Chapter 5
"So here I am. I never would have thought it possible. I saw my life flash before my eyes and when it had passed I gave into death. I ate death, consumed it, swallowed and made it a part of me."
"You have been repaired. You did not die. You lived, and you will continue to live."
"What use am I? I died. I DIED. I ceased to be and I accepted that. And now you dig me up from my grave and pose me like a puppet. I failed and I deserved to fail because I am inferior. Do you see? I don't want to live again. Bury me in the ground, I am a cadaver put up on strings, not a man."
"Quiet you fool, you'll get us both killed, and for real this time. You did not die if I say you didn't die. You were wounded, nothing more. You were in stasis until you could be repaired. I am sick of your melodramatic whining. Man or corpse, you are neither; you are a tool. You are my tool. You belong to the Underground and you will be used as they see fit. You are my tool in that while you live and perform as a useful tool I am kept alive."
"They would not kill you, foolish old man. That woman has failed time and again, and they still do not think to threaten her. She may lose her clout, but she will not lose her life."
"She did not make the promises I made! She was brought on by Apex himself as part of his initial team. I had to bribe and cajole my way into my position, and I took every opportunity I had to bring myself to where I am. You were what I needed to validate that, and while you are crying about your loss I am in very real danger."
"Perhaps you are just paranoid, perhaps you imagine all this. Maybe you are just a mad scientist"
"Mad or not I am a scientist and you are my creation and you will do what I say and shut your mouth!"
William Sunderland propped himself up on his artificial elbow, eyes narrowed.
"You do not control me. And if you think you do you will regret trying."
---
Stephan Apex breathed a small sigh of relief. Though it was not the greatest news in the world it was one of the few things that had gone right in recent months. He had just gotten word that the Type 06 was salvageable and had been reactivated after several months regenerating in stasis.
The fact that they had recovered the unit was good news. With two BioSuits on the loose it was no small wonder why the organization and the council had something to fear.
'They know about us, and have been harmed by us. If they were strategic they would have struck together while we were weakened. They may even have been able to destroy everything I've built outright. But they were licking their wounds. Having the Type 06 returned to service gives us an extra layer of protection while the design process continues on the Type 07,' he thought.
Overall, the loss of the Type 05 series, both parts of it, was quite distressing. It was of a mild comfort that this time no one had been injured, removing the added problem of replacing staff. Engelmacht had been injured, but her recent strange behavior necessitated that she take a backseat in the BioSuit development process. Her genius would be wasted while she licked her wounds, but her obvious instability would also be kept in line.
He had seen the visual file dump from the Type 06. The battle had been gruesome indeed. He reflected grimly on how their armies would tear through mortal men, but it had to be done. The Type 06 was a powerful Biosuit indeed. In the end he suffered from a disadvantage: he lacked the Virus system that was the BioSuit's ultimate weapon. Even when he was clearly beaten, the Type 05B was able to return from the edge of defeat, and destroy his enemy.
Stephan made a note:
'Dr. -
Proceed with virus system installation on the Type 06. Full priority. Ready the Type 06 for active service.
-Apex'
---
Bill wandered through the white halls of the Underground, wondering what had gone wrong.
'I was winning. I had his neck in my grasp and I was going to choke the life out of him. He was mine to destroy.'
He had felt a great wave of terror over come him. He looked into Gabe's clenched shut eyes and noticed they had opened, blood pouring from his sockets. The blood vessels in Gabe's eyes had burst and he was lifting himself off the floor, Bill's hands still around his neck. Bill looked in awe as spikes burst out of the man's body like knifes, skewering his him. Massive prosthetics began to extend from Gabe's back, curling around slowly like cautious snakes, massive claws at their head. They struck out at Bill.
He had been ripped apart, limb from limb, crushed, then tossed aside. He saw and felt and imagined he had experienced death
He saw then in his mind's eye Gabe sitting next to him, holding his hand, watching the sun set as they sat in the Dive Machine on a rolling field.
He saw the man's smile as they laughed together at some secret joke, teasing the scientists who walked the halls stodgily, forcing them to look up at the child like men.
The hallway twisted around him as Bill fell against the wall, holding himself up while being assaulted by his memories.
'I tried to kill my friend. And for what?'
He thought of why he did it.... jealousy? That was part of it. That woman wanted Gabe and she would not understand that he was not interested. And also, the mission, the project that Bill had devoted his life to, the reason he was created.
