Chapter 300: The Man Comes Around (2/2)

Daxin looked up and grinned a savage tooth baring grin.

”I did it all. You're right. I did,” Daxin admitted.

”You're scum who thinks he escaped the law,” the figure snapped.

”You gonna lay down the law, Marty? You gonna bring me to justice in the name of a system that the Mantid blew to hell eight thousand years ago?” Daxin asked, picking up the pebble again. ”Maybe Friend Computer will finally love you, Marty.”

The big armored suit stepped forward a single step, the asphalt cracking beneath his feet. Behind him the damaged tarmac from the other footprints slowly reformed to cracked and faded asphalt.

”You've had this coming a long time, Daxin,” the armored figure said, reaching down to its waist and wrapping one armored hand around a large heavy pistol. ”For your crimes I sentence you to death.”

Daxin snapped the pebble directly at the figure. It streaked forward, hitting the armored hand and exploding in a bright flash as the built up potential energy was liberated. The figure roared, pulling its hand back, the fingers twisted and one missing.

”FIDO, STAY!” Daxin roared out as he lunged to his feet.

Fido sat back down, retracting the heavy minigun back into his armored core.

Daxin ducked underneath the wild swing of one massive fist, stepping one step past the figure as it started to turn. Before the armored figure could react Daxin slammed his heel into the back of the knee, which was already engaged in bending slightly to allow the figure to turn smoothly.

With a loud crack the actuator gave out and the electroactive polymer muscles snapped off of the anchors.

The figure went down on one knee, barely managing to catch itself.

”All those years at LawSec and you were never a street judge beyond your rookie years,” Daxin growled, reaching between the back of the helmet and the upraised collar. Marty tried to reach back and grab, but Daxin stepped forward and yanked him, dropping him on his face.

”You know why I lured you here, you gibbering lobotomy patient?” Daxin asked, kneeling down and reaching under the lip of the collar to push his fingers into the seal attaching the neck to the base of the helmet.

”GET OFF OF ME, UNCLEAN ONE!” the figure yelled.

”Do you remember my name, Marty?” Daxin asked.

Lightning began flowing down his arm, crackling across his shoulders, down his spine.

”I didn't use a gun to fight. Remember, Marty?” Daxin asked. He pushed his fingers further into the seal as the lightning down his arm thickened. ”Of course you don't, you were busy getting medals from OCP and that weakling mayor of Delta City who left my people to rot.”

The armor's legs kicked twice as the psychic electricity hit the armor's computer systems and fried them out.

”Say my name, Marty,” Daxin snarled, clenching his fingers, beginning to pull the helmet away.

”GET OFF OF ME!” the armored figure roared out, the voice crackling and full of static.

”Say my name, Matthias,” Daxin snarled. The seal on the sides of the helmet puffed up smoke and the helmet's rear section was pulled away by Daxin's hand.

The armor went limp.

”That's six hundred pounds of Third Republic Combined Military Forces Heavy Assault Armor,” Daxin said, shifting position so he could get his hands underneath the side. He heaved and the armored rolled over, the mask coming off.

Matthias's face was pale, his eyes chrome, his head bald, his lips thin and bloodless, his teeth black and rotted.

”Say my name, Matthias,” Daxin snarled, slowly standing up. Lightning moved up and down his arms, across his shoulders, up and down his spine. ”Say it, traitor.”

”Enraged Phillip,” Matthias said. ”Please don't kill me, Phillip. Please.”

Daxin stood over the fallen man, staring down at him with eyes that were cold. ”Do you know why I lured you here?”

”Why?” the fallen man asked, licking his dry lips with a raspy dry tongue.

”Because this spot is special, this spot right here,” Daxin said, staring down. ”Before the gate of Crying Anne, the Mouth of the Underworld. You really don't recognize this place?”

Marty shook his head. ”No, Daxin, I don't.”

”It's where they took us to make us Immortals after you betrayed us,” Daxin snarled. ”You wouldn't recognize it.”

The lightning roared down Daxin's arms, leaped from his fists, and wreathed the fallen man's head. Marty screamed, once, briefly, before he went silent.

The lightning stopped and Daxin stared down at the smoking burnt skull that was the only human part outside of the black armor. After a moment he moved over to his armor, climbing back in and activating the systems.

Fido trotted up, sitting down and waiting.

He reached down and picked up the dead man, holding him in his arms. He moved up to the great black door.

”One for entry. Bringing Subject Thirteen for initial processing,” Daxin said.

The door shuddered as the maglocks released. The air shivered as the door slowly began to open.