• This section is for roleplays only.
    ALL interest checks/recruiting threads must go in the Recruit Here section.

    Please remember to credit artists when using works not your own.

Futuristic Blacksun (Notorious x C.DEX)

"You better not manhandle anyone... Without me there!" Nyx said with a grin, walking over to Imille and affectionately hugging her after she had gotten suited up. They had been more inseparable than ever after Jagar had nearly killed her during his rampage, the two spending more than a healthy amount of time together. Avena looked at them curiously, silently she wished she had someone like that. Her harshness got in the way of many people getting close to her, seeing two people like that was foreign to her. "I'd rather Cas not stand on you either, otherwise later he's gonna see a whole bunch of weird shit!" Nyx felt eyes on her and darted hers over to Avena, "Is there something wrong, Kitty?"


"Nothing..." She replied quietly, "You two are... cute. Together, that is."


"Well I'll be!" Nyx said with a surprised smirk on her face. "If the mean old putty cat has a soft side! Has Ajax been digging that out of you? Probably had to dig pretty far, you know, getting through that cold center..." While Nyx wasn't exactly being as nice as she could be it had been a step in the right direction. "Thank you, Avena. Together is the only way I'd have my Fishbait here. I appreciate that."


"Good." Avena said, forcing a smile and giving Nyx a polite nod. "Good luck on the mission, Dr. Imille. Jagar." She said as Jagar filed his way out of the cockpit after everything was all said and done. He had no place in such a conversation and simply opted to go join Casar after he seen that they were about to do this now.


"We're ready." Lucy said to Casar, spotting a ship in particular that caught her interest. "You won't know the internals of this ship but I will. Dayle had made me memorize the floorplans of nearly every Renegade ship and I see one right now." She laughed, "I guess we really are trained to be kidnappers! This class of ship houses a TON of people so if you all can't find one right away then something is wrong with you and we're leaving you behind." It was refreshing to hear Lucy make light of a situation again, even if it had been a cruel joke. "And when I say a ton of people... if we get caught then a few thousand are going to wake up and kick our asses. No pressure."


"Go give them hell Fishbait." Nyx said before slapping Imille on the ass, "We got a bath waiting for us, don't take too long. We'll leave the interrogating to the boys. Or maybe Avena, she can hiss at them long enough until they talk."


"I can be persuasive." Avena replied dryly, almost a little too dryly. "I was part of Atlas. I can make them talk. That is how I will assist you all." She began to make her way for the door, "I will prepare the room. It won't take me long to acquire the information once they are here."
 
"I'm not entirely sure that's a skill to be proud of." Imille said back, just as dryly. She tipped her eyes toward Nyx and then peeled her off, turning to face her before pecking her on the nose. "I'll be back!" She said cheerfully, giving Nyx a quick hug. With Arc in arms reach, she took the opportunity to ruffle his hair the same she often did to Casar, though to much more detestment. With a giggle, she turned from the cockpit. "Operation Kidnap: Renegade is a go."


With that, she retreated from the room, leaving Nyx and the others behind and joining the boys. Ajax would be in for a big surprise if he had come down, but it was a show of solidarity in itself. Imille had walked down to be greeted by the armored visage of Casar and Jagar, both of which had looked threatening in their own sort of way. "We're such an ethnically diverse group of kidnapping scumbags. It warms my heart." She said. "Cas -"


"No names while we're there, and no names when we get the prisoner." Casar replied. "If you have to call me something, call me Sam. Jagar is ... Jack. You're Jill."


"Okay! ... Sam." She said. "No risks."


"And we search them for a communicator and a tracker when we bring them in. First priority, other than protecting our own identities." He said.


"Some augments allow a user to broadcast a panic signal wirelessly. Popular augment for high ranking Renegades. I took out enough of them myself." Arc chimed in. "Don't give them the opportunity. We can take out any other augments once they're in the brig. ilIf I'm not mistaken, it's augment dampening, so once they're in there they shouldn't be able to broadcast a signal."


Through the viewport, a massive ship appeared. The Gaius' cloak came on, hiding the ship away from any prying eyes and any sensors feasible. They had luckily been on a technological beast - the epitome of modern design. The ship in front of them was a little bit of an older model, but kept in mostly pristine condition. There had been signs of wear and tear, as if they hadn't left Oasis in quite a while, but it was nothing that would affect functionality. Really, the size of the ship was comparable to a cruise liner, making the Gaius look like a small car in comparison. It only heightened their advantage, knowing that a small hitch on a massive hull would be that much harder to pick up.


"In and out." Cas repeated to himself, displaying the Gaius' view on the back of his visor. Imille reached out, giving him a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder.


"We'll be fine. We're a good team." She said.


"I know." He replied, looking down, but in reality, his heart was racing. The situation was all too a familiar one working with Knox. But he was sure, just as he had been sure back then, that his training would kick in. He just wasn't sure that he wanted it to.
 
"What the hell is going on?" Ajax shouted, hearing the commotion of the ship accelerating followed by seeing a massive Renegade ship from his bedroom window. He rushed to the cockpit and seen Jagar, Casar and Imille all on the security camera above Lucy. The camera pointed right at the breaching port, allowing the pilot to see when the others were ready and to ensure their safety. "We're breaching something? I was gone for 5 minutes I-" He looked at the ship and shook his head, "They need my help we can't-" As he was turning Avena stood in the doorway he had just entered. "Move."


"No."


"Move... please?"


"No. We're helping you. Stay put, young man. You need to relax and they want to do this for you." Avena spoke firmly, as if she was an instructor disciplining a student. That stirred something in Ajax but he couldn't address it just yet, his friends were going on a dangerous mission and he had been forced to sit it out even though he was perfectly capable. "You're too stressed. I figured our... activities would assist you in relieving it but it's obvious things are getting to be too much. Sit this one out and let your friends do their jobs."


"You... let them do this Luce?" Ajax asked, turning to look at the back of Lucy's seat. "You know Ayla is my responsibility, I lost her. I have to find he-"


"Shut up and sit down." Lucy growled, "We're about to latch onto this cruiser and I don't need you to be speaking right now. Sit, be quiet, listen to your Captain." She said firmly, knowing that it took a little more than a nice voice to make Ajax obey. He grumbled as he took a seat behind Arc seeing as how he was in his chair, not wanting to move the scientist based simply on him walking into the room. "Avena is... right." She hated saying that. Hearing her speak of their 'activities' had her blood boiling and her nonchalant way of saying it made Lucy want to punch the Draxi's teeth in. "You've done enough for us. You've went above and beyond the call of duty and sacrificed so much for all of us here. Let us do this... You'll get the next one, okay?"


"Yeah!" Psy shouted, "Quit being a pussy and let these meat sacks help you find your lost puppy! Or whatever the hell we're looking for. I haven't been here long, it's nice to meet you!" Psy said, cocking his head to the side. His emotionless face was unsettling but his mannerisms shown he was happy to see Ajax. "We haven't talked much you inbred sounding fuck, we were friends like the rest of you here?"


Ajax was finally taken away from what was happening as the Gaius was latching onto the side of the Renegade ship. "No... I kicked your head off a few times."


"Psssht!" Psy sounded, "As if anyone could actually do that. You're funny Jaxxy-Boy, real funny."


"Latched." Lucy announced, their conversation distracting Ajax long enough from what was going on. They had navigated their way through space and latched onto the Renegade ship just in time. The cruiser they were now hooked into was so massive the Gaius latching on didn't even register on their sensors, the Gaius light and nimble enough to latch on without a hitch. "Holding.... Wait for the FTL jump..." She added, waiting. If their stealth drives weren't engaged it would have made for quite the sight, a jet black ship leeching onto the side of a massive one. It wasn't too long until the entire Gaius felt like it was being sucked into a vacuum as the massive ship jumping into hyperspace.


Jagar and the others standing were thrown around the breaching port, the Vekht catching both Casar and Imille before they were rattled too hard. He gritted his teeth as the Gaius adjusted to the sudden jump, the ship's gravity and stabilizers not ready for the sudden change of pace. Lucy was frantically hitting switches and adjusting the ship's functions, ships were normally not meant to enter hyperspace without their engine being active. It was a rough maneuver, one that even the late Dayle would have struggled with but soon Lucy had everything under control and the Gaius was stable.


"Got it!" She announced, "When we leave it's going to be a bumpy ride but we're safe now. As long as they don't warp out again we should be fine. Okay you three... Get ready, we only have one shot at this. Breaching."
 
Casar and Imille recovered hastily, gaining their bearings and preparing for the breach. Imille looked back to Jagar with a smile. That smile disappeared as her helmet engaged, leaving them looking like a dark-garbed, menacing team. Casar had looked eerily similar to Magnus in that moment, but it was a thought soon dispelled as they disappeared from the camera feed. Of course, that must have been wrong; their suits weren't equipped with camouflage, but that wasn't a necessity.


