“Check the margins, Mr. Boss Man,” Val replied, hauling himself onto solid ground. “In Ortho, the house always wins.”
He stood at the pit’s edge, watching the red flare dim as grey silt swallowed it whole.
A soft whistle echoed from the treeline.
Dan stepped out, grinning. Rusty panting loyally at his side.
"Nice work, Doc," Dan said, checking his watch. "But we’ve got a leaderless gang back at camp and a doctor in a cage. You ready for the rescue, or do you want to stay and watch the mud dry?"
Val coiled the rope around his arm, his eyes hardening. "Let's go get Elena."
The Blacktooth holding yard smelled like wet iron and fear.
Cages lined the clearing, salvaged alloy welded together without care. Inside them, Martyr sat slumped or shaking, Ether suppressors clamped to their throats. Some looked up when Val approached. Most didn’t have the strength.
Val didn’t reach for the captured Martyr, not yet. There was something more important than that.
His return ticket.
‘They were originally Abyssal hunter, not manhunters. It’s gotta be here somewhere...’
The Blacktooth stash sat beneath a collapsed canopy, half-hidden under camo netting and blood-soaked crates.
Val flipped the lid. Light spilled out.
‘Jackpot.’
Abyssal Hearts, twelve of them.
Violet. Crimson. Obsidian-black. Some were twice the size of the one Marcus had claimed earlier.
A system prompt blinked into existence.
[SYSTEM ALERT: ASSET REQUISITION DETECTED]
[MARTYR 0996 - CONTRIBUTION: INDIRECT HARVEST]
Val didn’t bother reading further.
[SIDE OBJECTIVE MANDATE#1— A-TIER: FREE THE KIDNAPPED MARTYR (COMPLETED)]
[REWARD: LOW GRADE BOOSTER PACK]
Elena was in the third cage.
She looked thinner. Filth streaked her face. One sleeve had been torn away, dried blood crusting her forearm. When she saw him, her breath hitched hard enough to hurt.
“Valentin…”
Her hands trembled as the cage opened. She stumbled forward, almost falling into him.
“I thought you were dead,” she said. “I, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left you. I didn’t think”
“Stop.”
His voice was quiet. Not angry. Final.
Val reached into his pack and tossed an Abyssal Heart into the mud. Its violet glow painted her face.
Elena froze.
“According to my calculations,” Val said, “you provided one bandage and one nutrient bar.” He met her eyes. “Estimated value: fifty Rubal.”
She swallowed. “Val, what are you...”
“That Heart is worth one thousand Contribution Points.” He nudged it closer with his boot. “Debt settled. With interest. We are even.”
Elena’s breath hitched. Her eyes burned as tears welled. She looked at the Heart, then up at the man who had been a mindless drone only days before, searching for a flicker of the partner she had abandoned. She found nothing but a cold response.
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“Don’t mistake efficiency for kindness,” he continued. “You made a choice. So did I.”
“Use it. Untie the others,” Val handed her his Monofilament Scalpel.
Elena backed away, clutching the Heart like it might burn her.
Val didn’t watch her go. He turned instead to the cages.
Most of the Martyrs avoided his eyes.
One didn’t.
Noah stood frozen behind the bars, fingers white-knuckled around the metal. His face was pale.
Val stopped in front of him.
Noah swallowed. “I didn’t. I mean...”
Val opened his pack. Another Abyssal Heart came out.
It landed softly in the dirt between them.
Noah stared at it. Then at Val. Then back at the Heart, like it might be a trick.
“I didn’t do anything,” Noah said quickly. “I didn’t help you. I didn’t even...”
“I know,” Val replied.
That made it worse.
Noah’s throat worked. “Then why...?”
Val turned away as he answered, already moving.
“Because you didn’t lie,” he said. “And you didn’t run your mouth.”
He took three steps.
Then added, casually, without looking back, “You owe me one, Fermilab boy.”
Noah's hands shook as he picked up the Heart. He didn't say anything.
Behind him, someone moved fast.
Lysa.
She slipped into Val’s path with practiced timing. Shoulders angled, expression soft, eyes shining just enough to suggest relief mixed with vulnerability.
“Val,” she said gently. “I’m so glad you’re alive. I was worried about you. Truly.”
She glanced at the pack. Then at his face.
“I didn’t get one,” she continued, smile warm. “Maybe you just forgot?”
