Bitter Sweet

The Real
HvCFT Negotiator II
0100 Hours – Captain’s Quarters.
    


    Captain Vaico sat in his room, his back against a wall. A half empty canteen of something resembling alcohol in his hand. Tears ran down his face, the day had seen a great victory yet these were not tears of joy. With all victories come losses. He was reflecting on past events, after weeks of disrupting Maskharah’s deliveries and a botched rescue attempt at the HvCFT Rescate. He was ready to end it, thanks to a Cypherite wising up and changing sides. E Pluribus Neo with help from the former Cypherite set a trap for Maskharah, which resulted in his capture and detainment in a secure construct.         


     The standard cocktail of truth serum and sedatives were injected into him the second he was in the construct. After some…. Aggressive questioning a bomb shell…Captain Carmella DeCesare…Dead. The news hit Vaico in the heart, as if a Virus had overwritten it. Maskharah professed his innocence, begged not to be hit. But Vaico was too stunned to hit him, not that the others there had any such problem. All he could think as he walked away was... “Carmella? Dead? My friend is gone.”  


     Vaico lifted the canteen to his lips and drank the rest in one gulp. The thought of how she died and who did it swelled within him like a fire. Vaico stood to his feet and cleared his throat. “I swear Carmella; I will find the ones that did this to you. When I find the Cypherites responsible… I will kill them!” Vaico walked to his COM Box on the wall. “Votum respond.”  “Yes Sir what is it? Is everything ok?”  "No, it’s not ok. Send a priority message to Zeissman. Tell him I want in on Maskharah’s next interrogation session.” “Yes Sir I’ll send the message. What if he denies the request Sir?”…………… “ Tell him it’s not a request.”

The Real
HvCFT Negotiator II
0130 hours - Captain’s Quarters   

           Vaico finally lied down and fell into what could be described as a deep sleep. What must have been a dream over took him. He felt wind on his face and the chilled air of night. He was standing on a street corner in Westview. He walked up the street and past a run down hotel. Ahead of him the neon sign of club Succubus. He found himself standing at the bar, talking to an exile.  He heard himself saying things to the exile, things about the Cypherites… where he could find them. It was as if someone else controlled his body, he was but a viewer. A location was given and the view changed again. Vaico was walking down an alley way, ahead of him four people standing by a fire. Vaico found himself hiding, moving along the shadows. He got within striking distance and waited, listened. They were talking about something, The Rescate.  

“Yeah, I hear Maskharah was taking bets on how loud he could make Relikat cry.” One of the men said.  

“Oh, yeah? Hope she lasted longer then their pathetic Captain did.” replied the only female there.  

A fire hotter then Vaico could express consumed his heart and eyes. He sprung from the shadows. The first Cypherites neck broke rather quickly. Before the second had reached for his gun Vaico had thrown a knife in his neck. The remaining two Cypherites who had been talking to each other began to draw their weapons. Vaico closed the distance and struck one of them in the neck with a quick chop; she dropped her gun and clutched her throat choking. The fourth Cypherite had cleared his holster and was raising the gun when Vaico grabbed his wrist and head butted the man in the face. He grabbed his throat, and with the gun still in the Cypherites hand… he forced the man to shoot himself in the head. The last Cypherite was on the floor still trying to recover from the bruised windpipe.  

“What’s your name?” Vaico asked in a dead voice.  

“Gwen.”  

“Well Gwen, were going to go have a chat.”  

The scene changed. Vaico was standing in a warehouse somewhere; he smelled cooking meat and heard cries. Gwen was in a chair, burns and cuts covered her. She was talking to him, begging.  

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”   “Please… I… I told you all I know. Don’t… no more.” 

 “No more? No more? I wonder…Will you last longer then Carmella did?”  

The tazer in Vaico’s hand moved to her flesh again, the warehouse filled with her screams.  

“Tell me who it was! Tell Me!”  

“I don’t know, but please if you stop… I’ll tell you who does.”  

 “Give…Me…A Name.”  

“Possidonn, he knows… He knows it all.” 

“Now will you let me go?”  

Vaico took a few steps back. Looked down at what he had done. When it was over he turned to face the woman he had tortured for hours.  

“Thank you Gwen, I will free you now.”  “Give my best to Cypher.”   With those words Vaico removed his Augmented Red Pill special and shot her. Twice in the chest, once in the head.

As Vaico fired the last shot the world turned to white and he awoke sweating and out of breath in his bunk.   “Oh Thank Neo……just a dream.”   It was almost 0900 hours, Vaico moved to the mess hall. He saw his First Mate Votum sitting at a table and moved to join him. 

 “Morning Votum, anything new in today’s reports?”  

“Not much boss, just the usual. New Bluepills that need awakening, couple Exiles looking to sell info and some dead Cypherites, Nothing big.”  

A chill ran up Vaico’s spine.   “The dead Cypherites? Who killed them?”  

“No one knows, I hear some Zion Op found the bodies an hour or two ago. Word travels fast, Said that three of them were hung by their bandanas in an alleyway…not pretty. They found a fourth one a few blocks down in a warehouse. She had been severely tortured, I mean the works. Stuff we wouldn’t even think about doing. She was executed after whoever it was got what they needed, two to the chest, and one to the head... It was textbook.”  

“Thanks for the report…. I’m suddenly not so hungry. I’ll be in the Matrix.”  “There’s something I’ve got to do.”            

Asa wrote:

Oh Vaico, I didn't know you had it in you. 

But I'm glad you do.

Too write or to go insane and kill Cypherites while I think I am asleep?

The latter.