VENDETTA - Chapter 1: Breakout
25 Nov 2024Aurora Adair-Levine
NOTE: This story contains mature themes.The Story
This story is a collaboration between Radium (Aurora) and Maple (Isabella). Vendetta focuses on a section of story from Isabella's past, while exploring the personal relationship of Aurora and Isabella in the present day. Hunted down by a mercenary that had been crossed by Isabella in the past, the duo must make the most of their skills to survive and protect what they hold dear. Unlike the MARS story which explored a broader impact on the squadron, we wanted to focus more on characters and a smaller story in Vendetta while revisiting the 'Stuck In the Middle' story written by Maple three years ago.
We hope you'll enjoy reading this one!
- Radium & Maple
We hope you'll enjoy reading this one!
- Radium & Maple
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DATE: 12th of August, 3310 [13:21 UGT]
LOCATION: Hydrus Supermax, Tutumu 5Tyrese Waters
"Tyrese!"
The incessant tapping on the metal strut of the prison door jerked Tyrese awake, prompting a groan as he slowly rose into a sitting position. Rubbing his eyes as he sighed and shifted to the edge of the bed, he looked up at the door. Armored guards could be seen just through the reinforced glass of the door, before the prison door itself abruptly parted. An officer in bulky, blue and white armor stood there, his hand resting on the grip of his sidearm as he gestured to the prisoner.
"Mornin', sunshine. Come on, you know the drill, buddy. Hands against the wall."
Tyrese didn't say a word as he slowly hopped off the bed and got to his feet, sluggishly moving over to the plain metal wall. He placed his hands against it, glancing back to look at the guards before he was shouted at.
"Eyes forward!"
"You boys are early today."
"What can I say? We like keeping you roaches on edge."
It'd been the same story for years. Daily shakedowns, sometimes even twice a day, for three years straight - the monotony only broken up by the occasional prison break attempt. That only made the prison authority come down on them harder, though. Tyrese knew better... to plan quietly and to bide his time. There were always gaps, always a way. All it took was time... and he did have plenty of that.
Tyrese could hear the guard scouring the room behind him - not that there was much to search. There were no compartments, no little doors, not even any screens in the room. The bed was one solid piece of synthetic rubber and metal built into an indent in the wall. Of course, the guards knew that. They got an odd kick out of disturbing prisoners and creating trouble, just to have an excuse to use those batons of theirs.
A minute of silence passed before he heard a tray clatter against the floor, the guard exiting the room as he shut the door.
"Enjoy the lunch, sweetheart!"
The guards cackled to themselves as Tyrese scowled, turning around to see a food tray laying on the floor inside his cell, half of its contents having spilled out already. Crouching down, he went to pick up the tray, lifting it before he paused. There was a note beneath...
Placing the tray aside as he grabbed the note, he read what short words he could make out. Whoever wrote this had awful handwriting... but the message was clear. And he had an idea or two as to who's handwriting this was.
"Ah... Gage, you bastard. Only took you three years."
Letting the note float to the floor as he ignored the food tray, Tyrese walked over to the bed and sat down onto the edge heavily. Five minutes... he could wait five minutes. It was quiet, save for the occasional creaking of the subsurface facility, and the hiss of the ventilation. He wondered what the plan was. Breaking into an underground supermax prison was no simple feat, and getting back out... well, that was a whole other problem. It wouldn't help if Gage and his band of dumb misfits got themselves stuck in this prison too.
Tyrese lifted his head as he caught the hint of a strange sound... one he hadn't quite heard before, but too faint to make out. Not that it needed to get his attention, as the cell suddenly plunged into darkness, the lights dying with an unceremonious whine. The silence was piercing, until he heard the deep bowels of the facility churning as everything began to kick back alive. Red emergency lights flooded through the glass gaps in the cell door, distant voices and footsteps rushing. Whatever had happened, it sure got the attention of the guards.
He got to his feet and approached the door cautiously, trying to see if he could make out anything. But with the red light washing everything in the same harsh color, and the restricted view he had, there seemed to be nothing. He expected something a bit more covert... not bringing down an entire supermax prison.
