I raided all of the small databases the surveillance teams had gathered and it let me see the footage of the woman that had set off the explosion. I discovered that she had a partner, a man, and I followed the trail back to his building. It was wired to explode as well, so I disabled them and gathered them up. Lastly, I went into the room and looked for anything personal that they would have used. The room was completely clean, except for a case under the bed that had nothing inside of it, except ash.
“It might be enough.” I said and stored the case. It was obviously used to clean up the scene, so they at least had it in their possession. The ash could possibly be used as well. I'd find out soon enough.
I left the room and the building, climbed into the government hover car and drove towards the military base they had been deployed from. When I pulled up to the gate house, I made myself invisible using my Stealth technique and then forced the guard to see me as the armored man's commanding officer. He let me in without fuss and I drove over to the right building, got out, and entered the building. I quickly made my way to the commanding officer's office and stood there as he discussed the latest debacle with, surprisingly, the general of the special forces.
This is my lucky day. I thought sarcastically and used Presence to disable all of the electronic devices in the room, including the hidden recorders, then dropped my Stealth technique. It took them nearly a full minute before they noticed that someone else was in the room. Both of them startled at the same time and turned to stare at me.
“Thanks for warning me they had set explosives to eliminate me, you dicks.” I said and used Presence to crush their hearts and lungs. Blood spurted out of their mouths and noses and they slumped over in their chairs. I used Presence to cover them and made them invisible, did it to myself as well, then left the building. I stuffed them into the back of the hover car with most of the other bodies, because I had run out of room in the trunk after four, no matter how much I tried to bend them to fit.
I drove the hover car out of the base, once again passing the security gate without fuss, and made the long journey to their seat of government. Surprisingly, there wasn't a checkpoint or a guard house like at the base. I drove the hover car right into their parking lot and parked in a free space, then used Detect Presence as I stood there and looked around the building to try and find Uzahne. When I found her office, she had several visitors, then a plan hatched in my mind. I walked towards the building and smiled the smile of a man about to get some measure of revenge.
*
Uzahne had gathered everyone together again for her aide to make the call to the medical facility that Hunter had been taken to. Olugaell, Ahaen, Sheph, Admiral Shanifra, and her executive officer Melanie waited anxiously as the aide used the portable communications suite.
“We're very busy right now.” A man's voice said from the display without greeting her properly.
“The president is waiting for word about Hunter's condition.” Uzahne's aide said.
“Hunter is no longer a patient in this facility.” The man responded.
“Oh, no.” Sheph whispered. “He... he...”
“He left.” The man said.
“He WHAT?!?” Ahaen yelled.
“He broke out of the medical gel tank and...” The call cut off as the power to the portable communications suite was disconnected.
“What... wait, what happened?” Uzahne asked.
“I don't know.” Her aide said and hit a few buttons and nothing happened. “It's not working.”
There was a loud bang on the door and every woman in the room jumped.
“Ooo... zaaaa... neeee!” A deep rumbling voice said through the door and a feeling of dread covered the room.
“Wh-wh-what was th-that?!?” Ahaen asked as her whole body shook.
“Yooo... huuuurt... meeeee!” The voice said and then there was another loud bang.
All of the women jumped again and they all trembled as a scraping sound moved down the door to the handle. The door handle jiggled a little, then there was a metallic snap as the lock broke and the handle turned all of the way, then the door slowly creaked open. The women were all afraid of what was going to be revealed, and nothing was there. Someone let out a shaky breath as they relaxed... then a bloody stump hit the door frame with a loud bang.
Ahaen screamed at the sound and the sight, then the stump pulled something into the doorway. None of the women could make sense of what it was at first. It wasn't until the thing moved fully into the doorway that they made out the shape of a man and they all burst out crying.
“Ooo... zaaa... neee.” The voice said and they all saw that the mouth didn't move. “Yoooo... sennnt... themmm.”
Uzahne was completely frozen as the mangled thing stepped into her office. Her eyes saw the thing's missing eye, the missing hand, the burned away skin and muscle that exposed bone... so much bone... and her mind couldn't process how the thing could move in that condition. There was a squelching sound and suddenly there was a datapad in the creature's burned hand.
