Scrapper. Book 2. Book 2

Chapter 21. Trust

It took Wolfin a few days before Serena summoned everyone – including Lindon and Hunter – to her ship to discuss the situation they’ve been having. After laying down the further plans in pursuit of Falana, the woman waved everyone off, ordering only two men to stay.

Hunter remembered how calm and harsh she sounded when she lay down a number of ground rules, basically offering them to come back to her crew and be civil, or be dropped off wherever they wished. The man knew she’s had enough of the fighting he and Lindon had between them, so he promised her to remain civil towards the Veluthian. Lindon, however, stated that he will be civil only if Hunter will not do anything to hurt Serena. She accepted this, allowing them both to stay.

Ever since then – by this time another two days passed – they barely saw the woman, as she was occupying herself with something more important than having a personal talk with them. Hunter didn’t push to see her – even though he really wanted to – and stayed with Laneth helping her around the technical bay.

Hunter heard the door sliding open and looked up, seeing Serena walking inside. Laneth noticed him looking at the door and turned, noticing their Captain standing by the door.

«Captain.» Kayla took a step forward, saluting Serena as usual.

«At ease, soldier.» the woman replied, glancing up and meeting Laneth’s gaze. «Laneth, why don’t you take Kayla to have a little snack?»

Laneth frowned, noticing the quick, but heavy and concerned glance Serena gave to Hunter.

«Come on, Kayla… let’s leave our Captain and Hunter for a few minutes.» Laneth hurried to grab the girl’s hand and pulled her away.

As soon as they left and the door closed behind them, Hunter saw Serena take a very deep breath.

«Lyssa, lock the bay for a bit.» Serena said.

«Yes, Captain. Technical bay on lockdown.» the AI replied.

Hunter swallowed hard, not knowing what to expect from the woman – the way she looked at the moment could be interpreted in many different undertones of her mind set.

Serena slowly approached Hunter, looking at the floor in front of her, and stopped a few steps away from the cyborg. The man kept silent, too afraid to get on her bad side – especially after what happened when they got into a fight with Lindon last time.

The woman closed her eyes for a few moments, then her shoulders straightened and she proudly looked up – straight into Hunter’s eyes.

«We have to talk, Hunter.» her voice, unlike before, sounded stern and strong.

She glanced at the reinforced seat that stood for times when Laneth was working with the cybernetic components Hunter now had. The man nodded to a thought that crossed his mind and stepped to the seat, lowering his body onto the metal plating. His arms lay onto the armrests, as he got used to being secured whenever he was in this chair.

Serena’s face flinched, and she approached him, flicking the shackles on. Hunter didn’t object, knowing very well that he still scared her in this new body of his.

«I’m sorry, Serena.» he said instead.

«Apology accepted…» she stood in front of him, studying his body with her eyes.

He noticed the difference in her – her eyes no longer filled with fear, now shining with resolve and confidence she lacked ever since he got back to their team.

«Your fight with Lindon…» Serena met his gaze, twitching her brow. «Have you resolved it?»

Hunter frowned a bit – he thought Lindon would have already told her all about it.

«Yes.» the man replied, not understanding what was happening. «I thought, he checked in about that…»

«We haven’t spoken yet.» the woman slowly circled Hunter, studying his body attentively.

He was surprised to hear that.

«It took us a few bottles to talk it out.» Hunter glanced at Serena, seeing her tilt her head a bit.

«So you still eat and drink…» she whispered. «Interesting.»

«I’m still part human, Serena.»

«I know. I just…» she shook her head and took a breath before continuing. «I never really asked Laneth how much of a human is left…»

«I’m still me, if that’s what you’re asking…» Hunter saw her stopping in front of him again and leaning in. «Just a little… upgraded.»

She suddenly climbed onto his lap, positioning herself as she used to a long time ago – before he was turned into a walking pile of scrap metal. Her knees at either side of his legs, and her hind on his lap – it reminded him of the times when they were happy together, even though he couldn’t feel the warmth of her body.

Serena leaned in, bringing her face close to his, and he noticed a faint glimmer of pain in her eyes. For a few long minutes she seemed to watch him closely, but then she reached her hand up and touched his face with her palm, making him close his eyes and lean in, yearning for the warmth of her touch.

«Are you recollecting the way it felt, or…» Serena’s voice became shaky.

«I feel it, Serena.» Hunter opened his eyes and saw her even closer. «I feel your touch.»

Her lips trembled, and suddenly her eyes filled with tears:

«What has she done to you?»

The man felt his breath becoming shaky as well:

«She disassembled and reassembled me again…» he replied, feeling two tears running down his face.