"Camera eye truck." Arc commented from the cockpit. "He's able to manipulate what we see. If you look at them in person, they're visible."


"Is Ca - er, Sam - doing magic on us?! Cas, stop it! That's weird!" Imille cried.


"I'm not doing 'magic' on you." Casar replied. "Let's get ready. Stop messing around." He said.


"Okay, I'm ready. Always have been, always will be. Just watch me. I'll kidnap like you've never seen kidnappers before! Momma Imille's got a big ole white van and some candy, and the white van is the Gaius and the candy is MY FISTS!" She shouted, obviously a little more than pumped to be taking on the mission.


"Are you ... beating up and kidnapping children?" Arc chimed in.


"No! No, that's not what I meant! Damnit, Arc! Stop making me sound creepy!"


"I'm not the one making you sound creepy."


Suddenly, the door in front of them hissed and groaned, the breach laser cutting a hole through the massive ship's hull. It had been so thick that they had a mess of outer layer to climb through, all of it sharp and treacherous. Casar was the first to jump into the fray, grabbing the edges of the breach door and sliding all the way through into the darkness. Imille looked through with trepidation, but followed him through nonetheless. When she had gotten into the ship, she had found there was little to no room for her to fit.


"Ach, I think you put us in a maintenance hatch, L." Imille said.


"We're in a closet." Casar whispered. "Holdon. There's people out there." He said, pressing his hands to the door. They waited like that for a while before Casar let up, the door sliding open. They were greeted to an empty hallway, each side dotted with doors upon doors of residential dorms, undoubtedly where they had kept their crew. If his earlier stunt had been any indication, the cameras wouldn't be able to see them at all, giving them time in which to trawl the halls and find their target.


"Where do we go?" He asked Lucy, voice hushed, but simultaneously pushing his augments to the limit to assure that he was seeing as far as he could. It was strange to all of them - being out in the open like they were - and they had undoubtedly wanted a mission point. The halls wouldn't remain vacated forever.
 
"The candy is your fists huh? If I'm not mistaken you named something else that..." Nyx mused, her eyes looking up as she tried to think when Imille had said something similar before. "Oh! You named my-"


"Let's focus on the kidnapping and leave the fisting for later, ladies." Ajax said, interrupting Nyx's perverted train of thought as he remained on alert. He was ready to pounce and breach himself if they needed him, he wasn't about to let them make any sort of sacrifice if they didn't have to. They had been through too much lately, they needed a win and he felt like getting benched made him useless. He was anxious, just waiting and listening to his family go off on the mission. "What do you see?"


"Hallway. Doors." Jagar grunted into the communicator, his voice low and rumbling even deeper than usual from him whispering. "Bunk rooms."


"Good!" Lucy replied, trying to think of what they should do next. Any false movement could send an entire ship on alert and their primary goal was to simply extract a Renegade without the ship being none the wiser until later. Anytime one of their own were captured access codes and base locations scrambled, the very idea that they could be compromised was something they never accepted after the failure of keeping Terram's location a secret. "Since the ship just took off most of the crew should be in the mess, you should run into very little resistance. Now since you're there... I want you all to find an officer."


The air was sucked out of their chests at Lucy's request. Finding a soldier was easy, it was quick. Finding an officer was doable but they would no doubt be much harder to find than the average trooper.


"The Officer quarters should be down the hall. They'll have the location for the RCN-1 on them or at the very least a way to find it... When a soldier wouldn't. Set your weaponry to stun, if you run into anyone you'll have to be quiet and fast. Good luck, guys."


As soon as Lucy had stopped speaking a door to Jagar's right had opened up. A Renegade was humming to himself as he looked down at a data pad and when he glanced up to see the terrifying face of a Vekht he nearly had a heart attack. Before he could even speak Jagar had grabbed the soldier by the face and bashed his head into the door frame, knocking him out cold. Jagar awkwardly looked over to Casar and Imille, offering them a shrug before escorting the startled soldier back into his bunk. The poor kid was unconscious and would wake up with a hellacious headache but at the very least he didn't spoil the mission prematurely.


"Bad dream. Sleep now."
 
Casar walked down the hall, keeping his eyes up. They were garbed in all black, making them look particularly threatening, but there was no confusing them for Renegades. It was completely out of the question through and through, and not one of them could take off their helmet without alarming anyone who had seen them. They were invisible on the feeds, letting them continue down the halls until they were intercepted again. Thankfully, the halls had been dimmed, and it seemed that they had organized those who had used them by the cycle that they had been on. Surely enough, an officer block had come into view, a designation emblazoned onto the side of the door.


"Do not enter without proper certification . . ." Imille read off. "Those who trespass will be reprimanded and yada yada yada. That sound like anything familiar, Sam?"


"Yes." Casar said, grimly.


"I bet the dorms have wooden paneling."


With that, the mage moved forward, putting his hand on the keypad. It was significantly high security for just being a residential area, normal carrier ships having little to none, even for officers. His eyes trailed down to his gun, assuring that it had been set to stun and not kill - the last thing they had needed was a dead officer. Then, taking him by complete and utter surprise, the door had shocked him.


He yanked his arm back, hissing in complete and utter disbelief. It was something he had done a million and one times, on higher tech and newer technology, but as evidenced by a flash of light, he had failed. Before alarms could begin to go off, he put his hand on the pad once again, forcing the doors open - though they jarred and jittered - and sending a pain through his arm. Once they had been open, he pulled back in disbelief.


"What happened?" Imille asked, moving through the doors while Casar had lagged behind. "It flashed." She said, concerned for her friend and the mission at hand. Really, it should have been easy, but it was entirely possible that the mage was off of his game. "Is this about what Avena said? Because she can stuff it up her rathole."


"It's nothing, just ... tech I'm not used to, I guess." Casar said, quietly. "Let's go."


"Standard fare." Arc said, though just to those in the cockpit. "That's strange, but I guess I have no room to criticize, being here."


Making no further note of it, they proceeded on, Casar opening the first door they had seen. Surely enough, the still-sleeping form of someone in their bunk had come into view. It must have looked particularly comical to the trio of kidnappers to be huddled inside of a small room, looking at the poor, barely-dressed officer, but to him, in a moment, it would be terrifying. In fact, it was, but just as he had opened his mouth to scream, Casar grabbed him, terrifying him, shocking him, and tearing him off the bunk at the same time. The mage kept his arms around his throat for a while, shocking him into unconsciousness.


"Got-eem!" Imille cried. "BAD DREAM! SLEEP NOW!" She roared, her teammates thankful that her helmet muted her to the outside world.
 
"I love you so much, Fishbait." Nyx cried, wiping her eyes back on board the Gaius after she heard Imille's shenanigans escape her mouth. "Only you could make a kidnapping so cheerful and... Dare I say fun? Because this is fun."


"Speak for yourself. At any moment they could be caught and this could all be for nothing..." Avena said, sitting on the edge of her seat as she awaited for them to return. She starred at the screen in the dashboard of the Gaius pilot terminal. "Make your way back please, I will begin preparations to extract information from the subject." Old habits died hard, especially the way she had phrased that. Standing up Avena began to head to the brig before leaving with, "And please, brain trauma is the last thing we need him to experience. If he awakens refrain from using Jagar, if you could."


As Avena left Nyx simply shook her head, "Bitch. Alright Fishbait baby, let's go! Make Jagar dearest carry that half naked man then we're gonna have our resident pussy cat rip off his skin or something. You know... freaky Atlas interrogation stuff!"


"You ain't wrong..." Ajax said, getting the chills after hearing what Nyx had to say. "Alright y'all, hurry on up now. Those Renegades have small bladders and will be getting up any time now to go take a piss. Let's go!" He urged them, his nerves rising the longer they were on that ship. Lucy was silent as she watched them, the others instructing them well enough as Jagar picked up the unconscious officer and flung him over his shoulder. Jagar began walking out of the room only to hesitate at the doorway. He turned to look at Imille and knocked on the wall.


"Wood panel." He said to her, smiling underneath his helmet as he took a step out into the hallway. They had made quite the journey in the darkened hallway. It would take them some time to extract, too much time if they were going to run into the risk of meeting a soldier in the hallway. Jagar was quick, moving as silently as possible while maintaining a great amount of speed. The closet they had entered from was in sight but a door to their right suddenly opened causing the three of them to immediately disappear from sight as a lone Renegade wandered out into the hallway. He yawned, making his way down towards the way they were walking.


"I fucking told you." Ajax commented, the three having to remain completely still as the soldier made his way down a side hall and disappearing from sight. "Move it!" He ordered, "Next time I'm going with you... I hate this watching shit."


"How do you think I feel?" Lucy asked, looking up to him while muting her microphone. "Calm down. This is a straight forward mission, a crazy one, but we're nearly in the clear. Relax, okay?"


"I will when they're back..."
 
