Stuck in The Middle (Ep. 12) "Stuck in The Middle - ."
11 Oct 2021Isabella Levine
Hello everyone!Fair warning, this ones long so I divided it into 3 parts to try and make it easier. Part one is from another perspective and 2-3 are back to the main character; Isabella
. Enjoy and thanks. Continued from previous Ep: Ep. 11 "99 Problems"
[PART 1/3]
An arm crossing his chest and the other near his face with a freshly slashed wound, Tyrese Waters stood in the settlement's Industrial admin room looking out the window at the setting sun of Styx 3. It was so much like a sunset on an Earth-Like-World but this one was much more mean-looking. Much more red. As if the sky had been cut and started to bleed. Was it a foreshadow for things to come? Only time could tell.
For some reason, Jayden had thought there was a chance for negotiations but Tyrese knew there couldn't be. Not with the Federation and with what happened getting out. Coming here was a fatal mistake. He felt like a rat stuck in a box with the walls closing in and he was here because of her. He should've just left when he had the chance.
"I can't believe this, shit. This is your god damn fault you know that? Hey! Thick skull! I'm talking to you!"
He balled his fists and felt his face become warmer but took in a deep breath and cooled his nerves. She'd been nagging at him consistently for hours and he was near his breaking point.
"I'm aware...ma'am. I still think we should take the ship out there and flee the system. Lay low and recalculate."
She came around his right side and stood in front of him blocking the sunset he was watching. She jabbed a finger in his face.
"Do you not listen? That brain of yours been banged around too much? The Federal Intelligence Agency is on us now! I just got word not that long ago! You know what that means, Mr. Waters? That means we have a tail on our ass for the rest of our lives because you shot up a whole goddamn settlement and then proceeded to fail at properly wiping the evidence of any of this happening! Now it's out there and half the system wants me AND you dead! Goddammit that red-haired bitch. She somehow got recordings and names and exposed us. God ******* dammit! We could've been kings, Waters. Could've been on top but you screwed us."
He placed a hand on the hilt of his 6 inch combat knife as she walked away, pacing back and forth behind him like an impatient sucky child. The thought filled his mind but he didn't act. She continued.
"We'll...we'll work something out. Maybe I can make a deal now that we have that girl or something. We can do a trade. You need to take her out of that container and make sure she's alive. Check up on her, you hit her really hard."
"No. She tried to stab me and almost took my eye. That little blonde-haired rat is mine and I'm not losing that leverage when we can run and use her as a shield. She has enough oxygen for a while too, she's good. You, on the other hand, have nothing. Unless you have something else you can pull out your ass. Do you?"
She stopped and he heard her sigh heavily. She was desperate and he knew she didn't have a contingency plan.
"I...I don't know. I think we just use the girl. Bargain for my freedom?"
Tyrese laughed, shaking his head to her naivety. She still thinks the Federation won't arrest her or simply just shoot her because she's making a bargain. They trapped themselves. No, no, she trapped herself with him and his men to follow her downfall.
"Oh for fu-....they won't do negotiations. They're here for you and you had a chance to maybe get away but here we are. Still stuck on this cold, dry shitty world in this shittier system and it's washed up paranoid people."
He heard her grunt and kick something that slid across the smooth metal floor and crash into the far end wall. Here it came for the millionth time. Another outburst.
"You asshole! I'll get out of this! I have connections to lawyers and powerful people who can work something out. You can stay hopeless and die fighting for all I care. I'm getting out of this by using that girl! So screw you, motherfu-"
He had enough. Tyrese turned and drove his blade directly into her abdomen. Her hands grabbed his as her panicked eyes looked up into dark cold ones. A true cold killer. The knife went deeper inside as she gasped, desperately trying to grab at him but to no avail. He felt her grasp become weaker and weaker until her legs gave in following the rest of her body. He watched as her eyes became lifeless and cold before gently placing her on the ground.
"You bureaucratic types never know when to shut your mouths. I'll run the show now."
He wiped the blade clean of blood before returning it to its sheath. He turned to look back outside and saw the sun was no longer hanging on the horizon. It was only a red sky being chased by the blackness to come.