What happened next caught him by surprise, as Serena leaned in, connecting their lips in a kiss. He didn’t argue or pull back, basking in the warmth – even though it felt desperate and sorrowful. The man suddenly heard his bindings unclasp and realised that the woman reached out to switch off the security shackles.

Serena pressed herself to him, and he cautiously and slowly embraced her, careful not to scare her off or hurt her by any means. As she pulled back from their long kiss, she closed her eyes, pressing her forehead to his, and Hunter saw tears running down her face. He raised his hand and gently cupped her cheek.

«I’m sorry, Serena…» he whispered. «I’m sorry I am not the man you loved…»

«Shut up!» she pushed out of herself, catching his gaze. «Please shut up!»

She kissed him again, and he felt her embracing him, pulling even closer. When she leaned back again, he was too scared to move and remained there – silent and still, wondering what was on her mind. It took her some time before she looked into his eyes again and this time he saw no tears in her eyes – she already calmed down and recollected herself.

«Why do you wear pants, Hunter?» she asked him quietly.

«I want to feel like the man I used to be.» he replied truthfully. «I know I don’t have to wear clothes, but… it makes me feel human.»

Serena sat back, and Hunter reluctantly freed her from his metal arms, watching her closely. The woman’s eyes slid down to his metal-plated chest and stomach, and then she stood and took a step back.

«Stand up…» she said and her voice cracked just a little.

Hunter straightened and took a step forward, but froze, not wishing to push his luck with what little progress they’ve had. Instead, Serena walked up and touched his chest, looking into his eyes.

«If I can’t trust my crew… how can my crew trust me?» she whispered.

The man cautiously and slowly raised his hand to her face and very gently ran the tips of his metal fingers against her cheek.

«I love you, Serena.» he said, wishing that everything was different, but knowing it was nothing, but an impossible dream. «And I trust you with my life.»

Her palm cupped his cheek and the man almost closed his eyes again, feeling the pleasure of her warmth on his altered skin. A few moments passed and she slid her hand lower, feeling his neck and then the plates on his chest. Glancing down, she pressed her lips together.

«Show me…» she said. «How much of a human are you still?»

Hunter hoped the sight won’t scare her, and ordered his systems to unravel his torso, baring the scar-covered skin that was enhanced with some sort of a compound, altering it just enough to make it stronger, though keeping the feel of the natural human skin.

Again, Serena circled him around, studying his human torso with only a metal spine protruding in the back, connecting the weight-bearing core with the inner bones that were replaced with metal during the torture Hunter endured while being in Falana’s hands.

He felt Serena’s palm touching his side and almost flinched, but forced himself to stay still. The woman slid her hand to his stomach and seemed to stop for a bit, feeling his muscles. But then she looked to his metal arms and for a minute or two stood there, as if thinking something over. Slowly she raised her hand again and ran it up on the metal plating of his cybernetic arm.

Meeting Hunter’s gaze once more, the woman wrapped her palm around the back of his neck, pulling him down. He didn’t pull back, allowing her to bring him down for another kiss again. However, this time he felt her being a little more like before – when she used to be free from the fear his metal body brought her. She didn’t lean back for a very long time and suddenly jumped up, wrapping her legs around his waist. Hunter embraced her, keeping her up and wishing for the moment to never end.

He felt her pressing hard to his body, greedily kissing him, and couldn’t resist her being with him. He stepped to the work table Laneth had some tools on and swiped them all off, placing Serena on the top. For a few very long minutes they couldn’t get away from each other and Hunter grew bolder, grasping the woman’s jacked to pull it off.

«Hunter, wait…» Serena gasped for air suddenly leaning back. «Please, wait…»

The man forced his lust for her down, leaning with his hands over the table, and caught his breath, feeling rattled.

«I’m sorry.» he exhaled, recollecting himself. «I’m so sorry…»

Serena cupped his face and forced him to look up at her, meeting her gaze.

«I…» Hunter closed his eyes for a second, tears streaming down his face. «When Falana reassembled me… I was still experiencing that side-effect after the memory extraction. She used this… when I called for you. She used me, like…»

He felt Serena’s palm close his mouth and this familiar gesture made him fall silent, meeting her gaze.

«Don’t think about her.» Serena whispered. «I’ll make her regret everything she had done.»

The woman embraced him, pulling his head to her chest, and allowing him to cry on her breasts, while she gently caressed his hair.

Chapter 22. Exercise

Lindon walked to the training room with a dark expression on his face – Lyssa caught an encoded message to someone named Darren Holler. The message was short and signed with only three letters that they already knew.

