The One Left Behind [Part 4]

“…You done?” Mellow Proudmoore asked, sounding bored despite the agony that was present all over his bruised being. “I wonder if the term ‘ridiculously high pain tolerance’ means anything to you.”

Libra huffed as she glared into Mellow’s disinterested eyes, chains retracting back into her form. The myriad of injuries she had inflicted on him were healing slowly, and the aches would fade within a few days regardless. With a disinterested wave of her hand, Mellow was dropped onto the floor. He exhaled angrily and rose into a kneeling position.

He glared up at his torturer and spat onto her shoe.

The act lit up murder in her eyes, and made him grin.

“Insolent dog!” The cat Anima lashed out with a chain, striking Mellow with enough force as to force him to the ground. “Be sure to clean my bathroom before you leave and unclog the toilet. And you better not do anything weird in there while I'm not looking!”

Mellow laid in on the cold floor for a long moment as he heard her leave, letting his injuries heal up as he contemplated the risks and rewards of poisoning his babysitter’s food. He was sure he could extract some arsenic from enough apples if he was patient enough. But that would take too long and her suffering wouldn’t nearly be enough for the likes of--

He took a deep breath and got up, retrieving a plunger and some floor soap from the cleaning supply closet before getting to work.

Vengeance on someone as petty as Libra wasn’t worth the hassle, honestly.

As he worked, Mellow’s sharp ears picked up the sound of a doorbell being rung and the rapid pitter-patter of light footfalls. A door opened and a delighted noise was shared between two girls; Libra and… Aries, if his memory was correct. He had seen the Signs vice-commander visiting the cat Anima several times carrying big packages, but he had never bothered with finding out why. Probably some sort of mission briefing thing or a discussion on Really Important Stuff. The more reasonable part of his mind supplied the idea that they were friends, but the notion was buried under all the pain he was recovering from.

He shrugged and finished working, splashing the last of the scrubbed-off moss down the drain. He washed off his bare feet, checked to toilet one last time to be sure it wasn't still clogged up, put away the cleaning equipment, and headed down the stairs.

He reached the bottom floor and plodded down the hall to the front door. He entered the living room where the laughter and sounds were loudest (as well as where the front door was), and stumbled upon a glorious view.

The two women were modelling for each other in bikinis surrounded by a bewildering array of clothes strewn all over the room, figures bared and skin uncovered. Aries was clad in an iridescent themed two piece that showed off her curves and came with a rainbow colored sarong. A blushing Libra was clad in a flattering one-piece, with sections cut out to make the ensemble look more eye catching by exposing parts of the cat Anima's curves.

The two women stopped their posing and turned to Mellow, shirtless, wet from his time cleaning the bathroom, and still somewhat bruised from the recent torture session.

A tense silence pervaded the air.

“…before you kill me—“ he started.

An array of chains from a red-faced Libra, wrapped themselves around his limbs and hauled him into the air, cutting him off.

Aries crumpled a paper bag, infused it with her power, and shot it at Mellow.

The resulting explosion was small but extremely focused, and carried enough force to blast him out a window. He flew through it screaming, glass shards digging into his back as his lower back clipped the high wall that ringed Libra’s residence. He was sent cartwheeling through the air and crashed through the door of his small house; chest smoking, body bleeding, and bones broken. Though the injuries were regenerating immediately after they were dealt, it still hurt.

“You’re paying for that, dog!” came Libra’s angry shout.

“I ain’t paying for shit!” Mellow screamed back, painfully getting up. “You blasted me through a window and I crashed through a wall! I’ll sue your ass to bankruptcy!”

A chain appeared and stabbed him through his shoulder, angled just right to cause the most agony.

“You peeped in on us!” Libra cried back, twisting her chain and making him swear.

“What dumbasses model like that in the living room, knowing I was still in the house?!” Mellow shouted, trying to pull the chain out of him. “This is your fault!”

“Well, that—you—!” another chain stabbed through him, and ripped out of his body. “You are a dirty, vulgar, dog!”

“I hope you trip and strangle yourself on that skimpy bikini you’re wearing!” Mellow screamed, mad and in utter agony. “I hope nobody finds your flat-chested ass worth a damn!”

