Vapor Trails, page 20
"Thanks. I'll do that. My name is—"
"Not yet," Jason said. "We'll get to all that once Crusher finishes off your people below."
"Captain, you have incoming!" Doc's voice broke in on the team channel. "Two shuttles coming down from the cruiser. Sully is moving to intercept, but he's out of position."
Jacob watched the man with the cybernetics and saw his jaw tighten slightly, and a half-smile tugged the corners of his mouth. He'd just been alerted by his people the cavalry was on the way.
"You think they'll get here in time?" Jason asked.
"What?" the man said, feigning confusion.
"The shuttles full of reinforcements you were just told about," Jason said, stifling a yawn. "You think they'll get here before we have time to ice you, and then get picked up?"
"I guess we'll see," the man said.
"I'll go grab that other pistol," Jacob said. He put his carbine on the ground near Jason and walked over to where the captives stood. This guy looked dangerous, and he would need both hands to put on the restraints. He didn't want to give the guy a chance to kill him with his own weapon.
He was halfway to them when the floor bucked, and a tremendous explosion shook the building. Jacob and the two captives were tossed off their feet. Jason managed to remain upright. Half of the lights went out as Crusher and 784 came running back up the ramp.
"What the hell was that?" Crusher demanded.
"Ground team, you have locals coming down the hillside in technicals," Sully said. "The building you're in was just hit with rocket fire."
"Why the hell are the locals shooting at us?" Jason asked.
"You killed their advance team," their captive said. "They take that sort of thing personally."
"I hate sore losers," Jason muttered. "Sully, stay clear of the area until we get this sorted. Go ahead and let the shuttles land. Let them deal with each other."
"Smart move," the captive said. The other one still hadn't said a word.
"Shut up," Jason said, bracing as another round of explosions shook the building. "One more word, and I'll shoot you. 784, we need eyes out there, but I don't want you risking a direct hit from a rocket."
"I will go back up into the vent shaft," 784 said. "The opening is relatively small, and I can move out of the way of any lucky shots."
"Where do you want me?" Crusher asked, watching as Jacob pulled the rest of the weapons off their captives. The one who looked like a bureaucrat had, oddly enough, a beautiful Czech-made pistol that wasn't something an armory would just have lying around for him to use.
Jacob looked him up and down again, trying to see if he'd missed something in his first dismissal of the man. The other one, not surprisingly, had blades, sidearms, and even a telescopic baton hidden on him.
"You and I will cover the doorway," Jason said. "I don't think we'll have much to do until these two forces are done fighting each other or they join together and come after us. Sully, if the second thing happens, it'll be up to you to save the day."
"Understood," Sully said.
"So, who are you, tough guy?" Jacob asked as he tightened down the standard wrist restraints he carried. Those weren't normally something he had on him, but the mission had been to try and snag one of these guys alive to question.
"I'm nobody," the man answered. "Just some flunky they send out to run errands."
"That just happens to have extensive cybernetic upgrades? Sure," Jacob said. "You were ready to be all chatty a minute ago. What changed?"
"Maybe I don't like your face. Who's the merc you're running with? He looks a bit like you except he's definitely a killer. You're not. Webb hiring out the tough jobs now?"
"You got a name to go with that mouth?" Jacob asked again.
"His name is Hodges," the other man spoke up for the first time. "He's Margaret Jansen's fixer. Be very careful with him. He's a genius and a sociopath in addition to his cybernetic enhancements. He will kill you without remorse, just because he can."
Hodges's eyes bulged from his head as he stared at his companion as if he couldn't believe what he heard.
"Have you lost your fucking mind?" he spat.
"And you are?" Jacob asked, stealing a glance to where his father and Crusher watched the doorway.
"My name is Ricardo Avelar. I'm the replacement for Elton Hollick, the man you had the misfortune of crossing paths with on occasion," Avelar said. "Now that we can't find Mr. Hollick, I handle certain tasks within One World's administration."
