Fourteen - Why You Shouldn't Mess Around With Roxanne

	I dropped by Mohammed's bunk to see how things were going. He was glad 
to see me and readily invited me in. "So how's the newbie?" he asked as we 
sat down to drinks.
	I laughed. "She's fine. It's Byrder I'm worried about. He's all ga-ga
over her. And she's got an iron trap for an attitude, so..."
	"Don't sweat it. Byrd boy'll hold his own."
	"Hey, who knows! Maybe he'll get laid!" We both laughed and tapped our
brewskis together. 
	"It's nice to see him happy, though."
	"Speaking of which, how's Roxanne doin'?"
	"I dunno. She hasn't been around recently."
	"Oh? Where she been off to?"
	"That's the strange thing about it. She just...disappeared."
	I grew a little worried. "It's not like her to do that. Do you think 
she's hurt?" As if on cue, the door open and in came Roxanne. She was 
bloody, her clothing was in tatters, and she was limping. She looked at 
Mohammed, gave a small cry, and collapsed. He went over to her aid. I went 
to go find Stephanie.

	"I don't know what to do man!" Mohammed cried. We were out in the hall
as Stephanie examined Roxy. "She's the world to me."
	"It's gonna be all right Mohammed," I reassured him. "Steph'll fix her
right up. I've got the others looking for anything that'll point us to her
assailants."
	"I just hope she's all right. She's the only one who loves me."
	I took a deep breath. "Don't panic."
	The door opened and Stephanie stepped out. "She's gonna be fine."
	Mohammed smiled and hugged her tightly. "Thank you Stephanie. I owe 
you big for this."
	She smiled and patted him on the back. "She's waiting for you now. Go
in and comfort her." He nodded and went inside. The door shut and Stephanie
shook her head. "I hope Roxy keeps quiet."
	I quirked a brow. "What?!"
	She sighed and sat down on a nearby bench. "Crash, come here and have
a seat. You should know about this too." I did as she asked. "You wouldn't
happen to have a cigarette on hand, would you?"
	I gasped. She didn't smoke, not even after sex. "What happened to 
Roxy?"
	"She has various black and blue marks all over her body." She held her
arms out. "She's got rope burns on both wrists, one about here..." She 
pointed. "And here. Same thing on her legs. She's got cuts all over her
breasts." 
	I growled low. "Is that all?"
	"Sadly, no. There were some...other wounds that Mohammed wouldn't like
to hear about right now."
	"What kind of wounds?"
	"She had some....marks....around her...." She motioned towards her 
rear. "And she was also..." She hesitated.
	"She was also what?"
	"RAPED?!" Mohammed's voice boomed. Everybody - technicians, guards, 
officers, grunts, Steph, and me - stopped whatever we were doing and looked.
There wasn't a single pair of clean underpants in the area.
	"Raped?!" Stephanie nodded sadly.
	"BY WHO?!" 
	We all shuddered. "Do you know who did it?"
	"No. She didn't say."
	"TONY?! I'll KILL THE MOTHA FUCKA!" Seconds later the door blew off 
it's hinges (which was weird considering it was an automatic sliding door)
and smashed into the wall opposite it. Mohammed stepped out, make a turn on
a dime, and started to walk straight for the mech bay. I got up and got in
his way. "Out of the way Crash."
	"Mohammed, stop. Tony's workin' with Leo. They'll tear you apart."
	"I don't care. I want Tony dead." He pushed me out of the way. 
	I smashed into a wall. He continued. I looked at the guards. "Restrain
him." They hesitated before grabbing him and pinning him to the wall. I 
peeled myself out of the wall and went over to him. "Mohammed, stay with
Roxy. Take care of her."
	"Crash-"
	"That's an order." He fell silent and stopped struggling. I rarely 
give orders. Not like the orders I usually give, I mean ORDER-orders. And in
those few cases where I do give an ORDER, nobody argues with it. "Let him 
go." The guards hesitated before releasing him. 
	He shut his eyes. "I'll kill Tony myself. But Roxanne needs me more."
He turned and went back into his quarters.
	One of the guards approached me. "You're gonna have to pay-"
	"Yes, I know. I'll send your commander a check." He nodded and I 
started for the mech bay.
	"Crash," Stephanie said. "Where are you going?"
	"To make a few alterations to one of my mechs. I'll be back before 
dinner."

