Cutlass Sharpened (44 page)

“
Right.” He wiped his lips
and the helmet closed around his mouth after. He flipped his sword
and cleaned much of the dripping gore from its edge. “Better safe
than sorry.” He kept his sword at the ready and went first down the
hole the Beasts crawled out of. Step by step was completely silent
and Netul was right behind Oliver, his clawed fingers ready to be
used to at least hold off any Beasts that may pass Oliver. Their
steps were soundless and though Renee tried, she could not stalk
without her boots making rubbery squeaks from the blood she could
not avoid.

The hall was thirty meters long and Oliver
heard the buzzing and beeping of technology, but no movement. They
kept going and his muscles were knotted, ready to lash out when
movement dared to come his way.

The floor was gouged by foot
and claw as if the metal were putty, but as Oliver reached the end,
he threw his back against the wall and peered around the corner.
Ahead opened into a rather spacious room where now stood three
hundred now open and empty cages stacked in a cube fashion. Cages
lined one wall of the room and he thought
I
killed a hundred and seventeen. I hope the rest of the cages were
empty. Better search and see if any dug their way out.

Before starting the search he looked to the
back wall and what he witnessed made his stomach lurch. Large,
clear tanks held people with major deformities suspended in a
bluish solution. He quickly counted sixty occupied tanks with power
and fluid exchanging cords attached to the bottom. On the right was
a row of holographic measuring consoles having to do with the sixty
specimens.

He said “Let me clear the area.” The two
nodded and waited ten minutes as every possible space was checked.
“All clear. None dug through and are in the walls.”

Renee grimaced as she and
Netul entered. She went straight for the nearest tank and cursed
“Damn, my chip still is deactivated.” She spun around and went to
the closest holo-screen and began pressing away. What she read made
her more angry than everything that happened today combined. “Olly,
please tell me I’m reading this wrong.
Please
… tell me I’m wrong.”

Sword still out and ready, he stepped away
from the individual in a clear submersion tank that made one think
of an oversized test tube. “What is it?”

“
These fuckers have not only
violated, but shattered more laws than I can imagine. They
kidnapped Netul, destroyed public records… but
this
is just abhorrent. They’ve been
experimenting with cloning and were splicing human and Beast DNA
atop of adding Keptl spores to infest these… these… things.” Renee
couldn’t find a better word. They’ve been taking samples from
highly compatible psionic people to clone and used the caged Beasts
to recombine human makeup and used Keptl spores as a catalyst to
bridge the barrier. And judging by this list, Wrangler was going to
clone me first, but then use my body to see if his research needed
a true individual should my clone reject his
experiment.”

‘
Sacrilege!’ Netul’s eyes
were murderously scarlet. Literally glowing dark red. ‘We must
destroy these abominations and end their suffering.’

“
Give me a minute. I need to
download this for evidence. This terminal is separate from the
prison’s network. They would have wiped it remotely if possible.”
Renee announced as she tapped the vertical screen quickly and
though she couldn’t consciously activate her chip, it would always
run and therefore could fully download every aspect of these
unlawful trials. A line of percentage slid across the screen till
she got confirmation the downloaded copy was transferred directly
into her chip. “Alright. Now I’ll purge and fry the whole system.
You two need to back to the hall. This place is lined with
disassembling nanite charges, which when released will destroy all
traces of what is going on in here down to the cellular level.”
They left quickly and she initiated a one minute timer to bolt as
fast as her legs would carry her. “GO!” she yelled when they
stopped to wait on her. They left the Beasts behind and got far
away.

Inside the room a series of brown puffs, like
thick smoke, filled the air and crystal nanites destroyed all
traces of any wrongdoing.

No more words were spoken as they were much
more cautious leaving Level Two and One behind.

They reached the uppermost door that read
‘Prisoner Intake’ and when it didn’t open, Oliver used the cutlass
master key. With a kick the door fell in.

