THE CONCLUSION
- - -
Atlas is subdued by Agent Derek Steel but Steel sustains horrible injuries pulling this off. Both men collapse and Atlas is once again in the hands of Agent Steel's right hand man, Cameron.
- - -
ERIK ATLAS
This feels like a bobsled run as I wake
The bobsled run was real slow.
I looked at the white track trail behind me. Red line - white trail.
Am I bleeding?
Then I wake up
I feel the floor sliding under me. It's not a bobsled. The red line is the blood running out of my mouth. I was out. My arms up as I'm being dragged over the cleanest white institutional linoleum floor. I must be stepping up in life. The floors I bleed on now are much cleaner.
My right side is throbbing with my heart beat - I might have two broken ribs...maybe three.
I remember, Agent Steel got on my back, I wrecked him good and he kept fighting, and crushed his baton into my ribs, slowly carving deep into my body. I fought hard. I never felt a force so focused splitting into my ribs. They hurt bad now. Suddenly a boot cleaved a kick into my ribs! AWUGHHHH!
"I 'fink killing you would save ebrebody time..." The voice was deep and spoke with a hard speech impediment. It must be my personal body dragger. Clutching my guts in pain I look up - and yea, if Baker had a big half brother that was a troll and his mother fed him with a slingshot, regularly.
I hear booted feet come closer and it's Cameron. I'm in such trouble. But no, he ignores me and grabs the troll by the face, looking up to him making him about 6'8" - "You have a job. DO IT! I am fixing the boss and I need to trust you to follow the Boss' orders."
The big galoot gets a look like he's a bad puppy, "He hurt Steel."
"Yes and you get to put him into the pit where Mike is gonna sort him out," Cameron puts on his best smiling pediatrics nurse face. "Won't that be good?" the laugh is more ape than human. "Hurrr hurrr hurrrrrr..." Cameron pats his cheek and massages the meaty roll at the back of his neck. "Then we have pizza. Your favorite. ok?"
A voice off the hall shouts to Cameron, "They have a plastic surgeon on call, they are sending him now. He'll be here in 2 hours!"
"OK set up room 4 and I'll be assisting. Make sure the mess hall is working normal meals. Keep the base on stand by. Gas the vehicles, and make sure you take a break now because you don't get another in the next 3 days." They obey him instantly.
Then he kneels next to me. Our eyes meet.
His hands grab his head and rub over his face. He starts, "Erik.... I..." he head droops. Shakes his head. "Ok Tonka, take him to Mike. "
I want to fight this real bad and thrash quickly and find they bound my legs. After seeing what they did to his boss, I am not surprised. "Remember Tonka, don't hurt him more. This is Mike's turn."
...and I get dragged. I scramble looking for something to grab onto. I snag a doorway. Tonka pulls me off. We go through a big doorway and he drags me over a steel grate. He turns and smiles - his mother would be proud. the red button on the wall looks greasy and used. He hits it.
The grate I'm on opens and i FALL!
I hit three things in the 15 foot fall and land on a cement floor with a painful impact - the place smells like a zoo. I look around frantic - my body hurts so bad my vision it blurred. "Hope Mike Likes you." Tonka's voice echoes down. "He likes to wrestle." i get myself sitting up and find my ankles wrapped in industrial sticky plastic wrap. And its a good choice for big men. It resists stretching and tearing, self stick. I'm gonna have to work that hard.
I hear water dropping slightly into a pool. and the walls open. I'm in a massive aquarium maybe 50' x 50' with three islands of rock surrounding a pool about 3' deep. There's three walls of glass and dim lighting outside - and 20 men watching. Dressed in skin tight black gear, muscled like apes, all like extras from 300 and watching with interest.
I start tearing my legs free and I see what looked like a rock stacked on rocks MOVES... the stack to my left moved. OH FUCK - the triangular spade head is the size of my fists doubled together. It's not a stack of rocks - it's a Massive snake - ohhhh this must be Mike. I have no idea how big he is, but he must like men. he doesn't shy away from me, but looks interested. From his coiled perch on the rock stack about 20 feet from me he slowly comes toward me. I frantically work to get my legs free.
2020-05-25 12:10
- - - -
AT THE BASE
Mike's head turns towards you, his wedge shaped head weaving back and forth as he raises up from his self-made nest of coils. His tongue flickers in and out, tasting the air. Mike hisses gently, apparently smelling something he likes very much. Slowly at first, then with a gathering speed, Mike weaves sinuously back and forth, uncoiling his length one layer at a time. He was a very big snake, about 9 metres long. The rippling along Mike's very long torso spoke of a tremendous strength.
The men standing outside the glass looked on with a sense of anticipation as the enormously long Python began to undulate closer and closer to your frantically struggling form. Mike's head comes with range of your head. Mike rears up, his head weaving back and forth, sampling the air.
