Not Very Routine

[Subject 73 Red]

[member="Kathryn Foster"]

Red stared her in the eye. "Whatever you say, Major." Red spat that last word disdainfully. "Besides, how are we going to transport him to base in just binders? He could escape or try to escape at any time, and I really don't feel like lugging him around. I have multiple paralyzes, toxins, poisons, It'll be a lot easier and quicker to kill him here." Red suggested yet again to kill him.

 

[Kathryn Foster]

Yet again, their different wills didn't pull equal. She simply could not let him kill him that way. It was one thing in battle, but the battle was over and she had her sworn duties and firm beliefs that burned stronger than Red's thirst for vengeance or whatever state he now was in.

She glanced down at the man and then again up at Red.

''And I hear you, but that just not goin' to happen... I'll go and try to call in a transport...'' she spared him a second look, before turning to walk away trying to get a clear signal on the comlink. Holy Hannah, did he make it difficult for her.

[member="Subject 73 Red"]

 

[Subject 73 Red]

[member="Kathryn Foster"]

Red shook his head. He didn't understand her; why was she just going to let him get away with almost killing her?

"Whatever you say, Major. You do understand that if I wanted to, I could easily disobey you and kill him, and you could do nothing to stop me. I could easily defeat you." Red called after her.

He then crouched down and strapped binders onto the man.

 

[Kathryn Foster]

Kathy could feel Red's irritated and abrasive gaze in her back and the tone of disdain against her. She did not do more than turning her head slightly to the side, giving him a sign that she had heard him well enough. She kept her mouth shut, not responding to that threat to disobey her. Both figuring it would be best to not challenge him further, but also because of being fed-up on arguing with him.

He had given 'hard to work with' a face, alright. Did he think he could just follow the orders that suited him? She wondered how his team mates could bare with him. If he was the same in a squad, or if he just prefered to work alone and do things as it suited him and himself only.

It was a new experience being so utterly sick of someone, but at the same time owing them your life. It made it all more surreal that this someone did not respond to emotions and actions that she were used to, from another human being.

With the back turned to them and arms folded across the chest, she were just about to sit down on the large rock and begin the transmission back to base when their captive made a foolish move. He reached for Red's throat in an attempt to throw him off balance to the ground and strangle him out.

[member="Subject 73 Red"]

 

[Subject 73 Red]

[member="Kathryn Foster"]

Then, Red punched the goon in the stomach. Instantly, a blade came out of his wrist gauntlet, and it stabbed deep into the man's gut. Red then twisted his arm, the knife going even deeper. Red pulled his arm in an uppercut inside the man, his arm went up through his chest, stabbed through his heart, and burst out of the man's skull. Red held the man a couple inches off of the ground. He pulled his arm out, and the man dropped to the ground, dead. Blood and guts ran down Red's arm. His blade went back into his gauntlet. Red brushed some blood and guts off of his arm. He then kicked the man. The man was definitely dead, as blood was spilling everywhere. Red then knelled down, and he closed the man's eyes, showing at least some respect for the dead.

Red stood up. He picked up his helmet close by, but he didn't put it on. He looked at Kathryn.

"Don't bother with calling command about the man. He's dead now." He reported.

 

[Kathryn Foster]

Head turned because of the disturbance and noise of a fight breaking out, the only thing she saw was Red's back and that he in some way responded to the man trying to do something to him. Responded, in a very exaggerated way. Probably Red's way to respond.

During the fraction of a second, she was about to yell at him to stop and bolt towards him to push him off the man. That moment was over as fast as it had came to her, though. Kathy saw the amounts of blood squirting and coloring the dusty ground below Red and the man. She also heard the disgusting sound of a sharp object cutting through bone and flesh. The shock and immense instinct of self-preservation got her to turn her head away from it all. She knew it was too late for her to act and didn't what could be described as little less than a slaughter.

She looked out in shock over the ravine and then down to the ground below her boots. Her heart was racing and for a great while, she didn't knew what to say or how to act but to let all thoughts dissipate some first.

''W-why'd you do that...?'' she asked from her position, turned away from him and the corpse. It was realy the only thing she came to think about, a simple question of why.

[member="Subject 73 Red"]

 

[Subject 73 Red]

[member="Kathryn Foster"]

Red looked at Kathryn. Then, he looked at his right hand. It was covered in blood, and his hands were shaking. Red's breathing was heavy. He actually din't mean to kill the man, but something and compelled him to kill the man, and Red knew what had compelled him. Red dropped to the ground in a knelling position.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. It was just... poof. I'm an experiment, and my genetics are altered. One of my abilities given to me is to react and kill and fight without thinking, without any control. I'm made to be the perfect killing machine, and there's nothing I can do to stop it or change that fact. You wouldn't understand what I'm feeling. I'm to... different." Red admitted. He actually didn't want to kill the man, but something deep inside of him compelled him to do it.

