"Carter, I've been told of your last sniping mission by your commander," Spade started. "Apparently, he saw you take a position on a building a good distance away from the Arms Office. However, when you reported later, he said that you lied and said that you killed the Reploid attacker! When they went to check on the dead body's identity, he reported that there was no corpse anywhere, and that, lo and behold, you were up there!" Blackjack adjusted his position in his chair nervously. Spade noticed this, and looked at Blackjack suspiciously. "The building you were sniping from, according to Commander Johnson..."
"Commander Daniel? Ha! It's his and his friend Andrew's fault I lost my eye!" Blackjack retorted angrily, ripping off his eyepatch, revealing the scarred-shut eye underneath. "He's probably willing to say anything to get back at me for throwing him in prison..."
"Nevertheless, I believe him. Besides, the rest of your unit is backing him up," Spade said, trying to keep his cool. He never had like Jared from the moment that they met at Maverick Hunter Headquarters. Blackjack shifted again. "You're nervous about something. Just how did you get to the top floors of the Arms Division, when you were on the roof of a building that far away?"
"I... I climbed down the fire escape on the building I was on, and climbed the one on the Arms Division!" Blackjack snapped. "It wasn't very difficult. I was going to check on the kill. I thought I ha..." Spade held his hand up, stopping Blackjack.
"Nothing but lies! The fire escape for the Arms Division building hasn't been built yet!" Spade spat angrily. "You're hiding something from us, Carter. And if you value your other eye, you'd better tell me what..." Blackjack, surprisingly, remained calm, clasping his hands together.
"You know very well that if you tried something like that, the media would be all over you. And I'd be laughing at every minute of it." Blackjack gave a cocky grin. Spade knew that he was right.
"You're right, damn it. Ok. Either you tell me your little secret, or I'll arrange a little discharge," Spade retorted. Blackjack unclasped his hands.
I can't let him find out about my ability, no matter what... Blackjack's thought from earlier came back to him.
"Since you put it that way, I guess..." Blackjack stood up. "I guess I'll go start cleaning out my quarters." With a snort, Blackjack turned and walked for the door. Spade just stood there. After walking through the door, Blackjack turned around. "See you in hell, Spade." With that, he slammed the door. Spade simply stood there, smirking. He picked up a communicator.
"Commander Johnson? He's leaving CorSec. Your chance is here." Before Daniel could reply, Spade cut off the connection. (Note: This is not the same Johnson as the on the Hell project)
"It's a language that X1 and I have never seen before..." Garland informed him as Death Star unfolded the slip of paper. Glancing at it, Death Star began to laugh, the first time for quite awhile. "...What is it?"
"I-It's a code me and Iceheart made up, encase we ever needed to contact each other privately and without worry of someone intercepting it. We spent a good many of a night working on this. Here, let me decode it..." Death Star told him and sat down at the desk, picking up a pencil. He spent the next few minutes decoding the message, giving X1 enough time to wander back in the room and stand next to Garland.
"When I said get his mind off of work, I didn't mean doing puzzles..." X1 told Garland, handing him a bowl of soup. "Now come into the 'kitchen' of this place and eat, damnit! I don't slave over a hot stove for you just to stand there turning green, now do I?" asked X1, pushing Garland into the kitchen. Finally alone, Death Star held up the finished message. "'Home'? I know it can't be her home, we never really discussed it...she didn't like to talk about it much. And she's the only one I ever told where I was created, so this has to be the home she's talking about...But what could she be doing at my creation site?" Death Star said outloud.
Hearing some screams coming from the kitchen, Death Star snapped out of his trance and looked at the kitchen door with a puzzled look on his face. A few seconds later there was a crash of a bowl and X1 shouted, "Garland! You will EAT your octopus and hamster soup right now!" Garland ran out from the kitchen and dived into the closet as X1 rounded the corner holding a bowl of the soup, looking both ways. "I tell you, I am not appreciated around here..."
Death Star raised his eyebrow. "No, no you're not. Now why don't you leave?" he asked.
"And miss giving you your medication? I don't think so..." muttered X1. He then gave up on Garland and went to eat the soup himself, so he said, but Death Star was quite sure he was throwing it out. Garland stepped out of the closet and sat down on the bed behind him, glancing at Death Star. "Figured it out yet?"
"Aye. We'll be heading to our shuttle. We have some miles to cover and we're finally getting out of the damned city. And maybe we can catch Iceheart, along with your daughter, in our next encounter..." Death Star said. He stood up. "Get everything packed, I want to head as soon as possible. Besides, if we stay around here any longer and X1 will be trying some more of his crazy dishes on us. Just between you and me, I think Dr. Light left out a few bolts up there..."
"Perfect..." Blackjack muttered to himself from his position on his bed. "Come back to CorSec to get her, and here I am, booted without her." Blackjack dejectedly activated the communicator in his room.
