To Fell a Giant

[Jayce]

Gunner's Mate Steffenson, Mechanic 1st Class Greene, and Flight Deck Officer Watson huddled around the video feed, tapping away on their datapads. Each was managing a few dozen broadcasts, and their credit accounts, with great attentiveness.

"The odds are three to one in favor of Jess, y'know." Piped up the Mechanic to Watson.

"So what you're saying is that when she loses, I'm set to make a killing, right?" Retorted the FDO.

It was the Gunner's turn to speak up: "If either of those two find out about this, we're all in for a killing, and I don't mean our credit balance..."



The two Mako-class Battleships rested nose to nose in orbit of Planet Nauru. On one, the word "PERDITRIX" glistened with the yellow glow of the Omicron Delta sun. The other was marked exclusively with three thick, blood-red stripes following the contour of the bridge trench. Fighters and bombers swarmed around the craft, and their pilots are wont to do, basking the black ships in an eerie blue glow.

"My oh my, the man of the hour..." Cooed Jess, glaring at the gloss-black glass of the battleship at rest naught but a few meters ahead of her own. The giantess leaned over, knowing the lights from behind her would keep the Guildmaster just as blind as she was. "Don't look at me like that, Danny. You might give me the wrong idea." She half-giggled.

"We have unfinished business, me and you." The Guildmaster's nails bit into the command chair, his knuckles white. The woman across from him had disrespected him, the Core, and all the authority he wielded.

The muscular woman slumped back into her chair, eyes rolling in mockery. "Oh, come on. You're not still asshurt about the 'failure' comment, are you?" She rested her head upon a hand, leaning over with boredom.

Daniels tightened his grip on the arms of the command chair, teeth grinding. "It's not the comment that bothers me, it's the intent behind it." The Perditrix edged ever closer to the Terminus Est, within spitting distance. "If you would be so kind as to come aboard, we can settle this."

"Me, aboard that vile stack of garbage?" Jess let out a throaty laugh, slamming a foot against the deckplates, denting them slightly. "Not even if you bent over for me, sweetheart. Now, if that daughter of yours bent over, that'd be a different story." She had to stifle a giggle again, pressing her hand to her lips.

"Oh, poor, sweet Gab. What a tragic loss indeed. The Zoners will pay dearly for that, I assu-..."

"Yeah, whatever. Tragic. Didn't you grow her in a tube? Can you make me another one? I want to turn her insides into outsides." The giantess interrupted, still half-giggling. The stack of empty liquor bottles to her right seemed to be lending her a bit of Dutch courage.

The man across from her sighed, rubbing his eyes in irritation. "It sounds as if you're just afraid of me."

"I'm afraid of getting my boots dirty in that pile of trash, yeah. They're not cheap."

"Well, I'm not afraid of your little boat. Get your nose ready, because it's about to get the same treatment as Freeport 11." Jack retorted, strolling off to one of the shuttle bays. Minutes later, the docking bay doors of the Terminus swung upen, and the sublight shuttle settled on one of the free pads. As he strode through the corridors towards the bridge, he noticed that the internal layout of the Mako was entirely different to what would be considered "standard." The walkways were easily twice as large as on a production Mako, as if every other deck had been deleted and merged with the one above. The crew were almost comically small, and most sported uniforms that barely met the definition of the word. The scent of the ship threw the Guildmaster as well, a disgusting concoction smelling equally of death, sweat, and perfume. Soon enough, he reached the main doors to the bridge, the Core logo embossed in gold down the center. It slid open with a muffled hiss, actuators struggling to move the huge mass of steel.

"Took you long enough, Danny." The woman seated with her back towards him barked.

"What are you doing here, farming elephants? Why is everything so huge? Compensating for something?"

"Compensating for the fact that everyone else is built like a midget compared to me." The wood-and-leather chair spun on its mount, bringing Daniels face to face with Jessebelle Fillian, Butcher of Omicron Delta. Even with the woman seated, she was a head taller than the Guildmaster.

