I flew through the air, aiming to land on the hood of Theodrus’ black sedan. As I flew through the air, I could see the man clearly. He was holding a large gun with six large barrels, definitely some type of grenade launcher. He was a lithe, greasy-looking guy. Grey pallid skin, and long pointed ears. Sharp features that were accented by a tailored maroon suit and a shirt with a high, sharp collar that seemed to be open nearly to his waist. Several necklaces hung around his neck. I found them to be odd; they weren’t silver or gold like you would find on Earth. Instead, these all had ambient glows of different vibrant colors. The man had a slightly receding hairline, and what remained of his slick blonde hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail.

  Theodrus saw me launch toward his vehicle as he began to panic, throwing the grenade launcher into the back seat and pulling a plasma pistol from a shoulder holster. He shouted at the thug driving and pointed toward me as the car swerved. I intended to land on the hood, but due to the car swerving, I landed on the driver’s side fender, my feet dragging the asphalt as I struggled to find a secure handhold. I glanced over to see that Dan and Brock had left the transport and were currently on the roof of the only remaining SUV, firing blindly into the cab as it swerved off the road, leaving only the sedan.

  “It appears you will be doing this on your own, Captain. I would suggest that you find a way to properly mount the vehicle before continuing your assault,” Sherlock said.

  “Ugh,” I grunted as I tried to pull myself up onto the hood of the car. “You are just a wealth of information and strategy, Sherlock.”

  “I do strive to assist in any way I can, Captain.”

  I finally pulled myself up onto the hood, stumbling a bit as the car continued to swerve. Before I could react, Theodrus fired three plasma rounds through the windshield, aiming to take me out. A blinding pain shot through my head as my arms crossed in front of me and pulsed, forming a defensive field that caused the plasma round to ricochet harmlessly away.

  I fell to one knee, trying to shake the pain from my head. “Ugh, what the hell was that?”

  Assistance… A strange voice echoed in my head.

  “Sherlock, was that you? Did you do that somehow?”

  “I’m afraid I don’t know what you are talking about, Captain. Are you okay? I would suggest you focus on the two enemies that are currently trying to kill you and limit the small talk.”

  I shook the pain from my head. I wouldn’t get any answers right now, and Sherlock was right, I had more pressing matters at hand. I stood shakily on both legs as the car swerved again. Theodrus and his thug were more focused on throwing me from the vehicle than they were trying to shoot me through a now shattered windshield. I looked toward our transport, it was still leading the sedan, and Red was standing in the back between the open swinging doors holding a large rifle and smiling maniacally. “OH SHIT!” I shouted as I braced myself to jump from the car. I flexed my legs as the pain shot through my head again. I looked down to see my arms warp and fluctuate once again as an almost imperceivable film stretched out and covered my legs. As I jumped, the force I exerted caused the front of the sedan to bury itself into the asphalt. As I jumped away, the vehicle flipped into the air, landing top down in a ditch beside the road.

  Assistance… The voice echoed eerily in my head again as I landed and shook the pain away.

  “Who are you? Who is talking in my head?!” I panted, trying to catch my breath.

  “Friend…Gift…Protector,” The voice said as my arms rippled in waves.

  “Are you saying that you are my armor? How are you talking to me?” I asked as I walked toward the wrecked sedan, Havok Blades drawn.

  “Learning,” the voice replied as pain shot through my head once again. The pain was lessening with each response, but it was still there.

  “Captain, are you quite well? Who are you speaking to?” Sherlock asked.

  “I’m not positive, but I think it’s the armor? or the gift? It’s in my head and just took partial control of my body…I think. I don’t know, and right now I have two thugs crawling out of this wrecked car, so I’m gonna have to come back to this.”

  “Are you inferring that the armor is now capable of speaking? That is…that is ludicrous!” Sherlock said, “Are you sure you didn’t hit your head back there?”

