Phoenix's Tear Chapter 2

Phoenix's Tear Chapter 2

It had been months since that incident, and surprising my reputation hadn’t changed much, however somebody managed to kidnap Jade and took her to some research facility. I knew that I would be walking into a trap, but I figured I’d wing my way out of it as always.
“ARX start the engines up, let’s go find Jade,” I said to the little droid. He just started the engines up and aimed the freighter at “Omega Research Facility” on the moon. Hopefully, they wouldn’t know what hit them, and I was unaware of what I would find there…

Upon reaching the base I spotted somebody hiding inside a crater. I thought that she was waiting there for me so I landed on the other side of the crater and donned an exoskeleton suit equipped with a jetpack. I blasted off to her spot.

“I suggest that you don’t move,” I said to her with my rifle pointing directly at her head. She just turned around and I noticed that she had wings and antennae. Where in gods name did she hide those?

“Please don’t hurt me!” she begged. “My friend is in there and I really want to save her, but if I try to they’ll capture me as well.”
I was still a little dumbstruck to how there was a fairy, about my height, standing right in front of me. I raised the rifle and took out the two guards instead. She looked at me, like she I was going to assist her in rescuing her friend.

“Listen, now I’m doing this because a friend of mine is also in there,” I told her. “I have no intention on saving your friend I’m just doing what I need to do. But seeing as our goals, are the same you can tag along. But once I find who I’m looking for, you’re on your own. Deal?”

“Deal,” she said shaking my hand. Something in the back of my head was nagging me to help her, but I just ignored it.

“Before we go, what’s your name?” I asked as we reach the compound.

“Keri,” she said shyly. “What’s yours?”

“That would be Kaze, mercenary for hire,” I replied. Her face just lit up.

“Then did you get my message?” she asked.

“Ummm…I don’t think so,” I replied. Her expression went from overjoyed to depressed. ARX came rolling over the hill, claiming that there was a message addressed to me. He handed it to me. When I read it over, I just fainted. Keri just looked at me, as if wondering why that just happened.

“Are you seriously going to pay me this much to get your friend out of there?!?” I exclaimed holding the message that said she would pay me one-trillion dollars. She just nodded.

“I accept your job. Now you need something to defend yourself,” I said professionally. I opened my weapons trunk and sifted through the various weapons. “Grenade Launchers, Sniper rifles, Compact Rocket launchers, Fragmentation grenades, Guided rockets, Heat-seeking rockets, Miniguns, Mustard gas, EMP-generating grenades…Here we go. . At least this time I remembered to to disarm everything before I put it in.”
My joke fell on deaf ears, probably because the fairy had never been to earth or knew anything about its history. It was a little handheld dart gun, loaded with explosive darts.

“Oh… I didn’t think I was going to have to fight,” she said shyly.

“Well you’ve got to come with me, and since I don’t now what your lover looks like you’ll have to point him out to me,” I replied. Her face went totally red when I said “him”. She just whispered something into my ear.

“YOU’RE KIDDING,” I exclaimed. She just shook her head. “Well at least she won’t get suspicious.”

“Who, your girlfriend?” She asked mockingly. Now it was my turn for my face to go red.

“Enough of this chit-chat let’s get this over with,” I said trying to remain cool.

“Whatever you say, lover-boy,” She replied. I just stiffened up like I had been frozen solid.

“Let’s just drop it and get back to the matter at hand,” I replied, raising my gun up to her head. “Hands up.”

“What? You’re with them aren’t...” she started to say, until I winked at her, and . She looked into my visor and noticed some soldiers sneaking up on her.

“Its alright, I got this one,” I said as sternly as I could. The soldiers that were coming halted.

“Sir, we will take it from here,” one of the men said, grabbing Keri’s arm.

“No you’re not taking her,” I replied taking his hand off of her.

“What is the meaning of this?” another demanded.

“You don’t know what she capable of. She nearly buried me in that crater. If you were to take her, you would be in for more trouble than you could handle,” I said calmly. The soldiers nodded and allowed me to take her.

“Act like you are struggling to get free,” I whispered into Keri ear. She nodded and began trying to break free of my grip, I gave her a swift chop on the back of her neck and she was out cold. “I only need to do this until we reach the lab.”

It was like walking through a hall of mirrors. I had no clue which way to go.

“Excuse me, I’m new here and do not know where they are holding another being of the same kind like the one I have with me right now,” I asked a scientist.

“That will be very hard my friend. The lab for this type of specimen is held on level 10,” he replied with an Indian Accent.

“Well that sucks, is there any other way for me to reach it,” I asked again.

“You are in luck. I happen to be working down there and will gladly take this one with me,” he replied. I knew what he was going to do if that happened; I wasn’t going to let it. Keri had started to wake up from her little knock out.

“Sorry she’s quite a fighter I barely managed to take her out myself. It appears that she has gotten used to the fact that I will not harm her again, thus earning some trust. So if I hand her over to you something very bad might happen,” I said in a low tone.