"We're coming." Imille said. "I could think of a few things to do with candy and kidnapping that we could do when I get back that doesn't involve the prisoner." She said, grinning underneath her mask. "Also, maybe let one of us talk to the prisoner first before Avena starts torturing him. It might not even be necessary. They could be a wuss! Or sympathetic. Also, Sam has a weird way with talking to people." She said.


"I'd like to try." Casar said, looking up to the unconscious man. "I was an idiot, but I'd like to think I might have been ... easier to deal with ... if I didn't get my head slammed into a table for being an asshole." He said, causing the others to fall silent for a moment.


"You wouldn't have found, uh... - the android - if that didn't happen though, right?" Imille asked aloud, not wanting to reveal any incredibly telling information aloud - none that would identify them as who they were if their transmissions had been intercepted.


"I would have met him. We might not have done what we did to him. In fact ... we wouldn't have." He said, grimly. "I probably wouldn't hadn't tried anything and I wouldn't have needed anything from you." He said to Imille, almost phrasing it as if there had been positives to the horrible treatment he'd received. "I ... don't know if he would have broken still."


"That's not really anything to blame yourself for." Imille said, closing her communications to everyone but Jagar and Casar. "You had to get out of a bad situation. It happens. If they don't understand that in the cockpit - and I'm pretty sure they do - then ... They haven't been in your situation. But they know that. And what happened can't be changed. But remember ... it's ... well, you know who - that we're fighting for." She said. "Talking first won't hurt, but this guy isn't you. And we need to find her. It might come down to that."


"I can deal with that." Casar said.


"Heads up." Imille said, stopping in the hall. In front of them, in the darkened, low-lit corridor, a dark figure had come out of their room. It was a woman. Wiping her eyes, she lazily meandered in the opposite direction, winding up in the restrooms. She hadn't even garnered a look in their direction, but all three of them had stepped to the side, raising their weapons.


"Hurry." Casar said. "It's right there."


Lo and behold, their destination had appeared, making for a quick and efficient capture. The doctor took the lead, opening the breached closet for Jagar, Casar, and their new prisoner to fit through.
 
As soon as Imille had opened the closet door Jagar burst through, wanting to get out of the hall first. Him carrying someone was suspicious enough, him being as massive as he was would be another give away they didn't belong there. Looking up he seen the breach hole, it being far too high for the average person to climb up. Bending down the Vekht was nearly crouching by the time he sprung up like a spring, Jagar's athleticism in full effect as he vaulted himself up and back onto the Gaius. He didn't wait for the others, knowing they were close behind, before proceeding to the brig. "Ja-... Jack on ship with package." He said to the others via the communicator, "May want seal breach."


"Right. I'll take care of that once Jill and Sam are onboard. Let's go!" She said, watching as Imille and Casar made their way inside much slower than Jagar did but inside nonetheless. It was impossible to replace the part of hull they had cut into but Lucy had added a modification to the Gaius not long ago that made it a more formidable beast. Pressing a button the Leech began to stretch out a thin piece of metal over the hull they had cut into. Using the same breaching technology Lucy undid the damage, patching the ship back up so no alarms would go off.


After the Gaius was done the job wasn't perfect and anyone who looked up would be curious as to why a hole was punched out of the ceiling but it wouldn't raise any alarms. It gave them just enough time to be done with what they came to do, extract information and remove the new prisoner from the system.


"It's not pretty but she'll hold." Lucy announced to the others, glancing around the hyperspace channel they were in. "Okay everybody, hold on to something! We're about to do something really... really stupid." Lucy's hands were practically a blur as she began to make pinpoint adjustments to the Gaius' systems. The engines reactivated causing the familiar hum to fill the ship as the Gaius awoke from its slumber. Jagar rushed down to the brig to find Avena waiting down there, several tools placed on the table in front of the single metal seat in the room.


"Hello Jagar. Please, place the prisoner on the chair and we'll... talk with him." She smiled at him, a fake one, but a smile nonetheless. Avena didn't care much for the Vekht. She had experimented on them before and knew just how unstable they were, she didn't trust Jagar in the slightest. "I imagine the others wish to speak with him first. It's... a waste of time... if you want results. But, I'll let them attempt what they wish." Jagar didn't say a single word to her as he placed the prisoner in the seat, strapping him in by the waist so he wouldn't fall then slapped a pair of mag cuffs on his wrists. "Thank you, Jagar." Again, he said nothing as he simply walked out of the room.


"Okay everyone!" Lucy announced to the ship, "HOLD ON!" She shouted as she disconnected from the Renegade ship. It was an in and out job but it hardly felt like it as they were flung into hyperspace. It was as if they had jumped off a moving vehicle as the Gaius struggled to match the speed the ship they were riding had been going. Flashes of space blotted in their eyes, the lights from outside the cabin going haywire as the Gaius quite literally bounced around the hyperspace highway like a loose piece of trash.


The lights flickered, the ship shuddered and the occupants of the Gaius were in for the roughest ride of their lives. Objects in each room went flying as Lucy wrestled with the controls, desperately trying to pull the ship off their course and to speed back up so they wouldn't be obliterated in a hyperspace collision. Ajax tore himself through the cockpit and grabbed at the co-pilot controls, assisting Lucy in wrestling control back with the ship. Just as quickly as it all had started the hyperspace engines kicked on and they were thrown back into a completely stable environment. Ajax was thrown into the seat with Arc while the others were frazzled and confused from the sudden turbulence.


"Nailed it." Lucy said, laughing nervously as she wiped a piece of stray hair out of her eyes.


"Nailed it." Ajax echoed back, now awkwardly sitting in Arc's lap after helping Lucy perform such a death defying maneuver. He turned to face the scientist, barely containing his laughter. "You happy to see me or something?"
 
As soon as Lucy had torn away from the ship, Imille and Cas were sent tumbling. Casar, who had been more than competent enough to catch himself, plastered his hands onto the floor as soon as he had fallen, magnetizing himself to it, while Imille had been less fortunate. She skidded as the Gaius turned sideways, stopping only when she had hit the wall and the Gaius had stabilized itself in hyperspace. Then, she was finally able to climb to her feet, dazed at what had just occurred.


"Am I dead?"


"Oh, get off." Arc said, completely unamused by Ajax's antics. With that, he pushed the proper co-pilot off and stood, finding himself wobbling and taking a knee not only seconds later. He held onto the dash, unaware of just how much danger they had been put in just a moment ago. "I feel ill."


"Man, Lucy, you could wait for me to sit down before pulling some shit like that! But on the other hand ... you go girl! I imagine we're unleeched? And that was a result of Lucy's crazy sick piloting and not just us getting murdered in hyperspace? I hear if you get sucked out of the ship in hyperspace you disintegrate, by the way. How fucking cool is that?"


"Not very." Casar said, doing a pushup from the floor and then finding himself standing. He wandered down the stairs to the brig, feeling a distinct pang of unease upon seeing the familiar walls he had managed to completely and utterly avoid for most of his campaign with the new and improved Gaius. He continued nonetheless, knowing that nothing good would come to the prisoner unless he flipped get him to confess. He kept his helmet on, wanting not to reveal his own identity in the chance that they could let the poor Renegade live after they had gotten what they had wanted from him.


The mage passed Jagar on the way, his hand turning into a thumbs up as they had passed. It was such a simple gesture, but one that had carried more meaning than anyone outside of the two could know. When he had entered the brig, his eyes met with Avena's, and he immediately made his way to the prisoner, placing his hands on the unconscious man.


"Temporal and wrist." He said seconds later. "Where the chips are." He clarified. "Let's get them out of him quickly."


Imille watched as Jagar came up from the brig, and she had soon thrown her arms around him dramatically. "I am so dizzy from all that. Your only choice here is to carry me, big man." She said, letting her feet drag behind her slightly. "And this definitely isn't a fake damsel in distress ploy. Cas and I definitely didn't just manhandled a naked man. Woe is me!"
 
"Pretty fucking cool, Im!" Ajax shouted back to Imille after hearing about you disintegrating in hyperspace as Arc fumbled out from underneath Ajax. The Cowboy was grinning ear to ear, "Was it as good for you as it was for me?" He taunted as the scientist stumbled away, Lucy having a hard time sitting next to him by muffling her own laughter with her arm. "We make a good team Luce... That was pretty damn close." No one on the ship knew just how close they were to death quite like Lucy or Ajax. If they had been in that spiral any longer they'd have been disintegrated. If they had rode the Renegade ship and they exited FTL they could have also been disintegrated from the sudden stoppage. It was a risky maneuver all around but they managed to come out the other side just fine.


"We always have." Lucy replied back to him, smiling a bit. "Too close... But I gotta say, if you keep slutting around this ship like you are I'm gonna do it again and make sure you're unbuckled. First me, then Avena, now Arc?" She shook her head, "Do I need to get tested or am I in the clear?"


"You're in the clear." Ajax said, smirking. "Would have only been you too if you let me play with your floppy legs more often."


