jar of honey.
"Didn’t realize this would be a shopping trip.” Phantom grumbled.
“We’re here on business.” She put the gadget down to inspect another. “Ain’t ever gonna be safe enough.”
“What happened to killing them before they kill us?”
“It’s not that easy anymore.” Another stall, this time with bubbling contraptions. “It’s not just us. Civilians are involved. I mean, you fuckin’ saw that.”
The conversation drowned out in the crowd’s chatter. Ianisse moved through the crowd. By the time he could hear the conversation again, it had changed topics. A typical everyday conversation about the weather and what was around them. When they made it to a shabby stall selling weapons, Spectre took her time.
“No Mozams?” She questioned.
The man across from her swallowed hard.
“Not today.” He said.
“You should get them.” She tossed the pistol back down onto the counter. Scooped up another she promptly inspected.
“Christ, can’t you sell anything that’s reliable?” She tore the slide off the pistol, breaking a couple pins. “These are all fake.” She growled. “No Mozams. Fake weapons. Are you trying to kill your customers? You can’t be that stupid.” She pulled out the firing pin and the trigger system all with her bare fingers. Each piece was tossed back down to the counter.
“Hey, stop that! None of these are bad!”
“I should do the station a favor and burn this shit down.” She said, ripping the rest of the pistol in half. “If you don’t know where Mozam is, then you better tell me where I can get one.”
“E-Emporium! Down by Emporium!” He cried.
“Should have started with that!” She smiled.
Off they went down the street, no longer browsing the stalls. Ianisse had to run to catch up to them. Now he bothered to activate that EMP shield. He may not have known the station well, but he did know where the Emporium was. It was back towards the docks. He took a few shortcuts to not just keep up with the two alphas, but to stay out of their sight.
“I might kill him.” Spectre said. “Bastard was supposed to be there.”
“What do we need this guy for?”
“He’s the first contact for strays.” She sighed.
She shoved the door open. Mellow music filled the room at a low volume. A television playing a news station. A handful of people were lounged about. A man at the counter helping another customer. On the couch right in front of the television was Mozam. He was kicked back smoking from one end of a bubbling and smoking contraption set up on the table.
“Spectre! You made it!” He cheered lazily.
“I didn’t ask to come to a drug den, you asshole.” She sat herself down on the table.
“Oh, come on!” He sang. “Take a hit. Relax. You’re always so tense.”
“Yeah, the last time I smoked with you I ended up naked and alone on a beach five systems away. Not happening again.”
He groaned. “I’ve apologized so many times for that, man! I had no idea what was in that bowl.” He started to laugh. “That was a crazy week.”
Ianisse knelt down at a lightly cracked window. Peeking inside every so often. His falcon perched down at the corner to keep an eye out for anyone passing by.
Spectre broke into a different language. One Ianisse had never heard before. Little did he know that she was speaking one of the many languages from Earth that were never brought to the Alliance. It was the fate of many languages. Exiled due to convenience and ease of use. Only the most used languages were brought and added to translators. The lesser ones were forgotten entirely, or restricted to their native lands.
Even Phantom seemed a little confused. Mozam and Spectre both spoke fluently, switching the language as they pleased, sometimes multiple times during a single sentence. The conversation lasted a few minutes, never returning to English until Spectre had enough. Then she and Phantom left. At some point as they walked, she spoke in another language.
Phantom answered back. A short exchange left Spectre shaking her head.
“You want a drink? I could go for some coffee.” She said, stretching her arms up over her head.
“Whatever
you want.” He smiled.
They met up with a few other individuals, sticking to the back roads more than not. Each meet up came with a conversation in another set of languages. None of these faces were familiar to Ianisse, but surely they would be recognizable by Reaper and Jackal.
They took a turn down a small alley. Not much room to maneuver. It felt like a tunnel closing in with just two lights shining down the entire length, both of which meant to light up doors, not the walk path. A few tiny areas branched off into the darkness.
Ianisse stepped quietly and slowly, sticking close to one metal wall. Still the other wall was just two arm lengths away when nothing was set in the way. The alphas he had been following disappeared. Surely there was no place for them to go that fast.
The further he stepped into the alley, the tighter it felt. His body trembled. The lights seemed to fade into the shadows.
