The Sadistic Vagabonds

Nameless, Julia, and the professor jogged down the long prison hallway toward the rest of the group at the bottom of the stairwell. Despite his apparent age and slender body, Professor Zion was outpacing both Nameless and Julia as he ran toward the remainder of his rescuers.

“I would not bunch together like that, children!” Professor Zion warned, waving his hand as they approached.

“What?” Aj called out.

Whatever Professor Zion responded with was drowned out by the roar of automatic gunfire. While inaccurate, the overhead downpour of lead did cause everyone to scuttle to safety. A counterattack of new guards from the ground floor emptied their weapons blindly down the stairwell at the mischievous rescue party. The trap had been sprung.

A few of the mercs began returning fire, extending their guns from behind cover. They would aim at a muzzle flash and pull the trigger, sending bullets hurtling skywards toward their attackers.

The professor’s warnings rang true as the two parties did their utmost to eviscerate the other. The long stairwell became a staggering tunnel of dancing fire. Ricochets danced up and down the entire compound. Down on the fifth floor, the cement walls reverberated the waves of gunfire, and the whistle of bullets filled the air.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fucking fuck!” Aj screamed as a ricochet ripped a hole in his shoulder, the bullet exiting out of his arm. Sammy jumped unto Aj, pushing him out of harm’s way, clamping pressure on the gushing wound. She began tearing open her medical kit and drawing bandages and dressing, packing the gaping wound.

Carla took Sammy’s place, pointing her weapon out of cover, in harm's way, as she lined up a shot. Carla’s upper torso was encased in golden light for a split second as her weapon erased the remaining darkness in the fiery red stairwell.

As the mercenaries returned fire, Nameless surveyed the fight. The only overhead cover was the four flights of stairs above them. The only way out being up, the closer they would get, the more suicidal a charge back up would be.

“I knew this was a fucking trap!” Aj roared.

“Why don’t they just drop grenades down here?” Hera spat as she reloaded.

“The hell is wrong with you?” Julia yelled.

“What, it’s what I would do!” Hera said.

“Precious cargo, my dear,” Professor Zion said. “Listen.”

He pointed a finger upwards.

Nameless tried to listen, but all he heard was gunfire and Aj groaning.

“What?” Nameless huffed.

“They are using smaller calibers than you. You may number less, but you have superior firepower. You also have the unique privilege of carrying something they cannot destroy.”

“You got that out of half a firefight?” Julia said exasperated, slamming a new magazine and sending the bolt home as she lined up a new shot.

“I would think a professional would also arrive at such a similar conclusion. You are all professionals, are you not?” Professor Zion called with an arched eyebrow.

“Professor Obvious is right, Hera. You’re coming with me. We cut the group in half; one team covers, other team advances a flight. It’ll suck, but we got this,” Nameless said.

“Professor Obvious? I’m honored to be worthy of such a title, coming from such an extraordinary group of refined and stalwart warriors such as yourselves,” Professor Zion said sarcastically.

Nameless pointed a finger in the professor’s face with gritted teeth. “Watch it, buddy. I can just tape the vial to your body and send it on its merry way; no one said you had to get back alive with the vial.”

“My dear boy, if a man is to threaten someone, especially the very person whom you were sent to rescue in the first place, mind you, one must start with lower stakes than that. Say I continue providing simple observations; you must honor your sword and kill me. Else, the entire premises of the threat is void.”

“Okay, Professor, I’ll break a bone per joke you make. How ‘bout that?” Aj groaned.

“See!” The professor smiled and pointed, yelling over the whistle and crack of incoming fire. “Now that is a proper threat, one I may actually be inclined to believe. However, we have much more pressing matters than the egos of six Martian mercenaries. Master Nameless, you kill me, and I doubt my transportation will be very willing to accommodate your personal safety or honor the financial deal.”

“Yeah, and why is that?” Hera growled.

