Three Square Meals Ch. 113

The only girls unaffected by the sights were Sakura, who had seen even worse, and Jade, who wasn't paying much attention to her surroundings. Instead, the Nymph was focused on Dana and Alyssa, her face reflecting her concern for the Terran girls. Both of the Karron teenagers were lost in memories from the past, but for them, it was far more shocking to see the tunnels so deserted of people.

"Not much further," Alyssa said, turning to look at John and pointing at the tunnel ahead of them. "It looks like they're holed up in the red-light district."

Nodding his understanding, he walked beside her as they crossed the current cavern and through a short tunnel, then entered the huge chamber beyond. John looked from side to side as they headed deeper into the red-light district, seeing lurid signs outside the sleazy establishments, advertising the lack of moral virtue of the ladies to be found inside. However, the whole district was currently plunged into darkness, the buildings now looking hollow and forlorn, their lurid signs nothing but empty promises. One in particular caught John's eye when he saw the sign for "Madame Trixie's House of Pleasure".

"The guy that tipped me off about the Tyrenium told me to visit that place," he said, studying the shadowy building. "If I'd actually followed Jonah's advice, we probably wouldn't have ended up together."

Alyssa glanced at the brothel and grimaced. "That place was bad news, I'm glad you never went."

Startled by her blunt condemnation of the establishment, John looked at her in confusion. "You're normally up for anything. I never would've thought I'd see the day that you disapproved of a brothel!"

"The bitch that ran that place used to love turning pretty girls into whores. I heard the stories on the street... Once she got you under her thumb, you were fucked... literally... and it never ended," she muttered, her lip curling in disgust.

"That's horrendous..." John said quietly, his eyes turning hard. "I wish I'd known last time we came here."

"We wouldn't have been able to do anything to stop it, not back then," she said, remembering the gunfight six months ago. "Remember the shootout in the docking bay? Without the Invictus, we would've been hopelessly outgunned. That place was connected and as soon as a fight kicked off, dozens of gangers would have come running."

He nodded reluctantly. "I suppose that's true enough, that was long before we had any decent gear."

Flexing her fingers, Alyssa said coldly, "But now it'd be a whole different story. If we do catch up with those hive ships, there's a lot of really sick assholes who desperately need some payback for all the twisted shit they've pulled."

"That's Karron for you," Dana said, drawing alongside them. "Dig through the dirt and you'll find whole layers of shit you never even knew about."

"Did you ever run into any problems in the red-light district?" he asked the redhead with concern.

She smirked and shook her head. "They took one look at my gorgeous face and were so awed by my untouched natural beauty that they never tried anything..." After a pause for comedic effect, she shrugged dismissively. "I did a few jobs around here fixing stuff... no big deal."

"Sorry, Sparks, I forgot about the scar," he said with a sympathetic frown. "It's been so long since I healed you, I barely even remember what the old you looked like."

"I was a scrawny little thing and flat as a pancake," Dana replied with a self-deprecating grin. Cupping the impressive curves of her form-fitting breastplate, she continued, "I'm not surprised you've grown to like the new me... there's a lot to love."

"Your body's identical to the rest of the girls," John said, giving her a fond smile. "It's your incredible mind and personality that made me fall in love with you. I seem to remember telling you that before your scar had fully healed."

Dana faltered, her hand dropping from her breast. "I'd forgotten it happened in that order..." She blushed and gave him a quick hug. "You were awesome right from the start!"

"We're here," Alyssa informed them, gesturing towards the caduceus adorning a sign above a clinic.

Releasing Dana, John reached for his Tachyon Rifle. "Alright, let's take out the guy holding these girls prisoner."

Putting a restraining hand on his arm, Alyssa shook her head. "Let me handle this. We're not in any real danger." When he nodded, she glanced at Rachel. "All three of them are wounded, could you heal them please?"

"Of course," Rachel agreed without a second's hesitation. She frowned a moment later and asked sceptically, "Even the bad guy?"

"Yeah, him too," Alyssa said with a wicked smile. "Save him for last, but I want him fully-conscious for what I'm going to do to that asshole."

Without another word, she turned on her heel and marched into the clinic, ignoring the reception area and pharmacy as she made a beeline for one of the doors at the back.

Knocking on the door, she called out, "Don't be afraid, we're here to rescue you."

