"You will not reach that weapon before I blast you apart." the lead thugs said, casually plucking his blaster pistol from his waistband.
The Devorian dropped his arms, they had been slightly reaching towards the weapon.
The leader went around And took the blaster pistol out of the drawer. He then turned to his friend.
"This tailor must be dealing with a lot of crazy customers to carry a pistol to work."
"Well yeah, its fucking ord mantel" The Devorian, growled.
"So it is... Now, enough of chitchat. The leader again stepped forward..." Which syndicates do you fix for?" He asked, curtly.
The man looked at them as if he could not follow what in hell they were talking about.
The leader smiled.
" both You and I know it's over.Your fixing days are over. Say the syndicate that supplies you with the spices. And we will make the death quick and merciful."
At this point, it became clear to the Devaronian that indeed it was over. There was no way he was coming out of this alive.
" Death is death." he said pushing his seat back violently and standing up.
It quickly became apparent that without arms, even being four of them against one, this battle would quickly be one sided
The man was a towering giant. For me, he made the biggest of the thugs look like a stunted dwarf. Not to mention that he was well muscled and rough looking.
The same became apparent to the four black sun gangsters. They stepped behind, all of them drawing their weapons.
" You want to sit down." The leader glowered.
"I've done enough of sitting. How about you drop those coward guns and we have a go... Maybe then I'll tell you what you want to know."
They did lower their guns.
But as the Devaronian came around they drew something else.
Knives.
They was the longest knife that could stay within the limits of a dagger but just barely... Otherwise they might be machetes
the hopeful gleam that had began to appear on the Devaronian's face quickly disappeared.
He lunged towards the first gangster. But the man sidestepped and at the same time two of them striked.
It wasn't just any careless strike. It was a calculated strike meant to incapacitate the huge opponent.
Both knives sliced at his right.One at his ribcage. The other just beneath his thighs.
Black blood splattered out of his clothes.
Still despite the injuries and dragging one foot behind him, the man lunged again at the closest. And this time the gangster wasn't that lucky.
The Devorian caught him by the face and drove those horns covering his face right in front into his face
One of them hit its mark and drove straight into the human gangster's eyes. He let a screech and struck, catching the Devaronian and opening a gash across his shoulders.
Now the right arm was incapacitated.
after that it really became a butchery. In no time they had secured the man back to the seat behind the desk. And that's when the Black Sun brutality became apparent.
One of the gangsters produced what looked like nails, the other, a makeshift hammer. Vicious as I had ever seen one.
"Mercy is still on the table" the leader said, drawing near And pushing aside his wailing comrade with a bleeding eye
"Give us the name and we'll make your death quick and peaceful."
"The Devaronian defiantly spat on the gangster's face.
The arms were tightened and the first nail was driven on his arm. He gave just a small yelp before biting his teeth together defiantly.
Another gangster produced a bottle of a black liquid and went ahead to pour it onto the opened wound. This time the Devorian screeched in agony.
"The name"
The Devorian wasn't broken yet. The arm was now only restrained by the nail. He reached with a violent effort and tore it straight out of the nail.
It tore a big chunk of his flesh but he drove it to the closest victim.
Another knife dance ensued and again the left arm too was incapacitated. the torture went on for the next twenty or so minutes and I stood petrified behind the glass thanking God that they had not fired the blasters.
I was praying to every deity that could hear me... Let them not see past the mirror.
I stood there watching the man getting tortured.
this one had to be one loyal fixer. If I was in his place I wouldn't have lasted half way.
Under what motivation exactly ?.. Just giving people a syndicate name? A syndicate that had been torturing me ? Swear to God I would have cracked long ago.
By the time the black sun was finishing with the guy he had gone limp. Although I could still see that he had not passed out entirely.
blood was fizzling out of almost a dozen wounds across his body.
The last thing the four thugs did before dragging their mate out was scoop a handful of blood from the floor and drew the black sun's mark on the mirror I was standing behind
I stood Petrified that a tiny pressure would make the mirror door to open
The sign was a thick circle with spikes all around it
The door however held true.
They repeated the same thing to the outside glass wall.
When they were finished and stepped out, I gave it about ten minutes.
I was trembling too hard to even trust my feet to carry me out of this crime scene.
I couldn't stay here longer however. The authorities would arrive and if I was caught here well let's just say black sun never left witnesses.
I pushed the mirror gently and tried to find a landing place for my feet which was not covered by blood.
It was a tough ask seeing that it had splattered all over. But I still managed to navigate my way towards the other side
"wait." The man said in feeble voice
He was still limp on the desk where he had been crucified. I shouldn't have stopped and my body was screaming for me to run.
But the man had been tortured for An entire thirty minutes and he hadn't betrayed me. Though he could have done that easily since I was standing behind him.
He hadn't even betrayed the syndicate. Surely afraid or not at least I owed him a few minutes.
"My son."... He groaned. "Is he okay?" Now I turned to the man.
"your son....? "
"A Devaronian male. Have you seen one?" He looked at me Almost beseeching.
A Devaronian ?... There was only one Devorian in the compound. Could it be the guy we had been captured with? The bully that had been taunting Koji during his first days?
" Garul.Garul is his name. Here, here..."
He said struggling to raise his head off the desk.
"Take the locket from my neck. This picture you will see."
I reached out and pulled the long chain from the man's neck. And then opened the locket.
True enough there was a tiny image of him and a little boy.
But that Devorian I had seen had not been a little boy.
" How old is he now? I asked.
"Twenty three?"
"Well it could be him then, yeah. There's a Devorian there but I do not know whether it is him."
"his name?"
"We don't know each other by names.We have numbers.
" it's him.. him. Tell him... His... Lo.. Lo.. him." sound seemed to have escaped him.
'was that lost.... Love.... Looked'.i assumed he meant to say he loved him.
For a Devorian,with their hardened and lacking emotion sense, it might have taken his last will to say it.
I did not want to argue more but if the Devorian's name was what the man had said and if indeed the name rang any meaning on the Devorian's back at the Hato's compound then definitely it was his dad.
"give it.. To him
I was almost protesting about not being able to sneak things in, but realized it was the least I could do for the man. He was dying anyway.
" And one day, if you get a...a good chance, murder... that son... of a bitch... Hato." he said with a sudden fluency
Even from his dying eyes it was clear that he did not believe I could fulfill that request so I did not bother to answer.
I pulled the locket free and turned to leave. But he stopped me once again.
" Please, he said, using his tongue to point at his blaster gun black sun enforcers had left behind.
without clarification I knew what he was requesting.
I had not fired a blaster before. But as my hand enclosed around the strange weapon, I knew there was a first for everything.
And mine was now. For mercy's sake.
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