Update 49 and Reposting 33

Garrus and Lily had been there for Nathan since the start of this venture and even before it; so he needed to repay that debt, not to mention they were really the only two friends that he had.  Tesla, he had only known her for all of a week and her motivation was questionable at best; at least, in his own mind.   Casually striding down the street in the patchy blanket that Gilarose had thrown over him; thankful for it, as he slowed down and the frightful chill of the area settled into him.   Devoid of much light and being an artificial planet, the only places on Roshire that really had heat were those that could afford to have machines do it for them.    

Looking around him, Nathan realized that the area was a perfect representation of his current situation; a decrypted region run down to the lowest possible pits and left with little but the scraps from the big dog’s table.   Feeling infinitely smaller than he had just a few days ago, the former janitor pulled the covering around his body, tightening it about himself as the chills of the region passed over him.  Bumps ran up and down his neck, which made him pause and realize that many people were looking at him, half with pity and half with disgust.    Some of the other citizens appeared to have gotten the wrong idea about his current living situation and were snubbing their noses up at him.

Great, now people think I’m a broke-ass beggar as well.  What a wonderful turn of events.  Freezing that thought, the captain shuffled around the corridor where he had bumped into the actual bottom of society.  They were still huddled around their flames, holding their hands outward and warming themselves; with the exception of the one he had passed his jacket to.   Tesla and Zephyr were no were in sight, meaning that either they took a different route or the poor aliens didn’t want to test their luck.   The alien wearing Nathan’s coat waved him over and thrust the man’s hands towards the fire; which sent cascades of warmth and comfort rippling across the back of his hands.

“You know…I don’t really feel right just taking your coat.  So here, let me give you a little something as thanks for what you done for me.  It ain’t much, but I figure you got more use for it than I do.”  Reaching down into a pile of trash bags, that looked to be the same place that he slept; the destitute simply handed a book to Nathan.  Looking it over, the captain saw the title:  Nineteen Eighty-Four   pausing, the captain looked back up to the poor man, blowing off some of the dust and seeing that the print and most of the book was largely undamaged.   Some cracks here and there remained, but aside from dust and maybe a cobweb or two, it was in perfect condition. 

“I don’t think you realize what you’re giving me.  This is a piece of human history, this book was written by one of the most respected human authors ever; not to mention the fact that you have a physical manuscript at all is…stupefying.   Books stopped being circulated when the inter-linking of human internet with the inter-galatic net emerged;  companies privatized the internet, creating censorship of it, combined with clear and draconian regulations that forbid any sort of hacking or pirating of information.  When the Earth government was linked up, there were numerous jailings, executions and several riots regarding the issue.   Yet, ultimately humans were forced to concede to the regulations put on by other governments.   This….this shouldn’t even exist….how did you get it?”  The alien just scratched its nose for a moment, rolling his shoulders before starring back up for a moment. 

“It’s the last thing I got to my family name and I know that I’m going to die soon.  I don’t have any kids and these streets are bad enough; I don’t know how my family came in possession of it, I just want you to have it.   Kindness is a rare thing around these parts and it shouldn’t go unpaid.  So thank you, now get outta here, you don’t need to be hanging around a bunch of tramps like us.”  Shooing Nathan away, the alien went back to his fire; leaving the Captain to trot through the darkness alone and come back to the scene where he had found Lily and Garrus wounded.  Ludma was sitting at the café, quietly drinking a cup of tea as she shivered lightly; obviously rattled from all the events that had just occurred.    It seemed that everything that had happened, had just really hit her.  Completely in shock, her jitters wouldn’t stop leaving Nathan to rest his hand upon her shoulder.  She nearly flung her tea into his face.

“Dear God, don’t sneak up on me like that!”  She cried at him, before the Captain rose his eyebrow slowly.  

“I walked right in front of you for at least five minutes.” 

“Oh…Christ….Nathan just….”  She rubbed her face, quietly looking at him, then to the book in his hand then back towards the repair crews that were trying to fix the damage that had been caused by Zephyr’s little rampage.    “Did, you get the red-headed slut back?  I’m assuming no, since she’s not wrapped around your dick.”

“No, she’s coming back….we’re….going to have more guests as well.”

Ludma’s eyes would turn to slits the moments that he said more guests; her hand coming up to her face as she began to rub at it slowly.  “What did you do?”

“Long story short, I helped a pimp set up shop at the inn….or at least gave him a pointer to it.   Yeah, it ain’t glorious and don’t give me that look; we’re bankrupt right now.  The cover I’m wearing actually came from one of his two girls, as a thanks for beating off that bastard.   Sadly, that bastard is Tesla’s husband and….he’s coming too.”   Ludma just stared at Nathan in further shock before standing up and inhaling deeply, then turning back around and slapping him. 

“Are you FUCKING INSANE?  You go to get her back and come back with four extra mouths to feed, three of them being street filth and the last one being a murdering psychopath!?”   Shaking profusely, she threw up her hands, covering her eyes and then just grabbing him by the collar.  “I swear to everything that is holy, if I wasn’t dependent upon you for survival, I would slit your throat where you stand.”

“Let go of me now, or I swear I will make you relive Waquil in the back-alley.  I can promise you, no one here would give a shit either.”  Ludma flinched for a moment, looking at Nathan like a wounded puppy as he dusted off his shirt from where she had gripped it.  “Good girl, now…can you tell me where they took Garrus and Lily?”

“Th….they took them to the nearest hospital, it’s about three city blocks down from here and five floors up.   The paramedics administered gauss and various healing chemical’s to Lily right away; said she would be fine after a day of rest, Garrus they weren’t so sure about.   Granted, when they checked his credit account, they had this….flash in their eyes; like they were going to make a fortune.”

“Fucking greedy bastards.”  Nathan commented at the end of, looking down at Ludma who flinched when he leaned forward.  Getting his body closer against hers, she wanted to shrink away, but was about as low into her seat as she could go without making a major scene.   That being the last thing either of them wanted.  “Good work Ludma, head back to the inn; I’m sure you’ll recognize the people when they arrive.  You’ll probably beat everyone, but Tesla and Zephyr, Zephyr being the crazy one that attacked us.   Well…regardless, inform the inn-keeper that more guests are coming and see if we can’t get a referral deal at the least.”

“Ok….”  She responded, shaking a bit before Nathan pecked her softly on the forehead, then teased her hair a little bit. 

“Don’t be such a chicken, I wouldn’t actually do it.”  Ludma immediately hauled out and punched Nathan in his jaw before storming off in a huff. 

“You’re a fucking asshole!”  Merely smiling as she wandered away, he would right his hat and begin to bundle up the shawl that Gilarose had given him.  It was much warmer in the central area and he could feel the heat coming off of his body.   Slipping into small pipe that was resting near the shop, Nathan fished in his pockets for some spare credits and slipped five into the machine.   Once that had been done, he quietly punched in the location nearest to the hospital and felt a small throb in his head, probably a concussion. Gradually, the pod began to fill with a gel like substance; it was comprised of the same components in the atmosphere that he needed to breathed, so it wasn't a problem.   What was though, was the fact that it was in a liquid state, which made it awkward to inhale.  Holding still, he could feel the pod drop from beneath him, sending him hurtling through a network of transit tubes for short distance travel.  It only took about ten seconds to reach the hospital; which would have snapped his neck if the fluid he was encased in hadn't been a special non-Newtonian substance that was just about to immune to intense kinetic energies.  When it stopped, the fluid simply drained out, leaving Nathan slightly damp before a short wave of light passed over him, removing all traces of the fluid and dampness.

Stepping out of the pod and nearly tripping in his disorientation following this; Nathan wobbled for a moment, then managed to get his bearings and head into the hospital.   Getting stopped, he was sat down in the lobby.  “How can we help you today?”  A floating ball of an alien asked as it wandered closer to him; it had three eyes on the top part which were swiveling around looking four clipboards that it was holding, two hands holding pencils, while the other two flipped through the lists of names.  Blinking a few times at the outfitted ball of steels and yellow flesh, Nathan would say the name of his two companions; at which point, the alien said found them.  “I’m sorry sir, we can’t let you see them at this time, Mr. Arkham is still in critical condition and is being operated on; Mrs. Lily meanwhile is being held for examination of her wounds.  She should be out momentarily, if you would like to wait.”

A.       Wait and read Nineteen Eighty-Four

B.      Leave

C.      Question the help further.

Wheres the update!?

Hey everyone, sorry for the delay on the next update.  College and my school duties have been a bit more demanding, so I've had to scale back a little bit.  You can expect the next update up within the next four days.  Hopefully I will find the time to do it tomorrow, if not expect it on the weekend.  Thanks for understanding.

Update 48 and reposting 31

There was an over-flow in Nathan’s head, all the pain that had been caused to him up to that point; the multitude of life or death situations, all of them rolled back through them.  Gnashing his teeth together, he had taken everything that had hit him; however, now there was a different kind of rage passing through them.   Both of his pupils dilated, nostrils flaring as he had seen what the bastard had done to Lily, the fucker had stabbed her, then left her for dead in a huddled heap atop broken glass.   He had knocked out Tesla and dragged her in some wild goose chase through this filthy city, what came next was what forced Nathan’s heart to pound that much faster in his chest.  Adrenaline pumping through his veins, through his heart and brain as his muscles tightened up along with his fists. 

