-
Chapter Five: Retribution
-
Andaluza stared at Jack, his eyes white with explosive energy that wouldn’t come out, but lay there.
-
Apollo looked at Jack angrily. “That was extreme. We can fight, but we don’t kill each other. Think about how precious your life is. If you can’t do anything about that.” Apollo’s hands began turning blue, sparking like a small fireworks show, then something burst from downstairs, creating a massive surge of electricity and water, thrown forward with the force of a category 3 tornado, throwing Jack down towards the hangar and against the flat end of his gunship. “You can’t fight the OGA if you have an ability to kill your teammates.”
Apollo sprinted back, not looking at Jack, rushing Andaluza to the medbay and levitating him slightly above the slab that Odysseus called a medical bed.
-
Calypsa steps down the cockpit ladder, and looks annoyedly at the others. “That was pathetic. How you even call yourselves a team anymore, let alone the Keepers, is beyond me. You can’t trust each other, you can’t trust yourselves. And yet you are the only hope that this Universe has. SO GET YOURSELVES IN ORDER! Or I will personally kill any one of you myself for endangering this initiative. From now on, I’m in charge. And right now we have a mission. Apollo, tend to Andaluza. Jack, you’re coming with me.” Calypsa slaps Jack with the back of her hand. “We are going to Hesperia. No doubt you all have heard of it. One of the most savage and technologically refined places in the local clusters. It is a frontier of innovation, and we are going there to defend a man who we need for our cause. So, for the four hour trip there, if you don’t have something nice to say… Then shut the hell up!” Calypsa returns to the cockpit.
-
Apollo walks into the cockpit, looking directly at Calypsa. “You know what? No. We’ll take your suggestions, but you, a corrupt person who is close friends with Ozymandias will not be taking us in your hands. Jack assigned me as mission leader, and I’m going to keep that promise to him wherever it goes. Right now, you are the pilot and we’re going there. I jumpstarted Andaluza’s hearts, so he should be fine. I see we’re already going to Hesperia so let it happen.” Apollo exited the cockpit and began to look at Andaluza, his dangerous mood returning to normal.
“Hey, I’m sorry. Jack left, so we have to get along better. I want Jack back, and you might want to consider as well. You’re tough. We can do this.”
-
Andaluza looked up at Apollo with sunken eyes, his blood returning to normal and his face complexion seemingly less broken. “…”
Andaluza, at a loss of words, quickly got up and remembered what Calypsa had said. “She thinks we’re incapable. But she’s corrupt, I can feel corruption when I see it. I say we take her out!”
-
Apollo quickly hushed Andaluza. “No! Not the point! She’s still on our side!”
-
Calypsa minds the controls after listening to Apollo’s words, and considers her options. She chooses to remain quiet for now, but as they approach the planet, she calls over the intercom, “Ok, everyone. Group meeting in the conference room. Three minutes.” Calypsa turns off the intercom, and moves to a nearby storage panel. She pulls out a thin flexible armor, and places it on. Things could get ugly.
-
*Pandora walks into the conference room early and sits down waiting*
-
Jack stared at the revived Andaluza, bleeding heavily and with a swollen face, lying on the floor. He heard his words, grabbing him by the collar and forcing him against the wall, only a few inches away from his face.
“You won’t touch anyone else.” He said, breathing in his face.
“You’re out of the team. Fuck the Keepers. We’ve accomplished nothing.” Jack said, dropping him.
“We killed Midzog. But as soon as we got the kids back, Ody took them. All we ever do is just violence. That’s it. We haven’t helped anyone but ourselves. We only killed him for revenge for us, none of us care about helping. Go home. The Keepers is over. She was right. We aren’t heroes, we’re just damaged goods.” Jack wiped the blood from his nose, walking out.
-
Andaluza lifted up Jack. “Only Apollo has the authority, NOT LEADER.”
-
Calypsa proceeds down the cockpit ladder, and grabs Jack as he walks by, dragging him to the medbay. She then grabs Apollo too and drags them both to the conference room, throwing them into the chairs. She slaps Jack. “Don’t you ever, EVER consider giving up!” she looks at them both, and proceeds to sit at a chair across from the two of them. “We need to talk. God, I hate having to mother you two. You know, I’m getting too old for stuff like this! However, you two need a pep talk, so I’ll oblige. Answer me one question. ONE. Well, for starters.” Calypsa leans in. “Do you want to save the world?”
-
Jack stared at her after she slapped at him, suddenly laughing.
“Bitch, you can save it yourself. I give up. You haven’t been alive 700 years, doing the same thing. Go fuck yourself, I quit.” Jack walked out of the room, hopping into a cruiser in the hangar, speeding away back to Earth.
-
Calypsa looks at Apollo, and leans back. “Well, that’s unfortunate. Perhaps he’ll come around, once the OGA has killed off everyone he loves… But Jack is a lost cause. But you Apollo. Do you want to save the world? I need you. We need you. And your team. And Jack has one thing wrong. Objectively, I’ve been doing this 1700 years. I do know what it is like. So what do you say?”
-
Apollo looks intensely at Calypsa, his eyes turning white with distrust. “I don’t trust you. You’re with Ozymandias, who has been trying to get rid of Midzog for a while. To gain power in the OGA. I want to trust you but you haven’t proven yourself as a trustworthy being. The team is my responsibility and I would like their input on this before we dismiss the vessel. I’ve paid you 200,000 credits for the ride already, because my bank has been accumulating useless funds. So unless either they all agree that you’re a source of help, or if you prove yourself that you are devoted to the task, I’m going to go on saving the world the same way I was doing earlier. Hesperia, is it? You can prove yourself through the planet.”
“Also, Jack is naturally selfish. He’s mostly in things for himself and he does stupid things that he thinks he can do. Let it pass, you’ll get used to it. He’ll come back.”
-
*Pandora sat on the floor still in the conference room not sure what to do besides go out and bash OGA cruisers but Jack already did that so she was lost*
Log in to reply.