"Hollick is dead," Jacob said, looking at Hodges. "I killed him. Left his corpse in a filthy alley on some shithole planet." That wasn't technically true. Jacob had killed Hollick, but they'd taken the body with them and disposed of it so as not to leave evidence.
"Ah," Avelar said, nodding knowingly.
"You're dead, Avelar," Hodges said. "You just committed suicide."
"For someone with a hundred and sixty IQ, you're surprisingly dense sometimes," Avelar said. "The game has changed, Hodges. You're no longer the scariest thing in the room."
The sounds of real fighting outside drowned out any reply Hodges might have made.
"Both shuttles have unloaded their troops," 784 reported. "A small envoy moved out to talk to the locals, the locals killed them immediately. Now, they're all in a close-quarters gunfight, and the One World troops have no cover to get behind."
"This is going to be fast and nasty," Crusher shouted.
"Ah, shit…here they come," Jason said, raising his own weapon and opening fire. "Jacob! They're going to try to take cover in here, I think we can hold them off and bottle up this doorway."
Jacob stood there, feeling useless but knowing somebody had to watch the prisoners. The one named Avelar just stood there calmly, his hands bound behind him. Hodges, however, seemed to be a coiled spring, vibrating with energy. The sounds of an especially intense spat of fighting drew his attention towards the doorway where Jason and Crusher had moved to block the One World troops.
An odd snapping sound caused him to jerk his head back just in time to see Hodges had broken his restraints and ducked his head just enough to not catch the incoming blow to the face.
Hodges's off-target hit still carried enough force to send Jacob flying. He hit the ground with a clatter, his weapon skidding across the floor as he fought off vertigo. There was no time to try and draw his sidearm as Hodges didn't bother going for a weapon, just dove onto Jacob to try and finish the fight quickly. Hodges went for his throat as Jacob was able to get a knee up and keep him from gaining complete control of him on the ground.
In a panic, Jacob shot his left arm across his body, and then swept down to clear Hodges's hands from his throat. This pitched him forward where Jacob could land a solid palm-strike that went a little higher than he aimed and hit Hodges between the eyes.
Jacob used the distraction to shove with his pinned leg, sliding Hodges off before rearing back with both feet and kicking him full force, the blow connecting solidly and sending his opponent flying backwards. Jacob rolled to his feet, still a bit dazed from that first hammer blow, and went for his sidearm. Hodges was already there, moving much faster than he would have believed possible.
"Oh, no," Hodges said, slapping the pistol from his hand. "We're keeping this— Ugh!"
Jacob took advantage of the man wasting the time to taunt him to catch him in the throat with a left-handed jab. As Hodges took a step back, Jacob launched off his back foot and drove his right fist in with all his strength. He was used to the people he'd fought before having no ability to block, or even survive, a hit delivered with all the power available in his enhanced muscles.
But Hodges was far from normal.
The punch slammed into Hodges’ sternum but, instead of the expected bone-cracking and blood flying, Jacob felt three of his fingers break and all his target did was grunt. Son of a bitch had a reinforced skeleton. Pulling his ruined hand back in close, he knew he was in trouble. Hodges smiled and moved towards Jacob as the Marine backed away.
"You should have shot me when you had the chance," he said, lunging.
Hodges was actually quite disappointed with Lieutenant Brown. He'd expected a much better fight than what he was getting. The problem was obvious to him after the first exchange. Jacob Brown was faster and stronger than almost any other human, but he was inexperienced and not particularly skilled as a fighter. He relied on his power to overwhelm his opponents and, when he met someone his equal, he didn't know what to do.
The punch that shattered his hand against the alloy plate in Hodges’ chest had been a perfect example. It was a reckless, stupid move that might work in the movies but would get you killed in real life.
