Legends of the Halcyon Era

Episode 35 - A Turn for the Worst, Part 1: Daddy's Home

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One uneventful Saturday morning, Fenix and Janine were up bright and early-ish, and sat on the sofa as they watched Saturday morning cartoons on the living room television. And using Nytetrayn as their sofa cushions. Suffice to say, Nyte was now awake, and unhappy about this. Janine smiled at him cutely, but this was easily offset by Fenix mirroring it with his own frightening and evil smile.

"Nnnnnnnnn..." Nyte said. "You guys mind?"

"Morning, sunshine," said Fenix, as he picked up Janine and hopped off their roommate. Janine smiled and waved, as Nytetrayn sat up.

It was at that time that Celeste emerged from the bedroom, yawning and rubbing her eyes.

"Mornin', Cel. How'd you sleep?" asked Fenix.

With a yawn and a stretch, Celeste said, "Slept alright..."

"I need food," Nyte said. He headed for the kitchen, and the others followed, with Fenix giving Celeste a pat on the head as she passed. Janine helped herself to a bowl of corn flakes, while Fenix went for Lucky Charms. Nyte and Celeste opted for frozen waffles.

"So, what's on the docket for today?" asked Fenix.

"'Nother day, 'nother dig, I guess," Nyte replied. "I think Adam may still be recovering, so I think we'll have to keep local."

"Sounds good," said Janine. "I'm not in the mood for a long trip, I just want some action." She pointed her finger around like a gun and made mock shooting motions with "pa-pows" to emphasize her point.

"We can try your ruin again. I bet it's dried out by now."

"Hmmm.... might be some kangaroos left, though," she said, before she smiled in a truly devious manner. "Sounds good."

"I was kidding," Nyte said.

"She's a little antsy," said Fenix. "Poor thing didn't get a lot of action last night."

"I see," said Nyte. "Probably not a lot of action to be found in your bedroom," he added in complete sincerity. This didn't stop Fenix from choking on his cereal a bit, necessitating a few hard pats on the back from Janine. He knew what Nyte meant, but still, that stung a little.

Meanwhile, Celeste just quietly munched on her waffle as she followed the conversation.

"Er, so do we hit said ruin, or go to another?" Nyte asked. "I honestly doubt we'd find much else down there."

"Ehh, let's hit something else, I think we already cleaned that place out," said Fenix. "Besides, even if Jan wants to see the giant kangaroos again, I don't. And I don't fancy 'em getting anywhere near poor Cel, either."

"Agreed," Nyte said.

Celeste, who had only heard bits and pieces of this tale, stopped chewing for a moment at that. Fenix chuckled, while Janine rolled her eyes.

"Got any other ideas?" asked Nyte. "Island's supposed to be full of ruins, I'm sure there are some we haven't tapped yet."

"Well," said Fenix, "I'm pretty sure you swore never to trust my judgment again, but what about that big one up north?"

Nytetrayn dug out a map. "Well, the northmost one is the one we found Jan in..."

"No, the one slightly southwest of that. It's big, you can't miss the damn thing."

"Yeah, here we go," Nyte said as he found and marked the location on the map. "I thought it was a smudge. Sure, we can do that."

"But if there are any zombies this time, I'mma gonna kill ya'," said Janine.

"Hell," said Nyte, "we should be killing you if there are any zombies."

"Who, me?" Janine said, caught off-guard. "Why me?"

"We never had these sorts of things happen 'til we met you. Now, it's like every time we step into a big ruin, we meet friends of yours," Nyte said, half-teasingly. Janine muttered to herself.

"Anyway, sounds like our plans are set," Nyte said, as he continued with his waffle.

"Yeah," Fenix said, as he went back to eating his cereal. "Seems like... aw, nuts."

Janine looked over at him. "What's– Hey! You forgot to take after your vibrating hand, Fenix!"

Nytetrayn and Celeste both paused their eating, then pushed their waffles away at the same time.

"My god," said Jan, "you patted Cel on the head with that, and after last night when we– mmph!" Fenix smiled as he covered Janine's mouth to keep her quiet. "Thank you, I'm going to go change my limb now," he said.

Nyte stood up. "I'll be scrubbing my eyes now..." Celeste did likewise. "I think I'll go wash my hair..." And they went to do just that.

"Oh, like you guys would never forget to switch body parts," Fenix said.