John stood beside her as she opened the door, resisting the urge to ready his rifle and cover her as Alyssa entered the room. Inside he spotted a ghostly-pale young brunette fearfully holding a submachine gun in shaky hands. She was swathed in one of Alyssa's brilliant white auras, identifying her as an innocent.

"Oh my God! It's you!" she blurted out, staring at John then Alyssa in astonishment. "You're the Lion and his Lionesses!"

"That's us," Alyssa said with a reassuring smile. Crossing the room, she reached for the chrome SMG. "You don't need that; you're perfectly safe now..."

The brunette sagged into Alyssa's open arms, sobbing with relief. "I-I thought we were dead..."

Handing off the SMG to Sakura, Alyssa was free to hug the girl properly, wrapping the young woman in a comforting embrace. Her voice was gentle and sympathetic as she said, "Far from it, Kelli. No one is going to hurt you again."

Pulling back, the brunette brushed away her tears with the back of a hand. "My friends... they're both hurt real bad! I tried to help them, but I had no clue what I was doing..."

Dana did a double-take at the unconscious ganger, her eyes widening as she looked at Alyssa. *No fucking way... Fat Tony?!*

*In the flesh,* Alyssa replied with a curt nod.

Oblivious to the telepathic conversation, Rachel gave Kelli a warm smile, her eyes flicking to Perl and Tony, diagnosing them with a brief glance. "You did very well keeping them stable, you should feel proud of yourself."

"But they're still totally out of it!" Kelli protested, nibbling nervously at a nail.

"The medicine you gave this young lady prevented her getting an infection, but she's experiencing a sustained allergic reaction to the antibiotics," Rachel murmured, walking over to Perl's side. "Upper-limb amputation above the elbow. The wound was inflicted... three days ago." Raising an eyebrow, she gave Kelli a look of admiration. "It's quite remarkable that you kept her alive considering these dreadful conditions and your lack of medical training."

Kelli blushed, hardly able to believe her ears. "Can you really help her? Is she going to live?"

Rachel placed a gauntleted hand on Perl's uninjured arm. "Give me a few minutes and she'll be as good as new," she replied with a playful smile.

Her grey eyes began to glow with an inner radiance and a misty aura rolled down her arm to envelop the comatose blonde.

"What the fuck?!" Kelli blurted out, staring in awe at the display of psychic powers. "Your eyes are glowing! And what the hell happened to your arm?!"

"Just relax and let her concentrate," John said, gently patting the shocked girl on the shoulder. "It won't take long..."

The brunette saw the grey aura expand to shroud her as well and she squeaked in fright as she saw it swirl around her body.

"You're hurt too, Kelli," Alyssa said with sympathy. "Rachel's going to make everything better."

"Wait! How do you know my name?" the young woman blurted out in surprise. "I never told you-"

She suddenly let out a startled giggle. "That tickles!"

"You've torn the ligaments in your ankle. That must have really hurt," Rachel murmured, while keeping her focus on the unconscious blonde. "Let John support you while I mend your wound."

Kelli looked up at John with wide eyes as he offered her his arm to lean on. She was about to thank him when she burst into another fit of giggles. "Oh my god..."

"There, you're all done," Rachel murmured a few seconds later, while continuing to work on Perl.

"The pain's completely gone!" Kelli gasped in astonishment. She bounced experimentally on the balls of her feet. "Wow! I feel amazing!"

"Rachel completely healed your ankle," Alyssa said, smiling at her awed expression. "Just give her a little longer and Perl will be fine too."

Kelli was about to ask how the blonde knew her friend's name as well, when she happened to notice what was happening to the girl lying on the bed. She stumbled towards Perl, gaping in wonder at Rachel and her patient. "Holy fuck! Her arm's growing back!"

"Cellular regeneration of a limb isn't as complicated as you'd think," Rachel said, winking at the brunette. "Her DNA tells me everything I need to know so that I can make her whole again. Then I just pour in the psychic energy and stimulate re-growth..."

"That's the craziest thing I've ever seen..." Kelli marvelled, watching as Rachel worked down the limb, rebuilding the forearm then wrist, and finally Perl's hand.

Shortly after Rachel had finished the replacement arm down to her fingertips, Perl let out a soft moan and her eyelashes fluttered open. "That feels so ticklish..." she murmured, rubbing her new limb with her other hand. Suddenly her eyes snapped open and she sat bolt upright. "My arm! It was gone!"

Rachel stroked her hand and gave her a wry smile. "And now it's back again. Try to take better care of this one."

