Page 19 of Ruin (Villains for Hire)

R uin led the way down the corridor, stepping over bodies and debris, Hush, Lira, and Beep following close behind.

Despite the security personnel being reduced to heaps on the floor, he stayed alert, weapon raised. Hush hadn’t seen anything on the ship’s systems to suggest booby-traps or additional guards, but that wasn’t a guarantee.

Better to be overly cautious than caught unawares.

At the door to Gaius's office, Hush put one hand over the access panel and raised the other in a closed-fist gesture for silence.

After a beat, he raised a finger, signaling the room had a single occupant.

Ruin glanced at Lira, ensuring she was out of the line of fire and that Beep had her covered. From over the robot’s back, she offered a small smile and showed him her little thumb. He still didn’t entirely understand that gesture of hers, but thought it meant ‘you’re good’.

He returned her smile with one of his own to show he appreciated her confidence in him, then nodded to Hush.

“Open,” Hush commanded, his previous hack granting verbal command over basic functions.

The door slid open with a soft hiss, revealing a large office that screamed opulence—rich woods, gleaming surfaces, and a massive desk dominating the space. Ruin burst in, weapon trained on the figure seated behind the desk.

Gaius lunged forward, reaching for something. Ruin immediately fired off a warning shot that scorched the surface a hair’s breadth from Gaius's hand and froze him in place.

“Don't move,” Ruin growled.

The human sat back slowly, arms raised. Though his expression remained impressively composed, his throat bobbed in a hard swallow.

“Whatever your client is paying you, I can triple,” he declared, calculating blue eyes darting from Hush to Ruin and back again.

When no one answered, the room filled with the scents of sweat and fear.

“Secrets, then. I?—”

He cut short when Hush stepped close and pulled out another exceedingly illegal device their Quicksilk tech genius, Sway, made to collect a target’s biometrics. Keeping targets alive long enough to manually collect their bio-signatures was often messy, time consuming, and dangerous.

“On your feets,” Hush commanded, flicking his tail at the male.

Slowly and reluctantly, looking amusingly miffed at being ordered about, the male pushed out of the chair and stood. He eyed the gadget in Hush’s hand like it might bite him and jolted slightly when it emitted a faint, shimmering light.

The silence stretched, ratcheting the tension higher and higher. Finally, the device gave a soft trill. Catching Hush’s quick glance, understanding they had what they needed, Ruin hovered his finger over the trigger.

“Let’s not do something you’ll regret.” Light glinted off the sweat beading on Gaius’s forehead and within his black and grey, closely cropped hair. “I have secrets I’m sure your boss will find incredibly valuab?—”

The shot was loud in the enclosed space, the echo of it drowning out the sound of Gaius’s body hitting the floor, a neat hole burned through his forehead.

A noise from the doorway made his heart skip a beat, then plummet to his fucking boots.

He knew without peeking Lira was standing there. Would she be staring at him in shock, horrified that he’d just coldly executed someone? She’d seen him kill, but only in combat where his victims were armed or able to fight back.

Jaw tight, he holstered his weapon and turned, steeling himself for her reaction.

Except she wasn’t looking at him at all. She was peering around wide-eyed at the office.

Surprised but intensely relieved, the tension eased out of his shoulders and a strange warmth bloomed in his chest. He didn’t know how to express how much he cherished that she was unafraid of him.

Following her gaze to see what had her so captivated, he took in the room.

When they’d first entered, he’d only given it a cursory glance, enough to check for threats and escape routes. Actually peering around now, he understood her wonder.

The room was a study in excess. The floor and desk were made of real wood—a rarity in space. Luxurious furnishings that didn’t appear the least bit comfortable fought for attention with dozens of alien relics and souvenirs from far-flung planets displayed on shelves lining the walls.

“I’m in,” Hush announced from behind the desk, the grim expression on his face highlighted by the holo-screens hovering above the surface.

Lira joined him as he moved to stand beside Hush while Beep positioned itself at the entrance.

The more he read, the worse it got. His stomach churned as the full scope of Onyx Corp's activities were laid bare. Information on secret alliances and political machinations was the least of it.

They’d been razing entire worlds in order to mine them of the veherium, leaving nothing but barren wastelands in their wake.

He clenched his fists, anger, shock, and disgust making his blood boil.

He still didn’t know what the hells this element did or what made it so godsdamn important, but he knew if Onyx Corp wanted it badly enough to decimate planets, he for fuck sure didn’t want them to have it.

Lira’s small hand on his forearm drew his gaze to her. The horror in her eyes had him wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her in close. Pressing a kiss to the top of her head, he sent one last narrow-eyed glare at the holo-screen.

“Copy everything an’ send it to Whisper,” he directed. “Then find the flight deck. We’re takin’ this ship.”

“I was hopin’ you’d say that.”

He glanced over at the body. “You get proof of death?”

“Yep.”

“Good. Let’s go.”

While Ruin checked to ensure her harness was secure, Lira leaned to the side to gawk at the flight deck of Gaius's ship. It was a far cry from Vargot’s rundown old cruiser.

