One x One Blacksun (Notorious x C.DEX) - Solo Stories

[C.DEX]

The posts in this thread serve as extra background stories for miscellaneous characters.

Main thread is located here.​

 

[C.DEX]

Green Eyes​

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"How many people did we lose, Geralt?!" a man shouted, decked in haphazard EVA gear. He grabbed the throat of another man, the heavy mishmash clothing protecting him from being completely throttled. Still, it was a scene of fear. One of intimidation; a gathering of loose cannons, all seconds away from slitting each others throats. But he didn't let them. He brought order to them all, and if he had to do so with an iron fist, so be it. "HOW MANY?!" he shouted, wisps of saliva gracing the front of the man's mask. "TAKE OFF YOUR FUCKING MASK WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU!"


Geralt shook, the idea of having an enraged, spitting man close to his face without proper protection not the most exciting thing, in his mind. Still, he obeyed, as he and many others on the ship were inclined to do when they had found an angry man with a knife in their face. His hand reached up, depressing the button on the side of his neck and sliding his helmet down. He was a human, with a deep scar going across the front of his face.


"Jesus fuck, you're an ugly motherfucker, Geralt. You get warmer weather near the equator with that fuckin' thing, dude? Top and bottom of your face get chilly, you fuckin' planet?" he hissed. "How'd you get that?" the angry man asked, tone softening for a moment, but he still maintained his painfully close distance to Geralt. He'd stopped spitting, thankfully, but the entire room's attention had drawn to their encounter, the boss-man having stopped his tirade to focus in on the man's face.


"I... er... I-I..." he stammered, driven into nervousness by the sheer absurdity of the situation and the attention. That was, of course, before a sole hand had shot up. Geralt teetered uncomfortably, the crazed boss staring at him until he'd seen movement in the corner of his eye. He looked toward it, to find their sniper sitting on the ledge of the window, feet dangling carelessly, hand raised as if answering a question in a classroom.


"...Yes, B?" he asked. "Now this, everyone, is a fucking Derelict." the boss said, finally letting go of Geralt to gesture toward the one he deemed 'B'. "What is the answer to my question? Who put a band around Geralt's ugly motherfucking face and squeezed? Who bissected Geralt's face?" he asked, getting closer and closer to B, who seemed rather unphased by the action. When he had gotten uncomfortably so, he nearly took his voice down to a whisper. "Who ... Who hurt Geralt, B?"


The green-goggled sniper, whose gun rested neatly against his inner thigh, chuckled. "That'd be you, Taker." he said, breaking the silence.


"I did?" Taker asked, cocking his head in unfeigned curiosity.


"Last month. Remember?" B replied, imitating his head turn.


"I do not recall." he replied, eyes shifting to the side of his head. "WELL! Irr-e-fuckin'-gardless, we have to go back to the question at hand. Since you're my buddy, and you like proppin' that little hand up like a good student, can you tell me how many people just FUCKING DIED?! SINCE GERALT CAN'T?!" he said, voice coming to a sudden shout. B raised his hand to his own face, pinching an armored chin as he fell into thought.


"Um... Everyone who ran off to chase the 'Gader. Lets see... that's... Ili, Mora, Tett, Yiddin, Huffin, Puffin, T.Jax, and Forbes, I would think." B replied, eyes turning upwards to take a population count of the room. "Yes, that would be it, Taker." he concluded, with a small nod of his head. Taker wrapped an arm around his neck, pulling him into a hug.


"That's my boy!" Taker shouted, looking to the rest of the room. They looked on at him in wide-eyed silence, his insanity dwarfing the rest of theirs. Some had been injured, mortally so, their groans filling the empty space in the air as both B and Taker went silent. They had spent an uncomfortably long time like that, until Taker had turned his eyes to the rest of them. "Now ... while Hatchet is over there, fighting for his life, some of y'all nearly joining him as you stormed out there to try and get yourselves killed ... did you think ... did you think at any moment, that maybe - just maybe - it was not pertinent to the mission at hand to FUCKIN' STORM OUT OF THE SHIP AND GET YOURSELVES KILLED?! DID YOU THINK ABOUT THAT AT ALL? BECAUSE IF THERE'S ONE THING I DO NOT LIKE, IT'S. FUCKING. TRAINING. NEWBIES!" he screamed, voice cracking at his own volume.


"Erm, most of the people ... who tried to follow em ... well, most of 'em died - they're not here, Undertaker." a woman said, speaking out for the rest. Taker approached her as well, and she'd felt a pang of regret as he had.


"If ... if you weren't out there, Sarah, then shut the fuck up, 'cause I'm not talking to you." he said, pointing an accusatory finger at her.


"Can we go back to our rooms?" Sarah asked, crossing her arms over her chest.


"...You may, but let this be a lesson to you all: stop doing stupid shit! WE DON'T DO STUPID SHIT JUST BECAUSE WE'RE DERELICTS, 'ELSE WE'D RUN OUT OF HANDS, AND THAT OUT THERE?! THAT WAS REAL. FUCKING. STUPID! CLASS DISMISSED!"

 

[Notorious]

Like Father, Like Son
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“He’s rotten to the core… You just don’t see it yet.” Ajax’s words came back to him, haunting him. Taunting him. Those very same words came to reality, those same words he had spoken to someone else who had also ironically been the same as his father. Evil, just waiting to resurface. He winced in pain as he looked at himself in the mirror, hardly even recognizing himself. His eye was blackened, his face cut up and bleeding. What blood wasn’t wiped away had stained the very stubble on his face as the eighteen year old man gave himself a long, hard look at what happened to him. He couldn’t believe this was the situation he was in, a little girl crying at his feet as he tried his best to stitch what remained of his own face up.


“Ajax… Why did daddy do this?” The blond curly headed girl asked, sitting on the dirty bathroom floor of the shuttle they were on. She didn’t want to leave her brother’s side, not while he looked like this. Especially now that they were officially alone. “Why did he hurt you?”


“Daddy…” Ajax echoed, “Is a bad man.” He said, feeling a deep pain inside of him as he actually uttered those words to the young four year old girl. “He hurt me because he... “ Ajax couldn’t believe he was telling his little sister this. She had upheld her father Axel as a hero, she had no idea in the slightest he had been capable of such evil. “He...doesn’t love us anymore.” This broke the little girl’s heart even more but it needed to be said. She needed to know that this wasn’t a dream but a harsh reality, she was old enough to understand. Barely. “Hey. Ayla.” He added, leaning down to her level. He groaned in pain as he lowered himself down painfully slow, clutching his side as his face hadn’t been the only thing Axel broke. “It’s not your fault. It’s not my fault either… Just… That isn’t your daddy anymore.”


“Ever since Auntie Dayle go away he… he…” The little girl couldn’t help but let it all out, “He not daddy anymore!” She wailed, mimicking what Ajax had said but trying to express how she felt to the best of her ability. She hugged onto his leg and he held her close, tearing up himself seeing his little sister in so much distress. The poor child hadn’t been ready for such a traumatic experience after losing someone she loved dearly. She had lost her ‘Auntie’ Dayle only a few weeks ago, now her father had gone berserk and nearly killed Ajax. “Are you okay ‘Jax?”


“Don’t you worry about me Ayla. I’ll be fine, this? Nothing can hurt your brother.” He said, smiling through the pain, although he looked like something out of a horror movie. “Now you sit right here and I’m gonna clean all this ick off me. Okay?” He ruffled her hair as Auntie Dayle did before, something that reassured and calmed the girl just a little as Ajax returned to look at himself in the mirror. He was silently panicking as he had never been this badly hurt before, he felt numb to it, thankfully, but it was a lot to deal with.


Little did he know this was just the beginning of his pain. Both physically and mentally. He was now a young man all alone in the universe, having to take care of a little girl who could barely talk properly.


“Lucy… pick up… Come on…” Ajax said, looking down at his communicator. The small device had a cracked screen and was on it’s last leg, damaged beyond repair from the encounter with his father. “Please Lucy… Come on sweetheart pick up..” He whispered into the communicator as Ayla was too busy crying into his leg. When she didn’t answer Ajax threw his communicator across the room, the device shattering completely all the while startling Ayla. “Damn it…” He groaned, going back to fixing up his face the best he could. Ajax wiped his brown hair out of his eyes and slicked it back as he tried to clean the caked blood on the side of his face off. It was a long process as he continued to patch up his face as Ayla continued to cry at his feet. It wasn’t long before he was finished however, picking up his little sister and walking back out into the lobby of the shuttle.


An impatient passenger pushed past the two only to see the bloodied mess Ajax had left behind. “WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED IN HERE?!” A muffled voice shouted as the door closed behind them. Ajax took his seat, fortunately a windowed one as Ayla sat in his lap and looked at the passing stars and lights outside. This calmed her greatly, as did Ajax as he didn’t have to listen to her cries anymore. His head was still pounding but he had taken himself plenty of military grade painkillers, one of the few things he had managed to take from the house before Axel had tore it apart.


“Attention all passengers-” A robotic voice cut out through the night after both Ajax and Ayla had taken some much needed rest on the shuttle ride. “-We are now arriving at: Galacrea Prime. Please remain seated as the transport lands at the shuttle port. If you are looking to shuttle to Galacrea V or Crios Station please look for the ‘TripTitan’ kiosk to purchase tickets. We thank you for flying TripTitan! Have a pleasant day.”


“Ajax…” Ayla mumbled, tugging on her brother’s shirt collar. “I’m hungwy.”


“I know sis… Let’s…” He groaned as he felt the pain from his side flair up as he spoke. “Let’s land and I’ll get you something to eat, okay? Here, hop up.” Ayla obeyed and slid off of Ajax, sitting next to him in the empty seat adjacent to them. Ajax looked out the window to the planet they had booked their flight to, one that Axel would hopefully never find them at. Galacrea Prime was a massive planet, one that even the Coalition didn’t dare travel to as it was one of the only few planets that the Exodlites could not attack directly due to its massive defense matrix. That was because it was a solar system all on its own, a ring of automated defenses that made it near-impossible to siege. There were six planets in total all within close range of one another, all pulled in by Galacrea Prime’s orbit which orbited a massive sun.


“Wooow…” Ayla called out as she seen just how massive the planet known as ‘Prime’ was. It was the largest planet the girl had ever seen, blowing her mind how much bigger it was than her homeworld of Terram or just how much it dwarfed the RCN-1. “That’s a bwig planet!” She said with a giggle, the first that Ajax had heard come out of the sweet little girl’s mouth since the incident. He smiled softly, knowing that while she was looking at the planet with wide-eyed enthusiasm he was looking at it as a prison. One he couldn’t escape from. He had no money, no vehicle, no family. He had to take care of a little girl on a strange, foreign planet. Alone.


As they breached the atmosphere both the siblings got a good look at what was in store for them on Galacrea Prime. Nearly the entire surface was covered in buildings, revealing that while the pretty planets orbiting it looked much more inviting Prime itself seemed to be a bustling city planet with a countless amount of buildings and skyscrapers that nearly reached past the atmosphere. It was a haunting reminder how many races and just how many people were out there, billions living on Prime and countless more living in the surrounding planets. Seeing this, Ajax grew more anxious having to raise a little girl alone in a city like this. Before he had the financial assistance of his father while Ajax went through military training with the Renegades but now they were cut off and isolated.


The only people that could possibly help them were either dead or missing. With Ajax’s communicator busted now none of them could even find them. He hugged Ayla as they landed in one of the city's many shuttle bays, trying his best to reassure the girl that they were going to be okay. As soon as they left that freighter they had begun to get impatient with they quickly wished that the ride there had never ended. All of the familiar passengers exited the ship without a passing glance to them, all funneling to their next destinations or remaining planet side as they all went their separate ways.


“Ajax I’m hungwy!” Exclaimed Ayla, regaining her brother’s attention. He let out a helpless sigh, quickly grabbing her by the hand and leading her over to a nearby cafe by their terminal. While his body was ordering his sister food his mind was elsewhere, he didn’t even notice the aliens starring at the wounded man escorting the little girl around. They took a seat when Ayla got her food, only for her to spit it out and groan. “Gross!” She said, spitting out the food even though Ajax knew for a fact she liked it.


“Please… Ayla… You have to eat.” He whispered, “Even if you don’t like it you need to eat…”


“I don’t like it!” She moaned, “I’m not eating it!” Ajax felt his blood pressure rise as the picky eater demanded something different. He sulked back up to the counter and ordered her something else. When he opened his wallet and found that there were no more yens left he nearly broke down there. The alien working the counter eyed him, followed by looking at Ajax’s empty wallet then to the distraught man’s face.


“Kid.” The alien spoke, “Chin up. This next dish is on me, just… Take care of that little girl alright?” As he passed the dish of food to Ajax he could hug the stranger for his random act of kindness. He swiftly offered his thanks and brought the food over to Ayla who chowed down thankfully while Ajax quietly ate the food she had left to get cold. That poor little girl had no idea how bad things were about to get, the beat up brother simply watching as his sister enjoyed one of the last full meals she would get for a while. He knew he had to find work soon, he had to find shelter now. He had to provide for someone who couldn’t possibly understand their situation and thanklessly do it.

End of Scene 1 - Alone​

The next few days disappeared in a blur, partly because they had to move on foot as they couldn’t afford transportation. Ajax didn’t trust anyone nearly enough to let Ayla walk on her own so he simply carried her nearly everywhere they went. She wasn’t complaining as her feet hurt non-stop, the poor little girl either crying or just hazily looking around. They barely had any food in them, only the clothes on their backs and some essentials Ajax had managed to snatch before getting caught by their father. They spent their nights trespassing in public buildings, catching a quick nap hiding under desks or inside the gap created by store shelves. One terrible night they tried to sleep outside underneath a bridge with the other transients that had gathered there but Ajax couldn’t stop Ayla from screaming or weeping in her sleep so he walked all night among the other sleepless citizens on the street.


“Ajax…” Ayla whimpered after one particularly rough day. “Why… doesn’t… daddy... love us anymore?” She was nearly all out of tears as she clung onto her exhausted brother’s back, wanting answers. “I’m… so hungwy and… I miss… Daddy… and Lucretiana… and… Vitty and… I miss Auntie Dayle the most…” It sounded like the tired little girl was begging for Ajax to bring them all back. But, he couldn’t.


“He doesn’t love us because we ran away… Because… I ran away.” Ajax confessed. “He’s not daddy anymore Ayla. He attacked me because I was taking you away from him… Because you weren’t safe with him any longer. Not after Auntie Dayle died.” Ajax held her tighter, “He’s not daddy anymore.” He finished, causing the girl to bury her face into his neck as she kept an eye on their backs. After some time, he reassured the girl. “Nothing bad will ever happen to you while I’m around Ayla. I love you too much to give up… I’ll do anything for you. You know that, right?” He felt a soft nod on his shoulder as she was lulled to sleep by his footsteps.


Ajax resorted to stealing. Nothing big at first, certainly, but he grew to learn how easy it was to provide for Ayla when he resorted to things that were once beneath him. He quickly found a way to scope out targets, prime for having their pockets picked. He would leave Ayla sitting on a bench and simply grab their wallets as swiftly as he could before returning to her and acting as if nothing had happened at all. Ayla however noticed him doing this time and time again. She miraculously knew it was wrong even at her age but sadly she was too hungry and cold to scold her brother for doing it. He was trying his best with no skills outside of piloting a ship and that was out of the question, no one would hire someone with no proper documentation. They were trapped.


It wasn’t long before Ajax had stolen enough money to get noticed by the authorities. It came with the territory of being a criminal. Close call after close call made him nearly lose Ayla so Ajax moved them both deeper into the city planet than before. They had stayed near the space port just incase they ever wanted to leave but that was no longer an option. He was simply too broke to buy them both passes again, even to the other planets in the Galacrea system. He had applied to job after job, place after place, sleeping in the worst parts of the city only to be denied each and every time. He had no resume, no past work experience, each time he mentioned the RCN he was escorted off the premises.


Ayla was dreadfully hungry.


The crying and the moaning for things Ajax couldn’t provide was beginning to stress him out more so than ever before. The poor girl just wanted to eat a full meal, even resorting to eating whatever Ajax gave her as it was all he could muster. Along with pickpocketing people he had also resorted to dumpster diving for food as well as getting on his hands and knees to beg for it outside of shops. Ajax was slowly becoming a broken man, one that was becoming more and more unhinged by the day. He hadn’t even realized they had been homeless for over two weeks before he snapped.


“I’m hungw-”


“I fucking know.” Ajax said bitterly to Ayla, only to watch as his hurtful words made the girl recoil in surprise. Then, the waterworks came. “Oh shit… Ayla I’m… I’m so sorry.” He tried to hug her but she pushed away as she sat on the dirty concrete ground. They were squatting outside a rather busy building, one that Ajax had been scouting out to find either food or money around. They had a lucky break recently and had just enough to buy Ayla new clothes and to feed them for a few nights but now Ajax’s wallet was completely empty. “Tell you what…” He said hoarsely, “I’ll buy you anything you want today. Just name it and I’ll get it for you.” He seen her tears start to dry up as she heard his words. “Anything. Even if I don’t have the money I’ll get it for you… Promise.”


“I want… chicken!” She said, grinning at Ajax. “And lots of it. My belly empty!” Ayla exclaimed, patting her empty stomach with a big exaggerated frown on her face.


“Then chicken you’ll get Ayla. Now… Remember where I told you to stay?” Ajax stood up, knowing that Ayla wasn’t going to like this. “If anyone finds you, you walk into this building right here and I’ll come find you. Don’t go too far in if you have to, okay? I’ll bring back chicken.” Ayla hugged Ajax finally then rushed to her hiding spot, a long unused storm drain that they had been calling home. It was big enough to fit the both of them if Ajax cramped himself inside but it was primarily so no one took Ayla. “Good girl, I’ll come back for you.” Ayla closed up the drain and then departed, he was now on a quest for chicken.