"Get the hell out of here!" She said, shaking her head in disbelief but sure enough she began laughing once more. "Go downstairs and make sure your new girlfriend doesn't kill our hostage." Ajax nodded, placing his hand on Lucy's shoulder as he walked by and followed Nyx out of the cockpit. She stood at the loading bay railing looking down to see the scene unfold with Jagar and Imille. The former who had just returned a victorious thumbs-up to his friend in the hall.


"Yeah Jagar! Bring her up here." Nyx called down, Jagar looking up as Imille was sprawled out in his arms in a comedic fashion. He looked back down to Imille and hoisted her up effortlessly, though it hadn't been as romantic or friendly as Imille would have liked as soon after the Vekht threw her over his shoulder like he had been carrying the prisoner just moments ago. "Hey! Be gentle with her ya goof!" Nyx shouted as Jagar began making his way upstairs with her. "You don't take hints very well, do you big guy?"


"Like Jagar say before... Jagar break you. Bad idea." He began to laugh, the same disgusting sounding laugh that was muffled by his respirator. It was refreshing though to see him loosen up around them, he truly was happy to have his family back and it showed. "Help Emlee. Bring her to Neex."


"So the big man gets a shot at the two of you but I never did?" Ajax asked, amused by what he was seeing. "That's some bullshit."


"It's because he plays hard to get! Nobody wants your nasty ass, you're the Ship's whore!" Nyx exclaimed, punching Ajax's arm. "Now then. Mr. Jagar. Take Imille to our chambers at once! She has had a long night and we are going to..." She chuckled, "Probably just pass out after eating a WHOLE bunch of ice cream. Like a metric fuck ton. Do you understand your orders?" With a comical salute, Jagar began carrying Imille away with Nyx in tow.


"Thank you, both of you..." Ajax managed to say before they shuffled away. Both Jagar and Imille had risked their lives getting the captive Renegade in the brig, all for Ayla. All for him. Back downstairs Avena had listened to what Casar had to say and swiftly took out the temporal and wrist chips. Her trained hands allowed her to basically pop each tracker out with ease, barely any blood escaped the Officer's body as she crushed his augmentations. She gave him a firm nod then took a step back.


"He should be waking up soon... I assume you would like to have a go at him first? I will stand nearby to ensure it goes smoothly. If your way doesn't work, mine will."
 
"No Jagar no! Carry me like a princess, not a monster! Oh God, Jagar is climbing the building! Nooo!" Imille cried, laughing between words. "Everyone can see my butt!" she shouted, faux beating on the back of the Vekht as they disappeared into the residential halls.


Casar nodded slightly, looking at the prisoner. He was silent for a long while, but before the man had the chance to wake up, the mage turned to Avena. "I'm going to talk to him. It might not work, but ... it's worth trying." he said. "Don't undermine me." he said with a tone of seriousness - but calm - indicating that he was quite serious about the command. "If you can manage to do that, then you can stay."


End Scene 13: Rest, Relaxation, and Kidnapping​


The prisoner had long since awoken, Casar taking the time to sit down and talk with him for an infuriatingly long - at least, to Avena - amount of time. He sat in the chair across from the man, who had still been only allowed his sleep clothes. He hadn't been given much, and the undertone that if he weren't to talk then it would get much worse - was there. He had reminded the mage of Vivick quite a bit - an analogy that he didn't quite appreciate, but he wasn't going to punish him for it.


"...I don't want to leave you in the room with the doctor, but I've been kind to you so far." Casar said.


"And I'm supposed to believe that an armored person who won't show his face with an Exodlite accent has the best intentions for the RCN in mind?" he asked, his face contorted in rage. That wasn't quite like Vivick, who had often had a smirk plastered on his face even when he'd been disadvantaged. Better for him.


"It's not about my intentions. It's about you realizing that we're going to get the information out of you whether you want to comply or not. The reason I'm here is that I don't want to see that happen, because I've been in your situation. Before you guys started killing every ex-Exodlite you see, I was one of them. I was a prisoner."


"So, what? This is about revenge, then?" he asked.


"No." Casar replied. "I don't want to be there as much as you don't want to be here, but the RCN-1 has something of ours." he said. "And if I show you my face then I have to kill you, and I don't want to do that." he said coldly, with not a hint of deception. It had caused the prisoner to go silent for a moment.


"Then just kill me." he said, defiantly. An annoyed sigh had come from Casar, who turned his eyes downwards.


"You already know that we're not going to do that." Casar said. "I just thought I'd give you a chance."


"Fuck you." the prisoner replied, hissing his words.


A younger version of the mage may have gotten angry, but he was just frustrated. He emphathized with the prisoner, only making it worse on himself, just as he had empathized with the other prisoners they had captured. To make it worse, after so long, Avena had been right.


"Sorry, then." Casar said, standing from place. His eyes shifted to Avena, and he had given an affirmative nod. The prisoner seemed to flinch for a moment, as if accepting his own decision - one that he'd ultimately be unhappy with.
 
"Don't undermine me." Avena instructed to Casar as she walked by, showing that while she respected his decision to try and interrogate the prisoner it wasn't his strong suite. "If you can manage to do that, then you can stay... But I warn you, this will not be pretty. I am not going to be kind. We are here for results." She echoed his words, though her's were less serious than his as they were simply that, a command. If he disobeyed then he'd ruin it all and on top of that ruin Ajax's chances of finding Ayla. "Remember the sacrifices Ajax made for Psy. Now there must be some made for him and his sister." She was cold and calculating with her words, though not offering sympathy for a prisoner they didn't know.


"Who the fuck are you?" The hostage spat as he seen Avena come into the light. "You aren't wearing a mask... Pretty too. You here for my conjugal visit or-" Avena wasted no time by grabbing one of the tools on the table and smashing the Renegade's hands on the table. He roared out in pain from the sudden rough treatment, especially after simply being interrogated by someone sympathetic. "You BITCH!" he roared, wanting to hold his limp and broken hand but he couldn't due to the mag cuffs.


"You can see my face as you have wasted your chance for life. You did not see the one that came before because seeing his face would mean your death..." Her face was cold and devoid of emotion, it was just another day at the office for her. "The same goes for mine. That means you will be dead within the next couple of minutes after I extract the information I require from you."


"You... just kill me..." He groaned, the pain radiating from his gimped hand causing him to wince in pain as he tried to speak to Avena. "You want the location of the RCN-1? That shit doesn't exist it's-" He roared again in pain as his other hand was shattered, Avena wasting no time with the prisoner. After Casar had spent hours on him, trying to break him, she was in no mood to waste anytime. "WHY?! DON'T YOU KNOW I CAN'T TELL YOU WHERE IT IS? THEY'D KILL ME!" He screamed, the poor Officer torn between saving himself from further pain and revealing the highest classified information he was granted. "You Exodlites... You always try and break us but not one of us has broken in 5 years..."


"We are here to reset the clock." Avena chimed in, simply placing her tool to the side and starring down at the man who was doing his best to fight the pain. "You Renegades are resilient. Trained to withstand traditional Exodlite interrogation techniques. You can be delimbed, deboweled, castrated... All of those things do not matter to you, do they? I have seen remnants of an Exodlite Interrogation squad and seen the horrors they are willing to commit to men like you... Tough and strong men who value loyalty above all us. The problem is..." Avena leaned in close, "I'm not an Exodlite... I'm much worse."


Avena disappeared behind the prisoner, catching Casar's gaze and knew he disapproved of what she was doing but her words had to have echoed in his head. Ajax had given just about everything for Casar and Psy. One Renegade being tortured for the retrieval of Ayla would have to suffice, though if Ajax had his way he'd kill the entire army for that little girl his father included.


"What... what the hell are you doing?" The Prisoner asked, unnerved once he realized he wasn't dealing with Exodlites anymore. He should have known, seeing an alien with them. It hadn't made sense and he couldn't figure out what was going on. "Where did you go? Hey... Let's not do anything hasty here we-" The Prisoner went deathly silent as he felt something wet drip on his neck, followed by a rag that was wiped along it. "Wh-wh-what is that you're putting on me?"


"A cleaning agent." The Draxi interrogator said dully. "If you are terrified of a little water and soap then what is in my syringe here is really going to make you talk..." Avena stepped away and in her now gloved hands was a syringe she was carrying gingerly. The Hostage couldn't take his eyes off of it. What could be worse than delimbing someone or any of the other horrors the Exodlites typically did? "Would you like to know what this does?"


"Ye...yes..." He stammered out, "What is in that thing?"


The syringe was glowing a sickly orange color, it looked unnatural the way it pulsed in its container. The Hostage wanted to desperately back away as Avena drew in closer. "I'll tell you... But first you should try a taste." She said in a low voice before plunging the syringe directly into his neck. He began to scream as the fluid began to flow through his veins, his insides feeling like they were burning from the inside out. Casar could see the orange fluid literally coursing through the man's veins, the glow penetrating his skin and spreading throughout his body fast. "You are in no danger... The pain you are experiencing is artificial, harmless... But it doesn't feel that way... Does it?"


