Masquerade > Jack Spades

[Lucky]

**Wrote this a long time ago, inspired by MaSu's song Ghost and SIDology Episode II: Trinity These stories do not link and I wrote these just developing Spades as a character so these are just to get to know what the character is like**

**FIRST SPADES STORY**

Returning, was a greater pain than the one that rested deep within Spades’ heart. He had learned to harden his heart to keep the pain within. While this pain was like a fresh wound. Red and bleeding. The skies were their normal grey color. Spun around like a light wool cloth had been laid across the sky to prevent the magnificent blue that hovered above it. The sun barely shined through and it cast eerie shadows along the ground as if it were only a moon.

Answers is what he sought. Once a place he thought was going to be a fresh start. A comfortable place. Where he could get the help and guidance he needed. A full scholarship, a college of caring people, and a wonderful environment. The mountains. All this eroded into a nightmare. A city of hell spawn surrounded by nearly impassable mountains. When Spades’ left, he vowed to never return.

But low and behold, he stood beside the crumbling stone building that was his dorm. And it was exactly the way it was back then. Beat up, shabby, and eroding. Lies was a big part of this school as well. Because when the students would walk around, they wouldn’t see a half-crumbling wreck. They’d see a pristine school surrounded by a lush mountain range.

Spades could remember the pain, the searing pain, of his inhibitor chip malfunctioning in his head. The horror of having the beautiful scene in front of him melt away. To see that everything that you had been through was a lie. A façade. But Spades could see no sign of any new students. In a since he didn’t want to. Half the horror of leaving was exposing the rest of his friends to the truth, he couldn‘t go through that again. The looks on their faces like a veil falling from their eyes. It was too much for Spades to go through again. Walking up past the cafeteria he headed by the science building and towards the women's dorm.

Everyone had walked around with a neon green glow in their eyes. The only sign their inhibitor chip was working. So many tried to escape. Pretty much the entire freshman class. Some of his friends had escaped with him, others were left behind, and some were killed. Out of the ones left behind, the only one he was focused on was Laura.

The professor’s daughter that he fell in love with. She was the first person he went to. After he was ‘awakened’. She knew, about everything. Her father was the leader. Professor Dominick, he was responsible and the cause of the nightmare. It not only angered Spades, it made him cling to Laura more. To protect her. With much struggle at the end of the escape, she was captured. She got left behind.

So quiet, Spades thought. He wondered what happened to everyone that was left here. Did they die? Were they killed and new students brought in? What did Dominick do with Laura? Could she still be here? The questions flew through his mind like a whirlwind. Is Dominick still here? Is anyone…still here?

CLANK!

Spades backed against a wall. Through the grey murkiness, he saw someone walking. He could now tell why there was a loud clank. It was someone in full fledged armor. But not big heavy armor. This armor seemed crafted so well that it formed to their body perfectly. As he watched the person walked across the courtyard they stopped. Spades stopped breathing. The armored head turned and looked straight in his direction. Even from that distance he could see bright green eyes. But they didn’t stay that way for long, they immediately went red, and a bone chilling almost metallic scream filled the air.

He knew that he had been spotted. Instead of running, he ran towards the person in the armor. From behind his cloak, he unsheathed his sword. Spinning it gracefully in his hand he made his way towards the person. With a twist of the sword’s hilt, the blade buzzed with life. Soon a surge of electrical energy beamed up and down the sword. The armored person raised their hand and suddenly Spades found himself dodging rays of bullets.

Jumping into the air, Spades concentrated on a good breaking point on the arm that was dishing out bullets. With his downfall and swift swing of the electric sword he pierced through the armor. An ear tearing sound of grinding metal and electronic sparks. Another metallic scream filled the air as Spades touched ground behind the armored person. As he twisted his feet and spun around on the ground to face the person, Spades watched the arm fall to the ground. No blood.

“Not…human?” Spades’ thought, “Dom’s become creative since I left.”

The arm he struck was sparking and limp, now useless. The androids were obviously working for Dominick. Not only that, but they were in Spades’ way to getting the truth. This time it charged him. Diving, it pummeled Spades to the ground in a heap of dust. Spades felt every grain and rough spot on the concrete as his back was pushed down and across it. Looking up into the robot’s red eyes, it gave another horrible metallic scream.

“Is that all you can do? Scream?” Spades said and punched the thing in the face. He heard a clunk as it’s head twisted sideways and the robot fell off him. Spinning in the opposite direction, Spades was able to jump up and pull out his Mag 60 at the same time. With accuracy and precision, Spades shot nearly fifteen bullets into the robot’s head.

Sparks, metal chunks, and dark liquid spewed forth from it’s head as it fell back into the dead grass of the courtyard. Spades stretched feeling pain all up his back. He readied his gun and walked closer to the robot. The explosion on the ground looked like brain matter and skull pieces had been strewn across the courtyard. But it was just chips, parts, and oil.