“Evvvidennncccce.” The creature took a halting step, then another, then another.
The women in the office were in various states of crying and hysteria. No one moved as the thing dropped the datapad on the desk.
“Theeeey... knewwww.” It said, still without moving its mouth. “Theeeeey letttt itttt happeeeennnnn.”
Uzahne looked up into the thing's eyes and saw a bright sapphire blue eye that shifted slightly to green when the head turned slightly. “H-H-Hunter!” She gasped when she realized who it was.
The creature nodded once with the sound of tearing flesh. “IIIII hooooope yourrrr happppy nooowww.” It said and turned around and slowly walked towards the door.
“S-s-stop!” Melanie said as she stood, her eyes full of tears, and she tried to take a step closer. She stopped before she touched the thing. “Please! Go back to the medical facility! Let them heal you!”
The thing turned to her. “Only... kept alive. Didn't... heal.”
“Oh, goddess!” Ahaen exclaimed and dropped to her knees. “I'm so sorry!” She said and wiped at her eyes. “I never treated you fairly, even when you proved you were right!”
“Will... you kill them... for what they did?” The creature asked. “They let... so many people... be in danger.”
“They... will be dealt with.” Uzahne said and her thoughts were focused on them being fired and publicly disgraced, then charged with various crimes.
“Not like that.” The creature said and it made a smile with its burned face. “I took care of it myself.”
Suddenly there were fourteen bodies dropped around the office. Ahaen screamed as a headless body landed in front of her, then the head rolled off and onto the floor and she screamed again.
“H-Hunter.” Uzahne looked at the carnage around her, her eyes and thoughts full of disbelief.
“Admiral, I need a favor.” The creature said.
Admiral Shanifra jumped to her feet. “Anything!”
“A need a ride out to my ship.”
“I'll have a fast patrol ship here in ten minutes!” Shanifra said.
“A shuttle is fine.” The creature said and started to shamble away.
“W-wait!” Shanifra walked over to the thing, then she didn't know what to do. “Oh, Hunter.” She said. “How are you still alive?”
“Magic.” The creature said and stumbled through the doorway and out of sight. Shanifra walked behind him and Melanie followed them.
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“By all the gods.” Olugaell said as she stared down at the bodies. “How could he... he was only...”
“I don't know.” Uzahne said and looked at the datapad, then held in her shudder as she picked it up. It didn't have any blood on it and she relaxed. After a quick look through the data, she took in a sharp breath. “They did know.” She said and put the datapad back on the desk. “The general, the commanding officer, and the entire surveillance team.” She spat and her horror at Hunter's appearance was briefly forgotten. “They actually ordered the team to not interfere and to wait!”
“What? Why?” Olugaell asked as she pushed her own horror aside for a moment.
“It doesn't say.” Uzahne said and Olugaell picked up the datapad.
“What is wrong with you?!?” Ahaen asked. “We're surrounded by bodies! Dead bodies!”
“After seeing what Hunter looks like, those things are nothing.” Sheph said and wiped away her tears. She was going to remember what he looked like for the rest of her life. “In fact, I'd rather see them than look at Hunter like that again.”
“But... but... Hunter murdered them!” Ahaen said, now that her wits were coming back to her. She would never forget what Hunter looked like, either.
“Do you really think the people would want to see Hunter, looking like he is, being arrested for killing the people that did it to him and also let an entire building be destroyed?” Olugaell asked. “Oh, by the way, there were two other buildings wired with explosives.”
“What?” Uzahne held her hand out for the datapad and looked at it. “Oh, goddess.” She said. “His hotel, which is full of people, as well as a building in the business district with two hundred offices.”
“So we're just going to let this go?” Ahaen asked and waved at the bodies. “What the hell are we going to do with these things?”
“The only thing we can do.” Olugaell said. “We hoist the blame on them. They are already dead, so there's no need for trials or anything. We can even claim they were caught in the explosion.”
“I meant what do we do with them physically.” Ahaen said.
“Call a clean up crew.” Olugaell said and activated her wrist communicator, then spoke in her native fish language. She talked for several minutes, then hung up. “They will be here in a few minutes.”