"STOP IT STOP STOP IT!" The Renegade screamed, followed by an incoherent gurgling from his throat as his spit in his mouth turned into a nasty looking foam as it flowed out of his mouth and onto his chest. "PLEASE THIS UGGHGH NOOO! NOOO! NOOO!" He began screaming, his words echoing throughout the entire Gaius. "MAKE THIS STOP!"


"Exodlites focus too much on actual pain... On removing body parts, on torturing a subject slowly. I disagree." Avena placed her hands on the immobile hostage shoulders as she circled behind him and held him down in the chair. "That serum is something I've created myself. It attacks your pain receptors and puts them into overdrive. It confuses your body into the worst pain imaginable. The only cure on this ship is in my coat pocket right here..." She said, patting her side. "You have two options. The first is-"


"PLEASE I'LL DO ANYTHING!"


"Reveal the location of the RCN-1. If it's any consolation we mean no harm to you or your people. We simply wish to take back what you stole from us. Upon revealing that information you will be given the antidote and freed, in good time." She bent down and talked into his ear as he was thrashing about, "The second option is I allow you to suffer. The serum does not expire for several hours and by then I will have brought in a second dose to continue this treatment. You will submit or you will experience pain on a level your puny human brain can not possibly comprehend." Avena actually smiled, "And... on the chance you have more grit than humanly possible... I will use you as my testing subject. You may die in the process but it'll be slow, deliciously painful and... Well... You will never leave this place alive." Avena smiled at him, "What's it going to be, Soldier? Life... or death?"


"LIFE! LIFE PLEASSSSSE!" He screeched, tears and snot streaming down his face. She hadn't wasted any time, sure enough he was already willing to talk. "THE STATION IS IN... IT'S TRAVELING IN THE RAGNOR CLUSTER! THEY CA- THEY CAN'T MOVE FAST SO IF YOU GO NOW YOU CAN CATCH THEM! PLEASE JUST MAKE THIS STOP!"


"Very well." Avena said, quietly straightening her coat and walking towards the door where Casar was. "The one you denied earlier will be the one to set you free from your pain... I do have to say though... if you are lying to me-" She turned back to face him, "This is just the beginning of your suffering." Reaching into her lab coat she placed a blue syringe in Casar's hand as she walked by, not saying a word to him as she went to go speak with the others of her findings.
 
Casar let Avena leave without a word, his hands clasped onto his arms as he watched her torture someone that he hadn't wanted to be tortured before his eyes. She hadn't undermined him, so he simply watched and waited, though a part of him had wanted to make it stop. Violently. It wasn't visible on his face even remotely, but he clutched onto the syringe, hands shaking slightly. Then, when the man continued to scream out in pain, he stepped forward, plunging it into his neck. It took a moment for it to kick in, the poor Renegade officer thrashing against his restraints until he had finally calmed down.


"Are you ... are you going to kill me?" The prisoner asked, looking almost as if he had been on the brink of death despite the fact that he hadn't even been close to it, apart from the possibility of having a heart attack from the stress. Casar looked to him, a frown underneath his helmet.


"It's not identifying her that we're worried about." Casar said. "I still have my mask on, so no."


"When ...?"


"Not until we're done. You're going to have to get comfortable." The mage said, grimly. "I don't know how long it will take, but we'll feed you and I'll get you some clothes. After we're done, you can't hurt us. So we'll let you go." He said. The man stared downwards, obviously ashamed that he'd given up so quickly, and completely exhausted from his ordeals. He didn't respond to the mage for a long time, and Casar had even gone to leave before he had spoken up.


"...Fuck you." The prisoner said. "I don't care if you're Exodlite or not. Those who go against us go against the betterment of the universe." He practically whispered, his voice hoarse from screaming. It only stopped the mage for a second, and he'd gotten an awful taste of his own medicine, but not once did he think that hurting him any longer would be a benefit.


Without a word, he left the prisoner to his lonesome, drawing up from the prisoner bay into the loading bay. He had found that no one was there - probably a result of either them sleeping or Avena gathering everyone in the cockpit, mostly for Lucy's sake. When he had climbed up to it, he had found the others.


Imille had been woken from her sleep to the news, and she was drearily rubbing her eyes while taking a seat on the floor. Arc had also been awakened, but he had looked significantly more put together than the others, obviously valuing a kempt appearence. Casar had finally taken off his helmet, having been in his armor since they had brought the prisoner in. Knowing well what was going to be said, but deciding he should have been there for the moment, he sat against the wall.


"...So, the Ragnor Cluster?" Imille repeated, after Avena. "That's ... not that far, actually. We could be there in a few hours, since we were hitching a ride on Big Bertha." she said, looking up to the viewport. She scooted across the floor to Casar, who she grabbed and pulled to rest on her lap. "Did you tell Ajax to come out yet?" she asked, her eyes darting toward the entrance to the cockpit, expecting him to stride through at any moment.


"We have to consider that just because we know the location doesn't mean it will be easy getting in. We could be apprehended or shot down before that happens." Arc said.


"This is still a Renegade made ship." Imille said. "If Lucy works her magic we could stroll right in." The doctor looked up to the Captain, smiling. "We're gonna get little Ayla back."
 
"You're damn right we're getting her back." Lucy said with a smile on her face. "You did good Avena. I don't need to know what you did to get this knowledge but... it's for Ajax. More importantly it's about a little girl who's been stronger than any of us would have been in her situation. Poor little thing... Stuck on that station alone, who knows what Axel has made her do or put her through..." She shook her head, "It hadn't been possible until now to find her, too many things broken, too many people missing. With all of us together and now that we know where the RCN-1 is..." She winked at Imille, "We are strolling right in."


"Ooooooh risky!" Psy chimed in, standing in the corner and observing the plan. "I don't know who this Ayla is but if you all are willing to break into giant capital ships and break the law I'm in. I live fast and loose baby, I'm not SUPER into saving children and being an upstanding citizen but if I get to kill some meat filth then I'm in." Psy would have been grinning if he could manage it, "So what are we going to do with this little girl once we rescue her? We already have a pet and I'm not cleaning up after that one too."


"She's a kid, not a pet!" Nyx said, suppressing a laugh at Psy's ignorance. "Besides, you're on clean up duty as it is. You don't have a nose!"


"I might not have a nose but it sure does feel like it when I'm around you nasty... fleshy... organic sacks of organs that are just sloshing around on your insides and..." Psy gagged, "Just saying it out loud makes me want to-" He gagged again, "I'll be... fine... Just don't look at me."


"I have not told Ajax." Avena said, ignoring the others and focusing her attention on Imille and Lucy. "I... care for him very much... but... He will not think rationally when it comes to his own family. I chose to leave him in the dark for now for a purpose." She frowned, "We have to accept the possibility that his sister is dead. He has told me it has been many months since everything happened with Axel and... what he had done to you all." She bowed her head out of respect, knowing just what he did even broke Avena's heart. "I am afraid Ajax is going to do something foolish... regardless if the poor little one is alive or not."


"It's his family, Kitty." Nyx replied, "He has the right to know."


"What would you do if you found out your sibling was being held for so long and you didn't make it in time? Or that you did find her but the culprit who committed it all is within grasp even though you need to be retreating?" Nyx didn't reply, she didn't want to give Avena the satisfaction of being right. "All I'm saying is what do you all think we should do first before telling him? Should we prepare? Should we go? I know Ajax very well but I have not seen him with his family... All I know is of what he is willing to do for them." She frowned, "We have to consider the real possibility of Ayla being dead... And we also have to consider the trouble Axel will bring once we're there. It is unavoidable... We go there, he will be there."
 
"She's not dead. And the trouble doesn't matter because we're going to kill him." Casar said, his teeth gritted. He immediately sat up, his eyes falling on Avena. "We can't prepare better than we already have. Our armory is full. We know the layout of the RCN - Lucy and Ajax are both formers. We're as healed as we're going to get. And Ajax needs to know because he needs to start planning, just like we all do." he said. "We're less likely to make mistakes if we start preparing now."


Casar rolled onto the balls of his feet, standing up in a moment's notice. "Last time he attacked us we were unprepared. We didn't have weapons. We didn't expect him to be there. And he was holding a kid hostage. The latter still applies, but if we work smart and fast and together then Ayla is going to be okay, and Axel won't be a problem."


He sighed. "Even if ... something happened to Ayla -" the mage actually looked as if he couldn't stomach the thought. "- even if something happened to her ... what does the possibility of that do? We know she still might be alive and that's enough to make me want to tear the RCN-1 apart now. It's not as if we're not going to the RCN-1 now. There's nothing else that we can possibly do to 'prepare'. I'm going to tell him. In the meantime you guys should focus on reconstructing the RCN-1 based on what you remember of it. I ... can't help. I was always blindfolded outside of the Gaius."


