The Mercenary Part III

Metal bites into Shiro's wrists as consciousness floods back. The automated ship's hold thrums with mechanical vibrations, the floor cold beneath her. Chains rattle as she tests their strength - industrial grade, meant for securing cargo rather than prisoners.

Footsteps echo across metal plating. Elias paces the narrow space. He pauses mid-stride, head tilting as Shiro shifts against her restraints.

"Fascinating." He turns to face her. "Those nanobots should have kept you under for hours."

The hold's dim light casts strange shadows across Elias's face as he crouches before her. He reaches out with his Gull hand, metal fingers clicking as they grasp her chin. "Your body's already neutralizing them. I've never seen anything like it."

Shiro jerks away from his touch. The chains clank against the bulkhead.

"Now, now." Elias straightens, resuming his pacing. "No need for hostility. If I wanted you dead, those nanobots would have targeted something more vital than your nervous system."

"You lied to me."

Elias spreads his hands in an expansive gesture. "Not lies. Just... a different perspective on truth." His footsteps echo against metal as he circles her. "I do have people who depend on me. A crew that needs feeding, maintaining. Those pods fetch a good price from desperate folks."

"You're a pirate."

"Such an ugly word. I provide a service. People need ways to survive in this world. Some need pods. Others need ships. I simply help connect supply with demand."

"By stealing."

"By redistributing resources from those who hoard them." Elias crouches again, bringing himself to her eye level. "CryoCore, the corps that control the automated fleets - they set the rules, decide who lives and dies based on profit margins." His Gull arm gestures at their surroundings. "I just change the math in favor of those willing to pay."

Shiro tests the chains again, metal links biting into her wrists. "You've planned this for a while."

"This ship of yours." Elias runs his Gull hand along the bulkhead, metal fingers tapping against the reinforced plating. "Never seen construction like it. Military grade, but different. The hull composition alone… Expensive. Very expensive."

Shiro remains silent, watching him through strands of white hair that have fallen across her face.

"At first I thought you'd stolen it. But the modifications, the specialized systems - they're all built before the world drowned."

Shiro opens her mouth to protest, but Elias raises his Gull hand. "Let me finish. Tell me if I'm wrong."

He pulls a small flashdrive from a compartment in his mechanical arm, holding it up to catch the light filtering through the deck grates. "Security at CryoCore was a mess after Gilmore vanished. Almost like someone wanted their files accessible."

The drive spins between his metal fingers as he paces. "At first, I thought I'd just scored corporate secrets. Manufacturing specs, client lists - the usual data. But then I found something else. Research files, genetic modification experiments that shouldn't exist."

"Those hands of yours." Elias gestures with the drive. "Not Gull parts, are they? The texture, the way they move - it's organic modification. The kind of work that's been buried since the Null War." He taps the drive against his mechanical palm. "The kind of work detailed in these files."

His eyes sweep over the ship's hull. "And this vessel. The metal composition matches experimental alloys mentioned in the research. Designed to interface with modified pilots. That's why you can run it alone, isn't it? The ship responds to you because you're connected to it. Literally. And it doesn't even end there!"

Elias then pulls up a holographic display from his mechanical wrist. A map flickers to life, dots of light marking major ports and trading routes. His metal fingers trace patterns across the projection.

"Couldn't help but take a peek at your travel logs while you were sleeping. Always moving, never staying more than a few days in any port. Olrog, Glauco, Caspia - you bounce between them like a ghost."

Shiro watches the pattern emerge, her expression unchanging.

"But it's not random. You time your arrivals with heavy storms that wash away traces of your presence, and the desperate passengers don't ask questions about their mysterious white-haired captain."

His metal fingers snap the hologram closed. "You're running. The question is..." He leans closer, mechanical parts adjusting with precise clicks. "What exactly are you running from?"

"You don't know what you're talking about," Shiro says, but her voice lacks conviction.

"Don't I?" Elias crouches before her again. "CryoCore's secret project, genetic modification research tied to the Null War. The scales on your hands, this impossible ship… Gilmore’s disappearance." He holds up the drive. "It's all connected, isn't it?"

Elias's mechanical fingers tap against the drive, a rhythmic click-click-click that echoes through the hold. The smile spreading across his face has an edge of triumph. "Your silence tells me everything I need to know."

He straightens, tucking the drive back into his Gull arm. The compartment slides shut with a metallic snap.

"Bring him in!" Elias calls up through the deck grates.

Heavy footsteps thunder above. The hatch creaks open, flooding the hold with harsh sunlight. Two figures descend the ladder, dragging something between them.

Slate hangs limp between them, his mechanical parts powered down. Chains wrap around his frame, binding his Gull components in ways that prevent activation.

"Careful with those connections," Elias instructs as his crew secures Slate to a support beam. "Don't want him shorting out before we need him."

Elias paces between his two captives, his Gull arm clicking with each gesture. "You're looking rough, Slate. Those modifications need maintenance."

"Better rough than a traitor."

"Still bitter about Caspia?" Elias's laugh echoes off the metal walls. "That protest wasn't our fault. We followed orders."

"Orders?" Slate strains against his chains. "You ran when they needed someone to blame. Left me to burn."