“Five bullets left.” Spades checked the clip. Luckily his cloak had many compartments. Some of which he stored extra clips. He knew before, when he tried to escape it was just a matter of making it through the professor’s traps and beating down psychotic scientists. Now it seems he’s built robots to guard the place. He either doesn’t want anyone coming in, or doesn’t want anyone getting out. He bent down and looked the robot over. Something was branded on the left side of it’s breastplate. DOM34.

“DOM34?” Spades said almost with amusement, “Dom…maybe Dominick wasn’t as creative as I thought.”

Putting his gun away and turning off his sword. Spades continued to trek through the campus. Standing in front of the women’s dorm, he looked up at it’s brown stone walls. Their dorm was so much bigger than the men’s. Spades now knew why, because of how sick the bastard of a professor he was. Opening the doors, he headed inside. Laura…was all he thought. The whole campus was a fake. The lies about a president leaving the school, there was no president. Dominick was in charge. The stuff he did to innocent teens. To men and women. It made Spades’ stomach cringe. Mary and Granvil, two professors. Even they were tricked into this façade, thinking they were teaching at a real college. Spades remembered how those two professors gave their lives to help a few students escape.

The hallway was dark, cold, and quiet. The door to the stairway nearly fell down as he opened it. Cautiously he scaled the rusty stairs to the fourth floor. Thinking of Laura the entire way up. Her short blonde hair. Her milky white skin. Her beautiful smile, when she showed it. And her blue eyes. Those sad blue eyes. No matter how much she pretended to be happy all Spades could see in her eyes was sorrow. Only a couple of times did he see them glisten with happiness. When she was with him. The only comforting thing Spades found at the college was her. She was so delicate. Physically and emotionally. He was her knight and she was his princess. When everyone thought she was lying about the school, making up stories. Spades stood up for her. And when they found out the truth, and found out that she knew everything, they revolted against her. Spades stood up for her. Right at the pinnacle of their escape she was left behind. As Spades reached for her hand as their ship was taking off. A person in their group jumped out and tackled her. They hated her that much, that one of them stayed behind to ensure she did not escape. Ever since that day, Spades tortured himself. For not doing more. For not jumping out of the ship to help save her. To find another way out with her. He thought himself…a failure.

Finally he had reached the fourth floor. The corridor was all too familiar. Sixth door on the left side. Standing in front of the door, there was something different. The door, it looked, new. Unlike the rubble and wreckage of the rest of the dorm. It looked like it did when his inhibitor chip worked. When it was fake. Was it a trick or a play on his imagination? His hand started to shake as he turned the door knob and slowly opened the door. With a slight creaking noise it was open. Emotion like a wave crashed and washed down Spades’ spine. Her room was perfect. The bed, the dressers, and the desk. Everything…was like it used to be.

“What the hell?” Is all Spades could say. He walked around. The desk even had a light that was working. A necklace laid across a jewelry box. It had a black chain with the a pendant in the center. The symbol of the dragon. It was Spades’ necklace. He picked it up and ran his fingers over the links in the chain and gently rubbed the symbol. He had to fight back tears. Painful memories overwhelmed him.

Everything was here. There were drawings tacked on the walls. His drawings. Drawings he made for her. He had forgotten his old passion. Art. Drawings of mountains, of Laura, and of butterflies. The best of them all was tacked in the middle of the wall. A near perfect sketch of Laura. He ran his fingers across the picture. Tracing the lines of her face and neck. He felt power in the pencil marks. He felt love.

Turning around he exited the room. Half crying and half furious. She was still here somewhere, he knew. Somehow Dominick had let her stay. Spades vowed right there he would not fail again. He would find her and he would rescue her. As he stomped down the corridor to the stairs, a dark figure walked out of the stairway door. Spades stopped. The figure turned and looked at him. Red eyes flashed and zoned in on him like two laser sights.

Another DOM. This one had black armor. Spades clenched his fists and charged it, “Where is he!?”

His punch was precise and would have been on target if it weren’t for the DOM’s quick reflexes. It easily dodged his attack and then slammed the flat of it’s metallic hand into Spades’ back. Sending him flying past the stairway door and down the corridor.

“Damn it! And you pack a punch,” Spades spun around and looked up at the DOM. It was not attacking him as the silver one did. But instead, it just stood there, looking down on him, “Where is Professor Dominick? Where is Dom!?” Spades screamed.

* * *

There are couple of short blips I wrote about Spades. I'll post them in replies after this one.

[Lucky]

**SECOND SPADES STORY**

The surface was busy with citizens out and about on their Saturday night activities. Going shopping, watching movies, and eating out at fancy broad street restaurants. Spades had gotten used to the slum life below the hustle and bustle. Quiet, in it’s own right. The dripping of condensation off pipes, the soft sound of people above, and how all the lights below were blue and white. Casting an eerie slate blue glow throughout every corridor.

Just before the Red 5 sector, Spades hideaway was close to the local assassin’s guild base, the Shadow Harbingers. Like everyone else, he simply called them the Shadows. Ridcon was one of many cities that had grown so much that they built on top of one another. Stacked in a way. There were levels below what was considered the slum that Spades hadn’t even ventured down. But there’s someone or something living on every level of Ridcon.

