Maks had to actively control his emotions and maintain his calm as he opened the door to his room. The half second which it too for the door to open wide enough for him to enter seemed like an unbearable eternity. He lunged into the room as soon as the way was clear and headed straight for his holster, his memory of where he had placed it serving the urgency of his mission well. As soon as he had slung the practical accessory over his shoulders for the second time that day, he realized how absolutely absurd it made him look when combined with his athletic outfit.
For a brief moment he toyed with the idea of taking a few more seconds to change back into his T-shirt and jeans, but the obvious sound of a gunshot and a scream back from where he had just come quickly dispelled that idea. His heart starting to race and his rate of breath speeding up, he drew his pistol and lunged back out the still open door. He sprinted down the hall as quickly as he could while maintaining control, back to the common room. He entered with his pistol raised and ready, prepared for the worst.
Verulo lay on the floor in a pool of blood. He growled at the plaid tied, and black haired rogue agent while crutching his wounded right arm. “Damn–” The rogue agent fired again, this time in Verulo’s leg, which caused the vulpine scientist to scream in pain and agony. “Now, now, Doctor Telikro. Such language is very unbecoming of a scientist of your caliber.”
“Go to hell!”
“Actually, I don’t believe in heaven or hell.” He shot Verulo, but this time, intentionally missing the vulpine’s head. Verulo began to vomit blood. “Not feeling good are we? Too bad for you, I need you alive, well, for awhile. Your genius is just what we need to overthrow the monarchy and restore Vulshain to a democratic republic once more.”
“With you in charge!?”
The rogue DIEIS agent thought for a moment. “You know, that idea never crossed my mind. I’ll have to think about it. Of course, I like being a spy. It’s much more exciting. Oh who’s that coming?”
Verulo turned, hissing in pain as he saw Maks and Iwelinin running towards. “Maks! Iwelinin! Stay away, he’ll kill you!”
“You forgot to include everyone else,” the black-tinted glasses-wearing agent reminded him, causing to Verulo to curse under his breath.
Iwelinin was busy doing sit-ups when she heard the gunshot and the screams. She quickly began getting ready, grabbing her pistol and a Uzi, just in case. She came outside and saw Maks running down the hallway. She followed him. Her eyes widened. “Oh God, Maks! What has that bastard done to Verulo?”
Mason shook his head. “What does a being a scientist have anything to do with this. Put the speargun down. I can tell you right now, if you keep prolonging this and I don’t come back with that thing? They will just nuke this lab and the base that was accidentally transported here,” He was bluffing of course, but he had to find a way to get it into the mutts head that it would be better to work with him than against him. He took a few more steps but stopped as he saw the vulpine almost flinch at every footstep
More gunshots rang out from the room ahead. "Seems like someone is going to die hear, if you start cooperating I might be able to help. He could try to shoot her, but he didn’t know what her reaction time would be in this situation and he really didn’t feel like testing it. “Come on let it go. Letting me have that won’t affect you in anyway.”
“But if they bomb this lab… other nations would surely be mad!” she bit her lower lip as she backed up a few steps, clearly faltering in her will. “How can I trust you won’t use it for ill intent? It… it should be studied first! It…” suddenly, she stopped her train of thought, as it was clearly blowing past the stations in her head out of fear and nervousness. “Base? What base? You mean… you mean those buildings in the crevasse out there?” Pulling her glasses back up, she suddenly appeared to be in thought as she lowered her weapon slightly.
Mason took advantage of Elana’s confusion and ran up to her, ripping the spear gun out of her hand and punching her full force in the chest. He disassembled the spear gun with blinding speed throwing the parts across the hallway and then pulled out his sub machine gun. “Okay I’ve had enough of your bullshit,” He walked back to Laura and picked her up slinging her over his shoulder. Pointing the gun at Elana he forced her up as well. “In to the common room, now!” He said shoving her in there. The scene was that of ridiculousness, several people with guns stood around with one aiming at another bleeding on the floor. Dropping Laura on the floor got everyone’s attention, the sights of his gun on all of them grouped together. “Surrender your weapon or I spray you all down with hot fucking lead!” He noticed most of them were smelly canid people. “Holy shit, now I kinda feel bad for you Laura, sitting around all these assholes would make anyone go crazy!” He said in Laura’s direction.
He kept his weapon pointed at the group specifically the one with the plaid tie. “Wow are you actually wearing that thing, I should kill you know just for looking stupid. I wouldn’t if I were you”, he said noticing the agent muscles indicating he was going to try and turn his weapon on him. “By the time any of you even think of putting your weapon on me, I will have already unloaded my magazine on you. So don’t try it!”