The world shifted and a portal appeared overhead. A chain flashed and unbearable agony exploded in his eye socket, his left eye losing all vision. The chain tugged itself out of his eye socket with a spurt of occular fluid and blood, leaving Mellow screaming and punching the floor of his house in utter rage and agony.

"You bitch!" he cursed, faintly hearing a distant pair of horrified gasps. "You cocksucking animal-themed whore! For fuck's-- why don't you take my other fucking eye while you're at it?!" he stood up and grit his teeth through the pain, stumbling into the bathroom as his body regenerated from the injury. The bleeding stopped, but his eye did not regenerate. "I walk in on you dumbasses changing accidentally and you fucking pluck out an eye?! The fuck is wrong with you?!"

"S-S-Shut up!" Came Libra's reply. "Oh god, you... get over here dog!"

"Fuck! No!" Mellow washed off the blood, dried off, and put on his XSG uniform. "I'll just get a fucking new eye from that fucktard Ferdy, and let you two bitches model in peace!" he stormed out of his house, noting Libra and Aries in bathrobes waiting at the main entrance of the cat Anima's domicile. "Screw you both!"

"Dog, wait--" Libra started, but Aries put a hand on her shoulder, staring pointedly at Mellow.

"Go then." she told him. "We'll just fix your mess for you."

He flipped them off and stormed away, cursing under his breath and not once looking back.

x-x-x-x-x

“…And that’s how it lost an eye. Fucking flat bitch thought she could blame me for her own fuck up and— OW!” He grumbled as Ferdinand roughly inserted a spare eye into his skull without anaesthesia, more than a little enthusiastic at the opportunity. “Fucking… you’re doing that on purpose, aren’t you?!”

“I do not know what you are talking about.” The mad scientist chuckled as he finished the installation process. “There we go. Anything feel out of place?”

“You left a scalpel blade in my fucking eye socket.” Mellow snarled.

“Oops, my mistake. One moment.”

On the sidelines, Giovanni winced as the good doctor got to work removing Mellow’s replacement eye to retrieve the scalpel blade. His movements were rough and slow, meant to cause the most amount of agony as possible. And though Mellow shouldered through it admirably, the commander of Nightfall Team could catch how the bed was warping under the force of the young man gripping it. Even he wasn’t sure if he could withstand so much pain at once.

It was quite disturbing to see the normally kind and good doctor taking pleasure in the act of inflicting harm on a patient. He understood his relationship with Mellow wasn’t on the most cordial of terms and Mellow himself was far from a star patient, but couldn’t they at least keep it behind closed doors?

Thankfully, the moment was over quickly as the doctor finished his work and reinserted the new eye, a bloodied scalpel blade between his fingers.

“All done.” The doctor pat Mellow’s shoulder as he slid off the operating table. “Do come again if something breaks. Can’t have Agents go around crippled. It would be a bad blow to morale if we allowed that, yes?”

“I’m sure your daughter has plenty to say about that.” Mellow shot back.

The doctor snarled and blasted him with lightning from one of his arms, which Mellow shrugged off easily. The young man walked out of the room with a charred shirt and Giovanni hot on his heels.

The two left the infirmary and walked side by side, moving down a hallway.

“Are you feeling alright?” the man asked. “The doctor didn’t…?”

“I dunno. Have you ever had some prick stick their fingers in your eye socket and fiddle them around for something that’s not there?” Mellow shot back. The Agent winced. “If you haven’t, then my answer is; no, I am not.” The augmented young man sighed “Fucking daughter abusing bastard took his sweet time replacing my broken optic nerves and prepping the socket for a replacement. There’s still cobwebs of that ache that I’ll be feeling for days, but it shouldn’t be a problem.” He nodded. “So what’s up? A new mission?”

“We’re being pulled in for an operation support Aries and Cancer.” Giovanni confirmed. “There’s an old XSG installation located near the northern Kaiserreich border. It’s been abandoned for a while and Gnomes have taken over, but the higher ups want it gone just in case anyone tries to look for any classified files that might there or convert it for their own use. We’ll be deployed as a scouting force to soften the way for Cancer to collect information and for Aries to destroy everything else once he’s done.” He checked his watch. “We’ll rendezvous at the airfield in forty minutes. Gear up and meet us there.”