The familiar way they speak, the shared history in their words - "You knew each other."

"Ah, she catches on." Elias stops his pacing. "Slate and I go way back. Both served in Caspian law enforcement. Until that protest went sideways."

"Someone fired into the crowd," Slate's voice carries old pain. "Never found out who gave the order."

"The masses needed their scapegoat. Slate took the fall. Lost everything when they torched his house. Me?" He shrugs. "I saw which way the wind was blowing. Made a career change."

"You mean you started stealing," Slate spits the words.

"I adapted. Unlike you, still clinging to your outdated code. Look where honor got you - more machine than man, taking mercenary work to survive."

While Elias and Slate trade barbs, Shiro tests her fingers, which responds sluggishly - remnants of the nanobots still affecting her system. But with each movement, her control returns.

"You always did talk too much," Slate says, drawing Elias's attention.

Shiro's scales extend slightly, hardening into razor edges. The chains scrape against them as she rotates her wrists.

"And you never knew when to quit."

Shiro's scales slowly eat through the chains. She keeps her movements minimal, letting Elias and Slate's history mask the quiet sound of weakening metal.

The final links give way. Shiro maintains her position, chains still looped around her arms. She watches Elias pace, waiting for the right moment.

Now. Shiro launches forward, chains whipping through the air as she uses them like extensions of her arms. Elias stumbles back, his Gull arm transforming to block the attack. Metal scrapes against metal as the chains wrap around his mechanical limb.

"Not this time." His fingers snap, the sound echoing through the hold.

The deck above erupts with mechanical chirps. Calidris swarm through the hatch. But Shiro's seen this trick before. She yanks the chains, pulling Elias off balance as she spins. The momentum carries her into a roll, bringing her beneath the first wave of diving Calidris.

"Your birds have a weakness." Shiro's scales extend further, hardening into armor. "They rely on magnetic fields to coordinate."

Shiro lunges toward the engine control panel, chains still tangled around Elias's Gull arm. Her fingers find the electromagnetic coupling - a vital component that helps regulate the automated ship's navigation systems. With a sharp twist, she tears it free.

Raw electromagnetic energy pulses through the hold. The Calidris screech, their biomechanical systems overwhelmed by the conflicting magnetic fields. Their synchronized formation shatters as they spiral in random directions, crashing into walls and each other.

Shiro advances through the chaos of falling Calidris. Elias stumbles back, his Gull arm sparking from the electromagnetic surge.

"Wait!" Elias raises his human hand. "You haven't heard everything about your friend there."

Slate strains against his chains. "Don't listen to him."

"He didn't just work for Caspian law enforcement. He was the head." Elias's voice takes on a persuasive edge. "Heads have access to all sorts of interesting files. Including ones about genetic modification programs."

Shiro's advance slows.

Elias's Gull arm sparks again, but his smile remains steady. "Did you ever wonder about that protest? The one that got Slate burned and me running?"

"Those weren't just angry citizens. They were people who worked for CryoCore. People who discovered what the company was really doing in those new facilities."

"Shut up," Slate growls, straining against his restraints.

"He worked with CryoCore, protected their secrets by gunning the crowd." Elias's words cut through the air. "And now he's here, conveniently crossing paths with you. You think that's coincidence?"

Shiro turns slightly toward Slate. "Is it true?"

"He'll report you the first chance he gets." Elias presses his advantage. "Once a lawman, always a lawman. Old habits die hard."

The chains whip through the air, wrapping around Elias's throat before he can finish his next word. Metal links bite into flesh as Shiro yanks him forward.

"You talk too much." Her scales extend further, hardening into razor-sharp edges that slice through his Gull arm's neural connections.

Elias's mechanical limb goes dead, dropping to his side as he claws at the chains with his remaining hand. "Wait... I can prove-"

The chains tighten. Bones crack. Elias's body goes limp, the light fading from his eyes as he slumps to the deck.

Shiro turns to Slate.

"He was lying." Slate's voice carries a desperate edge. "That's what he does, turn people against each other."

Shiro steps closer. "Why should I believe you?"

"Because I'm not here for you. I took this job to track him down. He destroyed my life, left me to burn. That's all this was about."

"Maybe you're telling the truth. But I can't take that chance."

"I'm not your enemy!"

"Neither was the Lawrence. Or Elias. Or anyone else who tried to get close." The chains rattle as she raises them. "They all had stories. All had reasons. All betrayed me in the end."

"You don't understand-"

"I understand perfectly."

The chains whip through the air. Metal links wrap around Slate's throat, biting into flesh and mechanical components. His Gull parts spark as the pressure increases.

"I won't be anyone's experiment again." Shiro's voice remains steady as she pulls the chains tighter. 

Slate's mechanical eye flickers as systems begin to fail. His human eye holds something that might be understanding - or might be another manipulation. Shiro doesn't wait to find out.

The chains constrict with brutal efficiency. Metal crushes flesh and cybernetics alike. Slate's body goes limp, his mechanical parts powering down with a dying whine.

Shiro lets the chains fall. They clatter against the deck, the sound echoing through the hold. Two bodies lie still - one fully human, one mostly machine. Both equally dead.