To Rescue a Villain

Chapter 26

"All right." Jala pushed through the engineers and stood between us, surveying the obstacles and escape routes between us and the blob of shining goop. "Ace, you and Zora escort these men to Derek Hacket's safe room while Maddox, the Valdis, and I distract the beast."

Why did they keep calling Derek by both names and why was I "the Valdis" instead of Mary?

"Understood." Ace gestured for the men to follow him and they snuck along the wall to the right with Zora taking up the rear. Meanwhile, I looked to Maddox and Jala to see if they had a plan of attack.

Jala examined the room once more, then nudged my shoulder and pointed to the metal box of unknown contents off to our left. "Drop that on its head," she whispered before nodding to Maddox and ducking behind cover.

I took a moment to breathe, keeping an eye on the escapees, before focusing all my attention on lifting the heavy box and silently bringing it to hover over the monster's head or at least what I thought was its head. I let it hang there for a second, bit my lip, then let it fall as soon as Ace reached the door.

The box came down with a resounding crash and caused the thing to moan but, as soon as my attack slid off its now misshapen head it turned toward me with a roar. Where its eyes should have been were two gaping holes trailing down into its stomach and its arms were short like a t-rex's. It really reminded me of a ghost.

"Get out of the way!" Jala warned me moments before it slid forward, not even bothering to use its legs, and brought its face down toward me in an attempt to swallow me whole. I had only one second to teleport to the other side of the room before it smooshed its eyes and mouth into the shiny floor.

As I turned back to assess the damage, Maddox climbed atop the fallen box and used it as a step to jump on the creature's back. He then started cutting chunks of its smooth body and launching them across the room. Contrary to how it looked, the alien was not slimy and therefore somewhat easy for the man to latch onto with his padded gloves.

"Stand back," Jala warned as she approached the thing, tossing a red grenade up and down in her hand. "This could get messy."

She always said such cheesy lines. I loved it.

◑○★☆●◐

I felt my heart leap as soon as I saw Ace enter the room, then felt it drop just as quickly when Mary didn't come in him. As I ran toward them, ignoring John who was sitting nearby doing nothing helpful whatsoever, I had to keep myself from demanding what happened.

"Hey, Derek." Ace gave me a quick hug before heading toward the control panel. "Your wife stayed behind to fight a monster," he explained, already knowing I'd be worried about her whereabouts. "She should be here in a few minutes."

"Thanks." I tried to act relieved but wasn't. As he ran toward the front of the room, focused on his job, I stayed back and made sure the door was securely locked behind us. I couldn't risk another alien getting inside.

As I pressed on the door to make sure it was secure, the long haired merc I'd hired, Zora I believe, walked up beside me.

"So." She nodded at me then subtly pointed in my boss' direction. "If he's the one who set these aliens loose, why do you still keep him around?"

I chuckled. She'd read my mind. "I'm kind of hoping he'll get killed before he can cause any more trouble," I joked. "Seriously, though, I can't just kill someone because they're an idiot. If I did that a lot of people would be dead."

"Did you wife tell you that?"

That was an odd question. "No. I just figured it was true. Technically, all of us are stupid in one way or another so I guess..." I trailed off, realizing how much I sounded like an old man. I guess it was partly true, though, since I was already in my mid-thirties.

The woman looked away, her eyes clouded, and I started to wonder if she wanted to quit.

"If you have any qualms about this mission you are more than welcome to go back to Manica with the rest of the crew. I can still pay you—"

"No!" she suddenly yelled before she lowered her voice, catching me off guard. "I'm not a coward. I enjoy killing so it's fine."

"Really? That's a bit...odd." My mind flashed back to the "me" I'd seen in the show who had also reveled in murder. It was not a mindset I ever wanted to bear. "Were you...brought up as an assassin or...?"

"I killed my parents...and my adoptive parents...and both of my bosses...and two of my ex-boyfriends..." She crossed her arms and smirked. "The world hasn't treated me kindly so I've returned the favor."

I wanted to shiver but held back. Now I wished she would go back on that ship to Manica. "Does it...make you feel better?"

"No but I value revenge. I think people deserve what they've got coming to them. So if that boss of yours' ever gives you any trouble..." She pulled a finger across her throat while smiling at me as though she was doing me a favor.

"Uh...Thanks." I scratched my head nervously before walking away, cringing as soon as my back was turned. What a colorful past she had. Were the other two newcomers just as bad?

As I joined my best friend and lingered next to him, trying to pretend that I was watching him work, I felt the girl's eyes boring into my back. I really hoped she didn't like me or anything. She reminded me too much of my alternate self.

"You okay?" Ace asked, glancing my way with his hands frozen on one of the panels.

I nodded and chuckled nervously. "Yeah. Never been better."

"...Okay." He blinked, then continued his job. "Nice to have Mary back, huh?"

"Yeah." I couldn't wait to have her back by my side. Maybe she'd scare away that other woman. Her blue eyes held more death in them than those monsters' pupil-less ones did.