Cool Darkness by Matthew Carpenter Chapter 6 : A Slap in the Face "Whew. Man oh man. This one's gonna hurt" said a sweaty Jack as he faced his sidearm, Nebulus. He stood up and staggered over to the bathroom stall that was on the other side of the elevator to relieve himself. Nebulus just sat there rubbing his eyes. After a few seconds he stood and walked over to the elevator platform and momentarily waited for the chair to come down. "Where the hell you goin'?" yelled Jack from the stall. "I'm gonna check on the others and tell them what's up. We're gonna need some info from the streets and fast ...." he trailed off in his own thought as the chair arrived. He sat down and got to the office floor in no time, listening to Jack rant and rave about what he had just said. Nebulus' brow was furrowed, now, and time had taken it's toll on him. He walked out of the office to notice the van was missing. "Goddamn, stupid son's of bitches!" he yelled, spinning around to look at the whole warehouse. "Those dumn fuck's! If it's the last thing I told them it's to stay put! Jesus!" he fumed slamming a fist into the desk he began to sit at. A thousand swear words ran through his mind and his head began to throb. Closing his eyes, he sat back in the hard wood chair thinking about the job, running his fingers through his hair. 'Of course, we first had to fuck the job up. Then we actually had to run into this damn mob. Who the hell would dare to be a mob on the nets. Who would have the capabilities. Hmmmmm. "The government" his eyes flashed open. "Nah. Couldn't be" he said to himself with a quirky smile that almost gleamed with getting the answer, and then laughed at it's stupidity. "But it would be the perfect front to run us down....legally. Well, kind of. Shit." He opened the top desk drawer and took out a few plastic bottles of pills. He popped a few in his mouth and downed them with a flat can of Coke that had probably been there more than a day. "What's the matter with you!" yelled Jack from the office's entrance. "How many times have I told you not to get drugged before you jack in. Especially now. What the hell do you ..." "Oh shut up and take this!" said Nebulus throwing a bottle to Jack. He caught it with a rattle and looked up very disgusted almost in disbelief at what Nebulus was implying. "Relax, it's caffeine. It'll wake you up." "I'm not tired" replied Jack walking towards Nebulus. He screwed the cap off the bottle and put a pill in his mouth. He reached the table, putting the closed bottle down and picking up the can of Coke. "That's been there awhile, you know" muttered Nebulus. "I know. I opened it last week" he said with a smirk. ************* Slash had been driving the van through the back streets of the city for about ten minutes until she came to the designated spot Nemesis had told her to go to. The tall buildings surrounding them sent shadows out to swallow up the surrounding sidewalks, almost requiring a street lights to light up the broken and graffittied walls that surrounded them. "So where the hell do we go from here?" she asked, leaning over her shoulder to get a glimpse of Nemesis' back. He was leaning over Donna who was still out cold. Her arms were tied together with unbreakable plastic ties that were laced from her wrists up to her elbows. Her hands had turned pale from lack of blood in her hands. Her legs were tied in a similar manner, one that Nemesis found a certain liking to. "There should be a garage door around here somewhere that has the word 'Ixzer' graffettied on it in red" replied Nemesis who had turned to look out the front windshield. "Just go slow and we should be able to see it better." "I can't see a goddamn thing with Ixzer on it" whined Slash, getting quite frustrated with the whole secretive situation. 'First you don't tell me where we're going, then what we're doing. You dumb shit! I don't see why I ever listen to you.' She slowly eased her foot on the accelerator and let the van drift down the alleyway, nearly scraping the sides of it on one of the buildings. "Stop here. Turn the engine off" spoke Nemesis in a hushed voice as he popped the sliding door open and slowly began to push it out of his way. "What's the silence for man? I don't see any Ixzer." Without a reply, he jumped out of the van, landing his combat boots on the broken asphalt and turned around to scoop up the still unconscious Donna. Throwing her over his shoulder, he walked in front of the van and stood in front of the garage door. Slash got out and stood behind him still unsure of what was about to happen. 