The men all started suddenly as Mike snaps forward his teeth latching onto your right ear, as his coils surge with an incredible power and speed, pulling your body on top of his coils, seeking to begin wrapping you up. Mike was very hungry.
2020-05-26 07:11
- - - -
ERIK ATLAS
I have my legs almost free and Mike comes over closer and closer... he's FUCKING HUGE. I am not a know it all but over 20 feet is a mankiller. I am shaking off the shadow of Steel - I see his men in the outer area. They all sit up and start when wthey see Mike after me. I'm frantic to get the plastic wrap off my legs and get a good length off and kick free - and MIKE STRIKES!. He grabs the side of my head - I nearly scream in panic! the teeth like a flash of 20 knives hook into the flesh of my ear and pull me on top. The coils are thick as my leg, maybe more, and start moving slowly to accept me into this embrace of death... NO NO NO!
I shake my head furiously RIPPING free from that bite shredding my ear in the process and pulling away rolling off him. AWUGHHH... painful tearing in the cartilage of my ear and I dont wanna see if i have an ear...His face lunges at me so fast - but the fucker needs to know this is Atlas - RIGHT HOOK connects with that head as it lunges at me and spins to the left hissing a sound like someone tearing a carpet end to end. My heart is hammering - my ribs HURT so bad from being wrecked by Steel and know if this thing gets around me, even the slightest squeeze is going to hurt.
...so.... it has to die.
or me.
I scramble and get up turning a full circle and see the room. The pond, rocks in stacks. The ceiling grate. the windows. I back off till I hit windows. I feel the beasts on the other side hammering on the windows to get Mike to come over this way. or maybe to harass me - and who fucking cares. Mike is focused on me again and sliding over fast. His body spreading out as if to limit escape routes. On the other side of the pond, there's hand sized rocks.
I commit to a plan in stead of freezing - I BOLT for the pond! - I bet my life that it might be easier to cross the water than climb the two huge piles of rock on either side. I hit the water and slide chest boat style over the water leaving a red streak of blood from my ear and the other injuries I got.
2020-05-26 22:07
- - - -
AT THE BASE
Mike seems confused as you rip your head away from his teeth latched onto your ear. His head is smashed to the side by your massive fist, and he feels a flash of pain. But his flexible body absorbs the blow without significant damage, hissing loudly in annoyance, pain, and confusion. Prey should not fight back.
Mike waves his head back and forth a few more times, clearing out the lingering effects of his meal's very powerful strike. He watches, bemused, as his prey scrambles up and seeks to escape. He runs then towards the pond.
Mike, being 9 metres long, is still partially coiled around the pile of rocks he was napping on when his lunch was dropped down. Using this anchor, he quickly slithers back, undulating with an impressive speed, his head curving in a broad U returning to his base. The large morsel throws himself in the water. And Mike surges forward, uncoiling his huge, powerful body striking forward with a blur of speed, his teeth securing a grip on your calf, and hauling you back to the small shore between the two rock piles where he can attempt to prepare you for consumption again.
The men outside the large Terrarium cheer as his teeth sink into your calf muscle.
2020-05-27 00:55
- - - -
ERIK ATLAS
I FEEL THE PULL BACK AFTER MY DIVE - the water refreshing, even though its stinky and thicker. Blinking to get my face clear I turn and see I'm hauled back to the shore - it was only 3 meters to get to the rocks and I got hauled back - SHIT that pain was the 20 knives of that bite sunk into my leg! I SLAM a huge fist into that head watching that sinuous body reeling up behind as it pulls me into his circle again. HAMMERING and HAMMERING to get that mouth off me...leaning back to kick at it. Lengths of that fucking plastic on my leg. I tear it off my leg and find I HAVE ABOUT 5 FEET OF IT....ok.... aint out running this.... my hand makes a fout finger SPEAR and THRUST into Mike's eye! It's mouth opens hiSSSSIng!!! I have to fight fast... i SAM an arm around its neck SQUEEZING HEADLOCK... right hand winging plastic around the jaws, hoping I can limit its breathing as well... ((while I'm at it I hope for a white Christmas, an end to disease and famine in the world, a good light beer, and a different ending to Star Wars. I know this is a longshot))
2020-05-27 11:39
- - - -
AT THE BASE
Mike pulls you back towards his looped coils. opening up to make a space for your body. The prey is fighting hard. He kicks hard against Mike's head, Mike looks confused, but just bites harder, sinking his teeth deeper into your fleshy calf. Finally though, the pain grows enough that Mike releases you. He's pulled you up back onto the shore though, and the coils of his body are slithering all around you.
