NOTE: This chapter is sort of gruesome, and it even made me a bit uncomfortable writing it, but you gotta do what you gotta do sometimes. Just a heads up
Melanie’s private shuttle descended rapidly onto the planet of Barnardia. Barnardia, unlike most recently colonized worlds, was quite old, being one of the oldest planets colonized by humankind. As a result, it had developed a unique culture, dialect, and even a sort of human type due to the slightly lower gravity on the planet. The planet had buildings that were nearly one hundred years old at this point. In many ways, the planet was independent of the Empire, yet solidly in it at the same time.
As the ship descended onto the planet’s capital, the older architecture was in view. Unlike most of the time, there were no massive crowds or a rally to land at. This mission was built on quite a short notice, so it was a miracle that the landing site had even been secured in the first place. Clones were stationed on various towers, and a small crowd of loyal supporters were at the site, having found out Melanie’s visit.
The ship landed onto a secure landing pad, and a ramp opened, allowing the entourage to disembark. On the landing pad were the governor of Barnardia, and Case Bernard himself. Case, despite the trouble that he was in, looked quite at ease, and was almost smug to boot. Marike was standing right next to Zoe, ensuring that she was as comfortable as Marike could make her. John was in the back of the ship making sure that everything was in order.
As Marike surveyed the distance, she received a notification on her watch. Stay away from John, it said ominously. It was from Case.
“Greetings governor,” Melanie said as she stepped off the ramp and shook his hand. “I apologize for the short notice. I wasn’t expecting to leave Earth today.”
“It’s all forgiven, Protector,” he replied, giving a slight bow to the Protector. “I was just as shocked to hear of the atrocity committed to your clone. We will find the perpetrators and bring them to justice. The thought of these sick and twisted demons being on my planet sickens me.”
“I agree Governor,” Melanie nodded before turning to Case. “Case, I want answers. Where are these people?!”
“I am doing the best that I can mother,” Case said, not really looking at her. He almost looked like he was looking for something, or someone.
“Son, look at me when you talk,” Melanie hissed. “I raised you better than that.”
“Sorry mom,” Case answered, still seemingly not present in the moment. “I’ve been planning many things.”
“I understand Case, but Zoe Ghille was raped by two of your top executives, and I know that they are on the planet. I want answers! Where are they?!”
“I told you already, I am doing my best,” Case countered, raising his hands in frustration. “I am doing my best!”
At that moment, Johnathan Fredricks disembarked from the shuttle and walked next to Melanie. He towered over both Melanie and Case, looming almost comically tall in comparison. Instead of tensing up like usual, Case stared at Marike briefly before looking intently at John. Melanie noticed this.
“Case, what are you looking at? Is something wrong?”
“Nope,” Case smiled. “I haven’t seen my brother-in-law in a few days.”
As John stood next to Melanie, a loud bang rippled from a tower next to the landing site. John reacted incredibly quickly and pushed Melanie out of the way, but he was not fast enough. Melanie gasped in pain as she crumped to the floor, having been shot in the stomach by a fast moving laser shot.
“WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!!” John yelled. “Protect the Protector!!”
Melanie’s personal legion immediately closed ranks to protect the valuable members on the landing pad. More shots rang out frantically, dropping a clone or two, but Melanie’s personal legion basically dragged her onto the ship. Case’s smile turned into a horrific frown as he was dragged onto the ship along with the rest of Melanie’s cabinet and family.
“There!” Marike yelled as she scanned the scene. Using her powers, she flew into the air and towards the shooter. John followed closely behind her using a small jetpack that was imbedded into his armor. The shooter tried to hit the two, but they effortlessly dodged every shot that he made. Within moments, Marike slammed into the shooter, knocking him onto the floor. To her surprise, he was covered in clone armor.
“What the fuck?!” John screamed as he landed on the top of tower. Using his hands, he pinned the shooter down and ripped his helmet off, revealing a human male. John was so angry that he did not even bother to stop himself from killing the assailant. Using his thumbs, he gouged the man’s eyes out before easily smashing his skull in, causing his brains to explode all over the floor.
“John!” Marike shrieked. “We could have questioned him!!”
“I don’t care!!” John snarled. “Fuck!!!”
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“Will she be alright?” Amalia asked the doctor. They had been flown back to earth in order for Melanie to receive surgery at the Royal Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Through the window, John, Marike, and Amalia saw a team of the best doctors in the entire galaxy hard at work on Melanie. This was her second hour of surgery, and it was clear that things were serious.
