Futuristic Starpath X: A Ballad of Madness

[joshuadim]

The killing continued and the pile grew ever larger between the dynamic duo as they pushed forward towards their target; Kane cocked his new gun once more with pride as one would with a newborn child and with anticipation for the glorious carnage he would wreak with it ahead, but to then have his moment be flattened slightly by Jester's ever growing ego. "Hey now, I thought we agreed shared custody!" Kane complained to his partner-in-crime with a sour tone, "I still have a bullet to shove up his ass for all the shit he put ME through!" He then shook his head and sighed.

"Alright, how about this... we take TURNS. We do our own little magic show on him one at a time and make it *special* pay-per-view. How's that sound?" he then mused to Jester before getting into cover quickly as Adam's remaining guards started their desperate defence. But that didn't stop Kane's imagination from getting the better of him as he wondered just how he would start off the main course in that delectable arena of torture. "Hmm... I've got so many ideas of what I wanna do..."

A bullet crashed into his cover, punching a hole near his head which made him angrily peek out of cover. "GODDAMNIT JUST WAIT A MINUTE!" he shouted before getting back and dodging another bullet just barely. "Ah! I'm thinking... electric cords to his BALLS. Fry em nice and crispy..."

 

[Infab]

"Ah! I'm thinking... electric cords to his BALLS. Fry em nice and crispy..."

"You don't wanna do that." responded Jester, as she drew a cylinder shaped object from one of her thighs. "They pop like grapes. He'd feel pain for a few seconds, then he'd pass out." She held it up, pressing a red button on its top, before flinging it down the hall. "Attach the cables to his nipples with the clamps you use on batteries. Make sure to make 'em spark a few times in front of him, really get that fear to kick in. They dance a little when the current hits too, so its fun to watch."

A moment later, there was a bright green flash at the end of the hall. What she had thrown was a plasma grenade, which she had found on one of the heavier guys they had fought through minutes before. Neat little thing. Practically erases targets in a ball of hot plasma. If they don't disintegrate, then it leaves a nice charred corpse behind.

The Kanads always made some interesting little toys. Toys the rest of us seem to copy.

The gunfire stopped from the other end of the hall. The blast must have caught their foes by surprise. Excellent. Now they just needed to hunt down their target... and hopefully he wasn't caught in the blast.

As they began to move down the hallway, something rounded the corner at the scorched end. Man-sized, sprinting towards them at high speed. Bounding gracefully over the remnants of corpses on the floor. Jester grinned, lifting and hip firing the shotgun in the entity's direction. The buckshot flew pass it, as it vaulted onto and ran along the right wall. Never slowing down.

Oh, what’s this? A different kind of merc? Cybernetics?

As they grew closer, Jester could make out the person’s outfit. Or rather, what appeared to be their actual body. They really were cybernetically enhanced, but it seemed that most of their body had been replaced to the point that they could have been easily confused for a true robot. They wore only a jacket and some tactical gear, the gear cutting off where the neck of the jacket stopped. Further up, the jacket’s hood covered most of the cyborg's head except for its face. The face, which stood out more than the rest of the cyborg's body, seemed like it was made of white ceramic. It mimicked human features: two eyes, a nose with two nostrils, and a mouth with clearly defined lips. Only the cybernetic eyes inside the eye holes moved, two amber colored dots locked onto Jester and following her as she moved. The rest of the face did not move. Was it a mask of some sort?

Jester wouldn’t have time to inspect it, as the cyborg was soon upon her. As they lunged at her, a blade came from their rear. A sword, the blade bearing a slight curve as it stretched out from a black leather bound hilt. Heat could be seen rolling off the blade’s edges, as it began to glow a bright orange. The weapon could be super-heated, much like Jester’s own arm blades, and made to cut through flesh and metal with ease.

Not much could stop such a super-heated blade in mid swing. They were prized by pirates and mercs, who often didn’t have access to the more famous Kanad plasma swords or didn't want to use the fancier laser bladed weapons available. A side effect of a super-heated weapon was that you could also set things on fire with them, just by touching the blade to it. It depended on the wielder themselves to figure out if said side effect was a boon or not.

Jester had little time to react, flicking the shotgun in her hands towards the incoming foe before jumping backwards. The blade sliced through the shotgun like a knife through butter, sending the pieces of the weapon sailing through the air past the blade wielder. But suddenly, something happened that caught Jester entirely off-guard.

As Jester landed, she witnessed the attacker bring their hand up to form a series of rapid gestures. Then, the shredded pieces of the shotgun rose and quickly flew at Jester.

Metal and shredded shotgun shells pelted Jester, forcing her to swat at the air to defend herself. Then, what felt like a massive invisible weight shoved itself squarely into her chest, knocking her backward onto the floor. What the hell is going on?

Jester attempted to get up, but found herself unable to lift herself from the floor. It felt as though the same weight that had shoved her over was now holding her down. “Wonderful! I'm fighting a Jedi.” she muttered. The cyborg approached, but suddenly stopped and made more gestures with their free hand. Jester watched her, eyes narrowing as she cocked her head. “…the fuck are you doing?”

The cyborg made more gestures, further confusing Jester. The expression on her face soon changed, shifting to one of boredom. “Ugh. This is stupid.” she soon muttered. Then, a pair of shots rang out. Jester had managed to reach her pistol, drawing it and firing a pair of shots into the cyborg's torso. The magnum rounds rocked the cyborg, forcing it to stumble backwards.

The invisible weight on Jester’s chest seemed to vanish, and she quickly sprang to her feet. Time to counter-attack. Keep up a constant assault, prevent them from bringing that super-heated sword to bear again. She darted forwards, bounding a few steps before jumping and spinning about in the air. Her foot collided with the side of the cyborg's head, a crunch sounding as her heel smashed into the side of the ceramic mask.

The cyborg was knocked sideways, dropping their sword, but Jester remained aggressive. Her pistol came up, side pressed against her abdomen, as she fired two shots into the cyborg's abdomen. Then, three more as she brought the weapon up to be stabilized by her offhand. The magnum rounds pummeled the cyborg, but they refused to go down. So, Jester delivered one final attack. She hopped forwards, and delivered a brutal straight kick square into the cyborg’s chest.

The hit sent the cyborg through the corridor's thick wall, into what appeared to be a bathroom in one of the hotel’s many rooms. Inside, they collided with and smashed a black colored toilet. Water began to flood across the floor beneath them, as Jester carefully leaned in through the hole. Pistol leveled at the cyborg inside.

Silence. The cyborg was stunned, still clearly alive as their eyes still glowed in the dim light. The magnum rounds hadn’t pierced their cybernetics in their abdomen, but had clearly made holes in the armor they wore across their torso.

Jester smiled, watching the cyborg laying against the shattered toilet. A massive spider-web like crack stretched across their ceramic mask, originating where Jester’s heel had slammed into it. It was likely they’d be back up and about in a short few minutes, but Jester wouldn’t be around to dance. She had a target to catch.

“I'd love to stay and continue our little tango, but I have places to be. People to kill. You understand.” soon said Jester, straightening up a bit. She holstered her pistol, shoving it back in its usual position, before backing away from the hole.

Her foot then bumped the hilt of the super-heated sword. She glanced down, eyeing the weapon briefly, before grinning. Neat little toy, and one that they could use. She slipped the edge of her foot under it, before flicking it up into her waiting hand. She wasn’t really all that partial to saber or katakana-like weapons, or really any swords. She preferred shorter blades, like knives or machetes. Even a tanto or wakizashi was more her style. Swords got awkward in close quarters, where shorter weapons shined.

She turned about, holding the sword in her off-hand as she strolled down the hallway. She’d use this sword, though. To rob that cyborg of their favored weapon, and to slice through those armored fucks protecting Adam. Maybe she’d even use it on Adam. Give him far too close of a shave with a super-heated blade, give a whole new meaning to razor burn. She motioned for Kane to follow as she walked, as he had simply been observing the fight between Jester and the cyborg, LMG hanging from his waist and arms folded as if he were contemplating life.

Suddenly, they were forced to stop as they rounded the corner. The doors to the remaining functioning elevator seemed to have been welded shut. Probably using a plasma welder. The door further down blocked as well. A portable field generator was shoved into the floor, generating a cyan colored shield around the door. Jester frowned. Damnit.

“Alice.” she muttered, glancing back behind her at Kane. Maybe the AI could locate an alternate route.

Alice answered moments later. “Yes, ma'am? Is there something you need?”

“We need an alternate route to Adam, asap. The doors and elevator on this floor are blocked.”

“Understood. Checking…”

A few moments later, Alice spoke again. “Your fastest route, ma'am, would be to jump out the window on your current floor.”

“…Excuse me?”

“Adam has arrived at the ground floor via elevator and is moving through the lobby. He has a vehicle waiting outside to take him to another landing pad so that he may evacuate. Jumping from the window would allow you to land right on top of his vehicle. With careful aim, you may even disable it with your landing.”

“…Understood. Show me the window we need.” Jester then looked to Kane. "I hope you're not afraid of heights... or long falls."

Down below, Adam was scrambling past patrons of the resort. Armored mercenaries both in front and behind him, guiding him along and making sure they wouldn’t be engaged by any possible threats on the ground floor. His long black hair was scattered about his shoulders, having fallen from its ponytail state after being snatched around by the mercenaries defending him. His glasses had already been cracked, after he tripped fleeing from Jester on one of the upper floors. Sweat stains covered his white button-up.