There was a lull in the battle as each side regrouped. A dreadful realization came across Nameless’s mind in the momentary respite in violence. The reason why every guild seemed to be aiding them.

“’Cuz he’s from the fleet,” Nameless sighed.

“What?” Carla called over.

“What fucking fleet?” Aj groaned.

“The one in orbit, genius,” Hera quipped.

“He talks too much and is arrogant. Definitely an Earther,” Julia said hotly.

“Gods damn it,” Nameless sighed as he hung his head.

“It will be in far better hands at my institution, my boy. We discovered the stuff; it’s the warlords and Kingpins on Mars you need worry about,” Professor Zion said.

“You discovered what’s in the vial?” Nameless asked.

“Oh, heavens no, father time may have been more gracious with his boon to my existence than others, but that was by far before my—”

“The point—” Nameless interjected.

“The point is, we discovered the element, we refined it, we administered it, it belongs back on Earth’s moon! Not here, in the filth and mud of this war-torn deathscape. No offense intended, of course; you do have a rather lovely local cuisine, and there are sights to be seen here, I am sure.”

“Fuck my life,” Julia sighed.

The group weighed their options as bullets continued to rain down, each person periodically firing blindly to hinder the guards’ beginning decent.

“It sounds like they’re getting closer!” Carla shrieked as a bullet narrowly missed her exposed forehead, splintering the cement beside her head as she instinctively ducked.

“How much?” Nameless asked.

“Dude, no. I’m not selling that thing to Earth,” Aj groaned.

“Yeah, fuck Earth!” Sammy yelled as she looked up from her medical work.

“You guys got a better option? Everyone wants to kill us; I’m doing the best I can here!” Nameless roared.

“We’re doing the best we can,” Julia said.

She looked at the professor. “How can we trust Earth after the war, professor?”

“Oh, I doubt there will be forgiveness for the great loss your people have suffered. But I’m not asking you to trust us or even forgive Earth. I ask you to trust the people trying to prevent the next war. You do not know me, but I know your people, and I know this world’s pain. I hope that my efforts may help heal some of that anguish one day, but for now, I ask you to trust me.”

“Yeah, yeah, we must get the vial off Mars! If they get the vial, the world will end, blah, blah, blah. We know this, Professor,” Nameless droned.

“Exactly!” The professor beamed. “Then you actually know what is at stake. At least partially anyway. Now, let’s not dally.” The professor stood up, flung his body to the safest side of the cement wall, and began slinking his way up the stairs.

“Wait, w-w-w-what?” Spider asked, worried.

“Did he just agree with that?” Julia asked eyebrow arched.

“No one mentioned the world ending,” Hera said.

“Cuz it’s not; he’s just a smart ass. C’mon, let’s get ready, gotta get you guys out of here,” Nameless said as he watched the Professor slink up the stairs. This professor was just being clever, trying to make them feel inferior. Showing off his speech skillset. Who knows how long the old man had been down here with no one to talk to? Nameless would have felt bad for the old man had he not been so keen to crack jokes.

“Mars isn’t going to save itself, friends!” the Professor called from cover. “Let’s go!”

“Again, with the doomsday talk,” Julia sighed.

“Still like this guy?” Nameless asked her as the team gathered themselves and prepared to move up.

“He’s weird, not evil,” Julia said. “Just give him a chance.”

Nameless shrugged.

Everyone resolved themselves, preparing for the skyward push to safety. Sammy helped Aj up, tending to his wound; Hera was with Nameless, and Julia. Carla remained in her corner. Spider anxiously knelt in the shadows, his quivering hands clutching the harbor sword and a pistol he had found on the ground a few flights back. His face was contorted with fear, but his young eyes were nothing more than molten orbs of pure obstinance.

“Let’s move!” Nameless commanded. Carla and Spider extended themselves from the cover, unleashing a cascade of bullets upstairs, emptying their magazines as Nameless, Julia, and Carla barreled upwards as quickly as they could.