“Will do.” Mellow nodded and separated, walking down a separate hall. Giovanni watched him go and decided to make one thing clear.

“Serpent.” He called, and Mellow froze. His body moved on its own, facing Giovanni and standing at attention. “This is a sneaking mission, understand? No alarms and no unnecessary fights; get in, scout out anything potentially dangerous for Aries and Cancer, and get out. That’s it. Nothing else.” Giovanni straightened. “You are not to engage unless you are spotted. Understand?”

“…I understand.” Mellow uttered, voice dead and eyes distant.

“Good. That is all.”

Mellow snapped out of the trance and glared daggers at him.

“After your last performance, I was given a good earful from my superiors. I gave you a good earful after, but this is to make sure the message gets through.” Giovanni repeated, trying not to look away from the indignation in his subordinate’s gaze. “It had to be done.”

“You can tell yourself that if it helps you sleep at night.” Mellow spat, turning around and storming down the hall.

Giovanni watched him until he disappear around a corner, and waited a few minutes before letting out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. It was strange that someone like the brash young man could make him feel a little timid, but then he was also one of the few (if not only) Agent to be so rude in the face of certain Signs members.

Mellow was going to make him pay for that mind control, he was sure of it.

x-x-x-x-x

The VTOL was silent as it flew through the air, engines off and merely resorting to high altitude gliding. Within its hold, the passengers readied themselves for the coming operation.

Cancer watched the young man with metal arms who sat away from the rest of his team, running last minutes checks on his gear and weapons. Dismissing an array of differently shaped throwing knives, he walked over and plopped down beside him. On his part, Mellow shot the Sign a nod before going back to work on his weapon.

It was something Cancer noticed about the young man; he appeared crass and careless most of the time, and rude every other time besides that. It did little to endear him to his fellow Agents if the hearsay he picked up was right, but that crassness carried a certain charm that made Mellow one of the easier people he could interact with. Besides the old men of the Signs, who sounded like wizened elders, Mellow was the easy-going and particularly rude uncle that people either grew used to or hated with a passion.

“I heard you and Libra got into a very painful argument the other day.” Cancer started. “She was particularly huffy whenever I saw her, and she didn’t interact much.” A pause. “Well, moreso than she usually does.”

“Meh. I walked in on her and Aries modelling in bikinis and they worked together to blast me out of her house.” Mellow said, and Cancer couldn’t help but wince at the glare said Sign shot at his conversation partner. “I got mad, made Libs mad, and she gouged out my eye with a particularly well-aimed dagger-tipped chain. Then I had to see Ferdy and he got a little too… enthusiastic in putting a new eye in my head.”

“What did he—“

“He stuck a few fingers in my empty eye socket and wriggled them around.” Mellow sheathed his gold-glowing sword with particularly more force than necessary. “So he’s still pretty high up on my ‘to shit on’ list.”

Aries laughed from her seat, drawing a glare from Mellow.

“Aww, is the dog angry that he got punished by his mistress?” Aries teased.

“Quiet you!” Mellow drew his new sword, the 14th Blade of Varces, and waved it in the Sign sub-commander’s general direction. “Or I’ll find a way to stick my shiny new sword somewhere the sun don’t shine!”

“Hah! Like you could!” the young woman laughed.

“I’ll find a way, rainbow bitch!” the remark earned him a glare that would have cowed lesser men. “What’re you gonna do, blast me again? Go ahead, I dare you.”

“Serpent, focus.” The leader of Nightfall team scolded. “And stop badmouthing our superior officer.”

“I can say whatever the hell I want, Death’s Eve.” Mellow scoffed.

“And I thought my mouth was bad.” Tobias heckled.

“It is, dumbshit.” Mellow flipped off the mage. “You just know when to keep it shut while I speak however I want.”

“What did you call me, you plebeian?!”

“Allow me to repeat myself for your deaf ass,” Mellow leaned forward and punctuated his words with overt mouth movements. “Dumb. Shit.”

“Loud.” Iyera cut in. “Cease.”