'I was born to bring evolution to the filthy masses. I thought Gabe was too. But I was wrong. I could have convinced him, but he was too strong to be forced. The more I pushed the more he was pushed away.'
His mind rebelled, sought answers and solace.
'What was he born for anyway? He didn't have a purpose. He tried to kill me too! All I wanted was to be together with him! And he wanted out!'
Bill grit his teeth in anger, his eyes blazing, perfect blue gems.
"He cheated. He had an advantage. I would have beaten him. I had beaten him! If I wasn't incomplete... he would be here. He would be where I am, roaming the halls of this god forsaken pen, while I was outside, changing the world as I was meant to!"
He punched the wall, leaving an indentation. He heard his name over the intercom.
"William, come to the testing chamber. William, come to the testing chamber."
His back hunched, face a mask, Bill went where the voice told him to go.
---
"William, do you know why you are here?"
Bill was strapped to an operating table, arms pinned to his sides.
"No, I do not."
Dr. Hughes smiled coldly.
"You've been chosen to be made whole."
"The system?"
"We need a BioSuit that can protect us from the Type 05s, and accomplish tasks only a BioSuit is capable of. You are useless to us incomplete"
Bill bit his lip.
"So yes, you will get the system. We will split open your rib cage, and attach it to your heart. When you are in extreme danger, it will activate and you will destroy all your enemies. You will feel the same, think the same, but know this; until this day you were not whole. From now on, you will be. Complete, the perfect weapon."
Bill nodded and put his head back, closed his eyes.
Dr. Hughes pressed a patch of skin on Bill chest that split at a hidden seam and pushed in. It opened outwards, sticky and moist inside. Hughes pushed a series of buttons, and Bill's eyes spun out of focus, his mouth hanging open. His heartbeat stopped, and only his reactor continued to hum almost imperceptibly, keeping the cells of his body alive.
Several assistants dressed in white approached with surgical equipment, and the operation began.
---
Afternoon had arrived. Gabe had returned from town again, dejected. His search for a job had proved fruitless. The town was too small, and much too unwilling to put trust in a strange man, least of all one who claimed to be related to the strange woman in the cabin.
A month of wasted searching.
He clomped in, pulling his boots and socks from his feet and setting them near the fire to dry. He slipped his bare feet into a pair of slippers Sara had left near the door for him and walked up to her in the kitchen, placing his head on her shoulder.
"No luck again. I managed to make a few bucks clearing snow and restocking the firewood for Mr. Jacobs, but that was all." He stuck the wad of bills against Sara's belly, who took them and slid them into her back pocket.
"I know, it's hard out there. They don't trust us, and I find it hard to blame them."
Gabe frowned and took a seat, without a good response in mind.
Sara stirred her pot of soup, and Gabe brooded in his chair.
Gabe broke the silence, "They say you used to come into town a lot more. That they were getting used to you being around and then you stopped coming."
Sara pursed her lips and nodded, continuing to stir.
"What happened, Sara?"
Sara stopped and turned, leaning against the counter. She glared at Gabe.
"I wanted to fit in with those people. I tried my best, but everything I did only seemed to make them not like me. Every time I would come to town people would point, make comments. If it wasn't my hair it was my body, if it wasn't my body it was my skin. I got into a fight in a bar finally and I had to leave. I decided not to go into town if I didn't need to, since they obviously didn't want me there."
Sara did have a point. Gabe had been born getting stared at, but for her it was only after the accident that she had to deal with people giving her odd looks and singling her out. Her hair was beautiful but certainly drew attention, and she was right, she was a tall women with a model figure. Easy to see why that would draw attention, and occasionally the wrong kind.
"So what, some guy hit on you in the bar and you knocked him on his ass. Were they really that surprised?"
Sara's eyes narrowed and she fought to keep herself from raising her voice,
"One of the men propositioned me. He asked my price and I said I wasn't one and even if I were it would be out of his price range. He said I looked the part, but that I should consider myself lucky to have someone willing to pay anything since I was damaged merchandise."
Gabe shook his head, "Hold on what do you mean damaged--"
Sara's ripped the glove she wore from her hand, showing Gabe for the first time the system of veins that had been dyed pitch black and raised to the surface of her skin.
"You see this! This is what he meant. I have a throbbing tattoo all over my body that says I AM damaged goods. You know how I got this? I got this from the Virus system."
She threw her gloves into Gabe's chest.
"But you look just fine don't you. You'll get your little job and everything will be fine. They were just getting used to me? Getting used to the FREAK they mean!"