Nameless, Julia, and Hera found cover on the fourth floor and let their weapons ring. Nameless peered from outside, his body contorting in a fashion so as he had a shot, but most of his body was covered. Nameless felt naked in the half millisecond it took to emerge from cover.

Nameless could not have described the sensation when exposing his body to oncoming fire. For some, it’s a heroic kneejerk reaction, for others it's simply the baseline of hundreds if not thousands of hours of training kicking in.

It was hard to judge for Nameless if it was one or other. It was just the right thing to do; everyone was risking their lives. As he emerged, his vision narrowed, time slowed, his lungs constricted, his eyes pulsed, his joints sparked, his spine nearly danced like a worm from electricity. It was pure bliss, pure fear, pure anger, pure adrenaline.

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He saw a pale, hapless face in his sights in that solitary moment. It was a young man. His delicate facial features were framed with glistening fear. Somehow four flights down, Nameless could see every emotion, pore, and bead of sweat on this young prison guard’s face through the glass lenses of Beowulf’s sight. Nameless squeezed the trigger.

He had never fired an old-world weapon over the caliber of 7.62mm before, excluding that particular time Aj had let him use his personal sniper rifle. He expected massive recoil, as old-world guns typically had. But there was no recoil. No bite, no upwards jerk of the barrel; the sight stayed precisely where it was aimed. When Nameless pulled the trigger, the beowulf seemed to rip the air in half as it belched fire. The weapon become a mini machine gun, shooting molten orbs of destruction as accurate as a laser.

He was not prepared for the ring of fire emitted from Beowulf, as the barrel hurled red hot shooting stars of death at the enemy. Beowulf was deafening even with headsets and a lifetime of shooting guns. The sounds pummeled the eardrums of all nearby, bouncing off the cement stairs and walls. The bullets hurtled upwards, smashing through human flesh, concrete, shattering lights, eventually lodging wherever they ended up. Small pops began ringing as the lead rounds encased in ballistic incendiary liquid began igniting and burning.

“Holy fuck!” Nameless shouted with glee. His body felt light, his mind dizzy; he had never fired such a powerful weapon before. The man Nameless had fired upon was gone, along with several of his comrades who had been beside him.

“The hell is that thing?” Julia asked with indignation.

“Auntie Mai said it was a Beowulf. They discontinued it for some reason,” Nameless smiled.

“Can’t imagine why,” Hera said.

The three resumed their fire, this time far more effective after the carnage the beowulf had left. As they continued exchanging fire, the rest of the group caught up, Aj leading the way, clutching his wound with gritted teeth.

“You’re hurt, man!” Nameless said as Aj passed him with a determined look.

“Yeah. Not dead. Fuck off and move,” AJ replied as he took his post and hugged his rifle with his good arm.

Nameless didn’t know if he wanted to punch the stubborn fool or hug him. Nameless nodded to Julia, and they pushed onward, Hera close on their heels. They made it to the third floor with ease. As they took cover, a guard’s body hurtled past them, impacting on the fifth floor with a gut-clenching crack. Aj seemed to be as good a shot with his off-hand as his dominant.

Once in position, the three resumed firing. There were no faces or targets now, just faint muzzle flashes and the crack of bullets as the guard’s resistance was significantly less now. As they fired back, Hera spoke. “I got some goodies that can help, just need to get in range!”

“How close?” Nameless roared back.

“Next floor!”

Nameless nodded, moved his selector switch to semi-automatic, and began aiming accurately, hitting every muzzle flash he saw. Even on semi, Beowulf spat fire like an angry mutant, the gases from the barrel making the air around him hazy as smoke wafted from the end of the gun. The other half of the team sped past them, covering the second floor.

“Stop at the second floor, stop on the second!” Nameless yelled to Julia with two fingers extended upwards. Julia nodded, sprinting up the stairs. On the next floor the other team halted, emptying their magazines with a hailstorm of covering fire. Captain Spider now resembled an anti-aircraft turret. The little ten-year-old cyborg now had two pistols, the rest of his limbs handling two rifles he mechanically engaged.