“Garrus….”  Nathan whispered under his breath, just as Zephyr turned from tossing the kid off of himself and across the building.  Neither of them bothered to watch as the grey skinned teenager caught himself in the air and landed casually on his feet, falling from the wall to the ground.  Zephyr was busy looking over at Nathan, whom at this point was trembling. 

“Go home, you coward.   No proper warrior would ever show fear like you do.”  Those words were enough to send Nathan over the edge, he imagined Zephyr taunting Garrus.  He knew the red-head would have been terrified facing down someone who was clearly his better; yet, the pilot had done it.   Both of his fists tightened up, then finally, he just snapped.    Images of his friend splattered across the hood of a car, the spray of blood….that image kept coming to him.   Soon, his entire world was nothing more than a red mist, as he started to run forward at his opponent.

“FUCK YOU!”  The captain bellowed, his body moving harder than it ever had before, Zephyr didn’t bother moving, smirking as he tightened up his stance.  Solidifying his grasp on the ground, his thought process already predicting exactly what Nathan was going to do.  

Come on, come on.  I’ll put you down like the dog you are, He thought to himself as Nathan burst into his range, Go ahead and throw your right hook so I can dodge and smash you across the jaw.  As his thought process ended, Nathan did exactly as he predicted, throwing his fist outwards in an arc which Zephyr started to move around.   Just as he was about to claim victory, Nathan’s arm bent into a ninety-degree angle; his elbow now perfectly in-line with the material of mask.  They collided and the Yor’zvin male was forced to take two back-steps in order to regain his balance.   Maybe, this will be more fun than I thought it would be. 

As the kid watched for a moment, he looked over towards Tesla; wondering just how special to Nathan she must be in order for him to fight this enemy.   Shrugging his shoulders, the teen gripped both of his daggers and started to catch his breath; the fight with Zephyr had been at a stand-still, but it was obvious that the Yor’zvin had much more endurance than he did.   Inhaling, he just prayed that the stranger could hold the assailant off until he refreshed him. 

As the teen regained his bearings, Nathan and Zephyr were brawling, the alien having just barely regained his footing enough to block the next blow that Nathan threw at him.   Stepping backwards again, he felt the snap of former janitor’s fist against his arm; pain laced through Zephyr’s wrist as he felt the forward jab pound at him again and again.   Left, right, left, right….the guy is so fucking predictable, but he’s got a nasty punch.  Still, I can use that to my advantage.  Zephyr had been trained in all manner of martial arts from various different cultures and races; seeing Nathan’s raw street fighting and boxing, just made him all that much surer he could win.  Waiting for a moment, he watched Nathan throw a hard left straight again.  At that point, the Yor’zvin only smirked and stepped around the gap, throwing a cross counter; just as the cross was beginning to form and Nathan’s jaw about to be struck, Zephyr felt an odd sensation in his arm.

Nathan had changed the trajectory of his punch, pushing his elbow outwards and sending Zephyr’s arm off-course, brushing past his head harmlessly.  A vicious smirk grew across the Captain’s face as he suddenly swung upward, nearly jumping off the ground as his fist connected in a savage manner against Zephyr’s chin.   Bells rang in the warrior’s ears as he took a step back, rattled from the blow to his exposed point; just then, his opponent lunged forward swinging out again in a heavy haymaker.   “Not that easy.”  Zephyr stated as he ducked it before pounced forward into Nathan’s chest in a bull-rush.  Colliding with him, the pair fell backwards to the ground, Nathan grunting as his spine connected with the cold steel roof.    Zephyr at this point had managed to straddle the captain and began to swing, aiming all of his blows directly for his enemy’s face.

“I would be disappointed if it was.”  Nathan responded calmly, his voice like ice as he held his arms tightly together against his face, blocking the blows as they rained down upon him.  Gritting his teeth, he began to pull up his legs, getting them into a position where both of his knees were up.    Another heavy grunt escaped him as he felt another three blows connect against him; his arms now blacked and bruised from the constant hits, both of them with next to no feeling in them.    That didn’t matter to him, instead of dwelling on that, he shot up doing a sit-up between the punches and bashing both of his fists into Zephyr’s throat.  As soon as the blow connected, Zephyr toppled backwards over Nathan’s knees, coughing and hacking as he struggled for air.  As he began to kneel and stand up, he was greeted to the sight of Nathan running at him.  Both of the captain’s hands wrapped around Zephyr’s skull as he leapt forward with his full momentum; one knee coming up as he sailed through the air.   Feeling his head being pulled down, the trained fighter closed his eyes; as the impact occurred.  

Black shards shot outward through the air, each refracting light like glass as blood splayed through the air with it.  Rolling across the ground and standing up hurriedly, the Yor’zvin hunter rose up plucking two shards of glass that had buried themselves into the sides of his head out.   Blood was dripping out of his slashed lips, cut cheeks and from his forehead, standing there without breathing heavily; he wiped the blood from his eyes and stared directly at Nathan.   Eyes that were as black as night itself greeted him; however, the rest of his face wasn’t what he expected.   Zephyr’s face was human in construction; however, his mouth was covered by four interlocking plates, two to either side and each one atop the other.  Curling over the nose, the first pair had formed like mandibles from the cheeks that thickened out until they covered the space from the bridge of his nose to the tip of his upper lip.   Meanwhile, the other two plates had formed from the tip of the chin and crawled upwards with proliferations slightly thicker than a pen running in a row of three past the other two.   As Zephyr breathed, they rippled slightly, his black eyes locking onto Nathan as the warrior drew out the pair of shock-sticks that he had used earlier.

Nathan didn’t move, rather, he let his seething anger be the only thing that was fueling him right now; Zephyr extended one hand outward, holding the staff back behind him.   Every few moments, he would motion for Nathan to come to him as they circled around one another.   Tension began to fill the air between the two as they sized one another up; Zephyr with some respect for his opponent, while Nathan was just waiting for the smallest of openings.  Which came in the form of Zephyr howling in pain as a knife was submerged into his back; more blood trickled down to the ground as he hissed in agony.   Spinning around to attempt back handing the teen who had refreshed himself; as he swung, the kid had already ducked and slid between Zephyr’s legs.   He didn’t need a cue to know what was going to happen next; Nathan was already running forward and as he passed by, they had an exchange.   The teen’s hand shot forward exposing the handle of his other dagger, which Nathan took hold of in his charge. 

Just as Nathan was about to stab into Zephyr’s throat, the Yor’zvin ducked down despite the pain it caused him; pushing his staff backwards and hammering it into Nathan’s gut.   An immediate jolt went through the Captain’s body as all the kinetic energy that had been built up from each swing was released into him.   In a split second, Nathan went from simply being pushed back to being thrown clear across the rooftop; hurtling through the air, he crashed onto the adjacent rooftop, rolling for a moment before smashing into a dirty pile of mattresses.  Groaning, the captain sat up, nearly buried in the dirty pile, blood ran out from his lips before he managed to pull himself up.  Dizzy and almost completely incapacitated, Nathan paused before stumbling back down and vomiting onto the roof top.  Wiping his mouth, he got back up and breathed for a moment to recuperate from what had just happened.  

The kid on the other hand, now weaponless was doing his best to dodge the flurry of staff swings that were continually being hurled his way.  Again and again, he would duck, sway, then bob and weave to get past the numerous attacks that were sent sailing at him; yet, the knowledge that with each passing strike, the stronger the hit that would come when it did started to weigh heavily upon him.  Stepping backwards, the kid watched as Zephyr started to swing faster, obviously wanting to end this quickly.   A hard swipe came long ways towards him, yet the Warrior was holding the staff with his hands separated by a good distance.    As he dodged the one end, the other end came backward in a snapping motion; dodging became much harder and his swings much less predictable.   Jumping over a low sweep that came his way, the kid caught hold of Zephyr’s shoulders and tossed himself over them.  In the next second though, he regretted it.   The Yor’zvin’s arm darted backwards and without looking, the warrior had caught hold of the teenager’s neck; yanking him back down, Zephyr flung him back overhead slamming him into the roof and paralyzing him.   Shaking violently for a moment, the kid grimaced and coughed before Zephyr rose up his staff like a bat, getting ready to swing into the kid’s skull for the kill. 

Tesla’s eyes began to open slowly; the light hurt her head and made her close them back hurried.   Continually trying to get her eyes to dilate as the feeling in her body seemed to be completely gone; she could see something in the distance.  A figure running and taking a leap across the rooftops, it flew through the air, being upheld only by its own force.   Nearly coming short, the fuzzy outline stumbled and forced itself back up into a sprint; as it grew closer, it became clearer.  Much like a magic picture, when held at a certain distance the image became clearer and clear; suddenly, she could see the contours of Nathan’s face.   Joy danced in her heart for a brief moment, but she didn’t know why that was so, then it all flooded back to her; Zephyr had kidnapped her.   Still feeling the effects of the drug, she tried to move, but found herself unable to.   Nathan vanished out of her line of sight, only for a loud no to resound through the area.