"We finally meet in person. I have to say, you're... Bigger than I imagined."

"Feeling a little squeamish?"

"I have no insecurities about my size." Daniels retorted, looking the woman up and down.

"You should."

Without a word in response, Jack began to pull off his flight jacket, inciting an intrigued stare from the giantess.

"Oh, undress for me, Danny. Here, I'll even make it fair." Jess took to her feet, hefting her bulky frame off the near-comically oversized command chair. In time with her opponent, she began to undo the velcro straps of her flak vest. With a grin, she let it fall to the floor. Now free from the confines of the vest, her ample assets bounced slightly, before coming to rest once more.

"We can end this before it starts, Jess. Admit I'm no failure, and you won't have to pick your teeth up off the floor." Jack said with a smirk, knowing full well the response he'd receive.

"I'm afraid not. We're long past that. I'll be generous, though." The woman leaned forward, chest straining her bodysuit, turning a cheek towards the man before her. "You can take the first swing. Go on." Jess slapped herself on the jaw a few times, indicating a fairly enticing target.

Daniels reply came quickly, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "Sorry, I don't hit women... First."

Jess retorted immediately, with a simple "I don't count."

A frown crossed the Guildmasters face, just before he surged forward with near-inhuman speed. With a meter of distance between the pair, he leapt forward, extending a knee aimed directly at Jess' kidney. Surprisingly nimble, the woman dipped to take the blow square in the chest, rocking around her hips to deliver a strike from her elbow straight to Jacks nose.

"Try not to be so rowdy." Jess taunted, flashing a smirk to the now-bleeding Daniels. "It'll hurt less."

"Impressive. I knew you had potential, woman. Your talent to cause mayhem and destruction of incomprehensible proport-..."

"Oh, stop it. We're here to fight, so get to fighting." Jess interjected, her grin turning to a bored frown once more. "Come on, swing like you mean it."

"Ah-ah-ah. You get to fight, I get to talk."

"Last mistake you'll ever make." The woman growled, lunging forward and wrapping both her hands around the back of Jacks head, yanking it downward into the path of her rapidly-advancing knee. Caught off-guard once more, Daniels took the assault square on the brow, before being thrown against the opposing bulkhead a few meters away.

"Guh..." The Guildmaster wipes a trickle of blood from under his nose. "What are you made of? Iridium and steroids, I assume."

The heavy clanking of Jess' stiletto faux-combat boots encourages Jack to right himself from the crumpled heap he landed in. She towers over the man, aided in the height department by her heels. "Eh, might be. So what?"

"Just idle talk. You are right about one thing, though..." He paused, sitting up against the wall, before continuing. "I was a failure. I nearly ended the Core's existence years ago. Why I was called back is beyond me. I was, and still am, the least logical choice."

The pastel-haired woman piped up again, in a sarcastic tone. "Maybe you should've. If you had, you wouldn't be getting your ass handed to you on a silver platter now!" She crosses her arms across her chest, once again attempting to distract her opponent with her endowments.

"What you don't know, Jess, is that I never make the same mistake twice." With a grunt of effort, Daniels' cybernetic implants sprung into action, catapulting him directly into Jess' chest. His momentum carried the pair backwards, until the commander of the Terminus stumbled backwards into a battle-planning table. The wood and metal immediately gave way under her bulk, splitting in two with the cracking of wood and shrieking of stressed steel. This time, the giantess didn't immediately rush to her feet, stunned by the blow. "Who the hell uses wood furnishings on a warship?" Questioned Jess' opponent as he backed away, dusting off his now-ruined white tee.

The Butcher stood more slowly this time, taking to a knee before rising completely. "People with... Nngh... Class."

"Class. Right." The Guildmaster shook his head. "Pop quiz, Jessebelle: how have I failed you?"

"You didn't kill me with your first swing."

"What purpose would that serve? Why would I kill one of my best operatives?"

Jess began to trot towards Daniels again, pondering a response. "Because she undermines your authority. She doesn't respect you."