"I like to think the original would be sufficient for my needs," Nyte said, before he continued on his way. Fenix grumbled and went to make the switch, while Janine just died laughing.

As they each returned to the living room, Fenix was fiddling with his hand, as the middle finger seemed to be stuck. "You ought to get that thing fixed," Nyte said. "I ought," Fenix replied, before he managed to get it back into place with a sickening crunch. Nytetrayn and Celeste reacted with mirroring winces.

"Okay! I'm ready when you guys are!"

***

After armoring up and getting equipped, the group set out for the ruin. Along the way, Nytetrayn decided to ask Janine, "Hey, what's with the getup?"

For this adventure, Janine was decked out in an off-white button-up shirt that wasn't fully buttoned up, some tight brown pants, leather hiking boots, a canvas shoulder bag, and to top it all off, a wool felt fedora. "You like? I thought it seemed appropriate for the job."

"Er, yeah," Nyte said. "Shouldn't there be a leather jacket, too, though?"

Janine shrugged. "In this heat? Oh, but you haven't seen the best part!" With that, Janine pulled out a four and a half-meter braided kangaroo leather whip.

Behind his mask, Fenix's eyes widened as his face paled. "Oh no," he said. "Here we go..."

Janine swung the whip around slowly over her head as the others backed away, then let loose with a thunderous crack. "Pretty good, huh?"

"Y-yeah," Nyte said nervously. Celeste just nodded quietly.

"And check this out!" Janine said, as she lashed out with the whip again, this time pulling back an apple from a nearby tree. "Now, hold out your hands..." she told everyone. "Come on!" she urged when no one did, but they reluctantly complied. She tossed the apple in the air and snapped the whip skyward several times, resulting in four perfectly-even apple slices landing before each member of the troupe.

"I-impressive," Celeste said to Janine, before whispering to Nyte, "...and kinda scary."

Janine beamed proudly at her prowess.

"A-alright," said Fenix, "we should get a move on. We won't raid any temples out here."

***

As darkness fell, they eventually arrived at the ruin's gate, which looked like a huge, domed mausoleum.

"Creepy," said Fenix. "Indeed," Nyte agreed.

"How about opening the door to that ruin, Fenix?" asked Janine. "On it!" Fenix replied.

Nytetrayn turned and asked Celeste, "So, you'll be alright up here, right?"

"Yeah, sure thing." she said.

Fenix hit the switch for the door, but it did nothing. "Odd," he said, as he pressed it again, still to no avail.

"Let me see that," Nyte said, as he pressed it himself, and also received no response.

"Hm, what's wrong with it?" said Fenix.

"You need the code, dumbass," said a mysterious voice.

"Code? What code? Since when are there codes?" Nyte asked, as he continued poking it.

Before any of them knew what was going on, a tall figure – taller even than Fenix, at around two meters in height – leaped down from above, and landed in front of the masked Digger. He paused for only a second before delivering a swift backhand, sending him through the air to land several meters away from the group. Fenix skidded across the ground, and slammed into a nearby tree with a loud "UNGH!"

"Fenix!" Janine shouted, as she rushed to his side.

"The hell?!" Nyte shouted. "Who are you?!"

The enormous man towered over Nytetrayn, sporting purple and gray armor with spikes and a long, purple cape. Part of his right arm was exposed, revealing a shining mechanical skeleton beneath its armor, while his head had a black beard and hair, streaked with bits of gray. His left eye had been replaced with a cybernetic implant which glowed a fierce red, similar to Fenix's. "It doesn't matter," he said. "In a second, you won't even be able to care."

Nyte kept himself between their attacker and Celeste, while keeping an eye on Janine and Fenix. It wasn't to last, however, as the man caught Nyte off-guard and grabbed him by the shoulder, then whirled around before ramming him against the ruin entrance, where the impact left a sizable dent. Celeste was too terrified by this to even yell.

Fenix struggled to his feet as his eyes blazed. He yelled out, his hoarse voice tight with rage, "CREED!!!"

The man chuckled deeply with a cruel sound, one that the others could recognize from the radio transmission that Adam's ship had picked up recently. "Something wrong, son?"

Nytetrayn got to his feet as he shook the cobwebs loose, and quickly ducked out of the way of the barrage Fenix was unleashing from his Gatling Arm as he came at their attacker screaming like a bat out of Hell. The Air Pirate known as Trevor Creed, Fenix's estranged father, calmly sidestepped the charge, and whacked his son in the back of the head as he passed, sending him careening into the ruin gate.