Hearing approaching voices and footsteps, Tyrese quietly crouched down and picked up his food tray, pouring out the prison slop and stepping to the side of the door as he gripped this new makeshift weapon tightly. The sound of multiple heavy boots grew closer, seemingly slowing before resuming again. Going up against several guards with a food tray was ludicrous, but what choice did he have? It beat fists at least. The footsteps continued to near, Tyrese bringing the tray closer and ready to strike as he heard an individual stop outside of his cell.
It took a moment... but he heard the console of the door beep on the other side, the door suddenly parting. He sprung into action, stepping past the frame of the door as he swung the tray. It was the first thing to exit the cell as the tray connected with the side of a blue, armored helmet, the suited figure exclaiming as they recoiled. He flowed through the threshold into the red-lit hallway, following up with a second strike as the guard stumbled back. Just before the tray connected once more, the figure yelled out.
"Jesus, Tyrese! Relax!"
He paused, frowning as he withdrew the tray, lowering it slowly. The 'guard' he attacked only held a tablet in their hand, their sidearm still comfortably resting on its magnetic holster. That wasn't protocol for the guards here. Not to mention the other armed figures standing further to his left, each watching this sight in amusement. It seemed like there was no need for some badass tray beat-down scene that'd end up with him getting shot, realistically.
With a sigh, he threw the tray aside and glared at the figure unfortunate enough to receive the first hit. Despite no visual damage, the figure rubbed their head where the tray connected, before they unlocked their helmet with a twist, pulling it off over their head. A man with long, tied back hair looked up at Tyrese, a nasty scar across the right side of his face. After all these years... Gage Pacheco, a criminal low-life, and ironically one of his closest friends, was breaking Tyrese out.
"You need to work on your entrances. What the fuck took you so long?! Three-..."
"...-three years, I know, I know. How about we focus on getting you out of here, before you get the scoop, huh?"
"Fine. Give me a gun."
The figure promptly drew the sidearm from their holster, flipping it around before handing it to Tyrese. A Manticore Tormentor... not a bad choice. He took it by the grip, feeling the weight balance in his hands before he lowered it by his side. Gage began to walk off towards the others, tapping at his tablet to bring up what looked like a marked diagram of the facility.
"I need something better than this goddamn prison suit."
"Right... but unfortunately, there's no time to play dress-up. We have five minutes before Federal marines storm this place. You've been here long enough to figure out the protocols, right?"
Tyrese sighed. Gage was right... in the event of a facility lockdown, an entire marine element would be down here to secure this prison - probably with lethal force. They might even be here quicker... it depended on a couple different factors, none that they had time to think about right now. Either way, if they weren't near an escape route, the arrival of the marines would be bad news.
"I dunno about you, but I don't feel like hanging around and picking a bone with Federal-fucking-marines, so let's go. We have a whole route with contingencies planned to get you out of here... I hope you can stomach the cold."
"Just get me the fuck out of this prison. Who are the others?"
"Introductions later, extraction now. Alright people, let's move!"
Raising his helmet, Gage slid it on and quickly secured it. With Tyrese between them, the element began to move down the hallway, passing several other cells - some with prisoners, some without. He didn't know any of them, since the guards barely let the prisoners interact with each other. But... part of him did feel a bit of pity that they weren't the ones leaving this place today. Leaving the cell block behind, they advanced into a security junction which was already open, allowing them through into the hallway of the facility. There were none of the usual guards... Tyrese was surprised. Gage's plan might actually work.
"We're going to head deeper into the facility, to the life support section. There's a ventilation exhaust that we believe we can use to exit the facility, the extraction team should've already removed the exterior cover. But..."
"But... what?"
Gage looked back at Tyrese as they paused walking, looking him up and down as he tapped idly on the side of his tablet.
"Well... I hope you can handle below freezing temperatures in that suit. The exhaust is completely exposed to the outer atmosphere, and without the facility's main generators powering the heating systems, that's probably going to be one of the first things to start freezing over. We'll just have to move quickly."
"That's an awful lot of 'belief' and 'hope'. I swear..."
"Relax. It'll work. Just grit your teeth, princess. Okay, through here."
Advancing down the hallway, Tyrese glanced over at the window lining the right side of the hallway. Reinforced viewports overlooked the pressurized mine where the prisoners were put to work... not that it was possible to see much now. Save for the scattered emergency lights, the mine was deep in darkness, though sweeping lights could be seen through the windows on the other side level with them...
"This place is going to become a tomb."
