Path to Becoming the Greatest Space Mercenary

"Whew, I'm glad to see that you have clothes on. For a bit there, I was afraid that I was going to have to end up having to deal with you while you were naked. That would have been uncomfortable." Avery said, half jokingly, half seriously.

"Perhaps I should have done so. The short amount of time I took getting dressed might have been the difference in me making it here before you. Though, it's certainly not too late for me to give it a go."

Delia began reaching for a clap that kept her shirt on, but Avery had no intention of letting her keep going.

"Stop! One more move and I'll put a laser through your shoulder. You should know by now that such tactics aren't going to work on me." Avery said, slightly jostling his laser pistol to draw Delia's attention to the weapon.

"Are you sure? To have three wives, you must be a lustful man. I'd be more than happy to offer a more intimate relationship with you now. I only went along with Doctor Sarelett's plan because I owed him a favor. But with him out of the picture, I wouldn't mind fully supporting your mercenary company. Let me go and I'll be sure to do you several favors. In whatever manner you want."

Avery rolled his eyes at Delia's blatant attempt at seduction and negotiation.

Obviously disregarding her physical advances, she still had a lot of connections and could gather information quickly and efficiently.

If Avery thought he could actually trust her, she would not doubt be a major boon to his company's operations.

Of course, he knew that eventually she would screw them over.

The moment that Odium Syndicate had no longer been favorable to her, she had made moves to have the entire organization dismantled.

Plus, she had been trying to lure Avery into a trap from the beginning so that she could pass him off to some shady researcher.

"Sorry, that's not how this is going to go down. You'll be coming with me quietly, then you'll tell me everything I want to know, and finally you'll be spending the rest of your life in an Alliance Police prison. Or ejected out into space. The outcome will depend on how cooperative you are." Aver said, pulling out some cuffs and tossing them to Delia.

He instructed her to put them on, and that she only had fifteen seconds to do so before he instead shot through her arms and legs and restrained her himself.

"Fine, fine. I'll do it. I know when I'm beat. But you should probably watch your back. It seems that some robots are about to attack you."

Avery did not let Delia's words get to him. He already sensed the camouflaged combat robots approaching him.

Usurpingly, they had come from Delia's hidden escape ship.

It had been a bit of a pian to find, but Avery knew that she must have had some means of escape planned, so he had contacted Jasmine and asked her to use the Intrepid's sensors linked up with the station's security systems under their control to carefully check the closest airlock to his location for unexplained activity.

Luckily, Jasmine did eventually fine what Avery was looking for, and they figured out where Delia's escape vessel was currently docked.

It might have been cloaked, but it still left some traces if one knew what to look for.

That's how Avery had found himself cutting off Delia's escape just in time.

When the first robot attacked, Avery stepped out of the way and swung his left arm in a backhanded blow.

His gauntleted hand smashed against the thing's head and it crumpled under the impact.

The next one did not fare much better, as he kicked it in the chest and sent it crashing through a nearby wall.

These robots had been meant for stealth attacks, not durability. And with Avery's immense strength, they had not lasted long.

Delia had naturally taken the slight distraction as a chance to run away, but she was still in the same corridor as Avery and in his line of sight.

It took him less than a second to bring his laser pistol back up and take aim.

Pulling down on the trigger, he fired a beam out of the muzzle and the laser swiftly flew through the air before hitting Delia in the back of her right knee.

Immediately she collapsed to the ground as one of her legs stopped working properly.

A muffled cry of pain escaped from her mouth, and she gripped ahold of her injured leg in an instinctive reaction.

"Last chance." Avery said, dangling the cuffs in front of Delia's face. "You can put these on by yourself, and I'll give you some medicine to heal that injury. Or I'll take out the rest of your limbs and knock you unconscious. It won't be that much trouble to drag you back to my ship. The choice is yours."

Delia fixed Avery with a truly hateful glare.

It was one of the few real expressions he had ever seen on her face, and he would be lying if he said he was not a little proud to have beaten her.

She had been a thorn in his side for weeks now. Always trying to get under people's skin while making herself too useful to get rid of. It had been aggravating. And Avery was glad to finally be done with it.

Without putting up any more resistance, Delia put the cuffs around her wrists. Now not only were her arms restrained, but with the press of a button, Avery could send an electric current through her body that would cause her to seize up. There was very little chance of her getting away now.

After that, Avery gave her an injection of medical nanomachines, and the hole in her right leg visible began to heal.

"Okay, let's get going. I'm taking you back to the Intrepid. I did promise on the first day to give you a tour of the brig. It's time that I finally make good on my word."

Despite how talkative she normally was, Delia did not utter a single word as Avery escorted her through the station and back to his carrier ship.

Along the way, he found more of his team escorting prisoners that they had captured. Over ninety percent of the station was already under their control, and it would not be long until everything was wrapped up here. The Odium Syndicate was truly nearing its end.

Soon enough, Kasandra, Ezra, Olivia, and Kaiden caught back up with him.

"Looks like you finally found her." Kasandra said, before turning towards Delia and sneering.

"You really shouldn't have run off like that. This is a dangerous place. Something bad could have happened to you."

Kasandra's mock concern clearly got to Delia, and she stared back with an icy look and said something for the first time since Avery had captured her.

"It won't be long before all of you regret this. I'll escape soon and make sure that you are all killed."

"You truly believe, that don't you? But whatever connections you have, they won't be enough to save you this time. Just reflect on your actions while you sit in your cell. Perhaps if you had been a better person, you wouldn't have ended up this way." Kasandra said, smiling smugly at the captured woman.

The five of them headed back to the Intrepid together and made their way towards the brig.

Naturally they were on guard against any spies Delia might have had trying to free her, but nothing of the sort happened.

However, when they were deep into the vessel, and just a few hundred meters from their destination, Delia abruptly stopped.

"Is now really the time to start acting defiant. It's not that far now. I can just drag you the rest of the way." Avery said commandingly.

"Oh, I've been defiant from the very start. It's only just now that I'm ready to bring things to an end now. It's shame to have to do this two times in a row, and so soon after I got this new body. But you've left me no other choice but to wipe the slate clean and start all over again."

Avery was baffled by what she was going on about until Kasandra spoke up in alarm.

"There's something beeping inside of her chest."

Avery listened closely as well, and he heard it too.

A rhythmic beat that was slowly getting faster and louder.

It was a recognizable sound. And not one that anyone ever wanted to hear so close by.

"She has a bomb inside of her!" Kaiden shouted as he reflexively leapt back.

He looked ready to run when Delia started laughing victoriously.

"You can try and flee, but I assure you that the yield is quite impressive. You'll all be coming with me, but I've got contingencies to come back. I hope you enjoyed your short-lived triumph over me."

Delia was reveling in her last scheme coming to fruition. While Avery, Kasandra, Ezra, Olliva, and Kaiden were wondering how she snuck the bomb onboard.

Every time she entered or exited the Intrepid, she was thoroughly scanned for anything like this.

That was the case for when they brought her back onboard just a few minutes ago.

The only things that had ever been detected inside of her were some innocuous implants. They were only meant to counteract poison or regulate blood flow. Nothing that should have been able to create an explosive.

Nevertheless, it seemed that some how she had managed to trick the Intrepid's scanners. Because there was undoubtably a bomb inside of her chest right now.

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