Two weeks later
"Red! Red, stay with me!"
Hands grabbed the lapels of his coat and he felt Finch shaking him. It felt like it was coming from far away at first, gradually increasing until he stopped feeling so cold and numb.
"Finch
? I don't feel so good
" he mumbled.
"Red! Are you alright?!" Don Gerise's voice was laced with concern. It was rare for her to sound so emotional. Red forced his eyes to move to her, struggling to move his body.
"I think
I think it's in me." His words made both women go pale. Hands grabbed him up. Todd and Alex, his two 'dogs', helped prop him up on his feet.
"Are you okay, boss?"
"I've just been possessed, of course I'm not alright, you great banana." Red forced a smile. In the back of his head, he could hear a malicious whispering. There was something unholy loitering on the fringe of his consciousness.
"We need to get it out of you, and fast!" Finch sounded worried, more worried than she generally ever let herself sound. Red was touched.
She's first. We'll kill her first.
"The doc said I'd find extraction and containment equipment here." Red tried to ignore the whispering in his head as he pulled a card out of his pocket and handed it to Todd. Todd handed it immediately to Gerise, keeping his attention on keeping his boss standing. Gerise's icy blue eye narrowed as she glared at the card.
"Then let's get there fast." She turned sharply on her heel and headed down the tunnel to the entrance of the Council base.
"That [censored] set you up!" Finch nearly yelled, her cool completely out the window.
"Yeah
I was just considering that," Red murmured.
We'll kill her too when we're together. Stop resisting, I'll win in the end.
"She'll have to wait. First we get it out of Red's head." Gerise did not stop and look around as she spoke.
The reinforced Council tunnels gave way to bright sunlight. Red tilted his head down so the brim of his hat protected his eyes. He heard Gerise pulling on her stolen Raptor pack and let Finch help him into his.
"[censored] man, we'll meet you guys there." Falcon, Finch's hired muscle, bullied the other gangers away from the entrance. Red just nodded to his 'dogs' as they assured him they'd be waiting at the address for them. He pulled the control sticks around to the front and clicked them into place. There was a thudding whir as Gerise took off. Finch dithered, hanging back to make sure he took off safely. Red activated his pack.
Too slow
Red didn't get a chance to even yell before the world stripped away and black cold nothingness crushed in on all sides. He felt like his eyes were about to pop out of his head and he struggled to breathe. It couldn't have been any more than a second later that he tumbled out of the black nothingness over the airstrip in Cap Au Diable. Before he got a chance to yell for help, he was crushed into the void again. It was like he was being torn out of the world and slammed back into it. He popped back into the world next to Gerise and crashed into a wall, staggering wildly.
"Red, what the hell was THAT?!" Gerise grabbed his arm and steadied him. He coughed, his face an unhealthy pale colour.
"I don't even know
"
Finch landed by them a second later, pulling off her pack and dumping it on the ground. She didn't like Red's colour at all, he looked like that thing in his head was already screwing him up. She bit her lip against the multitude of curses she wanted to impart and instead put her fingers in her mouth, whistling sharply. Falcon and the rest of her boys came running.
"We're ready boss." Falcon gave Red a dubious look. Gerise nodded sharply and helped Red into the building.
"Joker, go ahead and see what's happening," she snapped. Her most muscled goon headed off around the corner without a word. Red smiled as brightly as he could.
"Hey, what's with all the tension. You'd think someone was in serious trouble here." He reached into his pockets and dumped extra clips in the hands of his dogs. Todd shoved them into the pockets of his jeans, making them stand out obviously. Alex checked his guns.
"Can we have cooler names, Red? Like Diamond and Joker?" he asked. Red rolled his eyes.
"Fine, Todd's 'dog' and you're 'wolf'. Ben, you can be 'cat'."
Ben just shrugged, code-names were not something he was particularly interested in. He was only around because he owed Red his life, having bet it on a hand of cards.
"Enough squabbling over names, get in now!" Finch bullied her men through the doorway and half dragged, half supported Red into the building. The clinical smell of the lab clashed with the smell of gun oil and the musty smell of combat fatigues. The Wild Cards all saw the Council soldiers marching towards them at the same time. Dual pistols were drawn, Red's shaking slightly but still raised.
