Chapter Two - The Shank-Shank Redemption
"THIS CAN'T HAPPEN TO ME! I WANT MY MOMMY! I WANT A LAWYER! I want my lawyer's mommy!"
Gritting his teeth so hard it was audible in the cell shared with his partner, Felix put his pillow over his head as he growled.
"When I get out of here? That chickenshit who always yells is dead."
Welcome to the Black Vault. Asteroid detention center, a fancy name for an inescapable prison or so the warden believed. Nowhere to run even if you escaped, with every ship and their bio-signatures keyed to the pilots alone. Add in the extensive security details, the sentinel robots, the gangs who always seemed to form in these areas and a plethora of other fucked up shit? It made the Black Vault the fourth worse place Felix would have ever found himself imprisoned in. Opposite, doing pull-ups on the other side of the room would be Locus. Robotic motherfucker, as always showing as much emotion as the pillow that Felix even now was regretting putting over his face. God, did someone fuck this pillow?! The smell-!
Stoic as always, even without his helmet to obscure his voice, Locus answered as calm as though this was a normal debriefing instead of a lifetime sentence both had (rightfully) earned.
"If you kill him in public, it will limit your activities, which in turn limits mine. So if I have to tie you to the bed, I will if only to ensure our plan works. So learn some discipline for once."
Felix's reply was a very prominent finger as he scowled. He was right though-- They always worked better as a team and even stuck in the ass-end of the multiverse, they were even now working on a plan to escape. The problem was well... Everything. But they took on worse odds before.
An odd noise suddenly came-- No, wait. It was the absence of noise, that of Locus stopping his exercise. Did he decide to take a break? Curiosity began to rear its head and Felix glanced out from under his pillow at the sight of one of the prison guards, who said simply "Mail" and left, leaving a holocube behind. Locus was first to hold it, looking it over to ensure it wasn't a trap. You'd be surprised how small good explosives could be nowadays as well as other, less flammable surprises. It seemed clean enough though and with a nod of satisfaction, Locus moved it to the back end of the cell. Felix got up from his bunk to glance out in the hallway. Nothing yet, the patrols tended to remain in their guardhouses and let the cameras and robots alert them to trouble. Locus disapproved of their sloppiness, but any port in a storm so far as Felix was concerned.
The message activated, revealing a man in a white suit and a cane head that looked like a stuffed claw of some animal. Creepy taxidermy aside, Felix snorted. He had a feeling about this and sure enough, it was verified by his words.
"Mr. Felix and Mr. Locus. You two come highly recommended and by all accounts, are most capable men of action. I would very much like to meet you both, at these coordinates but alas...My employers are more discerning then I. Reputation, word of mouth- This is something that can be faked by anyone, with a facebook account nowadays so they demand more concrete proof. Beneath your bunk Mr. Felix, I have provided a single combat knife. Beneath yours, Mr. Locus I have left an M6D pistol with only six bullets. They should be more then enough if reputation is correct, to escape the facility."
Locus immediately checked and froze. Not an expression crossed his face betraying his state, but Felix had spent enough time with the bastard to know what he was like, when he was surprised. Sure enough, where both could have sworn there was nothing? Sure enough, there they were...A pistol and a combat knife, just as the man said. Felix grudgingly gave points for theatricality.
And deducted them all as the man continued blithely with the message.
"At least, before the explosives go off in about an hour from now."
"Son of a bitch-!!"
"Good luck gentlemen. Your test begins...Now."
And with that, the message died. Locus was swift, checking the pistol with a degree of raw professionalism most military folk would kill for as he removed a single bullet and turned to Felix.
"Cigarette."
The atypical currency of prison, no matter where you were. Handing over the lighter as well, Felix couldn't resist as he drawled.
"Need a smoke to calm your nerves?"
For himself, he prepared by checking the knife. A flick of the wrist sent it spinning around his. A spin on the open palm to determine balance and gripping it, he smiled grimly. No, it wasn't his knives maybe. But what it lacked in throwing specialty, it made up for in weight and heft for close combat. It was a good knife.
The sudden crack of the pistol butt coming down on the floor drove him out of his musing, Locus having dislodged the bullet as he carefully, held the casing and poured the gunpowder into the lock of their cell. Having accomplished this, he lit up the cigarette and took a deep draft, exhaling out the smoke and looking curiously at the burning tip.
Before casually, using it to ignite the gunpowder.
The small explosion rattled the cell lock and broke it, weakening it enough for both Locus and Felix to kick it open together at the newly weakened point. Felix laughed, stepping out, blade spinning in hand as Locus clicked the safety off his pistol and took point.
Guess who was back?