Nyte opened fire with his Nyte Buster, while Janine let out a primordial scream and unleashed a blast of neon orange energy. Creed crossed his arms, and raised a glowing pink energy shield that deflected their attacks back at each other.

"ACK!" Nyte yelled, as he rolled aside quickly, and tried going in for a leg sweep instead. Janine deflected the shot that came at her, and made her own attempt to gore Creed through the stomach with an energy sword. Creed hopped over the leg sweep, and blasted Janine in the chest with a burst of energy from his Buster, before aiming the weapon at Nyte's head.

"Give me a reason," he said, stopping Nyte cold as the young Digger tried to figure out his next move.

In the meantime, Celeste went to check on Fenix, who ignored her as he struggled to get back to his feet, and glared at his father. "Bastard..."

"No, no, that's what you are, son," Creed said, before aiming a kick at Nyte's face while letting loose a shot at Fenix. Fenix hit the ground with a thud and a curse, while Nyte managed to block the kick from hitting its intended target, but was still knocked backwards onto the ground, where he laid motionless.

With that done, Creed turned and advanced on Celeste, who was backing away from the Air Pirate. A sadistic smile crept across his face, as he said, "Hmm, you're the only one who isn't fighting back... you're either very weak, or extremely intelligent."

"Oh, hell no," Nyte said, once he caught a glimpse of what was going on. He got to his feet, and aimed a jumping kick at Creed's back, making the pirate lurch forward a step, his eyes widening somewhat in surprise.

"Interesting," Creed said. He turned and held out his cybernetic hand at Nytetrayn, and a shockwave of green energy burst forth from it. Nytetrayn converted his Nyte Buster to Nyte Shield mode to block the attack, but Creed intensified the power of the blast, sending Nytetrayn flying backwards into a just-recovering Janine. The two cried out upon collision.

Fenix let out a roar, and came down at Creed from above, his saber leading with deadly intent. However, Creed caught the blade in his metal hand, and smirked. "I thought we learned our lesson about this last time?" he said, before he tossed his son into the growing pile of Diggers before him with a yelp.

Creed turned his attention back to Celeste, but Nytetrayn jumped at Creed from behind and grabbed him in a headlock, and tried to bounce off the ruin gate to smash the pirate's face into the ground with a flying bulldog maneuver. Unfortunately, Creed was able to push Nytetrayn off of him with a grunt, and countered by driving his clawed right hand into Nytetrayn's back, which made the Digger yell out in pain as he winced.

Celeste was petrified as her friends, who had taken on everything from giant Reaverbots to the Reanimator to MegaMan Magnus, were all being pummeled by this new foe. Creed picked up Nyte by the gouges in his back armor, punched him in the stomach a few times, and then dumped him on the ground in front of Celeste with a groan.

"Nyte..." she said, as she dropped to his side.

"All that for you, hm? You must be something special... or at least fun to play with," Creed said with sinister glee.

"Nyte!" Celeste yelled, trying to rouse the Digger. "Are you okay?! NYTE!"

Before she knew what was going on, Creed grabbed Celeste by the scruff of her armor, and lifted her up to eye level. She trembled, and managed a gulp. "Hmmm... you're a bit of a smaller catch than I usually reel in... So, whatever am I gonna do with you?" Creed looked like he was expecting frightened pleas for mercy, but Celeste was too scared to accommodate. "Well, I should at least take you somewhere private to prepare you," he said. She was sweating now, as she tried in vain to get free.

Creed dragged her over to the ruin gate, and tapped in a sequence on the access panel, which finally opened the door. Celeste's eyes widened in terror as he pulled her towards the entrance, and she furthered her efforts to get away from the pirate and the ruin now, but to no avail.

Fenix pulled himself to his feet, snarling. "Creed... let... her... go...!"

"Hmmm, let me think about it... no." With that, Creed cackled as he tossed Celeste helplessly into the elevator and walked in behind her, the doors sealing shut behind them. "NO!" Fenix shouted.

Nyte looked up just in time to see the door close behind Creed and Celeste. "...n-no..."

"Dammit," Janine said.

Nytetrayn got to his feet slowly, and started for the door. As he pressed the button on the access panel, Fenix lurched forward and grabbed him by the shoulder. "Nyte... wait..."

"...wait? WAIT?!" yelled an increasingly frustrated Nytetrayn. "He has Celeste... I'm going in after them."