“The she-Elf has a point.” Krag rumbled. “Any more noise and we’ll alert the Gnomes that we’re coming. So I suggest you shut up already Serpent. Iron Wings.”

“Fine…” Mellow grumbled, quieting down. Cancer looked around at the group and whistled lowly.

“You lot make quite the interesting ensemble.” He commented. Mellow rolled his eyes with a smirk.

“You have no idea Cance.” He commented, and the VTOL’s rearmost door opened. “Welp, that me and Krag’s cue. Be seeing you guys on the ground.”

The Ji’ Ialeay stood up wordlessly and jumped up the door without a second thought. Mellow limbered up at the lip of the door, and Cancer saw Aries stand up from her seat with an evil smirk. She strutted over to the young man, heels clicking against the metal flooring of the VTOL. Hearing the rhythmic noise, Mellow turned in time to see Aries standing well within his personal space. She looked up at him with smoky eyes and put a hand on his chest.

“Let me help you.” She smirked.

“You bit—!“ was all Mellow managed to get out before a soundless burst of power sent him flying out of the moving VTOL and into the forest below.

Cancer couldn’t help but laugh.

“He is not going to be happy with that, you know?” the Sign told his sub-commander, who shrugged carelessly as the door closed behind her.

“As if he could even do anything about it.” She huffed, strutted back to her seat, and sat down, crossing her shapely legs. “Me and Libra are more than even he can handle. There’s no way he can do anything to hurt us.”

“…what if he kills all the Gnomes before we land?”

“…he better not.”

x-x-x-x-x

For slave traders and generally nasty Dorf rip-offs, Mellow had to give credit where credit was due; they were fine tinkerers.

The young man observed squads of automatons patrolling the hallways of the XSG base they were supposed to destroy, armed with weapons that ranged from fantasy to scientific, moving in an admirable facsimile of proper living beings.

They were crude in appearance, either possessing enchanted moving parts or hydraulics or even synthetic muscles that were partially armored with an assortment of things; enchanted monster leather, advanced ceramics and metal alloys, glowing plates of solid mana, shimmering energy fields, and countless other variations of technology-magic amalgamations.

Their weapons ranged from pathetic to impressive; from simple bronze swords to matchlock rifles, bolt-action rifles to semi-automatic machine guns, assault rifles to missile launchers, crude railguns to barely functioning energy weapons. It seemed that Gnomish makers were only limited to their imagination when it comes to what they could make. A shame that their designs and overall weapons were too diverse or Mellow’s liking.

His eyes flickered between different types of sight, examining the troops within the facility in greater detail. He picked up strands of mana and electrical signals that traced back to command nodes located on tougher, stronger models that acted as leader types.

They too possessed some method of control which he traced back to certain rooms scattered within the facility.

He drew Aurelia Sanctum and snuck into one of those rooms.

Inside he found dozens of Gnomes, most of them tinkering away at some random doohickey or some such thing in total concentration. A few were asleep in cots that looked like those he found in the XSG HQ. Some were enjoying food at a table, clinking mugs filled with alcohol laced with various poisons and toxins that would have killed lesser men. A dozen were at sitting at refurbished XSG consoles controlling the automatons. And a handful were…

He froze.

Five Gnomes were huddled around a downed figure, laughing and cheering. As Mellow approached, he saw a naked female rabbit Anima being forced to drink the toxin laced alcohol the Gnomes had.

She looked young, had dirty brown hair and empty green eyes that would’ve looked lovely if she was clean and mentally healthy. Her form was marred with all manner of bruises and injuries, and he couldn’t imagine how beautiful she could have looked without them. There was a ring on her finger, but the jewel was chipped.

Her belly was filled and distended; whether from child or drink, he didn’t know.

He wasn’t sure if he wanted to know.

The lead Gnome pulled the mug away and let the rabbit anima cough up some of the fluid she drank. She fell to the floor, spasming and choking, face turning white, then purple as her body shut down from the poison. The Gnomes laughed at her, jeering and spitting at her final moments.

He wanted to move; to blow his cover and make the little fiends pay for the atrocity they committed. He wanted to avenge the victim who couldn’t possibly have known that this was her ultimate fate, to die alone in a dark room surrounded by monsters that used their intellect to do horrible things. He wanted to do *something,* anything besides standing back and watching helplessly as an innocent was killed before his eyes

But try as he might, his body refused to listen to him and he remained immobile as the girl choked her last.