During the last Faction war, Red 5 lost to the overwhelming power of Ridcon’s new government: The Flame. Now Red 5, along with all it’s levels below were cut off from the other sectors of Ridcon. Soon the criminals and outcasts found a new home in Red 5. Without rules accept if they tried to get back into any of Ridcon’s sectors, they’d be executed on sight.

Another reason Spades likes having Shadows as friends. They were the only guild in control of the breaks in Red 5’s wall. The Shadow Harbingers were the people to talk to if you wanted in or out of Red 5. But they don’t just let anyone through, because to get through the breaks in the wall, you have to get through their base. And in order for that to happen, you must be trusted amongst certain Shadow members.

Spades was a walk away from the first Shadow entrance. The underground corridors glowed with murky blue light. Spades pulled his long red hair back into a ponytail. Then he checked his inventory. Dual Mag 60’s in holsters on his hips, sword sheathed on his back, daggers lining the inside of his cloak, and several health tabs in case the night got rough. Once he felt ready he walked down the corridor towards the door. He knocked three times. A computer screen flashed on and a face appeared.

“Break the cycle,” Spades said. The face disappeared and a hissing sound filled the air. Steam rolled out from the door as it opened. Spades walked through.

As the door closed behind him the man behind the door was already sitting back at his post. Putting out a cigar and letting out a thick cloud of smoke he smiled, “Back again Spades? Is this trip business or pleasure?”

“I don’t plan on losing any more money tonight David, I have business tonight.”

“Ah,” David said shuffling a deck of cards, “let me know after you’re done if you want to play a round.”

Spades nodded and walked away. The light changed from blue to a pinkish red. Neon lined the top of the corridors here and soon the narrow walkway expanded into a large room. From here there were a lot of really small doors that went in to different buildings. At the far end of the room was the way to one of the wall breaks and where Everett was on patrol. A Shadow friend of Spades.

Each building had a different color strand of neon running along it. The green building was the pub, the blue building was a meeting hall, the red building was a shop, and the yellow building led to dorms. He always liked watching the color change as he walked between the buildings. As he approached the end of the room the door opened. A tall man with brown hair stepped out. A gun in one hand and a dagger in the other.

“You’re late,” he said.

As Spades walked passed him and into the room he said, “Nice to see you to Everett.”

The lighting changed back to the murky blue and Spades walked over to the door that would lead him out to Red 5. Everett closed the door behind him and walked up to Spades.

“Have you thought about getting here early? That way your not so close to just getting by the government’s patrols?” Everett asked.

“Just start counting down.”

“Alright,” Everett looked at his computer. Soon numbers started up at 10 seconds. Everett started to countdown the numbers and Spades opened the door, “6...5...4...3...2...1...NOW!”

Spades jumped through the door. Just passed the door was a small gap just big enough for a body to fall down unless he or she was looking carefully. After that it was about one hundred feet or so until the break in the wall to Red 5.

Spades ran towards the open section in the wall. As he made his way closer, the government search team started their round again. Spotlights started to beam everywhere. Spades ducked and dodged them. And as he was just about to slide under the open gap a large spotlight beamed down right over it. Skidding to a stop Spades stopped right at the edge of the light. He remained motionless in front of the ray. Holding his breath he waited to see what would happen.

He could hear voices above, “Do you see anything?”

“I thought I saw some dust kicking up.”

“Eh, don’t worry about it, just turn it off, let’s get back to our cards.”

The spotlight vanished and Spades exhaled. He turned back and saw Everett and gave him a nod and a smile. Then he slid under the break.

Now Spades was in a new world. Cut off from Ridcon, Red 5 wasn’t expanded any higher. And so it was just as run down as where Spades lived, but open above to the sky. Many nights he had slept under different skies on many different planets. And it’s one reason he didn’t like such an advanced planet as Machina. So many machines and lights, you couldn’t even see the stars. Not even from an abandoned sector.

All the was above was a moon and darkness. Even the moon seemed like a blurry white dot. But it was enough to light the ground. Spades had a mission. Even though the Faction Wars were over, there was still fighting going on between people in Red 5. There were now 4 factions divided in Red 5. The first are the Crows, a group of people dedicated to conquering and having everyone under their rule and their restrictions. Anyone apposing them were to die. The second are the Zephyrs, a peaceful faction trying to survive on their own and not cause any trouble. The third was the Shadow Harbingers, they still had a faction fighting within Red 5. All the Shadows in Red 5 are trying to do is make it back into Ridcon into the safe zone. The fourth are the Lost Angels, a group of citizens trying to break out of Red 5 into Machina and escape to another city.

The Crows are the overpowering force here. They are keeping the Shadows from entering Ridcon and the Lost Angels from escaping out of Ridcon completely. And they have the Zephyrs backed into a corner and control them with fear.