“Go!”

The three sprinted up the stairs, stopping alongside Aj, Sammy, Carla and Spider.

“The hell you guys doing?” Carla yelled.

They didn’t respond as they shot from cover. Hera ducked down behind a wall in the prison hallway, reaching into her explosives bag. She pulled out a long, thick aluminum cylinder with a pull cord on the bottom end, and a bright red cap at the top. A slicer.

She clutched the cord in one hand, the other firmly gripping and pointing the cylinder upwards.

“Slicer, slicer, slicer! Everybody down!” Julia screeched. They had only seen one in action once before; this wasn’t going to be pretty.

“I do believe that’s considered a war crime off Mars,” the professor hollered from his corner.

“Good thing we ain't off Mars, old man,” Hera spat as she stuck her weapon out into the open air, aiming at the cycling two floors up. She pulled the cord. A screaming, pure white streak of light screeched skywards toward the guards. As the weapon deployed, Hera ducked back down, covering her head.

There was a moment of silence as the gunfight ceased. The mercenary team ducked, as the guards frantically tried to escape. The flare-like projectile hit the cycling, and a metallic, grinding screech filled the building. A blinding flash hit the stairwell, then silence. The team got out of cover and, with their guns up, moved fluidly upwards as a group. They reached the ground floor, and sure enough, the sight that greeted them was not pretty.

The carnage nearly made the them stop as they emerged onto the ground floor. Charred and mangled bodies littered the ground near the edge of the stairs. One could easily see where the beowulf rounds had hit. Nameless thought he recognized the body of the young man he had aimed at, but most of his upper torso was now just a mangled pile of red strips and viscera.

But what truly made the scene so ghastly wasn’t the beowulf’s fiery destruction; it was the Slicer. The projectile had exploded just a foot above eye level of the guards. The blizzard of hot molten metal had utterly decimated the bodies of the remaining guards. Millions of bits of metal had deeply sliced the walls, furniture, and cells. Each piece of clothing, armor and any other protective technology had been sliced entirely through, leaving the flesh of the men underneath at the mercy of the shredding storm of the tiny pieces of metal and burning white phosphorus.

The professor covered his mouth, his sweaty forehead creased as his wide blue eyes took in the destruction.

“I can see why they sent you now,” he murmured faintly.

“Who’s the professionals now, bitch?” Hera spat.

“Hey! Be nice to him; man hasn’t worked a day in his life, let alone shot at anyone,” Julia defended.

“You okay, professor? We gotta get you out of here,” Nameless asked.

The professor shook his head, his face losing its color as he clutched his stomach and bent over.

“C’mon, man!” Aj groaned as the professor vomited on the floor. The poor man realized he had done so onto a few pieces of the guards, recoiled, and nearly slipped in a pool of blood, which resulted in far more vomiting.

“We don’t have time for this; Aj is bleeding really badly,” Sammy said quietly as Nameless went over to the professor.

“Hey!” Nameless said directly and harshly, looking the professor in the eyes. “Look at me, fucking look at me. This, all of this, this is Mars, this is our life. Don’t look at her, asshole; look at me! Look into my eyes, focus! This is our life. This is our job. We will get you out of here, alive. Don’t fucking puke, do not fucking puke on me, look at me!

“I don’t fucking care how bad this is to you. I say jump, you say how high, I say duck, you duck, I say move, you fucking move. We’ll be nice and shake hands, and you can lecture us when we get off Mars; now move!”

Nameless held the professor’s shoulder with a vice grip as he dragged the old man through the swamp of decimated bodies and carnage, the team following behind cautiously. As they moved through the lobby, quiet giggles reached Nameless ’s ear. Rage filled his chest and burned his head as he whipped around, searching for who was snickering.