Callously, the Gnomes had one of their automatons drag the dead body out the room to an out of the way hall and threw her to the side before marching back inside. Mellow catalogued his findings, reported them to Giovanni, then took a spare blanket.

The augmented young man moved to the girl’s body and arranged her in a more dignified position. He closed her eyes and covered her with the stolen blanket; a small service to the dead.

“I don’t know if you can hear me, but I’ll make sure the bastards pay for this.” He stood. “I promise.”

He took back every good thing he said about the Gnomes; they all have to die.

x-x-x-x-x

One by one, Mellow and Krag, with help from Tobias’ magic and Giovnni’s direction, found all the places of interest within the facility. Armories with weapons that couldn’t pose much of a threat to Cancer or Aries, automata that were too shoddily made to be any more than an insignificant annoyance to the two Signs, and the less spoken about the base defences the better. For all their genius in tinkering, it was obvious that warfare wasn’t the Gnomes’ forte.

The only exception to it was what lay within the central-most area of the base; the Gnome Warchief.

While the Gnome himself was nothing special, the heavily armed and armored mechsuits he kept within running distance of his chambers. The amount of ordinance the mechsuits had was enough to make Cancer pause and consider while Aries brushed it off with her usual smug demeanour.

/“Great work you two.”/ Giovanni congratulated through the mind link. /”You can leave the base now and let Cancer and Aries handle it from there.”/

For a single instant, Mellow was tempted to accept the offer. He murdered that thought with utter brutality as he focused on the main object of his worries.

/”I saw a slave get murdered by a bunch of Gnomes. I think there may still be more in the base.”/ Mellow said. /“Requesting permission to evacuate them from the facility before either Sign bring it down on those little bastards’ heads.”/

There was a general silence amongst the members of his team.

/”Why didn’t you save the slave?!”/ came Tobias’ demand.

/”I’ve been mind controlled and Gio gave me an order not to engage unless I was spotted.”/ Mellow answered coldly. /”I couldn’t move to save her no matter how much I wanted to.”/ a damning silence settled over the link. /”Well? Do I have permission or not?”/

/”…Permission granted.”/ Giovanni answered at last. /”But I can’t disable the mind control until—“/

/”Then don’t. I’ll figure something out, don’t worry your little blonde head over it.”/ Mellow cut him off. /”Now how the hell would a mind controlled fighter be useful to an organization that’s somewhat involved in combat besides being used as cannon fodder to distract enemy defences with?”/

/”Wondering aloud will not give you answers.”/ Aries cut in. /”And it was pretty callous of you to let that slave die, dog.”/

/”Why don’t you fuck off and start killing those little bastards, rainbow bitch?”/ Mellow cursed back.

/”So rude. I feel slighted.”/ the Signs sub-commander gave the mental equivalent of a pout. /”And here I was, about to give you a little helpful hint.”/

/”You can forget about lifting the mind control, bomby mccloudbags. I’ll figure something out myself.”/ was Mellow’s crass reply, and even Giovanni had to marvel at the sheer daring his subordinate had for being able to curse at one of the strongest people in the XSG. /”So again; kindly fuck off.”/

/”You are lucky I am not there to blow you up, dog.”/ Aries sighed, annoyed and exasperated. /”But I will say so anyway. XSG mind-control is actually very refined and detailed; despite the orders being broad, a mind-controlled individual could theoretically skirt around those orders regardless in a way that doesn’t endanger the mission.”/ she paused. /”So you probably could have saved that slave if you found a way to do so without compromising the mission! Don’t you feel like such a fool now?”/

The seething rage and indignity that filtered through the mental link made Giovanni shudder.

Though Mellow was far from equal to the Signs in strength, his conviction and self-belief was arguably greater than theirs. It was something he found out after watching him interact with various people; despite knowing his circumstances, the augmented young man almost always managed to find a way to make them… if not friends, then tolerable enough for future interactions.

/”I’m going to ignore that last part.”/ Mellow seethed. Then the seethed lessened into a grumble /”And don’t expect me to thank you, bomb-bitch.”/

Aries huffed, but said nothing else.