"No, it'll get pretty cold, but we're not gonna kill anyone ideally. That'd make matters a lot worse. They'll get the main generators back up by the time we're gone."
"How far is the ventilation system?"
"Few more corridors to go. Turn here."
Turning the corner of a junction, the group continued to advance down winding corridors. The cold was starting to nip at his face - thankfully the suit keeping the rest of his body warm for the time being. He hadn't been this deep into the prison before... the cell was all he knew. The scale became a lot more apparent now as they passed rooms, the signs of which were just as dead as the power system. Wherever they were going... he just hoped this was a tangible escape route. He wanted to get out, not head deeper in.
Checking behind them for a moment, they continued forward, turning into yet another junction which prompted a sigh from Tyrese.
"Do you know where you're going? This place is a fucking maze..."
"Damn, you'd think you'd have some patience after three years!"
"Maybe I'll fucking put you back in one of the cells and come fetch you after three fucking years."
"Jeeesus, relax, man. We're on the right track. Ventilation is only a stone's kick away."
Tyrese only grunted in response, passing stray crates scattered in the corridors. This was taking too long... time was not on their side here. How this nitwit was able to even pull the start of this plan off was beyond him.
"Here. Home stretc-..."
His sentence was cut off by the crackle of the facility-wide intercom - even if they weren't near the source, the stern voice carried through the corridors.
"Attention all prisoners. This facility is now being secured by the Federal Marines. Under Federal law, you are ordered to surrender immediately or face lethal force. I repeat-..."
Well, that confirmed that suspicion. Typical Feds. The intercom faded into irrelevance as Tyrese's focus returned to his escape.
"That sounds like 'double-time' to me."
"Yeah, yeah. Calm down. Ah... shiiit..."
Gage and the team paused as flashlights cut through the red lighting of the hallway ahead. Thankfully, they were fairly obscured in shadow with their own lights off, but that wouldn't be true for long as the lights drew closer. Quickly turning around, Gage gestured them along as they quickly began to backtrack. Slinking away into the dark hallways, Tyrese followed as best as he possibly could... considering he couldn't see shit.
"Where the fuck are we going now, smartass?"
"Give me a second. We thought the Marines would take longer, but there's an alternate way to the life support system."
"If you don't hurry up, that squad is going to be on our ass."
"Here! Maintenance tunnel."
Stopping at a striped maintenance door, Gage quickly strung a connection cable from his tablet to the console, plugging it in. With a quick few taps, he overrode the lockdown and opened the door, revealing a ladder that went down.
"Right, you first. Start climbing."
"Great..."
Stepping forward as he grabbed onto the ladder, Tyrese began to descend downwards into the dark tunnel. The cold was far worse here, making him shudder even though only his face was exposed. It felt like the frost was biting through his suit now... which could be possible. Without heating, this facility would drop to sub-zero temperatures in no time at all.
Reaching the bottom of the ladder, he hopped down onto the metal grate and looked around. If it wasn't for a few lights lining the floor of the tunnel, he'd be completely blind... but thankfully Gage followed down the ladder shortly after, activating the flashlight mounted to his suit pack. The light pierced the darkness as it swept cold, curved walls, before focusing inwards as Gage gestured on.
"It won't take long for them to start sweeping the tunnels now, but it should be a straight shot to life support."
"Why didn't we go this way in the first place if it'd let us avoid all the patrols?"
"I dunno... I figured you wanted the easy way out, or that you'd bitch about the cold all the time."
"Idiot. Let me see the map."
"Just go straight, it's not that hard."
Tyrese scowled, shaking his head as he began to quickly make his way down the tunnel, with Gage in tow as his flashlight led the way. He wasn't sure how much of a better idea this tunnel was, considering a straight shot to life support also made them sitting ducks with no other way to run if the Marines got down here.
"Okay... should be a ladder up ahead, leads into a maintenance duct that connects to life support. There it is."
While the tunnel continued straight on, a ladder to the side of the tunnel led up to a floor above. This seemed to be the right spot, considering the
TO LIFE SUPPORT sign on the wall just next to the ladder.Glancing at Gage, Tyrese got the prompt to go first as he sighed, shaking his head and beginning to climb again. He ascended the ladder with the others in tow, before climbing into a much smaller corridor. Going to stand up, he hit his head on the low ceiling, prompting a groan as he crawled on hands and knees. This wasn't much of a walkable corridor.