'Switch to UV.' Ixzer appeared on the door, just as he had said. He slowly moved to the wall on the left side of the door and allowed Donna to slide from his shoulder, landing soundly on the concrete with a thud. "Well I see we're in a good mood today" smirked Slash getting a kick out of Nemesis' behavior. 'He's finally back to his old self' she smiled to herself, looking down at Donna. 'Bitch.' Her smile was broken as the wall Nemesis was touching broke open and a small camera appeared in front of his face. She took a step back, getting into a combat stance. Her claws extended instantly. He never moved. "Enter password" stated a speaker originating from near the camera. "Zephia 12 Luther Mia" replied Nemesis. The camera disappeared as the wall rebuilt itself, hiding the broken area. A couple of loud noises came from within the garage and the door slowly began to open. Nemesis bent over and scooped up Donna's body and began walking into the garage. Slash followed a little hesitantly behind her companion, still with her claws out and ready. She really hated being uninformed. "Stop right there!" came a deep, husky male voice from within the darkness of the garage. The two of them had barely gotten ten feet within the building. "Who's there!" yelled Slash from behind her companion. "Nemesis. How's it goin' mon?" "Not too bad Doc. Got a little present for you." "Another hooker. Don't you know I gave them up for lent?" "No hookers this time. A tinker toy to take apart." By now, Slash was completely confused. 'What the hell is going on? How is this guy and where the hell is he?' she thought trying to look into the darkness. "Do we get to have some fun this time?" "You got it." "Bring her in." The lights flashed on, slightly blinding Slash for a second. The garage door immediately slammed down into the concrete that startled the always calm Slash. "Will someone please tell me what the fuck is going on!" yelled Slash at the top of her lungs. Nemesis turned around slowly eyeing her weirdly. "Slash, meet Doc. He's a techie friend of mine. He likes to take things apart and see how they work." He turned towards Doc and began walking in his general direction. "Doc, this is my friend Slash. She's with Nestroth" he said pointing a thumb in her direction. "Hey ya sexy" he said looking her over. She looked him over back. He stood almost as tall as Nemesis, but had black hair down to the middle of his back that flowed as he turned around to lead Nemesis to the door behind him. He walked with a limp to the left side and had a cybernetic left arm as well. 'He must've gotten into something' thought Slash to herself as she began to follow the two men towards the door, her claws finally retracting. It was unlocked with a pass card and led to a set of stairs leading downward. Doc led them down. Nemesis bumped Donna's head on the door frame. Slash just had to let out a small laugh at that. They arrived at a another door that lead into a cybernetics lab, or something that looked like one. Donna was placed on the medical table in the middle of the room. There were tools of all sorts lining the walls and hanging from the ceiling. Off to the left side were large tools for more heavy equipment, including what looked like a modified military gatlin gun. "I take it you like weaponry, sweetie?" smirked Doc seeing Slash look the gun over. She looked at him with an anticipated smile that said yes. "Hmm. Maybe I'll let you take her for a ride tonight." He turned towards Nemesis who was cutting Donna's bonds with one of Doc's molecularly sharp blades. "So what the hell's with this chic anyways?" asked Doc. "She worked with us on our last project, but she's got something in her chest that I think is a bug. It's the only thing that explains why we ran into shit." "How do you know?" "Look at her under IR. You'll see something really black there." "So you want to cut her open and see what we can see?" "Let's see if she will talk first." The two men took her arms and legs, cuffing them to the four corners of the table securely. Doc took out an antidote for the sleeping chemical Nemesis used on her, and injected her with it. In a few moments she came to trying to wipe her eyes with no luck from the restraints. She looked up to see Nemesis looking right into her face. Doc was busy putting on a surgeon's hat, mask and gloves. 