Ajax spent hours trying to get the money for that damned chicken. He tried to pick people’s pockets but they were growing smarter with how many other people were doing it. He tried begging for money, he even tried begging the restaurant directly for something old. Anything would do him. It took him nearly four hours to get enough yens for Ayla. His body ached and he had never felt so low and disappointed in himself ever before, he had spent four hours making enough for a small meal. For one person. Something had to change.


“Ayla?” He called out, the storm drain bursting open as she rushed out to meet him. She snatched the bag of food out of his hands and devoured it as if she hadn’t ate in months. She had tears of joy as she tore apart her meal, then, noticed that Ajax had nothing. Ayla began to raise the box of food to Ajax who promptly declined it, the little girl sensing that Ajax really wanted food forced him to eat just a little. “Thank you…” He whispered weakly, scarfing down the hard earned food as they both shared the littlest victory imaginable together. “I can’t… keep forcing you to live like this Ayla. I’m… a bad brother.”


Slap!


Ayla struck Ajax across the face, nearly dropping the rest of her food as she did so. “Never say that!” She practically roared at him, her tiny little hands balled into fists. “You are the bestest brother I can have! You are working so hard… In a place that don’t want us to be! You got me chicken!” She exclaimed, “I love you Jaxy… Please don’t be sad.” She rested her head on his arm, “You are more like daddy to me than daddy ever was. Please don’t be sad broder… You’re... not a butt anymore.”


Ajax broke down and wept like a baby as Ayla patted him on the back while scarfing down chicken. He was officially broken, the only thing holding him by a thread was Ayla and her sweet words that motivated him. It motivated him to provide for her by any means necessary. She was the only good thing left in his life and he would never give up on her, no matter what sort of bad luck became of them he would never give up. He held onto Ayla as she finished eating, the little girl tossing the box on the ground then returning the hug. She slept with a full belly that night while Ajax suffered, he was okay though, he suffered for her.

End of Scene 2 - Suffer​

The next several days weren’t much better. When they had the chance they ate, more often than not water wasn’t a problem, their sleeping places rotated to whichever spots were vacant or not being watched. The longer the days went on the deeper they went into the city, eventually arriving in a rougher area of town. While Ajax didn’t like risking a little girl like that they had no choice, the authorities drawing closer and closer in the more crimes he committed. They soon traversed to a location known as the Undercity, where those unfortunate such as Ajax and Ayla were forced to live in due to not making it up on the upper plate.


The sky was blacked out by massive metal plates as they practically lived underground now. The sun managed to shine down through cracks in the plating as well as massive sky lights that allowed some natural light in but most of it had been covered by other skyscrapers. These were the slums OF the slums, the majority of the population above had no idea what was happening here. Gang violence, warring clans of aliens fighting one another in the streets, drug dealing and more. It was certainly no place for a little girl so Ajax did his best to hide her and to shield her eyes from the terrors from the Undercity but it was a tougher job than anything he experienced before. He was thinking of returning to the surface and begging for a way off planet, perhaps even returning to the Coalition for help. Perhaps they could have mercy on him, perhaps he could make it off world and become a pilot again like he had once thought he’d be.


That’s when he seen it: The Undercity’s Fighting Pits.


It was a bloody business, but one Ajax knew he’d rather do than face his father again. He knew if he returned Ayla would be looked after but not safe while his fate was undetermined. He barely survived his last encounter with his father, a second could prove to be fatal after what he had done. It was no longer an option. Before Ajax knew it he had registered to be one of the Pit’s many fighters that night, luckily for him the establishment offered a safe place for Ayla to be while he fought for them. They were fortunately a legitimate company and for the first time in a long time someone had pity for Ajax and his little sister, the two of them looking so pathetic it was hard not to even in the Undercity.


“We’ll get you cleaned up, your knuckles wrapped. There’s only two rules here… No nut shots and you listen to what I tell ya. You can bite, you can headbutt, you can rip and tear. Whatever you want… Just don’t hit the family jewels. That’s what cowards do and it’s bad business.” The Manager spoke to Ajax as he met privately with him before his first fight. He was a fat Ulyx with thick green skin and a nose that would put an anteater to shame. His voice was gruff but nasally, thanks to his protruding nose. “Are you a coward, boy?”


“No sir… I… I just want to provide for my little sister is all. I’ll fight anyone, anytime for her.” Ajax let out a grunt, “Pair me up with a Saur even. I ain’t afraid of shit.”


“Slow down there Cowboy… Heh… Cowboy. I like that about you, son. You’re gonna make me a lot of money. I’m Talo, the head manager of this place. You met our recruiter Reebo and that creepy Vekht bouncer already.” Talo grunted as he pushed a data pad towards Ajax. “On account of us giving shelter for your little sis and you begging to provide for her… You look strong enough… maybe not old enough but I’ll let it slide. I’m gonna give you a big one tonight for your debut. You do good out there, your money goes up, so does your notoriety. You start filling seats out there with your performances…” The Ulyx grinned at him, “We’ll push you up to the over city. Get you in a more… legitimate fighting company. Kinda shit that gets pushed to the holonet. That’s where millionaires are made.” Ajax’s eyes lit up, only for the Ulyx to dimmen them once more. “Only two of the people that fight in the pits have made it there. Now listen kid… Other than those rules I said before… You break this one and I’ll kill you where you stand…” Talo leaned forward, “Don’t you fuck me, Cowboy. You got it? You ever try to fuck me I won’t just kill you… I can do a whole lot worse that hat. Understood?” Ajax nodded, not liking Talo’s tone but he couldn’t argue with the man offering him his first paycheck. “The fights start in an hour, you’ll be the second one of the night. Your opponent is a Crux, should be easy enough. You humans are more sturdy than those spider freaks. You beat him, you get a bonus. You get beat, we’ll patch you up on your dime… If there is anything left to patch up.” Talo motioned his hand toward the door, “Say goodbye to your sister. Lot of fighters die in there.”


Ajax hesitantly nodded and made his way out, meeting Ayla in the dressing room right before his first fight. Surprisingly each fighter got their own room in the dark, smelly Undercity of Galacrea Prime. This was just what Ajax needed for Ayla, someplace to sleep safely. She rushed over to him and was already shaking at the thought of him fighting.


“You… Shouldn’t… do this…” She whispered. “You are gonna get hurt again… Please… Let’s go. I don’t need to eat I… I promise!” Ayla lied, trying her best to convince Ajax that everything was alright. “They’ll hurt you!”


“Listen… Ayla... I can take care of myself. I got training from the RCN and more importantly…” He didn’t even want to bring up his name. “Axel taught me a lot about fighting. I can… I can take care of myself. This is our only option. It’s either this or I go do something worse and… I can’t bare the thought of you hating me for the things I’m willing to do for you Ayla… Just… Keep the tv off, I don’t want you watching what I’m about to do. Okay?” She nodded softly while Ajax began to wrap up his hands in athletic tape, padding his knuckles and his hands just enough before standing up. He swiftly got changed into what they provided for the fighters, ditching his raggedy clothing he had been wearing since leaving the RCN-1 and pulling up the simple black shorts they had left out for him. Ajax was fairly athletic looking but he had slowly become skinnier and skinnier from the lack of food, the fact that his body was also for the most part unscarred made him look like a much weaker fighter than the ones he had seen fight before. No telling who or what the citizens of the Undercity had seen fight.


After gearing up, Ajax warmed up his muscles and got ready for a fight. He had done plenty of it before in training but nothing quite like this. In the grand scheme of things he was still a boy, one that was way in over his head. The fighters received no mouth guards or anything of that nature, so, with that, he began to walk out of the room. Ayla quickly rushed him and gave him one last hug for good luck before Ajax exited and headed out to the hallway to wait for his cue. A lump in his throat formed as he watched the first fighters go out and meet in the center of the fighting pit. There was a single screen on the door showcasing what was happening outside showing just exactly what horror he had gotten himself into.


Two fighters entered the pit and absolutely demolished each other. This wasn’t a normal combat match for entertainment, this was life and death. Talo had made it seem like there was a future in this business but Ajax began to feel self doubt as he watched a Saur literally rip a Corscezzi from its host body and onto the ground. With a deafening roar from the patrons of the arena the Saur brought his foot down straight on top of the defeated Corscezzi killing the poor parasite. After showboating his victory the Saur walked right past Ajax, smiling at him.


“That’ll be you next, fresh meat.” He growled as he shoved himself into Ajax hard, surprising the boy at just how tough that Saur had actually been. “I eat humans like you in the pits for fun!” The warrior shouted, laughing as he did so.


“You eat us huh? For fun?” Ajax retorted, a familiar looking smirk creeping up on his face. “You need to get a better hobby guy.” The Saur stopped in his tracks and the other fighters lined up behind Ajax all went pale. They all seemed to scatter as the Saur began stomping his way back up to Ajax.


“Did you just talk back to the great Threk?” The Saur growled, turning around quickly and rushing up to Ajax. “I have killed many in these fighting pits… Not because they told Threk to but because Threk want to! I kill puny human if speak to Threk like this!”


“Threk could use a breath mint, god damn.” Ajax said, laughing as he waved his hand in front of his face to dissipate Threk’s breath. “Could get you a dictionary too pal, you’re speaking all backwards. ‘The mighty Threk eats human ass and squishes Scezzi! BOW BEFORE THREK!’ “ Ajax mocked, laughing in the Saur’s face. Without thinking Threk reached out to grab Ajax but he bounced back on his feet just out of reach just as the arena doors were opening for him to go fight. “Duty calls, fuck face. Quit being a dick, we’re all fighting here.” With that, Ajax backed into the arena with both of his middle fingers firmly raised towards Threk. He gave off a cocky smirk before the doors closed in the Saur’s face.


The announcer was in the midst of introducing Ajax, with Threk’s distraction Ajax only caught the tail end of it. “From the outer rim… Introducing the human contender…. Ajax “Cowboy” Winger!”


“Talo must have really liked that name… Guess whatever works.” He muttered under his breath as he raised his arms to the crowd, several cheered for him out of respect but many boo’d as he was an unfamiliar face. When he heard the boo’s Ajax gave off the same cocky smirk he gave Threk and flipped his two middle fingers back up and showed them to the crowd. “Yeah… Boo motherfuckers…” He said to himself, amping himself up for the fight. “We’ll see who’s booing after this.”


Ajax took a moment to take in the crowd and the arena. They were standing on sand, obviously brought in from elsewhere. The sand itself was blood soaked, the fight promoters not bothering to clean the battlefield and giving the place a much more sinister look. Massive lights were hung from the ceiling illuminating the field perfectly while the audience was cloaked in darkness aside from the glow of an occasional communicator being pulled out. Soon, the announcer began to speak again.


“Now entering… Coming from the dark underworld of Curretch… Introducing the Crux contender… Durzaz the Destroyer!” Out from the other corner came a massive Crux, the biggest Ajax had ever seen before. Its steps were labored, his limbs long and keeping his body suspended above the ground unlike any Crux he had ever seen. His venom soaked fangs were massive, practically dragging across his abdomen as he stood up on four of his bottom most legs and spread out towards the crowd. He was an absolutely terrifying specimen and the crowd loved him. “Fighters, approach the center of the pits!”


“Fuck me you’re ugly... “ Ajax mumbled as he walked up to his mark opposite of Durzaz. The Crux towered over him, the alien showboating as he spread out once more to intimidate Ajax. “You some kind of mutant? You are all sorts of fucked up.”


“My people… live in the darkest reaches of cities… Causing us to grow more ferocious than surface dwelling Crux.” Durzaz said in a low, deep voice. “I have torn humans like you apart… I hope you are ready for death…” He let out a low clicking sound what Ajax assumed was laughter. “They pay more for better finishes… I am going to tear you limb from limb.”


“Good to know.” Ajax replied, showing the typical Winger courage in the face of such a terrifying beast as he grinned back up to the Crux. “Good luck bug, you’re gonna need it. Ain’t nobody gonna recognize you when I’m done with you.” He laughed, “I’ll be doing everyone’s eyes a favor.”


Both of them were instructed to take a few steps back which they complied, followed by both of them staring eachother down one last time while the crowd raged on all around them. The crowd obviously favored Durzaz but Ajax preferred it that way, being a human in an alien business would always make him the underdog and if he had something to prove then he was confident that he’d always find a way to win.


“FIGHTERS! ARE YOU READY?” The Terremian announcer spoke from a platform above, revealing that there was no referee or anyone to stop the two from killing each other. Ajax nodded, Durzaz did the same. The crowd’s chanting became even louder as the announcer finally shouted, “FIGHT!”


Durzaz came out faster than Ajax could have ever expected, the Crux flinging his sharpened legs directly into Ajax’s arm which he foolishly brought up to block the attack. He roared in pain as the Crux began digging into Ajax’s flesh, the beast foaming at the mouth as he did so. Ajax jumped back and threw a straight right to the Crux’s abdomen and landed a clean shot knocking the wind out of the spider. With blood dripping down the side of his arm and leaking out onto his body Ajax spun around while loading a kick up. When he reached the apex of his movement he dealt a devastating spinning back kick right to the spot he had punched just previously. The kick landed with a loud crunch, causing the Crux to double over in pain.


If Axel could have seen how well Ajax was handling himself he would have been proud, that was if things hadn’t happened the way they did. Years of hand to hand training paid off as Ajax kept his ground but stayed nice and flowey, bouncing on his feet as he dodged Durzaz’s attacks. He was still rusty however and malnourished so Durzaz soon got the upper hand after Ajax lost the element of surprise.


The crowd roared in approval as Durzaz began to stab Ajax with his legs, first bloodying up his arms followed by wreaking havoc on his legs. The Crux stood back for a moment, raising his arms and legs to the crowd to get them to chant louder while Ajax stumbled about dazed.


“Do you feel it?” Durzaz asked, a sinister clicking of his fangs giving away his intentions. “The venom coursing through your veins? I would be a fool not to take every advantage I could get now could I?” Ajax’s eyes opened wide when he realized that Durzaz wasn’t fighting fair, his heart began to race as he felt his body slow from the venom ripping through his body. “Do not worry, the venom won’t kill you… I will grant you a swift death by ripping your head from your shoulders!”


Ajax could only think of what would happen to Ayla if he died facing the Crux. He gritted his teeth and ran forward, even though his body was telling him not to, meeting Durzaz head on. The Crux reached forward with one of his poisoned spiked hands only for Ajax to catch the arm just in time. He twisted it back using his full body weight to crash down on it. The Crux screeched as Ajax ripped the Crux’s arm clean off, backing away from the source of pain as the once eight legged Crux was now seven.


“Come on motherfucker…” Ajax said, gritting his teeth as he spun the Crux’s removed leg like a blade. “You want to fight dirty? I was just going to fuck you up but now…” He spat, “I’m gonna kill you.” Durzaz charged foolishly right at Ajax, blinded by the pain he was experiencing only to get impaled by his own poisoned taloned leg. Ajax dug deep and shoved the creature’s own leg deeper into its body, twisting the leg as he did so.


He felt his body slowing down even further so he had to finish this now. Ajax jumped as high as he could and grabbed onto the Crux’s face and brought it down to his level for once. He tightened his grip around the Crux’s neck as he was paralyzed by its own disembodied leg. The crowd roared in approval as Ajax began to hammer away at the Crux’s face. Over and over he slammed his fist into the alien’s face again and again until dark blue blood began to burst out with each hit. Soon Ajax had completely caved in Durzaz’s face in until it was unrecognizable.


Ajax dropped the Crux until it crumpled up to the ground, its legs tightening up closer to its body as it began to pass away from its injuries. Ajax held up his arms to the crowd, causing them to cheer louder and louder at his achievement. They began to chant “Kill Him!” over and over, normally Ajax wouldn’t listen to such a barbaric chant but this time he obliged them after the stunt the Crux had pulled on him. He reached down and placed his foot against Durzaz’s shoulder while placing both of his hands around the Crux’s fangs, the alien gurgling out trying to breath desperately.


A disgusting crunch filled the air as Ajax ripped Durzaz’s head clean from his shoulders. He held the Crux’s head above him, shouting at the crowd as they all went absolutely crazy for what he had managed to do. He then showed his fallen opponent even more disrespect by tossing the Crux’s still moving head to the ground as if he was nothing.


“Your winner…. Ajax “Cowboy” Winger!”


Ajax raised his hands to the crowd once more, relishing in the victory he felt. He had never felt this alive before. He had done the impossible and fought an alien twice his size and did so with venom coursing through his veins. He then began to walk back to the gate he had arrived in and seen the other fighters clapping for him as he walked on by.


“You humans don’t last long in these pits kid… Good work.” A fighter said, slapping Ajax on the back while he walked by. He got several different comments like that as he passed by, though he only wanted to see one person right now. He stumbled into the dressing room and found Ayla’s eyes glued to the replay of what he just did. She had tears streaming down her face as she had seen Ajax almost get killed, then to see him behave in such a way after killing someone broke her little heart.


“Ayla!” He exclaimed, “I told you not to watch that… It’s… it’s not for little kids. I had to-”


“I’m not a little kid and yer a bad brother!” She cried, pointing at the screen. “You were HAPPY you squishyed that bug man!” Ayla paused, searching for the words to perfectly describe what she felt. “You are just like daddy!” She pointed her finger at him as she said those terrible words, those words echoing in his head and breaking his heart over and over again. Ayla continued to rant but Ajax heard none of it. All he could think about was how he was living up to his family name, for better or worse.


“I’m… I’m sorry…” Ajax buried his face in his hands, “I’m so sorry…”

End of Scene 3 - Pain​

“Your winner… Ajax ‘Cowboy’ Winger!” The announcer roared as Ajax stood bloodied and dizzy as he was victorious in the center of the arena. It had been months of this now. Fight one night, rest the other, fight again the next day. It was terribly illegal what they were putting the boy through but he had been a great showman, playing the heel perfectly as people loved to hate him. Others just plain loved him for his combat skills or his attitude, most just loved him because he won them a ton of money.