She grabbed a coat from rack by the door and stormed out into the snow.
Gabe sat there dumbfounded. Slowly anger began to crease his features.
"It might not be perfect for you, but you aren't the only one who has scars."
He grabbed his own gear and burst out the door in search of the fiery haired woman.
---
Gabe caught up to her halfway down the mile long path to town. He grabbed her by the arm and spun her to face him.
"Don't talk to me I don't want to hear it right no--"
"Shut up" Gabe snapped. Sara's mouth shut tight but her expression showed her reluctance to do so,
"You listen here. I know things have been hard on you but we are in this together. I don't want to play 'who hurts the most' but we both did a terrible things in the underground before we left. You killed a bunch of people-- I killed my best friend. We are both in pain so instead of running off in the middle of winter like a child, act like a goddamn adult."
Sara's chin quivered but she didn't respond. Gabe eased his grip on her.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell, but you are all I have, and I've a pretty good feeling I'm all you have too at the moment. There's no reason to be mad at each other, so no matter what's going on in town we gotta try and not be dumb about it."
Sara nodded quietly, slowly turning and walking past Gabe back up to the cabin. Gabe stood there, slowing his breathing, calming himself down.
"Gabe?" he heard from behind him.
"Yeah?"
"You're right. Were both alive. Disfigured or not, we should go on living. Not everyone is even that lucky."
---
Bill yelped as he opened his eyes. The light burned him so badly that tears began to seep through his clamped shut eyelids as he protected himself from the unexpected brightness.
"My eyes. How long was I off?"
He checked his internal clock. It had been 16 hours since he was deactivated. Then why did his eyes hurt so?
He felt around, blind, looking to see if someone were near him. He touched upon the jacket of someone. He felt the material, he knew by the stiffness and nylon feel that it was a lab coat. The person was shaking.
"Dr. Hughes...?"
"It was a success my boy, a success..."
Bill heard the waver in the mans voice, wondering what was wrong.
Bill felt his body. His clothes were tattered, and soaked with blood. He felt his chest, and around where his heart beat was a puckering of tissue. It felt very solid, but weeped.
His nose crinkled, "Uhgh."
"The system we used is more powerful than the one in the Type 05s. Yes, more powerful. But it may be too powerful," Hughes said. He swallowed, and placed a pair of sunglasses on Bill's face.
Bill slowly, blinking, opened his eyes. The world was tinted faintly. He looked at his chest. There was a black patchwork of scars, all pulsing, around his heart. He blinked more, feeling moisture working down his face. He touched his cheek, then looked at his hand. It was stained dark through the lenses of the glasses. He pulled them up, looked at his hand, squinting without the tint. His hand was covered in blood.
"A mirror, please, Dr Hughes." Bill asked.
Hughes looked about, saw no mirror. He grabbed a tray full of surgical tools and tossed them to the floor, giving the tray to the boy.
Bill looked into his reflection, pushing the glasses up and out of his eyes even as the bright light of the room set his sight organs on fire. He laughed, tossing his head back, blood dripped from his sockets, his pulled back and his teeth ground together.
His eyes were black; where the whites had been was now stained glossy pitch. His pupils were tiny dots of light. His inverted eyes dripped in the brightness of the room.
The virus system had done it. It had made him complete.
'This is who I am.' Bill thought, 'from this day on I am whole.'
---
"That was what you were left with after your virus system deactivated?"
Sara nodded, slipping back into her gloves. For the first time Gabe noticed that his sister covered nearly every inch of her body, though with enough fashion sense to disguise her intent somewhat. From her neck down she showed no bare skin. She wore gloves most of the time; long ones when she wore short sleeve shirts. The rare occasionin winter when she felt like wearing something other than pants she always wore opaque hosiery. Except for the little bit creeping out of her collar on a occasion Gabe had never noticed something was amiss. He felt foolish for letting it slip by for so long, but then decided it might have been better he did not discover it and point attention towards it. Who know how much worse the resulting misunderstanding could have been.
"I didn't use to cover myself like this, but once the people in town began to point it out it made me uncomfortable. They would ask why I got a tattoo, someone so young shouldn't do such a thing to their body... they asked me that, when I wished I had nothing like it on my body. How could they know, right? But still, it was too much to bare."
Gabe sidled his lips and nodded, unable to think of anything to say. He had been left with guilt, but as far as he could tell he had not been injured in any other way. Something danced around in his head, he tried to recall it.
