The Beast

The Beast - Part 17

He waited for the silhouette to be a few feet in front of him, then leaped forward graping it's head with his right hand, lifting it to the ceiling before increasing the pressure of his hand. At first he saw glowing right blood drip on his glove, the flow increased in size as he increased the pressure creating tiny rivers of blood streaming down his armor until the head finally exploded, covering him in red droplets.

After the body hit the group he snapped back into reality his hazard indicator was blinking, red with a deafening Beeping noise, which died down once he looked at the indicator. It showed penetrating damage at his right shoulder. By now the adrenaline was wearing off and pain flooded his mind, he looked down at his shoulder where he saw a syringe deep in his armor, instinctively tried to pull it out but it wouldn't move at all. His mind froze at the sight and he was paraliezed until guards rolled him, on a hovering hospital stretcher, by now he was barely conscious staring at the lights passing by as he was carried off, every light getting dimmer then the last until he inevitably passed out.

When he woke up he saw Tibi's face hovering over him, her eyes staring deeply into him but she didn't say anything, she just looked at him motionless.

"What happened?" He was undressed and his veins felt as if someone set them on fire.

"You're a miracle is what happened. A Rutha assassin poisoned you." He waited for her to continue since getting knocked out wasn't even the worst injury that happened to him in the last week.

"You don't know." Tibi concluded, "Rutha assassins are infamous for their deadlines because they use a poison that kills in seconds, faster than any doctor can inject the antidote. You survived for 23 minutes before I was able to inject it and you just woke up."

He looked at his shoulder, it was blue and purple but he didn't see anything odd about the bruse: "How did they get past the armour? I thought it was meant to protect me."

"The armor was made so you could rampage through a battlefield, like you did with the pirates. It's simply not made for some to put a needle on your shoulder and drill in. I don't even know how you saw the assassin but be faster next time you execute someone otherwise you give them enough time to do stuff like this." She gently placed her hand on the colored part of his shoulder.

"So why couldn't I pull it out?", Gabriel sat up.

"The suit is programmed to keep you safe and closed the gap with enough force to trap the remains of the weapon in between it." Tibi tried to push him down, "Nobody has ever lived once poisoned. I think it's best if you get some rest."

Gabriel ignored her wish and stood cup: "You're probably right but I prefer to sleep in my own bed, if that's okay with you?"

"That should be fine but Aina wants to speak with you once you're responsive, also you might have some explaining to do. You slept for 19 hours on my table after passing out, your Hyee was worried enough to come out of your room." Tibi handed him some clothes, which he quickly put on.

"Let me guess, Aina isn't in a patient mood. Is she?" He still felt the poison burn inside him but he owed Zu to explain himself.

"She never is." Tibi put her arm over his shoulder and helped him to walk, which wasn't much help since he was 2 feet taller but he appreciated the gesture.

They reached the bridge to see that Aina was operating a screen before turning to him: "You lived. It is time to get you back up to speed, what you just witnessed was one of Taro's captains smuggling an assassin on board and trying to coup Taro. Pin and Chip are currently on the Big Boy to help him cull his crew. But that is not why I called you here. Taro has offered to buy you, an offer I took, he wants to talk with you about your potential conditions tomorrow. You will be on your best behavior tomorrow because if you do not come to an agreement, the deal is off and I will lose a lot of my money, money that will be far more useful than you. I had your girl prepared by Pin. You have one night to recover."