Nathan screamed, his voice a roar above the vehicles that zoomed by them.   “NOOOOOOOO, YOU WON’T TAKE ANYMORE LIVES YOU ASSHOLE!”  No sooner had he said this, did Zephyr start his swing down and did Nathan slam his shoulder into the side of Zephyr’s body.   The pair both toppled as their bodies were carried along by the momentum that the Captain had built up; looking down, the two combatants could both see that there would be nothing to catch them if they fell from the roof.  Beneath them was nothing more than the black void that eventually ended in the vacuum of space; while there were the fields that would scan them as they fell, there would be nothing to save them.  Falling here meant certain death and they were both about to go plummeting over the edge; the kid whom was still recovering from the blow scrambled.  Crawling rapidly and grabbing Nathan’s ankles as he went sliding downward; meanwhile, Zephyr caught a hold of upper arms, clinging to the fabric for dear life.  As the additional weight took hold, the kid began to slide forward being pulled down with both Nathan and Zephyr.   “LET GO OF ME!”  Nathan roared back at the Yor’zvin, but found he couldn’t swing because of the grip.

“Are you insane?  Do you think I want to die!?”

“You’re just going to get us all killed, if you don’t let go!  Aren’t you supposed to be some noble breed of warrior or some shit like that?  Do the noble thing; sacrifice yourself, so that we can live!”

“What kind of backward fucking notion do you think I follow, we fight to better ourselves and to improve our status in life.   This isn’t some knight in shining armor bullshit; I’m doing my job so I can get my WIFE back.”

“WHAT!?”

“TESLA IS MY WIFE, YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE, YOU TOOK HER FROM ME AND I’M GOING TO KILL FOR IT!  WHEN YOU’RE DEAD, I’M GOING TO TAKE HER BACK HOME, BE TREATED AS A GOD DAMN KING AND FUCK HER TILL SHE CAN’T FUNCTION.”

“YOU THINK I KIDNAPPED HER!?  JACK-ASS, I WAS THE ONE WHO GOT HER OUT OF HER CRATE ABOARD THE SHIP I WAS SERVING UPON; IF IT WASN’T FOR ME, SHE’D PROBABLY BE DEAD RIGHT ABOUT NOW.”

“WHY SHOULD I BELIEVE YOU!?”  Zephyr shouted back at him, the revelation causing most of the rage inside of Nathan to shrivel for the moment.   Empathy was in his eyes now; however, he was still pissed off about the whole stabbing and beating his two closest friends to death or near death.   Groaning as the weight stretched him out, the kid tried his hardest to tug Zephyr and Nathan back up; yet, no matter how he might try, the combined weight of two relatively large adult males was too much for him. 

“WOULD YOU TWO JUST MAKE UP YOUR GOD DAMN MINDS ABOUT WHAT TO DO, BEFORE WE ALL END UP DEAD!?”  He shouted, now almost hanging for the edge and getting dangerous close to dropping the pair; both of his arms burned with the build-up of lactic acid.  A constant dull thump was resounding through them as he attempted to use his body weight to drag them back a bit.   A few centimeters worth of progress was made before slipped and the three were sent flying forward.   Zephyr, whom had dropped his staff on the roof when he had been tackled, rolled forward shouting as he managed to spot a ledge and latch onto it after falling three meters.  Getting his body about half-way pulled up, both Nathan and the kid grabbed onto his legs; which in turn made him lose some progress.   

“Come on, big guy….pull us up.  You can do it!”  The kid shouted, until he noticed that his knife was still plunged into Zephyr’s back; searing pain was clear across the warrior’s face as the additional weight stretched out the skin, causing him to lose more blood and for the wound to widen.   Nathan saw this and looked at the ledge, which happened to be a replica of a cast-iron fence.  Gulping, he figured that it was his best shot and flung himself off of Zephyr grabbing one of the rungs; one of his hands slipped leaving him dangling by one before fixing himself and pulling himself up and over.   Once finished, he saw that the teen had done it as well; which allowed Zephyr to pull himself up and over as well.  As the Yor’zvin pulled himself back over, he looked at both Nathan and the teen for a second; his eyes becoming narrowed in frustration before he spoke.   Each little hole in the plate growing wider and shrinking depending on what syllable needed to be made.  

“Safe to assume the fight is over?”  He asked, only for Nathan and the kid to turn to each other; the kid just shrugged and started to make his way over to a lift that he knew about.   The captain on the other hand, smashed his fist directly into Zephyr’s face, watching him recoil backwards before punching him in his stomach; as the alien started to bend over from the pain, Nathan finished by grasping his head and slamming it down into his knee.   Blood gushed from a new open wound between the warrior’s eyes as he leaned backwards against the rail for a moment, his brain rattling from the force of the impact before Nathan wrapped his hand around Zephyr’s throat.  Squeezing around it tightly and cutting off his air supply, Zephyr’s own hands wrapped tightly around Nathan’s wrist nearly crushing them which managed to ease the Captain’s grip on him slightly.   Yet, the human willed himself to keep going, reclosing his grasp as Zephyr stared at him, nearly stunned.  

“Yeah, I know if this had been a fair fight, you would have mopped the floor with me.  I had help and all that shit; so it wasn’t a ‘real’ victory; you know what though, I don’t give a fuck.  You left my two best friends for dead, dropped one over the side of a space-station and walked away when he smashed into a vehicle and became red paste.  You stabbed a woman in the stomach, whom just happened to be trying to protect a friend; yet, you know what the fucking worst part of this shit is?”  Zephyr was sending knees at Nathan’s stomach at this point, causing him to grunt every now and then from the pain; yet, Zephyr was losing strength as his face started turning blue.  “The worst part of this is that I can’t kill you.   Those little words, the fact that you told me that Tesla is your wife and you were trying to get her back; it saps away all of my desire to watch you rot in the ground like the dog you are.”  Releasing Zephyr’s throat and dropping him to the ground, the alien panted and gasped for air; however, Nathan’s boot punished the open wound between his eyes yet again.   Kicking him up and causing Zephyr to actually yelp, the Captain stomped at his chest and stomach until he was gasping for air due to lack of energy.  

Both of them were panting and covered in blood at that point.   Nathan’s knuckles and hands covered in both his and Zephyr’s, while his boot was coated in a layer from the warrior’s face.   Looking up, the alien groaned in pain, the knife in his back sliding out of the widened wound and toppling into the recesses of space.   Laying through, battered, bloodied and bruised, he looked up at the man who had defeated him before a deep oomph escaped his lips; a sharp pain in his side erupting from the fact that Nathan had just kicked him in his ribs.   “Get up….we’re going to get Tesla.   Don’t get me wrong, I hate you and I hate everything you did; yet the simple fact that are trying to get back something precious to you….would make me a hypocrite for saying I probably wouldn’t have done the same thing in your shoes.” 

Reaching down, Nathan offered his hand to Zephyr, who batted it away and pressed himself up; wavering weakly from side to side before Nathan caught him.  Too woozy to deny the aid, the Yor’zvin swallowed his pride and allowed himself to be propped up; both walking along, until they came upon the kid, whom ushered them up through a grav-lift that lifted them back up towards the level they had fallen from.   Continuing to move, the pair made it back to the house that they had descended from, where upon they saw the three women that had been left behind waiting for them.   Nathan eyed the two that had been there before Zephyr had arrived; one of them was wearing a yellow sun-dress that was a little too small for her, her significant bust was threatening to burst the fabric wide open.   Her eyes were sweet and she seemed to have a disposition like that of a mother figure; her skin was a dark-chocolate color, while her eyes sparkled in clear pools of amethyst.  A pair of plush lips were currently kissing across the kid’s head as she embraced him, squeezing his head between the titanic mounds of her breasts. 

When she did so, Nathan noticed her bending over slight, exposing her large heart shaped ass and the fact that she was not wearing any panties.   Her feet were covered in a pair of ramshackle sandals, while her hair was hanging down from her head in a French braid that moved from her temples and rolled back around thick braided tail that hung past her shoulders; while the rest of her hair hung in waves around it.  Looking her over again, Nathan could see that her forehead had a series of three red dots arranged in a circle on her forehead and that her ears were fringed in six different places; that was, when he could take his eyes off of her intoxicating ass.   Blushing a bright red, he realized that she had noticed him staring and was now shaking her head at him and poking one of her fingers into his chests.

“You don’t have enough money to play with all of this, honey.”  She stated bluntly, while her companion, a small mousy girl with a mess of short blue hair and dull grey eyes looked at them.   Roughly a b-cup and mostly legs, it was clear that she was timid as her knees were shaking slightly at the number of people around her; the kid merely touched one of her arms, which seemed to calm her down a bit.  Keeping her mouth, tightly closed, she continued to say nothing; when suddenly a series of small bead like eyes opened around the ring of her skull, her face developed a few spider-web lines across it as well across the back of her hands.    Pausing, she nodded to the kid, who looked back towards Nathan. 

“Gil, stop harassing him, it’s not his fault that you were shoving our merchandise right into his face.”  As he said this, the woman in the yellow dress, whom was apparently named Gil stopped and pulled back; then bowed to Nathan. 

“I’m sorry, Jack, I promise to be more thoughtful next time.”  As the kid walked up, he slapped her ass hard enough that the other four could hear it audibly; to which they were all surprised when Gil let out a delighted moan of approval.  