"Sergeant, this is team leader three. We've just come across an abandoned SRV that's just sitting here. Wasn't here before."
His earpiece chirped as he lifted up his left arm and brought up his RIComs device attached to his wrist. Great, this wasn't the time for more issues. He needed to pack his gear, torch what he could, and load up his men. He sighed, activating his comms.
"Give me a video feed. I want to see this."
He said over the comms. It took a moment but a hologram appeared over his wrist-mounted device showing a shotty image of a helmet camera. In front of him was, as his trusted team leader said, an SRV with no occupants and fully functional.
"Huh. Search the perimeter for any-"
There was a flash of light and the feed died on his RICom device.
"What the fu-"
The settlement shook slightly from what was no other than an explosion. Its pressure wave now hitting the settlement.
"Team three, come in."
There was nothing but static. He knew they were gone but he tried again.
"Team three, do you copy?"
Still nothing. A whole team wiped out by some sort of IED 'car' bomb? His frustration reached maximum as he shouted and punched the glass window looking in towards the Industrial plant, cracking it. A young brown-haired kid that he didn't remember seeing before, looked up at him with concerned eyes. Tyrese glared at him and the kid sheepishly looked away and to the ground, walking away.
"Team two, do you copy?"
"We're here."
"I'm sending Huginn and Muninn to you now. As you know, one's armed, the others recon. We just lost contact with team three to your east. 'Bout two hundred meters from your pos. Someone's here and trying to pick us off. Use the Skimmers to track whoever this is and kill them. Understood?"
"Affirm. Search and destroy. Hoo-ah."
"Easy hunting, boys. Sergeant Waters, out."
[PART 2/3]
Isabella sat relaxed with her new Executioner Marksmen Rifle nestled in between two rocks watching 3 bouncing lights approach closer and closer. The red glow from the burning SRV slightly illuminated her helmeted face as she steadily lined up a shot.
"Three of you? Heh, easy."
She said quietly to herself with bravado. She pressed her finger gently against the trigger and focused in on one of the three lights as it came within range. 3...2...1…just as she was about to pull the trigger, an S4 Sentry Skimmer shot up to her location with incredible speed and precision. In seconds, green lasers painted her face and what followed was hot lead that careened into the rock in front of her. She cursed and sunk deeper behind the rock as it slowly crumbled away from the relentless assault from the sentry skimmer. She tucked her rifle close to her chest and reached for her side belt grabbing an EMP Shield Disruptor Grenade. She activated the device and it illuminated a brilliant blue in her hands before she tossed it over her shoulder hoping for some sort of luck. She knew if she moved now her shields wouldn't last very long with relentless rounds landing on her from the Sentry Skimmer. The only way to confuse the targeting system was to move erratically and she certainly didn't have that opportunity with armed men on her heels that would simply shoot her.
She counted three seconds before a wave of blue energy erupted from the grenade and washed over the Sentry Skimmer that was too close to it. The autonomous drone erratically launched itself upwards, left, down, then finally right, slamming straight into one of the unfortunate members of Viper Squad. Her luck was phenomenal, she remarked to herself. The soldier wasn't dead but it gave her the opportunity to shoot him while his shields were overloaded. One plasma round delivered to his face and that was it. He never got back up.
"No! Clay! God damn you!"
A wave of kinetic and laser projectiles came soaring her way but out of rage rather than precision and focus. Telling, she qued the right moment for her time to bolt from her rocky cover and run towards the illuminated settlement grounds while under fire. As soon as one of them stopped firing to reload, she launched herself and let her legs push off the hard rocky surface as indirect fire whizzed by her.
To her 12 o'clock was the outdoor storage area where there was a small maze of large shipping containers scattered about. On normal occasions, it probably was a place for overflow supplies. Right now? It was an environmental strategy to lose her pursuers looking for blood. They'd most likely follow her in and of course, that's exactly what they did.
Isabella squeezed herself in between two solid metal containers after bounding into the maze of them and waited silently to ambush her prey that now finally approached. The two last members of this team must have split up because only one flashlight illuminated the adjacent container to her left. Whoever the poor soul was, was about to have a very bad day once he crossed her.