"Mirri Brooks," the voice on the other end said. "Oh, hi Blackjack! What's up?"
"Freewind... we're going to have to postpone again..." Blackjack said quietly, drawing a gasp from the young woman on the other end.
"But... why?" Mirri asked, stunned.
"I've just been discharged because I wouldn't reveal my ability," Blackjack replied. "And I know you're too loyal to CorSec to come with me."
"I'm afraid so..." the woman sighed. "Well, this is farewell, I guess. Again." The two laughed lightly.
"Yeah... goodbye, Mirri," Blackjack said, and deactivated the communicator before he could change his mind. Looking around, he picked up generally the same things he did the first time he left this same room: a deck of cards, his weapons, and his eyepatch. Heh, last time I picked up this patch, I thought it was a lame joke... Blackjack thought, thinking about his dead friend, Chris. Shaking it off, he walked out of his former quarters and for the elevator, leaving a new past behind yet again.
What do I do now... he thought, taking a piece of the everything-on-it pie. After that sniping stint, I can't go back to Maverick Hunter... and I can't trust CorSec any longer... Maybe I should just settle down and live a normal life... He took a bite out of the pizza. I can't do that, though. My life doesn't seem like it's worth anything if I don't do anything, just sit and watch everything happen. And being a mercenary just isn't my style... That doesn't leave much... Blackjack polished off the slice he was eating and glanced outside. A beautiful day. He reached for another slice, only to find that he had eaten the entire pizza. He sighed, standing, dropping five gil on the table as a tip for the waitress, and walked out of the restaurant. Drawing his keys out of his pocket, he walked for his hovercar. Upon reaching the driver's side, he saw somebody tampering with the lock. The man looked up, but he had a mask on and Blackjack couldn't identify him. The man leaped up and ran away, apparently terrified. Blackjack muttered curses as he reached for the door handle. Suddenly, he stopped.
Hold on there, Jared. Think. Spade discharged you, but that's not his style. He'd rather kill you and put you out of his misery. That guy probably planted a bomb... Blackjack looked for the guy, but he had already disappeared. Thank you, Adam, for teaching me how to disarm bombs... Blackjack began searching the exterior of his car for anything explosive, sweating nervously. Unable to find anything, Blackjack sighed with relief, and placed his key in the lock. This time, however, he noticed something. The door was unlocked.
Uh oh... I'm sure I locked the door... Curiosity overwhelmed Blackjack as he walked over to the passenger side of the car. Sure enough, the door was unlocked, and there was a wire attached to the driver's side door, which ran under the passenger's seat. By now, Tony, the owner of the pizza joint and a friend of Blackjack's, had arrived outside, wondering what Blackjack was doing.
"What're you doing, Jared?" Tony asked.
"This may sound crazy, Tony, but someone planted a bomb in my car..." Blackjack responded quietly. Tony almost laughed.
"You're getting paranoid ever since they kicked you from CorSec, Jared!" Tony finally laughed, until Jared motioned him over, pointing at the wire. "Oh... there is a bomb..." Blackjack remained calm, asking if Tony had a pair of scissors. Tony nodded, disappearing into the shop.
Come on Tony, hurry up... This thing may also be a time bomb... Blackjack realized. About then, Tony came out with a pair of scissors in hand. Blackjack took the scissors, gingerly opening the door. Gently, he reached across the seat and snipped the wire. Tony wiped sweat from his forehead, but Blackjack knew it wasn't over. Feeling under the seat, he found the bomb and pulled it out.
"Whoa. Whoever it was meant business," Blackjack muttered just loud enough for Tony to hear, holding up half a pound of plastic explosives. True to Blackjack's guess, there was a timer on the bomb. The two checked the timer. It read...
"Five seconds!" the two yelled simultaneously. Blackjack looked around wildly, and saw an open gutter to the sewer across the street, and just enough of a break in traffic to make it. Without thinking any longer, he threw the bomb for the sewers. His aim was perfect, as the bomb slid into the gutter. Two seconds later, the ground shook with the force of the explosion, actually sending a manhole cover flying and breaking a window in the abandoned building next to the gutter.
"Somebody wants you dead, Jared..." Tony said.
And I think I know who...
Slash - Ox - stepped up beside him. "You do know we're leaving Earth virtually unprotected..." he told Dominator, a slight look of worry on his face.
Dominator smiled. "Oh, don't worry about that...I left behind some insurance encase anything happens..." Slash raised his eyebrow but said nothing more, heading down beside Slasher. Dominator glanced at Slasher. "Let me guess, your name is Oxer, right?"