"You don't know what you're getting yourself into! He'll KILL you, damnit!"

"We'll see about that," Nyte said, as he kept fruitlessly pressing the button with no result. "He doesn't know what he's gotten himself into..."

"Nytetrayn, he does this for a living! You're committing suicide!"

Nyte turned to the door, but Fenix got in front of him. "Fenix... move..."

"This is my fight! You're not involved, so stay out of it, before you get hurt!"

"No! I'm involved now, and I'm getting Celeste back before anything happens! Now, out of my way!"

"I'm not letting him kill you, too!"

Nytetrayn paused for a moment, as he looked up, and looked Fenix in the eyes. Finally, he had enough, and grabbed the taller Digger, picked him up, and threw him aside by force.

"Nyte!" Janine shouted, as she limped over and checked on Fenix. "We can't get in, anyway, we don't have the code!"

Wordlessly, Nytetrayn turned back to the door. His eyes began to glow green, as energy began to crackle around them. He grimaced and grabbed the doors where he had left the dent before, pressing his hands into them. After a moment, the metal began to cave beneath the force of his fingers as he crushed it enough to get a solid grip, as Fenix and Janine looked on in shock. With a loud "SKRRANCH!", Nyte ripped the doors off their tracks in the ruin entrance, and tossed them behind him.

"What in the world...?" Fenix and Janine both wondered.

"I'll be back," Nyte told them, "and I'll have Celeste with me."

"He just kicked all our asses, in case you weren't paying attention!" Janine told Nyte. "This isn't something either of you can do alone. We're all going!"

"Fine, come if you want. I'm getting Celeste out of here, regardless."

"You're not the only one who cares about her," Janine muttered, before saying, "Fine, let's go."

Rather than wait for the elevator, Nytetrayn leaped down the shaft. "What..." was all Fenix could say as Janine grabbed him under his arms, and floated them down the shaft safely with a worried grimace on her face. Before entering the shaft, Janine could see a shadow pass over the area quickly, but was too preoccupied to give it much thought.

Nyte free-fell down the shaft, and hit the bottom with a three-point landing that left cracks in the floor and gave off a loud thud. He immediately broke into a run and equipped his helmet, using its scanning equipment to pick up Creed and Celeste's heat trail.

Shortly after, Janine and Fenix landed, then ran after Nyte. Both had their mind on the fight ahead, each for their own reasons.

***

Moments earlier, Creed walked swiftly down the passageway, and pulled Celeste along by the collar of her armor like a mother cat would drag one of its kittens. Celeste followed, scared out of her wits.

"Hmmm... lessee... not this room... not this room... not this one... eurgh, rats... ah! Here we go!"

Creed threw open one of the doors, and tossed Celeste inside the bare, dimly-lit room. A single Reaverbot cockroach charged with protecting the quarters was quickly dispatched by the heel of Creed's boot, as he stepped inside and closed the door behind him. Celeste backed away from Creed, at least as best as she was able to.

"And here we are!" the pirate crowed. "Ah, that son of mine, eh? Quite a pistol. A stupid pistol, but a pistol nonetheless..."

Creed advanced on her slowly, as his gaze wandered up and down her body in such a way that made her feel like his eyes left a trail of slime in their wake. Celeste kept away as best as she was able to, and even considered trying her own pistol for a moment, but before she could give it much more than a thought, he cornered her and smiled darkly.

"What's the matter? Scared? You'll be the lucky one. I've no doubt your friends will be killed in a valiant attempt to avenge your honor, or some such shit..."

Celeste gulped again, and tried to get around him to get away, but he grabbed her by the shoulder and pushed her against the wall – roughly, but not hard enough to do more than jar her.

"N-no..." Celeste managed to stammer, a panic-stricken look in her eyes.

"I wondered when you'd voice your opinion on the matter at hand! The other girls are usually much more vocal; I must admit it's kind of nice to get a quiet one for once."

"P-please... don't..."

Creed chuckled again, a sound which chilled Celeste's bones.

"I..."

"What makes you think your tiny cries will do anything more than fall on deaf ears?" Creed moved in closer, and brought his face down to her level as he studied her. Suddenly, an idea came to her.

"Y-you're a pirate, r-right...?"

"Among other things..."

"I... i-if you don't do anything, I can help you find refractors..."

Creed chuckled again, a hand roaming over her armor in uncomfortable places. "I have no need for the services of a Spotter, thank you very much."