You tear that plastic off your leg, then spear your finger forward into his eye!! Mikes reflexes are fast, and he closes his eyelids, but you hurt him alot, he hisses wildly, pulling his head back. You strike, wrapping your arm around his neck, and trying to wing the plastic around his jaws.
But the plastic is battered, torn from being ripped off your legs, and slick with water and blood besides. It's hard to make it stay in place, it keeps sliding off. The whole time you are trying to squeeze Mike in the headlock, your grip keeps slipping up and down his scales, slick with water and blood. The whole time, Mike is beginning to get his coils in place. The slimy plastic slides free, and Mike strikes forward, his jaws clamping onto your face, holding you down as his coils start to wrap around your legs, up to your thighs.
2020-05-27 22:14
- - - -
ERIK ATLAS
The wrap MIGHT have worked - and the whole world is like that. Too many Super Bowl moments are based on "Might have worked" - but when those jaws snapped on my face and I got to look down that throat, I realized I'm dead. No one comes away from this. My heart sinks - I wanna see the manager. I want a refund. I am going to appeal. I hope someone saves me. The shrieking horror overcame me quickly.
And then the fire burst intto form.
I'm Atlas and I don't need a face.
My hands, proud of having brick breaking power, gripped into the lipline of the huge Python and worked inside up to those razor teeth. Huge muscle in my back and arms flares into action and PULL peeling outward and RIP the jaws from my face. The first view I get is through the glass of the men standing slackjawed watching me tear free, the bite turning my face into a bloody mess, SCREAMING with the effort, and this isnt a fashion moment. I ain't pretty - this has gone primal and I will live through this!
Mike thrashes left and right - the phrase "you don't get leverage on a snake" trues up and my hands slip... I GRAB the neck, fingers biting in deep. Without mercy those coils lap up my legs to my waist - my squeezing grip occupying both hands - I'm too busy to stop the engulfing embrace. I have to make this grip work. MY HANDS SQUEEZE and I feel the plating of scales rupture and bleed!
2020-05-28 05:32
- - - -
AT THE BASE
Mike suddenly feels confused as his prey reaches inside his mouth and somehow pries his jaws open. Mike's head weaves back in annoyance. He hisses directly in your face. The smell of blood is in the air, and Mike knows only that he needs his food. He darts his head right and left, seeking to once more immobilize his prey.
The men watching gasp as the look at the bloody mess your face has become. Then you reach up and grab Mike's neck. The circumference of the mighty Python is so thick that you can't quite make your grip reach all around his neck. Still, you begin crushing desperately. Mike hisses now in pain as his some of his scales are ripped in half from the pressure. Yet, instinctively, he keeps wrapping up your lower body, and now the first coils begin to work themselves around your core, your abs and ribs.
He tightens suddenly, pressure starting to crush your broken ribs. That's when desperately, Mike strikes, this time at the closest thing he can reach, your massive right bicep. His teeth sink deeply into the powerful muscle, and the utter shock and pain makes your hand go slack. Without pressure on both sides, his neck slips free from your left hand. Mike is hurt there though, blood leaking from his scales, and the muscles are damaged, he has to work around them. With the added distraction, the huge Python manages to get another coil around you, this time wrapping up your solar plexus itself.
2020-05-28 09:00
- - - -
ERIK ATLAS
I scored more damage than I expected and crushed in harder and harder. Mike thrashed out of my grip and then HITS my right arm. AWUGHHH!!! The pain is incredible! He saws into my bicep and the coils swallow my legs pinning them together. It's impossible to sit up any more and pinned on my back - and he's HEAVY. Roiling smooth-scaled muscle engulfs my hips and waist and up over my ribs as I fight to get those jaws off my arm.
And nothing is stopping the squeeze now. There's still plenty more of Mike to go around and my ribs suddenly compressed. "AWUUUUUUUUUUUGHhhhhhh!!" I hear my voice echoing off the glass, and feel my body crushed hard. Gasping for air, finding it's true, yes a snake gets tighter when you exhale. Every breath is a feat of power.
I lay on my right side. I WILL Live thought this! "LET GO!" Commanding it like a dog or something, all I got left is my left fist. And I am powerful. HAMMERING SLAMS into the back of Mike's head! The first three just HURT my arm more....but the fourth splits scales on the top of his head. I Hammer five more times knowing this is probably my last chance to do anything effective against a 30 foot snake. the coils around my body tighten, huge thick, cool and smooth - they flatten against my body, thick as my leg. UAWGHHHH!!!!.... one last hit.... SLAMMMMMMMMM! something breaks - the pain in my arm is making my vision blur and my body is under incredible pressure. In the shadowy reflection of the glass, I see my chest looking huge as the rest of my body is crushed...
"Steel....I'm.... sorry. Stop this....Cameron....please...."
