Communications sent between 2103 and 0532

* I don’t want her to get hurt…

* She is lying to you, Doctor. Do you need the money or not?

* It’s too risky. Rok won’t let her out of his sight.

* If you stop reporting her movement, we will send this chat to Rok’s team.

* Okay, okay. We’re working on tackling a stretch of corridors in our South East sector.

* Our men won’t touch that territory. Report to us when her movement changes. Otherwise those three million credits will never enter your account…

Doctor David Johnson was not the mole. At least, not the specific one I had been trying to find since the leakage of information for Sabbath to get their greedy hands on. But going through his secure communications earlier this morning confirmed he was attempting to disclose Jacqueline’s objectives.

David had gotten himself into a rut with his decisions. They had found out about his closeness with Jack, and his financial strain with gambling debts. Oddly enough, those were the two reasons why he came to Colony Negative: to work alongside Doctor Deveraux, and to use the extra hazard pay as means to pay off his debt. District Three found out about both and used that to their advantage.

Instead of disclosing the contact with us, which could have given us an advantage had my intel team know about it, he decided to handle it alone. And look where that got him.

I didn’t feel so bad about accidentally killing him just twelve hours ago.

He was a cockroach, for sure. But he wasn’t the specific one I needed to terminate, for both our sakes. The Sabbath report of anathemas came days before David’s arrival to Colony Negative, which meant it couldn’t have been him. He wasn’t briefed on much until his boots were on the ground.

Still, David was vague in his responses. He knew he had dug himself into a hole. He could have easily given them coordinates more specific than just general location but he didn’t. Which meant he still believed in Jack. Or, he was worried about his comeuppance. Either way, Jack was safe, he was dead…to me that’s all that mattered. I suppose this was something I could overlook most of the details on.

Yet they mentioned Jack was lying to him. About what? And why were District Three afraid of that sector? The Collector.

Today’s objective was to find this monster, and eventually kill the fucker.

I finished my morning run above ground with Grimes, both of us descending down drenched in sweat. What I wouldn’t give for a nice warm shower…especially with even warmer company. How I’d love to gently thrust into her from behind, caress her skin and kiss up and down her neck. And if her noises got too loud, that’s what the extra hand was for.

Not possible here, not with too many eyes. I knew my desire for her was distracting. I knew the more I lingered around her, the more I lost myself. Or was I learning more about myself? Was I drifting away from the man I thought I was, or becoming the man I should be? I suppose it could be both.

All I knew was that Jacqueline inspired me to be better. Rare for a woman to do that. Even rarer for a man like me to become vulnerable to the idea of it.

We settled at the little cafeteria set up with a plate loaded with eggs and toast, positioning myself to keep an eye on camp. I was taking a few large bites of toast before noticing Owen sitting outside his makeshift tent, pretending to clean his rifle but he was merely having his eyes on a tent. One tent in particular: Jack’s.

“Are you going to tell Jack about David?” Grimes asked out of curiosity.

“Yeah, eventually. Still want her to grieve over the idiot…but I will tell her. If she asks, I won’t hide it. I learned my lesson from last time,” I nodded. I owed it to her to try and tell the truth. It was all I could do.

“I guess District Three is still a subtle threat. It wouldn’t hurt to continue that partnership with District Seven,” Grimes noted.

I remained silent at that. Alala was still trying to remain in contact with us, me specifically. I let my team answer her questions or concerns, not having the heart or bravery to talk to her myself. She clearly wanted to find the killer, whom she too believed was from District Three. Because she felt our interests were so aligned, she wanted to make this alliance permanent and firm.

Foolish of her to think it hadn’t been me.

“We can handle District Three. They have other things to worry about, especially their reputation,” I shut down the thought quickly. “We don’t need any partnership with Alala.”

“Was she that bad of a fuck?”

“What?!” I glanced at him with surprised eyes, “I didn’t fuck her.”

“Good,” Grimes smiled slightly as if impressed, “She looked like trouble.”

“She is trouble. Bad trouble…” I muttered, going back to my coffee. I didn’t like thinking about her, about the way she made my stomach churn and turn inside out. In truth, I was slightly afraid of her. She knew my vulnerabilities, even if she had been wrong in thinking I would eagerly succumb to her. She didn’t take any account of various outliers or extrapolar influences. That influence being a woman I didn’t think (at the time) felt the same way I thought of her.

I had been wrong about that too.