Celeste closed her eyes tightly. "N-no, I mean... I can sense where refractors are..."

Creed stopped, and then cupped Celeste's chin in his metal hand, forcing her to look up at him. "What?"

"I... I can sense... refractors..."

Creed's eyes narrowed. "Don't lie to me, girl. You won't save yourself by telling stories."

"N-no, it's true... just don't do anything to me..."

"'Do anything'?" he said, as his smile twisted into an animalistic leer. Celeste's eyes widened a bit, scared. He lowered his face closer to her, his breath hot on her skin, and asked, "Why, what on Terra are you expecting me to do?"

Celeste closed her eyes again. "Y-you know... stuff..."

Creed cackled. "Can't even put words to it...!" As he took a sudden step back, laughing, Celeste opened her eyes again. "I've got to say, girl, I've met many kinds of women. Some of them plead, some of them threaten, some of them fight, but you..." He shook his head.

"I've never met a more pathetic soul. Have you no strength at all?"

Celeste lowered her head.

"Your companions are going to get themselves killed trying to save you, and the best you can do is offer me more wealth? Beg me not to have my way with you?"

Celeste just gulped, before Creed suddenly grabbed her by the shoulder again and pulled her in close, then planted a quick kiss on her lips before letting her go, while a nameless evil blazed in his eyes. She closed her eyes tight as he did so, a few tears ready to come out at the hopelessness of her situation, coupled with his words cutting her deep. When he let go, she reflexively wiped her lips.

Creed cackled. "This is going to be the most fun I've ever had..."

"CREED," a voice boomed from the door. "Back off. NOW."

The Air Pirate turned, with one eyebrow raised curiously as he saw Nytetrayn standing in the room's door, his fists clenched and eyes aglow. "Oh, you can still walk?"

As Nytetrayn started in, he said, "I can do a lot more than that, you son of a..."

Before Nyte could finish, Fenix shoved him aside and rushed the pirate with both beam sabers drawn. Creed drew his own saber, a large weapon with a split reddish-orange blade, and parried Fenix's attack as he was forced back and away from Celeste. "You piece of shit...!" the masked Digger shouted.

Nyte hesitated for a second, a little irritated at Fenix's butting-in, but quickly got over it, as it was just the distraction he needed to get Celeste out of there. He went to the girl, still in the corner of the room. "Are you alright?"

"I..." Celeste began to say, before just grabbing Nyte in a tight hug, burying her face in his chest. Nyte was stunned by the response for only a second, before he told her, "C'mon, let's get you out of here," and led her back to the doorway, where Janine was taking pot shots at Creed to cover their escape.

"You take her back to the surface, then get back down here!" Janine said. "We're going to be in trouble in a second."

Nyte turned back to Janine. "No, you take her. I'll help cover you two.

Creed laughed as he kneed Fenix in the stomach, then tossed him against a wall, before turning to look at the others.

"...GO! NOW!" Nyte yelled.

Janine looked like she was about to argue, but then grabbed Celeste and took off, carrying the smaller woman in her arms as she flew off down the hallway, back to the ruin's entrance.

Before Creed could get any ideas about following, Nytetrayn dashed in at him and ducked a swipe of his beam saber, then planted his fist right in the pirate's stomach. Creed lurched back with a grunt as his feet splintered the stone floor, and Nytetrayn followed with another punch, then a jumping kick straight to the chest.

"I'll rip you limb from limb if I have to..." the Digger said.

None of his usual snark. No quips. No sarcasm. Nyte was dead serious.

***

Up above, Janine flew Celeste out of the ruin, and set her down underneath a large tree that was a short distance from the gate. It was close enough that they could see if anyone came out, but far enough for them to keep their distance, if they needed to.

"Are you okay?" Janine asked.

Celeste nodded. "I... I think so..."

Janine hugged Celeste tightly. "Thank God... we were so worried."

***

Back in the ruin, Nyte continued his assault on Creed, throwing punches and kicks at the Air Pirate until he managed to catch one of the punches and deflect the kick. Creed backed up again as he did so, panting slightly.

"You piece of trash," Nyte said, as he grabbed Creed's ankle and pulled it out from under him, the pirate lashing out with his other foot as he fell. Nyte was caught by the kick, but flipped with it back to his feet a short distance away.

"What, mad because I almost damaged your precious refractor-detector?"

Nytetrayn snarled. "I don't care about that! You won't touch her again. Ever."