"This will be a hard final lesson for you, boy," he said, moving in as the Marine cradled his hand against his side. Hodges slipped to his right, moving away from the injured hand because he wanted to force Brown to use his weaker left hand to defend. He didn't bother with trying to take him down, just came in close and delivered five lightning-fast hits to the body before skipping back out as Brown threw a wild left-hander that missed by inches.
Changing tactics, Hodges shifted quickly to the other side, now going after the injured arm with the same rapid combination he'd used before but, this time, Brown was ready. The kid stepped away just enough so Hodges missed, and then came in hard, turning to his left and hitting him in the temple with an elbow that rang his bell. He stumbled away a couple of steps and shook his head, pissed at himself for letting the little bastard get a free shot like that.
"Point to you, kid," he said. He moved in again, still intent on keeping this a standup fight where he could use his superior arm strength to just pummel the little bastard to death. But, credit where credit was due, Brown wasn't going to just stand there and be a target.
He'd figured out Hodges's strategy quickly and still had a lot of fight left in him. When the older man went for a feint, followed by a knockout swing aimed at the head, Brown ducked under it and, ignoring the broken hand, hit him in the gut with a right-hand punch that felt like it tore something loose inside him. The Marine pressed his advantage and followed with a left up under the chin, snapping Hodges’ head back.
Brown separated and turned, looking for a weapon. Hodges, now fearing for the first time the kid might get lucky after that gut check, rushed and tackled him, driving him into the concrete.
"I can't believe your punk-ass actually killed a Ull one-on-one," he said. "You can't even stay on your damn feet."
Brown's head hit the concrete despite his best efforts to keep his chin tucked, and he was obviously dazed. Hodges looked over at Avelar and saw the weasel just standing there, still in his restraints. The dumb bastard hadn't even tried to pick his gun back up. In fact, the idiot smiled at him.
Hodges turned back to his work and, after securing Brown's uninjured hand, pulled back to end it. The young Marine was strong and fast, but still just as fragile as any other man. A couple hits, and that would be all she wrote.
Just as he was about to strike, a savage roar filled the room. Hodges, fully expecting to see that goddamn Galvetic warrior, looked up and saw the human merc, his face contorted with rage and hate. For the first time in a long time, Hodges felt a thin tendril of fear wrap around his heart.
"Hodges, meet Jason Burke. You've already met his son, Jacob Brown," Avelar said, still smiling.
24
Jason's mind was blank. In place of reason was a burning, white-hot rage.
He'd walked back in now that the One World troops had stopped trying to get into the building to check on the prisoners and saw the big one had slipped his restraints. The fucker was straddling Jacob, who looked half-concussed, and was about to finish him off.
All the fear and anger he'd been carrying since learning Jacob was out in space fueled his turbocharged adrenal response. He launched himself across the room, dropping his weapon, and diving for the piece of shit trying to kill his son. The guy was still sitting there with the same stupid, surprised look on his face when Jason hit him like a freight train, sending them both flying across the concrete.
Jason rolled over backwards and was on his feet just as his target did.
"You're Burke, huh? I thought you'd be bigger."
"And you're a dead man. You just don't know it yet."
"Then come on! I'm not afraid of you!"
"You will be."
Hodges was in trouble.
Burke had slammed into him with enough force that there were warnings scrolling through his field of vision as his systems tried to mitigate the damage. He'd moved so fast across the floor Hodges could scarcely believe it.
What the hell did this guy have done to himself? How could he even control that sort of speed? Even more unbelievably, an impact that had managed to damage his cybernetics appeared to not even have fazed Burke. He was just standing there, hands open and loose at his sides, breathing slowly but still looking enraged. This was a real fighter.
Ignoring the warnings from the computers that managed his cybernetics, Hodges came in again, this time more cautiously. He tried to keep just out of reach to see if Burke would give him an opening but, instead, the merc just came at him like a wild badger. Not uncontrolled, but fast and vicious.
Hodges brought his arms up into a guard as Burke hammered him with blows. Unlike his son, Burke didn't seem to be affected at all when he smashed his fist into one of Hodges's alloy subdermal plates. If anything, the hits just got harder and harder until the flashing warnings started again, saying he was taking too much abuse, so he had no choice but to separate.
