As Above, So Below

He returned to his pacing as you drained your drink.

"Imagine my surprise when I pierced the world wall and found myself adrift on a strange alien planet. The air was breathable, thank god, but I was on a slowly drifting rock filled with half-made buildings and discarded earth objects.

"The worlds I found myself in were strange, disjointed, and I struggled to keep my bits about me as I drifted through that alien landscape."

"As I wandered, a pair of aliens appeared before me - grey skinned like the alien material but faceless. They would not speak to me and in my anger and confusion I lashed out, stabbing them with the blade."

Quilp shook his head. "What a fool I was. They simply absorbed the knife into themselves, rearranging their bodies to swallow it whole. Fearing I had angered them, I ran but they quickly seized me and I lost consciousness."

"The next thing I remember, I am at some intergalactic weigh station on the edge of the Abhaile Cluster and a green skinned brute is negotiating over me with the station owner like I'm cattle. Since then, I've changed hands half a dozen times before my imprisonment here, where I dance for drunk idiots and occasionally grant pleasure to those who wish to purchase me."

His voice is filled with self-loathing and anger.

"Now, tell me how you come to be here, clad like an alien traveler and with currency in your pocket."

You shake your head, "My methods are my own. Tell me, have you revealed where you have come from to anyone?"

He blanches, his eyes going shifty. You reach for the remote but he speaks before you need to use force.

"I am a bit of an oddity here - no one can seem to identify humans, apparently, although I am baffled since most of the aliens I meet look like us. But there was one. A stern man, I suspect of military bearing although he left no name or title. He had a sample of DNA for the bartender and when it was a close match with me he immediately rented my time. We sat here and he asked me about Earth, about you and about the Abhaile cluster."

Quilp shook his head. "He seemed to know a great deal about your life, Earth, your precious Michael. But mostly he wanted to know how to get to the Abhaile cluster."

"Oh no." You say, the arch magistrate. "How long ago was this?"

"Time is so difficult to tell in this place," Quilp begins but as you reach for the remote, he quickly answers. "No more than a week ago."

He must have reached Twee Bon before you. And you'd be willing to bet he is the one that hired the bounty hunters as well - not to necessarily capture or kill you but to delay you. He's going to try and reach them before you. He had been in your head, he had access to all your knowledge. Maybe.

You try to remember what you learned during the mind swap - of his two lost wives and his career with the occ. Lost? Hmmm, that wasn't something that had occurred to you before but as you try to hold onto those memories, they keep slipping through your fingers like sand but always they are tinged with sadness. Maybe it is the same for him, he has the feeling but not the details.

You realize as you have been lost in thought that Quilp is still standing before you, expectant. Yes, what to do with him.

He stands there, impatient and barely clothed as you regard him. Yes, the same sculpted features as Danny. You remember his careful walk through the greenhouse in the city of glass and his loving touches afterwards. But there's something different in the face, a cruelty there, a dangerous twist of the lip You remember his murderous screams and the fear you felt in his twisted version of your home.

You remember Caroline's experiences, his taunts about Kayla, and the untold other horrors he had inflicted in his City.

And here he was, helpless before you.

"So what would you like to happen next?" You ask. He pinches his mouth in a pensive look, but his eyes travel the length of your Jakitta clad body.

"That's up to you, I'm just the slave you've paid for." He says sharply.

"Yes, it's terrible when someone is unable to say no, isn't it?" You say, probing. He gives you a dismissive snort.

"Come back to me with your moralizing Mrs. Sweeney, after you have considered that twice you have been my judge, jury and executioner. Confining me to a torturous imprisonment and solitary death. Only by my will and tenacity was I able to escape your cruelty."

"Is that what you crave? Escape?" You lean forward, watching him closely. He is rather beautiful, in a brutal sort of way.

"Oh, now you have a conscience?" Quilp says.

"I think there is an opportunity here for both of us to benefit and that seems to fit with our current relationship." You say.

"I'm listening." He pulls up an ottoman and sits in front of you, long legs splayed to either side, fingers steepled.

"You are here as a result of both my and your actions. You attempted to imprison me in that pocket world at the airport, and I, in turn, made it your confinement. Neither was right or just and although you escaped one prison you have found another." You take a deep breath. Time for the plunge.