  I approached the vehicle as Teodrus and his thug got to their feet. They were bleeding from multiple wounds, and Theodrus’ left arm hung limply at his side. The man chuckled before opening his jacket and reaching his good arm inside.

  “Don’t even think about it,” I said, pointing the blade in my right hand at his throat.

  “Easy…easy,” he put his right hand in the air, showing a pack of stingers. “Just gettin’ a smoke, kid,” he put the pack to his mouth and pulled a lone stinger out with his lips. He winced and threw the remainder of the pack to the ground before pulling the stinger from his lips and spitting a mouthful of black blood onto the ground. “Now I see how you took down my whole security team. Gotta say I didn’t expect to run into one of Matthias’s squads.” Theodrus looked around, surveying the destruction before whistling. “Gotta say, I’ve known Matthias for a long time. We aren’t exactly what you would call friends, but I’ve never known him to go after someone’s business like this.” Teodrus put the stinger back to his lips and nodded toward a small fire burning on the underside of his sedan. I nodded, still holding my blade toward him. He turned and lit the stinger before taking a long drag. He coughed on the exhale before he doubled over and grabbed at his midsection with his good arm. “Something in there is broken. Shit this night just keeps getting better.”

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  I positioned the tip of my blade at his throat once again as he stood up. “What do you want?” I asked as Kindo, Dan, and Brock made their way to my side.

  “What do I want? What the fuck do I want? You attack my club and kill nearly my entire security staff, unprovoked, I might add, and you ask what I want? I want my pound of fucking flesh, that’s what I want!” Theodrus growled.

  “We did what we needed to do. We are wading through a river of shit and ain’t got damn near the time needed to go round askin fer permission from the likes of you, Theo.” Kindo said, stepping closer to Theodrus.

  “Kindo, me and you go way back, I’ve never ratted you out, never turned you down. If you needed something you could have asked. I’m sure we could have come to some sort of agreement,” Theodrus shook his head in frustration.

  “Theo, you got tied up in a mess that you can’t begin to understand. We made a call…I made a call, and I’ll be standing by that call.” Kindo replied.

  Theodrus looked to the ground, taking another long drag of his stinger. “What happens now, Kindo?”

  “Seems to me you got a couple of options. Option 1: You take your lumps and go back and lick your wounds. Build back and move on. Matthias will need some reassurances from you. We can’t have you deciding to come after us again. Nah…that just wouldn’t do.”

  Theodrus clenched his good fist, “Build back?! Do you have any idea how expensive a chaff security team is? How hard it will be to find replacements when they find out what happened tonight? I can’t operate my business without security; the girls won’t perform if I can’t protect them! You’ve ruined me, Kindo!”

  “That’s quite the conundrum, Theo…quite the conundrum,” Kindo stepped forward and put a hand on Kindo’s shoulder. The one remaining thug reached for the gun on his hip as a dagger landed directly between his eyes. Kindo turned to look as the thug slumped to the ground. “Oooh, looks like it just got a bit more expensive.”

  Theodrus’s shoulders slumped at the sight of his thug dead on the ground. Kindo turned back to Theodrus, “I know things look bad right now, I aint wanting to be in those fancy shoes of yers tonight. I got some good news, though. Matthias is always lookin to expand his business ventures. Now, he ain’t much for brothels, but I’m sure he would be interested in a share of the proceeds if he was to say… back yer efforts to rebuild,” Kindo leaned in close to Theodrus’s ear, “The man got some deep pockets, Theo. Ya know he does,” Kindo slapped him on the shoulder, causing Theodrus to gasp in pain. “Let bygones be bygones; I’ll talk to Matthias about becoming your silent partner. ‘For long yer business’ll be boomin again!”

  Theodrus clenched his jaw in anger, “Those are my only options?”

  “Course not!” Kindo bellowed before walking up and putting his hand on the shoulder of my still outstretched right arm. “I can let the boy here put a big ol whole in that greasy throat of yers. Be a lot less stressin on my part if you choose that option.”