"Fuck, what is this? Fucking room for midgets..."
"I said it was a duct. Y'know... like a maintenance crawlspace?"
"Whatever. Why doesn't the guy who has the flashlight go first?"
Gage sighed, shaking his head a bit as he pushed Tyrese to the side, squeezing past as they began to crawl through the duct. It began to turn as they clambered along the grated floor, wires and pipes running below. There wasn't a single light in here, only Gage's bright suit light revealing the path ahead as the group crawled their way through, passing electrical boxes and junctions. Tyrese focused on just keeping moving, even though he was freezing his ass off now. The prison suit wasn't powered, so the insulation only helped so much.
"F-freezing my ass off back here..."
"Quiet. Lights off..."
Hushed by Gage, Tyrese slowed as Gage quickly turned his suit light off. Peering past, he could see some dim emergency light coming through ahead, seemingly from a floor grate. Listening closer, amongst the distant alarms of the facility and quiet creaking of the structure, he could hear voices. Someone was in life support... that could be a problem. Gage slowly continued, trying to keep the noise down as much as possible as they neared the grate. It was hard to make out what the voices were saying, or who they were... but Tyrese figured it wasn't friendly.
The group remained in the duct in silence, seemingly waiting until the voices stopped. Slowly edging forward, he peered up through the grate, taking a moment to survey the room ahead before he glanced back, gesturing forward. Reaching for the multitool on his belt, he quickly unclipped it and began to unscrew the grate cover, letting the screws drop to the floor. Tyrese moved up and whispered.
"We clear?"
"Dunno, sounds like Marines were checking life support. We probably don't have a lot of time... but on the bright side... they probably don't think anyone can escape through this way. Temperatures are already getting pretty low."
"Yeah... no shit, I can feel it. You sure we can get out this way?"
"Come on, Tyrese. You worry too much."
"No, I think I worry just enough, asshole."
Putting the multitool away, Gage carefully pressed up on the grate, pushing it out of its slot before he slid it to the side. Standing up to quickly check the room, he determined it was clear before grabbing the edge and pulling himself up with a hop. Climbing into the room, Tyrese followed as he rested the pistol on the edge, lifting himself with a grunt before he got to his feet and took a look around. It was a large room, filled with machinery and pipes of all sorts that were lit by the red emergency lights. Only the quiet hiss of the dead machinery accompanied them, as whoever was here seemed to have left.
"Now... w-what?"
Shivering with how cold it was now, Tyrese looked over at Gage, who had turned on their light and began to sweep the room.
"There. Exhaust zero two."
Walking over to one of the machines that had a large pipe labelled
EXH-02, Gage neared a curved access panel on the pipe and grabbed his multitool again, beginning to unscrew the bolts securing it. This seemed to be a large industrial life support processor, likely recycling the facility's air and exhausting any byproduct through the pipe. Removing the panel, Gage pulled it off and placed it aside, chilled air flowing out."Right. This is our way out."
"How the fuck am I supposed to crawl through a freezing exhaust in a prison suit?!"
"Look... the extraction team breached the other side and should have left a suit pack in the exhaust junction. That'll hopefully buy us enough time to get you to the ship outside without you freezing to death. You'll need a helmet on to pass through the exhaust."
"Fine..."
Reaching back, Tyrese pressed two nodes on the neck of his Remlok suit, the survival mask springing out from the collar as the mechanism unfolded, pulling the protective mask up and over his head, as well as a seperate section that encased his neck and protruded forward. The flexible visor came down to contact the bottom of the mask around his neck, after which a slight hiss could be heard as the two seperate sections of the visor expended the last bit of energy in the mask's reserve battery to fuse together, making a complete seal.
With the suit now running on its own small internal oxygen supply, he wasted little time in climbing forward into the pipe, starting to move forward into the exhaust.
"Keep crawling, you'll be fine! There'll be an airlock to get you past the valve!"
Sighing as he heard Gage call out, Tyrese kept crawling through the dark pipe, his gloved hands guiding the way as he began to crawl up a small incline in the pipe. He didn't expect his escape to be glamorous... but this was unique, to say the least.