"Stigmata."
Sara looked at him, not comprehending.
"That's what they called it. Kathryn, I mean, that's what she called it. She said it was the result of a Virus system damaging the BioSuit's natural healing abilities, causing irreparable damage."
Sara's head dropped.
"They say it's something that can attract people or drive them away. Stigmata, that is. It depends on how people see the person."
Gabe smiled a little sadly, "It might not be a bad thing, this Stigmata. One day, you might not mind it so much."
Gabe stood and held her close, in silence.
---
Kathryn Engelmacht wacthed herself stand naked in the mirror. It had become her ritual. She had always prided herself on her appearance, especially once Gabe had come into her life. Now she didn't know if she had something to be prideful about.
'I don't get it, my breasts are large' she thought, holding her breasts, "My belly is flat and tight," she touched her stomach, "my hips are alluring..." She ran her hands over her hips.
She yelled at her reflection.
"My body is perfect, my mind is unrivaled, my skin is clear and my voice is sultry. WHAT IS WRONG."
Her head smashed into the mirror, causing a spiderweb of cracks to spread. Her forehead began to drip blood, which slid down the broken glass.
"Ahhh I see. My mind may be unrivaled, but I'm also not all there. Something isn't right inside Kathryn. If it were this wouldn't have happened," Her mind bent, "That wouldn't have happened," she traveled back in time, "that wouldn't have happened," she traveled to the beginning, "that wouldn't have happened."
She put on her clothes, which were folded and stacked meticulously at the foot of her bed. She looked at herself in the mirror, and then as if a trance had been broken, she dabbed at the cut on her forehead until it had clotted and left her room, listening to be sure the door shut tightly behind her.
---
Bill walked down the hallway with a strutting sort of confidence. He felt like he had a veneer of superiority glazed over him, like he was looking at the world through a set of eyes that could see anything and everything.
'In a way this is true, I can see things none of these humans could ever hope to with their eyes.' he thought.
Bill felt his own face, touching the piece of metal that dipped down to his cheek.
His eyes had been permanently damaged by the Virus system. Stigmata, they called it: Something even the enhanced regenerative abilities of a BioSuit could not heal. Damage made irreversible by instabilities in the Virus system. They said he was the second to have it, that the Type 05A had similar problems.
"Well believe it is a problem with implanting the Virus system after construction," Hughes had said, "We think that the already living body attempts to reject it and the Virus system proves fights back by damaging the body. The body, not wanting to be harmed, submits, and the Virus system takes it's rightful place."
Bill had been fitted with a visor, bolted to his head, which submitted a vast array of extra sensory information directly to his brain. The enhanced sight of a BioSuit was enhanced further by this device, with the added convenience of shielding his eyes from the light which he was now sensitive to. He could see in a sphere of 180 degrees from his temples, encompassing every angel while simply looking froward.
'I can watch without being known to watch. There's power in this,' he thought.
To his surprise he saw Kathryn Engelmacht coming down the hall towards him, hand on her chest, eyes to the floor. As they neared she looked up to see him and gasped. Before a word could pass through her lips Bill grabbed her by the shoulder and spin her against the wall, observing her with his new eyes.
"Engelmacht, always the tasty slab of meat. It seems that yet another failure has not caused you to age prematurely," he prodded her chest with a strong finger.
Engelmacht's face quaked with barely contained rage, but she knew better than to raise her voice to Bill.
She spit on his chest, looking up into his visor.
"I thought you were dead. Did they make another one? I thought I'd be satisfied seeing you ripped apart once but if they do me the pleasure I'll gladly watch it again."
Bill barked in her face like a mad dog, spittle hitting her on the face and glasses. She shied back, afraid of what the man-machine was capable of.
"It is the same Bill you know and love, same flesh, same mind. I wouldn't get your hopes up, what happened then is not liable to happen again,"
He leaned in close, whispering into her ear, "Not that your hopes mean anything. We all know that what you hope for will inevitably turn to dust."
Kathryn began to struggle and Bill slapped her twice across the face in rapid succession to get her to stop. She held back tears as she fought to keep her silence.
"Be careful, doctor, we share this home of ours, and I will prove to be much more useful than you have. So keep your pretty mouth shut and stay out of my way." He looked over her body with undisguised intent, "Unless I find you first."
He shoved her to the side and walked away, a twisted smile growing on his face.