With that, the mage left the cockpit, strolling down the hall to Ajax's room. His hand balled and he rapped on the door.


Imille deflated, watching the mage leave. While Avena was right, so was Casar - there was nothing they could do better to prepare than to break the news early, because they were going to the RCN-1 no matter what. She reached up to Nyx, pulling herself up. "He's right. It doesn't help to think that she could be ... gone. And it won't help to bring it up to Ajax, so don't. Lucy and Cas nearly died protecting that little girl, and even thinking that is just going to make Jax and Cas act stupid."


"It doesn't hurt to be realistic." Arc said, agreeing with Avena for once. "They're both adult men that can put practicality in front of emotion. But it's not worth debating, because ... it is the least of our problems. The RCN-1 ... it ... even with a full team, we all stick out. They've militarized to match even some of the Exodus' forces in the recent years, and no fake ID from the Epoch is going to pass their certification procedures. Do we have a plan other than 'we're strolling right in'?" he asked Lucy.


"Yeah ... and it's a habitation station, meaning we can't really just blow it open and go in. It'd start depressurizing and the whole thing would lock down." Imille said. Then, she sighed. "This is a lot. And if we fail ... Arc and Cas get horribly tortured and then executed and the rest of us just get normal tortured and executed. So ... high stakes, high reward?"
 
"We have to prepare for every possibility." Avena replied to Imille, not looking to start a fight but simply trying to be realistic. "Just because we want Ayla alive doesn't mean she is. This isn't directed towards Casar because he can't fathom listening to someone else for a change-" She said bitterly, noticing him pulling an Avena and leaving before anyone could say anything to him. "-but if she is dead some of us have to keep a level head. Some of us will have to ensure that the others make it out during such a traumatic moment. It is too often that people don't consider the possibilities and get blind sided by something they didn't expect. We have to be ready."


"And who says you're going with us?" Nyx asked, partially agreeing with Avena but not caring for her tone. "You're a non-combatant, remember?"


"The RCN is composed of all different kinds of people. I can blend in well enough, sweet talk my way through any awkward altercations. We need to fabricate identities and go in as peacefully as possible at first. This is a former RCN ship... We can program the ship's ID to ring a name of someone on the active roster... Perhaps someone I can extract from the prisoner." She said, an unforgiving cold look appearing on her face. "From there Ajax can lead us and we can acquire information on how to find Ayla and on the Renegades themselves."


There was a long pause, everyone taking in what she had to say. Finally someone spoke up.


"That sounds fucking lame." Psy blurted out. "I say we crash this bitch in through the atmosphere walls and jump out commando style. We'll find this pet dog of your's and then we'll throw them the double deuces-" Psy lifted both of his hands up and proudly displayed two middle fingers, "-and be home in time for you organics to stuff your filthy mouths with gross looking food." Psy raised his hand, "All in favor of joining me on Psy's Psychotic Power Tour raise your hands!" When no one raised their hands he cursed, "You all are no fucking fun, you know that? How we all use to be friends before is beyond fucking me."


"You make a good point.... Avena, not Psy. High stakes high reward." Lucy echoed back to Imille. "What I'll do while you... extract more information... is try and compose a map. The RCN is a massive place and well, I'm sure it has changed. I can roughly pinpoint the districts and give you all a quick tour." She rubbed her chin, "With the Renegades being mixed race this will be easier than infiltrating an Exodlite base. Though this is the main Renegade base so we have that going against us. We need disguises for anyone who could be recognized and for those who don't we need uniforms. Luckily for you this was a Renegade ship and I still flew with them for a little over a year after Terram. No shortage of equipment."


"So what you're telling me is... We're going to play dress up and sneak in instead of being action mcbadasses and storm the gates?" Psy asked, much more politely than usual.


"Yes."


"Can I... wear a hat?"
 
After waiting a few minutes, Casar had assumed that Ajax wouldn't open the door, and he took the matter into his own hands. The mage placed his hand on the keypad, the locked residential room opening up after just a moment. The mage poked his head inside, finding Ajax laying emotionlessly on the bed.


It was an odd sight, and one that he hadn't exactly seen before. The cowboy was usually lively - happy, joking, even perverted. But that wasn't the man in front of him. The man in front of him had borne the same expression that he'd seen on broken, vacant Exodlite soldiers. The mage balled his hand, and then rapped on the open doorframe once again, trying to catch his attention.


"Ajax." Casar said. "Avena found the location to the RCN-1." he said, hopefully stirring his friend into looking less glum whilst not being nearly as critical of the woman as she had been of him. "...Are you okay?" he asked, unsure how to help and evidently uncomfortable. "I can go, but we're talking plans in the cockpit. Thought you should join us."


Breathing a deep sigh, he stepped into the room, letting the door close behind him. It was dark, the only decent source of light being the dim glow from the computer monitor Ajax had deigned to leave on and the illuminated eye of Casar's augment. "We're going to get her back." he said. "I promise."


"OF COURSE YOU CAN WEAR A HAT!" Imille said, standing and throwing her arms around Psy gleefully. For Psy, it had been completely out of the blue - after all, why would she be excited about him asking to wear a hat? "Oh, wait ..." she paused. "Listen, Psy. If you behave and don't murder any Renegades until we give you the okay to do so, I'll buy you ... two hats."


"Is that really a good idea?" Arc asked, looking to Psy and Imille.


"I believe in Psy." Imille said, releasing him. "As far as disguises go, though ..." she seemed to deliberate for a moment. "I'm not sure we can get anything this last minute that'll stop us from being identified if our faces show up on camera, but it's not like there aren't roles we can't take that cover their faces. Soldiers, janitors, horribly maimed, disfigured people ... Last one's not really a role, but y'know."


"Are the residential districts severely monitored?" Arc asked, looking to Lucy. "Even the Exodus doesn't waste an incredible amount of technology on monitoring our residential districts, as its a waste of manpower. We could potentially go through there."
 
"Give me a minute..." He said drearily, just laying there and listening to what Casar had to say. Ajax looked terrible. If anything, he looked more like Axel than Ajax when Casar had walked in the room. That same distant stare, that same neutral expression that was leaning towards anger. Ajax was battling a lot more than what the usually funny and upbeat man was revealing on the outside. His expression began to change before Casar's eyes, the cowboy putting on a persona to get through his day to day. It was as if he was putting on a mask Casar couldn't see, though he seen it firsthand so Ajax's forced expression faded quickly. "Sorry for not answering the door just..." He rubbed his eyes, "Ain't been sleeping much. And-"


Ajax sighed, he needed to talk to someone other than Avena. "We're finally getting her back but damn it if it don't feel like I've actually even tried to get her back. Sure the first few months I worked on finding the location but the group had other priorities and we've been through a lot of shit but... I just let her get taken by that animal and I've done nothing about it for ages." Ajax groaned, "I told that little girl I'd do anything for her and here I have been doing everything but saving her."


He was so caught up in his thoughts he had barely registered what Casar had said to him. His words took a moment but before Casar knew it Ajax's eyes went wide and he immediately bolted to his feet.


"We know where it is?!" Ajax shouted a shout of joy, "Hot damn! Here I am being depressing as fuck and here you are with the best god damn news I've ever heard." While it was like he had flipped the switch again at the very least he was his no longer filled with so much sorrow he was bed ridden. He immediately ripped off his shirt and threw it in the corner and raced over to his closet, grabbing a set of old Renegade fatigues he wore years ago. "Gonna be a bit tight but this should... work..." He began getting dressed, not wasting a moment. "Listen Cas... Let's forget about the zombie you just met and rack it up to me just being sleepy. Cool?" Ajax was already burying his emotions at the first sign of another person, it was like clockwork in which he defended himself from reaching out to someone. "Let's go to the cockpit and get ready to kick some ass. We're getting my baby sister back!"


"ECK GET OFF ME WHORE!" Psy rattled as Imille embraced him.


"That's the spirit Psy!" Nyx shouted out, embracing the two of them as they did so.


"YOU BITCHES BETTER GET OFF ME BEFORE I START MAKING CONFETTI OUT OF YOUR FLESHY BITS!"


"He's back baby!" Nyx cheered, causing further confusion for the poor android who sworn that would have gotten them to stop. As they let go Nyx beamed at Psy, "We have to give you something Renegadey... Something... gung ho. Something... Nothing that stands out too much but enough to make anyone watching go 'Damn... that android is one fine piece of metal!' Any suggestions Fishbait?"


"No." Lucy replied to Arc. "Residential is residential. Unless they did a big overhaul there'll be some security on the outskirts but it's super relaxed. The RCN-1 hasn't been breached like the other stations... At least to our knowledge. Those on the station seldom know where it is and officers are trained against breaking and revealing the location. We very well might be the first people to pull a heist on that damn station." Lucy grinned, "And we're going to park the Gaius right in one of their loading bays and make them fill her up too! We're running low on fuel and I SO miss the free fuel for pilots."
 