He'd barely managed to get four or five solid blows and each time Burke just shrugged them off as inconsequential even though Hodges had his actuator gain maxed out. Theoretically, that should have smashed through human bone like balsa wood, but all Burke had were a few pressure cuts.
Hodges, on the other hand, started to feel the effects of overloading his cybernetics as the heat built. He’d run too high of a power setting for too long, and the warnings being fed to him from the processors were coming fast and furious.
Burke let him separate, still keeping his hands up in a loose guard and smirking. The lack of respect enraged Hodges, but he hesitated. It turned out Burke had been right. He was afraid.
"You okay?"
"Yeah…just…stay back," Jacob said, climbing to his feet. He had significant injuries. He looked over at Ricardo Avelar and saw he was still in his restraints and keeping his distance before Jacob looked back at where his father now appeared to be toying with Hodges.
"Don't be too hard on yourself," Avelar said. "Hodges is a killer with decades of experience. His cybernetics make him overconfident, however. Your father is about to teach him a lesson in humility. Right before he kills him, that is."
Jacob watched as Hodges tried yet again to get Jason in close where he could use what he thought was his superior strength. Again, Jason would let him burn energy before answering with hits of his own. So far, the fight had been a standup affair, looking more like a hybrid boxing match than a street fight.
"Ugh!" Hodges grunted, falling to his knees after Jason slipped through his guard and landed a rib shot that deflated him. Jacob frowned as his father again backed off and let Hodges collect himself.
"He's not doing it out of any misplaced sense of nobility," Avelar said, seeming to read his mind. "He's prolonging Hodges's suffering."
Jacob said nothing to the prisoner. He wasn't sure what he was watching. It was sort of like when you watched the heavyweight bouts, and they seemed to be moving slower and more carefully than the middleweight fighters, but the blows they landed hit with much more force. Both fighters were incredibly strong and fast but seemed to be hesitant to get in too close where they could be grabbed by the other.
"You're looking a little red there, bud," Jason said, moving in like a cobra and snapping Hodges head back with a nasty left uppercut. Hodges countered with a wild swing of his own, but Jason had already danced out of the way. "Slow, too."
"Damn you!" Hodges grunted through gritted teeth.
"Feeling the temperature going up?" Jason asked, feigning another left before ducking under the block and throwing a basic sidekick into Hodges's hip, knocking the man down again. "It's the problem with primitive cybernetics like yours. You're running your systems too hard, and they can't get rid of the heat. You're literally cooking yourself. That's what you smell. You turned the safeties off, didn't you?"
Hodges didn't answer. His breath steamed in the air despite the room being a moderate temperature, and Jacob could swear he smelled what might have been pork and electrical wiring burning. He was also starting to look like a boiled lobster and sweated profusely.
Jason, a cruel smile on his face, came in and hammered Hodges in the side of the head with a haymaker. Hodges went flying, not even trying to defend himself at this point, and landed in a heap.
"And now, we're at the end," Avelar said, sounding indifferent.
It had been one of the stranger fights Jason had ever been in.
There hadn't been a lot of blows exchanged by either fighter, and it hadn't been the most skillful or technical display he'd ever put on, but it got the job done. Once his ocular implants showed him the dumbass's cybernetic gear was cranked to maximum and heating up quickly, it was simply a matter of forcing him to expend energy and help the process along. By the time Hodges realized he was cooking from the inside out, it was too late.
Now, he sprawled on the ground, eyes wide and unable to move his limbs except in an uncontrolled, spastic way. His eyes were completely red where they'd begun to bleed, and his mouth was open in a scream of agony that wouldn't come out. Jason would have felt some pang of sympathy for the man had he not walked in and seen he was about to crush his son's skull. After that, he'd tried to prolong the man's agony as long as he could. He knew it was sadistic, but he didn't care.