'Interesting difference from the mechanics suit there Doc' Slash told herself as she too walked towards Donna. "Who are you working for Donna?" asked Nemesis in a very calm voice. "What the hell are you doing? Untie me at once, you moron!" she screamed back testing her restraints. "I don't think so sweetie. I think you set us up, which is why you've got a bug in your chest. So why don't you just tell us what is going on" he said politely. "I'm not working for anyone. And I don't have anything in my chest you, idiot! Now let me go!" she screamed. Doc walked around and attached two electrodes to her head and turned on a scanner that monitored certain parts of the brain for brainwaves. "What the hell is that? Who is he?" "Donna, I'm only going to ask you one more time, before I cut your chest open and find out what the hell you have in there. Now, tell me, who are you working for" he said in a very deep voice that began to frighten Donna even more. His frowned brow made her look at him with wide eyes, fearing that he was serious. She thought for a moment, and then just made her eyelids very narrow and matched his frown with hers. "Fuck off bastard" she replied in a low tone. Nemesis bent down until his face was less than a centimeter away from hers without changing his expression. "Have it your way, my dear." He moved his lips down to hers and gave her a small kiss on the lips. She didn't kiss him back. He withdrew his face from hers, standing straight up, and removed the electrodes from her head. "We won't be needing these" he said tossing them to Doc. He looked back down at Donna and saw the fear in her eyes, yet also saw her determination as well. He moved his right hand up to his left shoulder and quickly sent it flying across Donna's face, slapping her cheek so that the side of her face bounced off the table. Blood began to trickle from the corner of her mouth as she turned to glare back at Nemesis whose facial expression still had not changed. "You asshole. I'm gonna kill you, you son of a bitch!" she screamed. Starting to violently pull on her restraints, she yelled and screamed until Doc had had enough. "Time to put her to sleep, I think." "Not this time. I want her to feel this" snarled Nemesis. Donna barely caught what he said and gasped a little in anticipation. Nemesis nodded to Slash who was getting a kick out of the torture being induced by Nemesis. 'It's good to have him back' she thought to herself. She walked to Donna's right side and smiled at her. Donna only caught a glimpse of her out of her peripheral vision. Stroking her stomach, Slash began feeling Donna's lower ribs and stomach. Then raised her strong arm and let the side of her fist slam into Donna's stomach, just below her sternum. Donna sucked in her breath and pulled at her cuffs as her face turned red from her breath being knocked of out her. She finally relaxed a little and began taking short breaths. Nemesis stood above her head still and pulled her jacket away as much as possible from her chest. He then reached into her top and in one swift pull, ripped the top of it and her bra open. She struggled underneath him to no evail as his hands went further down to grab the divided material at the edge of the tear. In another pull, her top was in two and he pulled the parts to the sides to reveal her bare chest and white breasts. Her nipples were slightly hard from her treatment, something that Slash took note of. She slowly caressed both of Donna's breasts, allowing her touch to become rougher as her claws extended a few inches from her fingertips. Her slight smile of playfulness changed to a devilish grin as she moved her fingers to the underside of Donna's breasts and pushed her claws into the skin below them. Not wanting to be outdone by what was sure to be effective torture by Nemesis, Slash began to drag her claws down towards Donna's navel. "Now who are you working for Donna?" asked Slash now enjoying the fun as well. "Nobody! I swear I'm not working for anybody!" she screamed. Tears were now running from her eyes as she tossed her head from side to side. Slash only pushed in harder until blood coated much of her lower stomach. 'I've had enough of this shit' thought Nemesis as he reached over for the molecularly sharp blade he had cut her bonds with. He placed the edge of it next to the tendon in her right peck. Slash reluctantly pulled her claws out of Donna as she saw what Nemesis was about to do. "Donna, why did you set us up. Tell me or you will regret it" he spoke in a stern voice after waiting impatiently for an answer. "Go to hell!" she yelled. The pain and realization of the situation, finally breaking her. "Fine. Slash put a gag in her mouth. I don't want any of her childish screams to hurt my ears" he said. Slash complied by stuffing a dirty rag in her mouth and stepped back as Nemesis began slowly cutting the tendon in her peck. Her screams were muffled by the rag, but her tears and struggling movements only made the pain worse. The tendon finally broken and Donna let out a ear-piercing shriek as the tears rolled down her face freely. "That's enough, Nemesis" said Doc as he came over to Nemesis who was getting ready to start on the other shoulder. He placed the end of a silver device