Val stopped. Looked at her.
Not at her face. At the space she occupied.
“Move,” he said.
Lysa blinked. “What?”
“You’re in my way,” the words weren’t sharp. They were indifferent.
Lysa’s smile faltered. Her eyes were twitching.
“I can help,” she said quickly. “You know I can. People listen to me. I can smooth things over with the Mentors. With Marcus. We don’t have to...”
Val stepped past her. Didn’t slow. Didn’t acknowledge her again.
Lysa stood still. No Heart in her hands. No clearance to enter the wormhole.
For the first time since Ortho, her charm had failed to find a target. And she didn’t understand why.
Behind him, the extraction field hummed.
The Wormhole had emerged. Time was ticking.
Adrenaline hit them hard. The emotional roller coaster of fear, hope and anticipation enthralled the survivors.
"Twenty-eight minutes!" Happy Dan roared, his voice cracking over the distant, booming through the brush. He gripped the strap of his pack, his eyes locked on the pathfinding HUDs carving clean routes through the jungle.
"If we aren't through the Wormhole, I’d like to start new Blacktooth Gang with Rusty! Who’s with me?"
Behind him, the group was a frantic blur of khaki and sweat.
Val was running with a frantic, limping gait, his coat unbuttoned and flapping like a white sail. Every step was a gamble with his ruined leg. The damage from his encounter with Suture remained persistent, stabbing needles in his ankle.
"Save your breath, Dan!" Elena shouted, her hand firmly gripping Val’s shoulder, steering the scientist forward like a human rudder. "Just run!"
As they broke through the final treeline, the extraction point buzzed with voices. Survivors were clustered near the flare zone.
Bruised, burned, and trembling, but undeniably alive. Above their peripheral vision, a digital timer glowed a sickly, electric red: 10:12.
Marcus stood near the center.
His armor gleamed. Three Abyssal Hearts hovered openly at his chest like trophies. He was mid-boast when the crowd shifted.
Val limped into view.
Mud-streaked. Bloodied. Breathing.
Elena walked beside him.
Marcus blinked. Then laughed.
“Voss? Last I saw you, you couldn’t wipe drool off your face. Elena save you again?”
Snickers rippled through the group.
“No Rungu,” someone said.
“Planning to sweep floors for your mentor?”
They all laughed.
Val gave a playful wink to Dan. He knew something was about to go down.
"I didn't kill any of them Abyssal, Marcus," Val said, a ghost of a smile touching his bloodied lips.
Val stopped.
“I also don’t get Rungu from the Chamber.”
He opened his pack.
Light flooded the clearing.
Ten Abyssal Hearts tumbled onto the metal grate of the hopper. They weren't just glowing; they were screaming in a frequency of pure, distilled power.
“But I sure can wipe the smirk out of your face.”
The light drowned out Marcus's armor. It turned his "Alpha" glow into the flickering of a dying candle.
Even the jungle seemed to hold its breath.
The notification didn't just appear on Val's HUD. It broadcast to every Halo in the area. It flashed red, then gold, then a deep, forbidden violet.
"Ten..." someone whispered. "He has ten."
Marcus's jaw dropped. One Martyr who had laughed the hardest fell silent when he saw this.
"How? How did you. You are a bait! You can't kill ten without a Rungu! You cheated the system!"
“Take an educated guess, Marcus.”
Cold sweat rained down Marcus’s forehead.
“I'll give you a clue,” Val whispered.
“Yesterday's system ping. The one you’re running away from, leaving everyone behind.”
The realization hit Marcus like a physical blow.
The Blacktooth weren't just thugs; they were the apex predators of the sector. He was no stranger to their ruthlessness.
Marcus glanced at Elena, Lysa, and Noah.
Then it dawned on him.
Val had rescued them from the Blacktooth Gang’s grip.
A feat he wouldn’t dare consider even in his daydream.
The Halo channel put the final nail in the coffin.
[RANKING UPDATE: MARTYR 0996]
[ASSET VALUE: 14500 CP]
[NEW RANK: #1 - VALENTIN VOSS]
The notification didn't just appear on Val's HUD. It broadcast to every Halo in the extraction zone simultaneously.
Marcus said nothing.
For the first time since Ortho, he had nothing to say.
The silence that followed didn't just linger.
It judged him.