The crushing pressure unrelenting is making my power just leech away... breathing hurts so bad, ribs a thousand pains.... I cough hard and spit a gob of blood on Mike... Then Mike spasms all over - that last hit in his head finally getting into his brain - blood seeps from the damage in his skull and then pours.... I dare to hope and grab the lips of Mike and try pulling, my hands refuse to obey me, shaking from lack of air and pure exhaustion... Still trying to flex to keep my core solid but its a lost battle and I feel another rib bust....then Mike spasms again shaking all over!
2020-05-28 09:47
- - - -
AT THE BASE
Mike works his coils around your ribs and solar plexus, and begins to crush in earnest, knowing instinctively to squeeze his powerful body each time you exhale. His coils ripple with incredible strength, beginning to compress you core.you feel cool smooth coils roil slowly around you against your skin invading every personal space. The weight on your chest is mounting. Mike easily weighs over 150 kilos, 315 of your pounds, and just the weight alone is hard to bear. the thickness of a python molds to your body every place it touches you and when he flexes that pliable sinewy power turns to cols steel crushing hard!
Then your left hand starts to smash into the back of Mike's head. He doesn't feel the first blow,or if he did he isn't reacting. But the second blow rattles his brains. His reaction is to bite down even harder on your right bicep, sawing painfully into your muscle and scraping bone! Loop after loop- another coil around your body, completely encasing your solar plexus now.
Then a further flurry of blows from Mike's dinner smash into the back of his skull, that massive fist of yours finally causing damage, the scales on the back of Mike's head splitting and bleeding. Mike is aware of tremendous pain, but he has crossed a line now, he has committed himself to this act of feeding and he will not stop now.
Then, further blows slam into the back of Mike's head, and this time the shock starts damaging Mike's brain. Now... Finally Mike decides it is time to retreat, the pain in his head feedbacking to Mike's sense of self preservation that he will die. But, before Mike can uncoil, you slam his head a final time. The damage is severe, and Mike's limited ability to make decisions is destroyed. He can't decide anything anymore, no matter how simple.
All he has left now is pure instinct. Bleeding from the back of his head, the brain damaged snake instinctively, mindlessly continues it's feeding. Mike spasms as blood leaks from his head, temporarily disrupting his motor control. But he keeps tightening, and loops another coil, this time around the might chest of Atlas, the coil right on the lower pecs beneath the nipples. Those broad plates of steel enveloped by Python. He crushes again.
Then he spasms again, as more blood leaks from his head, but he doesn't stop. He simply keeps his teeth locked deep into your right bicep, and begins to loop another coil around the broadest expanse of your chest. There is a sudden give beneath his coils as a rib breaks from the pressure. The men standing around all gasp in shock as a bright fountain of blood gushes out of Atlas's mouth. Looks like it's the end for the troublesome captive. They grin.
AGENT DEREK STEEL
Suddenly, Derek wakes up.
BLINKING - working to see. It takes a few moments for everything to register. The battle with Atlas... his collapse, Cameron catching me as I fell. I was in the infirmary, bandaged and cleaned up. I'm naked beneath the hospital sheets. Then I remember... what had been his final orders. Something about tending to Atlas.... then putting him in the pit. The pit? He had a sudden bad feeling about this. "CAMERON!" And that hurt. I don't want to shout again. And suddenly Cameron was there.
"Hey Boss!! You need to go back to sleep, I've called a plastic surgeon in, he's gonna fix up your nose, but you need your rest man." His face is drawn with concern. I wave that off, my gaze intense, my one eye still swollen shut, my face covered in bandages. "Where did you take Atlas?"
Cameron looks confused.... "Well, the snake pit like you ordered. You wanted him executed, right?" Derek stars. He hadn't meant the snake pit, he'd meant the high security isolation pit, basically a deep hole with no way to climb out. He'd thought that by specifying that Atlas get tended first it would be obvious. But... he didn't really have any clear memories of his final moments consciousness. And thinking about it, it would seem pretty obvious to anyone that Atlas would be fed to Mike. It was standard procedure for escaped prisoners. No one was to blame here, except myself. I'll be damned if I let Atlas get eaten by Mike after all the trouble I went through to keep him alive. I'm not done with Atlas. Not by a long shot. That clear shaft of purity that had let me glimpse into the huge muscle mans inner being was still seared into my mind.
Suddenly, naked as the day I was born, covered in bandages, I throw back the sheets and stagger up to my feet, ripping out the IV leads. Cameron was shocked, and scared, "NO no no! Boss! Derek... don't... please... stay.... Stop!"
I stare at him with what he knows as the, "How dare you defy me" look. His hands up like he surrenders, he slowly touched my hands. "I don't want to lose you." His terror making me strangely vulnerable. We don't have time for speeches. Maybe you need to understand, I care for my men, but sometimes it surprises me that they cared for me too.