She counted steps until the muzzle of a rifle crossed her threshold and she lunged out like a snake ambushing its helpless prey. Her kick came forward hard and fast that struck the perplexed soldier's forearms causing him to lose proper handling of his weapon as it crashed against the opposite container in front of her. He shouted out an obscene insult as he desperately tried to grab his rifle but she simply leveled hers and fired a burning hot plasma charge directly into the chest of her helpless prey. His shields overloaded and the kinetic force sent him back against the crate as she stood over him and raised her Marksmen Rifle ready to give the finishing blow.
"Do it! Kill me you cu-"
There was a sudden fwoosh to her 6 o'clock as an angry rocketed warhead came screaming at her. In a start, she keeled back and was fortunate enough to have the rocketed propelled explosive pass inches from her body but unfortunate enough to still be in the tight blast radius when the rocket found its way into the container wall in front of her. The pressure wave sent her careening backward and onto the hard rocky surface with a thud as a disembodied voice told her that her shields were offline. Shook, she sat up slightly dazed and noticed that the poor bastard that asked to die got his wish as his visor and half his helmet were completely shredded away. A quick but gruesome death.
Isabella failed to get to her feet in time as the rocket launcher-wielding soldier rounded the corner. Rage written on his face, he raised the launcher just as Isabella pulled a Shield Projector from her belt and slammed it into the ground between her legs. Instantly a bubble of blue energy formed around her as the man regrettably fired his rocket too soon and struck the barrier sending an explosive shock wave back into his face. He stumbled backward with his shields popped so Isabella took the moment to quickly draw her P-15 pistol from her mag-mounted holster and fired one clean shot into the man's visor as he fell back the rest of the way with an audible thud. Heart pounding in her chest, Isabella let out a heavy breath she'd been holding and fell on her backside, taking a moment at how damn close she came to eating a rocket. She gazed upwards until the Shield Projector collapsed and all she saw were stars in the black sky. It was a beautiful sight, looking at the salted sky, but a voice in the back of her head told her to Get Up and Move. So she did.
[PART 3/3]
Here it was in all its featureless glory. The main Industrial building. A once functioning manufacturing plant with workers to a mass graveyard of murdered civilians and dead soldiers. The place looked like nothing, a small blip in the greater expansive galaxy. But her experiences here, the stories of this place and what happened, will live on amongst her. This was where all this mess started and now it was where it was finally going to end. All of this fighting and violence she found herself in by taking a simple job. It ended now. It ended here.
Isabella approached apprehensively, Marksmen Rifle at the ready. The front entrance was still open from before but inside the lights were on illuminating the entire factory floor. She passed the energy barriers threshold and her suit now pressurized with the climate inside. She'd allow her helmet to come off but she kept it on knowing there had to be enemies close by. Plus, it left her at a disadvantage if she got hit in the head, so she pushed in further checking upper catwalks and eyeing her sensors for any blips that popped up. But nothing showed and it was far too quiet. It was as dead as it was before. The only difference was the bodies were gone. She couldn't decide if that was less creepy or more creepy.
She continued walking steadily, passing large machinery and storage lockers before a sudden loud voice spoke to her from all directions. She swung her weapon around trying to find the source but quickly realized it was the PA system. It was him. His deep calm voice began:
"Ahhh, would you look at that. An Imp girl walks into my building after killing three-quarters of my men. Good men too. God damn. Guess you're here looking for that little brat no doubt. A very distraught and angry little girl. Apparently, I killed her daddy. Wasn't meant to be personal."
Isabella tightened her grip on her rifle and pressed forward checking corners and small alcoves for potential ambushes. Still no threat.
"Going to stay quiet, huh? You don't want to know where your friend is? If she's still alive?"
"If you did anything to her I'm going to kill you! You'll die here before the Feds show up to take you in!"
She yelled out, reaching the last large machine in the room. Once she got to the end, a set of staircases laid before her that led up to the admin overseer room. She angled her rifle up at the now newly cracked observation window and found no movement so she moved up the staircase and quickly entered the room; weapon raised, expecting contact but instead, she found a body laying on the ground in a puddle of blood. Jayden Sterling, she confirmed by studying her visage. She was dead and her face was in a prominent look of shock. It was a bit disturbing and Isabella felt a moment of...sadness oddly. But she pushed that feeling aside and remembered what she was like and thought that if it wasn't Tyrese then It'd probably be done by herself if given the opportunity.