He was a scientist, not a soldier or any other sort of fighter. All the work he did was in a lab, with specialized tools and devices. He wasn’t used to all this running around. All this scrambling for cover and for exits. Struggling to get away from psychopaths hired by one of his bosses to kill him. A pair of psychopaths that had already killed a large chunk of the freelance mercs he had hired to protect him.

With how much he had paid them, he could have hired some Boomes or Death Vigil. They would have lasted longer. His employer managed to get two really good mercs to bite quickly, so that was at least a silver lining. One of them just so happened to be following closely after him in the event the evac went wrong.

As he emerged through the elaborate glass entrance of the resort, emerging into the snow drifting from the sky above, he had to be careful with how he stepped. The ground was slick, with patches of ice and snow. He didn’t have the time to grab his snow boots, or even a jacket. The armored mercs assisted, a pair of them holding onto his arms as they moved.

A hover-car waited nearby, running silently as its passenger doors sat open. The driver, another merc, was waving them over from his seat. They needed to go. Now.

But they wouldn’t get the chance.

One of the armored mercs glanced up, and soon noticed a speck rapidly falling from the upper floors of the hotel. It grew in size as it approached the ground, until the merc could make out what it was. His eyes widened. “IT'S THAT JESTER BITCH!” he spat, letting go of Adam and slinging his assault rifle up.

Jester, with Kane hanging onto her back, landed squarely atop the hover-car. The impact caved the roof in and crushed the merc inside. Glass exploded from the windows, as the vehicle's frame partially folded from the weight of the hit. The engine sputtered, before violently exploding along with each of the hover jets beneath the vehicle. The pair fell off the top of the vehicle as it began to explode, flipping and landing on the asphalt on their faces.

“…Ow.” Jester muttered to herself, before reaching down and striking both her legs with her fists again. Unlocking them once more. Hell of an entrance, but they were still in one piece. The blast scorched the edges of her hair, though. Fuck, she’d have to get that fixed.

She looked up, peering under the burning wreckage of the hover-car, to see that the armored mercs and Adam had been stunned as well. Perfect. Time to go to work.

As the mercs tried to regain her bearings, she quickly climbed to her feet and grabbed the sword that had fallen off her side. It hummed to life, as she switched on its super-heated blade, before darting around the front of the burning wreckage. The first merc didn’t see her coming. As he looked up, lifting his weapon in order to shoot, he was met with a baseball swing of the sword. It slashed clean through his head with a hiss, cutting a horizontal slice from temple to temple. As he fell backwards, the top of his head slid off. His halved brain singed by the blade as it fell out of his skull.

The next merc was able to get his weapon up, though, and fired off a burst that caught Jester across the left shoulder. Leaving holes through the metal. They were using armor piercing ammo. Neat. She swapped to using the sword with her right hand, bringing it up in an arcing motion and slicing clean through the weapon’s barrel. She then spun about, delivering a reverse hooking kick which caught the merc across the side of the head. As he spun in place, she then brought the sword down in a diagonal slash, cleaving the man in two.

The other two remaining armored mercs rushed her, both using assault rifles. Both opened fire, with only one managing to score a hit. The shots pierced her mid-section, punching through where her liver would have been (if she still had one). The other merc would miss, his shots darting by her side and ricocheting off the asphalt behind her. They would stop outside of sword range, but that didn't stop them from being cut down on the spot.

Her pistol came out once more, but before she could fire, a burst of machine gun fire cut one man in half. Kane had managed to recuperate well enough to come around the rear of the destroyed hovercar. The bullets severed his spine, before sawing through the rest of the merc's midsection. Then, Kane switched targets. The first shot of the burst hit the merc in the crotch, while the second hit his thigh. That’d take him out of action for a moment. Two more bursts shots followed as he brought his LMG up to eye level. Both in the chest.

The armor they were wearing seemed to block the bullets, but he didn’t really need them to go through the armor. Only to stun them long enough for him to close the distance. He darted forwards afterwards, driving his knee into the man's skull as he hunched over. The merc let out a groan of pain, blood bursting from his nose and his helmet slipping off his head, then Kane pressed the muzzle of the LMG into his eye. A single pull of the trigger followed, and a burst of bullets ripped through his head.

Finally, the armored mercs were all dead. That just left—

A rapid series of gunshots ripped through Jester’s torso, forcing her to stumble backward. She almost fell over, but she managed to catch herself on the ball of her right foot. Did she miss a grunt?

“Jester.” said a voice. Young, male, also metallic sounding. There was also another sound within the voice. The sound of anger.

She grinned wide. She knew exactly who it was.

“Yes? That is my name.” she said, with a chuckle. “Well, more of an old alias, but still!”

She then turned to fully face the one approaching. “And you are… I want to say Daniel. David? Something with a D… definitely not Dick, though that does fit.”

“Dante.” he responded, the tone of anger seeming to grow stronger.

Jester forced a gasp. “Dante! Yes! Like the Italian poet!” she exclaimed, motioning a hand towards the figure as he continued to approach.

Soon, he emerged from the hotel lobby. The man was around six feet tall, wearing mostly black. Of course was wearing black. Dante Black always wore black. Combat boots, cargo pants, a flak jacket over a t-shirt, and an almost floor-length trench coat. His cybernetics, which he didn’t have the last time she saw him, were also black. The metallic sheen of cybernetic augments encompassed his neck, stopping halfway up his cheeks and stretching towards the corners of his mouth. Unlike most, who went for the skull-like lower jaw, he opted for the lip mold for his cybernetics. His irises were red, glowing in the dim light. His dark hair, likely synthetic and woven into his scalp, was cut short and styled just so.

“Decided to simply embrace the edge, hmm?” said Jester, looking him over as he stopped. “Next, you’ll be slapping skulls on things. Maybe convert your head into one. Give it a horn or two, make it demonic.”

“Shut the fuck up.” He practically spat the words out, eyes locked firmly onto her. “All you do is fucking talk, laugh, and dick around.”

Jester shrugged. “Well, if I didn’t do all of that, you’d be dead.” she responded, flashing Dante a grin.

He simply stared back at her.

She continued, waving a hand towards Dante as he simply stood there. “So, you decided to chrome up? Good for you! You're on a higher level now!” she said, “I kind of figured you’d go for bio-augmentations, but you’ve surprised me!”

“The surgeons said I wouldn’t survive long enough for my body to adapt to the bio-augments. Cybernetic augmentations were the only option in which I would potentially survive.” he muttered in response. “I never wanted this. Any of this. You forced it on me. And you’ll fucking pay for it, one way or another. Dipshit Kane over there is merely icing on the cake.”

“One way or another, hmm?” she responded, repeating his words as she let her hand rest on her hip. “…Oh, but there’s really only one way I can pay for what I've done to you. You already have it set in that warped little mind of yours! I have to die. There are no alternatives. Credits won’t bring you the satisfaction of watching my head explode. Or me being ripped apart piece by piece. Like you were!”

“RIGHT!” finally spat Dante. And in a flash of movement, one side of his trench coat flicked out and behind him. Jester caught just a glimpse of what he was bringing to bear against her, but she recognized that eerie green glow anywhere.

Dante brought a plasma weapon to kill them with.

It appeared to be of Kosok-make, Jester noticed. A Kileta Vipra (meaning ‘small rifle'), or KV, but upscaled to fit human-sized hands. She couldn’t identify the exact model. Not just yet. Wonder how much he had spent on that particular piece of tech?

As he swung it up, he fired off a shot. A bolt of hot plasma darted by Jester, who was already moving to avoid him. She had fought Kanads and other member races of Kosokom over the years, which utilized the devastating power of plasma against their foes. Often with great effectiveness, as plasma burns quickly through armor and metal. Plasma burns even quicker through flesh and bone.

A second and third shot erupted from the end of the weapon, Dante swinging the weapon sideways to try and hit her as she fell backwards onto the asphalt. Her own weapon was quickly put to use as her back met the dull black ground, sweeping up over her stomach and firing off a shot aimed at her attacker’s right knee. The magnum round collided, but something happened that surprised Jester. Her shot simply ricocheted off, making a high pitched squeal as the bullet came into contact with hard metal before sailing off into the air. Bad angle?

Kane brought up his own weapon, determined to get Dante's attention as he fired off several bursts aimed at the cyborg. Some of his shots hit, rocking the merc and doing just what Kane had wanted. "Ahhh, we meet again, Kane. You stupid fuck." he practically spat at Kane, swinging the plasma rifle up and firing a return burst. Kane quickly sought cover, diving behind another car parked nearby. The plasma collided with the vehicle's hull, splashing across it and burning holes through everything it touched.

"I thought that plasma canister would have killed you. Guess not. Looks like either you'll need a far more focused dose, or I'll have to rip your fucking head off myself."

 

[joshuadim]

"Usually you take a gal out to dinner first before we get to the saucy stuff!" Kane retorted as he shifted in cover, trying to get an angle on the trench-coat cyborg. "And you still owe me for that canister by the way, you left me looking like a Freddy Krueger looking motherfucker!" Those last words were filled with vitriol that could poison an ocean, as Dante was the fucker responsible for him having to get that nanite "operation" in the first place. What good that did him, aside from getting a better sense of humor and the cure for cancer - and everything else in between. But Dante let out a cold scoff in response.

"I'm gonna enjoy stomping that mouth into bloody pieces-" Dante started to say until another barrage peppered into his outer layers; Kane had taken the opening to try to gun the man down, only to realize that his LMG wasn't as effective as he hoped it would be. In turn, Dante spun around and pulled the trigger of his carbine which sent a bolt of plasma straight through Kane's midsection and in turn sent him flying back. "Moron." he spat out victoriously, seeing Kane's body splayed on the floor some distance away. But as he turned his attention to then finding Jester, who had now skulked back to a different position, he heard a groan pierce the air.