The man at the head of the column smiled coldly, ignoring everyone but Red himself.
"Did you really think we'd let you go that easily? Kill everyone but the carrier. We're taking him back to base." With a flick of his hand, the commander motioned his men forward. Gerise scowled, she did not like to be ignored in these situations.
"Boys, teach him a little respect."
Gerise's goons grinned and lunged forward. They were flanked by Finch's men and Red's dogs formed a defensive line in front of their boss. Bullets flew in all directions, the ground became littered with spent shells. Finch pulled Red down out of the way of pressurised flame from one of the Council soldier's throwers.
"Don't worry, Red, I won't let them have you
" she whispered. Perhaps she didn't want him to hear it, but wanted to say it anyway. Red didn't answer her, just in case. He appreciated it though.
Kill them
kill them all
watch them scream. It's such a beautiful sound. You will regret trying to take me.
I'm already regretting it, you demon. Not for much longer though, eh? Either way.
In that, we are agreed.
Red pushed himself to his feet and emptied his clips into a soldier's face. He doubted he could resist the alien for much longer. Dr Percey had said something to the effect that there was a ninety minute grace period, but after that, the alien would have control. Red could almost hear the clock ticking away the precious seconds. His life, no, his very soul was in jeopardy.
How amusing
you are afraid for your soul. You.
I know true evil when I smell it, and you stink of it.
You flatter me. I think I will enjoy taking you for myself. You have interesting thoughts.
If I don't get there in time, I'm putting a bullet through my head. I'm not yours, and I won't ever be.
Oh don't be tiresome. If not you, I'll just take your
sister is it?
You're really bold now you've got some soldiers around trying to save you
They are better trained than you, lowly little human. They will succeed and you will be mine. Let's end this little charade, shall we? There is no escape.
Red tried to ignore the insidious little voice in his head, reloading his guns. The sound of gunfire in an enclosed space was nearly deafening, he didn't hear the soldier break through the line and come at him until the very last moment. He yelled and threw himself backwards, slamming out his hand. Black energy shot from his palm and slammed into the man, throwing him backwards.
"What the [censored]!?" Finch must have seen it. Red remembered the exhaustive training his grandmother had given him. An attack from behind was usually more successful. Red went to jump over the man's head, but the world stripped away and slammed back. He realised that he was behind the entire row of enemies. He blinked and brought up his guns, emptying the fresh magazines into the backs of their heads. Caught in a crossfire, the soldiers went down. The commander fled, only to be brought down by two rounds square in the back of his neck. Finch blew the smoke off the barrels of her Desert Eagles and looked at Red.
"We need to find that extraction equipment."
"What was that
stuff, Red?" Gerise was frowning at him as she marched to him. Red shrugged.
"I don't know, and I don't want to find out."
"Fair enough."
The lab had more soldiers in it, clearly the Council desperately wanted their Nictus back. Despite the foul thing's whispers to the contrary, the Wild Cards gave the troops no quarter and presented less a group of thugs and punks and more a moving wall of bullets.
Finch and Gerise looked over the extraction device they'd found, figuring out how to work it while their henchmen guarded the doorways into the lab.
"Red, lie down on the bed," said Gerise finally, tapping a few buttons. Red took off his hat and laid it down on the side. He trusted his Don to know what she was doing. He pulled himself onto the bed and lay down on his back. Finch pulled a helmet-like pad on an articulated arm over Red's head. He lay still as she positioned it over his forehead.
"Containment field active, power supply good, we're good to do this." Gerise flicked more switches and turned a dial.
"It'll be over soon, Red. Just hold on a little longer." Finch was using her quiet voice again. Red smiled crookedly.
"Not about to let go just yet."
Oh very droll. This is quite sickening. I will almost be glad to leave your weak, human body.
You're just sore because you lost.
For now, Fukkatsu. For now. But I don't forget a bad turn, nor do I forget a smart-alec. I'll come for you one day-
I'm not afraid of dying, Nictus.
You misunderstand, I won't kill you. I'll make you live, thoroughly against your wishes, ninja.
The sudden silence after the Nictus' harsh rebuttal filled Red's head. Blessed solitude. As quickly as the feeling of sickening evil had seeped in, it had seeped out. He pushed the apparatus away from his head and sat up stiffly.