Spades did not like to get himself mixed up in others affairs. But he had made friends with many Shadow members and had now become somewhat emotionally attached. And some of those friends went out into Red 5 to help get the rest of the Shadows into the safe zone. It had been past due for their return and they had missed two check backs with Everett. Now Spades wanted to go into the fray and find out what was going on. Everett fears the worst, especially since the Crows had turned on the Shadows with full force.

Spades thought back to his conversation with Everett, “They won’t know what hit them.”

“What do you mean? Your going up against an entire faction Spades. I don’t think they have much to fear from you.”

“And that’s going to be their downfall, they will underestimate me. But mark my words if any Shadow member is dead when I reach that base. The Crows will be burning in Hell.”

Spades had ventured into Red 5 many times and knew it’s streets well. He always thought the Crows would start up something. Especially with talk in the underground of the Shadow’s plans of returning to the safe zone and the Lost Angels of leaving Ridcon. Now was the perfect time for them to strike and take the factions into their own. The Crows were ex-military to Ridcon’s old government and were probably trying to turn Red 5 into an army to assault Ridcon and take back the old government. As far as Spades was concerned everything was fine and all he cared about was his friends. And God help anyone that gets in his way.

He knew that the abandoned train yard was a back entrance to the Shadow’s base. Figuring that the Crows didn’t know about it, that it would be his best bet to getting inside and meeting up with the Shadows. Sticking to the dark and back alleyways, Spades avoided the usual ambush of the local Red 5 bandits. The only thing that cost Spades with encountering a bandit was time. And time is what he didn’t have.

Passing through streets of abandoned businesses and apartments he ended up at the train yard. Train cars spread out everywhere. Some on rail and some off. In the middle next to the station was a huge pile of wrecked cars. It looked beautiful in the pale moonlight. Spades walked through the wreckage and to the far end of the train yard. As he reached his destination, he heard gunshots and clashing metal. Picking up his pace he turned a corner to see a small unit of Crows battling with some Shadows.

Among the Shadows Spades could see someone he recognized. A woman with short black hair and studded gauntlets. She looked all to small for the heavy weapon, but she punched and swung with ease as if they were nothing more than leather gloves. Her name was Galia and just as she saw Spades she stopped fighting. The look across her face was as if she just saw and angel step down from Heaven. It was just enough time for one of the Crow soldiers to see her pause.

Before the Crow soldier could raise his gun to fire at her, a dagger whistled through the air and embedded itself in his temple. A spray of red shot out around him and the Crow soldier fell to the ground. Galia side stepped and paid attention to the fight again. There were two left.

“Stop!” Spades yelled to the Shadow soldiers. He flipped open one side of his red cloak and pulled out a Mag 60. Within seconds one of the two Crow soldiers was on the ground in a bloody pool. The last soldier freaked out and dropped his gun and started to run away. Spades turned around putting his gun back in it’s holster with one hand and pulling out a dagger with the other. As he turned completely three hundred and sixty degrees around he released the dagger and it lodged itself in the back of the Crow soldier’s leg. The soldier fell to the ground with a loud scream.

Spades walked over to Galia, “What’s the Crow’s leader’s name again?”

“Travis Grent,” she replied.

Spades started to walk over to the fallen soldier. As he did he removed his other dagger from the temple of the first soldier he attacked. Wiping the blood off he sheathed it back again. The Crow soldier was crawling away from him. Spades caught up quickly. Stepping on the dagger it sunk deeper into the soldier’s shin. He screamed and fell to the ground.

Spades walked in front of him and bent down, “Listen carefully you maggot. The only reason you are still alive right now is so you can worm your way back to your leader and tell him this. Your time is up and your days are numbered. This will be the day the Shadows will forever be remembered,” leaning over the soldier’s body Spades ripped his dagger out of his shin, “can you remember that soldier?”

The Crow soldier gritted his teeth and muttered, “Yes.”

“Good,” and Spades left the soldier to crawl away.

Spades noticed that Galia and the other Shadow soldiers were clothed in their signature Shadow uniforms. That meant only one thing, that they were at war. Usually the Shadows are very casual and wear regular clothes or whatever he or she in the guild chooses to wear. But when the guild is under attack they change into their Shadow uniforms. The reason behind this is to feel a sense of unity.

Galia sheathed her sword and ran up to Spades and hugged him, “God Spades it is so nice to see you! It’s be horrible here, you have no clue what’s been going on. The Crows have invaded the compound and the main base is trying it’s best to hold it’s own. All we have is one barricade left,” she gasped, “I went out this way to see if this could be a way to escape and then we were attacked.”

“Calm down Galia, take a breath. Why didn’t you all use this exit sooner? Get out of here while you could?”

Galia took several breaths then looked up into Spades’ eyes, “We thought we could take them. You know us,” she smiled, “we’re cocky fighters,” she looked down and sighed, “we are no match for them Spades, no match at all.”

Spades pulled her away from him and looked back at the exit door, “Tell me, how loyal is the Crow army to their leader Travis?”

Galia looked at him questioningly then answered, “About half follow him and the other half don’t. The half that doesn’t are from factions they’ve conquered and the only reason they fight is because they don’t want to die.”