As soon as he turned around, Hera immediately made a straight face and looked at the ground.

“Sorry, just kinda hot, sorry,” she mumbled.

Nameless shook his head and continued leading the way.

As they emerged into the lobby where Spider’s hulk rested, there was no living enemy to be seen. Julia and Carla cautiously edged their way to the gaping hole that used to be the front of the jail.

“Welp, we ain't going out that way,” Carla sighed as they came back.

“Why not?” Aj asked.

“You think it’s bad in here? You should see the rest of the city,” Julia said.

“T-t-the c-clans are-are hitting b-b-b-back h-hard. W-w-we c-can’t go out on the s-s-s-s-streets,” Spider warned.

“Solid. Okay, pull security, check your shit. I want round counts and pat-downs; make sure no one else is hurt. Aj, how you feeling, bud?” Nameless asked.

“Just another day in paradise, brother,” Aj growled as Sammy peered into his wound underneath the bandages with her flashlight. She looked over his shoulder at Nameless with a concerned look. He needed a doctor soon.

“How about you?” Nameless asked, looking at Julia.

“I’ll make it,” she said as her voice cracked.

Nameless made his way over to her, opened his medical pouch, and pulled out some Pain Gone.

“Turn around,” he said softly.

“Don’t waste your chems on me,” she spoke with a harsh tone.

“Shut up and turn around.”

She complied, and Nameless jabbed the syringe just above her lousy shoulder, injecting the chems into her body. She sighed with relief and her body loosened up as she nodded a silent thank you.

“I don’t believe morphine is necessary for such a superficial wound,” the professor said quietly, his pale, sweaty face glistening.

“Who the fuck asked you?” Sammy barked.

“Yeah, what kind of professor are you? Know so much about war and fighting, but you can’t even handle some fucked up bodies,” Aj snarled.

“Professor bullshit more like,” Hera snapped.

“Forgive me for having a rational thought! Do they cut out your soul at birth on this orange pile of shit or are all you savages just sadistic vagabonds?” the professor shouted as he clutched his chest.

There was a pause. The group stared at the heaving professor. The silence was broken by Nameless chuckling. “Yeah, basically.”

Julia joined in. “Guess I never thought about an outsider seeing what it’s like here,” She smiled.

“What’s sadistic? And the hell is a vagabond?” Aj asked angrily.

“That’s you, buddy, don’t worry, not a bad thing,” Carla said.

Aj smiled and laughed. “The sadistic Vagabonds. I like it!”

The professor groaned.

“Spider, you know any other ways out, buddy?” Nameless asked.

“B-back b-b-behind the-the jai,” Spider beamed. “There's the f-f-f-factory district and-and r-railyard.”

“All right, Vagabonds, let’s move out,” Nameless said.

“Sadistic Vagabonds,” Aj proudly corrected.

“Right, we might need to work on that,” Nameless said as they single filed through the wreckage of the jail.

“The sadistic?” Sammy asked.

“The mean vagabonds!” Carla said.

“I like just vagabonds,” Julia offered.

“It does have a nice ring to it,” Hera chirped.

“Nah, but for real, the hell is a vagabond?” Aj asked.

“Yo! Professor bullshit, what’s a vagabond?” Hera asked.

“A person who wanders from place to place without a home or job.”

“You calling us bums?” Aj asked hotly.

“Nah, he’s saying we’re mean wanderers! Right?” Carla said.

As they came to the very back of the building, Nameless could see through the windows that, just as Spider said, the factory district sloped downward as far as one could see.

“Right,” Julia said with a smile. She looked over at the professor. “Respect goes both ways, and you need to earn ours.”

“Does everyone on this wretched planet lack all manners and decorum?” the professor asked genuinely.

“Oh, buddy. You ain’t gonna believe this, but we’re the nice ones,” Aj laughed.

“This is what I deserve for not believing the Navy’s briefing,” the professor sighed.