“I see, your warning has allowed me to trust you as well. Since my shift shall begin rather shortly why don’t you accompany me to the area,” He replied.

“I’ll accept your invitation, but I have one request,” I said affirmatively.

“And what would that be?” he asked.

“That I remain on level 10 and have full access. I had heard that the first one wasn’t as troublesome so security was not needed, same with the second one, but since I’m going to be down there, might as well stay,” I replied.

“Your logic is years beyond your time. You are hereby promoted, to the rank of security commander with full access to all levels,” he replied, handing me a security card.

“Thank you, but that would mean that I would have to make sure that nobody slacked on my watch, correct?” I asked.

“Yes, indeed my friend. I wish I could see the look on the first person’s face when you push them along,” he chuckled.

“Look in a mirror,” I replied. His face went pale and ran to the elevator and waited for me. When we had reached level ten, I had noticed that there were no sleeping quarters and that the security measures were extremely high. I had a feeling that escaping was going to be harder than entering.

“What kind of a moron gives somebody he just met this much power, with no background checks or anything…what the hell has he been sniffing, Hashish?” I thought to myself.

“I sorry that there are no sleeping quarters here…” he started to say.

“It’s okay, I don’t mind sleeping at the desk,” I interrupted.

“Splendid idea. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Hashish, I am the head scientist on this level,” Hashish answered. I lost my balance for a brief second upon hearing his name. I mean really, what kind of parents give their kid a name like that? Some form of Hippie?

“Glad to meet, my name is …” I paused realizing that giving away my true alias would cause some difficulties. “My name is…Valzoa .”

“What an interesting name. Oh well, since today is part of a holiday, we do not allow testing on any specimen. Instead on each level, there is a Recreational Area we allow them to be in there every now and then. But on holidays we release them to spend as much time as they please,” Hashish said on the way to the Recreational Area.

“I do have one question for you?” I asked.

“And that would be what my friend?” He asked as well.

“What kind of parents would give their son a name like that? No offense of course,” I replied.

“Ah yes…My parents were Russian Hippies who did a lot of drugs in their time,” he replied. Again, I almost lost my balance again; sometimes I hate it when my guesses are right. Forget it, not going to ask him why he has an Indian accent if his parents are Russian. “If your wondering why I have an Indian Accent is because that is where I went to a two year college.”

“So, why do you have the woman here? It seems odd, why do you need her exactly,” I inquired.

“Ah, yes the woman, we use her as the control in the experiments on the other two, or else we wouldn’t know if there were any after effects obviously,” He replied. I simply sighed and gazed upon the entrance to the Recreational Area, which appeared to be something akin to a fortress gate with all the security measures in place.
Why is breaking out always harder then breaking in… I sighed once more as Hashish began undoing the security locks.

Inside, I saw Jade, and another fairy whom I guess was Keri’s “lover”. Hashish allowed me entrance to the dome, but only to put the new specimen in. I had argued that, since there is no testing on them today, that I would stay inside the dome, to observe them. He agreed that it was a good plan and allowed me entrance. Once the door was locked, I walked over to where the two were.
“Hey, what they put you in here for the secret of your ugliness?” I yelled at the two after setting Keri down. I knew what was to come and waited for it.

“I am not ugly,” they both said in unison, punching me square in the face, sending me flying into the wall.

“I don’t care what you say; Jade you’ve got knuckles made of brass,” I said rubbing my cheek.

“Kaze, what in the hell are you doing here?” Jade asked with a confused look on her face.

“Well let’s see now first I come to rescue you. Then I get a message from Keri here who wants me to save a friend of hers. Of course, I couldn’t refuse her offer so I went a head with it.” I replied. By that time the other fairy was already trying to see if Keri was okay. She gave me such a cold stare that it would turn anything to stone. Keri must’ve fallen asleep while over my shoulder, cause she was starting to wake up.

“What a nice nap, what time is it Sylvia…” Keri said drowsily. She had stopped in mid-sentence when she noticed the Sylvia was hovering over her.

“Beats me Keri,” Sylvia replied smiling. Both of their eyes were being filled with tears.

“Let’s leave these two alone, I’ve still got to figure out a way to get us out of here,” I said, walking away from Keri and Sylvia with Jade.

“What really took you so long to get here?” Jade asked.

“Okay, okay. So it took me a little longer than it should’ve to find this place,” I replied. “I’ve got to figure out a way to get us outside safely…”
Jade was looking like it was all her fault all this happened, I tried to comfort her, but it seemed as if it would be a waste. So I just got up walked over to a tree, climbed up and laid down and relaxed. It was great being in this dome; the air was so clean and fresh that it was a great place to be. I had started to drift into sleep when all of the sudden I heard screaming. I dropped from my branch and saw Jade coming towards me, and then I knew who was screaming, it was Keri and Sylvia. I ran as fast as I could to where I last saw them. When I got there, I saw several other bulky scientists looming over them and inserted myself between the two groups.