	Harris was shocked to see me in the mech bay for the second time in 
one day. He knew something was up. "Crash, what's wrong?"
	"Roxanne just walked into her quarters a few minutes ago. She was 
bound, gagged, drilled in the rear, and raped."
	"Oh shit! Who's the guy who's gonna have to answer to Mohammed?"
	"Tony." 
	Everything in his arms dropped to the ground in a noisy clatter. 
"WHAT?!" He shook his head. "Please, Crash. Please tell me you're joking."
	"I'm afriad I can't say that."
	"Tony's workin' with Leo! Mohammed'll be killed when he goes after 
him."
	"Exactly. I need you to do a little revamping on my Dark Wolf."
	"Why?"
	"Mohammed's got orders to stay with Roxy until we work something out.
If I were dating Roxy, I'd do the same thing he's gonna do tonight. I want
to be ready to stop him, or at least help him, when he does."
	"Okay, what do you need done?"

	I checked in with Roxy and Mohammed after Harris set to work. I wanted
to make sure that my only good gun wound nurse was resting up. I stepped 
around the work crew repairing the door and found Mohammed sitting by the
bed, holding Roxy's hand. I slowly approached them. "How're you doing Roxy?"
I asked.
	She looked up at me. Tears started to stream down her face. "Crash, it 
was horrible," she cried. "I'm so scared!"
	I looked at Mohammed, who nodded sadly, and sat down on the bed. "It's
okay. I'm here. You're safe."
	She sobbed. "They tied me up. They made me do unspeakable things. They
beat me." She grabbed Mohammed's hand and wailed into it.
	"I don't know what to do Crash," he said. "I just want to go and kill
Tony."
	"Mohammed, you will do no such thing alone. You will get my help. You
will get Axen's help. You will get Byrder's help. And, lord help us if it
happens, you'll get the entire Lupus army's help. But right now, you should
comfort your girl."
	"Crash," she whispered.
	"Yes, Roxanne?" She started to say something, but cried instead. I 
felt sorry for her. I took one of her hands. "We'll pay him back. I promise
you." I looked at Mohammed. "We'll find him and use a mech laser to fry his
balls off before we kill him." He stiffled a chuckle. "Get some rest, you
hear me?" I leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Don't worry about it. Your
guardians are here for you."
	The vid-screen (bigger version of the video phone) started to warm up.
I went over to answer it. "This is Crash, what can I do for you?"
	It was right in the line of Mohammed and Roxanne's sight. I wish it 
wasn't. For right after I said that, Tony's ugly face appeared on it. 
"Crash. What a surprise." Mohammed let out an loud growl. I motioned for him
to stand down. "I suspect you found out what happened."
	"Tony, do you know that what you did to my medic is a crime? Do you
know that you can have your entire unit removed from the guild?"
	"I'm not an idiot Crash."
	"Then why the fuck did you do that to her?"
	"Why?" He laughed. "I knew it'd piss you off. I knew it'd piss your
third rate second-in-command. I was actually hoping to kill her but the 
little wench got away from us." Roxanne sobbed and fell into Mohammed's 
arms. He held her and send a piercing gaze at the screen. "What're you 
looking at, ya piece of shit?"
	I stepped in between the two. I was now mad. "We will not let this go
unpunished, Tony."
	"What're you gonna do about it? Cheat like you did in our last 
battle?"
	"No, Tony. I wish it were that simple. You've been marked for death by
the Jade Wolf. We are sending orders to HQ to have you shot on sight. And if
you cross us again, they won't have to worry about it. They won't find your
shadow."
	"Big talk for such a small dick." He laughed. "You know, maybe I 
should go after your woman."
	Something inside of me snapped. "You leave Steph alone."
	"Oh, she is a lovely thing indeed. Such a nice ass too."
	"Tony...I'm warning you..."
	"I wouldn't kill her. Just keep her as a pet."
	"I'LL KILL YOU TONY!!!" I punched the screen, shattering it totally.
Mohammed got up. "Stay with Roxy, Mohammed. We'll hunt this motha fucka down
tomorrow. You and me."
	"Y-yes sir."
	The work crew looked in, looked at the screen, then looked at me. 
"I'll go pay him now, okay?" They nodded and I stormed off to pay for the
damage Mohammed and I had done.