Perl gaped at the Invictus crew in disbelief, before abruptly bursting into tears. "Thank you so much!" she sobbed, clinging to Rachel as the brunette held her supportively. "I thought I was going to end up with a horrible metal arm!"

"You would have died if it wasn't for Kelli," Rachel said quietly, rubbing her back. "She kept you alive for days... it's a miracle you survived an injury that severe."

Perl turned her tear-streaked face to the brunette and beckoned her over. The two crying girls hugged, mumbling incoherent words of affection to each other as they were both overcome with relief, knowing that their ordeal was finally over.

Rachel turned to the big man lying on the floor, saw the red aura surrounding him and glanced at Alyssa for confirmation.

*Yes, him too,* the blonde said, her voice carrying a deathly chill as she stared balefully at the Diablos ganger.

The tawny-haired doctor gestured towards him and her ephemeral grey aura extended to cover his prone body.

"Was Tony allergic to antibiotics as well?" Kelli asked with a sniff, as she and Perl watched their friend with concern. "I gave him twice as much as Perl because he's so much bigger."

Rachel shook her head, concentrating on healing the unconscious man. "You did the right thing giving him a course of antibiotics, although the dosage was a bit too high. The antibiotics prevented him getting an infection from the gunshot wound to his back, but they suppressed his immune system, leaving him vulnerable to a particularly nasty viral STD he's carrying."

"Are you curing that too?" Perl quickly asked, then blushed when John and several of the girls turned to look at her speculatively.

Rachel hesitated for a second, then nodded. "Of course."

A short while later, Tony's deathly pallor receded and he let out a low groan as he twisted on his makeshift bed. He froze, then his eyes opened and he looked around in astonishment at all the armoured figures standing in the consultation room.

"They're here to rescue us!" Kelli called out to him gleefully. "Tony, we made it!"

He grinned at her and was about to reply, when Alyssa squatted in front of him, tearing the Paragon helmet from her head. "Remember me, Fat Tony?"

Tony jerked back in surprise from the white-armoured Lioness, staring in wonder at her breathtakingly beautiful face. "N-no... we've never met."

"Guess again, fuckwad!" Alyssa snarled, her eyes glowing bright white.

He let out a strangled cry of alarm as a huge spectral hand materialised in the air before him and clamped down around his body. Alyssa slowly rose, making a snapping motion with her fingers that caused her telekinetic projection to yank the shocked ganger to his feet then lift him into the air.

"Two years ago, right here in Karron..." Alyssa snapped, her eyes blazing with anger. "A starving girl managed to find a broken power coupling and brought it back to her friend to fix. It took them weeks of scavenging for parts, but they managed to get it working and she sold it to the Corbann mine for 100 credits. She bought a box of nutri-bars to share with her friend... their reward after all that hard work. Everything was going great until she brought it back to the Diablos base... Ringing any bells now, you piece of shit?"

Tony's eyes bugged out as he stared in disbelief at the furious blonde, finally recognising her features. "Alyssa?! No fuckin' way... you can't be her!"

"Wrong again..." she hissed, her voice turning icy-cold. "I never did anything to you, but you just took that away from me... and you laughed, you fuck... you laughed when you slapped me!"

"What're you gonna to do?!" he blurted out in terror, wriggling helplessly in the grip of the telekinetic hand.

"What I really want to do, is slowly strip the skin from your hide and make you eat it..." she said with a feral gleam of anticipation.

Perl and Kelli stared at the vengeful Lioness in horror, frozen with fear as they watched her taunting Tony.

"But you only hit me and robbed me, so that would be overkill," Alyssa continued in a quiet voice that dripped with menace. "You've done a lot of fucked-up things to a lot of people and I've got a much better way of dealing with scum like you. The last guy I punished like this clawed his own eyes out to make the visions stop." Leaning closer, she added. "But I am going to laugh, Tony... That's the last thing you'll hear... apart from your own screams."

Kelli rushed forward to grab at Alyssa. "No! Don't do it, please!"

Perl slid off the bed to join her. "He saved us both, he's not a bad person!"

Alyssa made a curt gesture and telekinetic hands peeled the terrified girls away from her. "Not a bad person?" she blurted out incredulously. "You've got to be kidding me... I recognise you two, you were Pitbull's whores. I shouldn't have to tell you what a bunch of fucking assholes all the Diablos were!"

Frantically shaking her head, Kelli pleaded. "Tony's not like the others!"