/”I never thought you of all people would be willing to help him out, Aries.”/ came Cancer’s amazed comment.

/”What can I say? I have my moments of benevolence.”/ Aries huffed haughtily. Then her voice turned into steel. /”Nightfall Team, your mission has been updated. Locate all slaves being held captive by the Gnomes and keep them safe. When Cancer and I begin combat operations, you are to extract them to safety. Am I clear?”/

/”Yes ma’am.”/ came the unified agreement from all five Supermortal Agents.

/”Good.”/ Aries nodded, satisfied. /”Now go.”/

x-x-x-x-x

Giovanni sighed as he stepped out of the shower, his tired body feeling rejuvenated after a long bath under hot water. He stepped into the post-mission changing room and dried himself as he thought back on the mission his team was previously on.

It was a resounding success; the Gnomes were all killed to a man and the base was destroyed in a brilliant show of explosions courtesy of Aries. Nightfall had done their part as slave liberators well and found numerous slave pens, rescuing hundreds of captives of varying ages and genders and races. Most of them didn’t see a trace of Nightfall team, while the few that did had their memories altered

Though his team had been their professional and quiet selves throughout the operation, Mellow was particularly silent as he went around liberating slaves and soundlessly killing Gnomes, speaking only when he was called or when he had news to deliver.

The normally loud and brash Agent was cold and methodical, often times using the Gnomes’ own weapons against them to sow distrust and mutinies. He fought with Krag to dispatch Gnomish commandos, distracted automatons while Iyera shot her arrows at locks, supported Tobias as he worked his magic into automatons and cleared a path for the fleeing slaves.

The only one Mellow hadn’t worked with was himself, and he didn’t need to know why.

Giovanni sighed and sat down, contemplating how to make it up to Mellow for violating one of the last remaining place he felt safe in.

“Don’t bother.” A familiar announced, sitting down behind him. “What’s done is done.”

Giovanni froze and chanced a glance behind him. There sat Mellow, back bare and drying himself with a towel.

“I—“ the blonde started, but a loud grunt from Mellow cut him off.

“I said, what’s done is done.” he repeated. “Just make sure to not do it again, okay?”

“…I can’t promise that.” Giovanni shook his head. “You know I can’t.”

“That’s why I’m asking. Not demanding.” Mellow’s voice was patient and tired, and Giovanni had a feeling that this was a conversation he’d had many times with different people. “For a leader, you’re not the best at differentiating between that.”

Giovanni scoffed, but did nothing else besides. At least Mellow was speaking to him now, so at least there’s that.

“…What’s an ideal leader for you, Mellow?” the blonde mages asked.

“Why’re you asking?”

“Earnest curiosity.” Giovanni shrugged. “Despite your time on the team, I’ve barely gotten to know you.”

“Yeah, well, Libra is a possessive bitch with a sadist streak a mile wide.” Mellow sighed. “Barely able to get out of her compound as often as I’d like, so I haven’t been able to… socialize as much.”

“Is she really that bad?” Giovanni winced.

“No. She’s worse.” Mellow’s shoulders slumped. “She expects me home every night before 8, and I’m basically her glorified maid with no pay… I feel degraded.”

Giovanni couldn’t help the pang of empathy he felt in his heart, and he put a hand on Mellow’s shoulder in sympathy. It must be harsh for someone as loud and brash as Mellow to be living under someone else as basically a slave. And with the mind-control in his thoughts…

“I’m sorry.” Giovanni looked away.

“Don’t be.” Mellow stood. “I’ll get used to it eventually. Been through worse.” He put on his clothes and turned to Giovanni with a smile. “So, we’ve got the rest of the day off. Wanna go get a few beers with me to celebrate a successful mission?”

“Wouldn’t Libra be mad though?” the blonde blinked worriedly even as he put on his shirt.

“She’s always mad.” Mellow scoffed. “What’s this going to make her do, torture me? She does enough of that already.” He grinned. “Besides, a little daring and adventure isn’t so bad every now and then. So, whaddaya say?”

Giovanni considered and laughed, standing up.

He supposed a drink or two wouldn’t be too bad.