"Not yet," Jason said. "We'll get to all that once Crusher finishes off your people below."
"Captain, you have incoming!" Doc's voice broke in on the team channel. "Two shuttles coming down from the cruiser. Sully is moving to intercept, but he's out of position."
Jacob watched the man with the cybernetics and saw his jaw tighten slightly, and a half-smile tugged the corners of his mouth. He'd just been alerted by his people the cavalry was on the way.
"You think they'll get here in time?" Jason asked.
"What?" the man said, feigning confusion.
"The shuttles full of reinforcements you were just told about," Jason said, stifling a yawn. "You think they'll get here before we have time to ice you, and then get picked up?"
"I guess we'll see," the man said.
"I'll go grab that other pistol," Jacob said. He put his carbine on the ground near Jason and walked over to where the captives stood. This guy looked dangerous, and he would need both hands to put on the restraints. He didn't want to give the guy a chance to kill him with his own weapon.
He was halfway to them when the floor bucked, and a tremendous explosion shook the building. Jacob and the two captives were tossed off their feet. Jason managed to remain upright. Half of the lights went out as Crusher and 784 came running back up the ramp.
"What the hell was that?" Crusher demanded.
"Ground team, you have locals coming down the hillside in technicals," Sully said. "The building you're in was just hit with rocket fire."
"Why the hell are the locals shooting at us?" Jason asked.
"You killed their advance team," their captive said. "They take that sort of thing personally."
"I hate sore losers," Jason muttered. "Sully, stay clear of the area until we get this sorted. Go ahead and let the shuttles land. Let them deal with each other."
"Smart move," the captive said. The other one still hadn't said a word.
"Shut up," Jason said, bracing as another round of explosions shook the building. "One more word, and I'll shoot you. 784, we need eyes out there, but I don't want you risking a direct hit from a rocket."
"I will go back up into the vent shaft," 784 said. "The opening is relatively small, and I can move out of the way of any lucky shots."
"Where do you want me?" Crusher asked, watching as Jacob pulled the rest of the weapons off their captives. The one who looked like a bureaucrat had, oddly enough, a beautiful Czech-made pistol that wasn't something an armory would just have lying around for him to use.
Jacob looked him up and down again, trying to see if he'd missed something in his first dismissal of the man. The other one, not surprisingly, had blades, sidearms, and even a telescopic baton hidden on him.
"You and I will cover the doorway," Jason said. "I don't think we'll have much to do until these two forces are done fighting each other or they join together and come after us. Sully, if the second thing happens, it'll be up to you to save the day."
"Understood," Sully said.
"So, who are you, tough guy?" Jacob asked as he tightened down the standard wrist restraints he carried. Those weren't normally something he had on him, but the mission had been to try and snag one of these guys alive to question.
"I'm nobody," the man answered. "Just some flunky they send out to run errands."
"That just happens to have extensive cybernetic upgrades? Sure," Jacob said. "You were ready to be all chatty a minute ago. What changed?"
"Maybe I don't like your face. Who's the merc you're running with? He looks a bit like you except he's definitely a killer. You're not. Webb hiring out the tough jobs now?"
"You got a name to go with that mouth?" Jacob asked again.
"His name is Hodges," the other man spoke up for the first time. "He's Margaret Jansen's fixer. Be very careful with him. He's a genius and a sociopath in addition to his cybernetic enhancements. He will kill you without remorse, just because he can."
Hodges's eyes bulged from his head as he stared at his companion as if he couldn't believe what he heard.
"Have you lost your fucking mind?" he spat.
"And you are?" Jacob asked, stealing a glance to where his father and Crusher watched the doorway.
"My name is Ricardo Avelar. I'm the replacement for Elton Hollick, the man you had the misfortune of crossing paths with on occasion," Avelar said. "Now that we can't find Mr. Hollick, I handle certain tasks within One World's administration."