Creed rose to his feet quickly, as energy pulsed around his mechanical hand. "What do you care about, then? What good is she to you? You obviously haven't made proper use of her."

"She's... what kind of talk is that?!"

"The only talk he knows," Fenix said. "People are just objects to him. As far as he's concerned, Celeste is useless, unless he's using her."

"...trash. Just like I said."

"Heh, you think she's so valuable," Creed said.

"She is."

"She begged me on her knees. She never raised a finger in her own defense. You would die for her... tell me, would she do the same for you? When you were on the ground, broken and bleeding, did she do anything more than stare at me in terror?"

Nytetrayn snarled and activated his Nyte Saber, and sent a wave of energy at Creed. "What kind of fool are you to sacrifice so much for one so undeserving?" Creed said, as he activated his shield and blocked the attack.

However, the attack turned out to be a diversion, which Nyte used to lead the way for him to deliver a jumping kick to Creed's stomach. "Who are you to say?!"

Creed grunted at the kick, and flicked his saber at Nytetrayn, more in an attempt to get some breathing room than to do any real damage. "When I care about something, I fight for it!"

Nyte ducked under the saber swing, and grabbed Creed by the arm before he flipped the pirate over him. Creed landed in a crouching position, and whirled so that his beam saber became a literal ring of energy around him. "Even for a trinket, I kicked your ass. She offered to help me find refractors just so I wouldn't touch her!"

As the two went back and forth, Fenix drew a bead on Creed with his Plasma Caster.

"You had no right to put her in that position!" Nyte said, as he fired off a trio of shots from his Nyte Buster. "She was probably scared out of her wits!"

"What is it to you?" Creed said, as he brought up his shield again to protect himself from the blasts. "What is she to you?"

By the time the third shot made contact with Creed's shield, Nyte was already moving through the air at him, his fist drawn back.

"BECAUSE. I. LOVE. HER!!!"

In that moment, time felt like it slowed to a crawl and everything went quiet, as Nytetrayn brought his fist down on Creed's energy shield. Bolts of pink energy crackled outward from the point of impact before the barrier shattered like glass. Fenix could practically see the shockwave radiate out from the blow, before things seemed to return to normal as Creed was hurled back, tumbling across the ruin floor.

Creed snorted as he got to his feet, wiping a trickle of blood from his mouth. "It's not real, fool, just chemicals."

Nyte took a note of what Fenix was doing, and broke into a run straight for Creed.

"But at least you'll have the consolation of knowing you died for 'love'!" the pirate bellowed, as he began to slash at Nytetrayn with his saber repeatedly, its blade having grown to a much larger size than before. As Nyte got in close, he dropped to his back and slid underneath the swipe of the saber, firing his Buster right into Creed's saber hand as he passed.

The pirate snarled as he dropped the weapon, and clutched at his wounded hand. Nyte maneuvered behind him, then locked Creed's arms up in a full nelson and shouted, "NOW, FENIX!"

"HEY, DAD!" Fenix shouted. "EAT THIS!"

Fenix let the blast fly from his gun, but Creed was able to break Nyte's hold with a surge of strength from his mechanical arm, hurling the young Digger into a wall. He just barely got his other shield up in time for the blast to send him flying backwards into a different wall, where he was buried under a pile of debris.

"Ugh," Nyte muttered, as he started to pick himself up and gather his wits. He didn't have long to do so, however, as then the room began to shake. "What the...?" The wall behind Nytetrayn began to crumble, as the Digger rolled clear.

"...the hell...?" was all Fenix could get out before a large drill burst out of the wall. The drill was attached to the front of a strange looking vehicle, with machine guns along the bottom and a bomb cannon and energy cannon on each side. The familiar pilot shouted, "OH YEAH!" as it broke through.

"...Xenos?!" Nyte asked, in disbelief.

"Great timing, bub," said Fenix.

"What are you doing here?"

"Nyte?! Fenix?! ...shit. Oh, well! A job's a job, not backing down this time!"

"...shit...? Job...? Backing... down...?" said Fenix.

"Okay," Nyte said. "This is strange."

Xenos drove further into the room, and a group of smaller vehicles poured into the room behind him. Fenix and Nytetrayn looked at each other in confusion.

***

Meanwhile, back up on the surface, Janine was checking Celeste over for any injuries.

"...Jan, I'm fine... just a bit shaken," the younger woman said, though she still seemed to have an air of guilt about her.