“We are doing all that we can,” the doctor replied in a thick frontier accent. “She took a laser shot right to the gut. We are doing our best.”
“Will she be ok?” Amalia asked again, tears beginning to fill her eyes.
“We are doing our best Mrs. Fredricks.” The doctor replied once again. Upon hearing this, Amalia burst openly into tears and walked out of the room.
John walked over to the window and began to grip a metal railing so hard that his hands went completely white. His gripped the metal railing so hard that he actually began to bend it. John ripped the railing off from the wall and tossed it across the room. John then walked over to the wooden chair, picked it up aggressively, and smashed it against the window, breaking the chair into many small wooden pieces.
“John, she will be alright,” Marike pleaded frantically.
John did not utter a word. He turned to Marike, looking like he was ready to kill her. The look that he gave her sent chills down her spine: it was a look of pure hatred and malice. Marike excused herself and quickly jogged out of the room.
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Marike left the hospital to get some fresh air and just process the events of the last day. She began to walk mindlessly around the city, and finally found a bench with a faded greatest city in America slogan plastered onto it. Her mind drifted randomly, with thoughts of Zoe, to how Case flirted with her, and so on. These last few weeks had been jammed with so much crap that she didn’t even know how to handle it. She groaned audibly and slammed her fist onto the bench in frustration.
She was distracted, and was not paying attention to what was going on around her. As she continued to ponder her situation, she felt something sharp jab her leg. She turned, and saw a small child running around the corner. She tried to follow, but she was frozen in place and paralyzed. The last thing she remembered before losing consciousness was a group of clone soldiers in all red grabbing her.
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Marike slowly opened her eyes and saw nothing but blackness: something was suffocating her. She began to thrash wildly but she could not move. She felt a hand firmly grab her head and rip a bag off of it. She gasped with relief as she was finally able to take a deep mouthful of fresh air. AS she regained her composure, she realized that she was tied up in a wooden chair, with each of her individual fingers firmly tied to the chair. The room was completely bare, with the walls and roof made of concrete, and it smelled terrible, but Marike could not put a name to the smell. At the end of the room, a massive figure was ominously sorting something. Sparks were emanating from whatever he was sorting.
“You know Marike,” the figure began, his voice deep and ominous. “I have been waiting for quite a while to be able to do this. My heart is shaking with anticipation,” he said, turning around. It was none other than Johnathan Fredricks himself.
“John?!” Marike asked loudly, struggling against her restraints. “What the fuck is going on?!”
“Look next to you.”
Marike turned her head and gasped in pure disgust. Two corpses were strapped to chairs, and it was truly a gruesome sight. Both men had their eyes gouged out, their bowels torn open, and all of their limbs severed several times over. One of them had their gentilia stuffed into their mouth in a gruesome display of cruelty. They had clearly been tortured in the most painful ways imaginable. Blood covered every inch of the floor next to them.
“Who are they?!” Marike gasped, struggling not to vomit.
“Those are the people who attacked Zoe,” John replied calmly, examining his work. “You know Marike,” John started, staring at her, “pain is the most…effective way of getting people to talk. These two certainly tried to resist, but once limbs began to be cut off…they sang like canaries. I know a lot more than I did earlier today, and I think that you know more.”
“Let me go!!” Marike protested, struggling to free herself.
“I cannot do that,” John replied, walking over to Marike and leaning inches from her face. “I hate everything about you,” he began in a deep and breathy tone. “I hate your eyes, I hate your nose, I hate your cheeks, and I especially hate how much your lips move when you talk. Everything about you aggravates me to no end. I’m tired of it all.”
“What is this about?” Marike replied, her heart beating rapidly.
“I have served the Protector for most of my life,” John answered, gently stroking Marike’s face. “I have protected her from enemies domestic and foreign. Together, we conquered a galaxy, and yet for some reason, she refuses to destroy the one enemy that is the biggest threat to her life. You. I will finally do what she will not.”
“You can’t touch me John,” Marike responded, realizing the gravity of the situation that she was in. “Melanie put me on her cabinet.”
John merely grinned. “She is incapacitated for the time being, which makes me the acting Protector. I can do whatever I want.”
“What do you want from me?” Marike asked, frantically struggling against her restraints. She tried to use her psionic powers, but all of her limbs were firmly locked into place.