"Agh... fuck... THAT hurt." Kane managed to get out as he sat upright. Looking down, he could see his body reconstitute itself quickly to repair the hole that had been punched into it. Strands of flesh formed tissue, before dermis and skin came back. Dante was taken aback and remained silent as he watched a man get up from a wound that should have been completely lethal. "Perks of all this? I'm like a goddamn lizard with a tail. Except it's all over."

"...so you grow back parts now? Well..." Dante then said, unamused as he primed his rifle again. "When I'm finished, parts will have to grow back you."

"Good one!" Kane quickly shot back, before turning to you with a sigh. "Yeah. That was a good one."

Just as quickly, he rolled out of the way of another plasma blast and scrambled into cover. In the meantime, as he avoided Dante's murderous warpath, he tired to search for a weapon that would be more effective against him.

 

[Infab]

As he went to squeeze the trigger again on his carbine, intending to fire off another shot at Kane as he tried to flee, Jester's feet collided with his back in a sort of dropkick-like motion. As he stumbled forwards, he still pulled the trigger, but thankfully the shot went wide to his right as the rifle swung around. There was a shout nearby, but both easily ignored it.

Rotating forward in midair, she landed on her feet in a crouched position. Pistol clutched close to her body, aimed towards Dante as he tried to steady himself. Two more shots were fired, the magnum rounds nailing Dante in his back. Yet they didn’t seem to faze him. Ahhh, now I see. Reinforced cybernetics, able to take a beating unless it was hit by high caliber armor piercing ammo. Her hidden blades could easily slice through it, but that wouldn't be fun.

At the moment, she didn’t feel like killing the poor sap.

“I see you went for the reinforcement package! Excellent! Metal bits will be less likely to fail on you under pressure!” she said aloud, as he turned about. She needed to rush him, keep him on his toes so he didn’t get a good shot off on her.

She bolted forwards, practically jumping from her crouched position into a full sprint towards him. She made it three long steps, before driving her shoulder into his chest has hard as she could. He stumbled more, before slamming into a parked car behind him. The car vibrated a bit from the impact, shifting slightly as Dante's form left a dent and some scratches on its side.

Now she could operate a little better. Enemy’s back was against an object. She could come in from the left, right, or middle. Middle offered a chance to strike from above or below. Below seemed most appealing. An overhead strike could be deflected, as could one from either the left or right side. However, she could chain her attack movements and angles. Work into a strike from the sides. Move left, strike his gun hand… or the gun itself.

As he looked up, trying to brace himself against the car to steady himself, Jester made her move. She jumped, shoving herself off the asphalt with one foot, before driving the top of her knee squarely into the underside of Dante’s jaw. There was an audible hard clack, as metal collided with metal, and it seemed to stun him temporarily. Good. She would sweep to the left, and deliver another hit to his gun arm, once she landed.

But the moment she landed, something happened that caught her entirely off-guard. Dante dropped his weapon, the rifle clacking against the ground. As she glanced down to the rifle, surprised by the occurrence, Dante swung towards his left.

His right hand, balled tightly into a boxer’s fist, collided with the side of Jester’s jaw. Her head snapped sideways, her eyes rolling about in her skull for a split second, as she spun a full one-hundred and eighty degrees. Stunned herself, now, she stumbled forwards. Her HUD was scrambled from the sudden shock of the blow, and it felt as if he had damaged the hinge of her jaw with that single punch.

Dante was now turning the tables.

He moved in quickly, shaking off her hit from a few moments ago, and delivered a pair of brutal alternating strikes to her lower back. If she had kidneys, they’d have been in horrid pain right about now. Then, he swept his leg beneath her, swinging his leg as if he were punting a ball. As his shin met her calve, her leg flew out from beneath her. Forcing her to fall backwards onto the ground.

“Thought you were smooth, huh?” he muttered angrily, stepping over her. He knelt down, pressing his knee into her left arm and holding her gun arm down with his hand. And with his free one, he began to deliver a series of vicious punches to her head.

“I'm going to beat you till whatever's left of that brain of yours is a FUCKIN’ PASTE.” he spat.

Every punch felt like a hammer blow to her head, the metal on her face soon bearing faint dents from his knuckles being driven into it. The paint was chipping away, her skin turning to a gray smear of steel and pseudo-plastics. All the while, she stared up at him. Her expression wasn’t one of pain.

It was emotionless. Empty.

​

As he pulled back to deliver another blow to her head, she abruptly sat up and drove her head into his mouth. Another loud clang, as metal collided with metal once more. He fell backwards onto his rear, off her arms. As he fell, he clutched at his mouth.

There was enough room to slide her legs out from underneath him, which she did in a flash. But she didn’t pull back. Instead, she remained on the offensive. She moved her legs back forwards, wrapping them around his waist and pulling him in tight. He went to punch her once more, to get her to let go, but that was a mistake. She grabbed it, and in a flurry of movement with her legs, Dante soon found himself flat on the ground. Jester next to him with his arm wrapped in her legs, positioned just so that if she leaned forward enough, it would dislocate his arm.

Of course, she did just that.

The sound of metal bending could be heard, creaking loudly in the open air, before a loud pop and buzzing sounded out. All coming from Dante’s shoulder. Jester released his arm, rolling backwards away from the merc. Re-evaluating her foe from a better distance.

She stared at him, squatting low to the ground. Her pistol gripped tightly in her off hand, and her main hand's fingertips pressed to the black ground beneath her. She was focused. Prepared. Dante noticed that, but was more focused on her expression than anything.

As he stood back up, gripping his dislocated arm tightly, he swiveled his head back around to took at her. His red eyes locked onto her blue ones. The two didn’t exchange words. Not yet. He walked over slowly back to the car, continuing to stare back at her, before pressing his dislocated arm against the car's frame.

Suddenly, he jerked his torso into the car, shoving his arm into it with one sharp motion. There was another loud buzz and pop, but soon, silence. He had reset his arm, putting it back in place by force. He rolled his wrist, flexed his fingers, and even bent his elbow a few times. Full motor controls were back.

He then spoke, motioning a finger towards Jester as she watched him ever so silently. “I know that look.” he muttered, “That's the very same look you had before.”

She didn’t respond, not moving from her position. Her expression as if it had been carved in stone. She did, however, continue to follow him with her eyes. Watching him. Studying him.

“…You had that same fucking look when you nearly killed me.” he continued, stepping closer to his rifle on the floor. “I've read about you, you know? All the shit you've done. All the little ticks and quirks you’ve got. You’re a real piece of work. True, primo psycho, hidden under all the jokes and laughter. Under all that talking and other bullshit.”

“…And there’s just… things that bring that psychosis to the surface.” He arrived next to his rifle, watching her just like she was watching him. Staring at one another.

She had noticed him slip his left hand into one of the outer pockets as he had been walking. He had a backup weapon. What was it?

He had noticed that she had swapped her pistol to her left hand. Jester was ambidextrous, but favored her right hand. And was often a better shot with it.

Five seconds passed, before someone made the first move. Dante’s arm shifted, the hand in his pocket titling something towards her. A pistol. A gunshot cracked, fire blowing a hole through his trench coat and sending a kinetic round her way.

She reacted, leaning to the left to dodge the shot. She then rolled sideways, as Dante squeezed off two more shots from his pocket pistol before actually drawing the weapon out.

It was a Sol design, resembling one of the popular firearms of old Earth. Seven-plus-one shots, single stack magazine. Short recoil action. Hammer had to be cocked before firing the first shot from the draw. Outdated design, but still a favorite even now for its ruggedness and reliability. She didn’t care too much about that particular weapon, though. She only cared about how much ammo he had used from its magazine. He had five shots left.

She darted towards him, her right arm making a hissing sound as she bounded low across the asphalt. He fired off another pair of shots, squatting low and grabbing his plasma carbine from the ground with his right hand. She dodged both, slipping to either side to throw his aim off.

Then he saw it. The blade shooting out from the palm of her right hand. He shifted his aim, swinging up the plasma carbine and firing a shot towards her arm. She reflexively rolled under the shot, tumbling across the ground to avoid it.

He glanced down to meet her cold gaze, before feeling something pierce his shoulder. He looked over, and took note of a super-heated blade now jutting from his shoulder and moving downward to cleave through it. Kane had picked up the sword that Jester had dropped earlier, and had used it to take him by surprise. That sure as hell punched through his armor.

“YOU MOTHERFUCKER!” he spat, before a trio of gunshots sounded off in rapid succession. Jester had closed the distance and pressed the muzzle of her pistol into his abdomen, just under his sternum, and rapidly squeezed the trigger. She knew it wouldn’t punch through his reinforced cybernetics. In fact, she was doing it as a distraction.

As he tried to push her away, she slipped her leg behind his and gave it a sharp jerk. His leg came out from under him, and as he fell, it forced Kane's super-heated blade to nearly cut his arm clean off. But that didn’t matter. The next stab would be worse.

The moment his metal body hit the ground, Kane stepped forwards and drove his blade straight through his stomach where Jester had been shooting before. He yelled out, writhing on the floor for a moment, before pointing his rifle up at him. A pair of shots were fired off, which Kane avoided by jerking out the sword and tumbling backwards. Jester rolled around to his side and out came her blade, only to slice right though the knee joint of Dante's left leg.

He kept shooting, shifting his aim to Jester and hoping a burst of plasma would eventually hit her. But as he fired off three more shots, he failed to notice something of dire importance. His own weapon.