"I'm just so relieved..." Janine said, as she gave Celeste another hug. "I was so scared... Fenix was ballistic... Nyte almost had an aneurysm!"

"I... Nyte...?"

"Oh yeah, he kept going on about how he was bringing you out, saving you and all that. It was driving him nuts." Celeste looked on, speechless, as Janine continued. "He was really worried about you... Hell, he didn't look that scared when I tried to rain down fiery death on him!"

"R-really...?" Celeste said, taken aback. She didn't know Nyte cared that much.

Janine nodded, and Celeste's look turned to one of sadness. "I mean, me and Fenix were pissed, too, but Nyte seemed to take it personally."

"Oh..." was all Celeste could say, as she winced and lowered her head against her knees.

***

Back in the ruin, Xenos Geist looked over the group as he spoke. "Sorry, guys, but I'm afraid that I'm going to have to ask you to turn over your valuables."

Nyte and Fenix looked at each other, speechless, before looking back at Xenos. "Real funny, Xenos," said Nyte. Meanwhile, Fenix just reloaded his gun.

"No joke, I'm afraid. I knew it'd come to it eventually!"

Upon realizing that Xenos wasn't kidding around, Nyte said, "Great, now we have two of these jerks to deal with. Well, Backstabber, you're just going to have to get in line."

"Two? What...?" Xenos said, as he turned his attention to the pile of rubble, which promptly exploded. "Crapcrapcrap..."

"Okay, that's it," said Creed, as smaller pieces of rubble continued to fall off of him. "Now I'm pissed."

Nyte pointed at Xenos. "Blame him."

"Holy shit, it's Trevor Creed!" Xenos told his troops. "Why didn't any of you guys mention him?! WELL, ATTACK!"

As this went on, Fenix couldn't help but chuckle. Nyte smirked a little himself.

All six of the bipedal Catbots Xenos brought with him opened fire on Creed with a loud "NROW!" Creed held out his cybernetic hand, and tossed a stream of energy right into the middle of them. Within an instant, they were all scattered by the force of the blast, with four of them destroyed. Creed's armor was scorched and somewhat battered by the Catbots' guns, but he didn't appear to have been impaired in any major way.

"Xenos... it's been a while. Why, you were just out of diapers when I saw you last!"

"I'mgonnadieI'mgonnadie..." Xenos kept repeating to himself.

Creed dipped a hand into his cloak, and pulled out a grenade launcher. "Say good-bye!"

"NO!" Xenos yelled out, as he desperately fired his bomb cannons at the elder pirate like his life depended on it. Which, frankly, it probably did.

Creed dashed forward at Xenos' tank, ducking under the barrage. Fenix appeared beside him, kicked his father in the chest, and sent him careening into a wall. Creed returned the favor by firing a grenade at his son, which he managed to dodge, though the explosion hurled him into another wall, where he slid down to the floor.

Creed turned back to face Xenos. "Sorry about that. Now where was I...?"

Xenos was ready, with an energy cannon aimed at Creed. "Hopefully being shot."

Creed fired a grenade at the cannon, causing it to explode as it discharged, damaging the tank. "Amateur," he said, as he ducked slightly while the explosion rocked him on his feet.

Xenos quickly recomposed himself, and sprayed machine gun fire throughout the room. Nyte ducked out of the way, while Creed rolled and hissed as a few bullets clipped his armor and raised bloody welts. The older Air Pirate fired off a few Buster shots at Xenos, which made the left bomb cannon fall off.

"Tsk tsk! Such shoddy workmanship," Creed said mockingly. "That's what you get for using foreign parts!"

"I'm strapped for cash, jeez. Not all of us are notorious master pirates who've been working for like a century you know!"

"Ah, so he's old trash," Nyte said.

"I'm not getting older, I'm getting better!" Creed shouted, before firing his Buster at Nyte and his grenade launcher at Xenos.

While the grenade did little damage to the drill, Nyte leaped over the Buster shot and dove into a roll behind Creed, then kicked him from behind into the barrel of one of Xenos' bomb cannons. Seizing the opportunity, Xenos fired the cannon, triggering a big explosion.

When the smoke cleared, the elder pirate was nowhere to be seen.

As Fenix rose to his feet with a grunt and shook his head lightly, Nyte tried to find Creed. "The hell? Fenix, can your dad teleport?"

"Teleport?" he said. "What the hell's that?"