“I want to know why you arranged for the Protector to be shot. Then, I will kill you and the rest of your demonic kind. Please make this easy for me, and I will ensure that you and your ilk die quickly.”
“Demonic kind?”
“Your people are a danger to the universe,” John retorted. “Your people are not meant to exist, and you will be our downfall. I feel it in my bones. I will not let you enslave all of mankind!”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Marike
“I know what you and the Protector have been talking about…a new race of man,” John started. “I will not let man become an underclass to demonic forces. I will smoke all of you out with my armies. We are playing with forces that we have no understanding of. Now tell me why you tried to kill the Protector back on Barnardia.”
“I have no idea what you are talking about.”
John calmly walked over to a work cabinet full of instruments and pulled Marike’s tablet from it. “Here is a message from one strange weirdo, saying, ‘Stay away from John,’” John read, emphasizing ‘strange weirdo.’ “I know you did it. Just confess and I will kill you painlessly.”
“I had nothing to do with it,” Marike replied frantically. “I swear.”
“Fine,” John huffed, walking over to the work cabinet and pulling out a knife. He hurried over to Marike and grabbed her bottom lip and stretched it out, gently placing the knife on it. “I will use this to cut this infernal lip off, but that will come later. I have a lot of cavass to work with. I will give you one more chance Marike,” he said, letting go of her lip. “Don’t waste it.”
“I don’t know John, what more do you want me to say?!”
John sighed and gave a brief nod. Two clones behind Marike blindfolded her and placed a gag on her mouth. Before she could react, she felt a sharp and violent pain from her right hand. She tried to scream, but the gag prevented her. The clones released the blindfold, and to her horror, she saw that her right index finger had been cut off. She thrashed violently against her seat but to no avail.
“Now do you want to talk?” John said calmly and without emotion in his voice.
“Fuck you!!” Marike snarled in pain.
John shook his hand and nodded once again. The clones blindfolded her once again. John cut her right pinky off, this time taking his time in doing so only increasing the pain that Marike felt. The guards removed the gag and blindfold, but Marike was still defiant.
“Marike!” John yelled exasperatedly. “What more do you want me to do? At least tell me who this strange weirdo is!”
“GO FUCK YOURSELF!!!” Marike screamed at the top of lungs.
John sighed once again, but he did not nod this time. He pointed at her hand with his right finger, and began to move point at other limbs of hers in a rhythmic fashion. “Eenmie meenie mino mo…catch the tiger by the toe, if it hollers let it goo…eenie meenie mino…MO!”
The guards didn’t even bother to blindfold or gag her. Without warning, John, using his laser sword instead of the knife he had been using, quickly sliced her left hand off right above the wrist. As she hollered in pain and desperation, he tossed it away, letting it thud against the concrete wall. Before she could react or comprehend the pain, John swiftly slashed her leg thigh, taking a small chunk of it off but not severing it entirely. Marike howled in pain.
“You are going to be a fucking centipede by the time I’m finished with you!” John huffed. “You won’t have any limbs to speak of! Is this what you want?!”
“Go to hell!!” She screamed
“Your choice,” John sighed. He walked over to her and placed his knife onto Marike’s nose. Marike began to panic, but he began to slowly cut away at the cartilage. Marike tried to endure, but it became more than she could bear.
“Case…” she whispered, the pain becoming too much. “CASE!!!”
John stopped cutting, barely making a small dent into her nose. “Say that again.”
“Case is the guy who sent me the text!!” She yelled, tears streaming down her face.
“Case?!” John yelled, pressing the knife onto her nose once again. “You expect me to believe that Case Bernard, Melanie’s son, tried to have his own mother killed?! How dumb do you think I am?!”
“Ask him yourself!!” Marike screamed, totally broken and weeping profusely.
“Maybe I…what is that?” John asked, sensing something dripping onto his boot. Marike was so broken, afraid, and destroyed that she had lost control of her bladder and was urinating all over her dress. “My goodness, are you pissing yourself?!” John retorted in disgust. “On my fucking floor?! My goodness, I’ll have to get all of this replaced!!”
“Please…” Marike yelped, tears streaming all down her face and onto her broken body. She was humiliated, broken, and dejected.
“I swear to God Himself, if you are falsely accusing Case, I will fucking end you in the most painful way I can imagine,” John hissed, wagging his finger right in Marike’s face. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a phone. “Yes. Bring me Case Bernard at once. Yes, Case…yes, I mean Case, Melanie’s son,” he said calmly into his phone. “I need him at my location. Thank you.”
