Parrax Station - Ore Storage Block 38*Bang* *Bang*

  "Tell me where your boss is keeping the dwarf prisoner named Chris. Do that, and you won't end up like your two friends there." John growled at the woman he was choking. He just executed two other gang members in front of her, both of them ciming she was their boss. He had her pinned to the ground and was pressing his knee against her throat.

  It was the same woman who was trying to kidnap Chris a few days ago.

  "I dunno man, he just sends us to collect the rents! I have no idea wher- urk!" She said, but stopped when he applied more pressure to her neck.

  "Wrong answer."*Bang*

  "AHHHH!!! MY FOOT!!! YOU BAST-"

  *Sp*

  "You want to finish that sentence? You have a lot of other body parts I can shoot off before you die. Now, if you don't know where she is, who does?" John growled coldly at her, jamming the pistol against her knee.

  "Ahh! Dani would! Dani works… in that side of… their operations!" She said, squirming underneath him.

  "Good. Dani. And where would I find this Dani?" He asked, keeping the pressure on her neck. She was a strong woman, and he didn't want her to try to wrestle him again. He needed answers, not more corpses. Not yet.

  "Storage Bay 22... They smuggle... drugs and... other things through... there. If someone... knows other than... the bosses, it would be... the people in there!" She said, though her half-crushed windpipe.

  "Good girl. See how easy that was when you cooperated? Gd I didn't kill you st week." He said with a smile on his face that didn't reach his eyes. "Now, be a good girl and die for me."

  *Bang*

  John stood up from the fresh corpse and looked over at Tanya. She had a resigned look on her face that didn't register with John at that time. "Where is Storage Bay 22?" He asked, holstering his pistol.

  "Ahh... down a few levels and partway around the station." She said, sounding scared.

  "Lead on then. We will find Chris, even if I have to tear this organisation to the ground." He said matter-of-factly.

  This was the third group of gang members he had torn through so far, and he was finally making headway in his search. In the process, he ended up learning more about the gang's hierarchy and all the illicit things they had their fingers in, from designer drugs, piracy, to humanoid trafficking.

  Cami was apparently the gang's actual leader, some sadistic raven-haired bitch who tortured people for fun. Timur was a disgraced noble's son, but still had connections all over the station with the authorities and the bureaucracy. The pair of them had found each other a few years back, and suddenly organised crime increased tenfold on the station, Cami being the brawn to Timur's brains. They were a literal match made in hell for anyone on the right side of the w.

  Due to politics, the INP were unable or unwilling to oust the gang, but that ended today if John had anything to say about it.

  Well, until I find Chris anyway.

  They made their way down to the next gang hideout unhindered, the chaos of the evacuation providing a distraction to the gang's leadership as they were probably trying to pn their own escapes as well. John stepped up to the door to Cargo Bay 22 and cast his barrier magic again, the spell acting like full-body armour. It was kind of funny watching a thug's fist shatter when they had tried to punch him earlier, the spell making it like he was punching a brick wall.

  He was finding a lot of things kind of funny today.

  Unbeknownst to him, a sadistic smile was pstered across his face.

  He tried to open the door, but it was locked. He drew his sword and, in three sshes, made his own. The magical weapon didn't seem to care about these being sci-fi materials, though he couldn't imagine that the door was made of anything special. He stepped through and was met with a hail of gunfire.

  "Dark, Dark, Dark, Dark,” He called out in rapid succession while rolling to the left, blinding the four gang members he could see. He took a step forward but realised something was wrong. He looked down and noticed his bad shoulder had been hit; the limb was no longer able to move correctly. He frowned at that, not feeling any pain from the wound. "Middle Heal, Cure"

  He continued in, grabbing the first gang member, another woman. "Are you Dani?" He asked her.

  "Who wants to- *BANG* ARRRGGGHH!!" She bellowed when he shot her in the thigh.

  "The fucking Grim Reaper, that is who. Are. You. Fucking. Dani!" He asked, squeezing her neck.

  "Fuck you- *BANG* ARRRGGGHHH!!" he shot her in the other leg.

  "I can do this all day. Your three friends are blinded like you are; they ain't coming to rescue you, neither are your friends on the levels above. They are already dead. Now, are you Dani!"

  "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Yes! Fuck I am Dani!" She said, squirming in his grip.

  "Good. Next question. Where is Chris, the dwarf woman, at?" He said, running the muzzle of his pistol along her waist, the heat from the barrel causing her skin to blister. She kept trying to flinch away, but he had control of her movements.

  "Don't tell'em Dan- *Bang*" The speaker dropped, a bullet hitting his head.

  "Tell me, Dani, and this will all be over. Where is Chris?"

  "Outback, locked up with that Dark Elf. We have orders to move them off the station in thirty minutes... please don't kill me."

  "Good girl... wait, did you just piss on me, Dani?" John said, looking down. On the floor below him was a puddle of urine, dripping from the gang member's leg. It amused him. "I thought you guys were all hardened criminals. Well, we don't want to leave any witnesses to your accident, do we?" He said, his tone sounding like he was about to do her a favour.

  *Bang* *Bang*The final two gang members dropped.