Aj opened his mouth, but Julia cut him off. “The ships in orbit,” she said hastily.

“Ooooooh,” Aj nodded, still confused.

“Doesn’t Earth have like a space force or something?” Carla asked.

“We did. But that was a very, very long time ago. Back when your ancestors first came here to terraform,” the professor said. “Judging by all of your accents and weapons, I would say most of you hail from the American/European continents. Perhaps some of your ancestors served in the Space Force. Typical, considering this sector of Mars.”

“Didn’t the old Chinese and Russians Space Forces get southern Mars?” Sammy asked.

“Yeah, look how that worked out for ‘em,” Nameless said darkly.

The group fell silent as most remembered the campfire stories of the war.

“So, what now?” the professor asked cautiously.

“Up and out, man,” Nameless said. “Cover me.”

The group took their respective positions aiming out of windows in angles. The professor stood directly in front of a window on the far right, attempting to mimic their behavior.

“Yo! Don’t stand directly in a window, man! Look out from an angle and further away. Stop being a target,” Aj said.

The professor nodded sheepishly and leaned as far away from the window as he could just so he wasn’t in front of it but could see a pie slice outside.

“I can only see the half out,” the professor said, confused.

“Yeah, that’s what overlapping sectors are for,” Nameless said nonchalantly as he gauged which factory roof they needed to jump onto.

The professor shook his head.

“What?” Carla asked.

“Nothing, it's just. Well, they warned us about Martian Mercenaries. Said they were just as good as our military. Maybe better. I didn’t believe it till now.”

“I’m sorry, who won the war again?” Aj quipped.

“I am standing in an irritated, destroyed husk of a planet, surrounded by backward and regressed settlers who still not only have religion but a polytheistic one at that. And you’re asking me who won?”

“Yeah, but who shot down most of your pretty, big ass ships?” Hera smiled.

“And who bombed you bastards back into the stone age?” the professor spat.

As soon those words left his mouth, the professor paled again. He bit his lips, hung his head, clasping his hands. “I am so sorry. That was not called for.”

Julia stormed over to the Professor and slapped him as hard as she could without saying a word. The smack rang out as the group stood silently.

“I would keep quiet the rest of this job if I were you, Earther,” Nameless said in a cold, even tone.

“Every breath and word that leaves your body is an insult to the billions we lost,” Julia whispered as nastily as she could.

“We’re still here. I say we fucking won,” Hera snarled.

“T-there!” Spider pointed. Nameless went over to see what he was pointing at. From this vantage, Nameless could see that the jail essentially rested on the top of a cliff. A bright orange factory roof resting a few feet just below the cliff's edge.

“Perfect. Good work, captain,” Nameless said. “All right, cover your sectors. I’ll go down first. We get on the roof, find a way down there. Avoid fights and sneak professor bullshit out the city by train.”

“Even if the trains are gone, we can still use the rail systems as a pathway,” Julia offered.

“That’s a long-ass walk,” Aj admitted.

“Better than staying here and waiting for Florence and her goons to find us,” Carla said.

“Best we can do. Anyone got a better idea?” Nameless asked. The group was silent. “All right. Cover me.”

Nameless cautiously opened Spider’s window, then threw himself outside as quickly as he could. He hit the ground with a painful thud, then crawled hastily away. He made his way behind the burned-out husk of a patrol vehicle parked behind the jail.

From here, he waited for a signal. Julia nodded and gave a thumbs up. Nameless reciprocated, then moved away from cover. He traveled twenty feet to the edge of the cliff, gathered himself, and hopped off the cliff. It was only a few feet to the roof. He would need to move fast to avoid being seen or shot.

The few feet flew by in a second, and Nameless’s feet contacted the roof. As his feet hit the ceiling, he was already planning his next move. Except, time was slowing down now. Why? And he was still dropping through the roof. Now he was looking at cables, then lights, then crossbeams, now the factory floor was racing to embrace him.