Marike sat there, completely paralyzed with fear, sitting in a puddle of her own urine. John took the time to arrange more torture instruments on the tool cabinet. Less than five minutes later, Marike heard the sounds of yelling and struggling down the hall. Four clone soldiers entered the room, forcefully dragging Case into the room.
“John…I demand an explanation!” Case yelled, struggling with all of his might as the clones dragged him into the torture room. “What is…OH MY FUCKING GOD!!!” Case yelled upon noticing Marike’s broken and tattered frame. He began to scream incoherently and attempted to make a run at John, but the clone soldiers easily overpowered him and forced him into a wooden chair next to Marike. They quickly tied him up.
“Greetings brother,” John snarled.
“WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!?!?!?” Case screamed.
“Marike here confessed that you tried to kill Melanie Bernard. Is this true?”
“What did you do to her?!” He screamed incoherently.
“Answer the question,” John snapped impatiently.
“Why would I kill my own mother?”
“Alright then,” John replied quickly. He walked over to the tool cabinet and pulled out a giant drill that was already covered in blood and guts. He turned it on and began to walk ominously towards Marike, ready to do some incredibly painful damage to her. Marike whimpered in fear and tried to squirm away, but it was no use.
“Wait…WAIT!!!” Case yelled. “WAIT!!!”
“What is it Case?!” John screamed angrily.
“I didn’t try to kill Melanie…I meant to kill you!!”
John did not appear to comprehend the statement at first. He shut the drill off and slowly walked towards the tool cabinet and placed it gently onto it. He stood there for a minute, processing what he had been told, before turning around and staring at Case.
“What did you say?”
“I meant to kill you John,” Case pleaded. “Marike had nothing to do with this. I wanted to keep her away from you so that she would not get shot.”
“Why?!” John asked, still unable to believe what he had been told.
“Marike…she is the future of the human race John,” Case smirked. “She and the Psionic kind are the future. The age of the psionic is upon us, and nothing you can do will stop her. I’m was merely trying to eliminate a threat to her life, that is all. You have gone insane, and you need to be put down like a rabid dog.”
“The future?!” John laughed. “The future?! Look at her!” John hissed angrily, pointing at her. “The future is sitting in a puddle of urine with several of her limbs chopped off, unable to do anything about it. She’s a pathetic piece of shit who tried to murder my friend and mentor! Are in love with her or something?!”
“I am,” Case exclaimed defiantly.
“Well then, Case,” John hissed, grabbing Case’s cheeks tightly pressing them inward. “Let me tell you something. When the Protector eventually dies, which she will, Marike will not be in charge. I will. When I become Protector, she will be long dead, then I will kill you if you dare to stand in my way for any reason. She will die here, forgotten, burned, and covered in her own piss, and you will too be afraid to even speak about it. I won’t kill you now because I respect your mother more than anyone else in the galaxy, and she cannot lose another child, but don’t you dare try to fuck with me, because I will sure as hell fuck you up. Do you understand me?!”
“Point understood,” Case answered.
“Good,” John answered, walking back to the table to pick up his drill. Before he could arrive, Sandra ran down the hall and into the room, giving John a brief salute.
“Acting Protector Fredricks, Protector Bernard has regained consciousness. She will be alright and will heal over the next few days. The doctors have saved her.”
John smiled with relief. “Good. Tell the Protector that I will be up there momentarily. I have some business I need to finish.”
“Yes Chief of Staff,” Sandra nodded, noting the change in title that Melanie’s healing had just conferred.
“Good…good,” John smiled, trailing off as he said the word the second time. “Case, I am happy to announce that these two men were guilty of a coup attempt, and the conspiracy ended with them. Isn’t these news great?”
“Are you fucking insane?” Case screamed. “You mutilate Marike like that and expect this to just…blow away?”
“If you tell Melanie that you tried to have me killed…well…that will not go very well, I don’t think.”
Case pondered this, and sighed in resignation. “And if Melanie finds out that you mutilated her star…”
“Mutually assured opposition research,” John said a matter-of-factly. “Just remember, that I am Melanie’s heir, and nothing you say or do will ever change that. Marike will not come within an inch of that throne.”
“We will see about that,” Case countered.
“We will…guards, let Case go,” John nodded. One of his clones untied him, and escorted him out. John turned too the other clone and walked towards Marike. “Guard, bring her to the hospital and tell them to reattach everything that I cut off. Be sure to give her a thorough bath, because she had quite the accident.”