Kane had taken the time to stomp on the weapon, hitting the blow-off valve, after stabbing Dante. The hit had damaged it, rendering it inoperable. With every shot he fired, more plasma would build up inside the gun. All that plasma, unable to be vented. When he fired off two more times, with Jester cartwheeling away to avoid both, the weapon finally exploded.

Jester and Kane both watched as Dante’s weapon bathed him in fire and plasma. Most of his body ended up being covered in it, and he rolled about on the ground. Panic had set in quickly. He'd likely be dead shortly. However, a different thought ran through Jester’s mind.

…Nah, he’s too angry to die.

Jester cast a quick glance to Kane, whom watched as Dante burned with an eerie green glow. She then spoke. "So, where's the target?" she said, before looking around them. Kane looked over and shrugged, before looking himself.

Soon, they'd notice that laying on top of a pile of melting snow near the edge of the parking lot was the body of Adam Fúlling, laying face down with a large cauterized hole blown through his left side where the human heart would be. His left arm was missing, lying a few feet away. It likely had fallen off, only being held on with bits of flesh and muscle. Jester's eyes widened, and she looked to Kane once more.

Dante must have hit him with one of his shots that went wide.

 

[joshuadim]

Kane watched with a great degree of satisfaction as Dante was covered in flames and plasma, burning before his very eyes. "Want some ointment for that? Melanoma is a big killer." he asked aloud mockingly as Dante writhed on the ground before turning his attention. Kane looked at Adam's corpse then back to Jester, then back again, and back once more before finally settling on the reality before them. He put a hand on his hip and another to where his mouth would be under his mask and gasped: "Oh, this is bad isn't it?" he mused aloud as he observed the bloody mess that once had been their target. "...I mean... technically we did kill him... because that asshole there was trying to kill us..." he then tried to rationalize.

"...we're still getting paid, right?" he then asked with a shrug. "Otherwise I'm filing a complaint with the union for mercenary rights."

 

[Infab]

"...we're still getting paid, right?" he then asked with a shrug. "Otherwise I'm filing a complaint with the union for mercenary rights."

"Well, we should get paid," responded Jester, "I'm more worried about the secondary objective."

She motioned for Kane to follow, holstering her pistol in her thigh once more as they walked across the parking lot to where Adam's corpse lay. "A thing to keep in mind is that it always pays to keep a little leverage over employers. Especially if they're a corporate type like ours." she said as they walked, "Sure, it may eventually make you a target, but you could easily use what you know and what you have to counter it. Your employer doing some shady stuff on the side? If you're threatened, send the info to the right people. The threats stop really quickly, and you might even get a little hush money out of it."

Soon, they arrived at the corpse. Jester moved around to his side and rolled him over, before slipping her hand into his pockets. "Our employer said that Adam had some data on him that needed to be destroyed. Thing is, we're not going to destroy it until we make our own copies of it. Blackmail is useful." she muttered. She felt inside his pants pockets, shifting things around like a holopad, cleaning wipes for eyeglasses, a pen, some chewing gum. She sighed, as she moved to the other pocket. Similar junk. Eventually, however, she did find something. It felt oddly like a lighter, but was far too thin. A flash drive?

She drew it out, and looked over the cigarette-length device. Black, rectangular. Gold-tipped, the cap gleaming in the light. She smirked, before slipping the little stick into a slot in her thigh. She wondered if Clais knew they were going to keep the information? Most likely, after all he probably knew what she used to do for a living. His associates certainly did, and word traveled quickly in such circles.

"Got it. Now, let's skedaddle." she said, standing and straightening up. As she looked about, she heard something land nearby with a heavy thud. It came from the direction of the burning hover-car wreckage, which forced her to cock her eyebrow in confusion. Did something fall out of it? She turned about, drawing her pistol as she moved towards the wreckage. Kane followed behind, clutching the sword in hand as he moved.

Then, something sprang from behind it, catching them entirely off-guard. The cyborg woman from before. Apparently she had followed them, jumping out of the same window and landing on the ground next to the hover-car.

The cyborg moved so quickly that Jester had no time to react at all. Her pistol was knocked aside, her arm swinging wide as she tried to maintain her grip on the weapon, and a series of rapid, hellish blows to Jester’s torso followed. The cyborg’s fists collided with Jester's body, deforming her torso's shell and creating several deep, severe dents in the metal.

Jester attempted to shove her off using a straight kick, but in a rapid counter, one of the cyborg’s fists collided with Jester’s shin. The force of the strike was enough to shatter the metal shell surrounding her shin, and breaking the limb altogether. Then, the cyborg delivered their own kick, planting a metal foot in Jester’s chest and sending her sailing through the air. She’d hit the asphalt, sliding a few feet before hitting a mound of snow that had been cleared out of the way.

The cyborg then turned its attention to Kane, whom was charging with the sword. A few slashes from the sword were dodged, Kane swinging like a mad man and trying to get a clean cut on the cyborg aggressor. Then, the cyborg made her own moves. She caught Kane by the wrist, then drove her fist into his elbow. It snapped at the joint like a twig. Then, she gave his wrist a twist and jerked as hard as she could. Ripping the forearm completely from his body. A headbutt followed, along with a swift kick, aimed at Kane's knee. The impact shattered that joint as well. A simple shoved sent Kane flying backwards, landing hard on the asphalt a few yards away.

The cyborg attempted to continue its attack, but was met by a rapid burst of magnum shots. Jester had managed to keep hold of her pistol, and was now firing back from the mound of snow. As she fired, she tried to get up. However, due to her now busted shin, that was tricky.

“I should have fucking mag dumped into your skull upstairs!” she spat, managing to get to her feet. But soon she heard an audible crunch noise, forcing her to look down.

Her left arm had been crushed entirely by some invisible force, and was now being pulled away from her body. Sparks and bursts of electricity shot away from the wires and tearing metal, as warnings flashed across the HUD inside her eyes. Then, it happened. A loud, violent pop sounded, as her entire shoulder joint was torn in half. Her left arm went sailing through the air, mangled and completely useless to her now.

Sparks shot from her torso, along with spurts of coolant fluid. Jester looked on in shock. Just what the fuck was this cyborg? She then snapped her attention back to her enemy, just in time to see the cyborg make a few more gestures with both hands.

Then, it finally clicked. Jester knew what they were doing.

It was fucking sign language.

“You took my sword, asshole.” signed the cyborg, their gestures aggressive and forceful.

Jester gritted her teeth. “What the fuck are you, a mute?!” she spat through them, as she lifted her pistol back up and fired more shots at her opponent.

They dodged them with ease, moving quickly towards where Kane’s arm had been thrown. She’s going for it. Jester grunted, stopping her shooting briefly to simply switch targets. She took aim, and fired off a single round. Aimed directly at the super-heated sword in his disembodied arm's grip.

Sparks erupted from the weapon, as the bullet collided with it. The shot damaged the hilt, as well as the tech used to heat the blade. It was virtually useless, now, in its current state. The cyborg froze mid-stride, staring seemingly in horror at her now damaged sword, before looking back to Jester.

Jester laughed aloud. “Fuck your sword! Its scrap metal now!” she spat.

“Just like you’re about to be!”

“FAT CHANCE OF THAT, BITCH!”

Soon enough, the sound of a ship could be heard overhead. The White Rabbit had arrived, swinging around till its nose was pointed directly at the hostile mute cyborg. The 30mm cannons opened up, the rounds peppering the asphalt around the cyborg forcing them to evade and run for cover. Asphalt blew through the air in several directions as the cannon shots shattered black surface. As it fired, the White Rabbit lowered down just far enough to deploy its underside elevator, which Jester bee-lined for immediately. Kane quickly followed, limping on his shattered leg as fast as he could.

“Let’s go, Alice, before we have ourselves a hitchhiker!” barked Jester, limping over and climbing onto the elevator. She glanced back to see the cyborg still attempting to dodge the 30mm shots. All It would take was for one shot to hit, and they’d be done for. But surprisingly, they were managing it.

Once Kane was on, the elevator began to rise. Lifting the ship’s captain and passenger into the bowels of the vessel, and it wasn’t long before the White Rabbit broke off its attack and rose from the ground. It darted off as soon as it was airborne, rocketing through the sky in an effort to reach orbit.

 

[joshuadim]

Things definitely did not go according to plan, as his attack left him down an entire forearm and also a broken knee. The latter was something that would quickly be fixed by the nanites flowing through him as he stumbled onto the White Rabbit. What concerned him was how his arm was going to grow back after all this: would it come back the same as it was before? Or was it going to be something even more fucked up than the crispy skin that wrapped his body like old leather. He'd have time to reminisce on that later as he managed to pull himself onto the craft - a surprise to him that his companion didn't outright leave him - before collapsing in the loading bay and left a small pool of blood as the bleeding fully stemmed.

"Gah... never remind me to get a trim from a cyborg ninja... really fucked up my style." Kane said as he rolled over onto his back and breathed in heavily. He then lifted up the stump of his arm, and observed as - slowly - flesh began to grow back at the center. Given that it needed to reconstitute bone, flesh, vessels, and everything else in between... he wondered how long he'd be like this. "Guh... I'd say this is good time for our mandated 15 minute break on our shift." he then said to Jester, tilted his head from where he lay so that he could look her over. She wasn't particularly in the best of shape either, given how that cyborg also fucked up her limbs.

 

[Infab]

"Yeah, I'd say the same." responded Jester, looking down to the pool of coolant still leaking from her heavily damaged shoulder. "That's not good... I just paid for that arm too." she muttered to herself, a frustrated tone in her voice. Soon enough, she forced herself to stand. Then, she began to limp through the ship to her usual resting spot. She'd hoist herself up onto the table once she arrived, and laid down. Who was that? How was she so fast? How the hell did she do the things she did?