"Hollick is dead," Jacob said, looking at Hodges. "I killed him. Left his corpse in a filthy alley on some shithole planet." That wasn't technically true. Jacob had killed Hollick, but they'd taken the body with them and disposed of it so as not to leave evidence.
"Ah," Avelar said, nodding knowingly.
"You're dead, Avelar," Hodges said. "You just committed suicide."
"For someone with a hundred and sixty IQ, you're surprisingly dense sometimes," Avelar said. "The game has changed, Hodges. You're no longer the scariest thing in the room."
The sounds of real fighting outside drowned out any reply Hodges might have made.
"Both shuttles have unloaded their troops," 784 reported. "A small envoy moved out to talk to the locals, the locals killed them immediately. Now, they're all in a close-quarters gunfight, and the One World troops have no cover to get behind."
"This is going to be fast and nasty," Crusher shouted.
"Ah, shit…here they come," Jason said, raising his own weapon and opening fire. "Jacob! They're going to try to take cover in here, I think we can hold them off and bottle up this doorway."
Jacob stood there, feeling useless but knowing somebody had to watch the prisoners. The one named Avelar just stood there calmly, his hands bound behind him. Hodges, however, seemed to be a coiled spring, vibrating with energy. The sounds of an especially intense spat of fighting drew his attention towards the doorway where Jason and Crusher had moved to block the One World troops.
An odd snapping sound caused him to jerk his head back just in time to see Hodges had broken his restraints and ducked his head just enough to not catch the incoming blow to the face.
Hodges's off-target hit still carried enough force to send Jacob flying. He hit the ground with a clatter, his weapon skidding across the floor as he fought off vertigo. There was no time to try and draw his sidearm as Hodges didn't bother going for a weapon, just dove onto Jacob to try and finish the fight quickly. Hodges went for his throat as Jacob was able to get a knee up and keep him from gaining complete control of him on the ground.
In a panic, Jacob shot his left arm across his body, and then swept down to clear Hodges's hands from his throat. This pitched him forward where Jacob could land a solid palm-strike that went a little higher than he aimed and hit Hodges between the eyes.
Jacob used the distraction to shove with his pinned leg, sliding Hodges off before rearing back with both feet and kicking him full force, the blow connecting solidly and sending his opponent flying backwards. Jacob rolled to his feet, still a bit dazed from that first hammer blow, and went for his sidearm. Hodges was already there, moving much faster than he would have believed possible.
"Oh, no," Hodges said, slapping the pistol from his hand. "We're keeping this— Ugh!"
Jacob took advantage of the man wasting the time to taunt him to catch him in the throat with a left-handed jab. As Hodges took a step back, Jacob launched off his back foot and drove his right fist in with all his strength. He was used to the people he'd fought before having no ability to block, or even survive, a hit delivered with all the power available in his enhanced muscles.
But Hodges was far from normal.
The punch slammed into Hodges’ sternum but, instead of the expected bone-cracking and blood flying, Jacob felt three of his fingers break and all his target did was grunt. Son of a bitch had a reinforced skeleton. Pulling his ruined hand back in close, he knew he was in trouble. Hodges smiled and moved towards Jacob as the Marine backed away.
"You should have shot me when you had the chance," he said, lunging.
Hodges was actually quite disappointed with Lieutenant Brown. He'd expected a much better fight than what he was getting. The problem was obvious to him after the first exchange. Jacob Brown was faster and stronger than almost any other human, but he was inexperienced and not particularly skilled as a fighter. He relied on his power to overwhelm his opponents and, when he met someone his equal, he didn't know what to do.
The punch that shattered his hand against the alloy plate in Hodges’ chest had been a perfect example. It was a reckless, stupid move that might work in the movies but would get you killed in real life.
"This will be a hard final lesson for you, boy," he said, moving in as the Marine cradled his hand against his side. Hodges slipped to his right, moving away from the injured hand because he wanted to force Brown to use his weaker left hand to defend. He didn't bother with trying to take him down, just came in close and delivered five lightning-fast hits to the body before skipping back out as Brown threw a wild left-hander that missed by inches.