"I will release you and in doing so, eliminate our collective debt to each other. We both go our own way, never to see each other again. My price is this - I am looking for two bounty hunters." You pull out their pictures from your coat, showing Quilp. He barely glances before the look of recognition crosses his features.

"You know them." You say definitively.

"Perhaps." You says but you keep moving.

"You know where I can find them. Lead me to them and I will release you and we both can go about our business. You are a resourceful man, I have no doubt that you will find your way out here."

He thinks for a moment, then his eyes return to yours.

"Give me a weapon and it is fair." Your hand goes to your pocket where the ReelNet is concealed.

"No. Absolutely not."

"Then at least some money so I can buy some clothes. I won't get far dressed like this." Oh good, we are negotiating.

You pull out a couple bars of currency and hold them out.

"Do we have a deal?" You ask. He takes the money.

"Yes. Once we leave here, I won't bother you again. I'll lead you to where your drunken wastrels are and I'll be out of your hair. Now, uncuff me so we do not set off the alarms."

He stands and puts his foot up on the Ottoman. You fumble with the remote, finding the release controls and punch them in, confirming twice.

Click-click. The anklet falls off and he kicks it aside under the bed.

"I'm not sure how long we have before they realize I'm free, so we must move quickly." He strides to the door with you close behind. He presses his ear to the sliding door, listening.

You tilt your head, trying to hear out in the corridor.

SWOOSH. In one smooth move, he slides to the side and plucks the ReelNet out of your pocket. You reach for it but he tosses it away and grabs your arm and bends it painfully behind your back, pinning you against the door.

"Oh no, no no no. You are not getting off that easily." He reaches down with his other hand and bunches up your skirt, clawing down your underwear.

"NO!" You struggle against him but you can already feel your willpower weakening.

"You think, after all those years, I'm just going to let you...walk away? Not to have my moment of... satisfaction?" He rips your underwear off, pushing your feet apart with his legs.

You twist, feet struggling to find their place as you feel his hard cock pressing against your butt.

He leans into you, his lithe chest pressing you into the door, holding you fast as he reaches around, fumbling for your clit but he needn't have bothered, you are already sopping wet and willing.

"I'm going to fuck you so hard." He says, breathless. He release your arm and lines himself up with your sex.

Taking your chance you twist out of his grasp, stumbling to the floor. You scramble on your hands and knees but he grabs your ankles, pulling you back.

"Oh no you don't." He feel his body, pressing down on top of you and then

"Aggghh!!!" you cry out as he slides his cock inside you. You grunt at the sudden intrusion but you are so excited it is all pleasure. He grabs your hips with both hands and begins to thrust with wild abandon.

"Uh uh uh uh uh" he moans along with the wet slap of your hips together. You grasp at the floor, feet kicking as he mercilessly plows into you. Without even touching yourself, you feel the pleasure building, unbidden, from deep within you.

You clench, your whole body shaking as an orgasm rips through you but he doesn't stop, working your hips like his own personal pleasure box, thrusting through your tremors.

Finally, he pulls out. You try to scramble forward, your brain all foggy from the sex but he grabs your shoulders and flips you over on your back, knees up in the air.

"No! Fuck! No!" You shout as he hauls your tits out of your shirt, mauling them roughly. You push against his head but he grabs your wrists and pins you to the ground, his teeth nipping at your neck and chest.

"Fuck! Fuuuuck!" You moan as he's pushing his way back inside you. You writhe on the floor but he has your wrists firm as he takes his pleasure from you by force. You look down and see his body, slick with sweat, and his cock sliding in and out of you, the thick head rubbing you from the inside.

He fucks you for what seems like forever, pushing into your sex, biting at your body cruelly before finally he grasps your breast in one hand and gives a deep shuddering groan as he shoot thick loads of cum deep inside you.

"Oh god." He sighs, satisfied as he slowly untangles himself. He stands, stretching his arms and looking down at you with a smug smile.

"That," he says, "was worth the wait." He puts on his black underwear as you pull yourself together.

"Your exceedingly mediocre bounty hunters are in room 27, they always book the same room and drink themselves unconscious when they have the money. If you move quickly, you'll probably get them before the bouncers throw them out again."

You grab your ReelNet from under the bed where it fell and pull yourself to your feet.

"You're a goddamn monster." You snarl.