  “No! no, I have been thinking about bringing on a partner anyhow. This is quite serendipitous, to be frank. I will wait on Matthias’s terms.”

  “Terms?” Kindo said, spinning on Theodrus again. “Terms are he gets half. No room for negotiation.”

  Theodrus frustratedly swallowed his retort before nodding. “Half it is. Anything else?”

  “Now that you mention it, yeah.” Kindo pointed a finger at me. “The boy here is missing a crew. We need to know where they are being held. Sounds like a few humans, a Phylaxian, and a Bio-droid. You hear anything about that?”

  “Whispers, only whispers. The Bio-droid is fighting in the pits. Real animal, from what I gather. Word is he has killed several council guards and ran through the competition like water. He is set to fight in the Council arenas in a few days. There is going to be a special tournament held to honor some newly arrived dignitary. It’s just been announced.”

  “What dignitary?” Kindo pressed.

  “I don’t know, nobody does. Must be important or influential, or both, if the council is honoring them with a special tournament. I’ve also heard whispers of some humans that were captured by a council strike team a couple of days ago. I don’t have any details, but I can do some digging.”

  My hands began to tremble slightly at the mention of my crew. This man had information; he knew where they were being held. This information, the fact that my friends were being held against their will, was all currency to him. I saw my arms begin to pulse again as the pain seared through my brain.

  “Kill?” the voice asked as my grip tightened on the Havok Blade. I was sweating and breathing heavily as I pushed back against the gift. “No, not yet. Don’t kill him yet.”

  Theodrus’s eyes went wide watching me. “I…is this one okay?” he stammered.

  Kindo smiled wryly, “Nah. The boy here is a bit off to tell the truth. Might not want to be settin him off, know what I mean?” Kindo spun a finger in the air and whistled, “Load up boys. Time to be getting home.” He put a hand on my arm and spoke softly, “We’ll be getting ‘em, boy. Now ain’t the time to settle scores. That’ll be comin later.”

  I took a deep breath and dismissed the Havok Blades back to my storage before silently turning toward the transport van.

  “One more bit of information.” Theodrus shouted, “It seems that one of your humans is working for this mysterious dignitary. Better keep a close eye on this one since it seems they like to jump to the highest bidder.”

  Anger flashed through my entire body as I spun on Theodrus. My arms exploded as my killing intent became apparent. I jumped into the air as Kindo reached for me to try and calm me. It was too late, I was halfway to Theodrus. I recalled my Havok Blades in mid-air. Theodrus’ eyes went wide at the realization of what was happening. He reached his right hand behind his back and pulled a small pistol from his waistline, raising it in my direction.

  Theodrus fired a single plasma round in my direction. I twisted my body in the air, dodging the shot. I landed in front of him, swinging the blade in my left hand down, removing his only good arm. He gasped and stood wide-eyed eyed trying to understand what had just happened.

  I stood directly in front of him and smiled, “People like you made me a killer. You think that having information makes you untouchable? I already got what I needed,” I leaned closer and whispered, “You’re expendable.” My arms pulsed as they shot above my head, reversing the grip on my blades before bringing them both down through his shoulders in an X pattern, piercing him at the top of both shoulders and exiting below the rib cage on either side.

  Theodrus gasped and began choking on his blood. His eyes still wide with shock his legs began to give out. My arms pulsed again as they released their grip on my blades and grabbed Theodrus by the sides of his head to keep him from falling. I let it happen, I held him in front of me and watched as the life left his eyes, one final gurgle escaping his lips.

  When he was dead, I threw him to the ground and silently turned to walk back to the van.

  Red stood near the back door, completely sober. “Jesus, Cap. What the fuck? What happened to you?”

  I sat in my seat and buckled my strap as everyone silently entered the van. “I’m a weapon, that’s what they wanted. They just never expected the weapon would be used on them.”

  I sat silently as the van continued toward the compound. A slight pain shot through my head as I squeezed the bridge of my nose and heard the mysterious voice utter a singular word.

  “Retribution….”