“That was Mime, ma'am.”

Alice’s voice broke the silence. Jester glanced up. “Mime?” she asked, confused.

“Yes, ma'am. A known assassin. It seems she may have been hired to take you out.”

“…Huh.” responded Jester, a faint smirk appearing on her face. “…She’s got some neat tricks.”

“How so?”

“She knocked me down without touching me earlier, then ripped my arm off without being near me just now. She does these gestures with her hands when she does it. Never fought anything like her.”

“Hmm… perhaps some sort of controlled magnetism at play?”

Jester shrugged. “Maybe. I've got a feeling that we’ll see her again, though. She didn’t seem the type to stop.”

​

CHAPTER II​

BLACKLISTED

​

A short while later...


“The drive is empty, Grave.”

“What?” Grave perked up, taking the cigar from the corner of his mouth and letting it rest between the knuckles of his left hand's fingers.

“The drive is empty. There was nothing on it.” repeated Jester, letting her hand rest on her hip as she stared at the well dressed man on the other side of the holoscreen. “He also knew we were coming. A missile battery tried to shoot us down as soon as we entered Trixina's atmosphere. A missile battery loaded with missiles meant to locate, track, and eliminate things like my ship. He had a small army of hired guns at the hotel, some of them bearing heavy weaponry. Two assassins were also there, and one of which did this to me. One was Dante Black, and the other I believe goes by the name ‘Mime’.” she continued, eventually motioning her hand towards the missing chunk of her torso.

Grave's expression shifted to one of confusion… then amusement. The look greatly annoyed Jester. “Did I say something funny, Grave? Please. Fill me in, would you?” she soon said, tilting her head slightly and giving the businessman a death glare.

Grave smirked, then finally spoke. “It seems that your target has activated Protocol Siebenkäs.” he said, before waving to someone off-screen with two fingers.

Jester's expression didn’t change, cutting a brief glance to Kane next to her before her eyes moved back to and locked onto Grave.

Grave glanced back to her on the holoscreen. “Protocol Siebenkäs is an emergency program that both Dr. Fúlling and my employer, Mr. Michael Tieringer, developed in order to maintain the safety and well being of Dr. Fúlling should someone make an attempt on his life. Like you have. I believed it to be simply a rumor, but apparently it’s a legitimate program.”

Grave shifted in his seat, as an aide stepped into view and handed him a holotablet. He continued talking as he began to scroll through what was on the small screen with his finger. “The concept was to create an army of Fúllings to carry out his regular duties across Celtech's various locations and upload their data into Fúlling's neural network via a virtual feedback machine.”

Jester cocked an eyebrow. “…An army of flash clones that goes where he usually goes and does what he usually does. Once they do their jobs, they return to a predetermined location and upload their brains to a system which connects to Fúlling’s own brain. Once he's connected, it downloads their thoughts, experiences, ideas, etcetera to his brain so that he knows what they know. All the while, he remains at an undisclosed location until your boss deems it safe.”

Grave raised his eyebrows, surprised by Jester’s simplification of the situation. Her expression returned to the serious one she bore before, as she spoke again. “So, we killed a clone, carrying a decoy stick.”

“Precisely.” he responded, “Which means the job isn’t done.”

Jester’s death glare returned.

Grave smirked once more. “Don’t look so angry. You enjoy all the killing, right?” he stated, before changing the topic. “Now, as for how he knew that you were coming… Its likely information about you was downloaded and sent to him the moment you connected to his computer. Either as him being curious as to who connected to his computer, or a ‘just-in-case’ measure, if you were somehow able to survive the virus that it injected into your cybernetics. He prepared accordingly in the hours that followed.”

Grave stopped his scrolling on his holotablet, his finger stopping just under a line of data. “From the looks of things, you both also now have one hell of a bounty on your heads. Far larger than the one you already had, Jester.”

Jester’s head tilted again. “…How big?” she asked, curiosity creeping into her voice.

“For you? Over four billion credits.” responded Grave, “…Billion. With a B. Kane's bounty is sitting at half a billion.”

Jester’s eyes widened in shock. Her bounty had never been that high. Sure, a few hundred thousand credit bounties or two were the usual. Highest she had ever had was back during her Reaver days, sitting at around a million and a half. This was billions. Multiple billions.

“…Your boss really wants me dead, huh?” she soon muttered, without really thinking. There was a hint of a giggle in her voice.

Grave chuckled. “Actually, the bounty he put out on you was only five million. The rest was an accumulation from various groups as you already know. Sol, the Federation, Kosokom, and so on. The biggest bounties, however, are from four anonymous individuals. Their bounties are also open bounties, unlike the larger factions who are going through the BCB. Anyone can take them, and will likely try to.”

Jester couldn’t sweat. She had lost that ability to when she replaced her skin with metal, pseudo-plastics, and traces of synth-skin. But if she still had the flesh she used to, she’d have been drenched by now. She liked having a bounty. It made things exciting.

This excited her WAY too much.

She finally grinned. “Well now, my day as grown so much brighter!” she muttered under her breath, before looking back to Grave. “Back to business. Do you have any idea where our target… our REAL target might be?”

“Well, that’s something you’re currently going to have to dig for. Meaning you’ll need to find one of his copies and follow it back to where it uploads its’ brain.” responded Grave. “Your clue as to where another copy might be is already in your possession. Give his schedule a look again, and figure something out.”

Jester nodded. “What about you? Do we get any help?” she then asked.

Grave chuckled. “No. I have to save my own skin here. Nobody can link you back to me.”

Jester frowned. “Thanks for the information, then.” she said bluntly, before moving her hand and terminating the call. She then sighed, looking up towards the dark metal ceiling of her quarters.

Well, Jester. You tried, and failed, to kill the lead researcher for a multi-trillion credit bio-augmentation company. You also forced them to enact an emergency plan to create a shitload of copies of him to prevent you from killing the real him. In addition, you now have a multi-billion credit bounty on your head covering most of the civilized and uncivilized galaxy, and everyone and their mother will be out to claim your head. Exciting times lay ahead!

 

[joshuadim]

"Jeez, how come you get to have a billion credit bounty and not me!?" Kane shouted in annoyance with the call's end. "I killed just as many people as *you* did, and tore the place apart..." He almost sounded jealous at the prospect as he clutched at his masked head and groaned aloud. "Can't believe I'm getting outdone even in the wanted department... it's like I'm Bonnie and you're Clyde... or is it the other way around?" he wondered aloud, trying to wrack his brain over which of the two had a bigger price on their head then scoffed aloud. "Fuck it, not like it matters. We're both fucked, aren't we?"

 

[Infab]

"Fuck it, not like it matters. We're both fucked, aren't we?"

"Oh, we're fucked six ways to Sunday, amigo." responded Jester, a smile appearing on her face. "Don't worry about the size of the bounty. That's just for the ego. Focus more on you having more coming after your head than just a few runts in the litter. You'll have the true, proper hunters and mercs! Maybe even the Mad Dog herself, Miranda Caine."

The grin reappeared on her face. Ahhh, Miranda Caine. The legendary Mad Dog of the Bounty Collections Bureau. One of the best bounty hunters in the galaxy. Jester had tangled with Miranda on a few occasions. Always a fun one. She then slowly looked down to her damaged body and missing arm. It was time for another tune-up, it seemed. She needed to be in top shape for what was to come.

"...Have you ever been to Shadespear Terminal? Pirate haven out in the Renegade Quadrant." she soon asked, looking to Kane. "Asking because we need to go there. I know a guy that can fix up my cybernetics there. If there's someone you need to see, we can head there afterwards. Then, we begin our little hunt!"

 

[joshuadim]

"Yeah see, that's the issue. I don't want to get shot by the Mad Dog I want an autograph!" Kane retorted to Jester with annoyance as he crossed his arms, pouting like a child almost. "But I guess getting shot would be kindof like an autograph..." He mused the possibility before shaking his head roughly: "Fuck, I don't like getting shot in general! Even if I can heal from it!" He pointed to his behind where he had previously been shot in order to drive the point home with regards to the situation. Then came the subject of their next destination, as Jester cited the need to fix her hardware after their last encounter.

"Been there a few times on business. Once I had to deal with a Grell drug smuggler because he was trafficking into enemy territory and undercutting their business." Kane then said, already getting lost in telling the story before he could be shut up. "Bastard ran through three levels and dumped a tank full of Raigar urine onto my feet before I caught up to him. Beat the crap out of him first before shooting him in the head for ruining perfectly good boots. You know that Raigar urine has chemical properties that never dissipate? Means it stinks forever too. Can't be washed out."

Kane then took a deep breath as he nodded: "I do have someone to visit there. I'll keep it a surprise for you, so that we have more fun when we get around to it."

 

[Infab]

"Yeah see, that's the issue. I don't want to get shot by the Mad Dog I want an autograph!" Kane retorted to Jester with annoyance as he crossed his arms, pouting like a child almost. "But I guess getting shot would be kind of like an autograph..." He mused the possibility before shaking his head roughly: "Fuck, I don't like getting shot in general! Even if I can heal from it!" He pointed to his behind where he had previously been shot in order to drive the point home with regards to the situation.

"Hey, scars from gunshot wounds are like permanent autographs. You never lose them! At least, if you're fleshy." Jester responded, with a giggle. "I've been shot by Miranda three times!"