In the blink of an eye, a silhouetted figure came from around the corner, swinging. The arm slammed into the wall, cracking it. Ianisse had barely ducked in time. Another swing. Ianisse shoved himself to the ground and to the other wall. He dug into that bag for the baton.
The figure came for him as quick as lightning. He jabbed the baton upwards, pressing down the button to send the electricity to the prongs at the end. The figure froze, her entire chest lit up in blue. She took a step back, letting Ianisse go for one of the grenades. He tried to spy where the other Alpha was and where that robotic dog had gone. They were right. It wouldn’t hurt her. It wouldn’t even stop her.
Spectre snatched the baton right out of his hand and smacked him across the face with it.
“Who gave you this toy?” She asked, spinning the baton around her fingers. Her eyes glowed red like fire. As she bobbed her head around embers of the light flaked away.
“Well? Answer me!” She reached for him with her free hand only to be kicked right in the chest. She barely moved anywhere. Ianisse jumped up to his feet.
One of the grenades pulled out, he went for the pin. Kicked in the chest by a horse. Ianisse hit the wall, then the ground. The grenade rolled away into a puddle.
Spectre knelt down over him. Grabbed him by the collar of his leafy jacket. Punched him.
“What’s wrong? Can’t talk?” Another punch. “Oh, that’s right. You need a ball of feathers to talk for you, don’tcha?” She shoved him into the wall and stood up.
“Birdie. Birdie…” She looked up. That falcon had flown away when she tried to get him the first time.
There it was. Perched on a power line above. It cawed, showing off its wings.
“Wow. Looks like a falcon. Ain’t you fancy.”
Ianisse pulled out a knife from his boot and stabbed it right into her calf.
She had no reaction. She was focused on the bird.
“Did you say something?” She asked, looking down to the flower still gripping the knife in her leg.
Seeing what he had done, she kicked him in the jaw, throwing him back into the wall.
She pulled the knife out. Flipped it around her fingers.
“You’re feisty for a mute.”
She tossed the knife.
Ianisse moved to catch it, but the blade sliced right through two of his fingers to lodge itself into the middle of his chest. He writhed, pulling back.
“Better start talking!” She poked the prongs of the baton into his leg. “Who put you up to it?”
The bird cawed.
“I’ve never killed a plant before. I mean, not like this.” The prongs jabbed into his stomach. “I’m afraid I won’t be able to kill you quickly. Where’s the heart? Do you even have a brain?” She lifted his chin with the end of the baton.
“Stop!” The bird squawked. It swooped down, yanking at her hair to get her off Ianisse.
The assassin yanked the knife from his chest and stabbed it into her side.
She grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him across the ground. Threw him down the alley into a puddle of water. The bird swooped down again.
He gripped at the floor, dragging himself through the water.
Spectre walked over to him, ignoring the attacks from the bird. As he crawled in an attempt to get out of there, she stomped down onto his back. Her weight rolled to her toes, heel lifted. Soft little crunches rippled out from the leaves and delicate fibers. Ianisse clawed at the concrete.
“Where do you think you’re goin’, Blossom?” She messed with her hair, straightening the locks back where they belonged. “You think you could be a hunter? Like this?” She laughed. A blade extended from the bottom of her heel. Her weight rolled back, plunging the knife into his back.
She grabbed the back of his hood. Pulled to bend his neck backwards. She knelt down over him, looking him right in the face.
“I think that’s adorable.” She snatched the eye piece from his face. Bounced it around in her hands.
The blade pulled from his back, she stepped over him to set the gadget down on top of a trash can. Her face in full view of the camera, she adjusted it.
This was a mistake. Ianisse thought. He should have said no. He should have been safer. He tried to crawl away again. Get that grenade just barely out of his reach.
“Whoa, hold on, kiddy.” She stomped on his shoulder. “You fucked up!” She rolled him over, smacking him across the face.
“Mako, what should we do with this idiot?”
“He’s from the Federation.” Mako answered with a stoic voice. He hardly sounded like a machine. He sat just within the light, watching them.
“Ooh. What made a little pacifist want to take up arms?” She grabbed his face, turning it this way and that.