“That’s what I thought,” Spades started to walk to the exit door to enter the Shadow territory.

“What are you planning Spades?” Galia asked running after him.

“I’m going to eliminate the source to our problem. I’m going to kill Travis and end this pointless battle.”

Galia rushed in front of him and put her hands against his chest stopping him in his tracks, “Do you know how many men are under Travis’ control? Do you know how many are probably guarding him? This is a suicide mission Spades!”

“How many does he really have?”

“Too many.”

“How about after he’s dead? We’ll see how many still fight for his absurd cause then.”

Galia looked down and sighed again, “There’s no stopping you.”

“There’s no stopping this madman Galia,” Spades said, “and there’s no telling how long your barricade can hold and then we’ll have a serious problem.”

Galia looked up into his eyes, trying to read his emotion. He was such an odd person, emotionally that is, to her. One moment his completely quite and uncaring about anything or anyone and now his completely passionate in helping her and her guild. She stepped out of his way, “Through that door is only one path and that leads to our barricade. Past that is the Crow army. After that is your target, good luck Spades,” she walked by him and rested a hand on his shoulder and then continued to walk away.

[Lucky]

**THIRD SPADES STORY**

“What a desolate waste this is. An advanced world…planet, so wretched in it’s own growth. There’s no use in caring about old visions. This planet will never remember those whispers hopes and dreams,” said Spades. Only a select few know of his real name. To the acquaintances, enemies, lords, and emperors, he is Spades. Being a feared, respected, and most the time hated…adventurer. Holding no class and no profession. Coming and going as he pleased.

Machina was the only planet he knew of that he could be safe. He was stars away from other planets with friends and havens. But even as massive as Machina was, he was still in danger. Guilds from several continents had been hired to take him out. Knowing the guilds that were after him, he knew that it had to be some outside force behind the hunting. These guilds he had no quarrel with, nor had he made them enemies. These were bounty hunter guilds, always willing to take out their own family for money. But who was after him? It had been a while since he last pissed of someone in the government.

Spades took up refuge in Grandius a western continent on Machina. Liberated and free country as they said. They say that about all of Machina. But there’s always an undercurrent of control. Salt air seemed like a good remedy for him. So he sought the thickly populated region of Ridcon. Tall skyscrapers, buzzing lights of all colors, layers of class diversity, and right on the shore of the Verrana.

A beautiful sunset reflected of Spades’ sunglasses. His long crimson red hair fell down around the lenses and ended at the sides of his unshaven face. Taking another drag off his cigarette he flicked it out in to the air. The cherry went left, the butt went right, and Spades turned around towards the sidewalk.

Even though he knew where he was at, he still liked to look up at the road signs. He was in the Red District and getting ready to turn down Shallow Bay Lane. One of many people that attached to him, called him a friend, was Galia. Her apartment was down this road. She was very gifted guitar player. Below her apartment was her music shop. Galia made, sold, and repaired guitars.

Passing through the people, Spades made his way to the Troubadour. The building was three stories tall. The exterior looked like old rusted metal. In between the alleyways, Galia had put up long narrow flags. Created by a local artist, it had music notes, guitars, and dancing people all down it. The flags blew back and forth in and out of the alley as Spades approached Galia’s house. Walking up to the door it slid open with an electronic hiss.

Being such a small door, Spades had to walk in almost sideways because of his long sword sheathed across his back. He slid in fast and took his glasses off. His hazel eyes scanned the dimly lit room as he took in a breathe. The smell of wood and smoke is what he smelt. A faint hint of incense hit him as he walked forward. Galia was in the back with a guitar on a work table. She was plucking each string and tuning it. Her senses were keen and she did not need any tools to tune an acoustic.

“It sounds good.” Spades said as he approached the table.
Galia plucked another string and listened to the note. As the string rang correctly and started to fade she began to smile. Then she looked up at Spades with her piercing blue eyes. She was wearing tan overalls with a white tank top under it. She had a black bandanna on her head and goggles on top of that. Several strands of her black hair had fallen in front of her face. She looked like she had been working all day. She put her elbows on the table, folded her hands, and blew the strand to the side of her face. “It’s all ready for pickup. Strings fixed, guitar tuned, and ready to be played again.”

Spades sat across from her and ran his fingers over the worn wood, “Through all the ages, the acoustic has remained the same. A classic, truly holding the test of time.”

Galia nodded, “As well as the sword.”

Spades smiled.

“I’m glad you came by, I was afraid you’d cancel again.”

“Well, I do have to eat.”

Galia rolled her eyes, “You just came here for food, I see.”
Spades looked at her and grinned, “That’s not all, I get to see a very attractive chef fix said food.”

Galia got up, walked over to Spades, and put a hand on his shoulder, “This chef won’t be attractive until she’s had a hot shower.”

Spades leaned against her hand and looked up at her, “Could I assist the chef?”

Galia leaned down and whispered in his ear, “Maybe next time,” and then Spades felt a slight prick of a dagger on his throat.

