Profits of Doom

The hall was littered with corpses of cultists. What ones could be seen were incomplete. The destruction wrought with such excessive force that sometimes they were reduced to smears on the floor. Victoria was a reckless sort, but the carnage before her was giving her pause for doubt.

"Ah. I see why the job pays so highly now." She muttered to herself, nonplussed.

Victoria noted the hall dropped down to a large bottomless chamber with a staircase. They took the steps quickly. Gravity worked with them as they descended. Towards the bottom, Victoria noted a large blood stain leading to one of the more intact bodies of the cultists. Just as she was about to step past, the cultist reached out and grabbed her ankle. He gasped and tried to choke something out, but it was short-lived as blood ran from his mouth.

The cultist collapsed. Kazue nudged him with her boot but got no response. Victoria didn't need to be a doctor to tell that the cause of death was blood loss. She looked ahead and jolted when she heard a scream. Another cultist came flying out of the chamber archway, and sailed off the side of the walkway. The darkness claimed him as his scream echoed. They didn't hear him hit the ground.

Victoria and Kazue traded a look as they both stood shoulder to shoulder. Victoria moved in first and Kazue followed close behind. They stopped when they heard the sound of laughter coming from up ahead. It echoed from the archway, and was followed by what sounded like someone weeping. Victoria picked up the pace and moved toward the opening. The archway led to a cavernous room that glowed from iridescent rock formations all around. At the center was a pedestal and two figures.

One figure was a cultist. He was on his knees, holding his stomach as he begged for his life. The other figure towered over him. A humanoid body that looked like it had glowing veins and muscle mass that was clearly not natural.

"Mercy...please..." The cultist begged.

"Mercy? Shall I grant you the mercy of being my quickest kill? Is that what you want?" The other replied.

"The order...they warned us the artifact could corrupt..."

"Corrupt? I feel stronger than ever! What they really wanted was to have this power for themselves."

"You don't know...how to properly-"

"ENOUGH! I wield this new gift, and I do so of my own accord. I have no more need for the order, and soon I will wipe them out! They always looked down on me, and now it's time for them to get what they have coming!"

"The order...tried to instill discipline...you never listen..."

"I said," the humanoid figure bent down and grabbed the cultist by the throat, "enough. With this power, I will be a demi-god. And after I'm done culling those simpletons who thought less of me, I'm going to force the rest of this sector to bend the knee. I will truly be what I was meant for. And no one is going to stop me!"

With that, the humanoid flung the cultist with a flick of its arm. Victoria and Kazue watched as the body flew and smacked into the wall, leaving a bloody stain as it slid down to the floor.

"What the fuck..." Victoria breathed.

The humanoid monster looked over and saw the duo. When it turned, they could see a large glowing orb of light settled into the gut of it.

"Ah, what do we have here? You two don't look like you're with the order...maybe I shall make you my first servants. I would love to have such women in my new order."

Victoria blinked. Kazue raised her eyebrow.

"Yeah," Victoria replied, "fat chance of that happening."

"Very well.”

Victoria blinked again. The humanoid ran at them. In seconds, it was right in front of her. She didn't get a chance to pull the trigger before it kicked her in the stomach and sent her flying backwards. Kazue ducked to the right and fired at the creature. It held its thick arm up, shielding itself as the bullets struck it. The holes closed up as if they had never been there.

Kazue rolled and barely dodged an incoming kick. She leapt back, drawing on her innate fox magic to conjure a ball of fire in her hand. When it was large enough, she hucked it at the monster. The magic fire singed its arms as it blocked them. The flesh was blackened, but regenerated in seconds.

It came after her and punched her in the stomach. The force sent her back, her rifle clattering to the ground as it flew out of her hands. Victoria had just recovered from her own blow and started shooting. The muffled shots didn't go unnoticed this time. The monster ran for her, and she rolled to her feet. As it turned to throw a hook at her, she kicked it in the gut, right where the artifact was.

The creature staggered and clutched its open stomach. A grunt of agony sounded from it as it stepped back. Victoria smirked.

"Bingo. Kazue! The-"

The creature grabbed her neck, silencing her instantly.

"Stop fighting it, and submit to my power! Or shall I kill you instead?"

Victoria felt her feet lift off the ground as the creature held her up. The hand closed around her throat. Choked gasps left her lips as she tried to get air. A flash of something behind the creature drew her attention. The image of numerous fox tails behind was a prelude to the sword being stabbed through its back.

