Clipped Wings

[AztecWarrior]

He could speak now. In fact, most of Lt. Major AztecWarrior was healed. But the pain was still there. Every day was hell.

He wasn't mentally stable. He would sometimes have bursts of rage against the iron bars, which just led to bruised fists. Howeve, his main problem was that he felt faliure. He felt that he had failed. He had never tolerated faliure well. Back in his high school days, he was disgusted with an 85 while a 75 for another student was reason to throw a party. This feeling of disgust increased exponentially while imprisoned. He would cry a lot of the time. He felt that it was his fault that he was shot down, that it was his fault that he had brought all his troubles upon him. He was near mental insanity.

Clan Draconus Lupus would not kill AztecWarrior for two reasons:
A: 100,000 credits for his capture (as of yet not paid)
B: Information. He went on a mission in the desert. A secret one. The Terrans know that he went, but nothing else. To extract this information, they are using daily shock torture. However, he does not give it up.

CDL never takes prisoners. However, because of the TWO rewards that they would get from this one, they decided to break the rules.

AztecWarrior lives in a ten-by-five cell. The current CDL base is in the desert, so it is very hot and dry. He has been stripped of all armor and insignia. He wears only the black jumpsuit that goes under his armor. Food and water are just enough to survive.

He has been there now for three months.

[AztecWarrior]

It was another Margarita Monday at CDL base. To avoid another surprise attack, the control tower was now manned all the time by the same person who left it during the NC attack. He had died when the control tower collapsed. In its place was a new one. This time the doors were locked. He was not going to leave. However, the girl he met decided to go with him, and she brought along a few beer bottles.

eMa and Squeeky were dancing together. Manitou was at the bar. Hamma was enjoying a drink. He was more of a loner. He had seen many enemies. He was currently thinking of what Sando138 had told him. What a loser, that guy was. Shot down to the ground. For Hamma, yet to be shot down, every one of his victims was his bitch.

This AztecWarrior was no different. He hated him because he sensed a normal-than-higher silent defiance in him. Aztec was Hispanic. One of those old Earth races. They were supposed to have these parties which there was this thing, a pinata, a paper-mache animal, where they beat it until it popped, and the kids rushed in to get the candy....hey, there's a nice thought!

Hamma decided to have a little fun. Human pinatas.

He ordered two of his men to immobilize Aztec while he tied him to a harness and hung him from a wall. They tied down his limbs. The people stopped to see what was going on.

"Fetch me a rod."

They came back with a five-foot copper pipe used for the base's plumbing. Hamma took it and scotch-taped one end. He filled it with sand to increase the mass, then taped the other end. Then he whacked Aztec right in the chest.

"Who wants to next!"

They took turns, hitting him with the copper pipe. Aztec could do nothing. His limbs were fastened to the wall. He could only sit there and recieve the punishment. They were laughing. The bastards.

After they broke a rib, he just lost it.

"COWARDS! SHOOT ME! SHOOT ME! SHOOT ME!"

Someone drew his Repeater and shot him in the left arm. They told him not to shoot anymore, but he was not punished.

Eventually, people got tired. Most of them left to sleep, others got into positions for the night shift. Two guards went to get Aztec down- one was a guard, one with a Chainblade climbed a ladder and cut the ropes, so that he fell to the ground. It sounded like a good idea- more pain! It wasn't. He was no longer restrained.

"RRRAAHH!" He punched the guard in the face. He was the one who was cutting. He picked up the Chainblade that he dropped, picked up the guard, and put the knife to his throat. He activated the deadly secondary mode. He put his back to a corner.

"If you move, he dies."

The second guard drew his Repeater but did not fire. He pointed it straight at Aztec's head, the only part visible. Aztec ducked behind the hostage. Hamma, on the way to the barracks, saw the hostage situation. He ran back and picked up the tranquilizer gun. He walked out of Aztec's sight and shot him. He fell back and so did the Chainblade. It fell onto his neck. It bored through the guard's esophagus, windpipe, and jugular artery.

Aztec woke up the next morning. CDL's highest ranking members were around him, each one with a knife in their hands...

[Sando138]

ho boy, this could get ugly real fast.

[AztecWarrior]

Hamma was furious. He had been known to be extremely caring with his friends, but in front of an enemy, he was the worst tempered person there was. He spoke while he examined his polished Chainblade. He didn't even bother to look at Aztec.

"That guy that you stabbed spent the entire night in medical. He bled and bled and bled. He had to be hooked up to a respirator. Eventually, he died at 3 AM today."

"You killed him. If you hadn't tranquilized me, I wouldn't have fallen over..."

"Bull F**king shit. YOU STABBED HIM! So we're going to play a little game."

He ordered some privates to put on the manacles. He was tied to the wall.

"Ladies first."

eMagYn ran quite a few feet back and threw the Chainblade through the cell walls. It narrowly missed Aztec, hanging helplessly from the wall.

"Manitou."