Spades laughed and shrugged. As he turned to get up Galia had already concealed the knife, it was as if she didn’t even have one. Galia’s apartment didn’t have stairs but a platform that traveled between floors, like an elevator. She walked over to it and Spades followed.

She studied Spades as they started to ride the platform upward to the third floor. He always looked like he was holding something back, keeping something dark inside him. And since she was an assassin, she was used to covering up her emotions. Not letting anyone inside. Especially not close to the heart. Besides the usual aura of underlying sorrow, there was something else. A different kind of pain marked his eyes. Strangely as little Spades trusted anyone, including her, she trusted him greatly.

“Is there something wrong Spades?” Galia asked as the platform stopped at the third floor. Four bracers locked, securing the platform.

Spades looked over at her and paused for a moment. They both stepped down and into the room of the third floor. The first floor was the shop. The second floor was more or less a storage room. And the third floor was Galia‘s living quarters. The first thing you see when you leave the platform is the den. A long narrow room that has bookcases lining most of the walls. In the empty spots weapons adorned the walls. At the far end was a couch and patio doors that led out to a balcony. Then to the right at the end of the room was a door leading to the second half of the third floor which was the eating area, kitchen, and Galia‘s bedroom.

“Anxious, I guess,” Spades responded.

“Oh come on Spades, my cooking isn’t as bad as some people say.”

“No, it’s not that.”

Galia looked at him, trying to figure out what he was thinking. Then she shrugged and decided to let it go and not pry. She admired Spades and cared for him. She didn’t think that she showed it much, but she knew Spades had a good idea. She wanted to break down his walls so bad. She knew he didn’t trust many people and she hoped one day she could become one of those people he did trust.

“I’m going to take my shower now, make yourself comfortable on the couch. It may be a while.”

“No worries, you have plenty of books. And thankfully, they are all the types I like to read.” Spades said with a smile.

As she walked away she slipped off one shoulder strap of her work overalls and before they fell below her hipline, she had exited the room. Spades sighed and walked over to one of the bookshelves. As he scanned the many titles, he couldn’t bring himself to pick a book, he had to many thoughts running through his mind.

Night had finally come and the window seemed to glow with the city lights from outside. Spades made his way over to the far end of the room and sat down on the couch next to the window. Leaning back he started to rub his goatee. He wore a ring on his ring finger. He wasn’t married but it was a very special ring. It was warm, very warm. It wasn’t just a rumor, he thought, she is here, in Ridcon. This is proof, he took the ring off and turned it over and over in his hand. The warm feeling it emitted felt like hidden lightning bolts running through his hand and arm. He put the ring back on and then Galia returned. He didn’t think he had been thinking that long. But she had new clothes on and her hair was still wet.

Galia had a curious smile on her face, “I always catch you looking outside.”

“Nice view.”

“I’m sure…so I hear you’ve got a pretty big price on your head. I’m guessing the dinner conversation will be interesting?”

Spades grinned as he stood up, “Yes, I was wondering if you could help me.”

Galia approached him. She was wearing a white tank top, blue jean short shorts, and her black hair was a tangled mess around her face. She got right up under his chin and looked up at him. She decided to let her walls down and speak openly, “It’s hard to help someone I hardly know.”

Spades looked down at her, no emotion on his face, and he did not respond.

She stared right into his eyes, “Trust me Spades…please. I don’t know what has you so shut down. But I am not like any other random person on your quest or adventure. I’m not going to be just that girl that helped you on Ridcon before you left.”

Spades eyes shifted and the color in his irises changed. From hard to soft. She could tell what she said hit him. She leaned her head on his chest and put her arms around him, “Spades…do you know how long it’s been since I’ve let anyone this close to me? Do you know how much of myself I’ve given to you? And you don’t even consider me a close friend.”

As she wrapped herself around him, Spades felt his heart sink. He put his arms around her shoulders and pushed her back. She looked down and started to cry, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have even brought this up."

Spades put his finger under her chin and lifted her face up so he could see her eyes. Their sights locked. He leaned his head sideways as he wiped away her tears, “Galia, I will admit I’m a cold shell. I don’t want to live like this forever. But I feel like I’m bound to it. I have no way of releasing myself,” he pulled his ring off, “this ring…is only one of many symbols of my mistakes…of my failures."

“Then why wear it, why remember?”

“Because there are parts of me…parts that want to remember, to keep myself locked away. Parts that want to cast this bloody thing into the ocean and move on. And then there’s a part of me that wishes she would…” Spades stopped.

“…she?”

“Galia…when you touch me, I feel warmth inside again. I don’t feel cold anymore. I don’t know what this feeling is. I haven’t felt this way in ages. Only once when I was with,” he glanced at the ring in his hand, “her.”

Galia grabbed his hand and closed it. She looked up at Spades, “Don’t forget the good things in life. But don’t let your mistakes be the death of you. And don’t make them shut you down. Or close you out. Because when that happens,” she looked down, “you’ll miss opportunities to be happy again.”