FDL.

Lyssa reported that Serena was training, so Lindon hurried there to see her in person and to check in on the woman – for the past few days he barely saw her, even though he understood why she was hesitant to approach him after the fight he had with Hunter that led to their temporary exile.

When the door slid open, Lindon froze for a split second, seeing Hunter jolting to Serena in an attempt to punch her in the face. The Veluthian jumped forward, gritting his teeth, but was immediately stopped by Wolfin, who pressed his palms to Lindon’s chest.

«Easy.» Wolfin said to the man. «They’re training.»

Lindon forced his anger down, watching closely the futile attempts of the cyborg attacking the woman, who swirled, jumped and avoided his hits, landing a couple in the process. Even though she wore her Veluthian armour, each blow she landed to the hard metal body of the Terran made her wince slightly.

«Training…» Lindon exhaled, relaxing his muscles. «Why?»

«Serena wanted to overcome the fear after Hunter almost killed her.» Wolfin sighed, glancing to his ward. «She proposed to fight Hunter to make sure that if he ever becomes affected by Falana again, she will be able to fight back.»

Lindon gritted his teeth a bit and took a deep breath:

«And you’re here… why?»

Wolfin met his gaze and slapped the holster on his thigh:

«I’m here to make sure Hunter doesn’t hurt her. His idea, not mine.»

Serena screamed angrily and the men heard a hard punch that reached Hunter’s face. They looked at the two opponents and saw Hunter falling to one knee, grasping his jaw.

«Damn it, Serena…» the man groaned. «That one hurt.»

For a moment Lindon saw a faint shimmer of the pain and fear the woman experienced after they got Hunter back, but then she caught her breath and straightened:

«Thank you.» she said. «I needed this.»

She offered Hunter her hand and the man took it to get back to his feet. Only then they both turned to Lindon and Wolfin who stood watching them closely.

«News?» Serena asked, wiping sweat off her brow.

Lindon had to take a moment to shake off the feeling of worry he felt for her when he entered.

«Yes. We caught an encoded message.» he said.

«What did it say?» Hunter frowned.

«Garmfrig. Usual Place. FDL.» Lindon replied. «We all know who FDL is. So we need to move.»

«Garmfrig… isn’t it…» Wolfin frowned as well.

«A space casino.» Serena took a deep breath and stepped to the door, deactivating her armour. «All right… Call Cipher, let’s have an all hands on deck meeting. Our ship. Dining area. Fifteen minutes.»

«Serena, wait…» Lindon wanted to stop her.

«Let me take a shower, Lindon. I’ve been trying to get him for the last hour.» she shook her head. «Everything else can wait until briefing. Or after.»

He watched her exit the room and sighed, but then looked at Hunter:

«An hour?»

Hunter shrugged.

«He’s become stronger.» Wolfin tilted his head. «But I get the feeling he was holding back.»

«No, Wolfin. I wasn’t.» Hunter glanced at Serena, who was walking off calmly.

«Good.»

Lindon looked at Wolfin in shock:

«Good? So you want him to kill her?!»

«No, Lindon. That means that Serena is no longer afraid to fight the man, however strong his new metal body is.» Wolfin shook his head, meeting Lindon’s gaze. «And that’s good.»

«I’m sorry if I scared you.» Hunter said to Lindon.

The Veluthian scowled and turned away, walking off to call everyone to come aboard Lyssa.

Wolfin slapped Hunter’s shoulder:

«You’re in good form.»

«I just wish I could use this new body to protect Serena, not… hurt her.»

Wolfin pat on the metal armoured plates of his shoulder and sighed.

«This didn’t hurt her, Hunter. This set free her true self. And for that I am grateful.» he said.

Fifteen minutes later, when everyone was already gathered in the dining area, Hunter sat silent, watching everyone cautiously, still tense seeing Lindon throw angry glances his way.

Serena was the last one to enter the dining area. Passing by Jonah, who stood aside with a bottle of alcohol, she froze, as a slap sounded. A heavy silence fell in the room, when everyone looked at Serena and the smirking man behind her, who slapped her ass.

«Wanna visit me tonight, babe?» Jonah smiled wider.

Serena grunted, turning, and took a step to the man, tilting her head:

«Keep standing, and I’ll consider it a possibility.» she said, a menacing smirk appearing on her lips.

Jonah leaned in, watching her eyes:

«Do your best.»