Coming to a stop as he ascended the incline in the pipe, Tyrese felt a blockage ahead with his hands, realizing it was the first airlock door. He fumbled, feeling for a handle before a light emerged behind him, cutting through the darkness and lighting up the door enough to see the red handle.
"Nice of you to provide some light..."
"Happy to help. Right... the mechanism won't let you open both airlock doors at the same time, so we'll have to crawl through one person at a time. Get through to the other side and find the suit pack, it should be near a rappeling rope the extraction team left for us. I'll be right behind you."
Grabbing the red handle, Tyrese pushed down, the mechanism letting out a dull thwunk and hiss as the door pushed inwards, giving access to a small section where another door awaited. There was barely enough for one person... but Tyrese squeezed inside and pushed the door shut behind him, reaching over to pull the handle back into the locked position. He had to be careful not to expend the limited air supply as it was, trying to ease his breathing and keep his movements slow as he reached forward to the other door, trying to pull the handle down. Locked...
"Fuck..."
Scouring the dark space as it was almost impossible to see without Gage's light, Tyrese searched around with fumbling hands in the claustrophobic pipe, laying down to turn onto his back and feel around the top of the pipe before he came across a protruding handle above. Grabbing it, he tried to pull it, the handle popping out with a clunk... though nothing happened. He tried again, attempting to twist the handle, managing to rotate it clockwise before it locked into position. He could hear the pipe hiss... but without any kind of suit information or power, it was hard to tell if the atmosphere had matched the exterior side. Regardless, he awkwardly twisted and got onto his knees again, trying the handle to the exterior door.
It came down with a clunk as the door opened outwards, light flooding in. Breathing a sigh of relief, he quickly crawled forward into the pipe, emerging into the lit room ahead as he rose to his feet with a groan, taking a look around. He could feel the bitter cold gnawing at his bones, the suit doing nothing to shield him from the extreme temperature as his breath began to condense on the visor. He seemed to be in a shaft where several exhaust pipes connected, probably from other sections of the facility, icy cold rock surrounding him and only broken up by the metal structure that supported the shaft.
His view kept trailing up as he saw the escape route Gage had been constantly yapping about - a large grate that had a significant hole cut out of the middle... and at least thirty meters above with a long rope dangling from the edge, all the way down to the level he stood on. Flakes of ice blew through the grate, making it look like the air was filled with glitter as specks of snow dotted his visor. Even down here, he could hear the howling wind.
"M-mother... fucker... they w-want me to climb that high in this f-... fucking suit... freezing my a-ass off. Shit!"
"Caaalm down, Tyrese. Clearly they need to feed you better in prison so you have the strength to climb..."
Tyrese spun around as he saw Gage emerge from the pipe, getting to his feet and completely unbothered by the cold... obviously. Of course Gage came prepared with an entire suit... but just a mere pack for Tyrese.
"You t-try fucking climb while freezing! W-what's the temperature?"
"About negative 200 degrees. Come, come. Let's get that suit pack on, it's not gonna last forever, and we don't want you to freeze to death now do we?"
Gage stepped past and approached the rope, crouching down to pick up a white suit pack rested on the floor by the rope. He walked back to Tyrese, stepping around to his back as he secured the suit, integrating the pack as Tyrese's heads-up display came alive, providing suit power, oxygen levels and environment data at least.
SUVAS: "Suit Online. Extremely low temperature detected."
"Y-yeah, no shit."
"What's that?"
"Nothing. How far is the ship when we're done climbing?"
"Shouldn't be far. We've got the coordinates, you start climbing, the others are right behind us."
Sighing, Tyrese approached the rope and grabbed on, tugging on it to make sure it was secure before he pulled himself up, crossing his legs and clamping the rope between them as he began to ascend, grunting with each lift. He just focused on the task at hand, pulling himself up bit by bit as his visor began to frost over, prompting the occasional wipe to preserve visibility. His muscles already ached - one didn't exactly get to keep up a good training regime in a supermax prison like this. Especially one that didn't care about the prisoners. But escape... escape was nearer than it had ever been in years. That was motivation enough.
Grappling the edge once he had reached the top, Tyrese pulled himself up and clawed his way out of the grate, his gloved hands digging into freezing snow which the suit almost couldn't mitigate. His suit power was being sapped by the severe temperature, draining the battery as it fought to keep him alive. Wiping his visor as he struggled to his feet, he covered the visor slightly with a hand to try keep it clear to see. An intense blizzard engulfed the environment as snow swept over the terrain, freezing winds cutting through the suit. Not much light made it to this planet from the main star, giving everything a dim, grey glow.