“You’re full of shit, Gil, we both know you’re going to keep that cocky attitude so that one of the customers will eventually lose their cool and really abuse you, freaking masochist.”  As he finished talking, the woman blushed but didn’t deny it leaving the kid with his hand extended outwards towards Nathan.   “My name is Slacker Jack, don’t know my real last name, never have and likely never will; people have always just called me Jack because it was an easy name.   As for the slacker part, well, I used to avoid work a lot.”  Laughing for a moment, he pushed his hand towards Nathan again, whom took it slowly and shook it while Zephyr and Tesla argued in a nearby corner.   Both Jack and Nathan could see that Zephyr was in pain and was being treated to some degree by Tesla; whom at the same time was laying into him for his actions.   It devolved into a shouting match between the couple, though Tesla eventually did turn a bright shade of pink from something Zephyr said and kissed him afterwards.   Yet, as soon as she had finished doing so, she slapped her partner in agitation. 

“Umm, anyway….nice to meet you Jack, my name is Nathan Blackholm.  The red-head back there is Tesla and you met our….acquaintance, I actually don’t know his name; though I’m sure he’ll introduce himself to us soon enough. “ 

“I see, well….the loud-mouthed one that nearly suffocated me with her useless tits, is Gilarose and the shy one is Arachne.  She never talks, so we don’t know her real name; we just call her that, since she can see in all directions and can sense the vibrations in the air. So, she knows where everyone is….all the time.”  Shivering at that last statement, Slacker Jack only chuckled for a bit before Nathan rose an eyebrow at him, he could see both of the girls and Jack were dirty and were putting on a rather….elegant shoe.

“Look, you guys seem nice and Gilarose is very nice to look at it, but I don’t have any money and I’m rather loathe to pay for sex.”  At that point, Slack Jack erupted into laughter, though immediately started coughing due to the injuries that he had suffered from earlier.   Still, he continued until he had to sit down and catch his breath, the sound of his laughter still resounding a little bit.  It was light hearted and pleasant to the ear; which when he finally stopped, it made Nathan a little sad. 

“So you, figured out what we are huh?  Well, it isn’t like it is exactly a secret around here; though, business is shit.”

“I can imagine. I landed in a pile of what I’m guessing were the mattresses where your girls did business, not exactly comfortable or discrete.   Not to mention, you’re what…seventeen and Arachne can’t be more than fifteen or sixteen.”  Another round of laughter erupted from Slacker Jack, while Arachne seemed to fume for a moment, folding her arms across her small breasts and blushing profusely across her rounded face.

“Oh….dear lord….you’re a riot.   My race metabolizes food very slowly, everything we do happens slowly, our aging process takes hundreds if not thousands of years.   It would take me at least a full two years without eating to finally starve to death; which, considering my frame right now, should tell you that it has been a LONG time since I’ve had any subsistence.   My girls need to eat in order to bring me in money, so I live with a bottle of water and a single slice of bread every week.   As for my age, I’m fifty-eight and Arachne over there is twenty-eight; her race takes twice as long as yours to fully mature.  Granted, her body is ready for sex and she can produce children, likewise her mind is ready for it as well; she just hasn’t adapted what humans expect yet.   She’ll get some curves and fill out more in the next three years.”  As that final statement, Slacker Jack leaned backwards against the crate he was sitting on and let out a soft sigh.  

“Maybe I can help you?”  Nathan asked before stretching his hand towards Slacker Jack.  “I just started staying at a hotel, where I’m working to put up my crew, which just gained a member; if their conversation was any indication.”  As he said this, he looked over to Zephyr and Tesla whom were speaking in a much more civil manner at this point; though it was clear that Zephyr was uncomfortable.   Nathan could only guess that Tesla was informing him of everything that had transpired…..to the dot from the looks of things, as the red-head had a rather….dreamy look in her eyes about something.  “Anyway, the owner of the place isn’t getting many customers and seems desperate for more income; maybe if we split the profit that your girl’s make three ways, we can all come out on top?  You guys get to eat and have a place to stay for free, I can work in fixing up and cleaning the inn to make sure everything is functioning, the owner can bring in more people to his place and expand and eventually….we can all get off this rock.”

Slacker Jack’s eyes lit up in both disbelief and utter amazement before he took a hold of Nathan’s hand and shook it profusely.  “You sir, have a deal!”  Both of them at this point, before Gilarose wrapped Nathan up in a bear hug and shoved his head between her breasts; the sweet scent of Tesperian roses nearly intoxicated Nathan before he was released, head spinning before the woman grasped his crotch. 

“You’re getting one on the house tonight darlin’.”  Giggling, she walked away, swaying her ass seductively as she wrapped one arm around Arachne’s shoulder; the pair both going to get their things to leave.

“You just made her life, I hope you know.”  Jack stated with gratitude in his voice, as Nathan gathered his wits and wrote down the name of the inn for Jack.   As Jack looked at it, his nose wrinkled lightly.  “I thought you meant somewhere a bit nicer; I know this old run down place, well….it ain’t much, but it sure as hell is better than this dump.   We’ll meet you over there.”  At that, Jack left to go talk to the girls, while Zephyr and Tesla walked up to him.  Zephyr seemed to have something on the tip of his tongue and only a sharp stomp against his toe from Tesla brought it about.

“I wanted to apologize to you for everything that has happened; I deserved the beat down that you brought upon me, I should have been more rational in my thoughts when I saw Tesla arrive here.   While my intentions were to return her home safely to her father and to continue my life with her; I can see now that I was out of line.   I am beyond forgiveness, so I humble myself to you and beg that you would take me as a servant, if that does not please you, then a slave.  If that is still not enough, then I ask that you allow me to commit suicide to atone for my actions.”  Nathan raised an eyebrow at Tesla, whom was looking at her husband as he got down upon his knees and bowed his head in shame; the female of their group had rested her fingers against the military cut of Zephyr’s hair.   Stroking it slowly, showing signs of affection if somewhat diluted.

“I figured that Tesla would make you do this; though I also figured some code of honor would make you do it as well.   Pull your weight and protect everyone in the crew, beyond that….don’t overstep your bounds; you’ve gotten off to a bad start with everyone, so you’re on thin ice.”  Looking back at Tesla, Nathan paused before huffing out a brief sigh and putting his hands into his pockets, letting his thumbs stick out from the top.  “You mind telling me what this….husband business is?”

Telsa only giggled a little bit in response, playing with the top of Zephyr’s head as he stood up before slapping his ass.   The taller male almost whimpered before, Tesla looked back towards Nathan with a coy smile.  “Oh, Zephyr was one of my many, many, many suitors on Yor’zvin; of course, only someone who I choose to become my husband or could actually defeat me in combat could take me.   Zephyr challenged me and ending up putting up enough of a fight that I decided to make him my own; granted, he was subservient to me.  Oh, I can still remember how he screamed those first two nights…..it brings back such good feelings.”  Both Nathan and Zephyr shivered at what she said, though Nathan more so at the fact that Zephyr showed a great deal of both ire and shame in his body language as those words passed. 

“I really….don’t want to know anything more about your sex life aside from what you created with me and my crew Tesla.”  Nathan commented quickly, which to his surprise didn’t cause any reaction from her husband.  “Umm…aren’t you upset that over people have had sex with your wife?”

“No, why would I be?”

“I dunno, shouldn’t a husband usually be protective of who or what sleeps with his woman?”

“On Yor’zvin, monogamy doesn’t exist; in fact, it is a mark of status for someone to have multiple wives or husbands.  It is reflected favorably upon the person who happens to be that person’s husband or wife, as it means that though they could have many partners, they choose that specific person to share in their life.” Zephyr explained and Tesla nodded in affirmation, before Nathan just shrugged for a moment, and then looked at Tesla as he uploaded a map to their new safe house onto her data-pad. 

As they started to walk away, hand in hand, Tesla paused for a second and looked up at Zephyr slightly confused.  “What a second, if you were coming to rescue me, why did you knock me out when I started to question your actions.”  Zephyr paused for a moment as Tesla glared him angrily, but he finally squeamishly replied.

“I wanted to be the dominant one for once.”  At which point Tesla punched him in his ribs and huffed walking along without him as he doubled over in pain, mainly because she had just jabbed a rib that Nathan had broken.  Exasperated by the events of the day and the various twists and turns that it had just taken; the Captain rubbed his temples slowly and then rubbed his arms to produce some heat.  Suddenly, Gilarose kissed his cheek and wrapped a very patchwork, but incredibly warm, cover around his shoulders. 

“Bundle up darlin’, you humes ain’t used to the cold like the rest of us are.   You can borrow that for now.”  As she said this, she gave him a brief tap of the ass before vanishing back into a nearby alleyway.   Nodding back at her, Nathan started to walk away, pondering where he should go next.

A.       Return to the scene of the abduction and find out where Garrus and Lily are.

B.      Go back to the hotel and rest.

C.      Find Zephyr and question him about Yor’zvin and Tesla.

D.      Find Tesla and question her about Zephyr.

E.       Help Gilarose, Slack Jack and Arachne move.

F.       Try to find another job.

Update 47 and Repost of Page 30

Hey all you readers out there in cyber-space. Just wanted to thank you all for sticking by me.  We're fast approaching update 50 and by the time we get there, the Universe of Amatory Stars will have changed quite a bit from when I first started it.  Anyway, just wanted to thank everyone for sticking around so far.