The rogue DIEIS agent smiled at the Alleghenian. “Very well.” He slid the gun towards the Alleghenian. “Besides, I don’t plan on dying anyhow.”
Verulo moaned and whimpered as he vomitted blood. “Help…me…”
Iwelinin put down her weapons as well. She then said to the Alleghenian, “Look, if you don’t mind, I want to help him. Let me at least get him to the infirmary or something.”
Elana was still coughing when Mason pushed the two scientists into the common room. The sudden jolt caused Laura to bump into Elana’s equipment causing her air cylinder to rock and wobble. It was relatively close to an outcropping of a small heater on the floor. She tried to catch her breath, but her chest burned with each heave she took. Based on her experiences and what she learned when she was certified, an old tank that fell on its pressure regulator could have it shear off, causing it to become a deadly projectile. And with it now in its metastable condition, it was too much of a bother for her to simply ignore.
Despite all of this, she really hadn’t been paying too much attention with what was going on in the next hallway. She looked up at where Mason stood and coughed. “Can I please… move that tank over? It could… be bad if it fell… on that outcropping.”
The sight and even more so the scent of Verulo’s blood had smashed into his senses like a solid wall. For a few horrid seconds he had felt himself tottering on the edge of the abyss. Blood and gore were things he had experienced before in his line of work, but his emotional investment in Verulo had created a grave vulnerability which the DIEIS agent had inadvertently taken full advantage of. But ultimately he managed to recover, helped by Verulo’s cries and the agent’s taunts. The shock and horror he had felt before was swiftly replaced by a barely contained rage, which he had expressed with a vicious snarl while he resteadied his weapon.
Before he had even had a chance to say anything or quickly whip a solution, a new actor entered into the scene. He had never seen him before, but his drawn weapon and treatment of Elana and Laura made it clear he was an enemy. If he had been an outside observer, Maks would have probably laughed at the preposterous amount of bad luck that was now in play, driving him into a ridiculous three way standoff. But since he was the one who had to deal with it, his frustration instead increased, and he converted the emotion into more anger.
“Don’t you fucking tell me what to do!” he barked at the armed human in response to his threat. “Try anything stupid and I’ll shoot, and I won’t miss. That goes for both of you,” he finished in acknowledgment of the DIEIS agent. “Iwelinin, do you know first aid?” He didn’t take his eyes off of the enemies in front of him while he spoke. “Take Verulo to the infirmary, and like I said, don’t either of you even think of trying something.”
Iwelinin glanced at the armed Alleghenian. “I hope you will let me help him.”
Laura shook her head, “Maksym, please this will just make things worse. If you shoot him he will shoot someone else and it will just be a big mess. Mason, I promised to tell you where the device is, it’s in the labs near where you ambushed me, now just let them go to the infirmary for heaven’s sake!”
Mason sighed, he knew he would probably get shot if he tried something, but he banked on the other knowing he would go down spraying and praying if he did. “Look, alright you can go to the infirmary. Laura take that gun.” Laura picked up one of the guns with her good hand. “Me and Laura will go to the lab’s first, then you can take the worthless mutt to the infirmary.”
Mason and Laura began moving toward the labs, his gun still trained on the group as he entered the hall way following the sound of her footsteps.
Maks carefully watched Mason and Laura retreat down the hallway towards the laboratories with a slightly subdued smile. In the corner of his field of vision he also kept a careful watch on the DIEIS agent, well aware that the man had turned his back on him and disarmed himself to Mason. The opportunity was obvious enough that Maks was suspicious that he had some hidden trick up his sleeve, but he would have to take it. He waited until Mason and Laura had rounded the corner and gone out of sight to make his move.
“Okay, hands up where I can see them you scrawny bastard!” he growled at the agent. “And down on your knees! I won’t hesitate to shoot you if you try to do anything stupid.”
As soon as the Alleghenians were gone, Iwelinin picked up her pistol and readied it at the rogue DIEIS agent. “You do anything, Maks and I will kill you.” She reached Verulo. “He’s lost a lot of blood, Maks, but if I can get him to the infirmary, he should…he will be alright.”
The agent smiled as he began to straighten his tie. However, he wasn’t really straightening his tie. Hidden within his tie was a small knife. He immediately grabbed it and hurled it at Maks. His smile quickly disappeared as the knife missed the lupine by a mile. “Oh that’s not good.” Desperation appeared on the rogue agent’s face as he attempted to charge the lupine.
The passage of the throwing knife past his head rekindled Maks’s anger completely. His snarl returned in full, and he growled through his bared teeth. “That’s it!” he shouted at the oncoming enemy. He did not, however, fire his pistol. In fact he let his gun-arm drop. Discharging the weapon might bring Mason back, and that was not something he needed right now. Moreover, the agent was now clearly panicked, and Maks felt confident enough that he didn’t have some trick left that would require such a heavy response.