"Fuckers picked a good place for a prison. Jesus fucking christ, it's cold!"
Glancing back as he heard Gage climbing up behind him, he watched his companion grab the tablet from his belt again, snow accumulating on his armor as he tapped at the screen. He had to raise his voice to be heard over the blizzard, approaching Tyrese as he pointed off into the dense snowfall.
"Okay, the ship is running with no lights, so keep an eye out! It should be in that direction, start walking before you run out of power!"
With a heavy sigh, he wiped his visor and began to walk, bracing himself against the intense winds and shielding his visor as much as possible. He knew the environment outside the prison was dangerous, but he'd never seen the outside. In a way, it worked in their favor. The blizzard would obscure their movements, and if it was running cold, the escape ship would probably blend in and be impossible to find in the storm.
Trudging on as he noticed the rapid dropping of power in his suit, Tyrese glanced back to ensure Gage was in tow, seeing the other figures of his team trailing behind, their lights barely making it through the snow. He just had to trust the ship would be somewhere...
"...-yrese... Tyrese! Head a bit more left, about twenty degrees!"
Hearing Gage yell out over the wind, he heeded his direction and began to walk, adjusting his heading. The wind was brutal, making it hard to keep pushing forward... but eventually, he saw it. Through the flakes of ice, he saw the silhouette of a vessel landed on the surface. It looked like a Federal ship, either a dropship or assault ship... either way, he figured that was their way out. It blended in at least... that would explain how they even got this close to the prison to begin with. Snow covered the exterior and the wings, which likely would've hidden it too on imaging scans.
Light broke through the lowered ramp near the rear as they neared, with Gage having picked up the pace to walk alongside Tyrese.
"Told ya so! Not so bad for a prison break, huh?!"
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Get me off this goddamn planet and out of the atmosphere before you start congratulating yourself!"
"Ah... the forever grateful Tyrese, huh?! Just you wait and see at the place we've prepared for you! It's gonna be great, just like old times!"
Laughing to himself, Gage jogged ahead and quickly got under the ship for shelter, making his way up the ramp. Tyrese wasn't far behind, the wind easing with the ship in the way as he walked up into the troop bay of the ship. He immediately sought a seat, slumping down onto it as snow fell off his orange suit, scattering onto the seat and floor. The others followed into the ship quickly, the last one in closing the ramp and sealing them inside as the bay began to pressurize.
Gage sat down next to him, reaching up and yanking a harness down to secure himself in the seat.
"Right, good work everyone! Let's get out of here."
Pulling the harness down to secure him in the seat, Tyrese sat back and felt the ship begin to shudder as it powered up, the drives roaring to life as the vessel lurched and took to the skies. He grit his teeth as he felt it boost, wind rushing past the ship as it cut up and through the atmosphere, speeding off to freedom. As the flight got more stable and he heard the FSD begin to charge... Tyrese let out that sigh of relief he'd been holding since Gage got him out of that cell.
It might've taken three years... but he'd be damned. It actually worked.
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DATE: 25th of October, 3310 [17:32 UGT]
LOCATION: Abandoned Listening Post LXP-52, Unknown LocationTyrese Waters
Weak lights lit the operations center, the entry door hissing and squeaking as it parted. Tyrese stepped through, scratching at his stubble as he entered the room, descending down the two steps and taking a breath of the stale air that the facility's barely-functional life support was able to provide. But... oddly enough, it beat the clean air of the prison he'd been confined to for three years, until his escape two months ago.
Now, he stood in the control room of his new base of operations - some abandoned military listening post in some forgotten system. Somewhere that had the resources and facilities needed to plot their next steps. It wasn't pretty... but for now, it was home. He had Gage to thank for this discovery... as much as he hated to admit it. With the helmet to his black, armored suit tucked under his arm, he turned his attention to the holographic table in the middle of the room, dimmed in standby mode.
Three figures stood around it, each turning to look at his arrival. The first to speak up - of course - was Gage himself, folding his arms and giving Tyrese a once-over before he chuckled.
"Look at that... fits like a glove, huh? Bet it feels good to be back."