“Ever since you two talked when dropping her off, you’ve acted differently. Is everything alright?”

“Yeah yeah, it’s fine. I’m fine,” I assured him.

He definitely seemed skeptical, “Garcia told me you were on the verge of a panic attack. You haven’t had those lately…not in two years, actually. Was it Sabbath?”

Grimes knew by now that was always the key stressor, the main ingredient in the recipe of my post traumatic stress. I couldn’t hide that from him, especially with all the panic attacks he had helped me with after my de-transitioning.

“She’s with them. Accused Jack of being part of it as well…” I trailed off, keeping my voice low.

“Jack? Jacqueline? That woman wouldn’t hurt a fly. Okay, that’s a lie, she’d punch you in the face all day if she could,” Grimes teased slightly, “Scientists like that aren’t so capable of-”

“Her parents were,” I politely interrupted, “her mother designed physical weapons with chemistry and physics for them. Her father…well, he enhanced the greatest artificial weapon at their disposal.”

“You’re shitting me,” Grimes blinked with surprise, “So…is Alala right about that?”

I fervently shook my head at that, “No. No, she’s not. Jack hates her parents more than anything. She’d avoid Sabbath simply out of spite for them alone. Most of all, she would never join them with the vision she wants for the future. Jacqueline is a good woman, a great woman actually. If more people were like her, she’d be right that this galaxy would be a better place.”

Grimes paused for a moment, finishing a section of his plate of food.

“What do you think she found on that tablet of hers yesterday?” He finally asked.

“Nothing, just like she said,” I shrugged.

There was a part of me that was dying to know too. But I trusted Jack. I trusted her more than most people here. Grimes was probably the only one who seemed on that same level of trust, maybe Ruenova too. I knew that trust was only increasing; it wouldn't take long for Jack’s level to rise above the rest.

“Come on, you don’t really believe that…”

“It doesn’t matter what I believe, if she’s telling the truth or not. I trust her. We keep secrets for a reason. Maybe she doesn’t want to jump the gun with whatever she found. Maybe she wants to do her due diligence first. I trust her, Grimes. With my life,” I affirmed, “A lot of her theories have been saving lives. Without her, we wouldn’t know shit about these anathemas, so therefore she doesn’t owe us shit either.”

At that, Jack’s tent opened. I was expecting her to be wearing lab equipment or just casual attire to begin her morning. But she was already equipped with her slight armor. Our eyes met, Jack giving a subtle nod before moving across towards Garcia’s medical tent. She probably wanted to check in after her little panic attack. Upon doing so, she walked in front of Owen.

His eyes had followed her the entire time, but his stupid mouth didn’t seem to open. A protective shell encased my heart at the sight, wishing nothing more than to rip the man’s eyeballs out.

“Holy shit!” Grimes laughed, breaking my concentration as I reached for my coffee, “You two are fucking…”

At that, the hot stream of liquified caffeine went down the wrong pipe. I immediately coughed out of surprise at his words, at the audacity of such an accusation. Me? Fucking Jacqueline Deveraux?!

Fuck yeah I was. But that was between me and her, and nobody else.

I continued to cough violently until I could force a few words out, “Don’t be ridiculous. You just made me waste half my coffee with such a disgusting thought.”

I pretended to lose appetite with my food too, but I would need all the energy I’d need this morning to go on a monster hunt.

“Oh come on…she’s not that bad looking. Everyone’s eyes here lit up when they saw her in riding gear. Even you,” Grimes rolled his eyes.

“You were the one that ranked her on the bottom of your list…” I pointed out, trying to change the conversation.

“Well yeah, I ranked all the women down there because I have zero interest in their sex. Regardless of sexuality, anyone with two eyes can see Jacqueline is a very decent, intelligent, elegant woman. Once she’s out of lab equipment, of course.”

I, personally, actually liked it when she wore a lab coat. That turtleneck sweater, nice freshly ironed pants of hers…a lab coat and boots. Yeah. Never thought that could turn me on, but it wasn’t just the attire and rather just the woman herself.

“She’s just alright…” I relieved my coughing, finally able to drink coffee once more without feeling that tickle in my throat. Jacqueline was more than alright. She was wonderful. She inspired, she questioned, she challenged…the only flaw I could see her having is the hate she held for herself. I knew she hated her own disfigurement, hated the way her body looked or hated her own stubbornness. If only she could see how great she was through my eyes.