It had been five months now since Ajax and Ayla stumbled into the seedy underbelly of Galacrea Prime. Five whole months of watching her brother get beaten nearly to death only to come out on top time and time again. He had lost some in some lower stakes matches but when it came to the actual death matches Ajax fought harder than he possibly could without such stakes. He had Ayla to come back to, even if she couldn’t put into words how disappointed she was in her brother. She was also however disappointed in herself because she swiftly put her feelings aside on what he was doing in exchange for all the luxuries he was bringing them.


Long gone were the days of sleeping in drain pipes or on benches where pedestrians could see them sleeping out in the open with no shame. Long gone were the days of hunger, tears and pain for Ayla. Now, those days were only for Ajax as he’d come home to their small apartment bloodied and broken. Ayla had a full belly, a cozy bed and while the apartment was small it was paid for. She could finally eat when and what she wanted, drink whenever instead of conserving it for later and she had toys again. Ajax always put aside some money for her, no matter how dire things had gotten he would never let things ever get that bad for his little sister again.


As per usual, after getting cleared by the medics Ajax returned to their apartment. It housed many of the undercity’s citizens and while it wasn’t exactly safe it was home now. He walked in and found Ayla playing on her video game device, making blaster sounds along with it as she enthusiastically played a shooting game. She looked up and immediately dropped the system without pausing it and rushed over to Ajax. She wrapped her bloodied brother up in a hug.


“Are you okay Jaxxy? Do you need me to make you sum chicken?”


“I’m… okay sis. Yeah… Go heat me something up. Just… not chicken. Please.” He said, forcing a smile as the little girl ran off to the kitchen. “I can’t see how you eat that shit every day.”


“CHICKEN IS THE BEST!” She cried out, her voice muffled from being in the other room. “Fine… I give you… chicken BUTT!” Ayla cackled at her own joke as Ajax just shook his head at the silly girl. It took her a little while as she was still learning being the age she was but she returned with a microwavable meal fit for a king. “All out of butts, sorry buttface.” She said, placing the plate into Ajax’s bruised hands. He thanked his little sister and quietly ate his meal while they watched television together. It wasn’t much, but it was something.


Things were silent for awhile until finally Ayla asked, “When can we leave here?”


“Why would you want to leave here?” Ajax asked her. “I have a good paying job. We have all the food we need. It’s dangerous outside but in here we’re safe… Do you not remember how it was like when we first got here?” He asked, knowing that Ayla couldn’t possibly forget. “If we leave now I don’t have enough for us to survive long. We’ll be right back to where we were. Hungry, cold, alone… I can’t see you suffer like that again, I just can’t.”


“But… I no like it here. And… I hate seeing you hurt brudder.” She frowned, “You are working with bad people. Bad men.” Ayla paused, trying to find the words to properly describe just how much she wanted to leave. “Bad people are going to kill you Jax. Do you want them to kill me too?” She asked, knowing that would pull at his heartstrings.


Next thing Ayla knew was Ajax knocked his meal away and got down on his hands and knees in front of her. He didn’t break eye contact with his little sister as he said, “No one is going to kill you… Not now… Not ever… You understand? You’re too young to be worrying about those things Ayla. Even if something happened to me you’d be looked after. I promise. Nothing bad is going to happen to me anyways… I’m your brother, remember?” He gave her a smirk to ease the intense moment they just shared causing the little girl to smile back at him. “Nothing bad is going to happen to us.”


He was lying.


End of Scene 4 - Lies



It had been eight months since Ajax and Ayla arrived on Galacrea Prime. Time was flying by faster than anyone could have expected, the two of them alone in the universe against everyone seemed to make the time go by quicker. Neither of them had heard anything from Lucretia nor Axel nor anybody else they had known or loved. Brok and Margo were long missing from their lives, the two Terremians much too busy rebuilding their planet to worry about two humans who ran away from home. It was as if they had been long forgotten about, the universe was a big place and Ajax had submitted to the fact that no one was searching for them. Not even their own father had made an attempt to his knowledge, their cover on a distant planet being just enough to escape Axel and the RCN’s grasp.


“Alright… focus…” Ajax mumbled to himself, pulling the mask over his face as he waited in the pilot seat of a transport ship. His heart was practically hammering out of his chest as he sat in the vehicle, waiting. Watching. “Talo you son of a bitch... “ Ajax gripped the textured handle of the energy pistol he had been handed. He slammed his head into the back of the headrest on his seat just waiting. Alarms had long since gone off and it was only a matter of time before the police arrived. “Fuck it.”


Ajax stood up and exited out of the back of the transport shuttle, with gun in hand he rushed his way over to the back of the building. “They should have been faster than this…” He said, gritting his teeth as he pushed his way in through the building with his gun raised. “Come on... “ He mumbled, clearing the building as he pushed deeper in, stepping over mounds of bodies and passing by bloodied up corpses.


“Come on man! Hurry the fuck up.” One of the robbers shouted, dumping all of the yens inside a bag. “Let’s hope that get away pilot hasn’t fucking bailed on us or we’re really fucked.”


“I haven’t bailed on you but you gotta fucking hurry!” Ajax said, reinforcing his fellow criminals by covering their backs. The three robbers dumping money into their bags had double timed, nearly jumping out of their armored suits when Ajax arrived startling them. “Police are getting closer. I thought the boss said no killing!”


“Things change.” One of them replied, irking Ajax as he ran over to the front door and took a peek outside. He could see the flashing lights of the police force coming in fast, it wouldn’t be long until they were compromised. “Haven’t you been on one of these before kid? Robbing a private bank like this one ain’t like the movies where there’s innocents laying around. This is on enemy turf. We’re thieves not monsters.” Even that little bit of information didn’t settle Ajax’s gut, he was on edge. Fighting was one thing but robbery? Murder? He had learned to pickpocket and be a thief when he absolutely needed to but even robbing a rival mob’s bank felt almost too dirty to him.


Him feeling bad about it and him doing it were two separate things though. He was here only cementing the bad decisions he had made thus far to survive. The worst part was he was beginning to not feel remorse for his actions.


“THEY’RE HERE, MOVE!” Ajax shouted, raising his energy pistol and shooting a few rounds into the nearby police cruiser. He made sure not to hit them but only to get them to stop advancing on their position. Soon more arrived out front and Ajax had no other option than to run. He had never ran so hard before as he completely cleared the building they had been robbing and out through the back door. Two police officers were outside inspecting the getaway vehicle.


He had no other choice.


Two loud energy blaster shots filled the air as Ajax clipped both officers. The bank robbers paid no mind to what Ajax did as they went filing into the getaway vehicle. Ajax looked down at his gun and let out a sigh of relief when he had set it on stun, rushing into the getaway ship and quickly jumping into the pilot seat.


“GOOOOO!” They shouted as Ajax punched it, the transport peeling out of the alleyway and into open traffic. The sun beat down on them, something the four of them weren’t use to being in the undercity for so long. “RIGHT! TAKE A RIGHT!” They shouted at Ajax as he pulled off a death defying turn, literally spinning the van upside down as he corkscrewed directly into the turn. They had never seen anyone fly like this successfully, all of them inside the van stunned at how quickly Ajax was driving them away from danger. “Damn kid… Never seen flying like that!” One of the robbers said, shaking his head in disbelief.


“Got some practice with bigger ships.” Ajax said, a cocky smirk appearing underneath his mask. “This is nothing. Y’all relax, the cops ain’t gonna catch us they’re-” As if jinxing themselves on cue four police transports barreled through the skies in front of them. The sides of the police vans opened to reveal mounted guns on the inside, the weapons beginning to spin as they prepared to open fire. Ajax began to navigate their own transport away but the police open fired littering the getaway vehicle with bullet holes. Ajax gritted his teeth as he led them down another alleyway, getting a brief moment to recover from the shots. “Anyone shot?”


“NO BUT DON’T DO THAT AGAIN!” One of the robbers barked. “THAT WAS TOO FUCKING CLOSE!”


“Y’all motherfuckers shouldn’t have taken so long robbing the damn place!” Ajax retorted, “This was supposed to be an in and out job. Now I’ve shot two cops and got shot by four more! Talo is going to be PISSED with what you costed this transport.” Ajax shook his head, “That shit ain’t on me.” The transport shuttle’s artificial gravity was doing its job as Ajax pulled some maneuvers that would have made Dayle proud. He took risks that no other pilot would take, leaving the police dead in their tracks as they tried to make sense of how the transport shuttle was already gone.


Soon Ajax and the robbers were flying back into the undercity, home free. Bullet holes in the side of transports looked normal, ironically making them blend in better once they arrived. The robbers all began to take off their masks aside from Ajax, not wanting to compromise his identity. Even though it wouldn’t be hard to figure out who he was he didn’t want them readily knowing for certain, that would put Ayla at risk.


They pulled into the warehouse Talo had instructed them to go to, followed by them unloading the yens directly into several different transport vehicles that sped off right after they were loaded. This was followed by the transport vehicle being taken and scrapped for parts, everything a well oiled machine in order not to get caught. The robbers gave Ajax an anti-climatic wave, for everything they had gone through together he expected a bigger good bye or a thank you but he had come to realize this was everyday live for them.


It was now everyday life for him.

End of Scene 5 - Steal​

Ten months. Ten months and nothing was changing for the better. Ajax had long since given up trying to be a good man and he had long since stopped caring that Ayla kept taunting him by calling him Axel. He was trying his best, or at least he thought he was. This was the easiest way for him to make money and he refused to put Ayla out on the streets again. She was living a comfortable life while he was living one of a criminal. At first it had been the fights, later came the flying for Talo’s criminal organization. Now Talo was trying to convince Ajax to kill for him.


“No… fuck no!” Ajax said, shaking his head as he sat across from Talo in his dusty office. The fat Ulyx laughed in his face as Ajax protested him. “I’ve done so much for you Talo… I’ve fought weekly for months now earning you tens of thousands. I’ve helped drive your vehicles containing who knows how much money… This? I can’t do it. I won’t do it.”


“Now listen here Cowboy… I’ve been really GENEROUS with you. Now… I’ve scratched your back. You scratch mine.” Talo said, laughing as he put his hands on the table. “Do you think other fighters get the cut that you do? Do you think I give you as much as I do for your piloting because I pay my men that? No… You’ve always gotten special treatment Cowboy… always. I know you’re taking care of that little gi-”


“Don’t you fucking bring her into this you bastard.” Ajax shouted, standing up. “I don’t want to hear that horse shit. You pay me because I put on a show and you don’t have a better pilot. Why in the hell would you need me to kill for you too? It’s too much.”


“Too much huh? Is paying you double too much for me then? Is that little girl stuck in that apartment… what was the number…. A-56C? Yeah… That one. Is that little girl stuck in there safe enough? Huh?” Ajax went pale as Talo just gave him the evilest grin he could muster. “You’re my bitch, Cowboy. You’ve always have been. I didn’t want to say that to your face cause I know how prideful you humans can be but… You do what I say when I say to do it. I say jump, you ask how high. I say shoot someone you ask who. I say my feet hurt… you best get on your fucking hands and knees and give me a massage.” Talo continued to grin at Ajax, “So… you’re going to kill this one person. I like you Cowboy… I won’t make you do it again, I’m just ensuring your loyalty.” He laughed, “It’s not like you haven’t killed in the arena for entertainment before… this is just for a more personal matter.”


Ajax was trembling. The fact that Ayla could be in danger was more than enough for him to suck it up and swallow his pride, he bowed his head and clenched his fists.


“Just… this… one…”


“Good! Good Cowboy Good!” Talo said, excited to see that Ajax knew his place. “Now then boy… The target is a simple one. He’s a no good piece of shit that fucked me. If you remember… my one rule is that you don’t fuck me. If you do… I get people like you to take care of that problem.” Talo said, smiling at Ajax. “You’re familiar with him. He was with you on the first getaway drive you did for me. He was the Tiefel on site, the one that was taking his sweet time. His people are rough to work with… the superiority complex is usually too much to deal with.”


“I’d think you’d get along with someone like that.”


“Now now… Just because you’re mad doesn’t mean you have to get personal about it.” Talo scolded, though smiled at Ajax’s spirit. “His name is Elyon, real pompous prick. Took about half the score on his last job and ran with it. I want you to retrieve my money and put a bullet in his fucking head.”


“Where… is he?” Ajax asked, “I’ll need a gun and a shuttle.”


“That’ll be taken care of. He thinks he can get away from me but he doesn’t realize that I own the undercity… I AM THE UNDERCITY!” The Ulyx said, slamming his fat hands down onto the table. “My scouts have reported him hiding here.” Talo pulled up a holographic interface from his desk and scrolled through a map of the undercity before highlighting a specific building practically on the other side of the planet. “He is hiding near the top of this building here. The score he took was big… So he has a bunch of thugs working with him. Whether you sneak around them or go through them is your choice but I have to warn you… They are armed.”


“You expect me to take on an army on my own?”


“Cowboy… And here I thought you were the man for the job!” Talo laughed, “Of course I think you can do it. I’ve looked you up, Winger.” He said firmly, “Son of a fucking monster. My contacts in the RCN have a lot of things to say about your daddy boy and none of them are good. The way you fight is that of someone who was trained by a creature like that… I’m sure you can shoot just as good. If you can’t, you’ll learn. Now then… Your equipment will be on the transport, I have someone flying you this time around. Suit up and get going. Elyon will be leaving soon so we have to act fast.” Ajax stood up and began to walk out, Talo gave him a few parting words as he walked off. “Good Cowboy! Good… You’re a good little soldier. Good luck.”


…


“WHO THE FUCK IS THAT?” Elyon shouted as his hideout erupted into gunfire and explosions. Grenade blasts shock the foundations of the building as something or someone had entered his hideout. “KILL THAT MOTHERFUCKER!” The Tiefel shouted as one of Talo’s goons entered guns ablazing. No one was crazy enough to take on a gang of armed thugs head on, Elyon couldn’t believe his eyes when he looked at the security cameras.


A masked man was taking cover by the door, tossing in grenades in a rather sloppy manner but getting the job done. He raised out of cover armed with a pistol in each hand before spraying the area with gunfire. He was by no means accurate or well trained but his sheer ruthlessness and pace was unmatched by the others who opted to take cover. It was a terrible mistake for them however as the masked man simply vaulted over their cover and shot them in the backs. He was athletic and conditioned for punishment, even taking a few shots on the way in but not faltering.


“No no no…” Elyon groaned as he watched the masked man advanced to the next floor. “He’s a fucking monster... “ He scrambled over towards a weapons cabinet and yanked an assault rifle out of the locker and quickly loaded it with energy rounds. “Come on then…” The Tiefel said, panting as he aimed the gun at the door. “Let’s go… You won’t fucking take me alive.” He glanced back at the security cameras to find that the masked man was on his back, a bullet sending him on his ass after he came charging in too fast. “Idiot… You won’t even make it up here.” He said with a nervous chuckle.


His heart sank however when the intruder rolled to cover and injected himself with a medical syringe, blocking all of his pain and sending him into an unnatural rage as he began to spray the entire area with bullets. The assassin killed so many men so quickly that the few goons that Elyon had hired were soon all dead, whether they were taken out by the volley of grenades the assassin used or from the onslaught of bullets from his twin pistols there was no one standing in between the hitman and Elyon.


“Fuck fuck fuck…” The man whispered, taking cover behind his desk as he watched the door. The power swiftly shut off after he took cover, causing him to sweat bullets at what was transpiring. He quickly reached for his communicator and contacted Talo, the line ringing just a few times before someone answered without saying anything. “Talo! Talo fuck I am so sorry! Please… call him off… I’ll do anything… I’ll pay you double! I’ll work for you until my dying breath please just don’t let him kill me!” Elyon only heard a terrible laughter as Talo hung up on him, leaving himself alone in a building with a terrifying assassin. He kept his rifle trained at the door, only to neglect the fact that the window behind him had been open.


Ajax didn’t hesitate when he pumped four rounds into the back of Elyon’s head. He had already killed a dozen downstairs, one more wasn’t going to change much he thought. He was wounded and had never had been sent to do someone’s dirty work like this before. He bowed his head in shame, looking at the corpse of Elyon bleeding out into the concrete floor. With great trepidation, Ajax began to leave the slummy factory building to head home.


The mission had been a success and passed by much quicker than Ajax could possibly imagine. He had the instincts of a soldier but didn’t feel like one, even after being trained by the Renegades and his father he still had some gaps in his skillset he need to fill but he didn’t intend on filling them anytime soon. Or, so he thought anyways.

End of Scene 6 - Kill​

One year. One full year had passed since Ajax and Ayla made their fateful journey to Galacrea Prime. It had swiftly became their new home, for better or worse. Ajax had made so many sacrifices to keep himself and more importantly Ayla alive he could hardly recognize himself now. He was still fighting every month or so, the rate at which he was fighting was decreasing in favor of being Talo’s personal errand boy or getaway driver. He also became an enforcer no matter how much he protested killing for Talo he always hung his sister over his head. It broke Ajax’s heart, knowing that he was killing in order to survive now. Only a year ago he had been begging for money and doing petty thievery. Now he was committing murder. Time and time again he did Talo’s dirty work and soon he stopped complaining about it and instead started counting his money.


With that money he had bought some nice things. They had upgraded apartments, Ajax had a vehicle now, they both had a wide array of clothing and things to entertain him. Months ago Ajax began to get tattoos, nothing extravagant at first but soon a lot of his arms were covered, he had a chest piece done along with his last name along the back of his shoulders. Down his spine he had art now along with various other pieces, his favorite being the name Ayla tattoo’d on his forearm. His pieces were of various different styles but with the money he had coming in he got whatever he wanted on a whim. Some of it was fantastic looking, some of it was cheap looking. Some of it reminded him of the fighters he had watched growing up. Now he blended in much better with those types of people and while things were tough he loved his new art. The RCN didn’t allow big pieces such as that, now that he was free he could do whatever he wanted. That didn’t mean things were all good however, even with financial security.