Spades had a rush of feelings, emotions, and memories cycle through his mind. The storm of emotions had returned and he started to feel impulsive again, something he had trained himself not to do again. But he couldn’t help it. Galia was right in front of him. Willing to help him and he saw, salvation in her. He saw freedom. Maybe she was the one that would finally set him free from his past…to possibly help erase the memory of…her…

He moved closer to her, “Galia, tonight, I will tell you everything about my past, about my life. I do trust you and I want to be close to you. Will you exchange stories with me tonight over dinner?”

Galia grabbed his hand, “Yes…and then we can talk about what trouble you’ve gotten yourself in to this time.”

* * *

“How…how could you stand through all of that. I’d be locked up in a mental institute after all of that.” Galia said.

Spades tossed his ring on the table. It bounced and rolled between the now empty dinner plates, “That’s how.”
“Her…”

“Yes.”

“I see now,” Galia picked the ring up. She could feel a power resonating from it. She put it back on the table. She didn’t like the feeling it gave her, “your love and your hate is sealed in that ring, is it not?”

Spades looked at the ring for a while, then nodded.

Galia reached out and took Spades’ hands in hers, “You shouldn’t wear it. It powers those emotions. Don’t let it shut you down.”

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Picking up the ring he put it in his cloak pocket, “We’ll see Galia.”

“We’ve both shared our pasts, I hope you understand that you can trust me.”

“Yes Galia, I do.”

“Good, I care a lot about you. I’d step in front of a bullet for you. I hope you’d do the same for me. But besides that. I’m glad you’ve let me in. If not all the way, but enough. I won’t betray you. If I do, then my life is in your hands.

These guilds you spoke of. We’ve got to figure out who’s pulling the strings. We both know that these organizations are just assassins for hire. How are we supposed to figure out who’s looking for you? You’re not thinking of just raiding one of the guild’s bases are you?”

Spades smiled.

“No, that’s suicide. You can’t just throw yourself into a den of lions.”

“I’m not your everyday hero, or anti-hero for that matter. I’m going to get information and no one will stand in my way.”

Galia bit her lip, she still felt like she couldn’t openly object to Spades’ plans, “Where is the closest base?”

“The closest of the two guilds is the Ferrite Guild. The entrance to one of their many underground bases lies where Midtown ends and the slum district of Red 3 begins. It’s not heavily guarded because the Ferrite think it’s so well concealed, they won’t have to worry about an attack. But they don’t have to worry about the police, they have to worry about me.”

Galia looked down at her empty dish, “I’m guessing you’re going to want me to stay here?”

“And why would I want that? You’re a big girl.”

She looked up and gave him a smile, “And I can kick your ass.”

“Exactly why you make a good partner in a time like this.”

[Lucky]

**THE FIRST WRITING ABOUT THE CHARACTER 'JACK SPADES'**

*This is my favorite writing about Spades*

The ground hummed with radioactivity and the dead trees had an eerie green glow. The entire landscape seemed to radiate with it. The air felt thick like humidity but it’s only forty degrees. Simon Liam, the Jack of Spades, walks in front of a loaded Mag 60. Bradley Nelson holds the gun and presses it against Simon’s back.

“How much further Jack?” he says impatiently.

“Over the next hill,” Simon says looking briefly over his shoulder.

The dark green sky flashes a lighter shade as objects start falling through the atmosphere. Nearly blinding the two, several of the objects hit the ground sending tremors through the earth. The shining metal of the next object identifies them as missiles.

“The Faceless,” Simon says looking up at the barely visible airship, “they’ll be here soon.”

“What are the Uricks doing here? This is an abandoned sector.”

Simon just walked forward.

Over the next hill was another dark valley. Nothing out of the ordinary, just the same landscape they had been trekking on for the past hour. A small neon green colored stream ran along the bottom of the valley.

“Where is it Jack?” Bradley asked pushing the gun harder against Simon’s back.

“It must be over the next hill.”

“Damn it Jack, I’m tired of this!”

Before Bradley lost most of his temper the sound of The Faceless was heard landing nearby. Green mists still floated around spastically from the layer of clouds the airship had sunk below. Bradley clicked the safety on the gun and scratched his head nervously with the barrel.

“Down!” Simon yelled as he jumped on Bradley, pushing him to the ground. Just as they fell and rolled, a large yellow beam from a laser rifle hit the top of the hill. Earth and debris flew up into the air and rained down around them. Bradley was the first to rise.

“Stay here Jack, I’ll take care of them. I’m not leaving without the records from the pod.” Before Bradley walked three steps, he heard the click of a gun. Turning around a red laser met with the skin between his eyes.

“First,” Simon said, “There is no way you can take on a legion of Uricks by yourself, especially unarmed.”

Bradley grit his teeth.

“Second, do seriously think I’m going to let you come with me? You’ll be useless to me and prevent me from safely hiding. Finally, I’m doing you a favor,” Bradley closed his eyes and waited. Simon moved the red tracking laser to the shaft of Bradley’s right leg and shot. Bradley’s scream echoed around the valley and up the hills. He fell to his knees and held his bleeding leg.