"There, it's all in the containment field. Dr Percey had better be paying you a hell of a lot for this, Red." Gerise made sure the floating mass of black energy was safely contained and turned to him. Red looked over her shoulder at the Nictus. It didn't look so harmful now, just a slowly whirling tangle of energy. He pushed aside the sensation it gave him. The Nictus had prowled through his memories, but just as easily, had revealed itself to him. He didn't want to dwell on what he'd seen.
"Best go and collect then." He pushed himself off the bed and pulled his hat back on, his grin returning. Finch scowled.
"Yes. Let's go collect." Her tone promised pain for the doctor. Red didn't comment, as far as he was concerned, Percey probably deserved a black eye or three. He unclipped the containment jar from the extraction machine and hooked it under his arm.
"Can't keep a lady waiting. Off we go!"
Don't ask me about joining Honourable United, I'm lazy. Ask Captain Cathode.
http://www.onthejazz.co.uk/honu/
"If I had a punch, I would so hit that guy." - Millenium (because drinking nail varnish remover is for real men)
Author's Note: there have been some unfortunate comments about my mastermind's 'prettiness'. The Author does not approve, but does acknowledge that yes, he is short and he is pretty if you like that sort of thing. :P It's not his fault! He doesn't have good genetics for tall, 'get the hell out of my face' presence.
Shouting outside the cell was the first indication that not all was well in the Zigurski Prison. Red sat up from where he'd been lounging on his berth, listening to the guards yelling frantically. Their voices held a note of panic he didn't often hear. A smile curved his soft lips. He was sharply handsome with a trim beard and well tended hair, handsome enough to have problems in the all male wing of the prison. Over and over again, he'd blessed his grandmother teaching him a variety of highly unpleasant ways to jab someone with your fingers. He got hassled, but nobody had dared go through with their crude threats or suggestions. Not yet, anyway.
"The Longbow squad is inbound!"
Red watched as a prison officer ran past his door. A moment later, a man with black armour and a distinctive helmet ran past. Out of Red's sight, he heard a meaty smack sound. He got to his feet, slipping his hand under the pillow where he kept a large, razor-edged shard of glass. His dark, slanted eyes narrowed as the armoured man came back, holding what looked like a mace. The end of it crackled with red energy. The man turned his head to look at Red. The fang-like prongs at the front of the helmet and row of beady red 'eyes' caught Red's attention.
A soldier of Arachnos. Curiosity called Red to his feet, but the soldier left. Red drifted to his cell door and craned his neck to try and see down the walkway where he'd gone. A moment later, his cell door hissed and slid open. Red snapped his hands back and looked at the door dumbly for a second. Then every nerve-ending seemed to turn on and his heart raced. He felt alive again after months of being as the living dead.
It was time for a jail-break!
He darted out of the cell without looking back. His clothes would be in the locked storage room. He didn't have to worry about how to get through the door though, as another escapee was already ripping the door off its hinges in a display of inhuman strength. Red hung back. That must be one of the 'super' villains he'd heard so much talk about, the ones that lived in the special wing. Red was no fool, he stayed well clear until the powerful man had gone in and taken what was his. Once he was gone, Red slipped in and looked around the storage room. Huge racks of industrial strength shelves stood at regulated intervals. It was very boring and ordered. Red found the box with his own affects finally, in the 'F' shelves. He took the clothes and looked around. The corner of the room looked like it offered enough privacy to get changed. He nipped into it and started pulling off the bright orange coveralls that constituted the prison uniform. He knew this was a dangerous time. The chaos of a prison break could serve as cover for any number of foul deeds and settled scores, it was a time of anarchy and natural selection.
As if his anxious thoughts summoned them, a gang of older men burst into the room.
"Get your [censored] and be quick about it, you [censored]. We're getting out of here." The speaker sounded breathless with excitement. Red hoped it was his imagination, but he thought he could smell blood. The sound of rummaging and clatter of boxes didn't cover the chatter of the men.
"Gonna bag me a Longbow. Those bastards got it coming!"
"I'm gonna find Officer Norbert and break his head."
Red pulled on the coat that was his trademark and gave him his name. It had been a gift from Gerise Senior, the only father he'd ever known. He grabbed his hat up and stuffed it onto his head.