 

[Kathryn Foster]

It was an absurd situation, probably for both in one way or another. As Red spoke up, she turned her head and saw him knelt down on the ground. He said things that she had never imagined would come from him. That unexpected initial apology and try to explain how he reacted and how he was feeling, along with his lowered position. It all made her slightly ambivalent of what to do next.

Over her shoulder, her blue eyes studied him for a moment with disappointment and uncertainty before she stood up gently and approached him. She made sure not to glance at the corpse behind him, she had seen and heard enough of outrageaously violence for today. The disappointment begun to turn more into consideration and their purpose for being out here to come back.

''Hey... Y-you're right, I don't understand... May I... sit down with you?'' she asked carefully and peered down at him, making sure he was in a calm enough mood.

[member="Subject 73 Red"]

 

[Subject 73 Red]

[member="Kathryn Foster"]

Red looked up at her.

"You don't need to ask me if you can do anything, ma'am. You outrank me." Red shrugged. He said it like a statement, with no emotion behind it, but he was actually making a joke. At least, it was a joke to him. Most of the time, people couldn't tell when he was joking or being serious, and Red liked it that way. He liked keeping people guessing.

"Don't worry, I don't bite. At least, I don't bite allies." Red told her.

"I have a question for you. Why are you so squeamish around death and violence? I can't understand that about you. It's all I know, all I've known, and probably all I will know."

 

[Kathryn Foster]

''I... I'm not asking you as your superior, Red...'' she said frankly, but still a bit cautious around this unique brother in arm.

She hang off the blaster carbine around her neck and knelt down in front of him, gently putting the carbine by her side on the ground. Her blue eyes looked at him, for the first time trying to realy read his face and his state. The remains of the days troublesome occurrences, from their bad start to the life threat and the havoc she had just witnessed was still there, but now with a more considering gaze.

''Yeah...'' she begun with a contemplating nod and looked down the ground and back up at him. ''I don't fully understand you, and... I probably never will, even if I'd like to...'' she said and paused for a moment. ''But what I do understand, is that you saved my life... I-I don't know how to thank you enough for that...'' she continued, ending with a emotional and slightly shaky voice.

His latter question got her to chuckle though and draw a small smile in the edges of her mouth. Shaking her head, she glanced to the side.

''I'd not like to call it squeamish... I just... I guess I'm just not comfortable with sensless and unnecessary killing...'' she said and looked back at him.

[member="Subject 73 Red"]

 

[Subject 73 Red]

[member="Kathryn Foster"]

Red looked at her. She seemed... nervous. Red could tell by the way she was fidgeting and the way her eyes were darting around.

Red shrugged at her first comment. "Nah. Don't worry about it. It's what I do. I save people's lives all of the time, and I never ask for anything in return. It's just what I do." He told her. For some reason, Red really liked helping others. He couldn't explain why, but he actually enjoyed helping others.

He smiled at her second comment. ​"That's the exact definition of squeamish, Major. I have another question for you. I can tell that you are nervous. Why are you nervous?" Red slightly tilts his head inquisitively.

 

[Kathryn Foster]

''Well... To me, it's not something to be taken lightly... I mean, that's the finest thing you could to to another human being...'' she said but was not sure that Red, considering his existence as an experiment, could understand her emotions and point of view.

It was kind of funny. A while ago, he had expressed his hate for her and spitten words of disdain. Now, after the intense turmoil, they sat down and realy conversated with each other for the first time.

His next question forced her into another chuckle, and she looked to the side and out over the ravine. All days crazy experiences and overwhelming amount of different emotions, high and low, got her to wipe a discreet tear out of her eye. From the bad start and having her file thrown into the face, to arguing and then having her life saved and now this blunt and simple question. Red had brought her onto a roller coaster out of this world. It was no wonder one or two tears would finaly search themselves out. It was inevitable and it felt like anyone would react in the same, or at least a similar way.

''I'm not 'squeamish'. I'm a human.'' she insisted persistently and looked back at him, and carried a slight smile of relief to her face. Relieved and thankful for the calm and easy moment.

''Your reality is just... a lot more different than mine use to be...'' she continued with a deep sigh, feeling everything starting to calm down again.

[member="Subject 73 Red"]

 

[Subject 73 Red]

[member="Kathryn Foster"]

"You're right about that. My reality is a lot different than yours. I've been through hell and back. I've seen some terrible things in this galaxy. But you want to know something? I still have faith in most people. I can read people like a status report, and I can tell that most people are good, even you, Major." Red admitted. It was true. He could obviously read people extraordinarily well, and he could tell that most people had good intentions.

"Anyway, we should probably get moving. We still have to interrogate the man I shot. But it's your call on what we do, Major."

 

[Kathryn Foster]

She listened to what he said, again very glad that they finally could talk. The tension that had been built up from the beginning was finally starting to loosen up.

She didn't realy care right now, but she were slghtly curious from whom Red had got it that she weren't good. She had her oppinions and beliefs, yes. In the beginning of her service, she had met men who had subjugated her because of her gender, and those had shortly been given a smart comment that hit its mark. Once something about their reproductive organs. She were proud, strong and independent but yet emotional and had her soft spots.