Kathryn picked herself up, keeping her emotions far away from her face, and continued down the hall.
---
It had taken some doing, but Gabe had convinced Sara to come back to town with him. She was understandably reluctant, but Gabe knew for a fact the Sara planned to stay in her cabin for some time, not that she had much choice, and it was better that she got used to the few people in town than sit on a hill like a witch, and breed even more rumors about herself.
"Besides," he had said, "We're two big bad BioSuits, so if they give us too much grief we can blow their houses down."
Sara had giggled at that, which was more than enough incentive to try and show her a good time that didn't involve them sitting inside all night, trying not to touch one another's sore spots.
The snow had stopped falling but the path to town had remained a single file path from Gabe trips in search of work. The buggy Sara had bought in the fall had stopped working midway through December, but with a little bit of effort and some favors for parts he pulled from town Gabe was able to get it working again. He rigged up a make shaft plow and the night before had plowed the trail they needed to take to town.
Sara had dressed up a bit, for the occasion, Which she was more than happy to do when she had something on her agenda besides sit around the house and read. She wore a white blouse with a dark vest, a pleated skirt and opaque leggings. She work long gloves that went up her arms under her sleeves, hiding the veins on her hands, and a scarf the looked good but did the same for her neck.
Gabe helped her into the two seater buggy, wearing a somewhat less impressive ensemble: long jeans with suspenders and a t-shirt. Gabe shared Sara's remarkable ability to make just about any outfit look good, however, so he looked stylish enough for a night at the bar. He hide his prosthetics with a longer wrap, something the towns people had become used to during his frequent excursions into town.
He and his sister were a strange pair to be sure, but they had hidden their identities as BioSuits well enough. Gabe's story was that he had been injured in a war, and he had only just returned to live with his sister. This had the benefit of softening their disposition towards his strangeness, and explain why he had appeared so suddenly.
"Don't worry, we'll have fun" Gabe said. The buggy bounced and slid but Gabe managed to keep it on the road and soon enough they were in town. They ran briskly to the bar which served as the town's primary drinking establishment. They pushed their way inside. The weekend crowd was a bit more jolly than the sorts Gabe had seen on the weekend days. Here was not the unfortunate nightly drunkards who more often than not kept silent until closing before stumbling their way home. The lot now seemed to be enjoying themselves, watching sports on the cable television, playing pool, and drinking.
Gabe took Sara's coat and placed it on the rack, holding her hand and pulling her to the bar. Gabe leaned up and waved the bartender over, making orders for both of them. Sara leaned in close to Gabe, looking over his shoulder to see who was in the bar.
"What are you so jumpy about. Come on, relax, these people can't hurt you."
"Not physically, anyway." she replied grumpily.
Gabe spun her and sat her on a bar stool. She looked huffy, so her reached around her and grabbed her drink that the bartender had brought up. He waved it in front of her face, "a fuzzy naaaaavelll..."
She snatched it from him, looking at the liquid inside slosh around, careful not to spill, "A what?"
Gabe grabbed his beer from the counter and took as sip, sighing happily, "You'll like it, don't worry."
Sara sipped her drink and was pleasantly surprised, sipping on it more.
"That's my girl," Gabe laughed, holding tight to her shoulder.
Sara frowned, "So when did you start drinking? They didn't let me drink when I was in the underground. I don't even think I knew what drinking was."
Gabe rubbed his chin, thinking, "Well, I suppose Engelmacht must have given me something, though she drank wine. Not much of a fan of that. But you are right, it was nearly impossible to get something to drink as a BioSuit. Bill and I talked about getting a drink when we went out of the Underground but..." He got quiet, taking another drink of his beer.
"I'm sorry for bringing it up."
Gabe smiled genuinely, "No it's fine. It's a good memory. I remember I had a beer for the both of us once I left. It was in some run down bar in Canada. One of the few places I actually spent money on something other than a bus or train ticket."
Sara returned his smile, sipping on her drink.
---
The night wore on. Gabe and Sara were having a good time. Sara, who was not terribly talkative, was brought into several conversations by her brother, who seemed to have gotten a reputation in town as a jack of all trades.
"This man, this great tall fruity bastard of a man, can fix anything he lays his hands on."
Gabe held his hands far away from the man, beer up in the air, "Hogarth you dirty ol dog, quiet down, else your wife'll hire me to fix you!"
The both shared a hearty laugh, Sara joining in. She smiled, brought into many a handshake and bear hug as people wanted to meet the sister of Jack.