"Hey!" The rough voiced leader's voice made Red start. The man hurried around the corner of the shelves and blocked off Red's only exit. His smile was small and brutal, "Don't you look dapper?"
Red drew himself up, his Japanese parents had granted him none of the height required to be imposing.
"Get the hell out of my way," he said sharply. The man's smile widened a bit and he cracked his knuckles. On the left breast of his vivid orange coveralls was the icon that placed him in the meta block. He was a meta-human. Red was not.
"Who's going to make me, princess?" The man eyed him with the look of a man who'd been inside so long that anything concave would do. Red flicked his hat up slightly and gave the man an amused smile even though a feeling of dread was welling in his stomach.
"Didn't you know? Lady Luck works for me."
"Does she now?" The man looked honestly amused, prowling closer. His hands started to flex and Red could feel the concrete under his feet shift. He snapped his eyes down and swore. He tried to lunge away, up onto the shelves, when the concrete burst and briars snapped up and lashed around his lower legs. The thorns bit in through his trousers and Red grabbed onto the shelf, trying to pull free.
"I think she's favouring me right now, she's a fickle one," the man drawled. He thought he had the advantage, which to be fair, he did.
"What is it, boss?"
"[censored] off and meet me in the yard, you [censored]-eating losers. Something's come up and I want to see to it." As the man barked at his subordinates, making them scatter, Red closed his mouth tightly and tried to work up some saliva. As he did so, he muttered something in Japanese.
"Saying your prayers?" The man was unzipping his coveralls as he came closer, looking eager. Red opened his eyes, letting him come within touching distance. He felt the wall slam against his back as the man shoved him into it. As their bodies pressed together, the man's hands groping down his sides, Red lunged forward and bit the soft skin where his neck met his shoulder. His fury was enough for his teeth to break the skin, letting his saliva into the wound.
The man screamed as the wound flared with white hot pain. The thorns raked Red's legs and he had to lock his arms around the man to keep him from pulling away. The poison in his saliva worked its way through the man's body and the briars loosened, falling away. Red dropped the man with contempt. When his body crumpled onto the concrete, Red rearranged his coat huffily and wiped his lips.
"Yes, actually. Next time you get horny, don't pick a poison ninja as your victim." Red took great care to stamp on the man's face as he left. There was always one who thought he could take whatever he wanted. Metas were just about the worse for it. If they weren't a 'Hero' and beating you up for 'justice', they were some bullying *******. Red hurried out of the storage room and ran towards the infirmary. He didn't want to have to go around biting anyone else who gave him grief, not just because people left a funny taste in his mouth he would rather do without. As he rounded the corner of the infirmary, he saw a tall, red-headed woman in a white suit. Even if she'd been looking away, he'd know her just by her stance.
"Don!" He broke into a smile as he ran over to her. The tall woman blinked and looked down at him, her one remaining ice-blue eye looking him over.
"Red." As if they'd not been separated for months, she looked over the chaos of escaping prisoners with a distant expression, "have you seen any of the others?"
"No, heard we were all split up into different prisons," Red said. Don Gerise turned a small canister over and over in one hand. The motion of her fingers made the tattoos on the back warp and twist. She nodded sharply.
"We need to get out of here and start over. Any ideas?"
Red thought fast.
"The Rogue Islands. We can probably blag a lift from the nice gents who are breaking out the metas."
Don Gerise frowned tightly, her finger hooking itself into the ring on the canister almost of its own accord.
"Isn't that where Arachnos makes base? I have no intention of grovelling to that one," she said. Red nodded.
"We don't have to. I know a guy we can talk to. We could do worse than being a small fish in a big pond for a while. Build up our man power again, recruit among the Rogue Islanders, safe from crazy vigilantes." Red was rewarded by a rare smile from his leader. Gerise might have been beautiful if it wasn't for the livid scars on the left side of her face. 'Formidable' was a word that better described her, but to Red she was family.
"You know a guy everywhere. Very well, let's get our pieces and blow this lousy joint."
"Sure thing."
It was not even ten minutes later that Red Coat and Don Gerise were running down the length of the prison exercise yard. They didn't stop for a moment, even though other prisoners were breaking out all over the place. Prisoners, high on the taste of freedom, came lunging for them every so often, to be brought down by four handguns. Red ducked when a man swung a piece of piping at him, rolling forward as Gerise fired both her pistols into the man's face. She grabbed his arm and helped haul him to his feet, running on.