Tyrese chuckled, approaching as he placed his helmet down on the table, his hands coming to rest behind his back as he looked around the table.
"That it does."
He took note of the other two members at the table - a woman with tied back brown hair and mixed eyes, one seemingly a normal green while the other looked cybernetic. Next, a black man with short hair and a clean shaven face, who offered an oddly friendly smile to Tyrese. They were both supposedly trusted hands of Gage's outfit, but Tyrese preferred actions over words. He didn't need any potential liabilities... not after last time.
"Well, Tyrese... you've met Amaya and Josiah. They've been helping me run this little outfit for all these years, and I trust them with my life. Amaya's also the one who figured out the location of this post... should make a good base of operations that'll be hard to find."
"Is that so? Well... consider me acquainted... but let's just get one thing straight. I don't like any... liabilities, let's say. Stay on the same page, don't get in my way and we'll all get along just fine, that clear?"
That demand got no response from the table, other than a frown from Gage.
"Yeah... that's the Tyrese I know. Out of prison after three years and you already think you can call the shots. You wouldn't have made it out of there without our help - my help."
"No... I wouldn't have escaped that way without any help, that's true. But that's not to say I owe you, so don't get any ideas."
"You think you don't owe me after all the shit we had to pull to get you out? We had to embed personnel for three fucking years in that prison, did you forget? Make convincing, faked prison break attempts and make the Marines complacent?! We even had to bribe officials, get permits! That was a lot of fucking money and time to get your ass out of prison!"
"So what, Gage? Boo-fucking-hoo, congratulations on breaking me out of prison. You gonna forget the times I pulled you out of the dumps? Saved you from getting gutted by that cartel? Made sure they didn't come after your family. Pulling me out of prison was the least you could've done for me, considering all the shit I've done for you. So, grow a fucking pair. You can forget about your typical outlaw bullshit, big plans to rob some fucking money convoy or whatnot, because you're going to help me with what I want, before we even think about doing what you want! Is that fucking clear? You do what I tell you to do, and I'll set you up for life. Money won't be an issue."
In silent anger, Gage glared at Tyrese before slowly looking over at the table, contemplating his words with a sigh as he shook his head.
"Any other reasonable person would call you an asshole and walk out, Tyrese... but fine. Then you better start explaining what your big plan is, and clue the others in."
"Did you get the information I told you to?"
"Yeah... the contact was solid. What's up first?"
"Bring up that... Isabella Levine woman. Let me see."
Tapping the console of the holo-table, Gage brought up a mugshot of a woman with flowing chestnut hair, hazel eyes and freckled cheeks. Details lined the edge of the picture, as Gage carefully began to read.
"Commander Isabella Levine... 28 years old, born Imperial in the system of Ekono. Used to be a navy pilot before voluntarily leaving service... then joined the Pilots' Federation as an independent Commander. Previously charged with terrorism and association with the Neo-Marlinist Liberation Army, until she was exonerated but exiled from Imperial society with her citizenship revoked. Looks like she... then joined a mercenary squadron called TITAN Contractors, and married its leader. Quite the character..."
"Look at that, a happy ending for all, conveniently leaving out mention of Styx. Goddamn bitch. Just a few more seconds and I would've killed her if that traitor hadn't intervened..."
"Styx... that was your last job right? Before you got put in prison? You mentioned it before we lost contact."
"Yep. It was a whole fucking mess, I got played by this politician bitch. And then Ms. Levine here delivered the killing blow... killed my whole team - good men - and put me behind bars for three fucking years. One of my men turned against me too... but he's another problem. I'll find him eventually."
"So... what's the deal with her then? Looks like she's moved on."
"No... she's a liability. A loose end."
"... You sure going after her is a good idea? I mean... revenge is a bad idea, Tyrese. She probably doesn't even know that you're out."
"It's justice, not revenge. And when she does find out... I have no doubt she'll come after me. You don't leave loose ends untied, Gage. She's priority target number one. Who's she married to? What's this... squadron?"
"Right..."
Closing the tab of Isabella's picture, Gage tapped away for a bit more before bringing up a picture of a woman with short, curly black hair and blue eyes. Gage began to read again.
"Commander Aurora Adair... that's their leader. 27 years old, a Federal from Sol."