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The problem with a supposedly inescapable prison, especially in an isolated region? It was complacency. Day after day of unending boredom created laziness. Corners were cut and what should have been alerted to the system was silent, due to a faulty wire connecting the sensor to the door being cut a long time ago. Locus's work, his careful planning leading them up to the guardhouse where phase 2 could begin.
Before the door, hand over the button Felix glanced at Locus with a sly grin.
"Promise you won't cry if you lose to me in kills?"
"I won't." Locus replied grimly, a beat passing before he amended his words.
"Lose, I mean."
"Too late! Bwahahaha!"
The door slid open and Felix leaped in, unhindered by his armor and moving swiftly as the blade in his hand flashed. Locus contented himself, hammering the sides of his targets with the butt of his pistol. One surgical strike in comparison to Felix and his slow kills, the knife bleeding out his victims as he rifled their bodies for weapons. Locus would work on the prison security, opening every door as he looked for a very particular set of items- Aha.
There it was.
The only thing truly worth saving in this place, if they were going to have an easier time of it back out in the game. And as the riot began with the security bots going crazy and the prisoners free, Locus and Felix left as the screen displayed two particular sets of power armor. One green, one orange. It was time to leave this place for good.
Countdown, t-minus: 30 minutes....
Pandemonium filled the cell block as rioters charged and howled as they fought the guards that yet remained. Some left the sinking ship as soon as the alert came, leaving everyone to their fate. Still, others held the line, fighting to contain these criminals despite everything. Felix scorned those altruistic types, survival being the only paramount importance to him. Well... That and a nice paycheck. It was not like friendship paid for the guns and ammo, or that banks accepted smiles and cuddles. In that respect, Felix? In the eye of the storm of this place, as it all raged together?
Felix was right at home, only using his knife to stab anyone who tried to rush him. Locus continued on as stoic as ever himself, once grabbing someone by the head and crushing their skull against the wall. After that, the two were well avoided by the crowd before Felix glanced at the chrono on the wall.
"Five minutes. I got something I need to do."
"You have three."
With a curl of his lip, Felix went hunting-- There was one person in particular, someone he hated for a long time. Always screaming, never giving him a moment's peace. He was going to stab him before he left and maybe let him bleed out. A nice, parting gift before he got the hell off this dump. The place was all but empty now, the cell doors hanging open and the bodies scattered from the first few minutes- That was fine. If he knew this piece of shit, he would be cowering in his cell right about now.
The growing shadow as he glanced down was his only warning and saved him as he tumbled forward without hesitation, as something slammed down where he once was standing. Rolling to his feet and turning, knife up in a defensive posture Felix glared. He knew this guy..
"Hey! What the shit man?! Did I steal your dessert or something?! Hey. Wait."
That weapon. The one who just tried to shank him rose up slowly, his blade a curiosity to most. A pop-up, gauntlet dagger- hidden in the sleeve of the jumpsuit they all had issued to them. He knew that weapon, he'd seen it once...A long time ago.
"You're one of the boys in the hood! Er-- Not that I'm racist or anything."
He had known this particular prisoner, but only in the way you'd know someone who eats at the same diner you do. Always never paying real attention, beyond the cursory glance. Felix had pegged him when he first came as one of the Prison Ringleaders-- He always seemed to have a posse wherever he went. To his comment, the man sneered and stepped into a stance, hovering on the balls of his feet as one hand readied itself. The other one would be clenched in a fist, the obscure weapon gleaming. A tall, dark man...Adewale growled and spoke.
"Felix. Had I truly wanted to kill you, you would not have even heard me. I had ample opportunity many times over in my time here."
"So what, that was a love stab or something?"
"A way to get your attention. You are being used-- One of my people here is a psyker. There is a taint, where you and your partner had been staying. One of the daemon sort."
Whatever Felix might have been thinking, was hidden behind his expression. That of a grin, all teeth and no mirth as he cocked his head. His own stance holding his blade up, other hand bracing his knife hand as he spoke.
"You don't say! So what now then?"
"I was hoping you could come with us. Help me save as many people as possible and bring--"
When Felix moved, it was nothing flashy. Merely cold, calculating efficiency as he leaped for the assassin. Adewale countered, side-stepping his leap as he threw a punch, grazing the mercs head as he rolled and turned around, still wearing that grin. Adewale bellowed.
"Are you insane?! You helped bring down the Arch Demon! My contacts say there was a version of you that stayed to help in Gotham--"
"Okay, I'm gonna just stop you right there. First of all- That was personal. Second? That's not me. That's pussy-me. Someone who doesn't deserve the name Felix and who understands nothing of who and what I am. What I am is a professional. I'm a big believer in human nature and if there's anything about human nature?"
