Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 539: Basilisk Territory

The large black wrought iron door slowly opened open as a pair of women pushed them open. They were armed with weapons on their back but both of them were different races. One was a blue skinned race that Jace did not know of and the other was an orc which was a species he had encountered a few times before.

They were led inside the mansion grounds by the elf. As they got closer he could see there were a number of guards hidden throughout the grounds. Some were hidden behind bushes, at windows, or in underground bunkers.

"It would seem we are meeting a higher ranking member of your gang rather than someone authorized to commit trade." Jace pointed out with a chuckle.

"Indeed." The elf nodded as knocked on a door and it opened up. "Now if you would-"

"We will stay out here." Jace interrupted her, earning himself several scornful gazes. But Jace just smiled and patted the Colonel who neighed. "No offense, but I do not trust you with my horse and I doubt you want him inside such a lovely mansion. Messing up the floor- actually that looks like tile. Yeah you definitely do not want him inside. Isn’t that right Colonel?"

Colonel neighed in response, bobbing his head up and down in agreement. The elf had a strained smile as she bowed her head. "That makes sense. I will bring the Mistress out to meet with you." She then disappeared into the house while Pliro and Jace stepped down the steps and stood around the courtyard.

"That will only anger her and her people." Pliro pointed out in a rushed whisper while glancing at the front door that the elf disappeared into.

Jace smirked as he looked around, "that is fine."

"No it is not, you do not understand-" He stopped as the front doors to the mansion flew open and Pliro nearly jumped out of his skin. Jace was not sure what happened to him in the past, but it clearly left a mark.

"You..." A large woman with a tank top and gym shorts that barely contained her bulging muscles walked out. Her visible skin was covered in scars of varying types. But most of them were burns, probably from laser weapons, and cuts, from bladed weapons. Looking at her he could tell that she was definitely the same race as Pliro. In fact some of their facial features were similar.

"Huh..." Jace grunted as he looked between them with narrowed eyes.

"I allow you to come to my mansion to trade and you scorn me by demanding I come out to meet you-"

"You two are siblings." Jace chuckled and looked at Pliro, "no wonder you were so nervous." They both flinched and Pliro only looked more embarrassed while the woman who the rest of the Basilisks seemed to call Mistress flinched and looked shocked.

"You only saw us for a few moments. How could you tell?" Mistress asked as she seemed to relax a bit.

"Typical shared genetic traits. I heard you want this one?" Jace grabbed and lifted the head of the gold toothed man.

The Mistress frowned and walked over and looked at him before nodding. "Yes, that is Barley." She waved at some of the female guards who started to quickly walk up. "Get him on his feet."

The guards moved up and pulled him off the horse. Then the Colonel moved away while they held him up by the arms. But the gold toothed man was still limp between them. "Umm... Mistress he is still out cold." One of them remarked after hitting him which had no effect.

The elf walked up and whispered in the Mistress ear. She then turned and looked at Jace. "Can you wake him up?"

"I will, if you tell me your name." Jace countered.

The Mistress flinched in surprise and then narrowed her eyes as she evaluated him. "Annalese, but you can just call me Anna. But you have to tell me how you are waking him up." She countered.

Jace grinned as he stepped forward and put a hand on the gold toothed man’s chest. "I am jumpstarting his heart. Basically, I am forcing his body into an awake state."

The gold-toothed man, or Barley as Anna called him, nearly jumped out of his skin as his eyes shot open and he started coughing up spit and saliva. Both Jace and Anna dodged out of the way as he did so.

"What? Where? Who? No! Nonononononnonno!" He started screaming in panic as he seemed to register where he was.

"Now Barley, your victim will have her revenge. But first I need to know where you hid the datachip you stole from her." Anna informed him with a smile that looked like it promised something worse than death. Not that it bothered Jace.

"Ha! Do your worst! You will never find out-"

"Gladiator here, apparently has experience with torture." Pliro jumped in, interrupting Barley who looked at him and then looked at Jace but flinched as he saw Jace’s uncaring gaze.

"Oh?" Anna looked over at him. "In that case, may I see a demonstration?"

"You could..." Jace shrugged as a guard walked over with a tray of prepared torture instruments that they were clearly about to use anyways. "What do I get out of it?"

"How about... if you can’t get the information from him in the next ten minutes, I will get you for a week. But if you do get the information in the next ten minutes then you get double the price of Barley’s capture, double the price of interrogation, and free passage during your stay in Submundo." Anna declared with a grin. "Of course you understand that by becoming mine, I mean you become my plaything." She ran a hand down Jace’s shirt. The difference in size made the experience a bit odd.

"Of course." Jace nodded and stepped forward grabbing a pair of pliers off the tray that one of the guards was holding. He then roughly grabbed Barley’s jaw. "Someone get me something to clean my hands afterward." He declared as he forced his mouth open before sticking the pliers into his mouth and grabbing one of the man’s teeth in the back of his mouth.

"AAAHHH!!!" Barley started screaming immediately, covering Jace’s hands in spittle and saliva.

Jace rolled his eyes as he found the tooth he was looking for. He had yet to do anything yet and he was already screaming. But then he gripped the tooth with the pliers and yanked it out. He frowned as the pliers came out with two teeth instead of one.

"Seems I got an extra." Jace chuckled as he tossed one of them aside that looked almost yellow. While he took the other tooth that was perfectly white and held it up with a frown before he slowly opened it up.

"How... how did you g’now?" Barley asked with difficulty but was clearly more stunned than angry.

"I noticed it awhile ago. If you are going to have a fake tooth. You really should have it match how decayed the rest of your teeth appeared." Jace pointed out as he showed the contents of the man’s tooth to Anna who frowned and nodded at another guard who took the two halves.

"Seems like he had help." Pliro mumbled under his breath. "He is not nearly smart enough to get something like that ahead of time."

"Brother... inform your people that someone wants to start a war with the Basilisks." Anna glared at Pliro and he flinched. "I do not expect them to be on my side, but it would be for the best if they stayed out of my way."

"I will when we drop by there next." Pliro sighed as he rubbed the back of his head.

"As for you." Anna moved forward, invading Jace’s personal space but he was unbothered as he was cleaning his hands and arms that had spit and blood on them from Barley’s mouth with a warm towel that a guard brought over. Seems they were intentionally taking the tasks of the staff in order to get close to him. Then Anna glanced at the Colonel, "once you are done with your chores, bring yourself and your horse back here. I have a lovely Mare that would love his attention while I can occupy your attention as well."

Jace raised an eyebrow and glanced at Colonel who froze for a moment before neighing in excitement. Jace rolled his eyes. "If you insist. But that is only after we complete our tasks around Submundo."

"I will inform my guards." Anna smiled at him before looking over at Pliro. "You should visit every once in a while. Mother Lala is going to get sad if she cannot see you every once in a while."

"I will... consider it. Now can we leave?" Pliro requested as he glanced up at some windows. "I can feel their gaze burning into my sides."

"Hehehe..." Anna looked over at Jace. "My brother is embarrassed because he has many lovers here who managed to coerce him into their beds."

Jace shook his head as he grinned slightly. "Then I suppose we should go before they manage to seduce my guide again."