I take his hands and look him in the face marshalling the leader inside, "Cameron... we need to save Atlas. I didn't mean the snake pit, I meant the isolation pit. Is he still alive?"
Cameron felt a huge wave of relief, as understanding dawned on him. He knew that something felt wrong about feeding Atlas to Mike, something didn't add up. Derek said, "Help me. Get me my combat knife." I left Cameron to follow orders and started walking towards the Snake Pit at the fastest pace he could manage, pain wracking my body, broken ribs, bandaged but mangled face, screwing every effort into ignoring the pain. Cameron caught up with me slapping my combat knife in his hand. The staff looked stunned at the sight of the naked form of Derek Steel striding down the corridor, with Cameron at his side.
The rough shouts and cheers of my guards gathered around for the show erupted from the entrance to the snake pit. I shoved men aside, naked, and opened up the access hatch, uncoiled the rope ladder, and flew down the rope. Cameron was close behind.
The men enjoying the battle between Mike and Atlas gasped in shock as their naked, wounded leader entered the pit wielding a knife, with Cameron close behind. I found him - oh god - he's completely coiled by Mike. There's blood all over. His huge body was clearly compressed from six coiled around him and more lapping his legs. I wasn't even sure if Atlas was still alive. Blood was flowing out of his mouth. He looked unconscious. Mike was bleeding badly from the back of his head, and it looked like his skull was deformed. Well, as much as I hate to lose Mike, Atlas had to come first. I may be too late. It looks like the huge muscle man had gone down fighting.
None of the other prisoners ever fared like this against Mike.
I lept on top of the coiled snake and man. Prying my knife under the middle coil, my biceps flexed with power and sawed through the body of Mike, with strong fast strokes. I have to hurry. The next minutes are critical!
Then... I cut through the Python's body, and his flexible spine. Like cutting a puppet's string, Mike's body suddenly went limp as blood poured out all over Atlas's crushed body. I turn to Cameron, "Get the infirmary ready, if Atlas is still alive, it's going to be touch and go. He's been savagely crushed." Cameron nods and runs to make preparations. Carefully and quickly I removed Mike's razor grip mouth from Atlas's right bicep, and uncoiled the snake's dead body from around him. Atlas seemed to shudder. His face was a wreck, in as bad a shape as my own, and his ribcage was visibly dented, his ribs broken in several places. Even his mighty chest looked dented, might even have broken an upper rib and pressed a contusion through the depth of that pec muscle as he squeezed into the big Texan. I carefully lifted Atlas in my arms, trying not to move his body.
The men outside looked utterly dumbfounded. Their naked bandaged boss suddenly rescuing the man he'd ordered executed. I use my head to gesture at the carefully concealed door in the side of the Terrarium. Men rush to open it, and I walked out, every step causing agony - I hope I make it to get this done. I ignore the pain though, and walk towards the infirmary, carrying Atlas, covered in blood, his own and Mike's.
The body was laid down on the guerney as Cameron and the other Medics begin the work of cleaning and stabilizing the wounded man titan. I stood there watching, still naked, and not caring. I took a chair and sit to watch the procedure. Damn.
This is a long day...
2020-05-28 22:00
ERIK ATLAS
I could tell I "killed" Mike when the spasms started. I could feel his teeth in my bicep vibrating. The Pain as those teeth sawed in my arm was blinding. I flexed my legs trying to kick him off me. They were crushed tight against each other.The thick sweep of my quads were going numb from the crushing pressure mounting around me. I trashed my left hand trying to stop the coils from wrapping me up more and just helped him lap over my chest pinning my left arm.
"I WILL make IT!" I have to... this was now a game of endurance. A burst of crushing pressure mounted into my waist and over my ribs grinding the broken bones that worse! UGHHHH!!!! When it couldn't get tighter, Mike flexed and his thick coils flattened against me with the pressure doubling every 5 seconds. When it seemed impossible to get tighter, it did. I couldn't breathe. I had to try and nothing came. My head shifting to breath panic. Trying to thrash free and getting nothing. The impossible happens - Mike squeezes tighter! my head back, thick veins standing out in my neck and head. I see the men watching, blood running down my face from the mauling I took tearing Mike off my face.
Then TIGHTER
...
TIGHTER
...
OHgawd...TIGHTER!
.....
PUTkkkkkk! I feel something in me let go and blood vomits from my mouth, and the worst pain splitting my insides. I don't know why fighting Steel made me want to quit, where this just offended me. I might never know. The world went black.
- - -
I open my eyes, and a doctor looks at me. "His eyes are open," she says. "Mr. Atlas can you hear me? You need to stay still. I'm fixing you and you're a mess. Nod if you hear me."