I turned my gaze up and saw Grimes still observing me, his teasing manner completely withered away as he could see the truth, my truth written across the blueness in my eyes. I wasn’t just fucking Jacqueline Deveraux. I was…well, you know what I mean. He knew what I felt too, more than just moments of oxytocin or satisfying orgasms. It was the fluttering of my heart, my hesitation to damage it further with acts of violence, and most of all just the way the mere sight of her seemed to lighten all the heaviness burdened deep inside me.

“Damien, be careful with her, will you?” he quietly demanded of me.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. She’s not fragile,” I poked at my eggs.

“You are though…” he added. He wasn’t worried about Jack, that I’d do something stupid to put this into jeopardy. He was worried about her hurting me. He wasn’t wrong to think that. Jack was impulsive, sometimes insecure, but those were things she improved on. Just as I improved on my immaturity, on my brashness and eagerness to cause violence…that was crazy of me to work on flaws I didn’t think were flaws at the time.

The same was probably true for her.

Jack finally exited the medical tent, contemplating on her next move.

“If she’s geared up like that, she’s not going to be hiding in her lab today,” Grimes mused slightly.

“Nope,” I agreed. Sure enough, Jack made her way over, making herself a cup of coffee first. She glanced over gently, as if subtly asking if she could join our little table. I slowly made room for her on the same bench, Jack taking the invitation but still kept her distance.

“Morning,” she kept her voice flat, “When are we leaving to go out?”

“Well, you probably shouldn’t be going out with us-” Grimes trailed off before seeing the two of us glare at him.

It probably wasn’t wise to tell Jack what she could or couldn’t do. I learned that the hard way. Besides, she was making strides in and outside her lab. There was only so much her instruments and tools could tell her within that lab. She needed more than that. She needed the physicality of it all, and that’s why she needed to be out here. Not just needed, but deserved. She had been patient in letting things die down.

“We’re planning on finding this Collector,” I let her know, “Find it, stalk it, and kill it.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she raised her eyebrow.

“It’s not,” I laughed softly, “but this giant monster is a nuisance. Not just to us but to the other Districts as well. Taking this thing as a war trophy will certainly prove ourselves. And give you some answers, hopefully.”

Jack sighed at that, as if disapproving but who was she to stop us?

“Can I join or is it too dangerous?” she asked politely, almost as if pleading with her eyes.

How could I say no when she looked at me like that?

It was nice of her to ask though, rather than barge her way in. She was playing it as safe as she could. To be honest, I did think about saying no. But I also knew Owen might be lingering around today in the Camp. I didn’t really want the two of them alone, without backup. With David gone, there weren't many here who would try to protect her.

I, however, would always protect her. Always.

-

The walk back to the same room last night was quiet, despite the extra bodies. I had ordered Regina to come with, in case her drones were needed in this newer sector, along with six other agents. Regina seemed more than happy to oblige. She believed now these anathemas were, oddly enough, trying to help. I didn’t think that was true given they still wanted to bite into our necks at any violent chance they got.

Jack lingered in the back with me, before soon dwindling in her steps to walk alongside me.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“Are you doing okay?” I asked in our favorite private chat.

“Not really,” she admitted, her truth surprising me. She wasn’t always this vulnerable with me, especially if she wanted to come out and join this little monster hunt escapade. Some would assume a clear conscious and mind would be needed for what we wanted to do. I wished I could comfort her with more than just words. But any little touch could be seen by the agent at the back of the formation and it wasn’t worth the risk.

“I’m sorry about David. I should have-”

“If you’re going to blame someone, blame me for having that panic attack,” she retorted gently.

“Absolutely not, Jacqueline. I won’t blame you for something that was out of your control,” I shook my head.

“Then don’t blame yourself either…”

I didn’t, not exactly. I still felt minorly sorry for him, but he was indeed better off dead. And lucky enough, it was only him that got hurt in that entire nonsensical debacle. I just wish maybe I could have hurt him to prevent his death. I would have liked to ask him some questions, given what I knew now.

“There’s something not right with this place…” she muttered under her breath, but her comms still picked it up.

“Yeah, I knew that from the start,” I agreed.

“No. There’s something seriously fucked up. There’s…” she paused for a moment, her voice wavering, “there’s something dangerously purposeful about this place. Something designed. It’s one thing to stumble upon a mystery. That’s what I like about my work, solving these bits and pieces of a grand design. I’m always going to find organic roadblocks, complications in finishing only the foundations of the grand design. This is different. They’re not organic, they’re man made.”