that looked like a gun to Donna's throat and pulled the trigger. She jerked and then collapsed to the table, unconscious. "Making her squirm is not going to get the info you want man." "You know how much I hate people who stab me in the back." "Let's just get what you came for and forget about it, all right?" spoke Doc in a soft tone of voice, a little shocked by the whole situation. "You're the doc. Let's see what's in her chest." He removed the blade from her shoulder and stepped back as Doc began to stop the bleeding in Donna's stomach with a laserstitch. After removing the gag in her mouth, he began working on stopping the extensive bleeding from her shoulder. To Nemesis' wishes, he finally cut into her chest with a scalpel. Doc brought over a few instruments to determine just where and what the black box in her chest really was, then began to go after the prize. "Jesus Christ! This thing is really in her. Someone really did a good job on her when they put it in." Doc continued to try and get a better look at the black thin box that was lodged under Donna's sternum, near her collar bone. "How the hell could she breath for cryin' out load?" The frown on Doc's face spelled a tough job, and probably one done by a pro. He continued to open her up enough to get at the box and finally cut the thin metal rings that were securing it to her sternum. A soft digital pulse emanated from Donna's direction, and then a hushed pop silenced all sound in the room. Her head and body jerked slightly and then went limp again. Her heart drastically slowed until coming to a complete stop within seconds of the diminished sound. "Damn" softly stated Doc, keeping his hands still. "What?" questioned Slash and Nemesis almost in unison. "Shoulda known. Oh well. Let's see what we can see." He slowly pulled the box out from under Donna's sternum, not bothering to put her back together more than letting the torn skin slide back into place. Taking the box over to the sink, he removed most of the blood from the box with a damp towel and put it under a lamp to get a better look at it. 'Edging at the sides, not too tough. No markings, no noticeable points, oh hey, there's the trigger mechanism' he thought looking at a very small silver line down the inside of the clips. Nemesis and Slash becoming bored with the subject at hand, retired to opposite sides of the room to lean on the walls, waiting for something to come out of the box that would give them a clue to Donna's true loyalties. Doc picked the box up and moved it over to the work table and placed it on a ceramic flat plate that was situated under one of his analyzers. Within a few minutes he had run IR, UV, X-ray and a few other tests just to see what was in the middle of the black box. He then took a small tool and began wedging the corner of it open until the lid popped up. Slowly, he lifted it off and revealed the small transmitter board that the X-ray scan had shown. "So what do we got?" gruffly asked Nemesis, still pessimistically leaning on the wall. "Transmitter box. It essentially controlled the bomb. However, it could have been triggered by someone else with some form of an electronic signal." "So she had a fail safe in her, huh?" he said moving closer to Donna again. He brushed her cheek with his index finger and moved his face close to hers. "You got outta this easy wench" he whispered to her. Standing up, he moved over to take the box in his hand. "So can you figure out who made it or who could detonate it?" he asked looking at Doc. "Maybe. It'll take some time." "Contact me in the usual way in one day" replied Nemesis as he handed the box back to Doc and motioned Slash to following him out the door. "What about your woman?" "Oh yeah." Nemesis grabbed a nearby trash bag and worked it over Donna's head and torso after removing her bonds. He scooped her up so that she was crunched upside down into the bag and then proceeded to head up the stairs. As Doc verified the garage door closing from his wall monitor he dialed into his telecom and waited while the security codes played their game before opening a screen. "What is it?" came Nebulus' tired voice. "We've got a few problems." ****************** "So what the hell are you going to do with her?" reprimanded Slash as she drove into the next alleyway. "Pull up next to that dumpster over there?" The van stopped and Nemesis pulled Donna's body out of the van, throwing it into the dumpster without a care. He returned to the van to fetch a can of gasoline and proceeded to pour some of the can's contents onto Donna's body. He returned to the van and picked up an old oil rag. Lighting it, the van began to move away as he threw it into the dumpster and slid the van's side door shut.