She nodded along at the comment about Raigar urine. Yeah, its disgusting. Stains everything, can't get it out. Horrid smell. She had stepped in some before, and had to replace her feet. She often wore boots now if she was going somewhere messy, in order to prevent needing costly replacements.

"I do have someone to visit there. I'll keep it a surprise for you, so that we have more fun when we get around to it."

"Ooooh, I do like surprises." responded to Jester. She then looked up at the ceiling again. “Alice.” said Jester aloud, forcing a small holographic representation of the ship's AI to appear on the table before her. The AI gave Kane a slight bow, tipping their top hat, before looking back to Jester.

“Yes, ma’am?”

“Set a course for Shadespear Terminal."

“Shadespear Terminal, ma'am? Blackwell's Reavers frequent the location, along with dozens of bounty hunters. If they find out you're there, in your current condition...” replied Alice, her voice filling with worry as she spoke.

“I know, Alice. There’s a man there I need to have a chat with about my repairs. He'll fix me up, we'll visit my associate's friend, then we'll leave.” was Jester’s response. She knew what she was doing. She knew that Valkyrie and her bunch wouldn’t be there. They were too busy poking and prodding at Sol's shipping lanes at the moment. As for the bounty hunters, it was a risk she was willing to take.

More excitement for her to revel in.


If there was ever something to stand as an example of how unprepared the Federation was when dealing with the Renegade Quadrant, it was Shadespear Terminal. Formerly a Federation Naval Outpost, used as a deployment station for Navy ships and Naval Troopers, the station was captured by pirates united under the command of one Captain Achill Shadespear during the system-wide Battle of Streg. Gostoth, the planet the station orbited, was littered with the ruins of both Federation and Pirate vessel alike from the battle for the station. In the end, the Federation lost the battle, and was forced to retreat from the system to a newer location closer to the fortress world of Ker. In honor of his leadership and ultimate victory, the pirate factions named the station after Shadespear.

Pirates were a rowdy bunch to be around. Sure, they were all criminals and outlaws, but they had few things most other criminals didn't. Like, for example, a sense of comradery and loyalty. You weren’t in things for yourself. You were in it for your captain and crew. The different bands of pirates didn’t care much for one another, and often devolved into fighting one another at times. But if something proved to be a big enough threat to their lives and freedom, they’d put their differences aside to fight it together.

Jester herself had founded a pirate group, alongside one Valencia Blackwell. Valkyrie, or Valk, as most called her. A born pirate, as both her parents were pirates too, she grew their group overtime till it became one of the more powerful groups in the southern half of the Renegade Quadrant. Of course, Jester wanted to use the group for a different kind of thing later on. Turn it more into a criminal mercenary faction instead of a pirate group. She even tried to kill Valencia, in order to get her way.

Didn’t work out so well, but really that was all Jester’s fault.

She liked Valencia too much, and ended up toying with her more than actually trying to kill her. Valencia won the battle, slicing her arms and legs off before shipping her off to Sol space in an escape pod. Sol's military captured her, and sent her off to a maximum-security prison on Titan's surface.

Cold place, that one. The escape was fun, though. Took a few years to plan, but she managed to pull it off. Now, years later, she was back here at Shadespear once again. This time, she was simply looking for repairs instead of jobs for her pirate underlings or new toys to let them play with.

The station came into view in the White Rabbit’s view-ports. slowly spinning around in orbit over the stormy world of Gostoth. It always reminded Jester of a Sol child’s toy. The spinning tops that you could use a plastic ripcord to launch. Supposedly the station had large folding arms, at one point, for the Federation’s larger warships to dock with. Those were lost in the battle for the station long ago. Can’t refuel and repair a warship if it can’t dock with the station.

Docking was easy enough for smaller ships, since there were actually spacious landing bays forming a ring around the ship’s disc-like top. Once cleared by Docking Control, you were assigned a landing bay to land in. Simple. And that landing bay was yours until you departed from the station. Crews would refuel your ship and fix up any external hull damage for a fee, but otherwise people would leave your vessel alone. You were free to move about the station after disembarking, though it was commonly pointed out that the Administration, Maintenance, and Security sectors were off-limits to visitors unless otherwise stated.

Neither of those places Jester intended to visit anytime soon.

Alice handled the landing procedures, chatting with the tower for a few moments before being assigned a landing bag. Landing Bay B-12. The landing bays were separated into four quadrants: A, B, C, and D respectively. Each quadrant had twenty-five bays. There were also larger bays for freighters and other shipping vessels, but those were considered part of the Maintenance sector further down the stations central spire.

The White Rabbit circled the station till it arrived at the intended quadrant, then located Bay 12. It looked as if it had been freshly cleaned. Jester gazed out the view-port, looking about the bay as the ship floated through the open doorway. A few moments later, the White Rabbit would set down on the bay's floor. The massive set of blast doors that sealed the bay off from the vacuum of space began to move, Jester listening as the four hunks of reinforced steel moved along their tracks until they interlocked and sealed shut.

An alarm sounded as soon as the doors finished sealing, loudly chiming four times before a high pitched hiss could be heard across the bay. The atmosphere was being normalized, the room filling with breathable air. When the hissing finally ceased, the alarm sounded twice more. Signaling that the room’s atmosphere changes were complete, and that one could disembark from their vessel.

Soon, Jester did just that. As she rode down on the ship’s elevator with Kane, emerging into the landing bay, she looked back up into the bowels of the ship. “Alice, you know what to do.” she said simply.

“Of course, ma'am. Lockdown engaged.”

There were several audible noises and clicks across the ship, as Alice engaged the White Rabbit’s defensive lockdown procedure. Nobody but Jester could get in and use anything now. Jester didn’t particularly like it when people boarded her ship, let alone even touch it. It was her’s, and her’s alone. Kane was an exception at the moment, as he was a work partner for the time being.

As she and Kane stepped off the elevator, the elevator quickly rose back up behind them into the ship. Then, as it finally arrived, sealed with a loud click. The ship was now completely locked up. Perfect. She’d have to remember to bring Alice something nice. Maybe some more music? She seemed to like that. There was music shop in the Market Sector she was heading to, so that’d be a perfect place to stop by. After her repairs, of course.

For that, she'd need to swing by Neelix's shop.

 

[joshuadim]

The smells were all too familiar for Kane as he took a deep breath, relishing in the grime of a place like this; it was like Merglod, but only half as good because the station was lacking in good Wortax grub and didn't have an establishment half as decent as Hades. Still, given their circumstances beggars couldn't be choosers and besides the one thing this place DID have was something Merglos was missing. The masked mercenary got giddy just thinking about it as he clapped his hands in anticipation once he got off the White Rabbit with Jester, who stood out like a sore thumb due to her current physical condition.

Kane was fortunately blessed with a fully regrown arm that, aside from the occasional cramp, worked like new. "So, guessin' you got a ripperdoc here who'll fix you up? Must be a crazy motherfucker to deal with someone with billions in bounty on her head. Risky business considering the types that walk through here..."

He darted his head to the side, as if observing something *dramatically* before returning his gaze back to Jester. "Bounty hunters always come knocking."

 

[Infab]

"So, guessin' you got a ripperdoc here who'll fix you up? Must be a crazy motherfucker to deal with someone with billions in bounty on her head. Risky business considering the types that walk through here... Bounty hunters always come knocking."

"Oh, of course! You can't imagine how many hunters I've run into just on this station." responds Jester, giving Kane a smile. "None like the Mad Dog, of course, but each were still memorable in their own ways!"

As they departed from the hangar, they would find themselves stepping out onto a large platform being held aloft by a large mechanical arm. This arm would move the platform out away from the hanger, before swinging it around to the central pillar where the large elevator was waiting. The elevator, once they boarded it, would ascend to the market district of the station. As the doors opened, following the short ride, the pair would notice that there weren't many people out and about as there normally was. Jester checked the time. Ah, there was the reason. It was technically still morning here. Some of the shops likely weren't open just yet.

"We're looking for Neelix’s Cybernetic Emporium. The owner's the one that can fix me up." said Jester, glancing to Kane. "You'll have to hang out somewhere in the market, however. He's sort of... picky about having too many people in the back with him."




“No.”

Jester’s facial expression shifted to a look of confusion. “No?” she asked, as she stepped further into the shop.

Neelix’s Cybernetic Emporium was less of a store and more of a messy mechanic's shop situated between a shop that sold body armor to sketchy customers and a Kanad-owned plasma shop. A simple sign hung out front, with the shop’s name written in a few different languages. The primary language it was written in being of Rakeed origin, as Neelix himself was a Rakeed. Short, furry, buck teeth. Rabbit-like, in a way.

Jester had visited Neelix a few times in the past, to the point where he knew her by name and knew usually what she wanted when it came to tuning up her cybernetics. It had been a few years since their last encounter, however, and now she wondered if it was because of some unfinished business that he was now refusing to repair and service her cybernetics.

“Neelix, I'm offering to pay you up front, full price for repairs. I have the credits for it.” she said, moving through the shop.

Neelix never really kept it clean. Too many projects that he was often in the middle of working on. Drones, cybernetic body parts that had been dropped off for repairs or tinkering, firearms being taken apart so that they could be implanted in a cybernetic limb. Most of the tables were covered in tools, metal, pseudo-plastics, jars of coolant or other materials. A full-sized, six-foot-tall drone was currently on the table before him, his back to Jester as she moved towards him. The drone’s chest was open wide, Neelix fooling with something inside relating to the drone’s core.

“Doesn’t matter. Still no.” was his response, moving his head about as he looked over the drone’s core. Multi-tool gripped in hand.

Jester paused, tilting her head. Credits always mattered, especially to Neelix. Name a high enough price, and he'd be open to most anything. She grew more puzzled.