I have a tube up my nose, in my mouth deep down, my right arm is bandaged and too many IVs working at once. I nod. The world swims like shaking a Christmas snow globe. The Doctor is calm but the room explodes into activity. I see Cameron look down into my face...smile, lower his head shaking. "He's alive!" I hear a flurry of noise and instantly in terror of Cameron finishing the job. He holds my left hand. "You're safe. Stay calm."
My blood flows warm like something inside me is burning. They gave me a drug. I stop caring about everything.
- - - -
I wake up.
It's night.
I still have a tube in my mouth deep down and everything hurts.
Then Steel's face. His nose is bandaged, his eye blackened but somehow smiling at me. What the fuck is so funny...?
he pushes the button on a side unit. "You're not ready to be awake. ..."
- - -
I have to say something like barfing up a giant squid is unpleasant. Who put that there anyway? It's the tubs - they pull them out and I groan - my voice ragged and very deep. The dry erase board at the foot of the bed says June 20. No thats wrong. Thats a week.
Tomorrow's my Birthday.
Happy 36
Being gone a week - not the first time I done it. But wow, I don't know what happened at work. Metroflex is probably a freakshow after the killings. I'm missing, my Mother is probably making herself very irritating to everyone. I take all this in so fast and still coughing up squid parts. "Mr Atlas, can you breathe?"
I look up and the most handsome Latin porn star is looking at me asking. "I'm your respiratory therapist, Mr. Atlas. Can you breathe?" i draw in a deep breath and gag and cough spasmodically. "Go slow, you've been in a car accident. Your chest was hurt badly and we are helping you heal. Do you remember the accident?"
The coughing is hard. I shake my head, "No."
"Your Bike didn't make it but you did. You're a lucky man, Mr. Atlas," he says this as Agent Steel walks in, dressed in his skin tight black regular gear. He pulls the therapist up by the shirt and hisses at him, "You were told not to brief him. Either you didn't understand me, or you disobeyed me. Which is it?" The man sputters and makes excuses. I could tell Agent Steel didn't care about the actual words the therapist was saying. He is dismissed.
Steel looks at me. The room suddenly feels amazingly crowded. Yes its just him and I. But it's completely impossible to ignore is the death of Trey and Baker (and Mike.) It's impossible for me to ignore is the death of Beck and four other members of the 686 and the whereabouts of Chavez. And deep inside, how I wish all of that wasn't here at all, and it was truly just me and Steel. Well, and a glass of water. My mouth tastes like dead schnauzer.
The silence is very long.
2020-05-29 09:59
- - -
AGENT DEREK STEEL
I let the silence stretch. I notice by the way that you are working your mouth how thirsty you are. I get up and walk to a sideboard, and plunk a glass of water next to your hospital bed. I lean forward and put my elbows on my knees. My eye still swollen, but at least I can see through it again, my nose covered in bandages. My ribs still taped.
I'm smiling, my characteristic half smile conveying a sense of amusement at the situation. My eyes are sparkling. Finally, I break the silence. "Are you trying to make a liar out of me, Atlas? I continually reassure you that I have no plans to kill you, and yet here you are, only just brought back from the brink of becoming snake food." I sigh then, and shake my head. "I'm going to miss Mike. That, by the way, was a misunderstanding in communication."
I ruefully shake my head. "Good help is hard to come by, but my boys do their best. Not their fault really, I wasn't exactly coherent when I gave my orders before passing out in Cameron's arms. And of course, that is the usual punishment for attempted escapes by combatant prisoners. They didn't realize you weren't a combatant." I give you a penetrating look. "I had to cut Mike in half to get you free of him. Quite a show I was told, the sight of my naked self suddenly dropping into Mike's home and sawing him in half as he was crushing you to death."
ERIK ATLAS
"I'm sure Mike was..." I choke on the next words. Trying to get the water so I can talk. My right arm is in many bandages, fail to actually reach the the water. I left handed reach it and get a sip. Very quietly..."Thank you for..." I run out of words. I'm so confused. All I'm glad is that I ain't dead. "Thank you."
The silence stretches.
and ends
"I am sorry about Baker.... and Trey. I saw you... " Emotions steam roll by words. I take a deep breath.... I try again. "I saw you kill five men and it was faster than hello. I was sure in my heart I was next. I don't think Cameron will ever..." Deep breath. I am trying to find words to tell a killer I'm furious with that I'm sorry for killing men that helped him kill. I am getting pretty selfish wondering where I land after this. I touch my face and there's a rash of bandages. That snake was used as the base's garbage disposal and I have no idea how many men were fed to that thing. I split its skull and I'm not sorry. But it was also majestic and I have a kinky love for big snakes. My emotions are all over the place right now. "This is a mess...."