Marike passed out as the guard began to untie her.
Melanie’s private shuttle descended rapidly onto the planet of Barnardia. Barnardia, unlike most recently colonized worlds, was quite old, being one of the oldest planets colonized by humankind. As a result, it had developed a unique culture, dialect, and even a sort of human type due to the slightly lower gravity on the planet. The planet had buildings that were nearly one hundred years old at this point. In many ways, the planet was independent of the Empire, yet solidly in it at the same time.
As the ship descended onto the planet’s capital, the older architecture was in view. Unlike most of the time, there were no massive crowds or a rally to land at. This mission was built on quite a short notice, so it was a miracle that the landing site had even been secured in the first place. Clones were stationed on various towers, and a small crowd of loyal supporters were at the site, having found out Melanie’s visit.
The ship landed onto a secure landing pad, and a ramp opened, allowing the entourage to disembark. On the landing pad were the governor of Barnardia, and Case Bernard himself. Case, despite the trouble that he was in, looked quite at ease, and was almost smug to boot. Marike was standing right next to Zoe, ensuring that she was as comfortable as Marike could make her. John was in the back of the ship making sure that everything was in order.
As Marike surveyed the distance, she received a notification on her watch. Stay away from John, it said ominously. It was from Case.
“Greetings governor,” Melanie said as she stepped off the ramp and shook his hand. “I apologize for the short notice. I wasn’t expecting to leave Earth today.”
“It’s all forgiven, Protector,” he replied, giving a slight bow to the Protector. “I was just as shocked to hear of the atrocity committed to your clone. We will find the perpetrators and bring them to justice. The thought of these sick and twisted demons being on my planet sickens me.”
“I agree Governor,” Melanie nodded before turning to Case. “Case, I want answers. Where are these people?!”
“I am doing the best that I can mother,” Case said, not really looking at her. He almost looked like he was looking for something, or someone.
“Son, look at me when you talk,” Melanie hissed. “I raised you better than that.”
“Sorry mom,” Case answered, still seemingly not present in the moment. “I’ve been planning many things.”
“I understand Case, but Zoe Ghille was raped by two of your top executives, and I know that they are on the planet. I want answers! Where are they?!”
“I told you already, I am doing my best,” Case countered, raising his hands in frustration. “I am doing my best!”
At that moment, Johnathan Fredricks disembarked from the shuttle and walked next to Melanie. He towered over both Melanie and Case, looming almost comically tall in comparison. Instead of tensing up like usual, Case stared at Marike briefly before looking intently at John. Melanie noticed this.
“Case, what are you looking at? Is something wrong?”
“Nope,” Case smiled. “I haven’t seen my brother-in-law in a few days.”
As John stood next to Melanie, a loud bang rippled from a tower next to the landing site. John reacted incredibly quickly and pushed Melanie out of the way, but he was not fast enough. Melanie gasped in pain as she crumped to the floor, having been shot in the stomach by a fast moving laser shot.
“WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!!” John yelled. “Protect the Protector!!”
Melanie’s personal legion immediately closed ranks to protect the valuable members on the landing pad. More shots rang out frantically, dropping a clone or two, but Melanie’s personal legion basically dragged her onto the ship. Case’s smile turned into a horrific frown as he was dragged onto the ship along with the rest of Melanie’s cabinet and family.
“There!” Marike yelled as she scanned the scene. Using her powers, she flew into the air and towards the shooter. John followed closely behind her using a small jetpack that was imbedded into his armor. The shooter tried to hit the two, but they effortlessly dodged every shot that he made. Within moments, Marike slammed into the shooter, knocking him onto the floor. To her surprise, he was covered in clone armor.
“What the fuck?!” John screamed as he landed on the top of tower. Using his hands, he pinned the shooter down and ripped his helmet off, revealing a human male. John was so angry that he did not even bother to stop himself from killing the assailant. Using his thumbs, he gouged the man’s eyes out before easily smashing his skull in, causing his brains to explode all over the floor.
“John!” Marike shrieked. “We could have questioned him!!”
“I don’t care!!” John snarled. “Fuck!!!”
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“Will she be alright?” Amalia asked the doctor. They had been flown back to earth in order for Melanie to receive surgery at the Royal Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Through the window, John, Marike, and Amalia saw a team of the best doctors in the entire galaxy hard at work on Melanie. This was her second hour of surgery, and it was clear that things were serious.