"It's a free sector." Azrael retorted, shrugging. Though he was nonchalant on the outside, mentally he was preparing to face the oncoming pain train. And come it did. Displaying remarkable flexibility and poise despite her choice of footwear, Jess spun about on her left foot, driving the spike of her stiletto heel straight into Daniels' shoulder. The sharp metal easily pierced the flesh and sinew below, emerging from the other side in a splash of blood and lubricant. She didn't stop there, however: continuing the kick forward and down, Jess forced the Guildmaster to the ground and pinned him there, by his now-skewered shoulder.

"Mmm. I knew these would come in handy someday." Daniels' opponent murmured, withdrawing a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from between her breasts. She promptly pulled one from the pack, before tucking the rest back away, and lit it. Smirking down at the bleeding Guildmaster, she flicked the ash down into his face triumphantly.

"Nngh... What do you want, Fillian?"

"Oh, nothing much." She pulled on the cigarette again, puffing smoke down at her captive. "Just stop getting in my way, that's all. Say... Aren't cyborgs supposed to be superior to us 'regular' humans?" She pulls her heel from Daniels' shoulder, kicking the blood off before setting it back down with an echoed "clank."

"Not all of us, apparently." Jack struggled to his feet, a hand clutching his mangled shoulder. Cybernetic implants were clearly visible beneath the flesh, sparking and flashing with damage. "What do you really want, Jess?"

"I already told you. Stay out of my way."

"So long as your path doesn't conflict with the interests of the Core, you won't have any issues at all. But, I am your guildmaster, and if we want to win, we need to work together, like it or not."

"Win? It looks like I'm already winning. The war, this fight, this argument..." She intended to go on, though she was ever so rudely interrupted by a flying kick straight to the jaw. Rather than dodge the blow, however, Jess chose a rather more unorthodox strategy. Accepting the blow straight to the face may have been painful, but it set her up for a brutal counter. With a howl of effort and excruciating pain, Jess wrapped her tree-like arms around the smaller mans legs, and drove him face-first into the shattered glass and splintered wood below. A second, muffled cry filled the bridge of the Terminus Est, and the sharp splinters and razor shards pierced Daniels' flesh, scraping against bone and metal. With considerable effort, the Guildmaster struggled away from the Butcher, his face pocked and torn, before surveying the scene.

"Nngh... I think I need a new spleen..." Jess' 'commander' moaned out, plucking shards of glass from his face, blood dripping down his brow, before turning his attention to the giantess now standing above him. Her jaw was set an an exceedingly awkward angle, bone stretching her once-fair skin taut. Blood poured from between her lips like a river, a tooth occasionally floating down like a raft.

"Hyou... Bihch..." The woman before Daniels moaned out, slowly raising a hand to her jaw. The creak of stressed bone was soon drowned out by another scream as she pushed her hand upwards, forcing her jawbone back into its socket. Jess grit her teeth through the pain, flailing her head back and forth, spraying trails of blood across the bridge.

The Guildmaster winced slightly, a splatter of the red liquid landing across his face. "I have an offer for you, Jess. Task force... Ehrgeiz, or whatever is left of it." The cyborg backpedaled a few paces, distancing himself from the raging woman opposite him. "In exchange you work with me for the common goals of the Core. Not for me... But with me."

Fillian's eyes burned with hatred, the lighting turning her into a dark silhouette of her normal self. "How do I you're... Nngh..." She craned her neck to the side with an audible crack, repeating the movement in the other direction. "Not just going to stab me in the back? Why shouldn't I just end you right now?"

"Erik trusted you for some reason, and he had an eye for talent." Daniels' hefted the massive flak vest from the floor, examining it intently. "He wasn't always right, but you're still here. That's a start." With a grunt of effort, Jack hurled the vest towards Jess, following up with a charge towards her legs. Unfortunately, the man stumbled a few feet away from the giantess, making a half-hearted sweep at her legs.

