Chapter 3 — Ruin’s Mercs

Karauro awoke to engine noise.

He crawled toward the boarded storefront and peered through a crack.

An armored hauler rolled down the wrecked street, a red skull and skeletal spine painted across its side.

Three figures moved around it.

A burly man with metal arms.

An older man carrying enough explosives to level the block.

And a violet-haired woman firing toward the rooftops.

Gunfire answered.

Karauro ducked as bullets punched through the storefront and showered him with glass.

I can’t catch a damn break...

He scrambled toward the rear exit.

More gunfire erupted in the alley.

Iron-Scavs surged between the buildings.

Blocked.

The hauler’s rear hatch swung open across the street.

Karauro ran for it.

Bullets sparked around his boots.

An explosion erupted behind him.

He dove through the hatch and crashed onto the floor.

Karauro dragged himself behind a bolted container.

The gunfire faded.

Boots entered the hauler.

A rifle barrel appeared first.

Then a bearded face.

The man’s eyes dropped to Karauro’s kinetic glove.

Karauro slowly raised his hands.

Shit.

More mismatched Nexon-plated men climbed inside.

Something slammed against Karauro’s head.

Darkness swallowed him.

Cold water hit his face.

Karauro coughed awake beneath a burning white light.

Chains bound his wrists to a concrete wall.

His left hand felt wrong.

Light.

He looked down.

The kinetic glove was gone.

“Give us the Cryo-box code, Spine rat,” a tall man ordered.

Karauro blinked water from his eyes.

“Spine?”

A black-bearded man grabbed his hair.

“Talk, or Maddox throws you into the pit.”

Karauro grimaced.

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

Maddox stepped forward.

One look at him made the bearded man let go.

Maddox drove a boot into Karauro’s stomach.

Karauro folded around the impact and hit the floor coughing.

Maddox crouched.

“Then why were you hiding in our hauler?”

Karauro glared through wet strands of hair.

“Because people were shooting at me.”

Maddox stared at him for several seconds.

Then smirked.

“He’s telling the truth.”

Karauro exhaled.

Maddox stood.

“Which means he’s worthless.”

Karauro’s relief died.

Maddox looked toward the rusted doorway behind him.

“Throw him to the Ripper.”

Karauro’s blood went cold.

He had told the truth.

It just hadn’t mattered.

The bearded man unhooked his chains from the wall.

“Sorry, kid.”

He hauled Karauro upright.

“The Ruins don’t favor the weak.”

“Wait. Come on, man.”

The bearded man dragged him through the doorway.

A wide concrete pit opened beyond it, ringed with red lights and cameras.

A battered prisoner knelt at the edge.

Two Iron-Scavs held his shoulders.

“No,” the prisoner whispered.

They shoved him.

His scream disappeared into the pit.

A splash echoed below.

Then frantic thrashing.

A hiss.

Wet tearing.

Silence.

Karauro stared down.

“Seriously...”

The cuffs clicked open.

A boot slammed into his back.

Karauro fell.

Wet trash broke his fall before he rolled into knee-deep grey water.

Pain tore through his injured leg.

He looked around.

Corpses floated through the canal.

Some were missing pieces.

The prisoner floated nearby.

Karauro looked away.

The air stank of wastewater, rust, and blood.

All this for their sick sport...

Laughter crackled through an overhead speaker.

“Find an exit and maybe you live.”

Karauro looked toward the observation windows above.

A flash of violet hair passed behind one.

The woman from the street.

For one second, hope sparked.

Then she disappeared.

Karauro swallowed and limped toward the tunnels ahead.

His bare fingers flexed instinctively.

Nothing happened.

He stared at the hand where his kinetic glove should have been.

“Right.”

Karauro entered the nearest tunnel.

Filthy water pushed around his boots.

Something rippled behind him.

He stopped.

Another ripple.

Closer.

Karauro slowly turned.

Nothing.

A hiss ripped through the canal.

Karauro ran.

The water exploded behind him.

A long creature surged onto the concrete on dozens of insect-like legs.

Its stretched body twisted between the walls while a circular maw unfolded beneath its skull.

The Ripper shrieked.

“Shit!”

Karauro limped faster.

His injured leg buckled, but he caught himself and kept moving.

Crates blocked part of the tunnel.

Karauro squeezed between them.

The Ripper smashed straight through.

Then the tunnel ended.

Dead end.

Karauro spun.

Yellow-orange eyes burned above the Ripper’s maw as it crawled toward him.

His heel struck the wall.

“No, no...”

His eyes swept across broken pipes, rotten boards, and canal sludge.

A wooden handle protruded from the filth.

Karauro dragged an old sledgehammer free.

Behind him, a cracked seam ran through the concrete wall.

The Ripper charged.

Karauro swung.

CLANG.

The crack widened.

He swung again.