"Huh... so Mrs. Levine married another woman. How cute. A pure Federal nonetheless, interesting choice for an Imperial..."
"Hoooly shit. I didn't get a chance to look at the data before, but... wow. This Aurora woman is ex-Federal special forces, and used to serve the Red Hunters... who later defected and became the Crimson Venators."
"The Red Hunters... well, I'll be damned."
"You knew them?"
"Heard of them. If there was a scoreboard of the most notorious spec-ops teams in the Federation... they were definitely up there. Then when they defected... well, it was hard to not hear about them. How is she not behind bars?"
"Well... let me keep reading. So... used to be apart of the Red Hunters under the callsign 'Foxhound'. Several hundred confirmed kills, many of which who were later proved to be innocents targeted by an illegal Federal weapons division, who called themselves 'EMBER'. This... 'EMBER' group used a bunch of shells, even manipulating the Red Hunters into doing their bidding, until that plot got blown wide open. Then... it looks like the Hunters defected and wiped their identities... leading to this Aurora woman joining TITAN as a combat specialist."
"God-fucking-damn! Mrs. Levine married a cold killer! And to think she wouldn't even work with me..."
"It looks like EMBER targeted TITAN with a bunch of proxy conflicts, before they were eventually routed and shut down 2 years ago by the squadron. TITAN's actions and Aurora's contribution led to them getting pardoned by the Federation... and... that's that, it looks like."
"That's the Federation alright... covering their own ass. I try and expose corruption just like these two bitches did, I make a miscalculation, and I end up behind bars. Then Mrs. Adair here kills a few hundred people, goes off to fight the good fight, and gets a whole fucking pardon! That's the Federal justice system at its finest."
"So... what's the plan? You got a beef with these two now?"
"What's this 'squadron' of theirs like?"
"Riiight... TITAN Contractors. A mercenary corporation with several thousand employed personnel and dozens of Commanders assisting their operations. Damn... they even field their own private army with thousands of soldiers. These guys look like the real deal too, mostly hiring from ex-military or enforcement backgrounds. They've got a bunch of other divisions too..."
"That complicates things... but doesn't change it overall. I wonder if that girl is still with them?"
"Who?"
"Doesn't matter. Mrs. Levine and Adair get to have a happy ending while I have to spend three years in prison. Does that sound fair to you, Gage? I don't think it does. So, we make an example... and I'm sure there'll be plenty of ways to make money off this squadron."
"Tyrese... Isabella put you behind bars once, and now she's married to a goddamn black ops operative that was part of a team even more notorious than yours! Are you sure this is a good idea? Why don't we just lay low, do some heists, get rich and live our liv-..."
Tyrese slammed his fist down on the table, growling at Gage as he pointed an accusing finger.
"Shut your fucking mouth! You don't call the shots here, you don't decide what is worth it and what isn't! She took three years, THREE FUCKING YEARS, away from me, while she has her happily-ever-after. She killed my soldiers, my family, over her obsession with protecting some little girl and 'doing what's right'. She RUINED me! You're going to fucking help me whether you like it or not, or I'll rip your fucking throat out myself. Are we clear? ARE WE FUCKING CLEAR?!"
Gage just stood there, staring at Tyrese with both a mix of fear and bewilderment as he didn't respond, only nodding his head. Tyrese glared around the table, nobody meeting his cold eyes.
"... Good. Get me more information on this squadron, information on the couple's routines, and find out if they have a 'Violet Watkins' with them. I want to know if she's still around... I doubt Levine left her behind with all the effort she went through to protect her before. She's a weakness we can exploit. Now... get me more people I can trust to help me with this, and you can name your price."
"... okay... fine. You got it, Tyrese."
"Cool. Now get the fuck out of my sight."
"You're still an asshole."
Picking up his helmet and tablet from the table, Gage shook his head and tucked his helmet under his arm, walking past Tyrese as he headed towards the exit of the ops center. His subordinates grabbed their stuff and departed too, not having said a single word although their expressions said enough. Tyrese sighed as the group left the room, turning his attention to the holo-table as he took in the images of his two targets... Isabella and Aurora. Three years had done nothing to temper his anger... but now that he was out of prison?
Now, it was personal.
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Credit: Written together by CMDRs Radiumio and Maple, imagery created by CMDR Radiumio and story provided by CMDR Maple. Thank you so much for reading!
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