“We are doing all that we can,” the doctor replied in a thick frontier accent. “She took a laser shot right to the gut. We are doing our best.”
“Will she be ok?” Amalia asked again, tears beginning to fill her eyes.
“We are doing our best Mrs. Fredricks.” The doctor replied once again. Upon hearing this, Amalia burst openly into tears and walked out of the room.
John walked over to the window and began to grip a metal railing so hard that his hands went completely white. His gripped the metal railing so hard that he actually began to bend it. John ripped the railing off from the wall and tossed it across the room. John then walked over to the wooden chair, picked it up aggressively, and smashed it against the window, breaking the chair into many small wooden pieces.
“John, she will be alright,” Marike pleaded frantically.
John did not utter a word. He turned to Marike, looking like he was ready to kill her. The look that he gave her sent chills down her spine: it was a look of pure hatred and malice. Marike excused herself and quickly jogged out of the room.
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Marike left the hospital to get some fresh air and just process the events of the last day. She began to walk mindlessly around the city, and finally found a bench with a faded greatest city in America slogan plastered onto it. Her mind drifted randomly, with thoughts of Zoe, to how Case flirted with her, and so on. These last few weeks had been jammed with so much crap that she didn’t even know how to handle it. She groaned audibly and slammed her fist onto the bench in frustration.
She was distracted, and was not paying attention to what was going on around her. As she continued to ponder her situation, she felt something sharp jab her leg. She turned, and saw a small child running around the corner. She tried to follow, but she was frozen in place and paralyzed. The last thing she remembered before losing consciousness was a group of clone soldiers in all red grabbing her.
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Marike slowly opened her eyes and saw nothing but blackness: something was suffocating her. She began to thrash wildly but she could not move. She felt a hand firmly grab her head and rip a bag off of it. She gasped with relief as she was finally able to take a deep mouthful of fresh air. AS she regained her composure, she realized that she was tied up in a wooden chair, with each of her individual fingers firmly tied to the chair. The room was completely bare, with the walls and roof made of concrete, and it smelled terrible, but Marike could not put a name to the smell. At the end of the room, a massive figure was ominously sorting something. Sparks were emanating from whatever he was sorting.
“You know Marike,” the figure began, his voice deep and ominous. “I have been waiting for quite a while to be able to do this. My heart is shaking with anticipation,” he said, turning around. It was none other than Johnathan Fredricks himself.
“John?!” Marike asked loudly, struggling against her restraints. “What the fuck is going on?!”
“Look next to you.”
Marike turned her head and gasped in pure disgust. Two corpses were strapped to chairs, and it was truly a gruesome sight. Both men had their eyes gouged out, their bowels torn open, and all of their limbs severed several times over. One of them had their gentilia stuffed into their mouth in a gruesome display of cruelty. They had clearly been tortured in the most painful ways imaginable. Blood covered every inch of the floor next to them.
“Who are they?!” Marike gasped, struggling not to vomit.
“Those are the people who attacked Zoe,” John replied calmly, examining his work. “You know Marike,” John started, staring at her, “pain is the most…effective way of getting people to talk. These two certainly tried to resist, but once limbs began to be cut off…they sang like canaries. I know a lot more than I did earlier today, and I think that you know more.”
“Let me go!!” Marike protested, struggling to free herself.
“I cannot do that,” John replied, walking over to Marike and leaning inches from her face. “I hate everything about you,” he began in a deep and breathy tone. “I hate your eyes, I hate your nose, I hate your cheeks, and I especially hate how much your lips move when you talk. Everything about you aggravates me to no end. I’m tired of it all.”
“What is this about?” Marike replied, her heart beating rapidly.
“I have served the Protector for most of my life,” John answered, gently stroking Marike’s face. “I have protected her from enemies domestic and foreign. Together, we conquered a galaxy, and yet for some reason, she refuses to destroy the one enemy that is the biggest threat to her life. You. I will finally do what she will not.”
“You can’t touch me John,” Marike responded, realizing the gravity of the situation that she was in. “Melanie put me on her cabinet.”
John merely grinned. “She is incapacitated for the time being, which makes me the acting Protector. I can do whatever I want.”
“What do you want from me?” Marike asked, frantically struggling against her restraints. She tried to use her psionic powers, but all of her limbs were firmly locked into place.
“I want to know why you arranged for the Protector to be shot. Then, I will kill you and the rest of your demonic kind. Please make this easy for me, and I will ensure that you and your ilk die quickly.”