"We all die, Ms. Levine. Question is how soon and if anyone will remember you. Will you be remembered?"
Noticing a blur of movement outside the cracked window, Isabella quickly moved back to the set of stairs but met a volley of purple plasma that forced her to retreat back behind the corner of the metal wall. She cursed as the metallic corner she braced against began to glow an amber orange and slowly to a lava yellow as burning plasma continued to rain down on her. The shooting eventually stopped just as her shields collapsed and the voice in her helmet announced her suit power loss. Her luck finally ran out and she cursed silently as the man on the staircase laughed, loading a new plasma cartridge into his assault rifle.
"That doesn't sound good. You out of power sweetheart?"
He taunted her. There was no doubt that he heard her shield's collapse. He knew he had an advantage now.
"Eh. No...not really."
She replied, reaching for her belt and grabbing the last towable device she had. The Fragmentation Grenade. She gripped it tight and pulled the safety pin from its position releasing the lever; activating the grenade. She then gently dropped the spherical device down the staircase letting it clatter down the few steps before detonating mid-way sending a concussive blast over Isabella and certainly over the soldier.
The poor bastard never got a chance to scream before he was thrown onto his back at the base of the stairs. She heard the pained groans knowing the grenade did its job and stepped back out, rifle raised, firing 3 consecutive balls of purple plasma into the writhing man until he moved no more. Her weapon hissed and ejected the last used cartridge so she swapped for her P-15 Pistol as her primary.
"God damn, Ms. Levine, I just watched you brutally kill another one of my men over the CCTV cam. I'm a little bit offended but you have impeccable skills and I find that pretty goddamn impressive if I'm being honest. You're a cold focused killer just like me. You and I? We're just opposite sides of the same coin."
His deep laugh echoed throughout the Industrial main floor as she crossed it to head towards the storage rooms. He had to be in there or in the connecting storage room. He was running out of places to lurk and chat over the PA system. Plus, it was starting to get annoying.
"Where is she, asshole! What did you do with her!"
She slowly entered the main storage room walking down the same rows of shelves and crates as she did nearly two days ago. Everything really felt like it was coming full circle again. Here she was looking for the blonde-haired girl somewhere in this warehouse storage room. The only difference was an asshole talking over the PA system taunting her.
"To be honest, I'm a little disappointed in you, Levine. Why focus on this little teenage girl when you and I can team up and take on anything. We could fight the Federation and their corruption together. Brick by brick, body by body. True freedom fighters against tyranny. I wanted that with Sterling but I made a tactical miss judgment with her. She's just another loud mouth bureaucrat that speaks only words and seeks only power. You? You've shown me actionand I love that! I do like you, Ms. Levine. I really do but unfortunately, this little rugrat got you all tangled up in this mess between being on the right side or...being on the wrong side with a corrupt superpower that oppresses its people. You're truly stuck in the middle, Isabella. Stuck in the center of a big mess where you can simply decide one of two things. Fight with me against tyranny...or die here trying to do the Federation's work. Your choice."
Isabella scanned the rows of shelving units that rose nearly 12 or more feet up. She remembered in the dark it was bad but even now with the power on it was still a maze. Her heart skipped a beat at the student dash of a dark blur that moved on her left flank two rows down from where she was. She snapped her pistol in that direction and waited for another sign of movement but nothing showed. Didn't matter though. She knew what she saw. He was in here with her or at least someone was.
"You're right. I am tangled in this mess. But I certainly didn't do it on behalf of the Federation. You think I care if you and Sterling seceding from them or whatever your end game was? I could care less about your political matters. I'm a Freelancer, I simply follow where the money's good when doing jobs. Independent. The only difference between you and me is that I have a conscience. When I found out you killed all those innocent people including Violet's father, Emmet Watkins, I had to step up and do something about it. I did what's right and exposed the truth of what happened here. You and Sterling killed innocent lives. Only one of you pulled the trigger."