“What... what are they going to do?” Ahaen asked, not really wanting to know the answer.
“The same thing that happens to 'vermin' when we catch them.” Olugaell said with a smile.
*
I stood there beside the landing pad and waited for the ship to arrive. My attempts to ask for a shuttle were ignored and the fast patrol ship flew down and came in for a landing. I used Presence to stop the backwash of wind and heat from the engines and the ship settled onto the pad.
“Hunter, please.” Melanie pleaded again and she still couldn't bring herself to touch me.
“I need to go.” I said and the ship's landing ramp opened up and touched the ground. A figure came out at a run and slid to a stop when she saw me.
“Oh, no. NO!” Kris yelled and walked over to me as tears flowed down her face. “Hunter.”
“I'm sorry I missed your ship's departure window.” I said. “I ended up being a little blown up.”
Kris let out a sob and reached out to take my hand. “I'll take you home.” She said in a normal voice.
“Thank you.” I said and let her lead me up into the ship. The ramp closed and she tried to lead me to the ship's small medical bay. “I just need to sit down.”
“Hunter.” Kris said in a stern voice, then she sighed and led me to the passenger compartment. She was smart and knew when not to argue. She winced as she strapped me in for lift-off, then she sat down and strapped in herself. She gave a thumbs up gesture to the camera and the ship lifted off.
As we floated through space, I slowly eased away the damage from everyone's perception. Kris watched me closely the entire time and her eyes grew wide as my damage was 'healed' over the next half an hour. By the time they were ready to drop me off, her shock at seeing me so injured was replaced with surprise at my rapid healing and I was wearing the hospital jumpsuit again. We left the passenger compartment and went to the shuttle hatch.
“Your beautiful hair.” Kris whispered as her hand reached up and she rubbed her fingers through the one inch long fuzz on the top of my head.
“Yeah, I know.” I said and leaned into her hand. “It's going to take a very long time to get it all back.” I said. “I suppose you want to cancel our date now.”
Kris pulled her hand down across the side of my face and down my chest. “Hunter, we share the loss. A loss so significant, that neither of us are going to recover from it for a very long time.” She said and put her arms around me and gave me a kiss. “I was worried that we wouldn't have much in common when we got to know each other better, and now we have this deep loss that gives us a connection that even you can't deny for long.”
I smiled at her slightly twisted and self-serving logic. “You know I can't grow it quickly, like I did everything else. Once it's gone, it has to grow back naturally.”
Kris nodded and gave me another kiss, then she let me go. “I'll see you in about a month.”
I nodded and turned off the local gravity and pulled myself up the ladder, opened both hatches with Presence, then floated through and shut both hatches before turning the gravity back on. I landed on the floor and Rhubin, Simone and Luxea stood there with surprise and sadness on their faces.
“You saw me on the other ship.” I said and the three of them nodded. “I'm okay now.”
“How?” Luxea asked. “How did you... Hunter, you...” She started crying, so I tried to step close and she recoiled slightly. “No, I... I don't...”
“I don't want to talk about what happened between us yet, either.” I said and held out a datapad. “I need you to find a man for me.”
“Who?” Luxea asked and she took the datapad without touching my fingers.
“The second half of the pair of assassins that tried to have me killed.”
Rhubin cursed, Simone made fists and stopped herself from ranting, and Luxea stood there and stared at the datapad, because she didn't know how to react.
“When you do find him, I'll capture him and interrogate him.” I said and looked at Simone. “I may need your expertise in covert jobs to figure out who hired him when we discover his name.”
“Oh, you can bet your ass we'll find the bastards that did that to you.” Simone said angrily.
“Then let's get to work.” I said and we all looked at Luxea.
“Luxea.” Simone said and touched the woman's arm.
Luxea jumped a little. “What?”
“You need to find that man before he gets away.” Simone said and took her by the arm and dragged her to the living room. When they were gone, Rhubin came over to me.
“Hunter, are you all right?” Rhubin asked.
“No.” I said and put a hand on his shoulder and my body started to shake. “I'm using Presence to keep myself up and moving. I need to eat and sleep for about a week.”