Instead, he caught the man in the midst of his reckless charge by the throat with his free arm. His snarl took on some aspects of a cruel grin when he perceived in the agent’s face the dismay that the pressure of his paw around his windpipe had created. “What kind of agent are you, pulling stupid shit like that and missing? Then you charge at me? I’ve got to be like three times your size!” He tightened his grip for effect and slammed the agent into the nearest wall, easily lifting his feet from the ground. His rage was now adulterated with the thrill of his exertion of such raw physical power over his opponent. “If you know what’s good for you, you won’t try something that stupid again. I’m only using a fraction of my strength right now, and I can crush that skinny little neck of yours if you make me. Iwelinin!” He kept his attention on his captive. “Get Verulo to the infirmary, I can handle him here on my own.”
The agent managed a strained laugh. “You don’t get it do you, mongrel? Whether I live or die is of no concern to me. I was going…” He struggled to explain his mission as Maks’ grip became tighter. “…destroy this place and make sure you canines got the blame. That’s—gah—right, your nation, Vulshain, Listonia, Vekaiyu, Southern Yugoslavia, and the rest of you flea-bags…gah–would be blamed for the destruction of this lab.” He smiled despite the fact that he was beginning to choke.
Iwelinin helped Verulo up. “Maks. Kill the bastard and toss his body for the sharks. Because if you don’t I will. People like him are nothing more than speciesist hatemongers who are nothing more than cowards. And don’t worry about Verulo. I’ll make sure he lives.”
Iwelinin helped Verulo down the hallway towards the infirmary.
As they made their way to the infirmary, Verulo began to get dizzy. “So sleeply…must rest…”
“No, don’t go to sleep, Verulo. You can’t sleep, not yet anyways. I have to stop the bleeding. Come on stay with me. Everything is going to be fine.”
“Is Maks…Is my lover…alright?”
“Lover…? Oh. Yeah, he’s okay. He actually saved your life. You got a very protective…um, boyfriend watching out for you.”
“Thanks…So tired…”
“Just a little bit further, Verulo.” Iwelinin was wishing it actually was closer as the infirmary was still far away at the pace they were going. She prayed that they would make it in time.
Maks’s cruel smile disappeared back into the snarl that had spawned it. He had been taking a perverse pleasure in the thought that he was terrifying the agent, that he had the power to snuff out the man’s life if he felt like it. His continued defiance and taunts were absolutely infuriating for Maks. With a guttural roar he slammed the agent against the wall a second time.
“What the fuck is wrong with you? This isn’t a game, I’m not playing around! Do you want me to kill you?” Maks drew his face closer in to that of the agent. He seemed completely unphased by the threat implicit in his last question. “Well touch luck, you bastard. If that’s what you want I’m not just going to give it to you. I know far worse things to do to a person than just killing them, and you’re really pissing me off right now.”
The agent tried to laugh, but couldn’t what with the Lupine’s grip. “Gah…Very funny mutt. Let me tell you something: I may–gah–failed in my mission, but you will always have to look over your shoulder–gah–because someone will make sure my job gets done…gah!” The rogue agent bit down hard on one of his back teeth. Inside that tooth was hidden a small poisonous needle. When he pressed down on the tooth, the needle’s poison entered his bloodstream. Within a few minutes, the rogue DIEIS agent’s body went limp in Maks’ grip.
Iwelinin and Verulo had finally reached the infirmary, and right away the Lobo naval officer went about trying to save the Vulpine doctor’s life.
She had blood on her shirt and pants, but she paid no heed to it. She was too focused on saving Verulo’s life.
She sighed in relief after seeing that the bullets had gone straight through. She wasn’t sure if she could have dug them out if they hadn’t.
She started by stopping the bleeding. The infirmary started to look like a tornado had gone right through it as she hunted for anything to save her fellow Vulshainian’s life. “Come on Iwelinin, you can do this. You didn’t get named ‘Best Field Medic’ back at the Naval Academy for nothing now.”
She was panting like crazy as she desperately worked. She could hear the marching feet of time as she raced to make sure that Verulo’s time didn’t come.
“Yes,” she whispered, remembering that shouting would probably bring Mason down here, and she certainly didn’t need that. She had successfully stopped the bleeding, but Verulo still wasn’t out of the woods yet.
Feeling the agent’s body go limp in his paw, Maks’s fury escalated even further. He expressed the intense frustration by tightening his grip on the man’s neck until his claws drew blood. The sudden sight and odor of the sticky red liquid prompted him to hurl the lifeless corpse with another angry vocalization. This time it wasn’t just anger at the agent but at himself. Concealing poison in the tooth was a trick he was completely familiar with and should have anticipated.