Serena chuckled and slapped his face with her palm, throwing him to the floor and pushing him down. Claire jolted up, but was stopped by Pher, who managed to catch her wrist. Everyone else sat silently, watching how Serena stood above the man with the bottle he had in her other hand. In the split second she toppled him she managed to grab the drink from him as well.

«Do this again and you will find yourself without a hand, got it?» the Captain hissed.

The panicked, wide-eyed Jonah couldn’t even reply – his mouth closed by her hand and head held so tightly that he couldn’t even nod.

The woman raised her hand and straightened:

«Cipher, discipline this man as you see fit. He should know to respect those, who are high in command, even if they are not from his ship.» she said.

«Yes, Captain!» Cipher gritted his teeth, watching Jonah slowly roll over and get up.

As soon as the shocked man was on his feet, Serena grabbed his scruff and pushed him towards others:

«Now sit down!»

Jonah barely caught himself upright and hurried to take a seat, shaken after being so easily knocked off his feet.

Serena, on the other hand, pinched the bridge of her nose and winced:

«Cipher, we’ll have to talk about your crew…»

«I agree, Captain.» Cipher replied, shooting an angry gaze at Jonah.

Taking a sip of alcohol, the woman walked up to the table, where everyone was gathered.

«I told you she’ll squish you.» Pher chuckled at Jonah, but then glanced at Serena and cleared his throat, becoming collected. «Sorry, Captain.»

Serena twitched her brow and leaned over the table, looking at everyone:

«I don’t need to say that what we are doing is extremely important. If any of you three…» she looked at Taliesin, Jonah and Claire. «Even for a moment will endanger our mission, I will kill you myself! Pher!»

«Yes, Captain?» Pher straightened in his seat.

«You’re in charge of these three. Any wrong step, and you tell me, got it? Otherwise you’ll be reprimanded as well. And you remember well how that worked for you last time…» Serena tilted her head, looking at the man.

«I do, Serena.»

«Good.»

Chapter 23. Garmfrig

As soon as they arrived on Garmfrig, where all sorts of gambling was legal and praised, the team was notified of their right to carry weapons, but only to a certain point – some of the more high-end establishments required the weapons to be locked up in order to go inside.

Jonah and Claire pushed past everyone, eager to get into the crowd of gamblers and Serena exchanged glances with Cipher, already knowing that the man was thinking the same thing.

«So… Usual place… this could mean anything at all.» Lindon noted, seeing a whole plethora of casinos, brothels and hotels that offered all kinds of entertainment.

«Not unless it is literally what it says…» Serena shrugged. «Or have you never been to Garmfrig?»

Lindon seemed offended and frowned:

«Serena, I find it below my station and etiquette to visit such places.»

«Ah…» Wolfin chuckled. «So you’ve never been a gambling man?»

«I prefer to gamble with my own life in a duel or on a battle field. Or at work…»

Serena chuckled and waved everyone to follow her. Hunter glanced to her, seeing the sudden cheer in her eyes, and realised that she must have been here at least once.

«So… uh…» he cleared his throat. «You gamble?»

«Only when I want to have a bit of fun. Makes good sport to place a bet on myself and win a fight.» the woman replied. «Wolfin here seems to know what it’s like.»

«I worked here, Serena.» the Veluthian replied with a smirk. «After I ran from Velutha.»

«Oh. So… you have some knowledge about what we’re looking for.»

«Yeah. I always hated that place. It’s always been filled with many… uh… how would you call them? Pirates?»

«Every other person here is a criminal in one way or another.» Serena shrugged again. «I guess we’ll fit right in…»

«Shit!» Pher suddenly realised that while he was paying attention to Serena and the others, keeping an eye out for any passers-by that might cause a problem, he totally forgot about Jonah and Claire, who seemed to have vanished into thin air.

Taliesin, however, was still by his side and shrugged, not knowing where his buddies went. He didn’t seem to care that the two would get in trouble.

«Don’t sweat it, Pher.» Serena sighed. «If they won’t be back at the ship by the time we get back… I think we can leave them here and not think about them anymore.»

Cipher nodded to Pher, agreeing with the woman.

«Sorry, Captain.» the man slouched, understanding that he let Serena down.

Serena stopped and turned to Pher with a wide smile on her face:

«Your balls are safe. Don’t sweat it. Their earpieces are worthless unless connected to our systems, so if they disappear – it’s their fault, not yours. They heard me crystal clear and knew that they needed to obey orders. If they can’t, then they have no place on our ships.» the woman glanced at Taliesin and winked to him. «At least, one of those three is more honourable and reliable.»

«Uh… thank you?» the man ruffled his short Mohawk-cut hair that was dyed blue. «I’m kind of… not with those two.»