She saw movement to her 3 o'clock flank this time and snapped in that direction, discharging a round that only struck the metal leg of a shelving unit sending a flash of sparks. She cursed quietly to herself, lowering her pistol. She was too on edge and needed to focus. He was getting in her head.
"Please! You need to understand something about this big, big galaxy, Ms. Levine. No ones innocent. I shouldn't have killed those people but I can't change the past nor will I forgive it. What happened, happened and if anything; they certainly had it coming for what they've done in the past. But it's truly too bad about you. Why you care so much about some teen girl is beyond my understanding nor do I give enough of a shit to figure it out. You could've been so much more…"
Slightly confused, she heard fast approaching footsteps from behind her and turned, seeing a six-foot-tall black figure manifest from the large shelving units as if it were a dark spirit from hell. It was him. Tyrese Waters, clad in much heavier armor this time around with a sinister fully masked raider-like helmet that was covered in white stripped war paint.
A bladed hand swung high but missed as she ducked low letting it pass over her by mere inches. She raised her pistol and fired once into his helmet forcing his head back but an armored hand grabbed her gun with a vice-like grip and forced it to one side as his other came barreling down into her helmet with enough force to crack her visor. She keeled back in shock and quickly removed the helmet to properly see but in seconds he was on her and that blade came towards her left side.
With a step forward, she was inside his space and the blade simply passed her as she twisted her body around and tried to force it out of his armored glove. This attempt failed as the knife came back towards her and she had no other options but to duck and bail by pushing off him to break away. The tip of the blade slashed her right cheek but that beat having it impaled into her throat.
"Hahaha, you're a slippery one, aren't ya!"
Her face stung as she wiped away the blood that ran down her cheek. Tyrese calmly stood where he was and flipped his knife in his hands. It was now a duel.
"Okay. Fine."
Isabella said, pulling out her own blade. A simple cutting tool she took from a Remlok toolbox kit before arriving here. A preposterous weapon in a fight like this but one she only had. She raised it and prepared as he charged forward like a raging bull at full sprint.
Like before, she ducked low and made herself small letting him miss and sore over her grabbing nothing but air. She turned quickly and activated her pack thrusters, sending her up and letting gravity bring her back down where she clung onto his back. He shook and twisted but failed to throw her off as she brought the cutting tool up and jammed it into his clavicle tearing through suit and hitting bone as it stopped halfway. He shouted in pain and successfully grabbed her, throwing her over himself and onto the ground like a ragdoll. She slammed hard on her back as her old wound screamed at her shooting pain up her side as a reminder that it was still there. Isabella took note of how strong Tyrese was and figured she needed to keep away from his reach somehow in this fight.
"You little bitch!"
He was upside down to her but the blade was all the same as it came soaring down towards her face. She quickly rolled and it only hit the floor but with enough force to jam it there for a second. With a perfect opportunity presenting itself, she took advantage of this and brought the cutting tool up towards his neck but fortunately for him, he was quick and brought a gloved hand up to stop it. The cutting tool's blade sank deep into the bottom unarmored part of his hand and he growled again in pain.
"Guaahh! You're fast but predictable!"
With his other arm, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her in, twisting her around and again throwing her onto her back. Before she could squirm her way out, he pinned her by the neck with both hands and began to squeeze with everything he had. She could feel her throat close as air couldn't come in or out anymore. A terrifying experience.
Desperate, she brought her cutting tool up and repeatedly stabbed him in his arm trying to force him to let go but he didn't. His grip only got tighter making it worse as darkness began to surround her outer vision. Releasing one hand quickly, he ripped his raider-like helmet off to reveal his heavy-set face, short receding hair, and dark cold eyes. A deep fresh gash ran across his lower chin still looking sore on his dark skin. That wasn't her.
"My face will be the last thing you see. It's sad because we really could've been something amazing if you sided with me. What a goddamn waste."
As the darkness surrounded her, the last thing she felt was the warm trickle of blood hit her face as blood rolled off his shoulder from where she stabbed him. She couldn't do anything now as she exhausted all her options. Her body felt numb and things became unfocused. This was it. She'd die here.
