New Elysium: Breakout

Cease and Desist Part 31

"I tried to kill you, you tried to save me..." "Perfect" - Flyleaf

"Cease and desist your actions. I am not turning us back around." Ember's voice blared over the ship. The room paused as tensions shifted, people stared uneasily.

In front of him, Andrej's confused expression rolled into one of grim resolve as his fists clenched.

Don't do it... Red's plea went unanswered in the nanoseconds it took for the bigger man to stiffen.

The data flowed into Red's mind causing him for a moment to feel as if the rest of occupants were moving in slow motion. He marveled at the tech he'd been implanted with for the second time in his life. The first time he'd switched it on had been in the hospital. The input had taken him by surprise until eventually it became second nature. He'd been shoved through more combat simulations than he could remember. If felt like a part of him was waking up. The mapped out actions he needed to take to subdue the hostiles in front of him were sequenced in a fraction of a nanosecond and then updated almost instantly to account for every shift in their movements.

All the while in the background he felt the signal from the transponder, one they hadn't been looking for. Somehow he still had time to think of the irony, they were fighting the New Caledonians to save the New Caledonians, and he hadn't even wanted to take them in the first place.

Irony.

But it meant that it was possible they were being tracked through unknown space. Any hope they'd had of leaving Ember's father behind dimmed. Darius Dawson was stubborn enough to make the journey to tie up what he considered a loose end.

Red briefly wondered if it had something to do with family honor. Neo-Tokyans could be notorious about it. It wasn't widely known how far they would go to keep their lines active and intact. But Red had encountered more than his fair share...

Red's moment of introspection ended as he followed through what his implants had sequenced for him.

Andrej's head snapped up as Red's right fist connected with his lower jaw. He'd moved much faster than the New Caledonian had anticipated and the man crumpled in front of Red instantly hitting the floor with a thud. Time slowed down for Red. The gun hung forgotten on his back as he went to work with his fists.

A movement caught Red's attention as another man to his right, shorter and stockier tried to rush him. Red smiled grimly hearing the crack as Dag's silver arm came down on his would-be-assailant's head. He wasn't sure if that guy was getting up again but he was past the point of caring. He needed that transponder off this ship, and it needed to happen now.

But humans don't always work the way you want them, and on the rare occasion, they were annoyingly unpredictable. Even his sensors weren't always fast enough to detect a sudden change in plan. Especially amongst so many moving bodies.

He was halfway across the commons when pain exploded on the back of his head. He rocked forward and sank to his knees, not hitting the floor. A groan escaped his mouth before his augments took over, pulling the pain away, keeping him conscious as spots of color danced before his eyes.

He jumped to his feet only to be greeted with the last sight he expected.

Red's jaw dropped as a man's body danced wildly in front of him. Electricity surged through the man's body, causing his legs to flap wildly, his eyes bulged from their sockets, and his jaw flapped uselessly. His clothes burned, fusing to his flesh in black patches. He could hear the sizzle as the powerful bolt arced through the body and the burned fleshed was nauseating.

And then the man crumpled as he was dropped. Ember emerged her face a picture of fury, to Red she resembled some ancient goddess stepping out to punish the man who had dared cross her.

He'd known she could do that, had heard it but seeing for the first time. Smelling the burned flesh, bile rose up in his throat before he swallowed it down. He'd never seen her quite so angry...

There was silence, punctuated by a groan from Andrej, who stirred but did not get up.

Ember moved past Red and walked through the room, giving him a brief glance as she passed. Her face was passive but as she lingered on him momentarily, his skin tingled, the slight warning was all he had to recognize that she had scanned him, checking him over. In prison he hadn't recognize the slight, brief sensation, but now he caught it. It was enough to set his hair on edge.

The cables protruded from her back and flexed with ease as she passed. Three were still connected to her lower back, lifting her shirt slightly. The passengers gave way, parting like the Red Sea. She moved straight to an innocuous looking box and opened it, reaching inside she pulled out a black apparatus that at first glance looked harmless.

Red knew what it was...

He watched as she crushed it in her hand, tossing the remains on the floor.

"My Father," she started drawing out the word like a slur. "...he won't save your lives. He won't waste any amount of time with you at all, save to get whatever useful information out of you that he needs. And then he'll put you down like the dogs he thinks you are."

Ember took a deep breath and let that sink in. There were hurried whispers. Red from his viewpoint felt his jaw drop at the admission. Even Dag had inhaled sharply at the news, his gaze piercing Red. Did you know?

Of course, he knew. It had been the one secret he'd been trying to hide. She was now sacrificing pieces of herself again, for people who would probably want her dead now.

"You either go out there," she pointed vaguely towards the front of the ship. "Or you get yourself a space burial. There is no in-between."

The silence was the only answer she received. She turned to stare at Red, a roomful of gazes zeroed in on him. She'd taken over and then subtly shifted the authority back to him.

You could have kept it. He shook his head, she was far more effective at putting down a flat-out rebellion.

Dag was going to need an explanation, but he wasn't sure how to give it, or why he'd kept that secret. He felt his face burning again.

Again, he cursed Ember's habit of putting herself on the altar.

Red, are you mad? Her voice on their private channel surprised him. She sounded tentative. She sounded so unsure and yet everyone else in this room was completely cowed by her display.

You have no idea... He clenched the gun in his hand, his knuckles were white from where he gripped it. How am I supposed to keep your secret, when you keep throwing yourself out to the wolves Ember?

Time slowed as his sensor went off, he closed his eyes as everything moved in slow motion again, his gaze flicking to the spot just behind Ember. Eyes widening he saw the desperation on the man's face.

Andrej rose up behind Ember, his face a mask of desperate fury coupled with rage. He dwarfed her with his massive rising behind hers and reached for her throat from behind. She registered Andrej by the way Red's face had shifted from hers to his.

Red rocked forward swatting Ember to the side, the cables connecting her to the ship kept her upright. Andrej's hands closed over nothing, his surprised short-lived as Red's fist crunched into his nose, spraying blood like a geyser as the man's body hit the ground.

Red felt something swell inside of him, the dark part of him, that he'd noticed in the prison that had rose in a rage to protect Ember pushed forward again. It cackled with glee because this time Red didn't fight it, didn't push it back. At last, the game was on!

Threat neutralized, flashed across his mindscape, but it wasn't over yet. Andrej was still breathing...

Inside he burned for a more permanent solution and nothing less than utter annihilation to the threat to Ember's life would sate the hunger drawing up from within. He had to ensure Andrej never harmed her again. In his mind he was seeing Karik after he'd attempted to rape her and then kicking her over and over as she lay helpless at his feet. While Red had done nothing.

Never again.

He gave in to his rage...