"Do they really call you Jack?"
"They think it's clever. I like it better than Gabe, I think. I get enough trouble for my hair color, I might as well take a compliment when I can get one," He laughed, putting his finger up to order another beer.
Gabe and Sara began playing a very heated game of pool. They each took a game, one after the other, before being interrupted.
Two large, drunken, smelly men came up to the table, looking not very kind on the siblings. Their bright hair and strange appearance had stirred some grief in the two, and they were looking for trouble.
"Hey, why don't you and the fire crotch take us on. Cash money, 50 bucks says we can take both of you skinny louts."
Sara's face went expressionless. The smile that had been there for the last two hours faded quickly.
Gabe narrowed his eyes, "If you want to, by all means..." Gabe looked at Sara, seeing how intense she had become, realized something was wrong, "But why don't you just play my sister. I'd play you, but I don't think the two of you could beat her, let alone the both of us."
"Fuck you, faggot, we'll beat that girl, but I'm not playing any woman for any less than $75."
Gabe paused. He didn't have 50, let alone 75 dollars to play with, and he was certain the same could be said for his sister, he thought for a moment, trying to think of some way to back down.
"Here Jacko, I'll cover ya."
Gabe turned to find a wad of bills hitting him in the chest, looked up to see Hogarth smiling warmly, the flush of booze on is cheeks but his eyes deadly serious.
Gabe waved the wad in the air and slapped it on the table, looking at the two would be pool sharks, "Thanks Hogarth, don't worry you wont be parted from it long."
The fat man and his short companion barked out a laugh and grabbed their cues. Sara looked at Gabe, "are you sure?"
Gabe leaned in and whispered, "wipe the floor with them. The way you looked at them, you know they deserve it."
Sara suppressed a smirk and nodded. They flipped to break. Sara lost. She swore under the breath. The fat man sent two into the pockets, both solids. He grinned and sent another in, before scratching. He cursed. and grunted at Sara.
Sara looked at the table, then looked at the men. They regarded her dismissively. She glanced at Gabe. He finished his beer and nodded his head.
She sunk a stripe. Then another. The fat man and the short man both held their breath. She looked at the table. Strip at corner right, stripe at middle left, Ball at middle left. She could take the easy sink on the left middle pocket or...
She struck the cue, putting back spin on it so it just barely nudged the corner right ball pushing it in, before finally catching the fiction of the table and rolling backwards, striking the middle left and putting it in the pocket..
Gabe smirked at the two men, and new beer in his hand, "I don't think you fellas are gonna get another shot."
---
Sara was poised to put in the 8 ball.
"8 ball, corner left." She leaned down, pressing her chest against the table and lining up her shot. The game was so utterly simplistic that she couldn't help but show off. The whole bar had been drawn into watching, as she began to hit each of the other players balls in at a time along with her own, two a turn, keeping ahead, until almost all of the balls on the table balls were gone. She looked at the idiots who had challenged her and her brother to this game. The fat one had been the same bastard who propositioned her.
She smirked as she made ready to put her ball in..
Her cue hit the table, and she jumped froward, scratching. She swung around to look behind her to see the short man had hit her cue, She fumed.
Gabe slammed his beer down, "Hey, that guy hit her cue, he's a goddamn cheat!"
The fat man came up to Gabe. Gabe, who was a tall man, still had to look up at the man, who was built like a mack truck. He growled at Gabe who looked right up into his eyes, unblinking. "And what're you gonna do, pretty boy."
Gabe said nothing, only inclining his head at his sister, who had climbed up on the pool table and was swinging the cue stick at the fat man's face.
The stick exploded against his jaw. He stumbled and as he did Sara flew through down from the table, putting him in a mid air headlock and slamming him into the ground. She got to her feet, spinning around to face the short man who was charging at her. Gabe stuck his foot out, tripping him, who flew face first into Sara's kneecap. His face exploded in a spray of blood, and collapsed to the ground.
Gabe spat and collected the money from the table. He put all of it in Hogarth's hand, who was still staring wide eyed and mouth agape at the two collapsed men.
Gabe grabbed his sister by the arm, who was catching her breath and calming down and went for the door. Gabe took their coats from the hangers.
"We had a great time tonight, me especially. I'll see y'all in town Monday, if ya have any jobs I'll be happy to see if I can care to em."
He walked out the door, calling back, "We'll be back next week. Tell those sorry sacks not to come back now, ya hear?"