“Ajax… you look just like daddy now.” Ayla said one terrible morning. Ajax was going up to face one of the new up and coming fighters that Talo had been promoting rather heavily in a death match. He had built up an impressive record and the longer he had been fighting and training for it the more dangerous he had become. The more dangerous he became the more ironically he began to look like his father in Ayla’s eyes. “You even have his scruffy face. His long hairs.” She said, rubbing her own chin. Ayla didn’t mean to ridicule Ajax like this, it was just an innocent observation from a five year old. “I still miss him…” She confessed, walking over to give him a hug.


“Don’t.” Ajax replied, hugging her back. “Daddy is a bad man.”


“Does that make you a bad man too, den?” She asked, cutting right through him with her overly blunt questions. Ajax didn’t know what to answer her with so he let her go and began to grab his things. “Answer me, Jax.” Ayla commanded after a brief moment of silence. “You always ignore me when I ask you…”


“Maybe I don’t want you to hear the answer, kid.” Ajax replied, bitterly. “Quit asking it.”


“This place has changed you Jax... You aren’t fun anymore. You aren’t even a butt anymore… You’re…” She frowned, “You’re just like daddy.” Ajax clenched his fists as she finished what she had to say. It pained him to know that she had never been more right about something in her life, especially with the way he had wanted to snap back at her.


“I guess… I guess I am.” He said quietly. “Keep the door locked. Don’t use the oven. Don’t go outside.” Ajax closed and locked the door behind him, checking around to see if anyone had seen him walking out. With his fight gear in his bag he hoisted it over his shoulder and walked over to his hovercar. He tossed the bag inside and got in before letting out a long sighed, followed by a long desperate roar of rage as he slammed his hands into the controls. The last thing he wanted to become was Axel and just a year later he was just like him. It was as if he couldn’t escape who he was meant to be and the one person he cared about just kept reminding him how much he had changed for the worst.


He needed a way out.


...


“Alright Cowboy… You’ve seen the rise of this man here. We haven’t ever had a human versus human fight before and well… If you win here we’ll put you up against our veterans and the crazies that go through here. You’ll be the top dog human officially! Where the real money is….” Talo said, rubbing his hands together. “I’ve put a lot of money on you tonight so… Give that newcomer hell. Make sure he doesn’t leave that arena alive.”


“He won’t.” Ajax replied, turning to head to his dressing room. Whilst he was leaving Talo just shook his head up and down, greed in his beady little eyes as he watched his top prospect leave the room. Ajax got suited up in gear that was a stark contrast to what he had worn when he had first arrived at the fight pits. Aside from just wrapping his hands up in athletic tape he now wore two black fighting gauntlets that went up his forearm with several metal rivets on the top of his hand, protecting him from cuts to the arms in order to keep fighting whilst giving him a slightly harder punch. He also donned shin and foot guards, simply to give him minimal protection while giving him a harder strike. His shorts were now replaced with a pair of long legged fighting pants, flexible enough for kicks whilst also being light enough for maneuverability.


Ajax caught a look at himself in the mirror before heading out and his heart sank, he didn’t realize how much he looked like Axel now. The scarred up body, the long hair, the grizzled facial hair. If he had started getting augmentations and had his face scarred up more he would be a spitting image of his father. He shook his head, his eyes watering up as he had became the man he hated the most. From the killing to the lying to the stealing, everything had been a perfect storm for him to become Axel. Perhaps that’s who he needed to be to get Ayla and him out of this mess. They were trapped, even if he had money Talo owned him now and it was going to take years to get out. Ajax filed his way out of the dressing room and out into the corridor, him and his opponent being the main event of the night.


“INTRODUCING FIRST… A LOCAL... FIGHTING OUT OF GALACREA PRIME.... THE UNDEFEATED… THE MONSTER MAZAR GREENE!” Mazar Greene came running out of his corridor with his hands raised, the fighter jumping up and down as he commanded the crowd with his actions. He was slightly bigger than Ajax and definitely more muscular, he was dark skinned with a completely shaved head with several different intricate tattoos running up and down his body. Mazar was playing up to the crowd well, the bloodthirsty pack of people not satisfied with the several fights that came before this one.


As Ajax was about to walk out while Mazar was showboating he finally noticed the fight poster on the wall next to him. It looked official, clean and it actually had both Ajax and Mazar facing off against one another on it. Talo had been promoting this fight for a while, leaving Ajax to do more of the shadier business while the fight date slowly crept up. He began to hear his introduction and started to hop up and down to get the blood flowing, when the gates opened he walked out.


“AJAX…. ‘COWBOY’ WINGEEERRRRR!” The announcer roared as Ajax stormed out of the hallway. He didn’t address the crowd as obnoxiously as Mazar but when he got to his mark he raised both of his hands up calmly to the crowd causing a deafening roar that shook the whole building. He smirked, turning to Mazar who looked insulted at how many more people cheered for Ajax than himself.


“I’m a local and they cheer like that for you? I’m going to kill you…” Mazar said, a fire in his eyes that Ajax had seen many times before. The very same fire he extinguished more often than not. “I’ve watched all your fights… Studied all your movements… You’re sloppy and only win by luck.”


“So you’re a fan huh?” Ajax asked, a smirk appearing on his face. “I’ll be sure to sign your kid’s autographs when I kill their daddy.” Those words alone sent Mazar into a frenzy and even before the announcer was done speaking Mazar began the fight. Ajax ducked and weaved through his punches at an incredible speed, the past year of fighting multiple times a week doing wonders for him as he barely got hit by glancing blows.


“It looks like these two hate each other so much they just can’t wait to fight!” The announcer shouted, causing the spectators to roar in approval. Mazar’s blows were unrelenting as his cardio allowed him to punch and punch but Ajax was noticing a big hole in his game. He wasn’t throwing kicks so after narrowly missing a powerful punch Ajax reared his leg back and slammed it into Mazar’s. He did this time and time again until Mazar’s leg was radiating with pain, causing him to switch stances while fighting.


Two humans fighting was an odd spectacle, especially on Galacrea Prime. Their fighting style was barbaric but effective, the two trading blows and bursting with blood faster than the other races. Within fifteen minutes both of the men were tired, bloodied and bruised. Even Mazar was landing hits on Ajax that he normally wouldn’t after the extreme test of endurance wore them both down. Mazar had a disgusting looking welt on his outer calf while also bleeding profusely from his face. Ajax looked slightly better, his legs long ignored but his face was bleeding heavier than Mazar’s. To Ajax it was just a flesh wound and he could keep going but Mazar’s leg was about to crumble.


Mazar’s strength was beyond intimidating but Ajax stood in the pocket, taking hits while dishing out ones just as hard. The crowd was growing more and more wild as the two humans gave them exactly what they wanted, a bloody and brutal battle with one of the two men not leaving the arena at the end of the night. Each hit Ajax took felt like he was getting hit by a space ship while each blow he dealt was high volume, slowing down the larger man slowly but surely. Their skill discrepancy was beginning to show the longer the battle went on, Ajax had just been fighting too often to be bested by the up and coming Mazar.


“You gotta let me win man…” Mazar whispered as they exchanged blows. “My kids… They can’t grow up without a daddy.” As soon as he said that Ajax laid a massive overhand right on Mazar’s face, causing him to stumble down to the ground. Ajax held his hands up to the crowd and they all began to shout even harder than before now that they were getting closer to the end. “Please Ajax… Show mercy…” He said, stumbling to his feet but barely able to put weight on his injured leg. “Or submit… I’m not going to let you win this…” He added foolishly, his pride getting in the way of his brain.


“It’s a deathmatch… I can’t do that. And you ain’t gonna win.” Suddenly Ajax turned the tables on Mazar and hit the man while he was off guard. Ajax’s right leg went flying through the air while his other was firmly planted on the ground, his leg made contact with Mazar’s cheek and he crumpled down to the ground unconscious from a devastating head kick. Ajax turned back to the crowd with his fists in the air as they all just witnessed one of the most picture perfect head kick knockouts they had ever seen before.


The crowd started chanting, their roars reaching Ajax as he heard, “FINISH HIM! FINISH HIM! FINISH HIM!” With scattered rogue groups of people shouting the words ‘Kill!’ and ‘DIE!’. It was a madhouse, he had never seen so many people go absolutely insane before. It was a deathmatch but he felt in his gut that this wasn’t right. Even though Mazar was a great fighter he had known he was about to lose in the end and wanted to stay alive for his kids. Ajax thought about if another fighter would show him mercy if they had known about Ayla.


Ajax picked up Mazar’s unconscious body and held him up, swaying as he did so after the exhausting battle but he had just enough strength to finish the job. Mazar began to wake up, sobbing as he did as Ajax wrapped his hands around his neck, getting ready to snap it and finish the job.


“PLEASE AJAX! DON’T KILLLL ME!” Mazar begged and begged. No opponent had shown Ajax mercy before, Mazar included, if this was the other way around he told himself that he wouldn’t get mercy and perish. That this man would kill him given the first chance. “MY FAMILY AJAX THEY NEED ME!” The man grasped at Ajax’s arms, trying to pry them away from his neck. It was a useless endeavour, he had just been knocked out and his strength was gone. “Please…” He whispered, trying to appeal to Ajax during the stalemate. “I wouldn’t have killed you…”


Ajax didn’t know what to do. He could kill Mazar and please the crowd or he could let him live and potentially start a riot. He thought about what Ayla said, how he had just been like their father. On how this is exactly what he would have done. Ajax’s face contorted into rage as he began to squeeze Mazar’s neck tighter and tighter, causing the man to scream out in pain.


Then, he stopped.


He released Mazar, the man collapsing to the ground. The entire stadium erupted into anger, all of them shouting at Ajax to finish the job but their voices merging together to create an unintelligible cadence of rage and fury. If Ajax had a single fan in that building they turned on him when he refused to kill Mazar. Ajax calmly raised up both of his hands, flipping off the crowd causing them to further erupt into chaos. He smirked, his face painted entirely in his own blood but he smiled all the way through it.


He wasn’t his father and he never would be, it was his life and his alone. No matter the similarities they shared he would never be that monster. He may have been trapped in a terrible situation but that didn’t mean he had to succumb to it like his father would.


“The winner… by knock out! Ajax ‘Cowboy’ Wing-” The announcer was cut off by the crowd roaring so loudly in disapproval it had to set new records. With Ajax taunting the crowd even it became even worse. Mazar came to his senses and stumbled to his feet, looking at Ajax with a confused look on his face.


“You… you spared me?”


“Yeah.” Ajax replied bluntly, wiping the blood out of his eyes. “No one in here has begged to be spared… They’ve all tried to kill me even in defeat. You’re good but this isn’t the line of work for you Maz.”


“Fuck man…” Mazar said, spitting out blood and one of his teeth. He was so beat up he didn’t even feel it leave his mouth, his face swollen after that massive kick. “Didn’t know I was fighting a fucking saint.” He said with a chuckle, his words almost engulfed by the crowd’s roars. “You just went and lost all your fans and pissed the boss off… They’re going to punish you now.” Mazar went and shook Ajax’s hand, “Thank you ‘Jax… For a second chance man. Might try and go legit… I suggest you do too, you’re a hell of a fighter. Those surface fighters don’t play as dirty but they make more.”


“Once you work with Talo you’re stuck Maz… Just you wait.” He said, raising both of their hands into the air causing the audience to calm down a little bit. “Might be years until I break free… Just don’t let him know about your family. Okay?” Ajax said, passing his wisdom onto ironically an older man but a younger fighter. “Don’t let him own you.”


“I… I won’t.” Mazar replied, surprised at how thoughtful Ajax was being. Especially after being kicked in the face and beat up by him.


“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! This is a prime example why the Undercity Fighting Pits are the best in the business. Two men… pit to the death who become friends in the midst of battle. We know you want blood… We know you want death…” The audience began to cheer once more, swiftly getting over Ajax’s mercy. “So we are announcing now… MAZAR VERSUS THREK!” The crowd went ballistic, completely forgetting what had just happened. “CAN TONIGHT’S LOSER BEST ONE OF THE DEADLIEST SAURS IN THE UNIVERSE?! CAN HE FIND REDEMPTION? Find out next fight night!” The crowd went absolutely insane while Mazar bowed his head, no one wanted to face Threk. He had never lost before.


“I’m… going to die…” He whispered, “You should have just killed me.” Mazar said, shoving away from Ajax. “It would have been more merciful.”


“AS FOR COWBOY…. JUST YOU WAIT AND SEE! ONE OF OUR BEST FIGHTERS WILL BE FACING A CHALLENGER UNLIKE ANY OTHER! One… that he will have to…” The announcer paused for dramatic effect, riling the crowd up. “ONE THAT HE WILL HAVE TO KILL IN ORDER TO SURVIVE! THANK YOU FOR COMING OUT GALACREA, UNTIL NEXT TIME!”


The news didn’t sit well with Ajax, nor Mazar. His mercy had come at a cost.

End of Scene 7 - Mercy​

Talo was up to something. Something bigger than anything he had ever done before. It had been four weeks since Ajax had bested Mazar in combat then spared him, even though he was supposed to kill him. Talo had scolded Ajax relentlessly but at the end of the day his mercy ironically fed Talo’s greed. He got two fights for the price of one, where Mazar was being fed to the toughest fighter imaginable while Ajax was forced to face a mystery opponent.


Ajax had never trained harder. He had declined every business opportunity that Talo had brought his way. Money was no longer an issue thankfully, it was his life he was afraid for now. He had always known who his opponent was ahead of time other than the Crux he had first fought in the arena. That fight he had nearly died and several others were just the same and he had time to prepare for his opponents and their styles. Now was a complete wild card and Talo seemed to be distancing himself from Ajax.


That wasn’t a good sign.


Over the weeks Ajax and Mazar had actually become friends, ones that found solidarity with one another being trapped by Talo. It was one of the only times Ajax had the courage to take Ayla out, Mazar had a wife and two little girls around the same age so the two men had more in common than they initially had thought. On the night before the fight night was scheduled, Ajax and Mazar’s family got together for dinner.


“Hiya!” Ayla exclaimed, rushing into Mazar’s apartment as if she had run the place for weeks now. Which she had, the little girl going over to Mazar’s daughters and hugging them both. “My friends!” She yelled, it had been years since Ayla had the chance to play with others her age so when she heard that her brother made a new friend with kids her age she forced them to get closer. “Now brother.” Ayla said, looking to Ajax as he stood in the doorway taking off his coat. “You play nice with Mr. Mazar and Mrs. Dee. You be on your bestest behavior!”


“I’ll try.” He replied, smiling at his little sister as she went and began to chase the two little girls in the living room. He turned to Mazar and Dee with a great big smile, “Thanks for having us over. Ayla doesn’t get out of the house much and… I’ll be honest I’ve been living off of take out and microwave meals for well over a year now.”


“And you still beat my husband? My… Mazar…” Dee said, glaring at Mazar playfully as she playfully hit him. “Maybe I need to stop cooking as much. Maybe this junk is what helped Ajax here take YOU out!”


“Dee… baby…” Mazar said, suppressing a smile. “Get back in the kitchen.”


“Maybe if you had won I would do that! Now you get back to cooking dinner.” Mazar groaned as he walked back to continue cooking, Dee having a satisfied smile all over her face. “Thank you for coming Ajax… I just wanted to say before we sit down... “ Dee frowned, “Are you sure there is no way for Mazar to stop fighting tomorrow? That Saur… is going to kill him.” She went from happy to filled with dread immediately, her mask coming off as she confided in Ajax.


“Talo knows where y’all live… I already looked. He’ll have people watching this place. Fighters who have backed out before end up missing or unexpectedly ‘committing suicide’. The only way he’s getting out of this mess is if he kills Threk.” Ajax knew the odds weren’t in their favor but he somehow remained optimistic, “We’ve been training the past month together and he’s made some improvements, hell I’ve made some improvements. He’s as ready as he’ll ever be. Don’t worry Dee… If things get too bad I’ll save him.” He said, trying to reassure her.


“Oh great… two bare knuckle boxers against a giant dinosaur. That makes me feel safe.” She looked bothered, way more bothered than her husband looked. “Listen… Don’t tell him I brought any of this up. He has to stay confident and not get distracted by me but… I worry. I’m sure you know how that is.” Ajax nodded in response, Dee continued, “On the bright side… I am still grateful that you sparr-”


“Listen Dee, we can’t keep having this conver-”


“No you listen to me.” She stated firmly, “Without you putting your own neck on the line my husband wouldn’t have his own. That act of pure kindness means more to me than anything… I’m just… I’m happy that we’ve all become friends. And that your little sister is having a good time with our girls.” Dee said, smiling finally. “She’s a little fire cracker. How do you manage to raise her on your own? You got a woman or anyone out there with ya?”


“There’s… uhh…” Ajax stumbled on his words for a moment, uncharacteristically so. “When I was with the RCN there was… this girl.” Dee listened intently, Ajax was getting a bit clammy just thinking about who he was talking about. “We flirted… we fought. Fought more than the first but it sorta blended together.” He said, laughing slightly as he did so. “But… we lost someone close to us not long before me and Ayla came out here. She… Even though we all had just lost someone really special to us she stayed with us. Hell, things we’re pretty great for a minute there. It was just Ayla and me against the world like usual but… with Luce there we felt like a real family for a while.”


“Luce? Is that short for something?”


“Lucretia, I call her Lucy or Luce. She’s something special Dee... She’s intelligent, funny, hell… able to keep me on my toes. She’s a skilled pilot, she’s able to repair just about anything on a ship… She can fight. She does great with Ayla... On top of all that she’s so god damn beautiful.“ He said, remembering her fondly. “She worked for the Coalition while I was being trained, a little older than me.” Dee teased him with an ‘oooh sound’ which he shook off. “She… had to go and take care of some business. That’s when me and Ayla split because of my old man. Didn’t even get the chance to say goodbye, we had just started dating officially before it all happened... Have no way of contacting her… Probably still working with the RCN on some crazy mission.”