“…Is this because of that little deal with the arm cannon? I told you I'd make it up to you. Already working on something nice regarding that. Just need to find some uncut gems.” said Jester, motioning a finger towards the Rakeed.

Neelix glanced back for a moment, giving Jester a scrutinizing look, before shaking his head and returning to the drone. “No, Jester. Its not because of that.” he muttered.

He soon sighed, before glancing back again. “You've been blacklisted by the station's administrators. Nobody here will talk to you beyond offering you the fuel and supplies to leave the station.” he said, “I'm not supposed to be talking to you, but you’re a regular. I have to at least let you know what’s going on.”

Jester’s raised an eyebrow. Administration blacklisted her? Why? Was it because of what happened between her and the Reavers? Was it because of the massive bounty now on her head?

“Did they give you a reason as to why I was blacklisted?” she asked, her face taking on a more serious expression.

“No. Administration didn’t tell us. But they threatened to boot us off the station if we did business with you.” responded Neelix.

Jester looked aside, eyes washing over a table next to her. She couldn’t do anything here. No repairs, no supplies, no weapons or ammo, nothing. All because of administrative blacklisting. No reason was given, either!

The very concept of that… irritated her.

Jester slowly moved forwards, till she was directly behind Neelix. Soon, her hand came to rest on his shoulder. The Rakeed froze, looking up and dropping his multi-tool into the drone’s open chest cavity.

“Neelix…you’re not lying to me, are you?” she said softly, her tone calm. Almost pleasant.

Neelix began to faintly shiver. Shaking under Jester’s metal hand.

“N-No, Jester. I'm not. Y-You can ask any of the other s-shop owners."

“Right… and they likely wouldn’t talk to me if I tried. That is, if what you say is true.”

“Y-Yeah. And i-its true.”

“Mhm. Okay…”

Her grip on his shoulder gently began to tighten. He could hear the metal of her fingers rubbing against his clothes as they squeezed.

“Neelix… do you like breathing?”

Neelix’s shivering increased. True fear was settling in. He swallowed hard.

“Y-Y-Yes. I do.”

“Mhm. And do you want to keep breathing?”

“J-J-Jester, plea--"

Her grip suddenly tightened hard. He could feel the fingers dig into his shoulder. Pressing into the muscle and bones. He could almost hear the bones scrubbing together.

“It’s a yes-or-no question, Neelix.”

“Y-Yes! I d-do!”

“Then how about a trade, Neelix? You repair my cybernetics, and you’ll get to keep your lungs. You can keep breathing. Doesn’t that sound nice? I'll even toss in some credits for the hard work!”

He went to say something, but soon heard a loud crunch. Something had fractured in his shoulder. Tears streamed down his face, dripping off matted fur onto the drone before him. He tried to clutch at her hand, but her grip was too tight.

She was intending to crush his bones to dust.

“O-Okay! OKAY! P-PLEASE! Please s-stop!” he cried out, trying to pry her hand off.

She smiled, her grip loosening and finally releasing his shoulder. “Good boy. I'll be in my usual place.” she said, her empty eyes practically staring holes in the back of his head.

--- --- --- ---​

The repairs to Jester’s body took around three hours. Prior to the job, Neelix closed his shop up so that nobody knew what he was doing. He also took a shot of nanites to the shoulder, to repair the damage Jester had done.

The entire time he moved about his shop, Jester watched from her table. Sitting up with her pistol resting in her lap. It was tightly gripped in her remaining hand. Loaded, racked. Ready to be used. She wore a faint smile the whole time, but she maintained that same empty gaze.

She only laid down while he was doing the repairs. Repairing internal damage, mending holes, repairing the shoulder damage and attaching a new shoulder joint and arm. Just a stand-in till she could get a new one. Her leg had also been mended, so she could walk without a limp. During the repairs, Jester leveled her pistol at the Rakeed's head.

Just in case he did something amusing.

Once the repairs were done, Jester sat up. She looked her body over, taking in the scope of the repairs to her shoulder and leg. She soon nodded, flipping the safety into place on her pistol before slipping it into its slot in her thigh.

“Excellent work, Neelix. As always.” she muttered, sliding off the table and standing up. She squatted a few times, then hopped twice in place. Then, she rolled her repaired arm about in its socket. All good!

Neelix remained silent, looking to the floor as he moved back over to the drone he had been working on earlier.

“And, as promised…” she whispered to herself, tapping on her neck and looking over the HUD that appeared in her vision. Neelix would then hear a ding coming from his computer nearby. He had been paid.

“Fifty thousand credits.” said the cyborg, glancing Neelix’s way before turning about. “See you around, Neelix. Sorry about the shoulder!”

“Fuck you.” was his near silent response, as she departed for the front of the shop. She heard him, of course, and her smile widened. Time to find Kane... wherever he had wandered off to.

 

[joshuadim]

In a storage section of Shadespear Terminal, a slightly pudgy man with an impressive beard walked with two guards by his side as he oversaw the smuggling operation that he was heading out of this region of the sector. It certainly made Jared Poller a wealthy man and it also gave him plenty of underworld cred with the amount of product he moved within a single solar cycle, though it also made him a target for competitors. Which is why he had hired Kane on that fateful job in the first place, to *deal* with that competition; but unfortunately for him, he had also hired Dante as additional muscle that ended up backfiring on the former in order to get the entire payment for himself. Mercenary work was a dog-eat-dog world after all, and it was difficult to count on one hand how many real friends Kane had who wouldn't backstab him for a payday.

But the blame went to Poller at the foremost due to his hiring process in the first place. "Nice to see you Jared!" Kane said with glee as he lay in a model's pose atop a tall collection of cargo containers. The callout made the man, and his guards, stumble briefly as they searched for the voice before looking upwards in surprise. "I'll take a footlong. *Fully loaded.*" the mercenary then said, firing a finger gun up in the air for additional dramatic flair. Poller didn't take long to run as his guards opened fire on Kane, thus alerting the entire vicinity of the mercenary's presence. More bodies rushed in to protect their boss with their guns drawn as Kane jumped down, tanking a few gunshots to the torso, as he brought a dagger straight into one man's head before leaving the other to a quick gunshot to the chest that burst out the other end.

Poller could only hear screams and gunfire as he ran through his turf, seeking the safety of his panic room. He had rarely ever used it in the past, given how brazen it would be for anyone to dare tread on him in such a manner. An explosion ripped through the storage area from a grenade, the shock of which made Jared stumble and fall onto his hands and knees before continuing to make a beeline for safety. And just as it seemed that it was within reach of sanctuary, he was tackled from behind and forced into a tumbling roll into the panic room. He looked in terror to see Kane standing above him, with a smug look passing under his mask.

"Remember me?"

"Mr. Walker...?" Jared asked, stuttering over his words. "Y-you're looking very alive-"

"Hah! I wouldn't really call what I have *living* right now... but that's not what I'm here for."

Kane knelt down, putting his face closer to the other man's: "I think it's about time we have a little *chat* about that job you sent me on."

"I... I'll tell you whatever! I'll pay whatever!"

"Oh I *know* you will, but first..." Kane says before turning to you, ushering you towards a scene cut. "You might wanna look away for this."

 

[Infab]

Just as Neelix had said, none of the shops in the market would do business with her. Not even the diners and other restaurants. It honestly surprised her just how thorough they were being with this blacklisting. What had she even done? She’d likely never know. But it seemed like Shadespear Terminal would be a bust for the foreseeable future in regards to… well, everything.

As she took the stairs down, instead of the lift, she would notice something as she emerged onto one of the lower Market floors. Often these lower floors would see a lot of activity, as the more popular bars and restaurants were down here compared to the shopping area above. There would often be people wandering about from all over. Pirates, criminals, mercs, bounty hunters, and so on.

There was nobody down here. At least where she was, near some kind of barbecue joint and a small Ayr-run bar. Where was the crowd? The noise?

She paused mid-stride. Her pistol popped out from her thigh, allowing her to simply grasp its grip and pull it out before the slot closed itself. As she lowered her foot back to the floor, standing up straight, her eyes moved about. Darting here and there as her combat HUD switched on in her vision. Nifty little program.

She soon heard the faint but still audible whine of a laser pistol's battery being popped into place. Then, a jet pack's ignition. A jet pack? Indoors? She knew of two people that used a jet pack, both bounty hunters, and only one of them used non-lethal means of dealing with targets. A laser pistol was certainly lethal, if you hit the right parts.

However, she then heard a second jet pack come to life. She cocked an eyebrow. Both of them are here? Aren't I lucky?

"Alright. Starlight, Hot Shot, come on out." she then called out, a wide grin appearing on her face afterwards.

Silence. At least, for a few moments.

Eventually, she heard footsteps. Metal clacking against metal from one direction, and leather boots on metal from the other. Her head shifted a bit, back and forth. Looking between the two approaching individuals, across the open space between the Ayr bar and barbecue joint.

Starlight was clad in her typical power suit, painted mostly black and grey with some gold trim. A cyan colored light gleamed brightly within its chest, standing out as the suit's shielded power core. The visor of her helmet covered her eyes, while the helmet hid most of her purple colored hair save for a few strands hanging near her temples and down over the back of her neck. The stick of a lollipop jutted from her mouth, her black painted lips contorted into a smirk as she gazed upon Jester.

"Ah, Starlight. You're looking great. Still doing the whole 'non-lethal' thing?" asked Jester, waving her pistol in Starlight's direction.