Casar looked to Ajax, pausing as the cowboy went to storm out the room into the cockpit. "Wait." he said, before Ajax could leave. "Ajax ... thank you for helping me find Psy. You didn't have to do that. We should have been focusing on getting back to Ayla as soon as she was taken." he said, looking down slightly. "I got ... focused on saving my friend, and not your sister. I'll focus just as much on Ayla as I did on Psy. Whatever you need. I'll make sure you two get out together."


The implication was there, and with it up in the air, the mage moved passed Ajax, allowing them all to convene in the cockpit together. While Lucy had begun to draft up the rudimentary plans for the RCN-1, it seemed that the cursory plans had come to a head.


"I like the sound of that. Heist. Say, Lucy, are there any ... diamond stores on the RCN-1? Where we could get away with a fat sack of jewelry, heist style? Or is that too much?" Imille asked, bouncing on her toes for what could very well be their last mission. Her eyes shifted to Psy soon afterwards, on the topic of his hat.


"Um ... We could wrap a do-rag around you and cover your beautiful bald head. Or ... see, a sombrero wouldn't fit, and I think anyone we see is going to question why there's a robot walking around with an Officer's cap." Imille said, thinking. Then, she bounded out of the cockpit, rushing past Ajax and Casar without saying a word to them.


The latter two had made their way into the cockpit, it being a short walk away from their rooms.


"How far are we from the RCN-1?" Arc asked, looking to Lucy. His eyes trailed to the viewport, which had been burdened with numbers and statistics that he didn't quite understand himself. "It would be good to know how much time we have to prepare, if we're going in immediately." he said. Then, his eyes shifted to Ajax. "I presume you know?"


"He knows." Casar said. "Do you think your father would stay in the same place as five years ago?" he asked, looking to Ajax. "We need to know where to start looking. If they've changed things ... it might make it more difficult on us, but we'll get through it regardless.
 
"Thanks bud." Ajax said, wanting nothing more than to find his sister as well as leave his brooding out of the conversation. He was a Winger, a family that had been able to do incredible things and handle impossible amounts of stress. Losing Ayla had taken a huge mental toll on the Cowboy, one where he had been a lot better at hiding than his father. As they headed to the cockpit a spring was in his step, he was ready to go now. He didn't need preparation, he didn't need time to think. He just simply wanted to save Ayla. As the others talked Ajax simply listened, a wild look in his eyes as he was ready to get going as everyone got ready.


"We're 4 hours out." Lucy announced, speaking to Arc in particular but saying it to everyone. "That means you all have 3 hours and 50 minutes to get ready. No need to do your hair-"


"Racist." Nyx uttered.


"-clean your faces, nothing. We're going in and we're going in fast. We'll have our cover sorted out by Avena here and then we'll infiltrate the RCN-1." As she said it her breath was taken from her chest. She had seen the defenses first hand, she had seen what the Renegades were capable of. What had once been her home was now something so frightening that she thought no one but her and Ajax truly got how terrifying of a mission this was. Even then Ajax looked like he didn't care so Lucy was going to have to be one of the few level headed ones here. "Okay. Renegade armor and weapons everyone. They're in the back of the armory. We'll have to wing a lot of this but this is for Ayla."


"RCN different." Jagar finally spoke up, seeing everyone get pumped for the mission. "More military. More defense. Barely got out with Jagar life."


"Oh! WOW!" Lucy exclaimed, "How could we forget that you've actually escaped from there before!" She blinked, "Is our plan going to work Jagar? How did you make it out?"


"In secret. Base was in riot... Took Brok to bottom of base and stole ship. After fighting Axeel." Jagar said, oversimplifying what had to have been an incredible adventure. "Went through reze-... resi... dental. Light guard. Best place." He said, confirming their suspicions. "Very few civilian now. All ones with jobs. No longer refugee or normal people. Only... essence... essenti... essential people." Jagar managed to stammer out. "Big words. Someone else talk."


"As if I couldn't love you more, big guy." Nyx beamed, "Learning new words! And big ones too!" Jagar simply grunted in response, leaning back on the far wall and simply trying to blend in after speaking.


"You got a way with words, Jagar." Ajax said, smirking. He then turned his attention to Casar, "Who knows. He wasn't much for staying in one place but he might have kept the place for Ayla. Or... old bastard is so crazy he might have gotten some menacing evil lair or some shit. We'll find out somehow... Probably check the old apartment first. Be easy to break into, the doors use manual locks instead of electronic. On the older side of town."
 
"Got it." Imille said, nodding to all of them as she entered the cockpit again. She had still been garbed in her sleepwear - a pink t-shirt and childishly patterned pants - and most of them hadn't looked quite ready for a mission yet. "And - and! I found a good hat for Psy!" she said, proffering what looked like an old-time military beret. It was navy blue; the trademarked color for the Renegades, with no overtly identifying insignias. "This might have been used for roleplaying ... but only once! No worries!" she said, fixing it on his head and then stepping back.


"Now straighten up." Imille said, hitting Psy's back and correcting a slouch. "There is literally no reason for you to slouch. You are an android. When we're inside, you can't curse. Renegade droids literally don't have it programmed in their dictionaries. Aaand ... if anyone asks, you are ..." she paused. "Personal Security detail. Wait. This is sounding a lot like your actual designation."


"It's fine." Casar said, pushing himself away from the wall and turning to leave the cockpit. Once again, as he had often done while getting ready for a mission, he trekked to the armory hours early, already having donned his armor from not recovering from their last mission.


"Okay. So ... three hours." Imille said, nodding. She looked to the others, hiding the thought that dominated most of their minds and plastering a smile on her face. This wasn't a derelict factory of androids, and it wasn't a small ship they could drill a hole into and then pop right in. It wasn't a chase on an alien moon. It wouldn't be easy. It wouldn't even be relatively easy. It would probably be the most difficult infiltration of their lives, and they had almost died to lighter causes.


Arc stood silently, exiting the cockpit along with some of the others. Imille forced a smile onto her face, turning to Ajax, though he was familiar with the nervous mask. She pulled him into a hug, though it was more sentimental than the one she had given Psy.


"We're gonna save that little girl. And you guys are gonna be a family again. We are. And if we happen to get the chance to wipe the man who brought you into this universe out of it, well ... Nyx is really into being a father figure, but if I'm mom then you're gonna have to stop hitting on us." she said, pulling away with a laugh. "Lets go."


. . . . .​


Several hours later, the team had gotten to the Ragnor Cluster. The ship tore out of hyperspace, spit out from the magnificent flashing colors and lights into the fire. As it had come out, the Gaius was treated to the view of an entire fleet coming down on the RCN-1. The Gaius' alarms began to instantly go off, alerting everyone inside of the ship that something was wrong.


"What in the ..." Arc said, finding himself residing in the cockpit after having gotten ready. The others weren't so fortunate to instantly see what was going on. Luckily, it wasn't them that was being seiged. Unluckily, it was the RCN-1.


Outside of the ship, an entire, terrifying armada had found the massive habitation station. Radio transmissions rung out from either side like chaos, and the team would soon find that it was the Exodlite army themselves that had been seiging the station, red circles in rings emblazoned onto the sides of every ship that had surrounded the thing. The blackness of space was no longer black - instead, it was awake with terrible, violent life, like a tumultuous ocean swallowing a ship whole.


"What's going on?" Casar said, tearing from downstairs to the cockpit in an instant. Imille had done so as well, confused as to what could be going on before they had even gotten close to the station. When they had seen it, a pang of fear had shot through the both of them.


"Oh God, we didn't find them first." Imille said, her voice croaking.
 
"Whatever you say, mommy." Ajax said, the words leaving his mouth and turning even Nyx greener as the rest of the people in the room broke out into hysterical laughter or gagged at what he replied with. It had been perfect timing, with the thought of their biggest mission yet on their minds a joke like that had been precisely what they needed. "Not sure I'll be calling you Daddy unless you put out, Nyx." Avena's face went pale as Ajax spoke, even though he was joking she quietly excused herself out of the room swiftly. He hardly even noticed as he was laughing with the others, leaving her to go work on the hostage.


"Okay... I draw the limit there." Nyx replied, wiping her eyes after laughing so hard. "We are not doing this."


"That's what you say now, papa. After this battle and once Axel is dead the three of us will get together and-" He reached up and rubbed his hand across her cheek to which Nyx jumped back in a panic. Ajax began laughing even harder now, needing this to keep him calm right before such an extreme mission. Everything was on the line now and if this was their last moments before jumping in he was happy to be able to joke like this. "Thank you... Everybody... for doing this for me. For Ayla. I don't know what I'd do without you."


"Probably use your imagination instead of looking at your parents. Freak!" Nyx fired back, reviving the laughter only to end it with her and Imille hugging Ajax once more. "We'll get her back. We promise."