“Demonic kind?”
“Your people are a danger to the universe,” John retorted. “Your people are not meant to exist, and you will be our downfall. I feel it in my bones. I will not let you enslave all of mankind!”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Marike
“I know what you and the Protector have been talking about…a new race of man,” John started. “I will not let man become an underclass to demonic forces. I will smoke all of you out with my armies. We are playing with forces that we have no understanding of. Now tell me why you tried to kill the Protector back on Barnardia.”
“I have no idea what you are talking about.”
John calmly walked over to a work cabinet full of instruments and pulled Marike’s tablet from it. “Here is a message from one strange weirdo, saying, ‘Stay away from John,’” John read, emphasizing ‘strange weirdo.’ “I know you did it. Just confess and I will kill you painlessly.”
“I had nothing to do with it,” Marike replied frantically. “I swear.”
“Fine,” John huffed, walking over to the work cabinet and pulling out a knife. He hurried over to Marike and grabbed her bottom lip and stretched it out, gently placing the knife on it. “I will use this to cut this infernal lip off, but that will come later. I have a lot of cavass to work with. I will give you one more chance Marike,” he said, letting go of her lip. “Don’t waste it.”
“I don’t know John, what more do you want me to say?!”
John sighed and gave a brief nod. Two clones behind Marike blindfolded her and placed a gag on her mouth. Before she could react, she felt a sharp and violent pain from her right hand. She tried to scream, but the gag prevented her. The clones released the blindfold, and to her horror, she saw that her right index finger had been cut off. She thrashed violently against her seat but to no avail.
“Now do you want to talk?” John said calmly and without emotion in his voice.
“Fuck you!!” Marike snarled in pain.
John shook his hand and nodded once again. The clones blindfolded her once again. John cut her right pinky off, this time taking his time in doing so only increasing the pain that Marike felt. The guards removed the gag and blindfold, but Marike was still defiant.
“Marike!” John yelled exasperatedly. “What more do you want me to do? At least tell me who this strange weirdo is!”
“GO FUCK YOURSELF!!!” Marike screamed at the top of lungs.
John sighed once again, but he did not nod this time. He pointed at her hand with his right finger, and began to move point at other limbs of hers in a rhythmic fashion. “Eenmie meenie mino mo…catch the tiger by the toe, if it hollers let it goo…eenie meenie mino…MO!”
The guards didn’t even bother to blindfold or gag her. Without warning, John, using his laser sword instead of the knife he had been using, quickly sliced her left hand off right above the wrist. As she hollered in pain and desperation, he tossed it away, letting it thud against the concrete wall. Before she could react or comprehend the pain, John swiftly slashed her leg thigh, taking a small chunk of it off but not severing it entirely. Marike howled in pain.
“You are going to be a fucking centipede by the time I’m finished with you!” John huffed. “You won’t have any limbs to speak of! Is this what you want?!”
“Go to hell!!” She screamed
“Your choice,” John sighed. He walked over to her and placed his knife onto Marike’s nose. Marike began to panic, but he began to slowly cut away at the cartilage. Marike tried to endure, but it became more than she could bear.
“Case…” she whispered, the pain becoming too much. “CASE!!!”
John stopped cutting, barely making a small dent into her nose. “Say that again.”
“Case is the guy who sent me the text!!” She yelled, tears streaming down her face.
“Case?!” John yelled, pressing the knife onto her nose once again. “You expect me to believe that Case Bernard, Melanie’s son, tried to have his own mother killed?! How dumb do you think I am?!”
“Ask him yourself!!” Marike screamed, totally broken and weeping profusely.
“Maybe I…what is that?” John asked, sensing something dripping onto his boot. Marike was so broken, afraid, and destroyed that she had lost control of her bladder and was urinating all over her dress. “My goodness, are you pissing yourself?!” John retorted in disgust. “On my fucking floor?! My goodness, I’ll have to get all of this replaced!!”
“Please…” Marike yelped, tears streaming all down her face and onto her broken body. She was humiliated, broken, and dejected.
“I swear to God Himself, if you are falsely accusing Case, I will fucking end you in the most painful way I can imagine,” John hissed, wagging his finger right in Marike’s face. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a phone. “Yes. Bring me Case Bernard at once. Yes, Case…yes, I mean Case, Melanie’s son,” he said calmly into his phone. “I need him at my location. Thank you.”