Ianisse hit her in the arm and shoved. The alpha did not budge. She laughed at him.
“People like me?” She smiled sweetly.
The bird squawked.
“The signal is not far from here. A ship docked at Bay 7.”
He kept pushing on her. Struggled to break her grasp.
“Guess I’ll have to visit his Captain.” She snatched him from the puddle and kicked him back down across the alley.
“I’m bored!” She called. “Could you do it?”
Phantom stepped out of the shadows now, looking down at the fleebeeron. He stood right over him, a bear wound up and ready to charge. The bird squawked repeatedly. Ianisse flipped himself over to back up, scooting across the ground. As Phantom reached down for him, he snatched up the baton that had been left. He stabbed it up, digging the prongs into the side of that alpha’s neck. Button pushed. The electricity jumped out, sparking around his entire neck. He gritted his teeth, growled. His helmet covered his eyes, the sharp teeth of the wolf jaws reaching for Ianisse’s head.
If he could scream, he would be shrieking right now. He pushed as hard as he could on the baton with both of his hands. He kicked up at the beast, hoping to strike a soft spot. Spectre had stepped off to the side to pick up the recording gadget.
“You might be thinkin’, hey, jus’ let the kid live! We already have the footage. I could! You would just try again.”
Crrrnch!
Phantom had ripped the baton out of the fleebeeron’s grasp. Used it to break his arms. He, too, toyed with Ianisse. Threw him around. Kicked him. Beat him into the floor.
“He dies. His bird dies.” She pointed at the camera. “You die. Whichever of you thought you could turn a daisy into a hunter, his blood is on your hands.”
The device crashed to the concrete, the eye lens cracking. The camera still had a view of the slaughter. Spectre stepped away. Phantom continued until the bird quieted down and the body only twitched. A white cream seeped out from the fibers of Ianisse’s body. It coated Phantom’s hands.
TWENTY-SIX
The moment they saw the baton fail, both Reaper and Jackal jumped up. They forgot about the rest of the recording. Jackal hit his hand to the desk, hitting the button to make a call over the intercoms.
“I need two medics to report outside the ship ASAP!” Jackal yelled. “We need a
medivac!”
“Fuck! Fuck!” Reaper kicked the desk. “We need to get him. We have to go!”
“Go, go, go!” Jackal waved his hand. Hit the button to open the door.
They rushed out, running as quick as they could go. The medics were barely ready, not even fully dressed. One must have been caught in the middle of a nap. Left in his skivvies, boots unlaced, and his jacket unbuttoned. A bag of medical supplies slung over his shoulder. The other had an extra pack and a stretcher on his back. He was the better dressed of the two, though shaving cream was still on the side of his face.
They wasted no time. Jackal and Reaper lead the way. Jackal had snatched up his pistol from under the desk, tucked into his pants. He was ready for the worst. Prayed he didn’t have to do it.
When they got to Ianisse, there was no sign of Spectre, or her friends. Ianisse was left crumpled up in a pool of his own white blood and dirty water. His bird had flown off to find Jackal and Reaper and helped them reach him.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck, man!” Jackal cried.
The medics were already working on stabilizing the fleebeeron. Gauze and bandages to stop the bleeding. Temporary braces. Tourniquets. Whatever it took to prep him for transport.
Reaper paced around the alley, scratching the back of his head. I never should have sent him. God, forgive me. He thought.
Jackal did his own form of pace. He checked around the corners and unlocked doors. Rooftops. Found the eyepiece Ianisse had been wearing.
“She’s gone fuckin’ psycho.” Jackal said.
“You would’ve killed him, too.” Reaper snapped.
“That’s not the point!”
“What’s the point then? That we shouldn’t have let him go?! We should have called him back sooner! We should have sent literally anyone else!”
“You know she’s on the run. She’s being hunted down. She fuckin’ told us. How could it have been a good idea?! Yeah, it worked out fuckin’ great, didn’t it?!”
“If she would stop being secretive, and let us help her, I wouldn’t have had to spy on her.”
Jackal shoved Reaper backwards.
“You’ve got to let her fuckin’ go! She doesn’t want us in that fight!”
The Soul Eaters (The Thin Hex Line Book 1) Page 21