He flicked a glance down to the bladed weapon on Adewale's wrist and instantly leaped back as the assassin swooped forward to take advantage, the two blades scraping against each other as Felix grunted in between blows.
"It's--That--We--All-- Kill! For whatever reason! Me? I kill because I'm good at it and it puts food on the table. And in the end, it's all that really matters. And if I happen to get that rush, knowing I'm stronger--!"
He lashed out, blade coming from the side and the result was a streak of blood soaking the torn jumpsuit of Adewale, a grimace on his features as he ignored it and continued on. Felix continued to talk.
"--Faster, better?! Does that make me a monster? No."
He paused before a cell, smirking briefly as he spoke.
"--It makes me human."
"Then I do this for the--"
The sound of a gunshot echoed in the cell block and Adewale slumped over, a huge portion of his head blown away as Felix snarled and quickly calculating the direction, turned to look upwards behind him.
"You fucker. That was my kill!"
Locus de-cloaked, looking just as Felix expected. Their real faces weren't the ones they were born with, it wasn't the sort they showed to the world. To Felix, this was the face of his partner. The one they showed to the galaxy and he supposed multiverse at large. This expressionless, reflective visor adorning power armor of green and black. Aloud, Locus spoke.
"You were late."
He chucked down a box and the lid flew open, revealing Felix's armor as Locus added.
"You have ten minutes to change and meet me at docking bay six."
And once more, he vanished with only a shimmer in the air to reveal his passing as he left. Felix glowered and muttered under his breath as he began to suit up.
"Dick."
---------------
Leaving behind the prison as they flew, they didn't even so much as look back as the explosion took apart the asteroid. Felix, more relaxed now in his customary setting was examining the hidden blade with curiosity. Which was all it was really, it was incompatible with his armor and really, he didn't need any fancy blade to kill. But he was curious as to what he was doing there and glanced at Locus as the latter punched in a series of coordinates.
"So. What the fuck was up with that guy anyway?"
"Recruitment perhaps. Or merely keeping an eye on us, in some combination. It doesn't matter."
"... Right! Well! First of all, I am going to hang this somewhere nice and neat. Second, we are going to have a goddamned feast. That prison food was shit--"
Letting his partner continue to blather on, Locus tuned him out through ease of experience, letting his subconscious filter out the irrelevant parts as he considered more immediate matters. Their employer for one. It didn't matter so much who or what they worked for- So long as the check cleared, they were satisfied. But it was a fool who dove into a river, without checking for crocodiles.
And as they made the jump to warp, he wondered just who else was contacted by the man in white.
------------
All over the various worlds, in situations grim and atypical they were snatched or recruited.
A maniacal figure, cackling as she fired a minigun into a crowd, a shark-shaped rocket launcher strapped to her back....
A huge, bulk of a man on a desert world as he cleaved psychotic raiders left and right....
A hooded and masked figure, who burned the men who tried to take her on as fire streamed from her hands and feet....
And finally, in a distinctly roaring twenties locale, a redheaded man would be adjusting his tie in the mirror behind the bar. Shattered as it was in places from when he threw someone, enough remained that he was able to discern his reflection well enough. Whistling cheerfully, he plucked a fedora from a recumbent body and stepped out the door, leaving behind a bar full of twisted and broken bodies.
Six figures.
One goal.
The Man in White smirked, looking down at the pieces upon his chess board as he placed down the ones denoting Felix and Locus. Perfect.
"Sweet is suspecting I'm more than what I appear."
Accidentally knocking over some of his pieces, he sighed in vexation as he turned to regard his subordinate. One of his more skilled operatives, combining ruthless efficiency and an aura like a wounded dove, Yomi Isayama was one of the best investments he ever had. Now if only she'd get over her little complex and embrace her darker side more, she'd be perfect. Ah well. In time perhaps and in the tone of one talking to a rather dim child, he spoke.
"Of course he suspects. I couldn't care less really, so long as you do what you were told. So... To whit, let me see."
He ticked off on his fingers, one after the other.
"By saving those prisoners from Jackson, you played him to come back into our hands. We've weakened the Imperial Wasteland so the Brotherhood can march in force, leaving the majority of their forces tied up in the city. All in one place, once Revan arrives. So you see, my dear--"
He beamed and was suddenly very pleasant as he spoke warmly.
"You did very well. Just one question-- There was no one who could trace our involvement now, is there?"
"... No."
"Excellent! Dismissed then or what have you-- I have a game to set up."
He turned back to his board and patiently began to set up all the pieces, naming them one by one as Yomi left the room.
"Felix... Locus... Jinx... Azula... Kreig... And Mr. Stanfield."
He clapped his hands together and an altogether different, predatory grin appeared on his face from the one he gave to Yomi.
This was going to be fun.