The creature lurched forward. Its grip relaxed just the tiniest bit. It was enough, as Victoria breathed in and pulled her revolver, putting the barrel to the arm and firing. The shot blew it off, and she dropped onto the floor. The creature roared in pain, and quickly regrew its lost limb like new.

"Kazue!" Victoria coughed. "The orb! Cut it out! Quick!"

Kazue pushed the sword with enough force behind her to send it straight at the glowing orb in the creature's stomach. It popped out with a sickening sound, followed by a cry of pain from the monster.

"No!!! What have you done!?" It screamed.

"Choke on this." Victoria said as she pulled a frag grenade out, pulled the pin, and stuck it into the vacant hole in the creature's gut.

Kazue jumped over the monster and landed behind Victoria. She grabbed the cat girl's drag handle on the back her vest and took off for the archway with her.

"No! NO! NOOOOO-"

The grenade detonated inside it. The creature exploded, leaving only its legs standing. Victoria stood as soon as Kazue stopped dragging her and ran over to the orb. Its glow faded, and she saw it as merely a sphere made of rock with carvings all over it.

There wasn't any time to lose. She picked up the orb and dumped it into her pack. The fact that it didn't start glowing as she touched seemed like a good sign. She looked to Kazue and nodded.

"Time to go. Before more show up." She said,

The pair made their way back up the stairs. They moved fast to the sinkhole and found that they were still alone. Lucky break. Kazue hopped into her gunship and started it up as Victoria retrieved her scout bike.

They were back at their respective ships and heading for space before the day was done. Victoria punched in the coordinates for the nearest rest stop before sending a message to the client. The job was complete, but she also sent a message to Kazue just in case.

The next few hours went fast. A shower, a quick lunch at the rest stop, and then the meeting place. Victoria was wearing her signature leather jacket and ripped jeans. Her large fifty caliber revolver hung on the holster clipped around her thigh. She had picked a large dockyard to do the exchange at. It was spacious, loud, and rather inconspicuous for what they were doing.

The minutes ticked by. Victoria was about to head back when suddenly a car pulled up. Two men in black suits got out and a third came around to open the rear door. Victoria approached with the case in hand. She saw the client, a dark-haired man with a sly grin on a wrinkled face.

"How is it?" The man asked in a voice so devoid of offense that it sounded fake.

"It's fine. I think you'll find everything is in order." Victoria replied.

"Was there any trouble?"

"Nothing I couldn't handle."

"I see. Local riff raff?"

"Something like that, yeah."

"Did they activate the device?"

Uh oh. Victoria felt her stomach drop, but kept her cool and rolled with it.

"Not that I could see, no."

"No matter. If they did, it just means it works. Don't worry, mercenary. We have more effective means of applying this kind of power."

"Like powering a dozen orphanages?"

"Well-"

"Spare me. I just want the money."

"I do love honest business partners. Hand over the money."

One of the men stepped forward and handed her a card. She immediately pulled out a device and slotted it into the top. She watched the numbers skyrocket and smirked to herself.

"A pleasure doing business with you. Maybe you can hire my team again. Especially for the extra security."

"Security?"

"Yes. After all, what good is money if you're dead, right?"

The man's smile dropped. But Victoria's just grew wider.

"See you round, old man." Victoria took the card from the reader and tossed it onto his lap. "You know where to find me if you need another job done. Don't be a stranger." She said in a sing-song voice.

The man sighed and wore a small smile of defeat. He motioned with his hand and the three men all got back into the car. It leisurely pulled out and left without any hurry.

Victoria chuckled to herself. She walked back to where her bike was without a care in the world. Kazue appeared from around the corner.

"Manticore platoon of the 43rd Light Infantry Regiment, at your service. You pick 'em, we kill 'em."

"Great job. I knew that business was fishy. How many?"

"At least four snipers. Another two assault teams on backup. They'll wake up with the worst headaches of their lives, but I suppose that's business for you."

"Sure is. Thanks for not killing them. Let's go. I think a trip to the bar for our trouble sounds like a good time, don't you?"

"Sake bombs! Sake bombs!"

The chorus echoed as the rest of the Manticore platoon appeared from behind the containers. Victoria and Kazue looked at each other and smiled.

"It's nice having friends, Kazoo." She said,

"Yep. We're done here, Vicky." Kazue replied.