Stuck in the Middle. (Ep. 2) "The Girl"
17 Sep 2021Isabella Levine
Previous Ep. 1
Isabella stood over the man's body that she just shot. Everything happened so fast but also so slow. She just...reacted to the threat in front of her. Like inner instincts took over and in a blink, the man was dead. She dropped the P-15 and tried not to think about it but she couldn't deny it anymore. The true reality of it faced her head-on. She was a cold killer. Simple. A very efficient killer. It was something she didn't want to admit.
Being on two feet rather than in a pilot's chair made her several times more deadly and that was just fact at this point. She could plan out how she wanted things to go but once the rounds start flying, everything becomes a blur. Muscle memory. Like playing piano or guitar but...more deadly. All of it hardwired into her mentally and physically from childhood. Isabella wondered for a moment if this might be a genetic trait hidden amongst many. Who knew? She could never really know now. Her father is gone and she doubted they kept any records on her birth.
But none of that really mattered at this point as she was back at 'Rens Manufacturing Complex' to dig deeper into what had happened here. The faction that owned this place was called 'Bureau of Styx'. A failing little faction under the Federation. The main controlling faction of the Styx system claims nearly every station and every ground settlement that there is. Isabella's first guess was a rival faction that wanted to crush upcoming or less prominent factions before they took off. That was what Isabella's original mission handler said and that's what made the most sense at first glance but she wanted to look more closely. Something didn't feel right.
So she jumped off the rooftop of the Industrial building using her pack thrusters to softly landed on the metal walkway. She made her way to the main entrance of the building and looked at the emergency door release that had been cut halfway through. She felt relieved knowing they hadn't gotten to this building yet so it would be just the way she last saw it.
Isabella used her Arc Cutter and finished the job revealing the energy transfer port. She changed her Arc Cutter for her Energy Link and overcharged the port to force the door open. Upon being successful, she brought her 'Executioner' Marksmen Rifle to bear and loaded a fresh cartridge into it before entering the pitch-black building turning on her light to illuminate what was the manufacturing plant. Large machinery she had no idea what they were used for or how they worked was in front of her. Rifle half raised and at the ready, she slowly moved down the middle. She cleared open space to her left and right as she made it to the far end. She could go left up the stairs and into the Administrators overwatch room or she could go right towards the storage room. Last time she didn't check it so she moved to her right pushing deeper inside. Nearly tripping over a dead worker, she came to the threshold entrance of the storage room. Inside were massive shelving units in rows with large metallic crates in some of them. In the dark, it was like a maze. Far too many angles to cover properly alone.
"Should've turned the power on."
She said to herself scanning high and low. There had to be something left behind. Something that could be traced, she thought. She came to another faced-down worker's body and pushed him over to check him. Nothing out of the ordinary besides being dead. She sighed and moved to a row of shelves that went across the closest wall to her.
"Something...anything."
She walked along looking. The feeling of doubt started to fill her mind. This began to feel like a wasted effort. It really was just some senseless massacre. Maybe it wasn't worth an investigation.
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After 15 minutes of looking she lost motivation to continue. There was a whole other storage room that was connected to this one. It'd take too long and she wasn't coming up with anything of value here. It was time to head back and forget about it. So she turned to head back to the exit but was startled by a sudden crash from behind her. She spun quickly and aimed her rifle at where the sound came from. The noise came from that storage room. Her heart began to race and her mind tried coming up with a million reasonable answers to why she heard something crash in a completely dead settlement. Was it a scavenger? No, half left and she finished off the others. They never touched here yet. Was it an animal? Not here. Impossible. A creature? That's silly. Ghosts? She forced herself to stop. It was getting ridiculous now. She took in a deep breath and hyper-focused as she crossed the threshold into the other room activating her shields as a precaution. Instinctively she wanted to call out but she refrained from doing so. Last thing she needed was to be on the receiving end of an ambush.
Isabella walked down a row and came to a cross-section that went four ways. She scanned her right, rifle, and light simultaneously moving, and saw nothing and then turned around to scan her left. That's when she saw a blur of movement bound into one of the large shelving sections behind a crate. Startled, Isabella fired her Marksmen Rifle sending a glowing purple plasma bolt down the pitch-black hallway.
"Shit!"
She said in a whispered voice. She didn't mean to shoot. What she saw looked like a person. Maybe a worker, she concluded.
"Hey. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to shoot at you. I know you're here so if you…"
She stopped halfway and shook her head at what she said. Sounded like a typical bad guy. Especially after she just shot at whoever was here.
"Look. I'm going to...I'm going to drop my weapon okay. I honestly just want to talk. I don't know what happened here and I need you to tell me."
Isabella took her rifle and leaned it on the nearest metallic crate to her. She unholstered her P-15 and placed it on top of the crate. She then slowly stepped forward with her hand half up to where she last saw what she hoped was a person.
"Okay. I'm disarmed. I come in peace, alright. I just hope you do too."