My head spun at her little rambling, trying to figure out the gist of her words, “What are you saying Jack?”

“We’re getting close. Too close for everyone’s taste. Think about it, we made it to that library. With all that literature, we are that much closer to unlocking the language. If we can unlock the language, maybe we can start talking to these anathemas=”

“Hold your horses, Jack,” I laughed, “You’re starting to sound like Regina a bit.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that. You said yourself yesterday you wish you could talk to these fuckers. Maybe we can make it possible.”

“And then what?”

“Unlock the truth. Again, we’re growing closer. The other Districts know it. We’re not only dominating geographically or militarily. We don’t just have the most land control, holding strategic positions or avenues of exploration. We now have data. A shit load of data, and we are only getting more,” Jack insisted, “And now a Magistrate is dead with talks of war looming. It’s too great of a coincidence.”

“Jack, don’t think too highly of yourself. Marhwanda’s death has nothing to do with that, to do with you,” I shook my head.

Jack was not the reason. She couldn’t be. I wouldn’t let that be possible. She held power on a scientific level, not political. Everyone just wanted that data first. It was fine if people were jealous of the glory she would get, that she would finally get the recognition she deserved. People could try killing her for such pettiness, they had already tried before.

But she was wrong to think someone was deliberately trying to prevent her from getting answers.

Well, not entirely…since the main reason I had pulled the trigger that day was because Marhwanda had threatened Jack.

Jack had remained silent and I felt bad, “I didn’t mean it like that, Jack. You’re really important. Important to this mission, to District Five…to me. You’re an excellent scientist the entire scientific community and SBH can be envious of. I just think maybe you’re overcomplicating this, slightly.”

She laughed softly at that, maybe taking it as a compliment, “How so, Rok?”

“Your data and theories are great. They really are. But what do you think that data is really going to tell us when it’s translated? I think at the end of the day, we are going to get the same answer to the question you want solved, the same answer that could be easily observed. Humans are just awful. Really awful. We’re selfish, insane individuals who let greed and fear control us. There’s no improving that.”

That was a bit of a pessimistic outlook, but it was true. Humans are just fucking shitty organisms. We have so much brainpower and potential, yet we’d rather just blow our fucking brains out with lasers, fight wars over meaningless resources and materials, kill each other for someone else’s profit.

“I’ve seen such improvement with my very own eyes…” Jacqueline whispered.

“Oh yeah? On Colony 599?” I asked, keeping my eyes forward. She remained silent after that, but kept close. I felt a bit horrible for maybe shooting her idea down. But again, I was doing it to protect her. To protect…us, really. The less important she remained, the easier my job would be. But then she might not get the answers she wanted.

I didn’t know how to succeed here. I didn’t know how to help her succeed here either. If she felt that all of this was to try and stop the truth from being revealed, from her or someone else…they’d all target her. Whomever was hiding this secret would stop at nothing. A scientist wouldn’t stop them. Maybe a murderous, psychopathic soldier could.

Jacqueline opened the door back into the room of David’s demise. Yet as the doors raised downward, the place we had last seen David’s corpse was left with only a silhouette. The orange mess of goop his corpse had rested on was only just dragged slime on cold black floors. Jack was quick to brisk towards it, despite my want to investigate this slowly.

His body was gone. It wasn’t anywhere on the vertical walls with the other silent bodies. The body of the District Three bastard I killed remained there, his skin tone even paler than yesterday. That indicated to me he was dead-dead, gone forever without some enzyme to keep him alive. He should have been dead the first time, but I didn’t want to hurt the minimal brain cells I had in questioning why he wasn’t.

But now David’s physical body was gone, which was a bit of a problem now that I thought about it.

“He didn’t get up on his own, which means he’s most likely not an anathema,” Jack pointed out, noticing that his body had been dragged, not contorted from the biological change.

“Well, what’s worse: changing or not?” I asked her, seeing her shrug.

“Worse for him or worse for us?” She answered with a question of her own.

And that was a question even I didn’t want to answer. Because I didn’t fucking know.

“Grimes, Miles, and Luke, I need you three to begin connecting surveillance cameras to the power lines. We will have to make sure they route back to our own power supply. Regina, start getting these drones online. Let’s try mapping more of the tunnels east of us that we didn’t get to last time. Jack, you do…whatever it is you do,” I smiled behind my helmet, “the rest and I will begin planting sonic sensors in this room amongst all this mess. Try to not let it touch you. Surveillance cameras should be hidden, I don’t care about the sensors. Just avoid this goop as much as possible.”