“Hey if you don’t want to get hurt I suggest you move, Robin Hood,” one of the men snarled at me.

“Get out of here you worthless pieces of shit!” I barked back to him.

“Or who’s going to make us?” Another asked sarcastically. “Certainly not you that’s for sure.”

“Yeah, since you won’t move, I’ll have to force you,” I said calmly. I activated the right gauntlet, retracted the claws and slugged the lead guy square in the face. “I am security commander Valzoa; I am here to make sure that no harm comes to these specimens.”

“Yeah right, like a runt like you could make that sort of posti…” the third started to say until my I.D. was right in his face. He just backed down and left with the other guys.

“Oh and if I see any of you three on this level again, I’ll personally see to it that you three will have wished that you obeyed my orders,” I yelled at them. They just started laughing, until all three of them had parts of legs shot. They all turned around saw and my rifle, smoking from its recent firing, aimed at their heads.

“By the way, my real name is Kaze…Mention it and I will kill you your associates, your families, and anybody else you’ve had contact with,” I sneered. They ran for the elevator, for they at least knew better than to mess with the most feared bounty hunter in space.

“Those twits shouldn’t be coming around here any more,” I said laughing. “You two alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, but I don’t know about Keri,” Sylvia whispered into my ear. I looked at her as if her life had flashed before her eyes several times, and was shivering like she had been violated.

“Hey, it will be alright they won’t be coming down here ever again, if they want to keep their heads intact, that is,” I said trying to sooth Keri. “And if they try something like that on you again I will take care of you. Okay?”

“Really?” she asked. That’s when I saw that she was crying. “Will you really take care of me?”

“Yeah, we all will,” Sylvia answered. Keri seemed so happy that she could start crying again. I ripped a piece of my shirt of and used it to wipe her tears away. Then she just collapsed into Sylvia’s arms, bawling. Sylvia, a little surprised at first started patting Keri on the back, and returned the hug and whispered sweet words of comfort.
Weeks passed by since then and those men never did return. Also I didn’t allow any sort of testing that would make Jade, Keri, and Sylvia feel uncomfortable. One day during their lunch time I walked over to Keri to ask her something about my pay.
“You weren’t really going to pay me that much were you?” I asked her.

“No, but you have to understand…” she started to say, before I put my finger on her lips to quit her, her face was bright red.

“Its okay, normally I would make the person pay, but seeming as if it was for something like this, I’ll let it pass,” I said.

“Well that’s a relief I thought you would’ve been angry at me for deceiving you,” she replied. I patted her on the back, and that’s when I figured out how we would get out of here.

“Jade, Sylvia come over here I’ve got a plan,” I yelled. The Recreational Area was to be a place of privacy so of course it was sound proof so nobody could here me, and it also meant that there were no cameras. The two ladies came over and I explained my plan on how to get out. They all agreed on that it should work, as long as ARX was ready.
The next day, Hashish had come down as usual to begin the day’s tests.
“Hey Hashish, how about we test them in Low-G, the data your about to collect is already on file,” I said to him as he passed by.

“Really? Have you been doing research that we are not aware of?” he asked. I just nodded.

“Well then I guess we can then, shall we go?” he replied.

“I’ll take them up you just make sure the equipment is all set up,” I said to him.

“Yes, that is a good idea. You are always one step ahead of me,” he replied rushing to the elevator. I walked over to Keri, Sylvia, and Jade’s chSylvias and told them today was the day. They got ready while I waited outside. Once they were ready I armed my rifle and headed to the elevator, but not after leaving a little surprise on the Research Facilities’ data base. When we made it to Level 1, the three scientists that had cause us trouble, and banned from level 5 and down, were standing right in front of the elevator. When they saw me they ran like there was a hit-man after them. I just walked by without noticing. When we reached the airlock, Hashish, put a little device on them, gave them, a jetpack, and an air helmet, with O2 canisters, incase they went too high. When we exited I pushed a little button on my right gauntlet that sent a signal to ARX that told him to stand by.
When they had started jumping I told them to wait for my signal then jump, my ride would be there to pick us up. On their tenth jump all three of them reached a height high enough so that they would only need a little boost from the jet pack to reach the Tear.

“Now, activate the jetpacks,” I yelled over the intercom.

“Roger,” Keri, Sylvia, and Jade said in unison.

“What is going on here? Valzoa what are you doing?” Hashish asked panic.

“Look on the main computer database in the meeting room, you’ll see,” I replied waving as I boarded the ‘Phoenix’s Tear’.

When Hashish called a meeting, he opened up the file marked fairy and a message appeared that stated: “You have been hacked, infiltrated and betrayed by Falcon, tell anybody of this and you will die, keep this to yourselves, this is not a warning but a promise.” They all stared at each other, as they knew if they lost Keri, Sylvia, and Jade, they would lose their jobs.