Isabella didn't hear anything for what felt like an eternity but was probably just 30 seconds. Doubt began to fill her mind. Did she see someone or is she hallucinating and now seeing things. She didn't know what was worse now. But her doubts were pushed aside when she noticed a head pop out from behind a crate to her left for a second. It startled her again but she could definitely tell it was a person. Female with blonde hair. Look a bit young too. Odd, she thought.
"Heeyy! It's alright. I saw you poke your head out. I swear I'm not armed. I can't hurt you."
There was nothing for a moment until once again a blonde-haired girl slowly stepped out. She was definitely young. Isabella was 26 and this...girl looked like she was 16 maybe? A teenager. She looked a bit rough as well with frizzled hair and a slightly dirty face. Her small pressure suit was battered as well. Scuff marks dotted mainly around her knees and arms. The girl squinted from the light so Isabella physically turned it slightly off of her. The girl approached cautiously.
"Hey. I don't know if you can see but I'm not armed like I said. I just want to know what happened to you and everyone here. I take it you're probably the only survivor?"
The teenage girl nodded then stopped not wanting to come any closer. Isabella frowned thinking on how long the poor girl was here for. She had to ask.
"Hey, how long have you been here for?"
The teen girl didn't utter a word but just shrugged both shoulders. Isabella sighed. Could've been hours to days maybe? How'd she survive here without food or water? Maybe there's food somewhere or maybe she's completely malnourished right now. It was hard to tell exactly but she looked receptive.
"Alright. Well, look. My name's Isabella and I'm going to help the best way I can. I have my ship here and inside is food and water that I can give you. Actually, I think I might have brought a nutrition bar with me. I usually keep a snack close by...you know. Here."
Isabella opened her left pouch and reached inside to pull out the Nutrition Bar she said she had on her.
"I won't lie to you, they're pretty damn dry but this one is the fruity kind. So much better than the super dry nutty crap. Trust me."
She managed to get a smile out of the girl that in turn made Isabella smile. She passed the bar to her and the girl took it, opening it quickly and taking a huge bite out of it.
"Okay. So I'm going to ask a few questions alright?"
The teenage girl nodded and so Isabella gave that sign as a go-ahead and began.
"Okay. First, what's your name? Like I said, I'm Isabella."
"Violetta but most people call me Violet."
"Okay, well I'm glad I found you, Violet. Can you tell me what happened? If you can. I've been hired to investigate what happened here and you're....I found you. Only you."
She tried to refrain from reminding her she was the only one here but it was useless in the end because Violet knew it and so did Isabella. The courtesy and sensitivity was thoughtful but Isabella really needed to give it to her straight and speed this up.
"I was here with my dad. He...he…"
Isabella's heart sank seeing the young girl's eyes fill with the realization that she just lost someone that meant a lot to her. It reminded her of the little boy back on Kepler Orbital but even worse it, reminded her of her own father. Violetta's eyes began to tear up and spill down the sides of her cheek. Seeing that almost made Isabella cry with her. She turned away for a second to catch a breath and focus herself again before she drowned in tears with her. She looked back at Violetta and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"I understand. Who were these people? Where they pirates? Did they have a certain uniform? Patches?"
She shook her head vehemently.
"No! Not pirates! They...they were from Styx Galactic Inc. The system faction that runs this system! They...the team leader. He gave the order to his military men. I don't know what we did to make them so angry? We never had a problem with them. Wh-...why? Why me? Why us?"
Violetta began to tear up again as Isabella tried her best to comfort her. The young teen then grabbed Isabella and hugged her, small arms wrapped around her waist and head sunk into her suited chest. Isabella patted her on the back and thought to herself. Was something going on between the two factions here? Who the hell sends a military team to massacre a place full of civilians. You can't hid something like that, can you? How do the people of Styx Galactic Incorporation not know what happened here? Unless….
Her thoughts were torn from when the metal shelves and building began to vibrate. A low rumble. Violetta noticed it too and she was the first to react pulling on Isabella's arm.
"We have to go! It's them! Please! We can't stay here! I know it's them!"
"Okay, okay just let me get my-"
She pulled harder on Isabella's arms. Strong girl she was, she noted. Almost pulled her over.
"Alright! Alright. I called my ship in. It'll land and we'll run for it. Are these guys the same-"
"YES! They said they wanted to use this as an Op center or something. To stage things here and fall back if stuff goes bad or something."
The two ran to the opposite side of the Industrial building coming up to a closed set of pressure doors. Isabella stopped before crossing the energy barrier.
"Violet! Stop. You have a helmet?"
She pointed at her head as it materialized over herself. Isabella nodded with relief.
"We need to talk more about what the hell's going on here, okay."
"Yes! I know! Please they're going to notice your ship landing. Open the door!"
Isabella's helmet snapped over her head as she brought out her Energy Link. She shocked the energy transfer port and opened the doors. Violetta was the first to bolt out the door and so Isabella followed.
The Roof Top Shooter - Isabella
Next Ep. 3