"Alright, shift change..." Tig told the crew. They all looked at him perplexed but left. Once they were gone, Tig glanced at the clock, knowing he had about 1 minute before the next shift came in. He had been with the Hunters ever since Sigma had been defeated, blending in with the background and working on the station. He wasn't a fighter but more of a 'leader', as his skills showed. Thus he was slowly raised in rank up to the point of Lieutenant, and put in charge when Dominator left. However, this was his chance to work for his real bosses. He was a spy for the Mavericks and kept in close contact with Crucifixtion, giving him information as possible. Particularly whatever involved Garland, for some reason.
Stepping over to the control panel, Tig snipped a wire and replaced it into another socket, so the computer wouldn't recognize the system had been shut down. Entering a hacker code into the computer, he made the computer in the Hunter Tower still follow the directions of the defense system, so the crew wouldn't be suspicious until it was too late. And by then, the Mavericks would own the station.
Slamming the control panel shut, Tig walked back to where he was, arriving just in time to hear the door open and the new shift taking their jobs over. Smiling, Tig excused himself of duty and walked down to his quarters. Entering the room, he quickly locked the door and contacted Crucifixtion on the secure line. Typing in a message, he sent it into the Maverick mainframe to be picked up by Crucifixtion later.
"A dump. I knew it. I always told you he was from the dump," X1 told Garland. Garland elbowed him.
"Yes....so many years ago...." Death Star began, his voice trailing off as he walked around, feeling on the crumbling walls. Most shattered under his touch, turning to a fine powder at his feet. Garland raised his eyebrows and watched Death Star move down the walls, doing it to all until he finally hit a piece that held up. The equipment is so old it would never open up at me hitting the switch... he thought and reached down, grabbing his saber and slicing the wall, revealing an elevator. A brand new to be exact. "Iceheart..." he whispered and looked around, as if expecting to see her there watching. Stepping onto the elevator, he hit the button and went flying down into the darkness below, hearing the surprise shouts from X1 and Garland above.
Arriving at the bottom, he stepped off and sent it back up for the two to follow. Walking across this part of the lab, he saw it was still in good shape, hidden from time by McCormick himself. Walking around, he saw that some monitors were still on, probably by Iceheart, flickering through the designs of Death Star and North Star on the screen. By that time Garland and X1 arrived and walked over there. "North Star...? He was created by your creator too?" asked Garland.
"No. He was created by Dr. Starr. Starr and McCormick were friends and shared projects with each other all the time. When McCormick successfully created me, he gave the designs to Starr who made a model similar to myself, ergo - North Star. We were good friends...depending on each other. We joined the Maverick Hunters when things started heating up, only be activated for a few months at that time...." Death Star found himself saying, talking about stuff he had never mentioned to anyone before. "One of those Maverick attacks was on McCormick's Lab, as you can see by the ruins above. North Star and I came here to stop them, but found ourselves too late. McCormick died before my eyes...I buried him under that apple tree over there...that huge one we passed on the way in. Still growing..." Death Star said, amazed. "I came down here afterwards and powered this area down. So, someone has been in here recently..."
"...Iceheart..." Garland said. Death Star nodded and was about to continue when he heard a crash from upstairs. They all three piled onto the elevator and went flying up to the ruins again. Stepping out first, Death Star found his breath knocked out of him and a searing pain running up his gut into his neck and then down his back. "RAGH!" he cried out in pain and collapsed, grabbing his stomach as he did so, instantly feeling them become wet. His vision turned to red as he looked up, seeing a smirking face he had hoped never to see again. "...Baberlus...you bast---" he tried to say but found battery fluid forming in his mouth.
"Death Star. I always told you I would take that bounty out on you. Too bad CorSec fail before I could, but there's plenty of others who will pay top dollar to see the leader of the Maverick Hunters dead," Baberlus said as Garland and X1 knelt down beside Death Star.
"Death Star?! Death Star?! Can you hear me?!" shouted Garland. He turned to Baberlus and roared in anger, tackling the bounty hunter and smashing him into the ground, firing a blast right into his shoulder, sending him spinning into a wall that crumbled around him, catching him off guard. Garland fired another one of his blasts right at Baberlus' head, almost succeeding in knocking it off, but the bounty hunter rolled with it and survived. Grabbing a gun, he fired at Garland, who instantly dodged only to find himself hit by another blast, sending the young Hunter flying back and rolling. A loud boom came from nearby as lightning struck and rain began to pour. Baberlus shielded his eyes, trying to spot Garland in the rain.
Suddenly Baberlus slipped on a puddle of rain, hitting the ground on his backside. Oh, that's a good one... he muttered inside his head and pulled himself up, right into one of Garland's blast, sending him skating across the floor, his armor melting on him. Screaming in pain, he suddenly regretted his cockiness in taking on the group. But this wouldn't be the final chapter in his cocky life. At least, not the final chapter that had him die alone...Grabbing a thermal detonator, he hit the switch, activating it. The rain was drowning out all sounds around him...or it was the slow death that was over taking him, he didn't know. But he saw the three, seemingly moving in slow motion away. No you will not.... he thought to himself and hit the button, blowing the entire lab sky high.