  "Now, Dani, where is the ‘outback’ here? Show me." He said, cancelling his darkness spell and throwing her to the ground.

  "I can't walk you, bastard, how would I show you?" She cursed at him, in obvious pain.

  "Crawl. Crawl like your life depends on it. Because I assure you it does, Dani." He growled at her.

  He could heal her, but that would be a waste of mana. She was already stealing perfectly good oxygen from him, so he didn't want to let her take anything else.

  "John... isn't this a little too much?" Tanya whispered beside him as Dani began to crawl away.

  "Wait to see what condition your sister is in, then I will accept your judgment on my actions. These are not people in my mind, Tanya. They are scum. They are only fit to be sent into a wood chipper feet first."

  Tanya wasn't sure what a wood chipper was, but didn't ask. Whatever it was, it would probably be a very painful way to die if this version of John was acting like this.

  They followed the crawling woman all the way to the back, which took a significant amount of time. Time Tanya didn't think they should be wasting if John wanted to go and rescue Ash as well, but she was too terrified of John's eyes to say anything.

  "Chris, you need to stop. You are just going to kill yourself." Serena told her companion. The Dark Elf woman was already resigned to her fate of becoming that sadistic woman's sex toy. She was just hoping she survived long enough for her brother to find out what happened, and he could mount a rescue operation. He would swarm this system with fifty thousand soldiers to save his little sister if he knew she was in this situation.

  "No... I..." Chris started to say, her arms bloody and weak from losing blood. She thought she had made some progress earlier, but she ended up popping off the covering to one of the electrodes in the manacles, and the sharp protrusion punctured one of her veins. She had been slowly bleeding out for the st few hours, the cut too rge for clots to form properly, but too small to kill her quickly. She knew she didn't have much time left, but if she could free herself, she could... she could...do something.

  *Bang*

  "Huh?"

  *Bang*

  "Chris, that is gunfire."

  "Gunfire? That is silly. Why ‘ould they be shooting at us? They already ‘ave us captured."

  "No, dumbass. I think they are under attack! Maybe someone is coming to rescue us. By the Crystals, you need medical attention if you are that loopy."

  "Dumbass? Hah, they shot me right in the bum to capture me, did I tell ya that?" Chris replied, stating to become a little delirious.

  *Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

  Silence.

  "Chris, are you still with me?"

  "Yeah. I am here... I ... Serena, I am feeling a little weak... I don't think I can break these." She whispered.

  "Don't worry about that. Hey, why don't you tell me a story?"

  "A story?" She replied, confused. She didn't know many stories; she was always into her textbooks. "I don't really know any stories."

  "Oh. How about that story about the man you and Tanya wanted to meet? The one to sweep you both off your feet and have your happily ever after with." Serena said, reaching for something to keep Chris with her. If she passed out now, she was afraid she would never wake up. If these were rescuers coming, she would need to get her to an Auto-Doc ASAP.

  "Hah, yeah, that didn't happen. I thought it might ‘ave, but the guy turned out ta be crazy. Tanya went along with ’im and left me alone."

  "Really? Who was it?"

  "John. That man. Ya know, ‘e was such a nice guy too... ‘e saved me from being kidnapped once, ya know. Fuckin Tanya gave him a blowie for it...gawd it is weird feeling pleasure from ya sister getting a cock stuffed down ‘er throat... I ‘ad ta run to the bedroom and rub one out real quick while they ‘ere doing it. I hope she felt that too!"

  "Well, he seems like he was a great guy. Why didn't you join them?" Serena said, not wanting to say she thought the world of him for allowing her to purchase that racing pod from him in installments.

  "Cause 'e thinks gods are real! Like who does that these days... 'e said a god sent... or... wait, was that it? I don't remembers much now, but ‘e was a jerk... I wanted a white knight to come and sweep me off my feet, and ‘e dresses in all bck most of the time... Ya know, I almost swapped my hair dye out for red ta see if I could trick 'em into kissin' me like 'e does Tanya. 'e doesn't even look at me. We're the same!" Chris started rambling on nearly incoherently, then started to cry.

  "Oh, Chris." She said, wishing she could comfort the other woman.

  "Why can't I 'ave me a white knight too, ya know!" She said, sobbing on the ground.

  *CRACK, CRACK, CRACK, SLAM*

  The door suddenly colpsed inwards, and in strode John, sword in hand.

  "JOHN! HURRY! CHRIS IS DYING!" Serena yelled, her wits still about her thanks to her impnts.

  John zeroed in on them and rushed over, severing their manacles and picking up Chris. "Middle Heal!* Middle Heal! Cure!" John chanted. It was a prayer to a god, and a god appeared to have answered him. Serena was floored.

  He prayed to a god and received an answer? Is there really a god?

  She was so focused on what John was doing, she didn't notice Tanya moving up beside him, tears in her eyes at the sight of her injured sister.

  John himself wasn't paying attention to either of them; his entire focus was on Chris. After a few minutes, he had finished up, and Chris opened her eyes, staring up into his.

  "Yer not my white knight, be ye will do." She whispered, then fell asleep, cradled in her bck knight's arms.

  * - Remember, unlike the other spells, the healing spells are a chant, not just him yelling out heal. I just don't want to write it out every time.