Alyssa looked at the girls with pity. "You're probably suffering from Stockholm Syndrome." Turning to glare at the captive ganger, she continued, "I know all about the Diablos initiation... tell them what you did to get in, Tony."

His face shadowed with guilt and he looked at Kelli and Perl with an anguished expression on his face. "I'm not like that now. I was different back then..."

"I didn't ask for excuses, tell them what you did!" Alyssa snapped, her telekinetic fist starting to squeeze.

He yelped with pain, then said in a rush, "I beat this guy up!"

Sneering at him in disgust, Alyssa shook her head. "I know everything! Tell them the truth, or I'll make you... and you don't want that."

"We were runnin' a protection racket!" he blurted out, wincing as the vice-like grip tightened. "This old man was a real hardass and refused to pay up." His expression was filled with shame as he continued, "So we tied up him and his wife, then I beat up his son..."

"You beat an eighteen-year-old boy to death in front of his terrified parents," Alyssa corrected him, her voice cold and hard.

Tony slumped, guilt etched all over his face. "Okay, you're right... I was a piece of shit back then..." He let out a sigh that was heavy with remorse. "But I'm not like that anymore. I'm really tryin' to be better."

"He got shot saving us from the Kirrix!" Kelli exclaimed, struggling against the telekinetic hands. "He's not bad any more... he isn't!"

"Please... just let us go!" Perl begged. "Leave us here if you have to, but please don't kill him!"

Alyssa was torn with indecision, and she glanced at the guilt-ridden ganger, then the desperate girls that were terrified for their friend.

John walked over to her and gently cupped her face in his hand. "Let them go, honey. For what it's worth, I believe him. I think he's trying to turn over a new leaf and he did save both their lives. That doesn't make up for all the things he's done... but it's a start."

She looked back at Perl and Kelli who were staring at her fearfully, as if she were some kind of cruel and merciless monster. Her face fell and she lowered her hands, releasing Tony and the girls from their telekinetic restraints. Perl and Kelli ran to the big ganger, hugging him fiercely as they huddled together on the floor.

John glanced at Sakura and the twins. "Can you escort them back to the Invictus please."

The Asian girl nodded and walked over to the frightened trio. She squatted down beside them and said quietly, "Please follow me and we'll take you to our ship. You can get a shower and a hot meal there, and we've got spare bedrooms so you can get some rest."

They nodded and rose shakily to their feet, then followed Sakura out of the room, with the Maliri sisters closing the door behind them.

"I'm not a monster..." Alyssa whispered, looking up at John with a worried frown. "Am I?"

He pulled off his helmet and dropped it on the chair. Putting his arms around her, he held her close as the troubled young woman rested her head on his shoulder. "No, beautiful, you're no monster," he said firmly, kissing her forehead.

The rest of the girls gathered around, murmuring supportive words and brushing her hair.

Slumped against him, Alyssa glanced up at John with a resigned expression on her face. "Your mind's made up now, isn't it? You're going to go into the Astral..."

"Yes, honey," he replied, making no effort to hide his determination. "You need this."

***

"We are approaching Dun Gerluhr, Warden," the Trankaran navigation officer informed his commanding officer in a rumbling voice. "Dropping out of hyper-warp in two minutes."

Warden Brokurlun stared at the holographic map, watching his battleship lead the Trankaran fleet towards the outer edge of the occupied system. As they drew closer, scores of sensor contacts appeared on the map, the red runes clustered together into two large groups.

He rose from his Command Chair and strode across the Bridge to take a closer look. "Zoom in to the system level, I want to see as much data as possible on the Kirrix forces."

The bridge crew moved quickly to obey his orders, the enhanced sensors on the Forge of Ukonlir extending far beyond the normal range they were accustomed too. As the battleship dropped out of hyper-warp, a sensor pulse swept out, returning even more details about the insectoid forces assembled around the densely-populated world.

Brokurlun's eyes narrowed as he saw those sensor contacts replaced by three-dimensional images of ochre-coloured Kirrix vessels. There appeared to be two huge fleets made up of hive ships and drone carriers that were lurking near the dark-red planet. "A considerable force... and they do not appear to be retreating."

A bright flash lit up the map, the green neutron beam making him recoil in surprise. "Evasive manoeuvres!" he called out reflexively, we're under attack.

The Ukonlir's tactical officer turned in his seat, a look of surprise on his blocky features. "They are not firing on us, Warden! We are still too far out of range."