"A faster than ordinary means of getting from one place to another, sometimes involving disappearing and reappearing..."

"Never heard of it."

"Huh."

"No," Xenos said. "He's just running out... through my entrance!" With that, he turned his tank around and drove back into the hole.

"Hey!" Nyte shouted. "Where do you think you're going?!"

"Shall we follow him?" Fenix asked.

"What else are we doing?"

At that, Nytetrayn and Fenix took off after them.

Xenos would note a small but visible trail of blood that led not out of the dungeon, but deeper into it, down a tunnel that seemed somewhat rougher hewn than the rest of the dungeon. "Damnit, can't take this thing down that path," he said as he hopped out of his vehicle.

Nytetrayn and Fenix soon caught up. "Hold it! 'Mr. Genteel Pirate,' my ass!" shouted Fenix.

"Uhh... Hi, guys! So good to see ya'!" Xenos chuckled nervously, as he held his hands up and put on an incredibly fake and nervous grin.

Nytetrayn cracked his knuckles. "Funny, I was just thinking that same thing..." Fenix racked a round into his shotgun, while Nyte readied his Nyte Buster.

"So, basically, we have to kick your ass first to get to him?" Fenix said.

"...to get to him?" Nyte asked. "I thought we were doing it anyway?"

Fenix shrugged. "He's just in our way."

"This would indeed be a problem," Nyte said. "I vote that we rectify this in a quick, efficient, and possibly messy manner."

"And I'm not exactly complaining, considering he almost set his pussy bots on us."

"You think I'm protecting Creed?" Xenos asked in disbelief. "I don't protect guys like that. You may think I'm scum by now, but you know... Creed is even scum by pirate standards. He's just really good at the job, so we, uh... we don't cross him much."

"Whatever," Nyte said, not having any of it. "Your timing sucks." Xenos backed away an inch, letting out another nervous chuckle. "And he got out through your tunnel..." said Nyte.

"...because your bomb gave him cover!" Fenix added.

"I still haven't made paste out of his balls yet!"

"I thought Nyte threw him into my cannon for me to blast him to bits!" Xenos said. "And hey! It's not personal or anything! This is my job! It's what I do!"

"I was actually hoping to jam his fat head in there so I could proceed to shove my Nyte Saber where the sun doesn't shine..."

"We almost avenged my ol' mother and poor Celeste, but no, you have to show up and say, 'Give me your watches!'"

"How the hell was I supposed to know any of this?!"

"How about picking other targets that you wouldn't be backstabbing?" Nyte said. "You traitor..."

"Maybe you could have NOT TRIED TO ROB US, YA DAMN PIRATE!"

"Hey, I just picked the ruin!"

"SINCE WHEN DO YOU GO INTO RUINS, ANYWAY?!" Nyte screamed.

"Since it got too hard to catch Diggers on the way out! I came prepared this time!"

"I distinctly remember hearing you say 'What? You guys? Oh well, a job's a job,'" Fenix said.

"Yeah, I remember that, too," Nyte said.

"Exactly."

"...on the way..." Nytetrayn muttered, thinking back to their previous encounter. "That's what you were doing last time?!"

"So, if not for the allure of Jan's knockers, you'd have attacked us!?" Fenix shouted. "You bastard!"

"Actually, I let you off that time, but I'm really goin' through hard times here," Xenos said. "I need all the cash I can get."

"I have an idea," Nyte said to Fenix.

"An idea like getting Creed now and killing each other later?"

Nyte looked back at the Air Pirate. "Let's let Jan have Xenos for the night. All night." As Fenix stood silent for a moment, Nyte told him, "Think on that for a second."

Fenix chuckled. "I can handle that."

"Which? His, or mine? Or both? I can do both."

"Both is good, but the asshole has a point: Creed is still at large."

Xenos looked back and forth between the two nervously.

"Alright, it's agreed then," Nyte said. "We off Creed, then we bunk Jan with Xenos for the night. Or the week. We'll figure the details out later.

"Yes," said Fenix. "But right now, we are for the killing of the old man, yes?"

"I believe we are. Let's hunt that piece of trash down and burn it..."

"Then let's go," Fenis said, as he started down the corridor.

"And you're coming?" Nyte said to Xenos.

"That's the plan!" Xenos replied, as he made sure his guns were prepared.

"Then come on," Nyte said, as they followed Fenix down the darkened corridor towards the unknown.

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