The plan was, since I didn’t think we’d be stumbling across this Collector today, was to begin tracking its movement. The thing was big and shook these tunnels as it traversed, meaning we could try and pick up on the movements returning to and from this little nest of it. The cameras could pick up a good look of the monster, just so we knew what we were getting into.

I didn’t like the idea of meeting it head on without prior knowledge.

Time passed in a blur. Whether it had been half an hour or a full one, we were able to get all the surveillance cameras established. Sensors were placed on all corners of the room before being placed closest to the doors. The technology was cheap, so even if another District made their way here, highly unlikely due to it being our territory, it wouldn’t matter too much if they stole them. The best thing we could do was establish a pattern.

The one singular thought that kept creeping its way into my mind was what happened to David’s body. I had shot his corpse perfectly to disconnect the spine, which according to Jack’s theory would prevent any transformation. We didn’t burn the body of course…maybe we should have.

“Darling?” I called out to Jack over comms.

“Did you seriously just call me that?” she asked, her tone undecipherable before she chuckled softly, “Did you mean Doctor?”

“Yeah, yeah I did,” I lied, wanting to smack myself in the head, “Sorry. Do you think this shit is contagious?”

“That’s a great question. Can’t know more until we run more tests and take a deeper look at the molecular bonds. The main thing I found yesterday did show small amounts of carbon-hydrogen combinations which means it’s possibly flammable. We’d need to take samples if we want to do that,” she suggested, “and if we want samples, I’ll have to contain this as carefully as I can.”

She grabbed her supply pack before handing it to me. I already knew by now that was her asking if I could hold it while she went digging through her equipment. I held her pack nice and wide as she perused. Funny. The simple motion just gave me the most basic thought of what it would be like shopping with her. Having to sift through her purse or bag for whatever she wanted, enough credits to buy whatever she wanted. I’d buy whatever she wanted, even if she wasn’t the most materialistic woman…such mundane things I suppose most couples would take for granted.

We weren’t a couple, of course. But was it wrong to think we could be?

Finally, she pulled out a small biohazard container, tools and gloves. She let the latex spread over her armored gloves as best as she could before finding a nice layer of this sludge to observe. With a small scalpel, she just wanted to extract a bit and secure it in this fancy tube.

“Container should match the temperature in this room, to maintain consistency,” Jack mumbled to herself.

“Yeah, it is warmer here than the rest of the hallways,” I added. Fluctuating temperatures could probably alter the organic material, or that’s what I was assuming. I didn’t really know shit about this.

As she proceeded to cut gently, a very low groan was heard. At least, only between us. Jack had stopped and looked at me. The rest of the room was filled with idle military chatter, none of them stopping to notice the sound either. She looked like she was just about to ask about it, just as I was. Yet we remained silent, both of us thinking it was probably just our imagination.

Yet as she cut another chunk out again and contained the specimen, that groan was heard again. This time louder and with echoing fervor. A large amount of the sticky slime fell on top of my helmet, oozing and soon falling down my spine and backside.

“What the fuck?” I patted at it, trying to wipe it away.

“Damien, stop touching it-”

Another large amount fell between us. I could feel the ooze on my back seep into my armor, infuriating me as I couldn’t really reach it. Most of it had fallen to my heels, thankfully. But if it came from above…

Now thinking in hindsight, being in this room twice, none of us had never really looked up. It was certainly a failure on my part, given half of this room was just a giant mess. We certainly looked up now. I let the light attached to my pistol shine up, showcasing a monstrosity like it was a damn spotlight.

The Collector was just as coined by that District Three nobody, a collector. Collector of bodies and various anathemas. Its bodice was large like an oversized, enormous caterpillar. It was bulbous, various holes and spores being the source of this orange organic mess, oozing out in spurts. The coagulated skin was just made up of other bodies. Limbs were attached near the hind and chest area, which was just legs and arms attached of various deceased. The thing didn't care if a leg went where an arm should be, or vice versa.

I was starting to think it didn’t care about anything.

One thing was for certain, whether it was dormant atop the darkness of the ceiling or merely watching us…it was wide awake now.

Several eyes fluttered from the many heads within it. Whatever this enzyme or fucking disgusting thing was made of, it certainly postponed decomposition. It was as if a pile of bodies had melted together, welded together by this sticky liquid.