"You liked it." He says with a cocky smile, opening the door. "Don't worry, I did too." You thumb the trigger of the ReelNet, he looks at it somewhat apprehensively.

"Don't worry Brenna, I'm a man of my word. Once we leave here, I won't bother you again." And with a cheeky wink, he slips out into the hallway.

###

After taking a moment to compose yourself, and to give Quilp a chance to make his getaway without screwing up yours, you step into the hallway. You are rattled, sure, but you aren't going to let that throw you off.

You make your way through the eerily lit catacombs of the quagmire. The rooms are numbered and after a few wrong turns, you locate room number 27.

You thumb the comm panel next to the door. A slurred man's voice responds,

"Whaddayahwant?" He grumbles.

"Drink service!" You say cheerily.

"Oh shit, yeah." Beep, the door unlocks and slides open.

Inside you see a scene of complete debauchery. Ixar is there, shirtless, next to the comm panel but still wearing his bounty hunter armored pants. He holds a glowing blue vase from which a steady dribble of smoke floats out onto the floor.

Sprawled out on the bed is Berkeley, wearing a thin white tank top and nothing else. Her thighs and shoulders show scorch marks from yesterday, but you have trouble seeing anything but her gorgeous mostly naked body. She is holding a half-empty bottle of liquor and looks up listlessly as you enter the room.

Next to her, face down, a man is passed out on the bed wearing identical black shorts to what you saw on Quilp, a dancer. In the corner, a fourth person, a woman with dark green skin, is trying to light some sort of hookah shaped device.

Ixar's eyes narrow as he sees your hands, suspiciously devoid of drink or food. As his gaze slowly moves up to your somewhat ripped shirt and then to your face, the clouds lift and he gives an alarmed shout but you already have the ReelNet in your hands.

BOWOWOWssssss the glowing yellow net of electricity leaps out tangling Ixar up and tossing him into the side of the room.

"... the fuck?" The green woman stutters as Berkeley rolls over the bed, grasping at the bedside table.

BOWOWOWssssss your net pins Berkeley to the bed, face down, her muscular butt trapped beneath the glowing net. You whirl and point it at the green skinned woman who raises her hands in surrender.

"Woah, hey." She says. "I don't want any of this."

"You can go." You answer. The woman grabs the hookah and scampers out the door. The passed out man on the bed continues snoring loudly.

"A Bolaheld fishing net?!" Ixar slurs."Are you fuckin' kiddin' me? It's a child's toy! I'm going fucking cut you to pieces when I get out of here."

"If." You state. "Okay you two, listen up, we're going to have a little chat." You say, strolling over to the tangle mess of Ixar on the floor. You grab a fist full of his brown curls and pull his head back.

"It's going to go like this." You say, "I'm going to tell you a series of things and you are going to either nod your head yes," you pull his head up and down, "or shake your head no" you twist it back and forth, "depending on if I'm right or wrong. Lie to me, and I will absolutely cut your nipples off while you are tied up, sound good?"

Ixar begins to open his mouth but you hold up a finger.

"ah ah!" He shuts his mouth and nods his head.

"Good." You reply. "You good over there?" There's a muffled groan from Berkeley, still face down into the bed.

"Okay -- the two of you were hired about a week ago by a man who wanted my bracelet and perhaps me." Ixar nods.

"This man was tall, short brown hair, intense eyes, clearly OCC but didn't identify himself as such. Clearly a high-ranking officer. Offered to pay in OCC credits, correct?" Ixar nods.

"Gave you my description, and ship, right?" Ixar shakes his head, opens his mouth and then pauses.

"Yes, you can speak."

"He had your DNA."

"What?" You say, startled.

"He had a sample of your DNA, you have a unique biology, made you relatively easy to find, when you weren't surrounded by people."

Hmmm, you try to imagine where he could have gotten a copy of your DNA but file that away as a mystery for another day.

"I hate to break it to you, but your employer is gone."

"What?!" Berkeley shouts from the bed. The man on the other side groans and stirs slightly.

"He's left the system at top speed and will not be coming back." You say. "And I'm guessing he didn't pay up front, did him?" Ixar says nothing but his furious eyes say it all.

"It gets better. Since he never identified himself with the OCC, I'm guessing he is doing this off the books, which means even if you could catch me, you wouldn't get paid. At least, not without him being around, and I like I said, he's gone."

"Motherfucker." Berkeley mutters.