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Risks are what had kept Nathan alive up to this point, the off-chances of certain occurrences were both his boon and his bane it seemed.   Turning his head towards the group of homeless aliens gathered around a flaming can, the Captain could see them tossing old newspapers into it for warmth.   Desperation and despair clear in their eyes.  Of the four, most of them were bundled up and hiding the entirety of their bodies; only a few facial features could be seen on any of them.   The tallest of them who was hovering in the back, with two arms stretched forward and draped in a dirty brown sheet that had holes cut into it, had the clearest sign of defeat upon him.   All of his body just seemed completely distraught, where the bulges of his shoulders were, they appeared to have dropped down almost a foot from his neck.  Meanwhile, the three eyes that maneuvered back and forth out of and into his skull seemed focused only on the heat of the fire.    

Nathan could see the hopelessness there, the eyes ringed with weariness, the weight of the world crushing the creature’s shoulders; all three of the aliens eyes now drooped to the point of surrender, as if at any moment he would just close them and that would be it.  Unable to see anything else, Nathan turned to the pair that were standing next to each other in front of the tall one.   They looked to be twins, yet it was hard to tell with them as well; both wearing tattered hoodies, the folds of fabric pulled up to obscure their faces as they pushed their hands forward to warm their hands.  Only the one sitting to the far right was exposed completely.   “Wadda ya want?  Can’t you see dat we just tryin’ to survive?”  His voice was broken and cracked, rough from his lack of hydration and the clear scent of alcohol on his breath made it all that much more evident as to why.

Nathan stared at him for a moment, the bum was probably about five foot four inches, scrawny in almost every sense of the word and probably just barely old enough to actually drink.  A five o’clock shadow cut across his chin, while a pair of reflector eyes shot Nathan’s image right back at him.   The bum just shrugged, his nearly fist sized eyes blinking shut for a moment closing sideways before he shuffled his mouth for a moment, allowing a hand that was missing the index and ring finger to rise up.  The nubs still trying to twitch with some usefulness as he grasped another bottle of alcohol and passed it around with the various other aliens around him; it was almost sad, if the kid didn’t have those eyes, he could have passed for human…maybe found some pity from a tourist.  As he was though, he had little chance in hell.  

“Look, did any of you see a man carrying off a red-head by any chance.   I need to find them and get that girl back.”  The most human of the group spat into the fire upon those words before pointing to his  mouth, illustrating where three teeth had been based out near the front. 

“You just missed da fucker, came runnin’ through here like a madman a few minutes ago.   Bashed my teeth in, slashed the twinseys over there.    They’ze gonna scar up bad….”  As he said this, he pointed in the direction that Zephyr had run in; agitation in his eyes and a slight twitch in his arm revealing that the damage was worse than he was making out.   Nathan paused just as he was about to dart off and passed the young man his coat, seeing as he was the only one not wearing anything to really warm himself.  Almost immediately, Nathan could feel the chill of the area seeping into him; it was almost freezing though he knew he could run himself to warmth soon enough. 

“For your trouble.”  The captain murmured only to dart down the streets and beginning to look for Zephyr; he could already see the Yor’zvin’s trail of destruction.  Several people that had obviously been perturbed by both his appearance and his actions had attempted to get in his way.   Many of them were laying by the side of the street battered and bruised; most of them were aliens of so many shapes and sizes that it would be hard to remember them all.   Those that were conscious quickly pointed Nathan along the way, illustrating that despite their station, they knew more about empathy than most could ever hope to.  Respecting their choices and thankful for what they were doing for them, Nathan rushed along thanking each one that pointed him along.  

Eventually, his chase sent him flying up a nearby ladder, climbing hurriedly as his muscles convulsed from the near marathon run that he was pushing himself through.  That was when he saw them; Zephyr had put down Tesla leaving her to rest upon a set of crates, in front of Nathan was a rather…odd scene.   In fact, he pinched himself to make sure that he wasn’t dreaming as he witnessed what was occurring.   Zephyr, a powerful Yor’zvin warrior was being pushed back by someone almost half his size, making matters worse; the person looked to be on the verge of death.   On the ground near him, two girls one looking to be in her late teens and the other possibly in her early forties were doubled over on the ground; their faces telling Nathan exactly what he needed to know.   

“Fucking runt!”  Zephyr shouted loudly at the male that was currently fighting with him; the kid couldn’t have been more than seventeen; his clothing was loose and torn around him.  Other pieces of fabric had been cannibalized to tie down the rest of it; he appeared to have even managed to find some lengths of rope to tie down his pants legs so they wouldn’t fall down around him.   Just looking at him, Nathan could see that his feet were heavily calloused from constantly walking barefoot, which he was now.   The kid’s denim jeans almost fluttered as he hopped back from a vicious haymaker and plopped down a few feet away from Zephyr, he was crotched low, illustrating that his skin was becoming taut from malnutrition.   Dark circle’s ringed his eyes, while his face smudged with soot and scarred from his cheek to his nose with a burn mark; meanwhile dirty black hair clung to his skull while he played with the patchwork shirt of brown, green and grey that hung loosely on him.  

Nathan had no idea who the kid was or how he was so good at what he was doing; however, he wasn’t going to argue with results.   Smirking, he looked at the kid, who was glancing up at him darting his eyes from Nathan to Zephyr then to Tesla, the quizzical look that took him, stunned Nathan.   He had just said so much without saying a thing; nodding briefly, the kid rolled his lanky shoulders and stood up further.   Fishing out two knives that he had obviously pickpocketed from someone,  Nathan noticed something that their mutual enemy wouldn’t be able to.   A patch of clean skin on the back of his neck was grey, Nathan only knew of one race of grey aliens; however, they were supposed to be nothing more than myths or at least have gone extinct.  

Pausing for a moment, he looked at the kid and the two women laying on the ground, then to Tesla and back to Zephyr.   Watching the young man stand and spit on the ground, he could see something of a ‘ridge’ on the side of the kid’s head, making it obvious that he was wearing a wig.   Intrigued, Nathan was at an impasse….to help him or to just watch.

Page 46 and Repost of 29

Some people never see past the glitz and glam of the bright lights of the city; they’re usually too busy with their heads staring skyward, that they forget to look down sometimes.   Down in the shadows, where the ‘undesirables’ crawled, that was where all the unsavory folks who actually knew how to have a good time gathered.    At least, that was what was true back on Earth, in the major cities that were homes to millions of people; it was no surprise that the stuffy tight fisted money grubbers didn’t know a good time if it bit them in the ass.   

Cities like Atlanta, Beijing, Berlin, New York, Sydney and others; they were full of bureaucrats and politicians, lawyers going through fifteen to seventy cases in the course of a day thanks to their implants.   Highly modified humans flocked in droves to these cities, working their asses off at accelerated rates and most ridding themselves of the need to sleep.   Most were more machine than human, pretty much casting aside their humanity, bit by bit they would descend into the cold, lifeless embrace of a complete bio-mechanical transference.   Nothing more than  a collection of human memories and emotions inside of an immortal, unfeeling casing.   

Nathan had seen it happen first hand, half of his family was affluent, the heirs to some fortune that consisted of old-money heaped into a pile that made the 1% that the Occupy movements marched against seem like underprivileged snots showing off toys on the school yard.  Nothing more than a bunch of attention whores with grubby little fingers playing at wealth, while the ones with real money were sitting off to the side laughing at them.    Nathan’s half of the family or rather, the half of the family that decided it wanted nothing to do with the money; retreated from the mechanical madness that they saw.   

Most people, at least those who weren’t flat broke, would consider Nathan an Amish.  No modifications to his body, solid muscle built from years of hard work; he often didn’t indulge in the modern conveniences of the time period.   He didn’t have an galatic-net port installed into his head, nor had he managed to upgrade any part of anatomy; which for the college kids of any port, the stereotypical ones at least.  “Is like, so lame man!  Why wouldn’t you want a shlong to be as long and thick as possible.”  

The tell-tale signs weren’t on him, he was a foreigner in the world he lived in.  People saw him, they would point and stare at times; at least, they would have, if everyone around him wasn’t in the same boat.   Down beneath Roshire’s middle-class layers.   There were nothing more than starving aliens, illegals, criminals and other down-on-their luck people simply scrambling to maintain a living.   Mechanical upgrades had become the riches game, those who augmented themselves; well, they were smarter and they went on up the business ladder.  Lawyers, politicians and CEO’s all becoming the most upgrades of them all, redesigning themselves into walking, talking supercomputers; however, the technology wasn’t perfect.   People who got these upgrades, well, depending on their demands might never be able to move again, at least without being connected to a large vehicle of sorts.  

Most chips would process a terabyte of information in about two seconds; however, these men would augment their brains to the point where they were processing seven hundred yattabytes in the same amount of time.   Doing so requires ungodly amounts of power and processing design.  So they were, trading everything they were and most of their freedoms, to be more efficient at making money they no longer needed.   Ironic, in most senses; however, Nathan didn’t think it was at all funny.   

Right now, the idea of that becoming Garrus was all that came to his mind.  Staring over the body of his companion, there was little more than a bloody smear of him on the vehicle in front of him.   It was only five minutes ago that he had been laughing and joking about what they would do when they got back, at least he had been joking.   Ludma had just stared stoically ahead without so much as any inclination of giving a damn about Nathan.  

