Merciless

1: Unexpected Guest

" Watch it!" Nemesis shouted over her shoulder as the car bounced up into the air and crashed back down again. She heard Erebus laugh from the drivers seat. She fixed her aim once they were running steady again and resumed firing at the pursuing cars. She managed to pop one of their tyres, sending it spinning out and halting to a stop. The last car began trying to dodge her fire, to no avail as a bullet shot straight through the windshield. The car skidded to a stop and soon they had put a long distance between themselves and the rebel camp. She dropped the empty ammo clip out her gun, letting it tumble off into the dust as they sped away. She slipped back down through the sun roof and turned to look out the frond window. Erebus blew out a cloud of smoke.

" Only one kill? You're getting sloppy, Nem." He chuckled, flicking the almost finished cigarette out the window. She reloaded the gun.

" Maybe if you hadn't tried to turn this shitty car into a plane, I'd have hit him." She cranked the seat back so that she could stretch out her legs. Her phone started flashing, so she answered it and put it on loudspeaker.

" The fuck are you guys?" Coeus asked immediately, sounding pretty annoyed with them. Nemesis dug through her backpack looking for the packet of cherry sweets she kept.

" Sorry, had a little issue. We'll be back in ten minutes tops." Erebus answered as he pulled the sweet packet out from the pocket of his jacket. He waved them in front of her teasingly. She snatched them off him and checked how many were left. He hadn't eaten any, so she let it slide and took one for herself.

" Alright. Hurry up." Coeus hung up.

Nemesis spent the rest of the short drive gazing out the window. The dusty landscape looked pretty when the sun was setting, covered in oranges and reds. She could almost forget how horrible the people who lived on it were. Exort was a low value planet. It was notorious for being the home of various criminals, including her own little group. Still, the life was just as she liked it, adrenaline filled with a new challenged around every corner.

They parked up outside the lonely space station. The station had been abandoned for years before they had found it and moved in. It was isolated and rusty, making it fit in with the red rocks almost like camouflage. Once they had revamped it inside and Coeus had fixed the electronics, it had become the perfect base. A sensor system to let them know if anything was approaching, an alarm system, a turret sitting at the top for defence, and a car that was in good working condition.

When Nemesis and Erebus walked into the main room they saw Coeus waiting on them. After a quick explanation of what exactly the 'issue' they had was, they put their guns away and fell onto one of the scratched sofas that sat on a raised platform in the middle of the room. Nemesis propped her feet up on the sofa to stop Erebus taking the seat next to her, and he moaned before giving in and sitting next to Coeus. Soon, Metis wandered through to join them, a big smile plastered on her face.

" Good job guys! I split the 200,000 Zri between us all. Don't spend it all at once." As she spoke, her eyes landed particularly on Erebus, who just shrugged.

" Where's Apollo?" Nemesis asked. Metis looked at her, then at her stretched out legs taking up the sofa. Nemesis lifted her legs up to let Metis sit down, then lay them back on top of her lap.

" He's asleep." Metis sighed, playing with the laces of Nemesis's boots.

They spent about an hour relaxing on the sofas chatting with each other about various things. Erebus gave an exaggerated version of their chase home, making himself sound like a hero. They all nodded along, knowing even if they argued it he wouldn't stop telling the story. It wasn't long before Nemesis drifted off to sleep.