The hulking woman was taken by surprise at the throw, though she easily batted the vest out of the air with a hand. She wasn't so lucky with the leg strike, and her previously advantageous heels now betrayed her, the lack of grip to the deck sending Jess tumbling to the floor. Taking advantage of the situation, Daniels lept forward, dropping a knee onto Jess' stomach, before retreating once more. "Herschel, the Eagles, the Valyries, Laptev and Hydra... Come on, Jess. I need an answer before you bleed to death."

Jess' reply was simple and succinct: "I can't trust you."

"Give me the benefit of the doubt."

"Why should I?"

"Because all I do, I do for the Core."

"And all I do, I do for myself. It's a dog-eat-dog world, Guildmaster."

"Fair enough, but the world didn't give you a warship. The Core did, and the world isn't supplying you with provisions for that ship, either."

Daniels leaned back against one of the bridge walls, nursing a few of his leaking wounds. Seizing the opportunity, Jessebelle bounded forward, pressing her elbow against the smaller man's neck. She felt his neck straining against the force, eyes going wide. "And it sure as hell isn't going to take it away." She retorted gruffly, pressing down with even greater intensity. A tap on her side drew Jess' attention for a moment, and when she returned her attention to Daniels, he was wearing a victorious smirk.

"Tooth... Ahhhnd... Nail." He croaked, bringing a knee up into Jess' now unprotected crotch. Almost immediately, the towering woman went stark white, her once-steady breathing turning to a pained wheeze. The pressure on Daniels throat lessens slightly, just enough for him to speak. "No one is taking anything away from you, get that through your thick skull. I want you to understand I'm trying to help you!"

"I don't..." Jess inhales a slow, rattling breath. "Want your help."

"But I want yours."

"Lots of... Hhhn... People want lots of things from mheee... They get them when I give them..."

"I can't win this war with you as a rogue variable, Jess. You're the Nightmare of Delta, mothers scare their children and husbands with you. I want you fully on board with the cause!" The Guildmaster reels back one of his arms, planting a punch square in Jess' nose.

"Nngh! You misunderstand me, Danny! I'm onboard with your 'cause,' so long as the cause of the Core aligns with my own!" The giantess returns the favor, raking a fist across the Guildmaster's face with a sickening crunch.

Daniels spat a tooth on the deck, it bouncing around with a soft 'tink.' "What are your goals, Jess? Tell me."

Fillian glared down at her fist, knuckles leaking blood. "A world where those with ambition reign." Once again, she strikes Daniels in the face, bone and metal beginning to give way to her onslaught. "Not just ambition, but a god-given right! Look at me, standing toe-to-toe with the best human science has to offer!"

Azrael lands another blow, this time to Jess' liver.
"Nobody is going to give you a thing unless you work for it!"

A mix of spit and blood trails down Jessebelle's chin and onto the floor. "Why shouldn't I lead? Why shouldn't I rule?" A brutal uppercut impacts Daniels' chin, knocking another tooth loose. "All I see bows before me! ME!"


"You think I wanted this? Years of getting shot and clobbered and beaten by all sorts of power hungry mongrels? Getting turned into this robotic abomina-..."
His monologue was abruptly cut short as Jess' forehead impacted his nose, the appendage crumpling under the strain.

"No, shut up! SHUT UP! I'm the EMPRESS! Your problems aren't mine, I don't want to hear about them!"

"And I'm the goddamn Guildmaster of the Core! Your problems are MY problems!" Daniels reels in pain as Jess takes him to the ground, straddling his chest as she lands blow after vicious blow all over his head and neck. Skin begins to peel off his metallic skeleton, the metal ripping flesh from Fillian's knuckles.

"I don't need your help! You need me! You need ME!"

Daniels wraps his fingers around one of the legs belonging to the nearby desk, forcibly introducing it to the side of Jess' skull. "We... Need... Eachother! I can't put an end to the Zoners without you, and you can't do it without me!"