Simon flicked the safety back on and slipped the Mag 60 in his gun holster. The shouts of the Urick’s could be heard off in the distance as another yellow laser beam missed Simon by inches and exploding a dead tree behind him into splinters. Without a second thought, Simon ran down the valley towards the green stream, leaving Bradley screaming curses behind.

Counting silently in his mind, Simon figured the Urick’s had already reached Bradley and were sending troops to advance. Once at the green stream, he noticed it was wider than he expected. And this was no ordinary water, it hissed and popped and seemed to be slowly eroding the ground around it. Hearing shouts behind him, Simon knew he had to take a chance or risk being outnumbered.

Backing up he set a path for a runway. Running as fast as he could, he reached the edge and jumped. His black cloaked flapped in the air and slipped into the toxic water as he rolled onto the other side. Catching fire almost immediately, Simon struggled in the cloak and shook it off. Leaving it behind, he made his way up the next hill.

Sure enough looking down at the top of the next hill, Simon could see the pod sticking into the ground where it hit. Running down next to it, Simon felt the cold steel. He followed the etchings and ran his fingers along the path he had memorized in his studies. Finding the right button, he pushed down on it.

The pod hissed and a small section of the etched maze slid open. Inside was a key pad. Pulling back his sleeve, Simon looked at the numbers tattooed on his left arm. 2-1-4-3-3-4-2, and the pod hissed again, this time releasing white steam. The top circled as if being unscrewed and fell off.

Rushing around and nearly slipping, Simon looked inside the pod. Inside was a small chip and a celpad. Picking up the two items, he bolted for the next hill. He knew the Urick’s would soon find another way around the stream and be on him. As he made his way up the next hill, he flipped open the celpad and dialed a number.

“Come on,” ring, “come on!” Due to the radioactive atmosphere, your call cannot be completed, “Piece of crap!” Containing his anger, Simon put the celpad into his jacket pocket along with the computer chip. Looking out over the horizon, he tried to figure out how to get out of the wasteland. Soon the ground shook again and a loud humming noise broke Simon’s concentration.

To his right at the drop off of a cliff, another airship rose. This one was smaller than The Faceless and it’s cockpit was open. A woman was in it and stood. She pulled out a laser rifle from beside her chair. It all happened in a split second, Simon rolling out of the way as the woman shot a yellow laser beam at him. And in that split second, Simon pulled out his Mag 60 and switched off the safety. Aiming it at her shoulder the red laser disappeared as he shot.

Blood splattered against the cockpit window as the woman bucked forward dropping her rifle. She rolled out on the ground and started coughing. Simon jumped up and ran towards the woman. Holding her head in his arm, he looked deep into her sapphire eyes.

“Why?” Simon asked.

The woman smiled and coughed again, “The things we do for money,” she said. Reaching up and pulled Simon to her, she kissed him. She laid back against his arm, “Even if it means hunting the one’s we love.” Then she closed her eyes and passed out. Simon picked up her body and stepped off the cliff and into the cockpit of the airship. Walking around the pilot’s seat, the door the cabin automatically slid open. Simon laid her down on a bed in the back of the cabin and gently fixed her wound.

Returning to the cockpit, Simon closed it and sat in the pilot’s seat. Pulling back slowly on the controls, he eased the airship away from the cliff. Just then, several Urick troops had made their way up the hill and started shooting at him. Pulling back a tab, black smoke emitted from the exhaust, leaving the Urick troops in a sea of black.

Simon piloted the airship up and into the dark green clouds. Steadily climbing, the airship broke out of the green clouds and into the darkness of the atmosphere with the stars sparkling above. Putting the airship on auto pilot, Simon pulled out the celpad and computer chip from his pocket. Flipping the celpad open, he pushed the redial button. This time it kept ringing.

Mac here, a voice said on the other end.

“I need you to copy this information, the chip is old, we need to convert it to a DVC.”

Got it.

Simon put the chip into an open slot on the airships computer and entered the ISP address for the other computer. A green loading bar signaled that the transfer was working and that it would take around fifteen minutes to download.

“Good job Mac, I’m in Sofia’s ship, so don’t be alarmed when I show up.”

Got it boss, should I clean the spare room for Sofia?

Simon walked back into the cabin and looked at Sophia sleeping. She was under a wool blanket and sweat beaded along her forehead. She trembled badly and moaned every so often, “Yes, and get the doc to meet us too.”

Roger that, and Simon flipped the screen down on the celpad.

[Korski]

Okay, so that fourth story was awesome, lol. I liked the third one a lot too. You have a knack for really making your characters seem alive. Just the right amount of emotion. I wish I could do that, lol.

My writing tends to be a bit stiff at times since I'm not much of an emotional person and that sort of comes out in my writing. I just have to work at it more.

Anyways, Spades is a really cool character! The kind of guy that gets things done, lol. I can see Sid being fairly similar in the long run. The personality will most likely deviate though. Maybe more goofy and cerebral.

It'll be interesting to see him thrown headfirst into our new world.

[meganh]

I love your writings [: You give them such detail!! I can't wait for your NEW ONE!!