Concrete collapsed inward, exposing a narrow gap.

Karauro dropped the hammer and tore loose chunks with both hands.

The Ripper’s clicking filled the tunnel.

Karauro dove into the opening.

His shoulders caught.

“Come on...”

The Ripper slammed into the wall.

The impact shoved him farther through.

A claw scraped across his boot.

Karauro twisted hard and ripped himself free.

He hit the floor on the other side.

The Ripper shoved its claws through the gap, maw snapping uselessly behind them.

A nervous laugh escaped Karauro.

“Too fat.”

The wall shook.

Karauro scrambled upright.

A narrow service canal climbed toward another chamber.

A broken ladder hung beneath a square hatch.

Most of the lower rungs were gone.

A shriek echoed behind him.

Karauro dragged a washed-up crate beneath the ladder and climbed onto it.

He jumped.

His fingers caught the lowest rung.

The ladder groaned beneath his weight.

Karauro climbed.

The hatch refused to move.

Clicking echoed from below.

Karauro braced himself and shoved with both hands.

The latch cracked.

The hatch flew open.

Karauro lunged upward as the ladder tore loose beneath him.

His fingers caught the floor.

“Shit!”

Someone stepped into view.

Violet hair.

“What the...”

Karauro’s grip slipped.

He grabbed her boot.

“Hey!”

She stumbled as Karauro hauled himself through, sending both of them crashing across the floor.

“What the hell?”

“Oi, Viper, you alright?” another voice called.

Karauro recognized the older man from the street.

He pushed himself halfway upright.

The violet-haired woman shoved him back down.

A cybernetic blade slid against his throat.

Her eyes narrowed.

“You again.”

Karauro stared back.

She pressed the blade closer.

“You crawl into our hauler, the Scavs steal it, and now you crawl out of their pit.”

Karauro glanced toward the hatch.

“You might wanna worry about that first.”

A dark-skinned man with metallic arms grabbed her shoulder.

“Enough, Viper.”

She shrugged him off.

“Why are you protecting him, Aaron?”

“He’s a kid.”

A claw punched through the hatch.

Karauro pointed.

“That.”

The Ripper shrieked below them.

“Shit!” Aaron snapped.

He slammed his weight onto the hatch.

Another claw forced through.

Nera’s blade flashed.

The limb hit the floor spraying black-green blood.

“Taron!” Aaron shouted.

The older man swung his weapon forward.

Flames washed across the hatch seams until the metal glowed orange.

The Ripper struck once more.

The welded plate held.

Taron lowered the weapon.

“Now we need another way out.”

A crooked hangar door blocked the opposite end of the chamber.

Aaron shoved his metallic hands beneath it.

Servos whined as he forced it several inches upward.

Then it jammed.

Karauro crouched and looked through the narrow opening.

A dim garage waited beyond it.

Vehicles.

Workbenches.

Scavenged weapons.

Then blue light reflected beneath one table.

Black plating.

Finger braces.

Blue coils.

His glove.

Karauro’s eyes narrowed.

“Those assholes took my shit.”

Nera looked at him.

“What?”

Karauro dropped onto his stomach.

Nera grabbed the back of his shirt.

“Rat, that door drops and your head becomes decoration.”

Karauro pushed farther underneath.

“Then don’t let it drop.”

Aaron laughed through clenched teeth.

“I like him.”

“You would,” Nera muttered.

Karauro turned sideways and squeezed beneath the door.

His shirt caught.

Fabric tore.

He slipped through and rolled onto the garage floor.

Karauro rushed to the workbench and grabbed his kinetic glove.

He slid his hand inside.

The module tightened around his fingers.

Blue light pulsed through the seams.

Karauro flexed.

“Finally.”

The glove hummed.

His wrist terminal flashed beside it.

[ DEIMOS COLLABORATOR ]

Karauro’s expression hardened.

“Kid!” Aaron shouted from the other side.

Karauro turned toward the jammed track.

One gear sat crooked against the assembly.

He raised his hand.

Blue light crawled across his fingers.

Karauro clenched his fist.

The gear shuddered.

Metal shrieked as it dragged back into alignment.

The hangar door lurched upward.

Aaron stepped through first.

Taron followed.

Nera came last.

Her gaze dropped to Karauro’s glove.

“Hope that junk was worth it.”

Karauro lowered his hand.

“My name’s Karauro.”

Nera walked past him.

“Didn’t ask.”

Aaron slapped Karauro on the shoulder.

“Nice work, Karauro.”

Karauro rubbed the spot.

Mercer’s tired grin flickered through his mind.

Keep moving.

A heavy impact shook the welded hatch behind them.

Everyone turned.

Taron looked toward the rows of vehicles.

“Introductions later. We need something fast.”

Karauro flexed his recovered glove.

This time, nobody was taking it from him without a fight.