A pilot for one of the Arachnos fliers was screaming orders at the milling confusion of metas and his troops. Red slipped through the mess and found the pilot.
"What's the hold up?!" he asked. The pilot turned to him in irritation then looked him up and down. Whatever he saw, it seemed to be enough for him to answer Red.
"I can't take off without my co-pilot, Jenkins. The idiot was supposed to be blowing that radar dish so we can make a clean getaway."
Red turned to look where he was pointing. Gerise caught his eyes and nodded slightly. Red looked back at the pilot.
"We'll go see what's taking him so long if you take us to the Rogue Islands, me and the Don."
The pilot gave a ghost of a smile.
"Sure. Just knock out that dish and drag my co-pilot here kicking and screaming if you have to."
Red resettled his hat and nodded to Gerise. She backed away from the metas, glaring at one until he thought better of arguing with her and just got out of the way. Red slipped after her. They reached the radar station easily and Gerise grabbed the back of Red's collar when he opened the door.
"Red, just remember you don't just represent yourself."
"Yes Don." Red grinned up at her. She lifted one eyebrow, the eye-patch covering her missing eye rising with it.
"I mean it. You are often hasty when you should stand back," she said. Red nodded. It was a fair assessment of his disposition, but things were different now it was just the two of them. Gerise let go of his collar and entered the station. He hurried to follow her.
Inside, the station was quiet but for the hum and blip of machinery down the corridor. Red unholstered his twin Desert Eagles and ghosted close to the wall, Gerise a step behind him. Voices close by made him frown and crouch by the corner, turning his head to listen.
"Who are you here to bust out? Talk!"
"I'm a trained Arachnos soldier, I could eat you two for breakfast!"
There came the sound of a rifle being prepped.
"With a side of pineapple fritter."
Red straightened and cocked his guns. He looked back at Gerise and nodded. She half smiled and they both broke cover at the same time. Their guns spoke simultaneously. One of the two Longbow sergeants went down, grabbing at his chest impotently. Gerise threw one gun up and grabbed something off her belt. She brought the canister to her mouth and tore the pin out with her teeth, lobbing it in time to catch her gun again. The home-made grenade exploded, smothering the remaining Longbow with a cocktail of polymer strands and resin glue. He swore and tried to scrape the muck off him as the two gangsters opened fire.
The Arachnos soldier peered down at the two fallen Longbow.
"[censored] that was quick."
"Are you Jenkins?" She looked to Red when the man nodded, "check him over."
Red approached Jenkins and found he had several bruises on his face from a rifle butt being slammed into it. He reached into his pocket and took out a vial.
"Here you go, some good poison to pick you right up." He squirted the slightly gooey substance onto his hand and rubbed it over the bruises. Jenkins flinched and blinked at the tingling feeling on his skin.
"Who the hell are you guys?"
"The ones saving your [censored]. We have a bomb to set, let's go." Gerise strode off, her guns still out. Red hurried after her, grinning.
"I see they let you near a work bench for two minutes." He nodded to the small canisters hanging from Gerise's belt. She smiled crookedly and glanced down at him.
"Where did you get a chance to mix up your poisons?" she asked.
"I volunteered to play 'nursie' in the infirmary." Red grinned wickedly. Gerise chuckled, ignoring the Arachnos soldier who tagged along behind them.
"They clearly didn't know us very well."
"And they deserve everything they get tonight because of it," Red said. They entered the control room and four pistols and a shock mace flattened the three security guards in there before they had a chance to even reach their own guns. Gerise holstered her matched Desert Eagles and took out a cigar. She lit it as Jenkins wheeled a barrel of flammables into the control room. Red tweaked a timer on the side, but to be honest, most of the work had already been done. He attached it to the barrel and set the time.
"Alright, time to get the hell out of Dodge."
"Excellent." Gerise followed them out, flicking the cigar back over her shoulder as she went.
Don't ask me about joining Honourable United, I'm lazy. Ask Captain Cathode.
http://www.onthejazz.co.uk/honu/
"If I had a punch, I would so hit that guy." - Millenium (because drinking nail varnish remover is for real men)