“You’re so red right now.” Dee said, laughing in Ajax’s face. “I always thought you were the rough and tough arena fighter that my husband speaks of especially looking like that. You’re not a day over twenty either, are you? All that scruff and tattoos can’t fool me.” She let out a happy sigh, “Listen… After all of this business is said and done we’ll all get out of here. We’ll all move away, you’ll get your Lucy and everything is going to be just fine dear.”


Everything wasn’t going to be fine.


...


“And another devastating strike from Threk!” The commentator said as Mazar was pummeled by the massive Saur. For the longest time he had been holding his own, defending each attack well and even dealing some major damage to Threk. He had managed to rip out the Saur’s eye, something that no one before him had ever managed to do before. Now, it was Mazar’s time to suffer. Threk used his large claws to dig deeply into Mazar’s body, cutting him open all the way down from his neck down to his legs on both sides of his body. His back looked like ground beef after the time Threk was done with him.


“THREK! THREK! THREK!” The crowd cheered as Mazar laid on the ground, a step away from death. “KILL HIM! KILL HIM! KILL HIM!”


“THREK WILL DO THIS UNLIKE THE COWARD COWBOY!” Threk shouted, his voice picked up by the microphones as he began to walk over to Mazar. “I WILL RIP OFF THIS PUNY MAN’S HEAD AND DANGLE IT FROM MY BELT AS A TROPHY!


Ajax thrashed against the arena gates, desperately trying to move them as Threk got closer and closer to his prey. The gates began to move apart from Ajax’s pressure, his muscles straining and his heart hammering in his chest as he wanted nothing more than to rush out to help Mazar. He couldn’t just watch his friend die like this, he couldn’t let those little girls lose their father or let Dee lose her husband.


“It looks like… ANOTHER FIGHTER HAS RUSHED ONTO THE FIELD!” The announcer roared, the crowd going ballistic as Ajax charged onto the field after Threk. He didn’t care about his upcoming fight or the consequences of breaking into a fight that wasn’t his he had to save Mazar. “One of the favorites of the fight pits Ajax Winger has just entered the arena!”


“THREK!” Ajax roared as he watched as Mazar was dry heaving on the ground, trying to crawl away from the monster. Threk turned around just in time to see Ajax charging at him. The Saur with a mighty roar reared his leg back and kicked Ajax directly in the chest not only knocking the wind out of him but cracking a few ribs.


“SO YOU COME TO PROTECT YOUR FRIEND COWBOY?! HOW PATHETIC!” The Saur roared, taunting Ajax as he jumped back up to his feet. “THIS ISN’T YOUR FIGHT! YOU ARE BREAKING THE RULES BY BEING HERE! NOW I WILL BREAK YOU!” Before the Saur could do that however Ajax was taken down to the ground by security, Talo not accepting such an outburst from anyone. Not even a loyal fighter. “WATCH EVERYONE… AS I KILL THIS MAN!”


“DON’T YOU FUCKING DO IT OR I’LL KILL YOU! YOU SON OF A BITCH! DON’T DO IT!” Ajax roared as he was pinned down by four men, even then he was making some leeway in getting up as Threk reached down and picked Mazar up. Ajax could only imagine what was going through his friend’s head, his wife’s head. Ajax had failed to protect him when he told Dee he would. Now, she watched as Threk ripped Mazar’s head clean off his shoulders. The Saur then did the unthinkable and put Mazar’s decapitated head up to his mouth and drank the blood that came pouring out of the disembodied head.


“I WILL DO THIS TO ANY MAN WHO FACES ME HERE!” The Saur roared, tossing Mazar’s head to the ground as if he was nothing. To the Saur, he was nothing. Just another notch on his belt in his ridiculous undefeated career. Ajax was roaring in anger, only for the Saur to come up and spit Mazar’s blood in Ajax’s face. “YOU ARE NEXT BOY!” Threk said, taunting him further before raising his hands in the air proudly.


Nothing would have prepared Ajax for the sound of deafening applause for the death of a friend. Nothing would have prepared him for the fact that now he faced a similar fate, Talo looking to get rid of Ajax now. As Mazar’s body and head was carted away security forced Ajax to wait in the arena. He had already made his appearance, now he was going to face his opponent. Ajax stood up, his head low as everyone taunted him from the stands.


“I JUST LOST MY FRIEND AND YOU BASTARDS CHEER? IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT?” He asked, darting his head up to meet their faces. “HOW ABOUT YOU FUCKERS COME DOWN HERE AND TAKE HIS PLACE, HUH? I’LL SEND YOU ALL TO FUCKING HELL!” He roared, never before experiencing such primal rage. “COME DOWN HERE! I’LL KILL ALL Y’ALL BASTARDS! COME ON!” Ajax was pounding on his chest, taunting the crowd to challenge him. Before he knew it two men had jumped the barricade and we’re running at him.


They didn’t stand a chance.


Ajax tore through the Crux and the Terremian like they were made of paper. The Crux crumbled and Ajax ripped one of the Terremian’s horns clean off. The two civilians weren’t actually ready to fight, they were just drunk. Talo sat in his office just smiling though, this made for some great entertainment. By the time Ajax was done with the both of them his rage hadn’t subsided, in fact fighting those two nobodies provoked him even further. They barely escaped in time when Ajax continued to shout to the arena.


“IS THIS WHAT YOU FUCKERS WANT?! BRING OUT MY OPPONENT AND I’LL DESTROY HIM!”


Heavy metal boot sounds filled the air as a lone man walked from the other side of the arena. They echoed so loudly that even Ajax could hear it as the crowd went silent to see who it was. The gates opened to reveal a shocking sight, a fighting pits first. An android stood opposite Ajax, one that looked not only massive but menacing in the worst way possible. He stood well above Ajax and had armor so thick and pock marked from bullets it was obvious this android was an assault droid. What set him apart from all the rest Ajax had seen however was the headware it donned around its forehead. A bright red bandana was tied around the android’s head and flowed down its back.


“I know kung fu, motherfucker.” The android’s first words to Ajax, raising his hand up and motioning for him to come forward.


“You have to be fucking kidding me.” Ajax groaned, “I’m fighting a fucking assault droid?”


“You sure are big boy, and not just any assault droid.” The droid’s human-skull like face was unnerving as it didn’t move, staring directly into Ajax’s eyes. “I’m the fucking best you’ll ever see. You won’t be seeing for long though guy! I’M GOING TO RIP OUT YOUR ENTRAILS AND PLAY JUMP ROPE WITH YOUR INTESTINES!” The android screeched, his voice like nails on a chalkboard as he screamed.


“Introducing first… you all know him… most of you hate him, and for good reason… the notorious… AJAX ‘COWBOY’ WINGERRRRR!” The announcer spoke, already painting the narrative of Ajax’s demise. Talo was setting him up to die and making the crowd love the fact that he was going to die.


“Oh you have to be fucking kidding me!” The android exclaimed, dumbfounded “I KNOW YOU!” It said, pointing manically at Ajax.


“Introducing the other contender… A self proclaimed “murder bot”... An entirely unshackled A.I. who…” The announcer paused, confused at what the android had written down for him. “...who is looking for a small boy. Blonde hair. About 5 feet tall. Is heavily augmented and has a terrible temper… His name is Casar and he is missed very much.”


“IF YOU’VE SEEN HIM CALL ME!” The android cheered, waving at the crowd enthusiastically. The crowd seemed to love the bandanna’d android, the obvious favorite especially up against Ajax.


“PS1-K0… Otherwise known as PSY! THE MURDER BOT…” As the announcer finished Psy gave a bow, the android beyond eccentric as he turned to face Ajax.


“Such a small world… I ripped off your daddy’s legs.” Psy said cheerfully, “Isn’t that crazy? I BET YOU’RE REALLY MAD I DID THAT HUH? WELL I’M GOING TO RIP YOURS OFF NEXT!” Without missing a beat Psy began to charge at Ajax wildly. He was unarmed as all fighters were but he was made of metal. This was going to hurt Ajax. A lot.


Psy’s metal fist collided with Ajax’s face, sending him falling straight to the ground.


“FIRST I’M GONNA ROUGH YOUR FACE UP A LOOOOT! THEN I’M GONNA DO THE SAME TO YOUR BODY!” He shouted as he began punching the sand around Ajax as he began to weave in and out of Psy’s punches even on the ground. “STOP WIGGLING LIKE A WORM AND LET ME PUNCH YOU!” Psy connected with Ajax’s forehead causing old scar tissue to explode sending blood squirting out onto Ajax’s face. “THANKIES!”


While Ajax was getting pummelled all he could think about was how he had failed Mazar. The single friend he had made on Galacrea Prime and he was dead now, leaving behind a wife and two little girls. Ajax barely even felt the blows to the head he was receiving from the android that just wouldn’t shut up. He couldn’t believe he was fighting the Psy however, the same one that had ripped his father limb from limb. If they had met under different circumstances he might have thanked him but instead they had to fight.


Ajax slid out from underneath Psy’s legs and kicked the robot in the spine, sending Psy stumbling forward.


“That’s not nice!” Psy complained, “Lay down and let me kill you!” He charged forward again, his rampant aggressive style effective against untrained targets but Ajax was waiting for him. Fueled by his own anger over the loss of a friend he dove out of the way of Psy just in time. His back was turned to Psy but within a split second it wasn’t, Ajax dealt a spinning backhand that rattled Psy’s head while also nearly breaking Ajax’s hand all within one move. The android sparked and shook from the attack until he raised his arms up and firmly patted his head back down into place. “I’M GOING TO DO THAT TO YOU!”


Psy began to make helicopter noises with his voice box as he began spinning his fists around rampantly like Ajax had just done. The android reached incredible speeds as he began to tear through the air, trying his best to hit Ajax. He landed one hit that sent Ajax spiraling to the ground, the young man grunting in pain as the metal fists were some of the most devastating blows he had ever taken.


“SOI SOI SOI SOI SOI SOI SOI!” Psy continued to shout as he spun around faster and faster. The more he did this however the quicker Ajax realized that Psy’s sole weakness was his head. With a death defying jump Ajax jumped over the android and slammed him in the head with both of his fists causing Ajax to fall to the ground but it also rattled the android. He spun directly into the ground, continuing to make said helicopter noises, and quite literally crashed like one as he spun so deeply into the ground his arms were lodged. “OH THIS ISN’T FAIR! HUMAN DOESN’T BEAT HELICOPTER!”


With a roar Ajax began to deal as much damage as he could to Psy while he was stuck. He knew if he gave the android a chance he was dead so he showed no mercy. After kicking him in the joints and dealing some impressive damage to the all metal droid Ajax seen another opening. He reached down and grabbed at one of Psy’s legs. With a grunt the fighter began to dig into the ground and pull on the android’s legs.


“HEY! IF THIS IS SOME SORT OF SICK AND TWISTED REVENGE FOR ME TAKING YOUR DADDY’S LEGS OFF…” He paused, looking for the words to say as he was dislodging himself from the sand. “THEN KEEP GOING THIS IS FUCKING AWESOME!” He began to cackle as Ajax ripped one of his legs clean off and tossed it across the stadium. The entire crowd was in shock, the place never before being so silent as Ajax was finally gaining the upperhand. “HEY NOW STOP THAT I-” Before Psy knew it his next leg had been removed. “I’LL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT-” Psy let out a long sigh, “Is this how Winger felt?... Useless? Alone? Terrible looking?... but with a great taste in hats?” Psy turned to Ajax, “You de-limbed me, now what? I CAN STILL KICK YOUR ASS WITH ONLY MY ARMS!”


Psy burst out of the sand with nothing but his arms only for Ajax to kick him roughly to the ground. This caused Psy’s A.I. core to shake, causing him to experience real pain in the fight. Sparks went flying from the android’s head as he began to retaliate by the only way he knew how. Reaching into his chest cavity the murderbot activated a secret compartment and a pistol came sliding into his hand.


“DIE MOTHERFUCKER!” Psy shot off a few rounds at Ajax who promptly dodged them, the crowd gasping at the ridiculous turn of events. Ajax dove onto Psy who began to punch him relentlessly as Ajax fought him for the gun. “I HAVE TO FIND CASAR I NEED TO WIN THIS MONEY!” He screeched, “JUST DIE FOR ME AND I’LL SEND YOU A CHECK!” Ajax wrestled the gun out of Psy’s hands and turned it on him. “PLEASE DON’T KILL ME I HAVE TO FIND MY FRIE-”


“Fuck you.” He said, just before he unloaded the rest of the gun into Psy’s chest. Psy flailed his arms about as he was riddled with bullets, his arms quickly going limp after Ajax had finished. The crowd began to cheer for him, overcoming the odds even when the other fighter was armed. This was going the opposite of what Talo had been planning. “YOU SEND AN ARMED FULL METAL ANDROID TO KILL ME?!” He roared into the stadium, everyone listening intently. “WELL FUCK YOU! YOU’LL NEED AN ARMY TO FUCKING TAKE ME!” Ajax shouted, flinging Psy’s pistol into the sand causing the crowd to erupt into applause.


“Yeah what he said!” Psy echoed from the ground. “Ohh… Sorry, I got too caught up with your speech! Please, continue.”


“QUIT YOUR FUCKING CHEERING! YOU COWARDLY FUCKS!” He hadn’t calm down a bit after what happened to Mazar. “Countless have died tonight and for what? Your applause? Your approval? Fuck all of you. You cheer for us dying out here for you and for what? So a fat Ulyx can get rich off of our sacrifices? So us fighters get used and abused and paid like shit? SO GOOD MEN LIKE MAZAR GREENE CAN BE KILLED AND YOU CELEBRATE IT?!” Ajax spat, “Fuck this, I quit.”

End of Scene 8 - Death​

“I told you time and time again Cowboy… Don’t… fuck me…” A raspy voice said to a broken and beaten Ajax. “And what do you do?... You fuck me!” The Ulyx roared, slamming his fat fist into Ajax’s face. The boy spat in response, not allowing the pain to make him submit before Talo. “Not only did you break the one rule of the fighting pit deathmatches… but you tried to save that very same fighter in his next fight? You ruined… two… fights…” He said, his anger boiling over. “I can forgive the first one. You’re a good kid Cowboy… misguided and young… but a good kid. You’ve done a lot for me over this past year and a half or so but… Do you think you're better than me son? Do you think for one second I’m going to let that shit slide that you said to all of those people? My customers?”


Talo hit Ajax again, smiling as he did so. The Ulyx circled around the tied up man like a shark, smelling blood and waiting to dig in until the right moment. Ajax was secured tightly to a metal chair in a dark room, he assumed he was still in the same building as the arena but he couldn’t be sure. As soon as he left the public eye and went to his dressing room he was knocked out cold and awoke here.


“You’re breaking my heart Jax… You really are boy. Do you know what you did to my bank account when you threw that fire with Mazzo or whatever the fuck his name was?” The Ulyx snarled, “You costed me millions… I knew you would win… but the betting agency only pays out for a specific result. I didn’t bet that you would be a good little girl scout and save Masos… I bet that you’d rip his fucking head off.” Talo clenched his fist as he finished saying those words, starring the bloodied up Ajax in the eye as he spoke those words. “I made it all back and then some with Threk… Because he does what HE IS FUCKING TOLD!” He back handed Ajax, followed by his goons all taking a turn with him by bashing him with blunt objects or their fists.


The impromptu beating made Ajax dazed and confused. He was able to take on an entire android made of incredibly hard metal on but this? This was too much. He was coughing up blood, his body was breaking and he couldn’t tell how many bones of his had shattered. They were literally beating the life out of Ajax and there was nothing he could do about it. He thought of Ayla and what she would do, if she would even do anything until she ran out of the food in the house which could take well over a week. Could she make it without him? Would she perhaps go to Dee for shelter? Would Dee even be alive after the stunt Ajax pulled? He hadn’t thought of those consequences, blindly storming in and following his heart.


“What’s wrong Cowboy? Are you broken?” Talo asked, sneering in Ajax’s disfigured face. “Don’t worry boy… I’m not going to kill you. Like I’ve said time and time again, I like ya. You’re good at making me money. So here’s what I’m going to do... “ He grinned wildly, “You’re going to heal up… Whether that take a year… two years… a decade. You’re going to train as hard as you possibly can. I want you to cry from muscle pain while you’re in the gym. I want you to beg for death after all the weights you’re going to move and the combat training you’re going to endure. Then… you’re going to face Threk. How does that sound?”


“Go… to… hell…”


“WRONG ANSWER!” Talo said, grinning madly as his goons began to beat Ajax yet again. He felt his vision go black and the pain stop hurting as bad. He began to feel numb to it all, most likely signifying that he was going to cross over to the other side. “ENOUGH!” Talo ordered, his men all stopping at once. “I thought we would need an army to take you?... It’s only a few men ‘Cowboy’.” He said, with an emphasis on boy. “Yes… you’ll heal up and fight Threk. And I’m going to force you to throw the fight… Not that you’d need to as he’s a monster but… You are going to throw the fight and die at his hand. Just like everybody else…” Ajax could comprehend what he was saying but his face was so busted up he couldn’t respond without it simply being a gurgling sound followed by blood leaking out of his mouth. “And… if by some miracle you win… I’ll sell your precious little Ayla into slavery. I hear Atlas is looking for young girls her age.” This made Ajax act like a wounded animal, he began to panic and thrash against his bindings and miraculously he almost broke free but he was forced to stop when Talo put a pistol to his head.


“Good boy… Calm… Be a good little bitch for Talo…” The Ulyx taunted more and more, loving the control he had over men like Ajax. “Now… That won’t happen if you die like a man. But here’s the stipulation to all of this. You aren’t going to see her again.” He began to laugh, “No… You have more important things to be doing. You see… in the meantime I’m going to have her stay with what’s his name again? Marius? Marius’ wife… Nice lady. Tight ass. I’m going to put her up in a nice place on the surface. That’s right… I can be forgiving. I can also honor the dead. Manalo’s family will live a peaceful life for dying for the pits and she will even get a new daughter. A white one to contrast all of the dark ones!”