While the captain looked over the body of his destroyed friend and could see that Ludma was looking over Lily and maneuvering her so that she was in a position to reduce blood-loss.   Rage was something that Nathan often didn’t feel, it was a cold-emotion that he had no place for; however, right now, he was trembling from it.   Turning to Ludma, he walked whispered into her ear, his voice little more than a snarl of equal parts hatred and sorrow.   

“Call the paramedics, tell them we’ll reimburses everything in pure credits, no loans, no debts, everything in straight credits.   Tell them that Garrus will sign it over when he is back to a cognitive state; which should be the moment they hook his brain back up.   I’m going to go settle the score.   Enough people have been staring off in the direction they said the assailant went that I can figure out enough.”   Stepping away from Ludma, he could see that the woman’s hands were shaking, but he didn’t pay much heed to that.

“Nathan….bad luck seems to just follow you everywhere you go.   Why is that?”

“The devil and God made a bet on me.  Just think of me a modern day Job and sing your prayers over me if you will.   Cause right now, I’m just another soul up for bid and no matter what happens next; I’m sure more shit will rain down on me after.”  Smirking, he walked back to Garrus’s corpse, fishing a cigarette out of the container that he kept in his coat.   Surprisingly, he managed to find one that wasn’t drenched in blood at the filter.   Holding it up, he ignited it and placed the burning roll of tobacco into his friend’s mouth; closing Garrus’s eyes after he did so, he walked away.  “Sleep easy, you’ve earned your shore leave, sailor.  I’ll see you in a few hours I’m sure.”  

Everything said and done, Nathan ran down the platform, watching the buildings and construction rush past him.   Everything starting to branch out and turn into a variety of decrepit apartments and shops; a few desperate looking children stood huddled around a filthy paper-airplane.  Every now and then one of them would through the stained, make-shift toy in the air; it would fly lazily for about four or five feet then hit the ground.   

They would all look disappointed, then try again; the joy almost completely burned out of their eyes.   Nathan ignored it, his feet not stopping as he ran he brushed right past them; knocking one over and leaving the other three to shout back after him.   A mixture of aliens and humans, all of them snot-nosed, dirty and from the looks of things hungry; Nathan had nothing to give and no way to bargain for information.  It would be pointless to stop running now. 

As he continued to run, he couldn’t see any signs of the assailant anywhere, nor any trace of Tesla; his path eventually stopped in front of him.  Leaving him with nothing, but four options of what to do next; the solid barrier in front of him was equipped with a ladder.   He could climb up it and search for them upon the roof tops; or he could just run down one of the alleys to his left or right.  Down the left were a couple of bums, adults this time passing around a bottle of home-brewed liquor; down the right was only darkness and then a few rushing cars at the end with their lights being the only sign of them.   

Lastly, Nathan looked backwards, he could just resign and leave Tesla to her fate.   Lily and Garrus had been his friends much longer than Tesla and he had known them for months, versus the few days he had known Tesla.   Could he trust Ludma not to take this chance to run as well?  Why should she care what happened to Lily and Garrus.  

Four paths were opened to him now and he found himself idling, wasting time instead of actually doing something that would make life easier for anyone.

Update 45 and reposting Update 28

“Ludma and I should probably leave and go searching for a place to stay.  Garrus, I’m trusting you to take care of everything here.  I know you are trust-worthy…to a degree, but since it is a ship.  Well, you’re the best I know.”  Laughing, the captain would cusp Garrus’s hand, the latter of which looked with an eyebrow raised at the former.   Grasping Nathan’s hand, the pilot merely shrugged for a moment and shook it before placing his own hand onto Nathan’s shoulder.  Garrus would increase his grip there for a moment, a brotherly notion before he nodded to the man in front of him. 

“Yeah, yeah.   Just be careful out there alright?  We’re not exactly safe anywhere we go now, so keep your head low and don’t make a scene.   We’ve got Faulkner and his crew after us and now we’ve got to deal with that mining company that you pissed off.   Look, things are rough, so I think it would be best if there were no hard feelings between anyone right now; err….with the exception of Ludma of course.”  Garrus turned his head around to face the alien woman, who had snorted at the moment he had said no hard feelings; she was busily putting on a pair of shoes before walking over to Nathan.

“Come on you, let’s just get this over with, I don’t want to spend any more time with you than I absolutely have to.”  Ludma’s voice snapped like the sound of so many switchblades opening up, while her eyes glared nothing more than the points of daggers at him.   Nathan would only look upwards to the top of the ship before bumping his fist against Garrus’s shoulder. 

“Well, I more have to worry about Ludma trying to kill me right now than anything else.  So, if I don’t come back, start sleeping with one eye open.” Waving good-bye to the pilot, then looking back to Lily and Tesla, the last of which was still folding her arms over her breasts and rubbing them slightly.  Tesla’s little action telling him that she was still in shock over what had happened earlier; granted, he wasn’t sorry for it in the slightest.  Moving over to the pair of women that would be traveling with Garrus, he placed his hands on their shoulders.   Tesla giving a slight spasm, but let it sit there, her immediate reaction to turn her face away from Nathan being resisted for a moment.    Two sets of eyes watched him for a moment before they listened to what he had to say.  “You two….get along alright.   What has happened up to this point is over and done; we’re nothing more than a big….dysfunctional family right now.   Take care of Garrus alright and watch each other’s backs; we can’t keep tearing away at ourselves.  So, let’s all forgive and forget.” 

Once he finished talking, Nathan walked out of the ship with Ludma, the ringing of his boots against the steel walk way.   Immediately upon looking up, Nathan found himself marveling at the sight of hundreds of airships blazing through the sky above him; a myriad of buildings shaped into different geomorphic figures and other odd designs stretching up across the sky.  It was only after staring straight up for a few moments, did Nathan look a little further and see the massive scar like gash that ran across the skyline; it seemed to break everything up.   Until, he released that it wasn’t a gash in the skyline, it was where the sky was breaking through man-made layers of crust. 

“Ain’t very pretty once you realize that you’re in the slums is it kid?”  Ludma stated with a small quip, as Nathan began to wrap his hand into her own; the female not denying it, but the Captain could feel her shudder upon touching her.  The newest alien into the crew merely prodding forward a little bit as she pointed towards a darker section of the plate that they were currently on.  “I take it you’ve never been to Roshire, Nathan;”  she said this smugly, taking the time to lean in closer against him the moment she noticed a few police cars in the area,  “well, let me tell you something, an artificial planet still has all the problems of a real one.  Only here, they are multiplied.” 

Nodding slowly, the Captain’s head turned slowly, his hand coming up to cover his eyes with the new cap that he was wearing.  Just a simple thing with a black bill and a white covering for the head, all around him he could see beggars lined up and down the streets.   Every age, every species, it didn’t matter who or what they were, they stretched up and down the road; hope was devoid in their eyes.    As they continued to walk along, a digital barrier swept over them and immediately Nathan had to cover his ears; the sounds of construction work, engines and the roar of something rotating beneath him was nearly deafening.  Ludma had a pair of earplug in, which she carefully handed a spare-pair over to Nathan who placed them in; looking around as all the background noise was immediately tuned out.

“This is level 32 of 256, the lower the level you reside on, the worse living conditions get.    Without these little earplugs, it would be completely unlivable for most people here; however, even with them, the amount of refuse and trash about the area, not to mention the disrepair of non-vital buildings and lack of sunlight make this a complete hell-hole.   Welcome to our new home.”  Ludma said this sarcastically, but Nathan knew that they couldn’t risk trying to go up to a nicer region to live in; this would have to do for now.   Sighing, he followed Ludma, keeping his eyes peeled for anything that might look even remotely suspicious.

Ludma took them through various hotels, inns and apartment complexes gradually sweeping Nathan through many low brow establishments.  It didn’t take him long to realize that they were looking for a place that could actually hold all of them together, that and didn’t smell like a ship after a night of refried beans and spicy sausage.   Eventually, after stretching through seventeen different regions, they came across a building that was shaped like in an oval in the middle of a slip-shod park.  Only weeds and a few broken swing sets and titter-totters remained in discernible shape around it; most of the windows had been boarded up and those that weren’t were covered with steel-bars that made it impossible to break in without a minor explosion.  

The walls of the place were scorched in some regions, bullet holes resided in others and the only thing that tipped Ludma and Nathan that it might even be open was the glowing sign in purple neon that read: “Precursor Jack’s Apartments, Open for business.”  Looking at each other, they shrugged and entered, pushing through the heavily fortified doors and walking into the main lobby.   A fireplace crackled at the opposite wall, where a few pictures of a handsomely built male with yellow hair and green tips was standing.  A pair of goggles resting on his head as he leaned against some kind of go-cart looking vehicle; on his shoulder, a small furry rodent stood, mimicking the focus’s pose.   In the background, it looked to be some sort of desert with several moons floating above it; an oasis not too far off in the distance.   As Nathan examined it, Ludma walked over to the counter, ringing an antique bell, the shined silver of the sides twinkling in the fire light.   Looking at her reflection in it for a moment, she rang it once more before pulling back and leaning against the hard wooden surface of the counter top.