Jess rocks with each blow, blood pouring from her ear, arms limp at her sides. As she regains composure, she slowly slides her hands around Daniels' neck, squeezing it tightly. "You're not proving anything to me, Jack, except that you're still... A failure."

At that moment, Daniels eyes lit up with a bluish glow, not unlike the engines of the Perditrix. It continually grows in intensity, until the entire bridge of the Terminus Est is bathed in blue. The Guildmaster easily pushes the hulking woman off of him and onto her back, before standing.
"You don't seem to understand me, Jess. I want you to keep doing what you're doing, and double... No, triple your efforts. " Jess slowly backed away from the glowing figure, leaving a trail of blood along the deck.
"You will be rewarded."

"I don't want a reward! I don't want your help, I don't want to share in your problems!"

"The Freeport, or whatever's left of it, will be yours, to do with as you please."

"I don't want your sympathy, I don't want your compassion! I don't want your goddamn Freeport! I swore no oath to you, I hold no loyalty to you! I pledged my allegiance to Erik, not some pitiful excuse for a diplomat!"

"Moment of truth, Jess. Tell me what you want. What will make you obey my authority?" Daniels said coolly, peeling the skin from his fingers, revealing the sharp steel beneath.

Jess' hand snuck around to the small of her back, fingers wrapping tightly around the handle of her brutally-large knife. "I'll tell you what I want, Daniels. It's simple." All at once, Fillian surged forward, pulling the blade from its sheath. The edge was wickedly serrated, and some of the teeth were missing entirely. "I want your goddamn head!" The giantess swung the blade in long, sweeping arcs, the edge biting deeply into anything it encountered: curtains, tables, consoles, flesh, bone, and steel.

"Are you with us?!" Daniels retorted, lunging forward with his skinless hand, plunging it into Jess' gut. "Or are you against us?!"

In response, she brought the pommel of the machete down onto his head, dragging the blade across his face, her free hand now clutching the bleeding wound in her stomach. Beyond her clutching grip, Jess seems unfazed by the wound, still wildly brandishing her blade. "There is no 'us!' There is no 'we!"

"Answer the question!" The Guildmaster shouted, blood and blue lubricant pouring from the gash in his face. "Or that'll be the last question you ever leave without an answer!" He rips a pipe from the wall, swinging it in front of himself slowly.

Jess' only response was a bestial roar as she charged forth once more, frothing at the mouth like a rabid animal. Innards were clearly visible between her fingers, and blood poured from the wound like a waterfall.

Daniels deflected numerous quick blows from the knife, striking the beserking Amazon whenever he gained an opportunity. "Swallow your ego, Jess! Accept the offer, you don't have much longer!" Despite deflecting most of Fillian's blows, Jack finds himself backed against the wall once more. All at once, a searing, white hot pain penetrates his gut and out his back, Jess' blade sticking solidly into the steel behind. In the few milliseconds he had, Daniels angled the pipe against the wall and towards Jess, driving it into her lungs, the tip exiting at the back of her shoulder.

"I won't be your subordinate. I'll die first..." Jess wheezed out, her breath now coming in quick, ragged gasps. "But I will stand as your equal."

"You know the rules, Jessebelle. There is only one Guildmaster. I can give you the task force, the Freeport, but I will take us both to hell before I give up my throne to you."

Jess' free hand hung limply at her side, intestines spilling from the gash in her stomach like rope off a spool, landing on the deck in a bloody, slimy pile. "Then we... Should get to walking. It's a long way to meet Morta." With one last heave of effort she leaned in and wrapped her jaw around Daniels' neck, biting down with bone crushing force. The Guildmaster tried to choke out a scream, but with his throat crushed, not a single sound escaped. In a last-ditch effort, he twisted the pipe rammed into Jess' lungs, widening the hole in her chest, though the giantess tightened her grip. Eventually, however, her strength began to wain. With the rip of flesh, she fell backwards to the deck with a resounding thump, a wad of meat and bone clutched in her teeth, before going silent.

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