Ajax couldn’t believe his ears. Not only was he going to be imprisoned but he wouldn’t get to see Ayla again? This broke his heart in so many different ways he couldn’t even fathom the idea.


“Canth… I… lethse… say…. Goodbye?” Ajax slurred, blood leaking out of his mouth like a dripping faucet.


“If you do as I say… train as hard as I command you to… Right before you walk out to fight Threk… You may say goodbye to your little sister. But not until then… From the looks of things you’re going to be at least a year, maybe more just recovering. We broke most of your bones and even with modern medicine they won’t be able to fix… well… that!” Talo said, pointing at Ajax’s broken body. “You are one fucked up looking kid, you know that? You’re going to celebrate your 20th birthday eating through a straw. You are so fucked up you are never going to recover… Look at you…”


Ajax looked down only to see so much blood. An impossible amount. So much so that he felt he wasn’t even looking at his own body. They had ripped and cut him, bashed and beaten him. Tortured him beyond belief and yet he was still conscious somehow. That was after fading in and out of it for the past few days, he had no idea how long this torture had lasted and he didn’t want to know. He just wanted to hold his baby sister again, to tell her that everything was going to be alright. No doubt she was being held at gunpoint and forced to live with a grieving widow. The same widow that watched Ajax fail to save her husband.


“Sleep tight Cowboy. When you wake up… if you wake up… it’ll be a long time from now.” Talo spoke softly, followed by him raising a blunt object high above his head and crashing it down into Ajax’s skull.


...


Ajax slept for far too long, weeks passed by as he was given medical attention for his grievous wounds. Talo hadn’t lied when he told him not to wrong him as before Ajax knew it weeks turned into months. He was constantly submerged in a healing tank, the tank filled with healing fluid while Ajax was totally submerged with nothing but a mask for oxygen and IV’s hooked up to him to feed him the proper amount of nutrients and sustenance he needed to survive. Most people only spent a week or two at most if they were subjected to healing via such a tank but Ajax spent months in it fully recovering.


Time seemed skewed inside the tank, minutes seemed like hours. Hours seemed like days. Days seemed like weeks. All he had was his thoughts to occupy him and sometimes even those betrayed him as he hallucinated from the medication and the procedures more often than not. Most of the times he dreamed of having a house. He seen himself a lot of the times in these hallucinations and he looked much healthier, happier. Less battle torn and much less rough around the edges. He dreamed of Ayla mostly, watching the girl grow up and protecting her, teaching her right from wrong. Teaching her how to avoid the same numerous mistakes he had made.


He also dreamt of Lucy. Mostly boyish dreams of taking her away from the RCN, perhaps even rescuing her on a perilous mission. Most of his dreams admittedly were inappropriate but it wasn’t as if he could control his own dreams. Though mostly he just admired her, of how brave and strong she was. Of how much she accomplished at such a young age, at how calm and level headed she was even in the face of danger. He admired her more than he could ever put into words, he just didn’t know if she could ever possibly feel the same way toward him. He knew she would scold him relentlessly of his mistakes but he would accept that. He wanted that. It was better than the alternative of never seeing her again, or worse, her not wanting to see him again.


Out of the blue Ajax awoken from his dreams, opening his eyes only to have them burnt by the medical liquid as he instantly became confused on what was happening. To him, he had been living a completely different life in his mind. On the outside, he had finally healed. Thrashing in the tank was normal but what Ajax was doing was absurd as he actually cracked the glass of the tank trying to break out. Soon the tank drained and he stood there, naked and confused at where he was. He tried to dry his eyes only to do so with wet hands, cursing to himself he forced himself to see through the pain and look with his own eyes for the first time in who knows how long.


“Mr. Winger. I’m Dr. Avena Raleigh of Atlas Medical… A pleasure.” The doctor before Ajax spoke, his eyes clearing up to make eye contact with the Draxi woman before him. It was rare to see such an alien on this side of the galaxy, or at least where he assumed he was. They were one of the Glitterworld races, an elegant race of sentient beings that had been one of the first to discover space travel. They were literal birds of prey, two massive wings jutting out of their backs with flexible cat-like bodies and taloned feet. Their faces were a sight to be seen, elegantly shaped and molded practically matching the worlds they haled from in the core. They were exotic looking yet familiar enough to approach. While rare out in the outer rim they were more of a common occurrence the further in you traveled, inhabiting multiple Glitterworlds with their reach expanding further and further.


“Avena… Raleigh…” Ajax repeated, leaning against the glass as he tried to comprehend what was going on. “Doctor…” He added, spitting out the fluid from the tank and down the drain. “How long was I out, doc?”


“That is not important.” She replied, her tail circling around her leg as she began to explain what had happened to Ajax. “You were in an experimental medi-tank. One that was built for long term use and for… Enhancing natural abilities.” She began to pace, not even bothering to look at Ajax as she ran down the list of everything she needed to check. “Are you experiencing any nausea? Fatigue? How do you feel right this moment, aside from confusion and potential need to void your bowels?”


“I… Feel…” Ajax took a moment, looking down at himself. He had never looked better, in fact, he looked like he hadn’t been asleep or in trouble at all. He looked leaner, his muscle rippling and massive compared to before. He felt as if he had more energy than he once thought possible, almost an insatiable need to go out and expend all that energy as fast as he possibly could. Even then after he imagined he could keep going, the intoxicating feeling of being better again making him ecstatic. “I’ve never felt better before in my life.” He said, to which Dr. Raleigh began to write something on her data pad. “I feel stronger… bigger… taller… I have so much energy I don’t know what to do with it. I physically look-”


“Feel, Mr. Winger.” The Doctor interrupted dryly. “Do you have any aches or pains? Do you feel anything wrong internally, perhaps a stomach ache or something more serious? Do you remember how you got here or what condition you were in?”


“None of that, ma’am. All I remember was getting most my bones busted and leaking out more blood than I thought was in my body. Next thing I know I’m dreaming and then… after who knows how long of that I wake up. Standing naked in front of a Draxi doctor who I’ve never met before.” He replied, dumbfounded at what was going on but slowly gaining his bearings. “Can I get a towel or something?”


“No.” She replied curtly, “Besides, there’s nothing I haven’t seen there anyways. You haven’t been the most modest patient.” Avena spoke, a faint smirk appearing on her face. “Now then, since your vitals seem to be better than fine I have to admit something to you that you aren’t going to like Mr. Winger. It… has been two years and fifteen days since you were admitted here.”


“TWO YEARS?!” Ajax roared suddenly, “THAT CAN’T BE TRUE!” He shouted, wanting to break out of the glass prison that was encasing him. “I… There must be some mistake. Two years?... That makes Ayla… 7? Oh no... “ He looked desperately towards the doctor, “Please let me out of here… I have to… I have to find my little sister. It’s been years and I failed her and-”


“Mr. Winger.” The Doctor said sternly, interrupting Ajax’s train of thought. “I hate to inform you but the status of your sister is unknown. The men that brought you here informed us that you would ask of her and maybe even go irate upon realizing how long you have been asleep. Please… Stay calm. I am only trying to help you gain your bearings here. I am not your enemy.” The woman frowned at Ajax, although she was trying to maintain her professionalism she said, “Never imagined you sounding the way you do… After monitoring you for so long.” She sighed, “Listen, Ajax… I work for Atlas. Do you know what we do here?”


“Just about everything… From small crime to pharmaceuticals.” He replied bluntly, not wanting to speak anymore and simply go see Ayla. “I don’t need the pitch. Let me out of here and get me some god damn pants.”


“You getting shy all of a sudden? You should have told that to the man who was skinny dipping in that tank there for two years.” The Doctor replied, trying to ease Ajax’s worry with humor. It had no effect on him, so, she continued. “You are right. We do operate in multiple fields and some of our… fields... does not represent our main goal very well. Do you know why you were brought here instead of a normal hospital?”


“No…”


“It’s because you were far too injured for a normal hospital. Not even the greatest of doctors could have saved you from all the breaks and internal damage you suffered. You needed something… more.” She said, pressing the button on the tank to release Ajax. The glass canopy all around him began to rise, letting him breath in some fresher air as he took a few steps forward. He stumbled out at first but quickly gained his footing, not wanting to break his face upon taking his first steps. “Stand still, I have to examine you.” The doctor began to check Ajax’s muscles and bones, scanning over him with her tablet and hands. “You were given a 14% chance to live by Prime Medical. You were given a 28% chance to live by a colleague of mine who use to work on the planet Curretch who I go to for council from time to time. You were given an estimated 56% chance to live if using Exodlite technology.” She smirked, “Do you want to know what your estimated percentage to survive under my care here at Atlas was?”


Ajax shrugged, “You’re gonna tell me anyway lady, might as well get out with it.”


“Sassy huh? I always pictured you the strong silent type. 100%.” She said, pacing around him whilst examining him further. “Atlas has developed a new program… One that needed test subjects that couldn’t exactly agree to the program. While the chance of you dying was less than 1%... You coming back the same or even sane was another thing.” Dr. Raleigh stood in front of Ajax now, finished with her quick examination. “Long story short… You were a guinea pig. One for my life’s work… I call it… Project Lyfe.”


“Life?” Ajax asked, “You doctors need to get a better naming system.”


“Lyfe… With a y. It was a codename for a top secret Atlas project that YOU survived, Mr. Winger. Now… The specifics of what we did to you are classified but…” She smiled, “You are in the top percentile of humans now, including those with augmentations. We have strengthened your bones, thickened your skin, quickened your reflexes. Small injuries will heal before you eyes, like the healing factor of races from hostile worlds. You are the first of many super humans Atlas has successfully created. Only a few of you will ever meet this stage but…” Raleigh smiled, “You were one of the few that made it. Or didn’t go insane from it… From what I can tell anyways.”


“You’re full of shit.” Ajax replied, laughing at the absurdity of all of this. “I go from knocking on death’s door to… a god damn superhero?” He laughed even harder when he said it outloud. “Lady… This isn’t a comic book origin story. This isn’t some movie. This is reality… So you just healed me up? The side effect of me bulking up and looking better than ever is nice but… what’s the catch? I got ED or something now? Are my teeth bad? Do I have a tail?!”


“This is no comic book nor movie, and no you don’t have a tail. Atlas has made great strides in human engineering and… While you may be no superhero you are super human now. Whether you like it or not.” She pushed up her glasses, “While the word super human IS exaggerated and you are no stronger than someone with a plethora of augmentations… You are that powerful organically. The men that brought you here did not intend for you to be shaped this way but…” She smirked, “I seen what your occupation was. Watched a few of your fights on my terminal and I must say… Your abilities are impressive. So much so that I wished to make you better.”


“But at what cost?” Ajax asked, looking down and staring at his own hands. “This power has to come with a price… Am I only going to live a few more years? Has my IQ gone down? I don’t… feel dumber. A little hungry but that’s about it. And a big draft… You sure you can’t get me pants?”


“No pants.” She stated firmly, “Now… The only price you paid was one that you will never know of. We put you through the upper limits of what a human can withstand pain wise. We taxed your brain and your body to their very limits and still you hung on. The price you paid is that you were one of many that had gone through this test and the odds of you becoming a shell of your former self were much higher than you coming out… well… like this.” The Doctor said, motioning towards Ajax.


“So... “ Ajax said, trying to take it all in. “I’m as gifted as an augmented human without the burden of augmentations…” He repeated, instantly thinking of his father. The jealousy that man would feel towards his son would be unreal, though Ajax had a feeling not everything was being explained to him. “Do I got any special powers? Any cool things I should know about?”


“Like I said, Mr. Winger… You are much tougher than a normal human now. Your mind, body and spirit have all been enhanced well beyond natural means. You can not jump high or fly… or perhaps even shoot lasers out of your eyes.” She said with a dorky giggle, “Buuttt… I imagine you could stand toe to toe with a Saur now. Their claws certainly wouldn’t hurt you, you’d just heal in their face” The Doctor said, betraying her professionalism for just a moment as she looked Ajax up and down. “I seen what you had done against that monster… To save your friend.” Ajax recoiled as soon as she brought it up. “My superiors were telling me not to select you as you were some gutter fighter but after seeing what you had tried to do for that man… I had to give you this gift. A gift of life and… the ability to enact your revenge.”


“I… appreciate it… Dr. Raleigh… Avena. But… Once I fight Threk that’s it for me.” He confessed, “The man that brought me here has my sister and is holding her captive. He said if I don’t die to Threk in the arena he’ll kill her and… She is worth a lot more to me than my own life is. I’m sorry but your work is going to waste.” He said bluntly. Followed by, “Seriously lady… Can I get some pants? I get the feeling you’re enjoying the show a little too much now.”


“Only when you promise me something…” She said, gaining his attention much more closely now. “Do not… throw that fight. I did not bring you back from death only for you to throw your life away. You’ve been given a gift… one that you shouldn’t waste.” She walked over to a nearby closet and pulled out a hospital gown and held it out in front of him. “Promise me you won’t kill yourself. Promise me that you will fight to the best of your ability and save your sister… Atlas spent millions on this project and now that it’s a success we’ll be going into mas-” She stopped herself, “That doesn’t matter. What matters is... is that you get your life back, Mr. Winger. I have watched you in a tube for far too long to watch you waste this opportunity.” She held out the gown closer, “Take this and don’t waste your life. Say it…”


“I… promise.”

​

End of Scene 9 - Rebirth​

It had been three years and four months since Ajax and Ayla arrived on Galacrea Prime. It had also been just about four months since he had awakened from the strange project the eccentric Dr. Avena Raleigh had put him through that saved his life and enhanced his abilities. She had exaggerated when she described him as superhuman but to her he was one. Ajax was stronger, faster, nearly better in everywhere physically and mentally now. He kept making comic superhero jokes about it to her, she found them amusing.


The four months he spent with Atlas had been some of the strangest of his life. Day in and day out Avena put him through vigorous testing to make sure he was in fact improved. While the average human was quite fragile and weak compared to most alien races, Ajax, while not exactly the superhero he spoke of, was able to compare to them now as if he was augmented from head to toe. Atlas had accomplished the reverse of what the Exodlites had accomplished, organic modification at the molecular level to improve humanity. To improve all life forms. It was the same goal but with different results and as such had different side effects.


Ajax was one of the lucky ones. Only a handful of patients going through the Lyfe Project came out sane. Many came out as mindless drones, many were mutated behind comprehension. Many just died in the tube, contrary to Dr. Raleigh’s 100% survival rate rating. He had felt better than before the project but couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that he was being used for something far more malicious than what the sweet Dr. Raleigh was showing.


While Ajax wanted to desperately find Ayla and stop Talo once and for all he couldn’t leave. Atlas forbade him. While the Doctor seemed to have something new for Ajax to do daily and had numerous excuses why he couldn’t leave the Atlas project site he couldn’t help but want to escape. They had him doing numerous physical drills, mental tests and tedious exercise when he already felt physically fit enough to take on a Saur. Then, the day came where Dr. Raleigh revealed to him just where exactly they were.


“So… Galacrea Prime is all the way over there… That means we're on Crios Station.” Ajax practically had a flashback when they had first arrived on the massive city planet. They were in sight of the massive planet as well as the other’s orbiting around, reminding Ajax just how massive of a system these planets were. Shuttles going to this very station were for sale, meaning that Atlas wasn’t the only ones here. “Never been until now. Atlas own this place?” Ajax asked the doctor as he looked out to Galacrea Prime, longing to be there just to find his sweet little sister.


“No.” She replied bluntly. “We own half the station. The other half belongs to the government of Galacrea. They leave us alone while they benefit from our… charitable donations. It is is a fine arrangement, especially with all our dealings on the planets themselves.” Avena smirked, “We even own part of those rinky dink fighting pits you use to fight in. Talo is on the payroll… He sends us bodies, we send him money. Every corpse from his dealings, every thug that got too ambitious. Yes… We have an arrangement with the man. One that I wouldn’t mind seeing terminated after what he did to you. And to your loved ones…”


“It’ll be terminated… soon enough.”


The weeks rolled by as test after test was conducted. The Draxi woman seemed to be fond of Ajax, something he wasn’t totally unaware of but was getting a bit irritated with her. Not because of her overt fondness but because it seemed like she was keeping him there now for selfish reasons. He had business to attend to and he couldn’t wait around much longer. It had been years since Ayla had seen him, most likely led to believe he was dead. She had been growing up without him while he slept and the guilt he was feeling outweighed both Dr. Raleigh’s need to study him as well as Atlas’ interest in him.


“When can I leave?” Ajax asked, as he normally did at the end of each day. Instead of the doctor’s usual stale answer she instead looked down at her tablet and frowned. She seemed hesitant to tell him this, only for her to compose herself and say exactly what he wanted to hear.


“A shuttle is waiting for you in the docking bay to the station. Our work here is concluded…. I… I will miss studying you. Err… Working with you. Working with you to ensure that Project Lyfe was a success. Thank you for your patience during the process including this final four month endeavour of ensuring that you are of perfect health. I-... I wish you the best.”


“Professional answer huh?” Ajax said, smirking at the doctor. “I think I know you better than that by now Avena. Not a proper goodbye? We just spent nearly every waking moment together for a few months. Least I could get is a good luck. A proper goodbye. Maybe a friendly handshake?” He laughed. “I’m happy to be leaving but I thought we were friends by now.”


“As much as I’d like to give you said proper goodbye…” Avena’s eyes glazed over as she once again reverted to what Ajax didn’t want to hear. “You were a test subject. You passed and gave us the information we wanted. We can now continue to do further research in this field as you… Probably march off to your death in the fighting pits. The illusion of friendship was simply to extract as much information as we could from you. I will show you the door after handing you some normal clothes. Your belongings were incinerated on arrival.”