Nathan had moved away from the painting and was now sitting in one of the plush chairs around the central lounge area; a small table with a few old magazines resting before him.  As he cocked his head for a moment and flipped through one of him; he couldn’t understand the language it was written in and put it down, not bothering to waste his time.   Both he and Ludma suddenly breathed in and then took in a larger breath, enjoying the smell of burning wood and the faint fragrance of some flower.  “Well, if this place has enough vacancies, then it wins; it doesn’t smell like dog shit, wrapped in old fish bacon.”  Ludma didn’t respond to the statement, rather she turned back around and was about to ring the bell again; when an elderly man brushed it aside before she could bring her hand down.

“I heard you the first time.”  He said with a slight cough while leaning forward on a cane; he was thin, his fingers having lost some of the flesh around them as he pulled up a pair of goggles.  It was clear that he was having trouble getting around and that his body wasn’t working like it should anymore.  Slightly hunched over, his head was bald, though the sides and back of his head still had some hair that hung down, giving the male an awkward monk-haircut.   The silvery strands hanging around his neck with darker patches at the tips.   “Now, what can I do for you two?”  He asked bitterly, leaning more on his cane as he shifted about his blue coat and light brown pants, hobbling over to the guest registry.  “You want a room, two hundred credits a night.  Typical room can fit four people comfortable, there’s a bed that can sleep two and a couch that pulls out, that can sleep two as well.  The floors are carpeted, so someone can sleep on those relatively comfortably as well; each room comes with a kitchen and one bathroom.   Galanet is extra, so is broadcast.”   Every line fell out of his mouth in a rehearsed manner, flopping out as his eyes seemed to glaze over without a care in the world.   Nathan stared at him for a moment, starting to move closer.

It was the same glazed look that he saw in his own eyes so many times when he had been aboard the Thespian cleaning the floors.  Looking at the old man, he could see sorrow, sadness and heart-break from having lost a life full of friends, adventure and excitement.   It was the look of a man who felt he had been cheated out of something much greater in life; the glazed look vanished and Nathan sniffed a little, smelling cleaning chemicals.   “You’re cleaning the place yourself?”   Upon the question both Ludma and the older male looked up to Nathan in surprise, while the old man nodded slowly a few times. 

“Yes, I’m the only person who works here, so I pick up the trash and clean everything.”  Nathan looked him over for a moment, then began to stroke his chin for a moment before smirking.

“How about I make a deal with you, sir?   You let me and my friends stay here for free and I’ll clean the place for you.   I was a janitor for a while, so I know my way around a mop and cleaning chemicals.”  The old man rose an eyebrow slowly before grabbing Nathan’s arm and turning his hand over; looking over the callouses on his fingers and palm along with some of the scars on his knuckles and the what not. 

“Looks like you were a farm hand before that.   Tell you what, I’ll let you stay tonight for free, since I really don’t have more than two or three customers and this place has at least twenty spare rooms right now.   In the morning, we’ll see how good you are at cleaning, after that I’ll make a decision to see if I’ll let you stay here for free for an extended period of time.”  As the old man said this, he started walking away, moving obviously a struggle for him.  Nathan looked back towards him with some slight pity before rubbing the back of his head slowly and noticed Ludma looking at him confused.

“Why did you make that deal?   It isn’t like we couldn’t have paid for the room or rooms.”  Nathan tilted his head back slowly, sighing as he did so. 

“Garrus can, I can’t.  I’m broke aside from maybe a thousand credits that I have to my name.   Garrus has all the money that we have to our name right now; most of which are stolen.    Sorry, I’m just a poor man trying to keep us all alive for right now.”  Saying this, he started to walk away from the inn, grabbing the key as he did so, pushing it down into his pocket while Ludma did the same.   As they wandered back through the various streets back towards the ship; both of them remained silent; Ludma had wrapped herself around his arm again, pretending to be in some sort of relationship with Nathan in order to avoid suspicion from police whom were now scouring the streets.   Nathan held his head lower and kept pressing forward, making his way to the docks in relative silence. 

Meanwhile

Garrus stood outside of a small coffee shop, seeing as it was the only thing that didn’t smell like the inside of a sewer on the other-side of the docks.  Having wrapped one hand about a cup of coffee and letting the steam rise up towards his face; he allowed it to warm his hand, not sipping as he was pretty sure it was going to taste horrible.   Tesla and Lily were standing nearby, the latter munching on a petite scone while Tesla stared off into the distance, looking at some construction work that was going on.   Garrus had pulled a hood up over his head, hiding his face as he had already see one of his former crewmates walking by; he wasn’t worried about Lily being identified, after all, none of them were after her.   At least, from what he could discern, Lily had been hiding in the cargo hold before they had even arrived; which meant that she had witnessed the death and fled as quickly as possible.  It was unlikely that the crew would automatically place her with him and Nathan, especially when the Thespian had multiple escape crafts and at least four were missing before they took the fifth.

Bringing the cup up to his lips, Garrus would tentatively taste the liquid and was surprised by the flavor.  It was the best cup of coffee that he had, had in quite a while.   As he began to sip it, he saw someone coming from the corner of his eye; the guy was relatively relaxed in his demeanor, yet what set him off was the fact that he couldn’t see his face.  It wasn’t shaded over or simply being hidden by a bad angle, no the guy was wearing a full helmet.   Blinking a few times, he realized something as the guy got closer, there were markings on his helmet, Yor’zvin markings.   From the twist of his neck, Garrus could tell that the guy was looking directly at Tesla, which told him one thing and that one thing was more than enough to terrify him.   Tesla’s people were hunting her down.

Garrus got a good look at the guy, he was at least six foot seven, well over a head taller than he was.  Looking him over, it was clear that he was very well built, almost impossibly so by human standards; it was abundantly clear that whoever it was, was a fighter and would likely tear through the pilot like he was toilet paper.  Moving closer, more of the intruder came into view, dressed in a pair of slate-grey pants, three black straps riding over the thighs were holding some sort of weapons; though all Garrus could see were the tips of some sort of black handles.   The straps rode upward, forming into a sort of chaps around the belt where another holster could be seen; that one was obviously holding a gun.   Granted, Garrus had no idea what type of gun. 

Lily had turned her head in boredom back towards Garrus, noticing that he wasn’t moving.   Turning her head further around, she had just enough time to the advancing person’s chest.   It was covered in grey fabric that had been tucked beneath the hem of his pants; showing off the contours of his build, before the being concealed by a by a chocolate brown jacket.   Whoever it was, they were dressed in urban camouflage, they blended in with the dirty bricks and concrete around them, making it awkward to suddenly see the person.   Lily got up and walked a few steps back as the Yor’zvin grabbed her chair nearly throwing it aside before twisting it around and sitting in it backwards.   Lily got a better look, the guys jacket was padded, clear signs of armor reinforcement; not sure what it was, but right now his chest was exposed; meaning that whoever it was confident enough to believe they wouldn’t be attacked, or could deal with whatever problem arose without being harmed or threatened. 

It was Tesla’s turn to see the person, her eyes turning to slits as fear and anger filled them; she slammed her fists down on the table.   Growling at the Yor’zvin across from her, the princess shook out her head as she stared directly into the helmeted stranger’s face.   Not that it could really be called a helmet, as from the back Garrus could see that it was more connected to the person’s face with a bit on the top protecting the temples from any major damage.  The back of the head exposed two rear facing horns, each of them growing from where the mask ended and jutting back about an inch from the cranium; from there tufts of black hair run across the line of the skull in a short manner.  Tesla on the other hand could only see the technologically advanced mask over the Yor’zvin’s face.   It appeared to be made of some sort of black glossy material, while red lines ran from the center of the construct and off to the sides, riding over where the eye sockets should be.  Each of these lines formed a tribal network half way down the face before ending.   “Zephyr, I didn’t call for you.  Why are you here and what do you want?” 

At the mention of the person’s name, Lily looked over at Tesla in slight shock.  “You know this person?”  The nurse quietly pulling back a little in shock when Zephyr’s large hand darted forward and wrapped around Tesla’s wrist; gulping she began to reach over to attempt to calm the visibly bigger one down. 

“Don’t touch him!”  Tesla immediately called out; however, it was a little late as Lily’s hand brushed against Zephyr’s own.   The now confirmed male Yor’zvin shot one of his hands up jabbing Lily directly into the solar plexus; the young woman collapsing onto the ground and beginning to cough profusely as she couldn’t believe how much the small motion had hurt her.  “ZEPHYR!  I COMMAND YOU TO STOP!”  Tesla shouted at him in response; only to find a rag pressed against her face, struggling for a moment, Tesla’s eyes would flutter, her head falling down and slamming against the table in a heap.  Garrus came charging up from behind Zephyr; his hand reaching into the coat he was wearing and yanking out the vibro-knife from earlier.   The buzzing roar of the knife making a rancor as Garrus found himself lunging towards Zephyr with all the force he could muster.  