Guess I'll head for Jarivan, he thought, remembering the planet that Titus Facilities was on. He had heard that the place was known for its casinos. I've got a good bit of cash from that inheritance, referring to what he earned from some relative he didn't even know existed. I can enjoy myself while I think about what to do. He smirked and walked for the entrance.
After buying a ticket on a shuttle, he learned that the shuttle was delayed due to hyperspace malfunctions and that he would be stuck for a while. With a sigh, Blackjack assumed a seat and picked up a magazine. After a few minutes of boredom, Blackjack decided to head for the men's room. Upon getting up, however, he heard a click.
"I wouldn't go anywhere, Carter..." a familiar voice said. Blackjack slowly turned around and saw his former friend, Daniel Johnson, holding a gun.
"I figured it was you, Daniel..." Blackjack muttered. "Who else would Spade send after me..."
"I've waited for this moment for a long time, Jared... A chance to kill you, and not be in deep shit with the higher-ups..." Daniel said. "Now, if you'll come with me... I happen to know that your weapons are in your suitcase, so don't try anything smart like going for it, unless you want a couple bullets in your head." Blackjack muttered curses as he complied. The two walked out of the lobby, Daniel hiding his gun under his jacket so they wouldn't draw attention.
"What do you want, anyway?" Blackjack asked harshly once they were in the parking lot.
"Me? I want nothing but to get revenge for what you did to me, and vengeance for what you did to Andrew," Daniel responded, smirking evilly.
"Isn't the fact that I'm missing an eye enough?" Blackjack said, knowing it wouldn't do any good. Daniel sneered and ignored him. The two arrived in an area that Daniel was sure no one would see.
"So what're you gonna do? Shoot me?" Blackjack asked sarcastically.
"Actually, not right off, no," Daniel replied, surprising Blackjack. "Thought you'd be surprised. I thought I'd give you a fighting chance." Daniel placed the gun in a jacket pocket, and got into a fighting stance. "Let's go!" Blackjack shrugged off his jacket and assumed a fighting stance also. The two circled, each waiting for the other to make the first move. Finally, Daniel grew impatient and threw a punch at Blackjack. Blackjack dodged, striking at Daniel's stomach. His fist connected, setting off a resounding clang.
"What? You're a cyborg!?" Blackjack asked, stunned. Daniel simply grinned and drove his elbow into Blackjack's back. The latter grunted, rolling away and standing up. Each waited again, not wanting to make the first move.
Thoughts ran through Blackjack's head. I can't beat him hand to hand... but I can't reveal my ability either! He'd tell Spade about it, and he'd hunt me down... being used as a living weapon isn't high on my list of things to do... Blackjack was interrupted from his thoughts as Daniel's fist connected with his stomach, doubling him over. Daniel then delivered a fierce uppercut to Blackjack's head, knocking him into the air. Blackjack fell to the ground, barely conscious.
"You're pitiful, Jared!" Daniel gloated, laughing evilly. Blackjack tried to stand, but was too weak. His vision finally cleared, and he could see that Daniel had his gun out again. "I win, Carter!"
"STOP!" A female voice broke into the tense situation.
"Wha...?" Daniel turned around, gun ready to aim. Blackjack hit his head on the ground, giving the impression that he had passed out. Daniel held his fire on finding out that the person whom the voice belonged to belonged to CorSec.
"Freewind, what do you want? Here to try to save your lover?" Daniel laughed. The two began arguing, and Blackjack stood up behind Daniel.
I wish this girl would go away... Daniel thought, continuing his arguing. Suddenly, something tapped him on the left shoulder. "Ahh... so you're... what the hell!?" I'm seeing things! he thought in a panic. Surely this wasn't a lion standing there, on two legs! And wearing Jared's clothes! In his daze, he didn't even see the claws flying for his face. The next thing he realized, his left eye was bleeding badly, and he couldn't see out of it.
"Call it eye for an eye, Daniel..." the lion said in Jared's voice. "Payback's a bitch, isn't it? And remember, if you ever tell anyone about this, I'll find you and finish the job." Daniel nodded. With that, Blackjack struck Daniel in the head, knocking him out. He then returned to his true form.
"Mirri! What're you doing here?" Blackjack asked.
"What else? To come with you!" she replied. In response to his unasked question, she replied, "I decided that CorSec isn't for me after all. I've also decided that where you go, I go."
"I knew you'd see the light in the end!" Blackjack said. "I'm headed for... wait, my suitcase!"
"Don't worry about it. I've been following you since you left Tony's. I took the time to put your suitcase back in your car," she assured him.
"Good... now, as I was saying, I'm headed for Jarivan, so I guess you are too. I'll take care of the ticket," Blackjack finished, and the two walked back for the lobby, leaving the unconscious Daniel behind.