He should have broken the bastard’s jaw when he had a chance. Instead he had hesitated, and let the agent escape a proper punishment for his crimes. He looked down at the body. Even in death the agent continued to mock him with the smile frozen on his face. It was more than Maks could bear.
“Shut up you fucking bastard, shut up, shut up!” Maks yelled furiously, and punctuated each imperative by brutally stomping on the face of corpse. A serious of sickening cracks followed as the bones of the agent’s muzzle failed under the assault they were being subjected to. Maks ended the desecration with a final kick to the side of the head which turned its face away from him.
The offending expression disfigured and out of view, Maks could feel some of his sense returning, even though he was still breathing hard and his heart was racing. The concerns of Mason and the cube began to return. So did an awareness of his surroundings, which included a realization that Elana was still with him in the common room, a witness to what had just transpired. He looked over to where she stood, and attempted to divert attention from what had just happened with the other business at hand.
“Elana, do you still want to try and save the cube?”
The device had finally been hoisted onto a cart after several attempts. Laura had warned Mason not to touch it with his bare skin not revealing the details she had discovered earlier when she had done the same. Her broken left hand hurt at every movement she made, her left handedness not helping at all as she instinctively reached for things with it only to get a sharp jolt of pain to remind her to use her right hand. Mason made her set the gun down on the cart and walked behind her as she pushed it with her good hand. His demands irritating her to no end. She felt large pangs of guilt and shame in her stomach, she had been weak giving up so easily after all she had been through. She knew Mason was lying to her when he said they would kill her, they wanted her to come back home to rot in jail or so she could work more on their machines, machines only meant to cause harm to people, the day she had spent in the sub drawing the fish and making notes on what she saw was the day she was most at peace only death could bring that kind of peace back now. But she was to much of coward to kill herself or to face down a gun before her killer pulled the trigger, so she allowed her captor to take her and the very device she wanted to destroy toward the sub docks.
The arrived unharmed at the docks, Mason taking hold of the crane controls and picked up the device readying it for loading into the sub. A remote control loaded up a small cargo area on the sub large enough for the device and the small crane began it’s slow movement toward the sub.
Mason suddenly found Laura standing very close in front of him. He stopped the cranes movement in surprise. “Get out of my way Fisher, don’t make things worse for yourself than it already is.”
“Mason!,” Laura cried out attempting to get him to hear her plea, “You can’t take this back to Allegheny, it’s evil. It will never accomplish what the original science team wanted it to do.”
“What do you mean it’s evil?” Mason asked wondering what she could be talking about while at the same time restarted the crane’s slow movement.
“It spoke to me Mason. It’s not of this world, don’t be a fool whatever that thing will give us is not worth it. It will only bring suffering and pain in the end.” She explained.
Mason pushed her out of his way and Laura fell to the ground. “You are a nut job aren’t you? I didn’t think the great Doctor Fisher would be such a basket case.”
Laura looked down at the floor, she wanted to cry but it would be no use. Mason was trained to have zero emotions while performing his missions. The crane loomed ever closer to the sub, bringing Mason’s quarry to it’s cargo hold.
Elana looked up at Maksym, defeated and disappointed in herself. Once again her stand seemed to make a bad situation only worse. Perhaps the only good that came out of it was it bought them more time and no one of value had died… yet.
“We have to. It’s our duty as scientists to study things to better the world around us. Judging by the testimonies and observations of others, that device would only harm. We need to stop him!”
She stood from her spot and brushed her clothes off, but not wanting to waste any more unnecessary time. Down the hall she ran, hoping Maksym was in hot pursuit. When she reached the docking bay, she was surprised to see the device already on the loading crane, approaching the submarine!
“…be such a basket case.”
Elana stood there, watching the box make its way to the submarine. “No! You can’t take it!” She paused and looked at Laura, how defeated she was. She really hadn’t been the same since she touched that box, especially considering how she had such a bad experience with it she had to be put asleep for a while. “You can’t take it… just yet! It’s kind of heavy on one side, and if you leave it like that, it might damage the components! Just grab the box and place the heaviest surface face-down!”
Mason looked up with a fury in his eyes, “You should have let it alone mutt. I was gonna let you all live but now you can eat shit.” Mason brought his sub machine gun to bear and fired a burst in Elana’s direction. The bullets all landed at her feet, “Now get out of here!”
Mason continued putting the device into the sub. “Laura get in the fucking sub we are leaving now!” Laura reluctantly obeyed and started climbing the nearby ladder on the docking mechanism.