"Yes we will..." Lucy said, her eyes narrowing as she looked out into space. Her expression hardened as the laughter ended, a look of pure determination sweeping across her face. "We're coming for you Ayla."


----------


"NO!" Ajax roared as he sat in the co-pilot seat of the Gaius, looking out the viewport to see hell on the horizon. What seemed to be the entire Exodlite fleet was baring down on the RCN-1, the station having an equally impressive fleet defending it with more ships jumping from hyperspace and into the area. The Gaius fit perfectly into the Renegade ships warping in from the far reaches of space. The Exodlite's armor had already arrived, a familiar capital ship on the horizon that created a heavy pit in both Arc's and Casar's stomachs.


The Harbinger.


"LUCY GO!" Ajax shouted as he turned the engines on full blast, the red headed pilot taking control and blasting the Leech class ship forward. The station was in their sight but all around them it was as if they had stepped into a meat grinder. Ships all around them were being obliterated into nothing, a light show of incredibly deadly lasers and missiles marked the void with a mind boggling display of light and death. In the very center was the RCN-1, untouched from the battle thanks to several Renegade capital ships surrounding it and generating a shield around the station. This was the Renegade's last stand, they had been compromised and now could quite possibly be their final moments.


"Everyone hang on!" Lucy screamed as she sent the Gaius on a course that made all her other maneuvers look like child's play. They were flying through detonating ships and defying death at every turn. "Is everybody ready to breach the station? Looks like our plans are fucked!"
 
"Yeah - yeah, we're ready!" Imille shouted back, tearing from the cockpit and down the stairs, her feet practically touching none of them as she landed on the loading bay floor and skidded to the breach door.


Casar hung in place, staring in awe at what was happening. They couldn't have anticipated this. And they definitely couldn't have anticipated the Harbinger. The thought of facing off against it again was literally a petrifying one, and for a moment, he felt as if he couldn't move. That was, until Arc had quietly gotten up, a shade paler than he had been previously. It was obvious that he was sharing the same thoughts; they were both terrified.


The scientist passed by the mage, grabbing his arm in the process and pulling him out of the cockpit. They had moved wordlessly down to the breach doors, the both of them far too stunned to say anything to anyone else for a while.


"You guys okay?" Imille asked, seeing the two near her.


"I ... can't do this." Casar said.


"Of course you can do this." Imille replied, nearing him as not to force him to talk so loud; Ajax had been preoccupied with co-piloting. The mage remained stunned and hopeless. "Listen, you guys aren't having to fight them. We're just getting Ayla and then getting out. This isn't our battle. Okay?"


"That ship is Knox's." Casar replied, voice shaking. Whatever had happened to him on that ship had certainly done its toll, as they had never seen him quite so petrified before. "I can't."


"You can and you will." Imille said, her voice becoming more serious. "There is a little girl on that station that thinks you're her hero and she's just as scared as you are, but the difference is that we can actually save her. Ajax did this for you. It's time to return the favor." she said, in disbelief of what she was hearing. Casar had gone silent again, his hands clutched around his weapon so tight that it groaned. She looked to Arc. "You going in?"


"...Yes." he said, though his words weren't exactly the most confident sounding. He looked down. "We're not fighting him, Casar." he said, equally parts trying to psych himself up to do the mission as well as convince the mage to. "This will be quick. He won't even know that we're here."


Suddenly, the ship jerked, a result of Lucy avoiding direct fire, sending everyone who had readied themselves at the breach doors against the wall. It was inconsequential at best, but it had been enough to shock the mage back.


"...I'll try." he said. "For Ayla. But I'm not going back."


"Bring us in, Lucy!" Imille shouted out.
 
"Easier said than done!" Lucy shouted back, spinning the Gaius into a corkscrew maneuver that narrowly avoided oncoming missiles. Their stealth drive was pointless when fire was everywhere but she activated it, disappearing from the Exodlite targeting computers but that also came at a cost of disappearing off the Renegade ones as well. A collision could happen at any moment, a stray laser could obliterate all of them in the blink of an eye. The Harvesters surrounding the RCN-1 could open fire and destroy the station if the shields went down. They could go down at any second, the fact this was happening as soon as they were going after Ayla weighing heavily on them.


"If we had been any slower getting here..." Avena said, walking up behind Lucy and Ajax in the cockpit. It was a miracle they had made the steps to come get her now, any later and they may have been too late. "What do you require of me, Ajax?"


"We're going to need you on the field." Ajax said, performing all the secondary actions for Lucy as they got closer and closer to the RCN-1. If they could pass through the shield barrier with their fabricated Renegade credentials then they would be that much closer to rescuing Ayla. "Get suited up, grab a gun. We might need healing out there if we run into trouble and Imille will be too busy trying to fight. Can you do that Avena? For us?"


"Yes, Ajax." She said, quickly retreating to the armory as the Gaius drew in closer to the RCN-1. They would never everyone possible for this battle, if the fighting broke out onto the station then everyone would need to be at their best even those who didn't fight.


"DAMN IT!" Lucy roared as they got closer to the shield, their navigation computer displaying in big bold letters that the Renegades would not let them pass through. "These motherfuckers! We're in a Renegade ship, let us in!" She spat when a message rang out from the RCN-1.


"All personnel report to the battle. The shields will not be opening for safety reasons. Report to battle and defend your people."


"Fuck you!" Lucy shouted back to the automated message, rolling the Gaius on its side and narrowly avoiding the shield surrounding the station. "Okay everyone, you best say your goodbyes now because what I'm about to do is probably going to kill us." Those words rattled in their heads as Lucy's usual confidence was lacking in that moment. There was no way across the shields except for one tiny opening that Lucy had managed to see. "Hey. Ajax." She spoke softly, turning the ship around before performing a corkscrew, the Gaius screaming as it pulled off turns that it hadn't originally been designed to do.


"Yeah, Luce?" Ajax asked as Lucy lined up the Gaius with one of the shield generator ships. He spotted what she was doing, the lights of the docking bay on the shield generator ship bright. Several fighter ships came pouring out of the opening, the breach doors closing on both sides slowly after their fighters scrambled. "What is it? Are we aiming for that-"


"I love you." She said, punching the Gaius to the highest speed it possibly could without entering a hyperspace jump. Ajax felt the wind get knocked out of him, not by the insane speeds they were going to their certain death but from her revelation. "I always have. I always will." Lucy finished, her eyes tearing up as the odds of them making it through this alive were so negligible it was absolute insanity what they were doing. She just regret that she had spent so long trying to return it and ended up losing him in the process. "I'm... sorry. I was never good enough for you when you were too good for me."


Ajax stood up, leaving the co-pilot controls as there was nothing else he could possible do. With them flying straight into a Renegade ship it didn't matter anymore. They would either cut through it and appear on the other side of the hanger on both sides of the shield ship or they'd become dust on the side of it. He walked over to her and bent down to embrace her, the two of them starring death right in the face as their destination arrived.


"Lucy I-" The entire Gaius shook and nearly tore itself apart as it shot right through the Renegade shield ship. One moment they were on one side, the next they were zooming through an empty hanger, the next they were inside the shielded area surrounding the RCN-1.


Lucy had did it.


With a deep breath she roared, "WE MADE IT MOTHERFUCKERS!" She cheered, plotting a course for the station and turning to face Ajax. She pulled him in and he didn't have time to think as the wheel chair bound pilot wrapped her hands around the back of his head, pulling him down to her level and planting a kiss on his lips. When they broke away she grinned at him, "I take it all back, Cowboy. I only said that because we were about to die. Get out of my face and go save our girl."


"Yes ma'am." Ajax said with a smirk, his heart hammering in his chest not only from nearly losing his life but Lucy's revelation and subsequent kiss. He was so caught up with what was going on he didn't even notice Avena poking her head in, the Draxi woman's ears flattening as she turned around and headed downstairs to the breaching port. "We'll be back soon Luce." He said to her, leaving her to pilot the ship and heading down to the breaching port with a spring in his step.


"Be careful."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 5 (members: 0, guests: 5)

Similar threads

Ryees
Fandom The Dirty Part of Physics『 Imo x Ryees 』
Replies
6
Views
136
Ryees
Ryees
GammyWamzee
Realistic or Modern Black Cat & Dragon
alcoholism angst cop
Replies
8
Views
146
GammyWamzee
GammyWamzee
AnimeGenork
Fantasy Demigods of War (AnimeGenork & Clarice_Lecter)
demigods one x one
Replies
1
Views
79
Clarice_Lecter
Clarice_Lecter
neon reverie
Fantasy 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐢𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧
1x1 roleplay historical fantasy ocxoc
Replies
1
Views
56
neon reverie
neon reverie
EquineGurl23
Fandom Tale of Two Survivors { The Last of Us 1x1 with icedthemoon }
2 3 4 5 6 closed fandom mxm
Replies
135
Views
890
icedthemoon
icedthemoon
Back
Top