“
Welcome to your last
moments of life.” Came the evil gravelly voice of Warden Wrangler
standing alone on the cage elevator. The overgrown and grotesque
man stood in an armored flight suit colored completely black and it
made Oliver wonder who had the stomach to measure the custom made
the suit. He also wondered if the elevator would send them straight
back to the bottom.

“
You aren’t going to get
away with all you’ve done. You are supposed to uphold the law, not
break it.” Renee shook in rage as seeing him made everything come
flooding back with a vengeance.

Oliver said through his helmet “Netul, take
Renee outside while I deal with this. I can’t have you two be
caught in the crossfire.”

She didn’t protest, retaining enough rational
thought to see the wisdom in it.

Oliver crouched, his sword hung back and was
still as a statue. Even Wrangler could understand that such
stillness held no anger or fear. Such stillness reflected calm
assurance that one of them would not be leaving the cage.

“
Let’s see who’s the better
man, Boy.” Wrangler’s eyes grew doubly brighter as he held out both
hands which instantly unleashed a lightning strike straight
ahead.

Oliver rolled away as the lightning left a
white hot scar in the wall which near instantly melted and flowed
like water. He made it to his feet and sprang to the roof, missing
the second blast of pinpoint energy. He rotated like a cat landing
on his feet as the roof became a floor for a moment. Wrangler’s
anger ignited as a third and much larger beam left his palm. But
Oliver was already moving too fast for Wrangler’s mind to process
as a gaping hole was left in the ceiling. Oliver absently was
reminded of the Fire Wyrm as he dodged strike after strike. He
learned to never stand still from that painful battle. Wrangler
though believed solely in brute force and could not move as
Oliver’s plan to disorientate the warden worked perfectly.

He leapt off the wall long before another
beam of blue-white electricity hit where he vacated and before the
behemoth of a man could respond he found himself unable to raise
his overlarge arms. His curious gaze fell to the ground as from
just above the elbow joint they gushed a fountain of crimson from
being cleanly cut off. “No!!!” Wrangler roared with nubs as he
turned, gathering energy in his mouth and unleashing constant
stream at Oliver.

So distracted with losing his limbs and
trying to kill the bouncing pest he never saw Netul running up from
behind, his misting eyes ready to unleash over six decades of
gathered rage. He kicked out Wrangler’s knees from behind, grabbed
his massive head of black hair and slammed it into the floor with
all the strength in his body. And he didn’t stop. ‘Wham!’ ‘Wham!’
skull met steel floor. Netul used both hands in the hair and
hammered his enemy’s face like a child with a ball learning to
dribble just as fast as they can. He unleashed his anger at long
last and was returning the favors that would never be enough
compensation.

Oliver cleaned his blade and suit before
sheathing and going to Renee who showed no remorse for Wrangler’s
overdue lesson.

Netul knew he couldn’t enjoy it, Wrangler’s
severed arms were rapidly hemorrhaging and death by blood loss was
too good a way to go. He kicked the man on his back and tore the
suit down to expose his chest. Wrangler’s nose and all his front
teeth were missing, but even through the pain Netul saw he was
still watching. Stiffening his three clawed fingers, Netul drove
them in Wrangler’s softer middle and ruthlessly shoved his entire
arm up into the chest cavity and took hold of the rapidly beating
heart, griped it and ripped it straight out as the man screamed
like a dying bull. He dropped the ripped out meat to the ground and
signed away.

“
He hopes you get lost in
the thereafter as your energy leaves your body.” Oliver translated
as the warden was given absolute justice.

Renee said “We need to still be careful. We
might not be so easily be allowed to leave.”

Netul turned to Oliver again. ‘Help me with
one more thing…’

Oliver didn’t need more than that. “Show
me.”