Dr. Raleigh showed Ajax back out of the testing area and to the hallway, only to swiftly wrap him in an embrace followed by a kiss on the cheek. The doctor showed him more affection in that moment than she had since he had arrived, completely throwing professionalism away as she hugged him.


“They are watching… You are in danger.” She whispered, fear in her voice. “When you board the shuttle… Fight. Take it and get back to Prime and save your sister. Kill Threk… Then… never return here again.” Avena said in a hushed voice. “Project Lyfe is… not what it seems. You’re too valuable now… Too strong. I tried to stay professional but damn it ‘Jax… You’re a good man and one of my only friends. They keep us all under surveillance and it’s hard to just… be yourself. Does that make sense?” She confessed, “I brought you back to life for science but… I’m glad it was you that made it. Now please… just get going and don’t turn back. Atlas is a death trap… Avoid all of us at all costs. I’ll miss you… But you have to leave.”


“Thank you Avena… For everything.” He replied, at a loss of what to say to her. She just saved his life again and now he was going to have to leave her behind, one of the few people in the past few years that actually cared enough to help him. Without her he would be dead and he wouldn’t have a second chance. “I’ll… I’ll send you a postcard.” He said with a smirk, though it was waning as her expression said it all. He was in danger and if he stayed any longer then they both would be in danger.


Avena led Ajax into a side room with clothing that he could choose from. Most of it was Atlas branded gear and he wasn’t exactly wanting to show off their logo so he chose nondescript jeans, a plain white t-shirt along with a leather coat. It was odd, not having to wear the clothing Atlas forced him to wear during his physical therapy and his training, it was refreshing in a way looking down and seeing something a normal person would wear.


They entered the hall once more and Avena didn’t spare any more words, their time was short and they had spent more than enough time together over the months. He simply gave her a wink and put his back to the door, pushing it open while he silently said goodbye. He felt for the doctor, she was trapped in a place in which she couldn’t escape. He knew that feeling all too well.


Walking outside and seeing just how many buildings Atlas had on the station was staggering, the one he was in being one of the smallest as he walked out into a parking lot-esque area. He was permitted through the gates and with no one stopping him he headed straight for the shuttle bay nearby. There was suspiciously only one on station and it seemed to be waiting for him. Inside were at least a dozen men, all minding their own business and acting perfectly natural. Avena had warned him, without that Ajax may have just simply strolled into a trap.


He boarded and the doors immediately closed behind him, one of the nearby men eye balling him betraying his intentions early. Instead of allowing them to spring a trap on him however Ajax grabbed the nearest man and smashed his head into the shuttle wall as it was taking off. The others were so stunned by the sudden attack they didn’t know how to react. By the time they had even fully comprehended what was happening Ajax had knocked out three of them and killed one.


The shuttle ride was a bloody one. One that just showcased how much tougher Ajax was after he had been brought back from the brink of death and experimented on by Atlas. Any minor cuts or scrapes seemed to evaporate away as his healing factor kicked in, his punches felt much more fluid and powerful than he ever thought possible. If this was the Ajax that had entered the fighting pits originally then he would have already been champion in the over city and they wouldn't have ever been in this mess.


The Atlas goons had begun to reach for their weapons but Ajax was simply too quick and the shuttle was too cramped for any of them to match his strength. One man managed to wrap his hands around his pistol only to receive an elbow to the face, knocking teeth out and spurting blood all over the shuttle wall. Ajax grabbed ahold of the hand holds above him next and lifted himself up, followed by thrusting both of his feet into two separate assailants. They went toppling down with cracked ribs, at least until Ajax jumped onto them breaking them entirely.


He stomped, he smashed and he killed left and right as the men all desperately tried to get the upper hand but with him having the element of surprise instead he was able to take care of his attackers with surprising ease. Ajax was back and he was headed right for Galacrea Prime with a vengeance.


The shuttle pilot calmly flew Ajax to the planet with a pistol to his head. Ajax silently waited for the shuttle to land before blasting the shuttle pilot in the face making sure the doors sealed behind him and there were no loose ends. He tucked the pistol in the waistband of his jeans and continued walking through the very same terminal he had when he first arrived to the city. He passed by so many familiar sights, dredging up painful memories as he and Ayla fought against poverty and hunger together. They were alone and experienced so much pain, followed by Ajax having to lie, steal and kill his way for a living. His one mistake was showing mercy which resulted in the death of his friend and ironically his own rebirth. This was all going to end with their freedom.


He passed by the site where Ayla had asked for chicken in which Ajax had spent over four hours trying to scrounge up enough money for her meal. He passed by where he swallowed his pride and pickpocketed for weeks until finally he stumbled upon the street entrance to the lower city. He was getting closer now, he knew Ayla would be at the Overcity but he couldn’t track her down the planet was simply to massive to do that. He had to face Talo and face him on his terms, just like he had set them all those years ago.


Ajax first made a stop at the fighting pits before heading down to Talo’s office. He made his way down the narrow hallways until he found where his dressing room would be, the one he typically used before going into combat. He untucked the pistol from his waist band and threw it up above the lockers. He might need it later and it was always good to have a backup plan. Luckily the building was basically empty, giving him a straight shot to Talo’s office.


When Ajax walked in the door Talo looked like he seen a ghost, reaching for his gun and raising it to Ajax. He simply raised his hands in response, showing that he didn’t mean any harm.


“You… gave me quite the scare there Cowboy. Didn’t your mama ever teach you how to knock?” The Ulyx scolded him, “How did you get past my guards? Are you here to kill me?”


“Your guards weren’t looking in the right spots.” Ajax replied coolly. “I’m here to surrender myself, like you asked. I’m here to fight Threk.” Talo immediately started laughing hysterically, Ajax could only smile at him as he tried to get the laughter out of his system. “We had a deal. My life, Ayla goes free. I fight Threk and I die a warrior’s death… I’ve had a lot of years to rest and recover from… that hell of a beating you gave me. I hold no hard feelings. Just business.”


“Yeah right.” The pig faced man said, “You’re just trying to get me to trust you again boy. I know all the tricks in the book.” He pressed a button on his desk, “Get in here you dumb bastards… You let one get by you. And… Call the promoter. Schedule Threk versus Ajax for Friday night. I want to give them a week to promote it… Get the word out all over Galacrea and the nearby systems. No one is going to want to miss this… Open up betting lines, rig it to where Ajax is favorite.” Talo smiled, “Make it seem like Threk is going to lose this one... GET ON IT!”


“Smart move.” Ajax said as Talo hung up the intercom roughly. “Opening up the betting lines and making me the favorite? You’re going to make a lot of money when I die.” Ajax sighed, “Wish I had been there to see some of it. You still got my account open?”


Talo nodded, “Why? You have no use for it.” He began to laugh in Ajax’s face. “Going to get another shitty tattoo? Perhaps another hovercar you don’t need… That’s right boy… You’re just like all the other goons I hire. Waste their money the first chance they get cause they’ve never seen any… Oh Cowboy… You could have been the greatest. Instead you had to throw that all away. Disappointing.”


“I’ll be the greatest payday for you at least. I’d like to put all my money on my death. All of it… Then, Ayla gets it all.”


“You know… As much as I hate to say it but…” Talo nodded his head softly, “I can do that for you boy. She’ll see it. I can assure you that, I owe you that much. How can I tell you’re going to cooperate?”


“Do you really think I’m going to beat Threk?” Ajax asked, dumbfounded. “I’m confident in my abilities against most challengers but…. Fuck… It’s Threk we’re talking about here. Even if I gave it my all he’d only get wounded. I’m fucked either way so I might as well make it a good show. Plus my money is on the line for Ayla now… Why would I fuck myself out of that?”


“True… You love that little girl. She’s fine, by the way. I don’t check often but her and that Dee broad are getting along nicely. Nearly killed Dee for your interruption at the Mazar fight but had to have someone take care of the brat. I might be a tough boss but I’m not heartless.” Talo waved his hand, “You can stay in the pits til Friday. I’ll send little Ayla your way to your dressing room. Do whatever it is you wish to do before your final day here…” Talo snorted, “I suggest getting some pussy and getting shit faced. Look at you, you’re a man now! Go catch up for lost time son, then… make peace with your god if you have one.”

End of Scene 10 - Return​

A lone Ajax stood in his dressing room, wrapping his knuckles one last time. This was going to be his final fight, potentially the greatest one of his life. He sat there in silence in the dimly lit room as he awaited for the time to come. The promotion leading up toward the fight had been intense, so intense that he had to do several interviews along with several photoshoots among other logistics that he normally didn’t have to do. The fight poster was even hung in his dressing room. It was a massive picture of Threk towering over Ajax, Ajax looking up at him with the Saur standing menacingly with his arms crossed. Ajax admired the art, especially as it didn’t even show his face as he looked upward toward the Saur. If it wasn’t for his back tattoos he probably wouldn’t have recognized himself at all.


“I’m going to kill you…” Ajax whispered to himself, looking up at Threk as if he was in the fight already. He began lacing up his gauntlets as well as his shin and feet protectors. For this fight Talo had pulled out all the stops, giving Ajax all new fight gear for the cameras that would be televising this event all throughout the Undercity and those who streamed it on the Holonet. Ajax shook his head however when he seen the cowboy hat that was laying on the bench next to him, Talo hitting closer to home than Ajax originally thought he was capable of doing. He picked up the hat and looked at it, thinking what his father would do in his situation. “Probably just fuck it all up… Huh Old man?” He said, a grimace on his face.


He looked up at the lone mirror in front of him. Ajax had gotten his hair cut and his beard trimmed up, looking less like the wild man that broke out of Atlas Medical but more his own person. Plus the long hair didn’t suit him much anyways. He was about to put on the hat when two people entered the room. Standing in front was Dee who looked shocked to see Ajax alive, while a little blond headed girl stood behind her.


“Well go on then... “ Dee said, putting her hand on the back of Ayla’s neck and pushing her forward. Ayla came into the light and Ajax couldn’t believe how much she had grown. The little curly headed girl looked taller, her face becoming less chubby and her features becoming more defined as she got older. She was still very young but it was as if seeing a ghost for the both of them.


“A...A...Jax?” Ayla managed to spit out before Ajax closed the distance and embraced his sister in the most loving embrace she had ever felt in her life. It took all of the strength he had in his body not to break down there as he clutched onto his sister tightly and held her. It was the only thing he wanted to do when he was being beaten, it was one of the only things he would dream about and it was the only thing he had looked forward to in years. Ayla began to bawl, bawl so heavily that she began soaking the shirt Ajax was wearing. “I-can’t-believe-you’re-alive!” She cheered whilst sobbing, sucking in air sharply as she tried to breath properly.


“I’m alive Ayla… I’m here…” Ajax said as a few tears streamed down his face, “I’m not leaving you ever again either… You understand me?” He said pulling away from her for just a moment so she could see him. “I was hurt… really badly by Talo. He-”


“I know!” She cried, “He wouldn’t stop showing me the pictures!” She said, burying her face in Ajax’s chest. The thought of that man torturing his little sister for no reason sent him almost into a rage he couldn’t contain. “He… said… you were going to die if you disobeyed again… That you were going to go away to a hospital a long time to… To be better again. That I had to stay with Ms. Dee or he’d put me there too!”


“Listen Ayla… You listen to me right now.” Ajax said holding onto her tighter until it was almost uncomfortable. “I’m going to stop Talo… And I’m going to stop Threk… For Mazar and for everyone else he’s hurt. Then… I’m getting us all out of here. He is never going to hurt you...”


“You mean it?”


“Yes… Now… Dee. Climb up there and grab what you find over there.” He said, pointing over to the lockers. The woman hesitated, but listened. She walked over and when she gripped the handle of the pistol she understood, placing it in her coat. “They probably already checked you. Don’t do anything with it but… If they try and come after you or Ayla you know what to do.” The woman nodded silently, knowing that this was about to all be over.


“Ajax… I don’t want you to get hurt but… Wowwww-” Ayla said, touching Ajax’s arms. “You got BIG brudder.” She said with a giggle. “How’d this happen?”


“That’s not important. What’s important is you know I love you and-” Someone walked in and stood in the doorway, a guard, waiting to escort the two to watch the fight. “I love you and I’ll see you soon, okay? I wish we had longer but I have to go now and you do too, okay?”


“I love you Ajax!” Ayla said, hugging him once more. “Don’t you leave me again…”


Ajax reluctantly let go as his sister was escorted away along with Dee who silently wished him luck. He didn’t get the chance to thank her for looking after Ayla but he was going to show it by killing her husband’s murderer then get them all off of Galacrea Prime. Ajax finished getting suited up, removing his shirt and lacing up his arm and leg guards properly then finally putting on the cowboy hat. He glanced at himself in the mirror thinking he’d see Axel but all he seen was himself. With a happy sigh he walked out into the corridor before the arena one final time.


The crowd grew restless as everyone took their seats, Dee and Ayla taking theirs in the top box with Talo who entertained them with food and drink. Ayla had no idea what Talo had told Ajax to do. Talo had no idea what Ajax was going to do. Dee had no idea how long she could hold onto the pistol without discharging it into Talo’s face. Luckily before anyone did something rash the announcer stepped up to the platform.


“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! IT IS TIME FOR THE MAINNN EVENT OF THE EVENING!...” He pointed over to Ajax’s corridor. “INTRODUCING FIRST…. A VETERAN OF THE PITS… THE HUMAN CONTENDER FOR THE GALACREA PRIME FIGHTING PITS CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE…. AJAAAX…. COWBOY…. WINGGEEEEEERRRR!”


Ajax came storming out of his corridor as the gates opened, a mix of boos and cheers for the veteran as he stepped out into familiar territory. It had been a long time since he had fought in the pits and now it was going to be the last time, for better or worse. He looked incredible on the big screen compared to his last fight, those who were frequent patrons of the pits wondering if he had been taking performance enhancing drugs to blow up that huge muscle wise. The answer was yes, all of the drugs.


“AND NOW FOR THE REIGNING… DEFENDING… CHAMPION OF GALACREA PRIME FIGHTING PITS… INTRODUCING THE CHAMPION THREK THE TITAN” Out of the other corridor came something absolutely terrifying as Threk came crashing through the door, the entire wall giving way as he charged through. He had been waiting a long time for this as he began his initial rush towards Ajax. Like the majority of the time the announcer didn’t even have time to finish as Threk made contact with Ajax. Instead of getting steam rolled like everyone assumed would happen, Ajax met Threk with force and both clashed in the middle of the arena into a stalemate. Ajax’s hat went flying off of him and Threk barred down his teeth, surprised to see Ajax hold on so well.


“YOU HAVE GOTTEN STRONGER SINCE LAST SEEN YOU PUNY HUMAN!” Threk taunted, “WOULD HATE FOR YOU TO-” Threk was dealt with a horrific blow to the throat that caused him to fall to the ground. Everyone in the audience gasped as the Saur struggled to breath, kicking himself back up to his feet but stunned nonetheless. Ajax turned his back to the Saur and raised his hands to the crowd, playing to them as they all roared in approval. “I WILL EAT YOU ALIVE!”


Threk came charging at Ajax only for him to deal out something from his first fight ever, the infamous spinning back kick. Ajax spun around and dealt a kick directly to the Saur’s stomach and it felt just as if another Saur had attacked Threk. He was confused and hurt but it wouldn’t last long as he got use to Ajax’s new found strength. Threk used his claws and dug them down Ajax’s chest, Cowboy backing up just in time not to get hurt too badly but the damage had been done.


Right before Threk’s eyes the wound began to heal on it’s own, causing him to open his mouth wide as he watched it happen. Even Talo couldn’t believe what he was seeing, nor what the audience has seen. Then, Ajax stuck a single middle finger in Threk’s face causing them to explode into cheers. Talo took this all as Ajax selling the fight more, making Talo even more money. Threk took it as a direct insult to his honor.


“I WILL DESTROY YOU!”


“Fuck you.” Ajax replied, a big grin on his face as Threk charged forward once more. This time however he wasn’t holding back and began to slam into Ajax repeatedly with his entire body whilst throwing knees into the man’s stomach. It was incredible how strong Threk was, Ajax recoiling as the breath was knocked out of him time and time again until finally he dove to the side. This wasn’t going to be as easy as he thought.


With his new found strength and abilities Ajax put on the best fight of his and Threk’s lives. They traded blows, they both bled and they both showed an expertise in hand to hand combat that not many reached in this day and age. The minutes went on and on with no breaks, both of the men fighting to kill one another. Threk was beginning to grow anxious as Ajax was showing barely any signs of slowing down while he felt even with his Saur rage that his strength was waning.


“YES AJAX!” Ayla yelled, “KICK HIS ASS!” She looked to Dee who only shook her head with a smile. “I MEANT BUTT!”


The fight continued for a dangerous amount of time. The Saur’s claws were the main problem as he began to dig into Ajax’s skin when he closed the distance, usually Ajax had an answer for this by slamming his fists into the Saur but each time Threk got close he dealt such a massive amount of damage. Without his new healing factor he’d be long dead by now, showing just how terrifying Threk had actually been. It also showed how much more of a risk taker he was now that he could afford it, before he would time his shots carefully and use his opponent against them. Ajax was bullying Threk, something that no one had ever done before and he was winning over the crowd.


Ajax had stopped throwing spectacular moves and simply stuck to the basics which seemed to weigh in his favor. He wove in and out of punches while dropping elbows and fists that were hammering Threk harder and harder as he threw them. Ajax’s healing factor was great for the smaller injuries but soon Threk dug his hand directly into his chest once more and ripped downwards. A massive claw mark from Ajax’s right shoulder down to the left portion of his waist split open and spilled blood out onto the battlefield. If Ajax survived this a nasty scar would be the reminder of how Threk nearly killed him. Generally this meant defeat for Threk’s opponents, not Ajax though.


The insane young man reared his head back and flung it right into Threk’s throat, the giant not expecting such a careless move after seeing how Ajax fought but it fit right into his dirty style of fighting. Next thing Threk knew was that Ajax was jumping onto the Saur’s shoulders and had wrapped his legs around Threk’s head. This was followed by Ajax reaching down and plunging his hand right into Threk’s augmented eye and ripping out the very same one that Mazar had done so before him.