Marike sat there, completely paralyzed with fear, sitting in a puddle of her own urine. John took the time to arrange more torture instruments on the tool cabinet. Less than five minutes later, Marike heard the sounds of yelling and struggling down the hall. Four clone soldiers entered the room, forcefully dragging Case into the room.
“John…I demand an explanation!” Case yelled, struggling with all of his might as the clones dragged him into the torture room. “What is…OH MY FUCKING GOD!!!” Case yelled upon noticing Marike’s broken and tattered frame. He began to scream incoherently and attempted to make a run at John, but the clone soldiers easily overpowered him and forced him into a wooden chair next to Marike. They quickly tied him up.
“Greetings brother,” John snarled.
“WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!?!?!?” Case screamed.
“Marike here confessed that you tried to kill Melanie Bernard. Is this true?”
“What did you do to her?!” He screamed incoherently.
“Answer the question,” John snapped impatiently.
“Why would I kill my own mother?”
“Alright then,” John replied quickly. He walked over to the tool cabinet and pulled out a giant drill that was already covered in blood and guts. He turned it on and began to walk ominously towards Marike, ready to do some incredibly painful damage to her. Marike whimpered in fear and tried to squirm away, but it was no use.
“Wait…WAIT!!!” Case yelled. “WAIT!!!”
“What is it Case?!” John screamed angrily.
“I didn’t try to kill Melanie…I meant to kill you!!”
John did not appear to comprehend the statement at first. He shut the drill off and slowly walked towards the tool cabinet and placed it gently onto it. He stood there for a minute, processing what he had been told, before turning around and staring at Case.
“What did you say?”
“I meant to kill you John,” Case pleaded. “Marike had nothing to do with this. I wanted to keep her away from you so that she would not get shot.”
“Why?!” John asked, still unable to believe what he had been told.
“Marike…she is the future of the human race John,” Case smirked. “She and the Psionic kind are the future. The age of the psionic is upon us, and nothing you can do will stop her. I’m was merely trying to eliminate a threat to her life, that is all. You have gone insane, and you need to be put down like a rabid dog.”
“The future?!” John laughed. “The future?! Look at her!” John hissed angrily, pointing at her. “The future is sitting in a puddle of urine with several of her limbs chopped off, unable to do anything about it. She’s a pathetic piece of shit who tried to murder my friend and mentor! Are in love with her or something?!”
“I am,” Case exclaimed defiantly.
“Well then, Case,” John hissed, grabbing Case’s cheeks tightly pressing them inward. “Let me tell you something. When the Protector eventually dies, which she will, Marike will not be in charge. I will. When I become Protector, she will be long dead, then I will kill you if you dare to stand in my way for any reason. She will die here, forgotten, burned, and covered in her own piss, and you will too be afraid to even speak about it. I won’t kill you now because I respect your mother more than anyone else in the galaxy, and she cannot lose another child, but don’t you dare try to fuck with me, because I will sure as hell fuck you up. Do you understand me?!”
“Point understood,” Case answered.
“Good,” John answered, walking back to the table to pick up his drill. Before he could arrive, Sandra ran down the hall and into the room, giving John a brief salute.
“Acting Protector Fredricks, Protector Bernard has regained consciousness. She will be alright and will heal over the next few days. The doctors have saved her.”
John smiled with relief. “Good. Tell the Protector that I will be up there momentarily. I have some business I need to finish.”
“Yes Chief of Staff,” Sandra nodded, noting the change in title that Melanie’s healing had just conferred.
“Good…good,” John smiled, trailing off as he said the word the second time. “Case, I am happy to announce that these two men were guilty of a coup attempt, and the conspiracy ended with them. Isn’t these news great?”
“Are you fucking insane?” Case screamed. “You mutilate Marike like that and expect this to just…blow away?”
“If you tell Melanie that you tried to have me killed…well…that will not go very well, I don’t think.”
Case pondered this, and sighed in resignation. “And if Melanie finds out that you mutilated her star…”
“Mutually assured opposition research,” John said a matter-of-factly. “Just remember, that I am Melanie’s heir, and nothing you say or do will ever change that. Marike will not come within an inch of that throne.”
“We will see about that,” Case countered.
“We will…guards, let Case go,” John nodded. One of his clones untied him, and escorted him out. John turned too the other clone and walked towards Marike. “Guard, bring her to the hospital and tell them to reattach everything that I cut off. Be sure to give her a thorough bath, because she had quite the accident.”
Marike passed out as the guard began to untie her.