	Now my blood was boiling. There was no way in hell I was going to 
allow Tony to get away with this. I was going to see that he was dead, be it
by mech, by Mohammed's hands, or by mine. However, there was nothing I could
really do. I sent in the report to the Merc Guild and they quickly replied 
with an order to kill him. That would thrill Mohammed. But he had already
given himself that order. I just had to catch him before he killed himself.
So that's why I parked my Dark Wolf out in the woods in the middle of the
night to wait him out. The cloak was up, so nobody would know I was there.
It was around midnight when the mech bay doors opened. I watched as 
Mohammed's slasher came stomping down the hill. I got my mech into action 
and planted myself right in the middle of the road. "Mohammed," I called to
him.
	"Back off Crash," he replied. "Tony's a dead man, even if it costs me
my life."
	"I understand. I want him dead to. You should wait until tomorrow."
	"I don't give a fuck. He's dead tonight!"
	"Fine. I'm coming with you."
	"What do you mean?" I uncloaked. "Damn it Crash! How long were you 
waiting for?"
	"I passed up sex with Steph. You tell me."
	"Oh. Sorry man."
	"Nevermind. Let's go kill Tony before he follows up on his threat."
	"But we don't know where he is."
	"I called Carlo."
	"Who?"
	"One of his men. They're staying at a Leo base. Tony ordered them to
stay behind on the next raid. They told me the assault lance left an hour 
ago."
	"We'll have to hire Carlo on when we all get back home."
	"Probably. I gave him orders to go back home if Tony dies."
	"He's goin' back home then."
	"Percisely."
	"But we don't know where the assault lance is now!"
	"I've got it covered." I flipped a switch. The transmitter Carlo snuck
on for me was working fine. "They're in a small clearing about 600 KM from
here. Let's go." I turned the mech around and hit the throttle.

	We found the lance sitting in the middle of a clearing deep in the 
woods. They had parked near a lake. Some of the Leo's were bathing. Some 
were boozing. That's where we found Tony. Mohammed started to aim. "Wait 
Death," I told him.
	"Crash, I gotta clean shot at him. I can nail him now."
	"Yes, and then the lance'll see you, figure I'm with you, and we'll
end up getting blasted as we run."
	He stopped. "Oh. I see."
	"I've got something to counteract that." I started to the where they 
parked their mechs. "I just hope that the enhancements that Harris made 
work."

	I stepped the Dark Wolf up to the backside of the first mech. 
"Computer, activate manual interface." Two gloves popped out of the ceiling.
I took them and put them on. I held a hand up to my face. The mech did too.
I flexed my fingers. The mech did something similar. "It works. Now let's 
get down to business. Computer, activate VR visor." The targeting systems
gained a partner on my otherside. It fixed itself over my other eye. Both
lit up, revealing an image as the mech would see it if the cockpit were 
eyes. I smirked and "opened" the back pannel of the mech, exposing it's 
critical systems. I did a little rewiring and closed it up. I stepped over 
to the next mech and did the same. I skipped to somewhere near the middle of
the line and did the same on the two mechs there. I finished off by rewiring
the last two and went back to the Slasher's side. "Go ahead. Do it."
	"Anything else you want to do?"
	I chuckled. "Let's announce that we're here. Computer, disable VR and
manual control and activate loudspeaker control." The respective things 
disappeared. "Tony," I said. My voice caught the attention of every Leo out
there. "You harass our unit, you make threats to our girlfriends, and you
dishonor the name of the Mercenaries. What's worse, you kidnapped and raped
my second's girlfriend. You are not fit for living." Mohammed didn't need to
be told anything and fired. The laser hit Tony, who let out a howl and went
limp. The Leos started rushing to their mechs. "Computer, disable 
loudspeakers. Mohammed-"
	"I know! Run like hell!" His Slasher took off. I followed. It'd take
a good 15 seconds for the Leo mechs to warm up. It'd take five seconds for
them to find the ignition switches. And then they'd have a surprise. "Crash,
what did you do to the Leo mechs?"
	"I rewired their ignition systems."
	"What'd you rewire them to?" There were six explosions. They rattled 
us good.
	"To the self-destruct protocalls."
	"You're an evil, evil man Crash."
	"Hey, you're workin' for me!"
	"Yeah, but that's because I enjoy workin' with your twisted mind."
	I laughed. "C'mon. Let's get back to base. They'll wanna know why we 
went out galavanting though the countryside at one in the morning."

	After we explained ourselves, I returned to Stephanie. She was sitting
up, reading, probably waiting for me. Her eyes lit up as I entered. We 
remained silent as I kicked off my boots, put my pants and jacket aside, and
crawled into bed. "Crash? Is Tony dead?" I didn't answer. "Crash?"
	I took her in my arms and cuddled her. "He's gone, Steph. You're safe.
That's all that matters."
	"Crash? Are you okay?"
	"Don't worry. You're safe now."
	"Crash, what did he do?"
	"Nothing, thank god."
	"What'd he say he was gonna do?" I told her about the conversation we
had. She fell silent. We looked at each other for a few moments before she
grabbed my chest and hugged. "Did you shoot him?"
	"Are you the one who staggered into her quarters all bruised and 
beaten?"
	"It was a good thing that Mohammed did it. He deserved to."
	"Let's not worry about that now. You are here with me. I'm here with
you. Let's....just put this all behind us and get some sleep."
	"That's a good idea."