Gunfire and Silver Hearts

Old Wounds

TW: Guns and violence, mentions of child slavery, cleaning injuries, alcohol, non-sexual partial nudity, blood

The docks were definitely too quiet for this to be a normal day. There was something unquestionably off. Maokshaw silently cursed himself for not bothering to get Nephilus' comm channel, leaving any communication between them nonexistent. He just hoped he was being paranoid about the situation, instead of right.

"Help me out here, Aiv?" he asked, reaching out to his Drens.

"I still think this was a very bad idea," Aiv protested, yet she connected him to the veil nonetheless.

He turned his head around, letting the familiar white take over his vision. He watched for the telltale black outlines of people creeping around. There was some truth in his sight, one of the enhancements that came from his cohabitation with Aiv. He loaded his pistol just in case, he was one of Erro's "favourite" mercs for a reason; his incredible aim, another one of Aiv's enhancements.

He scanned his eyes back and forth, using his secondaries to watch the sides as well. So far so good. He hadn't spotted any movement, invisible or otherwise, but he also hadn't spotted the cargo they were meant to transport.

"Come on you damn hive-fucker, where'd you put it," he grumbles, opening the top of a nearby crate. Rations. Fuck.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Mister Theokar. Your cargo's not here," a familiar Alronian voice says behind him.

He spins on his heel, aiming his pistol in their direction. A fire-elemental child. Short spiked fire hair flickered at the top of their head from their obsidian skin. They simply grinned at him as he drew his gun.

"Fever. I should've known you'd be behind this," he hissed, his secondary vocals chittering with anger. His secondary arms slowly moved to reach for his lower guns.

"Oh don't sound so disappointed. Most people are at least excited to leave this galaxy," they jest, matching his drawn weapon.

"Sure, if they're alive. But, I suspect you have other plans for me; don't you?" He kept his primary eye trained on them as his secondaries scanned the room. They wouldn't be able to tell that he was looking around anyways, having no pupils had its advantages.

"Always so cunning. At least it's not a wonder how you've managed to survive this long. Tell me, where did those brains go when you were on my ship?"

"Right where they needed to be -" he spots movement to his right, stepping in a slow circle to the left. Fever rotates with him - "I was using them to escape you."

"Oh, and was this before or after you freed my most prized possession?" Fever questioned, gesturing loosely with the gun in her hand and taking its aim away from him.

It gave Maokshaw a clear shot - one that he wasn't going to give up. The bullet soared towards her, striking her shoulder and giving him enough time to duck behind a nearby crate as the firefight ignited. Bullets struck against the crate and pieces of his armour, some close enough to almost sink into his flesh. He kept watching over his back using his secondaries as he focused his primaries on Fever and her goons.

"Wrong move, Theokar!" Fever shouted over the crate she had ducked behind.

"It was always the right move, bitch! Children aren't your damn toys!" Maokshaw challenged back at her, sending a warning shot as close as he could to where she was crouched.

"Capture him! He doesn't leave this docking bay!" she orders to her goons before the veil warped around her, allowing her a quick escape. Fucking Alronians and their natural connection to the veil that they never earned. He had to rely on Aiv for that, yet she got to use it whenever she wanted? Bullshit!