Rhubin nodded and helped me to the kitchen and made me a quick meal that I ate without even tasting it. He made another and I took my time with this one. When I was done, both Simone and Luxea were back... and they had both good and bad news. They had found him, except that he was currently on a transport that was approaching the Lagrange point. I nodded and walked to my room, then locked the door.
“Hunter, don't give up chasing him.” Simone had followed me. “We'll get him, you have my word.”
“It's all right, Simone.” I said and went to the closet to get my uniform and the twelve remaining bags of holding on its belt. I dug into one of them and pulled out a 5 inch wide fully charged air mana crystal and a special round wooden placard that was ten inches wide. I took out the case I had found in the man's room and put the placard on top of it, then sat in the lotus position despite my soreness, and slotted the mana crystal into the carved opening in the middle of the wooden placard.
I gathered what little Presence was around me and added some of my own personal Presence to charge up the spell. A ten foot wide viewing bubble appeared and it showed me the transport, then it showed me the interior and I saw the man as he sat in a private compartment.
At least I don't have to worry about witnesses. I thought and covered the man in Presence and made it solid. “You didn't kill me.” I said and the man started to panic. “You better start talking before you run out of air.”
The man was quite reluctant at first, until I closed off his airways and held him for thirty seconds. He told me everything after that. I also ruffled through his mind and found his real name and the organization he worked for, that was very closely affiliated with The Order. So closely in fact, that in some circles, they were one and the same. They hadn't even been hired. It was a favor for one of the people that gave them lots of work.
The scaly alien.
Like I needed more of an excuse to go after The Order. I thought and shook my head.
“Please, kill me.” The man said. “I have a wife and son that...”
“I'm not going to kill you, since you desperately want that.” I said.
Since all energy had Presence in it, I used my Presence to squeeze his Presence out of the important parts of his brain, which pretty much made him a vegetable. I did give him the distinct impression that his partner had killed me when she killed herself, just in case. There was one part of his brain that had some kind of protection around it, so I examined it very closely. I hadn't found anything like it before, so I spent a few minutes mapping the anomaly. Once I had the shape in my head, I knew what it was. A suicide charge.
I shook my head again and used my Presence to turn off the electronics and severed the wires from the explosives. I disassembled it right down to individual wires, so that it couldn't be activated. I couldn't get the thing out of his head without cracking his skull open, so I had to leave it where it was. I felt a huge and familiar Presence start to appear, so I quickly removed all of my Presence as I retreated and closed the viewing bubble. The mana crystal was drained and the wooden placard crumbled into dust and disappeared.
I put the mana crystal away and stumbled over to my door and unlocked it. I told Simone the man's name, the organization he worked for, and their connection to The Order. I asked her to find them for me, then I dropped to the floor and fell unconscious.
*
“Hunter!” Simone exclaimed and knelt to help him.
Rhubin and Luxea were there in moments and the three of them picked him up and brought him into his room and laid him on the bed. They debated on taking off his jumpsuit, then decided to leave it while Rhubin left to get the med-bot. He brought it back to check Hunter over and it could only diagnose severe exhaustion. The three of them were relieved to hear that and tucked Hunter under the blanket and left the room to let him get his rest.
Rhubin went back to the cockpit to keep an eye on things, Simone went to the living room to start her covert search, using some of her contacts back in the Granis system, and Luxea went to the kitchen to get something to eat. She grabbed a quick snack and ate it, so that she didn't lie, then went right back to Hunter's room. She stood in the doorway and stared at the man she loved, and she berated herself for how she acted. Especially since that act sent him right into harm's way and he almost died.
Luxea shuddered as she recalled what Hunter looked like. Her eyes lingered on his right hand that had been missing and then she looked at his face. Her heart broke at the very short fuzzy hair on his head and she couldn't look at his eyes, because all she could see was the burned away hole that had been his right eye. She remembered from the news that he had saved fourteen people from the same explosion and she assumed that must have left him completely exposed.
Why? Why did you sacrifice your own safety for them? For strangers? Luxea asked him mentally. He didn't respond, and she sighed and stepped out of the room and closed the door.