Starlight chuckled, shifting her lollipop into the corner of her mouth before speaking. "Yeah! Aiming to set a record, don't ya know?" she responded, "Most targets brought in alive, using only non-lethal means!"

"Cute!" said Jester, "If anyone can do it, its you!" She then shifted her attention to the other individual. "Hey there, Hot Shot! I don't think we've formally met, but I've certainly heard some great things about you!"

Wanda 'Hot Shot' Thomas approached cautiously, her retro-inspired laser pistol leveled at Jester. The woman looked like she had just stepped out of a old comic book, wearing an old school bomber jacket, tan pants, and black boots. Her forearms were covered in metal gauntlets, painted a shiny silver and brass. A white scarf was wrapped around her neck, hiding her skin from view as it met the base of the helmet she was wearing. The helmet itself also silver and brass colored, with a smooth faceplate featuring two black rectangular eye holes for her to see out of. Two wing-like ornaments jutted off the sides, sweeping back behind her head, and a visor poked over her faceplate much like the brim of a baseball cap. On her back, a sleek silver and brass colored jet pack. Everything about her was retro-inspired, reminding one of the era of Art-Deco or dieselpunk.

"You're under arrest, Jester." she responded, her voice augmented slightly by her helmet. "Please, come quietly or we will use force. No funny business."

Jester chuckled, before looking back to Starlight. "Is... Is she serious?" she asked.

Starlight sighed, then nodded. "Yeah, she's serious. She's pretty new to this." she said. "I've been assigned to watch her during her first few hunts. Miranda was busy."

"Aw, that's a shame." responded Jester. "It would have been nice to see Miranda again! Catch up on a few things, dance a little, you know... the usual."

She then shifted her attention back to Hot Shot, who looked like she was about to have a fit because of how Starlight was talking about her. She chuckled again, then spoke. "Well, Hot Shot, I like funny business. But I'll go easy on you. You're new to this, after all!"

​

A moment later, Jester's arm snapped about. Her pistol was now seemingly pointed in Hot Shot's direction. However, when she fired the shot, it darted past her arm and instead hit the side of her exposed jet pack. A concentrated jet of fire erupted from the jet pack, making a high pitched squeal as the fuel was being burned up and shot out the side.

"Shit SHIT SHIT SHIT SH--" spat Hot Shot, quickly moving to tear the potential bomb from her back. As she tossed it away from her, down the hallway behind her, she spun back around to see that Jester had closed the distance between them. A bicycle kick was delivered, Jester's foot colliding with the brim of her helmet and sending it towards the ceiling. Straight off her head.

A wide-eyed, now shocked woman was beneath it, with a strawberry blonde pixie cut and bright blue eyes. Cute! She even has freckles! The next thing Hot Shot knew, her legs had been yanked out from beneath her by one of Jester's own with the brief collision of their shins. Hot Shot face-planted, her nose colliding with the floor and breaking.

As she rolled over, attempting to get away from Jester, she quickly shouted "FUCKING HELP ME, STARLIGHT!" Blood from her nose ran down her face, dripping off her chin as she tried to quickly crawl away and clamber to her feet.

Jester cut a glance to Starlight, who simply shook her head. "Nope. No way. I pick my battles, and this isn't one of them. I told you before you took the job that you were picking the wrong one to try and bag." responded Starlight, folding her arms. "Jester's one of those you either have to be really good or really crazy to go after."

"See? She understands! Its why we're on good terms!" says Jester, grinning again. "She leaves me to people like Miranda! Miranda and I go... WAY way back, you know. I knew her parents, and her grandparents, and even her great grandparents! I even fought her great grandparents at one point! Though, she doesn't know that. Hell... really nobody that's still around knows that, save for one of your bounty brokers!"

Jester quickly marched after Hot Shot, quickly grabbing her by her leg before she could stand up fully. With a swift yank, she pulled her back to the floor, before dragging her away from Starlight. "Nah-ah-ah!~" chuckled Jester, sounding giddy about the whole ordeal. "We're not done!~"

Then, suddenly, she felt three laser shots pelt her back. She froze, glancing over her shoulder at Hot Shot. "Did... Did you just try to shoot me?" she soon asked, looking to the pistol clutched in Hot Shot's hand. "...Are you using a low wattage pistol?"

This made Jester laugh even more. The shots had done virtually no damage to her. Instead, it simply left three black scorch marks on her metal body. Hot Shot looked horrified, looking to the weapon in her hand.

Jester dropped her leg, turning to face her as she laughed. "You are just too cute!~" she managed to say through her laughter, as she stepped over next to her. A moment later, Jester's hand reached down, grabbed Hot Shot by the jacket, and lifted her straight off the ground. She took a few steps to the side, simply carrying the woman by her jacket, before pressing her against the wall.

"Listen, Hot Shot... I feel bad for you, so I'll give you a few pointers, okay?" said Jester, as her laughter died down. "My body is specially coated to withstand low wattage laser weapon strikes. I personally recommend avoiding lasers entirely, and shift to using a plasma weapon or kinetic weapon with anti-material ammunition. Gauss and Rail weaponry work as well, but you don't seem the type to use that sort of thing."

"My entire body is filled with all sorts of nifty tricks too! For example..." she continued, holding up her other hand and allowing her super-heated blade to slide out of her palm. "Hidden blades! Cool, eh? I can carve up all sorts of nice things with these..." As it slid back into her body, she smiled. "I also know martial arts. Hand-to-hand is not a good idea when fighting me, or someone like me."

"...W-Why are you telling me this? You exposing everything you have!" said Hot Shot, a mix of confusion and terror on her face as she stared down into Jester's face.

"Because of two things! One: I lost my mind a looooong time ago!" she said, grinning wildly, "And two: I want to make you a better hunter! You're cute! I don't want you getting killed because you decided to take another crack at me again later!"

She then gently set Hot Shot down on her feet, and reached up to brush off the shoulders of her jacket. She wiped the blood from Hot Shot's mouth, flicking it aside and brushing her hand off on her jacket. "There!" said Jester, smiling as she looked down at Hot Shot. Then, her expression shifted to one of contemplation. "Wait, I forgot something... Hmm... Ah! Yes!" she then said, holding up a finger.
Suddenly, Jester's fist collided with Hot Shot's jaw. That one punch forced the hunter to spin spun about in place, soon falling to the floor in a daze. "There! We're done, for the time being!" said Jester, her tone practically happy as she placed her hands on her hips. She glanced over to Starlight, raising an eyebrow. "Are you going to be alright with having to carry her out of here?"

"I'll throw some water on her once you're gone." responded the other hunter, shifting her stance. "Hope she takes the pointers. That or just doesn't try to come after you again."

"One can only hope!" replied Jester, with a chuckle. "Nice seeing you again, Starlight! Tell Miranda I'm oh so eagerly awaiting our next encounter!~" With that, Jester spun about, disappearing down the hallway on the Ayr bar side. Leaving Starlight to walk over and stare down at Hot Shot for a few moments.

"...You're going to chase her again. I just know it. Miranda's gonna be with you too, because I'm not." remarked Starlight, under her breath.


Its not long after that Jester find her way down to the storage area of the station. "So you're saying that he's down here somewhere?" mutters Jester, glancing between the various storage areas and containers.

"Yes, ma'am. He's in some sort of panic room, in Sector C. You're not far from it."

"Anyone with him?"

"Yes, ma'am. He seems to be torturing him."

"Ohhh! Torture!~" responded Jester, grinning. A short stroll, Jester moving between stacks of freight containers and through two hallways, brought her to a small area which seemed to be used for crews as a sort of break area. However, this break area seemed to have been repurposed for someone else entirely. She noticed emblems of the Poller family adorning the walls and a jacket hanging from the back of a chair.

"Ah, this must belong to Jared Poller's bunch." she muttered. "Even in space, the Mafia continues to do their thing. Smuggling being one of their trades." She glanced back at the storage containers behind her, before proceeding into a nearby door. Once she was inside, she could hear muffled voices coming from further in. A little exploration lead to a set of reinforced double doors, which she opened to find Kane.

"Ahhh, there's my Clyde!~" she said, her tone cheerful. "Just what do we have here? Are you having a little fun without me?"

 

[joshuadim]

The scene that greeted Jester was... gratuitous to say the least; Poller was stripped down to his underwear and tied to a chair, with blood staining his face and chest indicative of just how much Kane had gone to town on him. He, was, however, still alive as his unswollen eye looked towards the newcomer with fear - Kane on the other hand, looked rather calm and jubilant by his movements as he swung his arms from side to side in a lazy manner and let out a cackle. "Ah, Bonnie!~" Kane said, finishing her comment as he nodded over to his victim. "We were just going through couple's counselling y'know?" The masked merc then walked over to Poller and flicked his head playfully, leaving the man whimpering at what he thought was going to be another hit with a blunt object.

"Relationship issues... like how an employer screws over a hiree, ain't that right Jared?" Kane then asked rhetorically, which made the man sputter out with a bloodied mouth.

"I-I'm sorry... I'm sorry! O-okay!?"

"Oh I know you are honey bun." Kane replied sadistically, grabbing the man's face and forcing him to face him. "But, you see, there's a debt you owe still to me for getting me FUCKED UP on that job."

"I didn't know that he'd-" Jared started to say, but was stopped by a punch to his gut that made him spit out blood.

"Really now? You didn't KNOW that a sadistic, two-faced motherfucker like Dante wouldn't try to score a job for himself and try to cut me out?" Kane asked with annoyance, before turning to Jester. "Honestly, I've gotten most of the steam out of my system... what do you think I should do with this sack of shit?" he asked, walking over to Jester's side and observed his handiwork from a distance.