''You're right.'' she said and nodded affirmatory, before she grabbed the carbine from the ground and stood up, looking around.

''Now... Where'd you see him?''

[member="Subject 73 Red"]

 

[Subject 73 Red]

[member="Kathryn Foster"]

Red nodded and stood up. He turned to the right and pointed at a bluff standing about 20 meters away. A quiet sobbing could be heard from coming from the top of it.

"There, he's up there. I place my shot so that He is not able to move his right arm and both legs." Red reported.

He looked at Kathryn. He could tell that something was troubling her, but he didn't say anything about it. He could tell whenever someone was troubled by something, he could tell both with or without the Force. Red didn't say anything because he knew that people preferred to keep their secrets to themselves, and they didn't like it whenever people knew what they were feeling or thinking. Normal people were strange beings.

 

[Kathryn Foster]

''Ah, okay...'' she nodded and looked contemplatingly in the direction Red pointed. All be damned if this went south too. Interrogate, then head back to base.

''Sounds like he's in pain, anyway...'' she continued and glanced back at Red, impressed that he could fire a shot that precise at that range.

''Well, you're the interrogator. Be my guest and lead the way...'' she said and motioned with the carbine in both hands that he could take the lead up to the bluff.

[member="Subject 73 Red"]

 

[Subject 73 Red]

[member="Kathryn Foster"]

"Yes ma'am." Red nodded and shouldered his rifle and headed in the direction of the bluff. He started climbing up the face of the rock with ease.

Once he reached the top and interrogated this pirate, he most likely would put the man out of his misery, as he would now most likely be crippled for life. It was unlikely that the medical droids or medics could put him back together now.

 

[Kathryn Foster]

Accustomed to walk in a pair of military boots, Kathy kept up and walked close behind and to the side of Red. Her only wish now was that this encounter would end in a better way than the last. She would try to fight him off if she had to. She were not unfamiliar with standing up for the lesser ones. Even if they were considered the enemy, a sensless execution were just... wrong.

The two-person CIS patrol were about to go over the edge of the rocks when the sobbing became clearer, a light one which could come from any of their oen families or colleagues in the CIS. Kathy's heart sank when they were met with the sight of a human teenage girl covered with dust and dirt from a short fall off the rocks.

Kath stayed even closer to Red when they approached the girl, figuring he would not care much about the gender or age about the enemy. She knelt down carefully in front of the girl, who by the looks of it were unarmed. Her rifle laid thrown a couple of meters away from laying position.

''Secure the rifle, Red. Then we can carry on with the questions... Gently.'' she said, with weight on the last word and glanced up on him and then back down at the girl.

[member="Subject 73 Red"]

 

[Subject 73 Red]

[member="Kathryn Foster"]

Red climbed up the rock face, and looked at the girl. Pitiful, she had even thrown her weapons. She wasn't even going to try to fight for her life. She was weak. She wouldn't last five minutes in the labs where Red was made. His life was intense, do or die was his entire childhood. He could have actually died in his intensive training, it was that brutal. Still, he and all of the other experiments made it out, showing just how superior to normal beings they were.

To be honest, Red didn't really care about age or gender, just that she was the enemy. He would kill her, threaten her, and even injure her even further if he was inclined to. She was the enemy, and Red rarely ever took prisoners, only if he had orders too. He would injure or kill her without remorse, even though she was injured and that she was young, he would still do it.

Red turned to Kathryn at her order. Even though she couldn't see it under his helmet, he was exasperated. What?! She wanted him to collect the rifle, and then be gentle?! She was asking him to be something he wasn't. He wasn't gentle, especially not to the enemy. Why was she being nice to this young girl. Was it because she was young? Or was it because the girl was a female, and that they were both females, and that this was another thing he didn't understand about normal people? He especially didn't understand females, they were the most confusing of all beings.

"Yes ma'am." Red nodded. He walked over to the rifle and picked it up. The rifle didn't look very nice or pleasant, but it would get the job done just fine.

Red then walked back over to Kathryn. He stood next to the Major, standing over her and the girl.

"Rifle secure. Should I check if she has other weapons?" Red asked. He didn't ask to check her vitals, as he knew where he placed his shot. Some of her nerves and muscles were now unusable for the time being, and possibly forever if the medics couldn't patch her back together. For now, she was mostly stable, Red hadn't hit any vital organs, or any organs for that matter, as he was aiming for a nonlethal critical shot.

 

[Kathryn Foster]

"Yeah..." she said and glanced up at Red, with a look checking if he understood her orders clear as crystal. Kathy might have had a soft heart in certain situations, but not as soft as it turned her to be foolish. She looked down at the girl again before Red would begin his search.

"Look, if you understand basic... We're not going to hurt you if you just stay calm and cooperate with us. If you just want to talk to me, you could say so but Red here has some questions for you... Alright? I'm Kathryn, by the way."

She tried to gain some trust from the girl. Sometimes, the smooth and easy tasks were thankful to handle. Red seemed to prefer the hard and rough ones.

[member="Subject 73 Red"]