Talking hurts but I know we need to do this now. "I used to have a pet constrictor. His name was Akhanaten. ..." the unspoken thanks for killing that amazing creature to save me hangs. "Uhhh... Steel. Can we get to the point? I need to know why you killed my men. Where's Chavez? I miss him and want to know he's ok."
2020-05-30 06:43
- - - -
AGENT DEREK STEEL
I watch as you struggle even to reach for your water. I don't help you though. Not because I want to see you struggle, but because if I were in your position, I wouldn't want help.
I sit quietly, listening carefully to your words. I sense how you are struggling to make sense of the conflicting emotions. I sensed that before, and I sense it now. I nod as you apologize for killing Baker and Trey. They were often more trouble than they were worth, but they were my responsibility. I felt a cold fury about their loss, but it wasn't directed at you, but rather myself. I knew what you were capable of, and their deaths were on me for not taking better precautions.
Mike's death still lies heavy on me. He was convenient for setting examples, yes, but more than that, his death was all the more tragic because he hadn't tried to kill you out of rage or anger, but simply because he was hungry, and you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. But again, that wasn't your fault, but entirely my own. I accept it.
Then you ask the big questions. Why did I kill your men and where is Chavez?
I let the silence stretch as I collect my thoughts. This is the big moment. I may have to kill this man depending on how this goes.
I don't lie, and won't lie, but I wonder if you are ready for my answer. I speak finally, "You want me to offer you a justification for why I killed the other members of team 686. The men you had no doubt grown close to and bonded with. The men whom you considered your friends. I killed them for two reasons, Atlas. The first reason, and the most important, is because they were soldiers. They knew the risks of becoming a soldier. They chose to live by the sword, and therefore accepted the risk that they would die by the sword. They were, in my book, combatants. I only kill combatants. I was once a soldier. In fact, I was a Royal Marine. I considered myself a good soldier, I followed orders, I got drunk with my mates. Then I was once ordered to kill a non-combatant."
I stop speaking for a moment, and allow the raw wound of that night, that mission flood through me, the emotions naked on my face. I got control of myself, and continued, offering you a much simplified version of the truth. "Let's say I violently refused. Some call me a criminal, a mercenary, a ruthless bastard, a sadist, and many worse things. I don't really care about what others call me. I only care about what I call myself. I am a warrior who does not kill combatants. No one tells me who to kill, only I make that choice, and only I am responsible for who dies by my hand.
"The second reason, and less important, was that the Syndicate paid me to kill them. It doesn't matter to me, but it might interest you that the Syndicate ordered the hit on team Shark team 686 because team 686 had led a raid against one of their drug running operations. During the raid, team 686 deliberately bombed the compound housing the wives and children of the guards as a distraction. They did it because they were ordered to do so. They did it without guilt, because they were soldiers, not warriors. They were only weapons wielded by others and were therefore not responsible for their actions."
I pause, and take a huge breath, allowing the contempt and rage I feel for all soldiers to wash through me like a river. I continue then. "Now, as for Chavez, I was paid by the Syndicate to take one of the SHARKS alive and interrogate him about his broader mission parameters. SHARKS are well trained to resist interrogation, but I have few scruples and will use techniques that men really don't have much resistance against. Let's leave it at that for now. At any rate, Chavez is alive, but he is not quite the man he once was. He did, however, tell me everything about his broader mission parameters. I learned something that you will find personally interesting."
I reached over and pulled a tablet into my lap, and hit play on a video. The video showed a broken, shattered wreck of a man speaking in a quavering voice, all his strength utterly dissipated, a broken shell was all that was left. He detailed out the full orders he and his team had been given, and then towards the end, he states quite clearly that some of the men had been joking in front of the commander, bragging about how many 'of those fucking Syndicate bitches and brats' he killed just as you walked in. It wasn't clear whether or not you overheard, but the matter was so sensitive, that if it went public the embarrassment to the team would have caused a political shit storm. Therefore, to be safe, their orders were to see that you were terminated in an untraceable manner after your training session in Denton was complete. They were going to kill you. He smiles. He was going to kill the big homo.
And now you know.
You really have no band of men and brothers that you train. You had no family holding you, watching your back, in reality. You were more disposable to them than you ever were or will be with me. You were the big homo. I say nothing, and hit stop, then move to sit in my chair. Some truths are very hard to take, and you don't need me in your face. And you had just been given a whole shitload of painful truth.
2020-05-30 07:48
- - - -
ERIK ATLAS
I listen to you yawn on about warriors and soldiers, like its some kind of religion. I get it, you're passionate. I get it, to kill people, to have to believe some serious shit. Growing up homosexual in Texas, I get used to people spinning crazy talk to get them closer to the trigger. It's something that helps them sleep at night. I heard it all, they don't hate me, Jesus told them to hate me. In my head anything that starts with money, ends with money, and everything else is salesmanship to take the money. The Syndacate paid you? This is what yu need to believe to spend the money...