Changing tactics, Hodges shifted quickly to the other side, now going after the injured arm with the same rapid combination he'd used before but, this time, Brown was ready. The kid stepped away just enough so Hodges missed, and then came in hard, turning to his left and hitting him in the temple with an elbow that rang his bell. He stumbled away a couple of steps and shook his head, pissed at himself for letting the little bastard get a free shot like that.
"Point to you, kid," he said. He moved in again, still intent on keeping this a standup fight where he could use his superior arm strength to just pummel the little bastard to death. But, credit where credit was due, Brown wasn't going to just stand there and be a target.
He'd figured out Hodges's strategy quickly and still had a lot of fight left in him. When the older man went for a feint, followed by a knockout swing aimed at the head, Brown ducked under it and, ignoring the broken hand, hit him in the gut with a right-hand punch that felt like it tore something loose inside him. The Marine pressed his advantage and followed with a left up under the chin, snapping Hodges’ head back.
Brown separated and turned, looking for a weapon. Hodges, now fearing for the first time the kid might get lucky after that gut check, rushed and tackled him, driving him into the concrete.
"I can't believe your punk-ass actually killed a Ull one-on-one," he said. "You can't even stay on your damn feet."
Brown's head hit the concrete despite his best efforts to keep his chin tucked, and he was obviously dazed. Hodges looked over at Avelar and saw the weasel just standing there, still in his restraints. The dumb bastard hadn't even tried to pick his gun back up. In fact, the idiot smiled at him.
Hodges turned back to his work and, after securing Brown's uninjured hand, pulled back to end it. The young Marine was strong and fast, but still just as fragile as any other man. A couple hits, and that would be all she wrote.
Just as he was about to strike, a savage roar filled the room. Hodges, fully expecting to see that goddamn Galvetic warrior, looked up and saw the human merc, his face contorted with rage and hate. For the first time in a long time, Hodges felt a thin tendril of fear wrap around his heart.
"Hodges, meet Jason Burke. You've already met his son, Jacob Brown," Avelar said, still smiling.
24
Jason's mind was blank. In place of reason was a burning, white-hot rage.
He'd walked back in now that the One World troops had stopped trying to get into the building to check on the prisoners and saw the big one had slipped his restraints. The fucker was straddling Jacob, who looked half-concussed, and was about to finish him off.
All the fear and anger he'd been carrying since learning Jacob was out in space fueled his turbocharged adrenal response. He launched himself across the room, dropping his weapon, and diving for the piece of shit trying to kill his son. The guy was still sitting there with the same stupid, surprised look on his face when Jason hit him like a freight train, sending them both flying across the concrete.
Jason rolled over backwards and was on his feet just as his target did.
"You're Burke, huh? I thought you'd be bigger."
"And you're a dead man. You just don't know it yet."
"Then come on! I'm not afraid of you!"
"You will be."
Hodges was in trouble.
Burke had slammed into him with enough force that there were warnings scrolling through his field of vision as his systems tried to mitigate the damage. He'd moved so fast across the floor Hodges could scarcely believe it.
What the hell did this guy have done to himself? How could he even control that sort of speed? Even more unbelievably, an impact that had managed to damage his cybernetics appeared to not even have fazed Burke. He was just standing there, hands open and loose at his sides, breathing slowly but still looking enraged. This was a real fighter.
Ignoring the warnings from the computers that managed his cybernetics, Hodges came in again, this time more cautiously. He tried to keep just out of reach to see if Burke would give him an opening but, instead, the merc just came at him like a wild badger. Not uncontrolled, but fast and vicious.
Hodges brought his arms up into a guard as Burke hammered him with blows. Unlike his son, Burke didn't seem to be affected at all when he smashed his fist into one of Hodges's alloy subdermal plates. If anything, the hits just got harder and harder until the flashing warnings started again, saying he was taking too much abuse, so he had no choice but to separate.