"So by my guess, you all are shit out of a job, am I right?" Ixar considers this for a moment and then slowly, nods his head.

"Well this just might be your lucky day because you have a ship that is good at staying off the grid and I am in need of transport to a place that's a little out of the way. And you know what you are going to find at this out of the way place? Your employer, Arch Magistrate Droust."

"He was an arch magistrate?" Ixar blurts out and then jerks his mouth shut as you yank on his hair a bit.

"Arch magistrate operating on his own, without any OCC protection. That makes him quite a catch, right?"

Berkeley starts chuckling, her body shaking underneath the sizzling yellow net.

"Ixar! Do you know who would pay for an arch magistrate? Fucking everyone!" Ixar considers this turn of events.

"So it's simple. You take me to where the Arch Magistrate is -- you take him off my hands and deposit me at the destination. No questions asked, no funny business." Ixar nods, his face finally cracking into a grin.

"Send me a comm at my ship when you both have sobered up and are ready to leave this planet." You release his head and stand up. "But don't feel a need to put on any pants on my account, I rather like the view." You give Berkeley a smack on the bottom, she moans appreciatively.

BANG! BANG! There's a thud on the door and a robotic voice calls out.

"All beings currently in this chamber please submit to an inspection immediately." There is a sounds like an old flashbulb powering up.

Ixar groans, "Fuck. Get me out of here and I can help us escape. You do NOT want to face the bouncer drones on your own."

You race over to Ixar, quickly tapping the root line to the net, deactivating the electrical field. He wrenches himself free, kicking it off and fumbling for his gear while you work to set Berkeley free.

"I am entering the unit. Please step away from the door." The robot voice bellows from the comm channel.

"Fuck that noise. Activate comm scrambler." Ixar has retrieved his bounty hunter helmet and bracers but has been unable to locate his shirt. The helmet begins flashing a soft green light as he points his arm mounted weapon at the far wall directly above the bed.

THUNK THUNK THUNK. Several small dart fly into the wall, and begin beeping in increasing intensity. Berkeley rolls off the bed, pulling on her armored pants and tool belt.

"Damnit Ixar, you nearly..." BOOM!!! The darts explode, ripping a hole in the wall and raining debris down onto the bed and the sleeping dancer.

"Door override activated." The comm panel announces.

"Time to gooo!" Ixar shouts and the three of you leap through the hole in the wall and into an adjoining bedroom, sending a naked man and a frog headed alien jumping in all directions.

"Sorry!" You apologize as the three of you clamber into the room. Behind you, you hear the clanking of metal and the confused mumbling as the listless dancer is pulled from the bed. Berkeley pounds the door panel and the three of you spill out into the hallway, racing down the chamber.

Ixar dispatches a waiter with a stun blast while Berkeley fumbles at her belt with a small gadget. As you reach a junction, she throws it on the ground. Suddenly there are nine versions of all of you, running in all directions at once.

Ixar kicks in a door, leading you through the kitchens.

"Sorry! Sorry!" you apologize amongst the shouts and curses as you dash past flaming pots and bubbling concoctions. Berkeley has managed to pull on the rest of her armor while Ixar blasts the lock off the back door.

The three of you pour out into a dripping wet well shaft, a deep hole extending miles above you - dimly you can see light at the top of the shaft but there is nowhere to run here.

"What the fuck is this, Ixar?" Berkeley demands.

"It's the air vent." Ixar says, detaching a grappling hook from his bracers.

"I can fucking see that, dipshit, we're going to be a sitting duck."

There's a clanging in the kitchens.

"Tell me you didn't blast the lock off this door." Berkeley says. Ixar gives her an apologetic shrug.

You peek back into the kitchens to see several chrome humanoid shaped robots with insectoid heads making a bee line for your door.

Berkeley grabs you by the collar and hauls you back in as robots unleash a barrage of blue laser fire.

"Seal it!" She shouts, wrapping an arm around your waist and kicking her rocket boots on. You gag as she hauls you up into the air, the ground rapidly receding behind you.

Ixar sprays some sort of foam from his wrist device onto the door and then shoots a grappling hook up towards you. You twist out of the way, causing Berkeley to shift mid-flight and the two of you to crash into the side of the tunnel, scraping her charred shoulder.

"Fuck me!" Berkeley shouts as Ixar rappels up towards you.