Swaying backwards, Zephyr avoided the stab easily, carefully stepping aside as Garrus started to back-up.  As soon as Garrus noticed that Zephyr had dodged, the male quickly pushed the blade to his other hand holding it in a downward position; swallowing, he could tell that this situation was not going to be pleasant in the slightest.  Meanwhile, his opponent was busy kicking the chair out of the way in front of himself.   Pushing it aside, Zephyr began to walk forward, a pair of digitigrade feet pressing forward; a black pair of shoes that wrapped around the three-toes of each of his feet.   Dropping down low, the assailant charged towards Garrus, reaching down and drawing out what looked to be little more than a black stick.  

“Oh…shit.”  Garrus said aloud as he began to desperately back-peddle away from him.   Zephyr began to swing using the rod that he had drawn out like a club.  Every time he swung there was a crackle in the air before an immediate discharge of electricity followed; creating more and more every time he did so.   Garrus was already avoiding to the best of his ability; however, he knew that he was just delaying the inevitable at this point.  Gulping, he swayed beneath the stick as he was swung at; driving the knife blade forward in a stabbing motion at Zephyr’s chest.   As he moved in, he would see the Yor’zvin’s fist launching directly at his skull.  It collided, smashing directly into his nose before the male began to roll across the ground.  “Fuck…” 

As he laid there for a moment, he got up quickly and stood his ground.   Huffing slowly as Zephyr stared at him, the Yor’zvin starting to walk towards Garrus.   Zephyr suddenly darted forward, leaving Garrus to simply roll out of the way to avoid nearly getting his head torn off by the attack.   Standing back up, he could see that several civilians were fleeing and that the coffee soup was almost empty now.  It took only that moment of distraction for Garrus to feel himself being lifted up by Zephyr.   Stunned, he attempted to stab at the Yor’zvin; however, the sentiment was in vain as he was already airborne by the time he had swung.  Flailing in the air, Garrus smashed through the window of the shop; his ands being torn apart by flying shards of glass as the knife in his hand fell to the floor.   Both of his hands now covered in blood, Garrus coughed after the impact seeing that Zephyr was standing just outside of the window.   Putting away the rod, the attacker opened the door to the establishment rather than simply going through the window.   His feet smashing stray strands of glass as Garrus could see Lily coming over to support him; trying to shake his head now, pain laced up his back, paralyzing him as looked at her. 

“Don’t do it, don’t do it!”  He tried to scream again and again, only to fail as he gasped for breath; staring up at her, he tried to plea with his eyes before feeling the press of Zephyr’s foot against his throat.  Struggling against it, he coughed again and again, grasping at the heel and pushing up but getting nowhere; panic filling him as he could see the corners of his vision going black.  

Lily meanwhile snuck in as quietly as she could grabbing the knife that had fallen to the floor.   Watching Garrus about to be killed, she rushed forward and sunk the oscillating blade into Zephyr’s back; immediately, Garrus would feel the foot come off the back of his neck.  Pressing down into the glass around his skull, panting, he would look up and notice that Zephyr was reaching behind him.   Lily desperately trying to free the knife in order to stab again; however, the armor in his jacket was more than enough to stop it.  Irritated now, Zephyr turned, backhanding Lily as he did so and sending her backwards a few steps; the yor’zvin reached back now and withdrew the blade from his back, a small trickle of blood hitting the floor as the blade had managed to hit him just slightly.  

Garrus began to push himself up, everything moving in slow motion as he saw Zephyr moving toward Lily, the knife in hand.   The nurse still feeling the sting to her face as she started to pull up; her brief cry of pain turning into a horrified scream as Garrus started to rise up.   Time started to accelerate again, Zephyr’s hand pressing against Lily’s stomach as the blade of the knife disappeared into her.    The roar of the blade had stopped, either the battery ran out or Zephyr had disengaged it in some small token of mercy;  Lily’s eyes dilated down until there was next to nothing of her pupils visible.   Both of her hands clutching around the knife in her body; Zephyr released it, watching her crumple to the floor like a rag doll as she held onto the blade. 

“YOU FUCKING BASTARD!”  Garrus screamed as rage and adrenaline pumped through his body; running forward, he dropped low and tackled Zephyr.   The Yor’zvin making an audible grunt for the first time since he had been encountered; flopping down, Zephyr’s head slammed into the wall.   Where upon Garrus began to punch at the other man’s head.  “YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE, SHE WAS INNOCENT AND BEAUTIFUL.  SHE NEVER HURT ANYONE AND YOU FUCKING DID THAT TO HER!?”  Shouting in his fury, he swung again, finding Zephyr’s hand coming up and blocking the blow as he started to rise.  Both of their hands shaking in their power struggle as Zephyr suddenly tossed him to the side; letting him roll on the ground for the third time since they started fighting.  

Garrus stood up immediately, no longer exhausted as he looked over at the unconscious Tesla.  Zephyr was a behemoth compared to him, a monster of superior talent, strength and speed; however, he wasn’t thinking about that.  Garrus only thought about protecting his crew mates, keeping the dreams that he and they held alive; smirking as he ran his thumb under his nose and flipped the blood away from his nose; he would goad Zephyr on.  “Come and get me you rat-bastard.”  Zephyr would look at the pilot for a moment, rolling his shoulders as he began to crack his knuckles.  

He spoke, “If that’s what you want,”  it was cold and deep a gruff voice for a veteran warrior; someone who was at least in his thirties.   Garrus already knew the fight was hopeless; however, he was just buying time and that was what he was good at.   Zephyr and Garrus charged at each other, the pair meeting in the middle of the street where Garrus managed to swing first colliding with the side of Zephyr’s head before a counter-attack slammed into his liver.  Spittle flew from the pilot’s lips and throat as he felt himself being lifted; however, he planted his feet and threw his shoulder down.  Using the top of his head to slam against Zephyr’s chin,  Garrus could feel the yor’zvin cocking his head backwards from the blow. 

“Come on you, ugly bastard.  Give me all you got.”  Garrus taunted again, receiving a heavy chopping blow to the back of his head for his trouble; which made him stumble back.   Still, he stood his ground and kept on his feet; fire burning in his eyes as he gaze a predatory gaze to his opponent.   Half-unconscious, he stood his ground with his hands up near his face; all of the hate and power that he could muster.  Zephyr paused almost stunned by the gaze; he had seen it before and he knew for a fact what it was, it was the result of being backed up into a corner.   A cat with a mouse in its jaws, but that mouse was going to make him work for the meal.   It was everything he lived for.  

Zephyr ran forward again, beginning to throw a series of powerful blows towards Garrus, whom started moving his arms up and down blocking the strikes.  Each one rattling his bones, making them shake and quake from the strength and speed of his swings; yet, not a single groan of pain came from him.   Zephyr began to pull back for a larger swing; which was immediately responded to with Garrus forcing his way into the gap made by the man’s arms.   Swinging his body against his chest past the armor before rapidly laying into his stomach and liver, Garrus made sure that each blow counted, making his fists ring from the force of impact.  Both of his now damaged arms ached as he continued to swing, at least seven hits against his stomach and liver before Zephyr pushed his head back with one hand; however, it didn’t end there as the Yor’zvin followed up with a one handed smash against Garrus’s chin.

The pilot’s eyes lost light for a moment as he stumbled backwards, having been lifted into the air an inch or two.   His feet felt heavy beneath him, as he could feel his gums bleeding, blood filling his mouth which he spit out.   Both of his hands had turned red from where he had hit Zephyr; the hardened abdominals of the opponent tough to the point that it felt like he had been hitting a tire.  Garrus stood there on his shaky knees, his body growing weak beneath him,  “Dear God, what the hell is this guy,”  He thought to himself attempting to stand up right; however, one of his legs was starting to give way beneath him.   A sudden hard right against his temple from Zephyr sent Garrus sprawling across the ground;  groaning in pain, he began to push himself up.  His arms wavering as his legs felt like lead connected to him; getting up to his knees, he was sent back down when Zephyr kicked him directly in his chest.  

Collapsing back down, Garrus whimpered and cried in pain, crying in the knowledge of his failure.   Refusing to just give up, he began to push himself up again, when a sharp kick to his side sent him rolling over.   Barely able to move after the beating, he stared up at Zephyr watching the Yor’zvin lift him up by his collar.  Garrus’s arms hanging limply at his sides as he felt himself being carried; his eyes dilating as he suddenly found nothing under his feet.  Swinging them wildly; he could see beneath him, a variety of traffic flying down below, the fall no matter what happened was going to be at least fifty feet and was going to be a collision with hard steel or glass.   A new struggle emerged as Garrus flailed before Zephyr.  “No, stop…what are you doing!”  Garrus shouted at him, only to find the wind starting to rush around him as he began to fall; Zephyr had thrown him over the ledge of platform they were on.  

Garrus watched as the world sped by him; his body becoming a living rag doll before the sound of bending steel and crunching metal hit him.   Zephyr watched, looking at the man that had attempted to stop him fall; he watched him descend about fifty feet before slamming through the wind shield a moving airship; his body skewered by various pieces of glass and arms bending the metal of sides.   The driver of the vehicle perished upon impact as Garrus’s back slammed into his head as it passed through the glass.   As the sleek red vehicle registered that it had just been in an accident and that the driver was no longer in control, it went into auto-pilot; immediately pulling back and parking on the platform that Zephyr had thrown Garrus off of.   Zephyr by this point, had already walked away, Tesla in tow; leaving Lily laying on the floor of the restaurant and Garrus for dead in the vehicle.