He threw it. It hit just above his hair.

"Squeeky."

He threw it. It hit his left thigh. Aztec screamed in pain as Hamma threw his knife, the last one. It broke one of the chains. The Terrans stood in awe. With one hand freed, he picked up the Chainblade, activated the secondary mode, and cut his other arm loose. Now he was free and walking. He then cut through the bars. The vital tranquilizer gun was outside. They started to run, with Aztec chasing. They were well fed. Aztec wasn't. They were active. Aztec wasn't. He quickly ran out of breath, but not before throwing the knife at them. It carved right through Squeeky, creating a large cavity in his lower torso as the blade spun in his body.

"AAAAuugghhhh! I'm hit!" Squeeky screamed before hitting the floor. Blood quickly spread on the floor. Sand began to blow in, doing nothing good for the wound. The knife had actually gone right through him. His liver and intestines were sawed through. He had been, in effect, disemboweled.

"SQUEEKY! NO!" eMa screamed in anguish. She ran even faster, picked up the tranquilizer gun, and hit Aztec in the chest. She shot again. It hit him right where his wound was. Aztec fell to the floor. She ran back, and started beating him with it. Squeeky was rushed to Medical, everyone but eMa carrying him. eMa decided to stay back, so that she could butcher Aztec when he woke up. She took all the knives that were in the cell.

Squeeky was laid on the ER bed. A heart rate monitor was connected to him. The doctor took off all his clothes above the belt.

"How's it look, Doc?" said Manitou, leader of CDL.

"Not good. We're going to try, but saving him would be a miracle. " said the doctor. She happened to be the person who the radar operator met.

They quickly hooked him up to an IV of O+ blood. His spilled blood was now spilling off the bed. His intestines were visible.

The doctor tried to sew up his intestines and to stop the blood loss, but it was impossible.

*beep. beep. beep. Beeeeeeeeeeeee* went the heart rate monitor, and Squeeky died on the spot. He was taken to the respawn tubes. It was quicker if your body made it.

Back in the generator/cell room, eMa was seeing red, from her hate and the blood Aztec was spilling due to the cut in his thigh.

Oh, the fun I'm going to have...

[AztecWarrior]

His dream was short. It was a flashback, but altered so that Aztec was conscious that he was dreaming. Just when he was about to throw the knife, he woke up when he heard Hamma in the courtyard.

"SQUEEKY HAS DIED! ALL TROOPS! PREPARE FOR A REPRISAL RAID ON CERYSHEN!"

Aztec got up. He was amazed- he was outside of the cage! Then he saw the one sight that made his blood run cold every time. He had seen Terrans before. He was not afraid of them. He had seen Terrans beat him. He was not afraid of them. But he feared the one Terran that had killed him before: {{eMaGyN}}.

He instinctively (or a flashback from Eureka) reached for the MAG-Scatter, only to touch his wound. He had not bleed a lot, in comparison to Squeeky. A simple bandage would stop the bleeding. But the MAG-Scatter was not there.

"I've had it with you. I think that I'm going to kill you." eMa said this as she walked closer and closer. "But maybe not. I wouldn't want you to take the easy way out."

Aztec started to walk away, backwards, but he fell. He crawled away. His mind was not healthy. In reality, he could put up a good fight. But the rising sun's shadows came in through the east-facing doorway, casting a shadow over half of eMa's body. This, combined with the infamity of her, caused him to back off.

Aztec continued backing off until he hit a corner. There was nowhere to go.

"GGGggget away. Pppplease."

"Oh, no."

She was holding the tranquilizer gun in her hand. In reality it was a Pounder firing special-order tranquilizer darts. She hit Aztec straight in the ribcage, breaking three ribs. Aztec curled up. His mind could not take any more. He tried to imagine happier times. His childhood. His first kill. When he was promoted.

It was all in vain.

She took the Pounder again and hit him on his back. He put his arms up. She hit him in the arms, breaking both bones in the right arm. She then knocked him out with one to the head. She kept on beating him senseless.

However, in the courtyard, footprints began to appear. They had no owner. The footprints appeared out of nowhere leading to the generator room.

Black Widow was stunned by what was going on. She had infiltrated the base a second time (what lax security! CDL was more of an offensive clan) and walked into the generator room, cloaked. She took out her AMP. Unfortunately, as she pulled back the cocking handle, eMa heard. She loaded the tranquilizer gun. Suddenly, out of nowhere, bullets started flying. eMa took a few hits, but she was in medium armor. She put on her Darklight vision goggles. The NC spy appeared, clear as day. She fired one shot. It hit the spy in the chest. The drugs in the dart flowed into her bloodstream. She fainted, and uncloaked.

"eMa to base, we have a cloaker that we just captured, generator room."

"Copy that. What do you want us to do?"

"Send a repair team and a doctor. We now have two inmates."

Just as she put down the radio, two grease monkeys walked in. They repaired the manacles, chains, and cell bars. Aztec got bandages and Black Widow was chained to the wall, inside the cell. Aztec suffered the same fate.