He'd barely managed to get four or five solid blows and each time Burke just shrugged them off as inconsequential even though Hodges had his actuator gain maxed out. Theoretically, that should have smashed through human bone like balsa wood, but all Burke had were a few pressure cuts.
Hodges, on the other hand, started to feel the effects of overloading his cybernetics as the heat built. He’d run too high of a power setting for too long, and the warnings being fed to him from the processors were coming fast and furious.
Burke let him separate, still keeping his hands up in a loose guard and smirking. The lack of respect enraged Hodges, but he hesitated. It turned out Burke had been right. He was afraid.
"You okay?"
"Yeah…just…stay back," Jacob said, climbing to his feet. He had significant injuries. He looked over at Ricardo Avelar and saw he was still in his restraints and keeping his distance before Jacob looked back at where his father now appeared to be toying with Hodges.
"Don't be too hard on yourself," Avelar said. "Hodges is a killer with decades of experience. His cybernetics make him overconfident, however. Your father is about to teach him a lesson in humility. Right before he kills him, that is."
Jacob watched as Hodges tried yet again to get Jason in close where he could use what he thought was his superior strength. Again, Jason would let him burn energy before answering with hits of his own. So far, the fight had been a standup affair, looking more like a hybrid boxing match than a street fight.
"Ugh!" Hodges grunted, falling to his knees after Jason slipped through his guard and landed a rib shot that deflated him. Jacob frowned as his father again backed off and let Hodges collect himself.
"He's not doing it out of any misplaced sense of nobility," Avelar said, seeming to read his mind. "He's prolonging Hodges's suffering."
Jacob said nothing to the prisoner. He wasn't sure what he was watching. It was sort of like when you watched the heavyweight bouts, and they seemed to be moving slower and more carefully than the middleweight fighters, but the blows they landed hit with much more force. Both fighters were incredibly strong and fast but seemed to be hesitant to get in too close where they could be grabbed by the other.
"You're looking a little red there, bud," Jason said, moving in like a cobra and snapping Hodges head back with a nasty left uppercut. Hodges countered with a wild swing of his own, but Jason had already danced out of the way. "Slow, too."
"Damn you!" Hodges grunted through gritted teeth.
"Feeling the temperature going up?" Jason asked, feigning another left before ducking under the block and throwing a basic sidekick into Hodges's hip, knocking the man down again. "It's the problem with primitive cybernetics like yours. You're running your systems too hard, and they can't get rid of the heat. You're literally cooking yourself. That's what you smell. You turned the safeties off, didn't you?"
Hodges didn't answer. His breath steamed in the air despite the room being a moderate temperature, and Jacob could swear he smelled what might have been pork and electrical wiring burning. He was also starting to look like a boiled lobster and sweated profusely.
Jason, a cruel smile on his face, came in and hammered Hodges in the side of the head with a haymaker. Hodges went flying, not even trying to defend himself at this point, and landed in a heap.
"And now, we're at the end," Avelar said, sounding indifferent.
It had been one of the stranger fights Jason had ever been in.
There hadn't been a lot of blows exchanged by either fighter, and it hadn't been the most skillful or technical display he'd ever put on, but it got the job done. Once his ocular implants showed him the dumbass's cybernetic gear was cranked to maximum and heating up quickly, it was simply a matter of forcing him to expend energy and help the process along. By the time Hodges realized he was cooking from the inside out, it was too late.
Now, he sprawled on the ground, eyes wide and unable to move his limbs except in an uncontrolled, spastic way. His eyes were completely red where they'd begun to bleed, and his mouth was open in a scream of agony that wouldn't come out. Jason would have felt some pang of sympathy for the man had he not walked in and seen he was about to crush his son's skull. After that, he'd tried to prolong the man's agony as long as he could. He knew it was sadistic, but he didn't care.