Netul’s gaze went back to azure and pointed
to a door behind the elevator bars and those were easily bypassed.
Several guards dropped their weapons as the three of them boldly
walked along. Seeing a massive man in silver and black armor
carrying a sword, a Creelin covered in human blood and a rather
pissed off redhead had them not resisting. Netul though stopped at
a door reading ‘Storage’ which opened and he took a direct path to
the back of the organized room. He stopped at a rather large sealed
silver box and pointed. Oliver cut the locks.

Inside were large, multiple pieces of robust
gold. He first undid the hay rope holding the man’s sensitive hair
back and lifted a ring that was more like a large armlet. A
warrior’s Cultio. He gathered the long, waist length black strands
and fit the ring around the base. As soon as it was on it began to
grow and cover all the way up to the base of his skull. It looked
like a golden spike, or a helmet made specifically for his
antennae. Netul then grabbed a pair of gold, plated armor leggings
and slid them on. Torso armor had excessively wide shoulders and
was artfully designed, as if he wore an undershirt beneath sleek
framework. He grabbed two golden vambraces of his own, but they
were solid and smooth. A wide slit over the top suddenly released a
meter and a half long psionic blue blade so dense it had substance.
Netul seemed beyond relieved to have melee weapons again as they
disappeared back. Last inside was a large oval shield he lifted
with one hand.

It was half his own size and the moment Renee
recognized the symbol etched into the polished gold she said in
little more than a whisper “Netul, you’re a Zeelin Beyleez?” the
Creelin nodded as he now stood immensely more profound than in
nothing other than a loincloth.

“
A what?” Oliver asked
her.

“
Zeelin Beyleez…” Her eyes
were round. “His people let us know their society rank and the
Zeelin are like our Marines. Soldiers. Beyleez to us humans is the
rank of a six star general in theirs, the highest there is… and
that means he’s not only seen over ten thousand years, but his
Psionic prowess can literally tear entire continents apart if their
Archiver leaders grant permission to use such force… and given a
week… he can destroy an entire world.

“
Nice.” Oliver laughed and
the two gave him a peculiar look. He didn’t explain and rather said
“Let’s get you back home, Netul.”

Now fully armed, Netul took the lead and they
returned to the gravity cage elevator and it was Netul’s right arm
blade which cut then clean through the scanner door this time, out
the changing room and off into the wide processing room. Guards
paused and didn’t move a muscle seeing Netul now ready and able to
defend himself. Add to it Oliver’s and Renee’s deadly appearance
and none thought about going for their blasters.

They moved out an airlock
and as the outer doors opened Oliver and Renee both heard a man’s
rather soft voice speak and found it was Netul in their
minds.
“At long last I’m free of that
wretched psionic suppression field.”
The
open door showed it was completely night outside. A strong, cool
breeze hit their bodies and not a single shuttle was anywhere on
the landing deck.
“Now that I may at last
speak I want to say it was an honor to have met you… You’ve given
me my freedom as well as renewed hope for the future. We are now
bonded in battle, a bond more binding than siblings. Before I leave
I need to ask your intentions regarding this damned
facility?”

Renee came forward to breathe inwardly deep
as she felt her own power back as well as her chip being
reactivated outside the secure zone. “Believe me, Netul, I’m going
to make damn sure everyone responsible for this situation will be
accountable and publically hung. I know you want to vaporize this
entire place and I know I would if I suffered and rotted away for
sixty grueling years, but send your senses to the guards inside.
Only two supervisors were aware of you and the experiments. The
rest still believe what they are doing is justice for society. I
beg you, show mercy on them.”

Netul gave her a flat look
before thinking to them
“Very well. I find
your words true. I had assumed they all knew that grave laws were
broken, but most minds are wondering why I and yourselves were in
here and why the warden is dead. If I have your vow that the
information you hold will be sent to the proper authorities of your
people, I will not exact further vengeance.”

“
I promise.”

Netul nodded.
“Then our accord is made. We will meet again one
day. May it be again in battle.”
He put an
arm across his chest, bowed and looked up into the stars before
closing his eyes.

Next thing Oliver and Renee see is a blinding
white flash and in the next is that Netul was gone.