“What…the…fuck…” Jack whispered aloud for everyone to hear. The room had gone completely silent at the sight. My own hand trembled slightly when holding the light, shining it at all the various body parts and finally the parts of what I assumed to be was the Collector’s head.

“What do we do?!” Grimes asked, trying to get some orders yelled out.

Fucking hell, I didn’t know what to do! Except let our fight or flight response kick in. The limbs dug deeply into the ceiling grime that the Collector held itself too were slowly pulling away, the monster beginning to move. And it wasn’t going to move across the ceiling. It would let gravity do its thing, just as it had allowed whatever excretion it let off.

I immediately clutched Jack’s bag with one hand before moving my body forward into her. We collided instantly, the momentum sending us crashing away as the Collector slammed down where we were just standing prior. I could hear Jack’s helmet slam into the floor at the collision, making me wince. I didn’t want to hurt her, but it was better than getting crushed by that thing.

“Sorry,” I apologized quickly before getting off her, pulling her up to her feet.

“Sure you are,” she retorted playfully, attaching her pack to her backside before pulling out her laser sword.

“Think this thing can smell violence?” I questioned, hesitating to fire the first shot.

“I don’t think it cares…we need to get to that door and get out of here,” Jack pointed out. At this point, the Collector was standing between us and the rest of our team. Grimes and the rest were the closest to the door, still a good hundred yards away. Which meant if violence were to ensue, I had to buy them time.

“Miles, you’re on door duty. Jack is going to walk you through it. Everyone else, prepare for a fight. Stay near that door, I’m going to try and distract this fucker,” I ordered.

“Miles, the combination is opposite of the entry combination. Once you’re at the panel, I can tell you from a numerical standpoint which modules to press. Got it?” Jack chimed in, soon looking at me, “What can I do to help you?”

“You’re running for that door the second it’s open. You run all the way back, you do not wait for us. That’s an order, Jacqueline,” I demanded, seeing her hesitancy.

“But-”

“No fucking buts!” I shouted, keeping my pistol in one hand before igniting my laser sword. I plunged it into the nearest pile away from Jack, letting the heat sear into the slime. If a simple cut of the material was enough to awaken this thing, then I hoped this sword was like hot iron, branding this monster as my target.

I was right. The monster immediately lurched towards me as I continued to pace backwards, letting the blade slice at any organic material nearby. I had to buy some time, even if it meant backing myself into a corner.

Jack worked with Miles on the door until it opened. She took one last glance at me, still being blocked by the hind end of the Collector. I had to give her more space. Yet the heads and eyes near her opened, as if alerting the rest of the body there was a fresh organism for the taking just close by.

I had to fucking corner myself.

I shot at what I assumed was its chest, watching the laser lodge itself into the rubber like skin. It hardly looked like it did any damage, but it must have given the thing roared loudly.

Whatever language it screamed at me, I was grateful none of us could translate it. That left it open to my imagination. I liked to think it was cursing its lungs out at me. Yet the distraction worked as the tail end of the Collector moved away from Jack, allowing her to immediately sprint to the door and surrounded by Milthreat agents.

“Damien, it’s cornering you!” Grimes pointed out, “You let me know when to take some shots.”

“Yeah yeah, I know,” I backtracked, soon feeling the edges of a wall behind me.

“Damien, their eyes are still glossy. Treat it as an anathema, a giant one,” Jack chimed in, her voice out of breath.

There wouldn’t be a light big and bright enough to blind this monstrous giant, not without blinding myself. But I had to mess with its vision somehow. I holstered my pistol, tossing my blade to my dominant right hand before letting my left plunge into my ammunition belt. My fingers trailed over all the small explosives at my disposal, soon resting on the cylindrical canister.

Smoke. Smoke would block my vision as well, but it could be strong enough to blind this fucker. I pulled the pin on two, dropping one at my feet before tossing one behind it. The last thing I saw was Jack’s green blade radiating amongst the others before the room filled with rising grey clouds. Grimes and the rest had taken a few shots, lasers lighting up the room and the monster before the smoke became too much. They stopped due to not being able to see their prime target, and to probably avoid some friendly fire.

Claws made contact with my helmet and breastplate, the anathema hands and fingers clawing at whatever it could in response. I dodged as best as I could, rolling away and running eastward, away from the door. I didn’t know how intelligent this thing was and didn’t want to lead it towards my only way out.