Then, you show me the video. Initially I think you are just bragging. My chest nearly bursts with anguish seeing what's left of Chavez. It doesn't matter how I feel, and in this state, there's not much I can do about anything. His beautiful muscled body is broken in so many ways. His hands are mangled. His face swollen. He's crying - that man never cries.
...then.
I find I can't breathe. He says the words. The orders. He was going to kill me. And that was ok. I gasp and can't breathe. My head is swimming. Tears run down my face. They were going to kill me. He's smiling about it. This is worse than finding out your man is fucking the lawnboy. I have never in my life felt so betrayed categorically by everyone.
He's smiling about it!
Being a big homo and hated by every church in Texas for nothing isn't bad enough. Being a patriotic man training our troupes - not good enough. They were going to kill me.
And smile.
I feel myself flailing. I grab your hand and hold on tight. The first wrenching cry escapes my chest. the madness!
I hold the hand of Agent Steel and caint let go. I feel like I'm falling and this is the only thing keeping me from the Abyss.
2020-05-30 10:19
- - -
AGENT DEREK STEEL
I sit by your bedside and watch the anguish slowly work it's way through your broken body. I can tell it wasn't my personal philosophy that moved you, you are far too simple of a man to be moved by that, but the naked personal truth, the betrayal of your friends was more than you could bear. They were going to kill you because they had been ordered to. Just like I had been ordered to kill that child. Your pain was not different than mine. You understood me just fine. Maybe now, you understood the meaning I tried to convey with my 'philosophy' better than I could ever express. That was enough for me. It was the same pain, from the same source.
Atlas was learning what it was like to be Derek Steel in his own way. I held your hand then, and clutched it tightly, powerfully, assuring you through the sheer strength of my grip that I was not letting you go. You started to wail then, and flail about. I let myself fall on top of you, covering you, trying to calm you, putting as much of my body into contact with yours as I could possibly manage, reassuring you through the tight grip on your hand that I was here. There were no words I could say, not yet. All I could do was once more ride the hurricane that was Atlas, trying my best to keep him from hurting himself, and trying in a physical, visceral way to let him know that I was there with him, and I wasn't going to let him face this alone. I had to face it alone. I'd be damned if I'd stand by and let Atlas face it alone. Not on my watch.
2020-05-30 10:34
ERIK ATLAS
Every time my head tries to "re-enter" reality I get blind-sided by horrifying questions. Did they kill my Mom? Am I in the war now forever? Did I break the only shield that tried to help in all this - Agent Steel? Are we safe here? Is Cameron safe?
You cover me and I clutch behind you neck forever. "I'm sorry...." I croak out. "I beat your face with a dumbell?!" breathing is so hard. Everything hurts, it's like I'm still in Mike's coils. "We have to get out of here! Where are we? Are we safe here?" I'm still trying to fight, still trying to fix, still pretending I was in charge and ever was. but I think I get it now....
I suddenly stop.
I'm not driving
I caint if I wanted to.
DEEP...BREATH
ex - - - - hale
"So... you're in charge. What's next?"
2020-05-30 10:45
- - - -
AGENT DEREK STEEL
I just lay there, covering you like a shield, letting you go through the process that you need to go through. I admit, this is not quite how I expected my encounter with Atlas would end up, but then neither plans nor expectations survive contact with the unknown. I absorb the flurry of questions, of panic, of that need for a strong man to be in control. I wait. Patient.
You breath deeply then, and I see the transformation, the surrender flowing over you. I nod. Ever man starts his journey by surrendering. I chuckle inwardly, not changing the expression on my face, when you tell me I'm in charge. I don't disabuse you of your notion, however. I take it at face value, as I have always done. "We leave. We go back to the compound, and we let you heal. Then, we find out what you really want."
2020-05-30 11:33
- - - -
ERIK ATLAS
I don't want to let you go. I like your solid power.
I hear your offer. It seems the safest place for me right now, even considering I am surrounded by men with weapons that probably hate me and maybe there's other monsters like Mike. I just won't explore closets for a while. "Let's go as soon as possible. I hate this place..." I tell you.
"And mister Steel. Dont betray me..."
- - - -
AGENT DEREK STEEL
I call in my team, and Cameron is at their head. There is a question in his eyes. I nod. The sense of relief and happiness as he realizes that you are coming back with us actually elicits a real smile on my face. A rare, unguarded moment.
As my team leaves the room rolling you in your bed away with us, I whisper to the empty room, an answer to your plea. "Atlas, Atlas. The only man with the power to betray you is yourself. I learned that a very long time ago." I stare for a moment out the window, then turn and leave.
[The End]
2020-05-30 11:52
great, please more
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