“THAT WAS FOR MAZAR YOU BASTARD!” Ajax roared as he reached down and ripped out the other. Everyone was in shock as Ajax blinded the Saur entirely, the exhausted Cowboy falling off the Saur’s shoulders as Threk began to thrash around wildly. “THAT’S RIGHT MOTHERFUCKER! YOU’RE GOING TO DIE IN HERE TONIGHT!” He taunted, jumping to his feet and kicking Threk in the spine causing him to fall down to the ground.


“NO NO NO!” Talo said, standing up as he slammed his hands into the desk in front of him. “YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO DIE YOU IGNORANT BASTARD!” He looked to his two guards, “KILL THESE TWO BITCHES AND BRING ME WINGER’S HEAD HE-” Shots rang out in the skybox as Dee pulled out a pistol and began to open fire on Talo’s guards. “WHAT THE FUCK?!” The Ulyx screamed as he charged out of the room, after Dee had taken out both guards she shot a few rounds into the Ulyx who managed to run away just in time. He bled all over the hallway as he struggled to run away, fortunately Dee ran over and barricaded the door instead of pursuing him.


“Don’t look at them Ayla!” She said, referring to the bodies. “Keep watching your brother! He’s winning baby!”


Ayla was no stranger to death unfortunately, though the girl avoided her gaze from the dead guards and watched as her brother stood victorious. Threk was wildly trying to find Ajax while he was holding his arms out to the crowd, they all loved him. They all adored him. For once, he had earned their favor entirely. They were chanting their usual cries of death and finish him, while Ajax had fought against that before he could make an exception now.


Ajax kicked Threk’s legs out from under him and caused the Saur to sit on his knees as he chopped him right in the throat. While he was gasping for breath Ajax leaned in to speak with him one final time.


“What was that… you did to my friend?” Threk couldn’t speak, he was in an unbelievable amount of pain and he couldn’t function without either of his eyes. “That’s right… you took off his head… And held it above your own. Do you remember what I said to you Threk?” The Saur groaned in pain but understood that the end was near and there was nothing he could do about it. “I said to you don’t you do it or I’ll kill you… you son of a bitch…” Ajax grabbed one of the horns on top of Threk’s head and ripped it clean off then began to dig it into the Saur’s neck, using his own horn as a makeshift knife. The crowd went crazy as Ajax began to dig in deep until he had cut a wide enough hole in the Saur’s throat. “This is for Mazar…” Ajax whispered in the Saur’s ear one final time before ripping his head clean off.


Ajax held Threk’s head up in the air to the intoxicating applause of the crowd. Although he had some business to finish he hated to admit how alive this made him felt. Here he stood with potentially hundreds of thousands watching cheering him on in the most intense fight of his life. He was left scarred and bloodied but ultimately he had been the stronger man. The better trained man. The luckier man that for once Atlas’ creations was used for good. He then tossed Threk’s head to the side as if it was nothing, much like Threk had done to Mazer, then raised both of his arms in the air.


Although Ayla was forced to see such a terrifying sight she had known that the Saur had killed Dee’s husband so the little girl cried out in victory too. She hated seeing Ajax have to do such deeds but in this case she approved after what the Saur had done to the only mother figure she had in her life.


“Cowboy!” A man came rushing up, jumping into the middle of the arena whilst stepping over the Saur’s body. It was the official announcer in the flesh, coming to interview Ajax for the first time since he had entered the pits. He was a tall Terremian big enough to possess such a powerful voice. “How does it feel to be the first ever… AND LAST MAN… ever to defeat Threk the Destroyer and become the NEW Galacrea Prime Fighting Pit champion?”


“Threk… was a bad man. I did y’all a service by killing him. He killed my friend and fellow fighter Mazar and left his wife husbandless and his two daughters fatherless… I’d kill him again now if you gave me the chance...” Ajax said, grabbing the microphone from the Terremian’s hands. “But there are worse men than him… ones that are running this organization. Men who allow other, better men to fight for barely a sliver of the money and be forced into slavery. Men who beat these fighters down and give their lives for this sport… only to take everything they have.” Everyone was captivated by what he had to say, Ajax exposing the truth of the fighting pits then and there. “This sport wasn’t supposed to be a deathmatch… It was supposed to be two people competing in a contest to see who was more superior. The promoter… and criminal overlord TALO was the one who perverted this great sport into something it wasn’t… A gladiatorial arena where the winner gets to be a slave and the loser is granted death. IS THAT RIGHT? IS THAT FAIR?” The crowd boo’d, agreeing with Ajax entirely for once.


The announcer tried to peel the microphone away from Ajax’s hands but he wasn’t finished, not just yet.


“Things are about to change around here for the better… As your champion… I can promise you that. Because…” Ajax’s face darkened, the announcer frightened by even just standing next to him. “This is only the first man I will kill this night! Talo… I’m coming for you motherfucker.” Ajax dropped the microphone and began to run right back to the open corridor, causing the stadium to go into an uproar at what he had just done.


Talo’s heart was pounding out of his chest as all the screens in the hallways played Ajax’s speech. His threat was real and there was no one to protect him. His guards actually let Ajax pass right by them, no one having any true loyalty to Talo anymore after he was exposed in front of countless people. All he had was money and combine that with years of abuse towards everyone created a recipe for disaster.


The Ulyx struggled up the stairs, his fat body not allowing him to run fast enough to his office. He needed a weapon, anything in order to fend off Ajax. As soon as he entered his office he was confronted with the most devastating punch he had ever felt before. His nose caved in as Ajax dealt a heavy haymaker that sent him flying into the wall behind them.


“Hello Talo… I got a present for ya’.” Ajax said, smiling at the Ulyx as he dragged him off the ground and to his feet.


“PLEASE AJAX!” The man squealed, “CAN’T WE WORK OUT SOMETHING HERE? I HAVE MORE MONEY HIDDEN AWAY THAN ANYONE ON PRIME I CAN… I CAN BUY YOU ANYTHING YOU COULD EVER WANT! I CAN GET YOUR CARS… HOMES…. BUSINESSES!” He fell to his knees as soon as they were back in his office, groveling at Ajax’s feet. “PLEASE DON’T HURT ME! I WILL DO ANYTHING! ANYTHING YOU WANT!” He snorted, trying his best to keep his composure but failing miserably. “THAT’S RIGHT! WE CAN GO INTO BUSINESS TOGETHER YOU CAN HELP ME RUN THE PITS…. NO YOU CAN OWN THE PITS ENTIRELY! I’LL JUST LEAVE!”


“Get up... “ Ajax ordered, the Ulyx hastily obeyed as he bowed his head towards Ajax. “Now… This is going to hurt…” Talo whined as he received the biggest beating of his life. For every man, woman and child he ever stole from, cheated, killed or wronged Ajax beat it out of him. For every victim, every lie, every dollar the Ulyx ever earned he was beaten for. It was so bad he was hardly recognizable after the end of it, Ajax had actually went easy on him before he beat him relentlessly in the end. He ensured that the man stayed conscious, just as Ajax had been forced to endure. “Wow… Talo… I gotta say kid… You look FUCKED up.” He said back to the Ulyx just as he had done to Ajax all those years ago. “The difference between me and you is though… I won’t make the mistake of keeping you alive…”


Talo whined as he was lifted up from his resting place in his chair, badly broken and bleeding everywhere. He now knew how it felt, how his torture felt that he enacted on so many others. He had been praying to any sort of entity out there that he could be freed from this pain. Free he would soon be as Ajax dragged him to the window, the same one that overlooked the fighting pits.


“You took everything from these people here… Now… You’re going to feel just what they felt in their final moments.” Ajax smiled in the Ulyx’s terrified face, the criminal overload knowing just what time it was. It was the end. “Pleasure doing business with you Talo.” With one final heave Ajax threw Talo right through the window sending him straight down into the Pits. He went flailing down as he plummeted to his death, his corpse collapsing right beside Threk’s as his fat body exploded on impact. Everyone gave Ajax one final cheer, their champion had delivered on his promise and finished the job in record time.


After Ajax took what he could from Talo’s office, including Threk’s pay and whatever money he could scavenge, he left after grabbing a few keepsakes of his fighting career. He never intended on returning to Galacrea Prime, not after the horrors he and his sister had faced here. Instead, he grabbed a box filled with anything he wanted and needed for the future. He had even grabbed the championship belt intended on being awarded to Threk that he earned, a trophy for his time from here. When he exited the office he found Dee and Ayla waiting for him. Ayla rushed up to him and embraced him to which Ajax gave her one back.


“I did it Ayla… We’re free…” He said teary eyed as he seen how happy his sister was. “We got enough here to start a new life somewhere far away. Somewhere quiet where we can do anything we want!”


“Can Ms. Dee and Denise and Maria come too?” Ayla asked, “She’s taken REAL good care of me since you’ve been gone and they are like sisters to me! Pretty please I-”


“Ayla… When I said we’re free, I meant all of us.” Ajax said, looking over to Ms. Dee who was openly crying as well. “Thank you… Dee… even after I failed you I wanted nothing more than to make everything not right but… As right as I could make it.” He went over and hugged her as well, “You’re family now… You took care of Ayla for me when I couldn’t and I can never repay you for that.”


“It… it was nothing…” She replied, tearing up hard as well. “Just… let’s leave. I never want to return to this planet again.”


“You read my mind.” Ajax said, picking up their winnings and the miscellaneous goods from Talo’s office. “Got enough here to get us all houses. And when I said us all I meant all of us individually.” He said with a laugh, one that was quickly turned into a hoarse one. Ajax dropped the box he was carrying and immediately rushed forward. Ayla’s mouth was agape and Dee looked confused as she seen Ajax run up to someone standing in the hallway waiting for them.


“Who’s that Ayla?”


“That’s Lucy!” Ayla said with a big goofy grin. “I’ll say hi in a second. I think she’s going to kiss my brudder.”


Sure enough Ayla was right as Ajax and Lucy were finally reunited. They both hadn’t even shared a single word with one another before they wrapped each other into a sweet embrace followed by a breathtaking kiss. One that had the both of them feeling light headed when they pulled away leaving them both smiling brightly.


Then, she smacked the hell out of him. She was no longer smiling.


“WHO THE FUCK LEAVES WITHOUT SAYING GOODBYE!” Lucy roared in anger. She smacked him again. “WHO THE FUCK DESTROYS THEIR COMMUNICATOR AND DOESN’T BOTHER TO FIND THEIR GIRLFRIEND’S NUMBER!” She smacked him yet again, “WHAT IN THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING FIGHTING IN SOME UNDERCITY’S GLORIFIED DEATH PITS?! ARE YOU FUCKING CRAZY?! ARE YOU MENTAL? DID IT OCCUR TO YOU THAT-” Lucy was silenced once more by Ajax kissing her, surprising her to say the least. Her eyes were wide open as she did so but soon she threw caution to the wind and returned it, closing her eyes and just relishing in the fact that he was alive.


Soon after what had felt like the proper time of catching up after so many years, Ayla dug her way in between the two of them and hugged Lucy too.


“Lucy!” The little girl cried, “It has been so long! And you’re kissing my brother! ICK!”


“Sorry Ayla… It’s just been too long. I should be hitting him more huh!”


“Yeah!” She replied mischievously to which Lucy responded by picking the little girl up and hugging her tightly.


“I missed you the most don’t you worry! I came back for you specifically little girl. Well, not so little anymore! It’s been far too long Ayla.” Lucy kissed Ayla on the forehead then looked to Ajax. She was in disbelief that she was actually looking at him. “I’m not going to say it. You might have gotten buffed out but I don’t like it. And those tattoos? Gross. You were way better looking all scrawny and-”


“Sure you do. You love it. You’re looking pretty damn good too Luce…” Ajax said, a cocky smirk appearing on his face. He noticed Dee coming up from behind with his things in her hands and he stopped for a moment. “Oh! Lucy, this is Dee. She’s… a close friend of mine and Ayla’s. Dee this is-”


“Lucretia. How could I forget after all the beautiful and terribly sappy things you said about her. It’s nice to finally meet you!”


“Ajax? A sap? No way.” Lucy said, a blush forming on her cheeks at hearing such words from a complete stranger. “And here I thought he left me. Only reason I didn’t think you were dead anymore is because everyone has been talking about this fight. Some redneck up against a Saur… I watched it and hardly recognized you with those tattoos or the fact that you can grow a full beard now. You really grew up Ajax…” She smiled, “Took you long enough.”


“It did… I would have went and looked for you but… Talo kept me prisoner. We’ve been stuck on this planet for over three years now. Axel broke my communicator before we ran away originally and I wanted to find you just-”


“Shh.” Lucy said, “It’s okay… I… We got together right after Dayle died. It wasn’t the best timing and it was a spur of the moment thing… I had to do some soul searching and some Exodlite killing. You became a bad boy and I became the best pilot the RCN ever had, second to… Well… Dayle.” She said, finally being able to smile again when saying her name. “Well, the RCN HAD me. I’ve been long gone after the changes Nephilim made. That’s besides the point though… I found you. I intend to keep you now, dickhead.” She said, looking very pleased. She could hardly take her eyes off of Ajax and when she did she was blessed with the sight of little Ayla. “And I found you!” She said, kissing Ayla again causing the little girl to giggle.


“You got me Luce… We have to get off this planet as soon as we can. You got a ship? We have the clothes on our backs and what’s in this box. That and whatever Dee has at her home. Her and her little ones need to get off this planet too and I owe her everything.”


“Not the only woman you owe everything to. You’re building up quite the list Winger.” Lucy had no idea how true that statement was. “As for me having a ship… I got the best one in the fucking galaxy.” She looked over to Ayla, “Sorry… Freaking Galaxy!” With a giggle she gave Ayla another hug while the little girl gave one back, both of them on the verge of tears how happy they were. Ajax took the box from Dee’s hands and followed Lucy, making a short pit stop at Dee’s home before going to one of the docking bays on the surface.


...


“I don’t… believe it…” Ajax said, looking at the ship Lucy possessed. “How did you get this beauty?” He asked, standing dumbfounded as he looked to the ship sitting secured in the docking bay.


“I found all the parts I could and did some tinkering… Had to do a lot of replacing unfortunately but that’s the nature of a fix-em up project. Luckily for me I knew her inside and out though before she got mangled up and well… At first I thought the bad memories would haunt her but I think the good ones overshadow all of that. I’d like to present to you all the Gaius… 2.0 baby!”


In it’s full glory the ship stood before them. The formerly RCN Leech class ship had been rebuilt from the ground up. It was much bigger than before, Lucy using parts of crashed frigates from the battle of Terram along with the original framework of the Gaius and many of the original parts. What she couldn’t find she took from other Leech ships or other stronger ships, knowing that if she could get it all working together like Dayle would want her to they’d have the strongest Leech-class ship ever created.


By the time she had finished with it they could hardly call it a leech anymore. It had the capabilities of one while having the protection of a capital ship while maintaining the Gaius’ original speed and then some with brand new engines and state of the art firepower. The new stealth engine was the icing on the cake as this new ship wasn’t like any other, a true piece of art. It was bigger and better than Dayle could have ever wished for, Lucy going out of her way to make this the best ship anyone had ever seen.


“Well… As my 1st mate you’ll have a lot of duties.” Lucretia said to Ajax, putting her arm around him as all the others began to file into the ship to find their own rooms on the flight to find their permanent home. “Such as cleaning… cooking… any menial tasks I require such as rubbing my shoulders or…” She glanced over at him slyly, “Letting me do R-rated things to you when the kids are off the ship.”


“R-Rated things huh? Let’s just skip the flight home and get started with that.” They both shared a laugh and both enjoyed the sight of the ship together for a moment, that was until Ajax began to speak again, “I don’t think you’re strong enough Luce. I think I’ll be Captain of this ship. Do a hostile take over while there’s nothing you can do about it!” He teased, “Maybe I’ll hang my championship belt over my seat. Instead of Captain you can refer to me as Champ.”


“Only if you refer to me as Captain, Champ.” Lucy replied sternly. “I didn’t dig this beauty out of the grave just for you to take over now. I missed you a lot but… that doesn’t mean you run this ship. It’s my ship, Dayle wouldn’t let anyone else fly it so…” She let out a happy sigh, “Maybe one day you’ll earn the right, mutt. Until then you do as I say, when I say it. Understood, Champ?”


“That works for me, Captain.”


As Ajax and Lucy began their ascent up the loading ramp of the Gaius 2 he reflected on how far they had both come. He thought of all the terrible things that happened on Galacrea Prime and all of the good things as well, although the bad outweighed the good. He thought of their initial struggles down to their final one with Ajax being separated from his dearest sister for so long. He had missed out years on her life and could never forgive himself for missing that time but then he thought of his father. How many mistakes he had made and as a result how much of Ayla’s life he was now missing.


Ajax could mostly look back on what he did with happiness. Axel on the other hand could not. Where Axel had missed a step Ajax had taken that step. Where Ajax had missed a step Axel had also missed that same step. He had been so worried he was going to turn into his father, having to raise Ayla alone in new lands with no money to his name or nothing to live off of. He had succeeded. He had succeeded so much in fact that he came out stronger than Axel could ever be. He succeeded by ridding the Prime underworld of such a menacing crime boss. He had became Champion of the Prime Fighting Pits, he had done the impossible and avenged his friend.


He had succeeded where Axel didn’t, ensuring that he was his own man. One that could take care of his family no matter the cost. One that would fight for what he believed in when there was no one else that would. One that wouldn’t give up when things got tough or when his back was against the wall. He and Ayla had escaped Galacrea Prime alive. They had escaped the planet alive, they grew their family and finally reunited with their beloved Lucretia. Against all the odds stacked against them they were finally free.

End of Scene 11 - Freedom
End of Like Father, Like Son​