“Closing the door will make the smoke better at concealing-” Grimes suggested.

“Absolutely not, we’re not closing this door!” Jack ordered.

Fucking hell, I told her to run. At least she followed half of my order.

“Jack, I need you to-” I ordered her again before my words were interrupted by a harsh slam into my stomach. The Collector was thrashing blindly into the mess, the momentum of its slam throwing me into the air and into the nearest wall. My diaphragm was momentarily crushed by the action, the air escaping my lungs forcefully as I gasped for air.

“Damien!” Jack shouted.

As I lurched back onto my knees and feet, covered in slime against my own will, I could see Jack pushing against the agents around her to run and help me. Grimes immediately grabbed her by the wrist before she could slip by, throwing her back behind the doorway. He didn’t care at that moment to be harsh with her, and I would’ve been pretty pissed if Grimes hadn’t intervened.

Doctor Jacqueline Deveraux’s safety was all our priorities.

A flash of erupting red flames began to engulf near the Collector. In it’s confused state of thrashing, it must have hit the smoke canister with enough force. Unfortunately, very rarely could smoke grenades start fires. And…unfortunately, Jack’s mention of flammability was answered with direct experimentation.

The Collector shrieked as it erupted into flames. The scream wasn’t just one vocal cord aching, but many. All the faces attached to this thing’s skin were shouting out in pain. The surrounding walls were soon lighting like it was fucking gunpowder strewn in a line, like the old days of powder to ignite a stream of dynamite. Whether it was killing the damn thing or just burning the initial layer, I didn’t care. It was now buying me time.

Yet as I ran amidst smoke of both gas and now carbon dioxide, I could feel a vibration at my feet, a mechanism close to me slamming shut.

“No, no no!” Jack shrieked, “Damien, the fire short-circuited the fucking door! I can’t get it open!”

“Is everyone else behind the door?” I coughed, keeping my head and body low to avoid both the Collector and crawl my way closer to that door.

“Yes! Fucking gods if we don’t get this fucking thing open-” Jack trailed, the sounds of my men trying to calm her, “Wait, Regina says there’s a panel on the west side, a vent of some sort. Do you see it?”

“I can’t see shit,” I clenched my jaw, rotating myself towards what I thought was that direction. It wasn’t until I felt a searing at my feet did I realize I was catching fire as well. Sparks had flown onto my armor, igniting the slime ridden all over it.

“Fuck, fuck fuck…” I cursed, ignoring the painful sparks searing between the seams of my armor as I quickly rose to my feet. Just a blink of space between the smoke and I could see the very thin lines of fire in a square formation. If the slime had been covering this vent, the fire was revealing it now.

I could feel vibrations closing in on me. Whether the Collector could feel the heat radiating off me or the soft groans I let off as I could feel the burnings of my skin, I knew it was only heading my direction. I immediately ran towards the vent, letting my sword dig into the metal frame of it before sinking into a hollow gap. Before I could enter, there was a tug at my ankles of fingers and toes grabbing my burning fabric.

“Just die, you fucker!” I shouted, swiping my sword back and cutting off the various limbs. I sunk into the vent, soon feeling the fire trail up to my helmet. I immediately had to take it off, feeling it burn the side of my neck. At that I couldn’t withhold my noises any longer as I screamed in pain.

“Damien are you-” Jack’s worried voice cut out. I could hear our communications cut, most likely not due to the technology. The fire must have fried the fucking chip. Fuck. I had to get out of here and out of this suit.

I didn’t have that much time to think as the flames engulfing the Collector grew, the screams of the monster increasing as it seemed to know I was in this little shaft. There was no time to sit here and think of options, there was only one option and that was to climb up. No ladder, no things to grip on. It seemed I would have to climb out with only my burning body.

I pressed my back to one side, feet on the other as I pushed myself up by my arms, scuttling up inch by inch as the flames of the Collector grew beneath me. There was no point in focusing on my pain, on the burning or searing of my flesh beneath armor. Survival was all that mattered. And I had to get the fuck out of here if it meant seeing Jack again.

I should’ve listened to Jack when she said this was a bad idea.

But, it wouldn’t be the first nor the last time I'd disregard her comments about danger.

I was the danger. I was the fucking danger. And instead of groaning and crying from my pain, my lips curved into a smile as I managed to laugh over the sound of the Collector’s many parts screaming beneath me.