By mid-day, both were awake. Black Widow's armor was removed, but not her jumpsuit or helmet. She *never* took off her helmet. The glass was mirror-tinted. Black Widow was a codename. Only a select few knew her real name.

"Welcome to the party, Black Widow."

"You look terrible!"

"Well, it's what you get when you've been in a base for three damn months tortured every damn day! RRRR!"

eMa was present, along with a few privates.

"We've all been dying for you to show us your real identity. Let's start off by removing that mask..."

Everyone was suprised except Aztec.

Aztec was shocked. She was supposed to be back in Flight Ops!

It was his girlfriend!

[Sando138]

Wasn't expecting that one! good story!

[AztecWarrior]

He had been hit hard in the lower mandibule (lower jaw), so every one of Aztec's syllables took effort.

The accursed machine was, once again, brought out. eMaGyN began the interrogation.

"So we have TWO people to ask questions to. Ladies first. Black Widow. Are you here to deliver a message?"

Black Widow said nothing.

"Speak!"

Silence.

"Don't MAKE me shoot you!"

Silence.

eMa drew her Repeater and gave her two to the leg. She screamed in pain. But she said nothing.

"You DO realize that I have a gun and you don't! I can make you suffer BEYOND what this machine can do to you!"

Silence.

She gave Black Widow a sixty-second burst of electricity. She still did not speak.

"There is no bounty on your head. With Aztec here, I can't torture him TOO hard. But for you..." Her radio came on.

"Hey eMa! This is Squeeky. I've respawned."

"I'm on my way." She then turned to the two inmates. "I'll be back. And meaner..."

She left the room. The sun should have been directly overhead, but clouds were obscuring it. It was going to rain. Desert climate is not normal. During the day, it is VERY hot. During the night, however, temperatures can drop to the 40-degree-Farenheit range. And when it rains, despite not raining frequently, it floods.

Aztec turned to Black Widow.

"So. I've been dating a spy. Wow. I would rip off some of my suit to cover that wound, if only I could move."

"Thanks. Yeah, it was me. I enrolled way back when I was 18. The Terrans actually let you do that- you get a desk job until you're 20, then you begin training. Once you turn 21, you're an agent."

"Well. Welcome to hell. I have been tortured, beaten, and sometimes shot daily. It's all my fault. My fault you're here. My fault I'm here. My fault those guys DIED trying to get me out of here..."

He then began to sob.

"It's all my fault. I am near cracking. Every day they ask me what I did here on that secret mission. For 90 days, 90 torture sessions, I have said the same thing: I did not use a vehicle. They know that I am lying. But they ask me anyway. They want to see pain. I can't take it anymore. I am near telling them.

"I vowed to go on a rampage when I got out of Eureka medical. Do you know how many I've killed? I have killed five. Five. That's nothing. Four Mosquitoes taking off, they weren't even ready to fight, and Squeeky by throwing a Chainblade at him. I'm a loser. I am sorry, sorry, sorry..."

She wasn't a psychologist! She tried to console him with "I've been in worse situations" (she hadn't) and things like that, but to no avail. The torture had worked into his mind. His mind was shattered. Although she did not admit this, he would probably never fly again.

His crying was interrupted by the sounds of aircraft landing and armored vehicles coming in. The assault force was back already?! They both listened in.

"I swear! That Sando *** is REALLY pissing me off! I am going to ram him down to the ground and RIP him open with a chaingun...these new Reaver Mk IIs are hard!"

He recognized that voice. Flying long before this war had started, Hamma was one of those types that was heard before being seen.

"Hey, that's the leading ace of the Terran Republic. He's got a temper. Be careful. Say, don't they give stealthers cyanide pills?"

"Yeah. I didn't take mine. I never liked the idea..."

The base alarms came on.

"ALL TROOPS! NEW CON INVASION FORCE INBOUND! WE HAVE NEARLY TWO HUNDRED BOGEYS INBOUND! ALL TROOPS: PREPARE FOR BATTLE!"

Aztec was stunned.

"Ok. What the HELL is going on?!!!"

"It's classified."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*NC STRONGHOLD, HIGH COMMAND BUNKER, 24 HOURS AGO*

"Sir, I really think that we need Lt. Major AztecWarrior for this. His presence boosts our morale, kills theirs, and he's the best pilot we have. Remember Eureka?"

"True. Are there any objections? Ok. You have the floor."

"I think that an operation to rescue him would A, take massive amounts of troops because CDL is extremely good, and B, we can't waste any more time. We have somewhere between five days and twelve days before the Vanu can get this thing to work."

"Ok. Now to vote: Should we send a force to liberate Lt. Major AztecWarrior? Pull out your PDAs, and press 'Yes' if you are in favor, and 'No' if you are against."

After two minutes, the votes were tallied.

"Yes: 52%, No, 48%." said the computerized secretary.

"Lets bring our boy home."