Two pilot stations were situated in the middle, both equipped with advanced control systems. Plush jump seats, one of which she was strapped into, lined the back wall, and the front was a floor to ceiling viewscreen that stretched the entire width of the room.

Confident she was thoroughly fastened, Ruin straightened and handed her a meal bar from his pocket. Taking it with a smile and a happy sound, she unwrapped it while he and Hush each claimed a station and Beep took up his post at her side.

Within seconds, the faint vibration of the engines firing up hummed through the decking. Status reports flashed across the guys’ holo-screens, and navigational information lined the main view.

She fidgeted with the harness straps, a mix of nervous energy, anxiety, and hope turning her stomach into knots as they exited the atmo-bubble. Skeldra Spaceport gradually shrank on the display.

Vargot was dead. This moment was real. She knew these things. But there was a voice in the back of her mind, whispering, wondering if this was all an elaborate daydream. Just another fantasy she’d concocted to escape from the hellishness of her life.

“Bird.”

Jolting, she jerked her head up and blinked to focus on Ruin’s face. “Mm?”

“What’s wrong?” Obviously seeing the question on her face, he added, “Your breathin’ picked up.”

Flutters and warmth instantly replaced the knots in her stomach. “You listen to my breathing?”

He dipped his chin in confirmation, ears purpling just a little, but didn’t look away, still wanting an answer.

Lira licked her lips nervously and whispered, “This is real… right? This isn’t another one of my daydreams?”

Did it make any sense to ask if he, and all of this, was a figment of her imagination? Not in the least. If he was, he’d just tell her what she wanted to hear. But she still waited for his answer with bated breath.

His expression softened. “Yeah, little bird. This is real.”

Exhaling, she relaxed into the seat. “Thank you.”

“Any time.”

She could see he meant it. He’d be there to reassure her, without judgement or thinking she was crazy, any time she needed it, and that meant more to her than she could put into words.

Feeling much better, she watched the spaceport fade into a glittering speck against the vast expanse of space.

Ruin and Hush worked together as though they’d been doing so for years, their movements in perfect sync. Watching them made her wonder about the rest of the Vengeance crew. Would they accept her as quickly and easily as Hush had?

“Do you think they'll like me?”

Ruin glanced back at her briefly before returning his attention to the holo-screens. “The crew? Of course.”

He said it as if he couldn’t imagine anyone not liking her.

Hush bobbed his head and his tail. “Agreed. And if one of ‘em doesn’t, well… they can always suffer a tragic accident.”

“Hush!” she exclaimed, but Ruin was nodding in agreement. After a moment, her lips curled. “That means you like me.”

Lira could see just enough of Hush’s profile to catch him rolling his eyes. “Nobody fucks with my bestie’s mate. And anyway, you’re kinda like a little sister.”

Her smile grew to a grin so broad her cheeks ached.

As if he could feel it, he cut narrowed eyes her way. “Don’t make it weird.”

Ruin chuckled and shook his head. “You two’re both?—”

An alarm blared to life, cutting off the rest of his words. Lira’s heart lodged itself in her throat and she reflexively reached out to Beep, grasping one of his spindly legs.

Directly on the heels of that alarm, a violent impact rocked the ship.

“Onyx Corp fighters,” Hush groaned. “Fucker musta sent out a call before you popped ‘im.”

Two more collisions pitched them to the right. Her stomach rolled nauseatingly and she gripped Beep’s leg tighter, knuckles turning white.

It extended its two nearest wings and draped them around her shoulders and over the top of her head.

“Niirtt peep,” it twittered comfortingly.

Ruin and Hush called out over the blaring alarms, voices calm but urgent as they relayed information back and forth, hands flying over the holoscreens.

“Shields at eighty-two percent,” Hush announced. “Two more fighters comin' in hot on our tails. Beginnin’ evasive maneuvers.”

“Divertin’ auxiliary power to aft shields an’ droppin’ interference buoys.”

The ship's AI chimed in with damage reports. “Minor hull breach detected in cargo bay. Sealing now.”

“Returnin’ fire,” Ruin relayed just as the muffled boom of the ship’s cannons sounded. “One down.”

The guys’ movements were precise and unhurried despite the chaos around them—Hush dipping and rolling the ship while Ruin fired off shots.

He twisted to look back at her just then, those pretty yellow eyes narrowed with concern. She knew it wasn’t because they were in the middle of a space battle, but because he was worried she might be panicking.

“Bird, you good? Still strapped in tight?”

“I'm good.” She waved a hand at the viewscreen where enemy ships swarmed. “Just focus on not getting us blown up, hmm?”

“If you insist,” he said with a wink.

Hush gave a low chuckle as he executed a dizzying maneuver.

“Two down,” Ruin purred.

The ship shuddered under another barrage. Lira’s heart raced, but strangely, fear didn't follow. Maybe it was leftover adrenaline from their earlier confrontation that kept her from being afraid, but she didn't think so.

She trusted Ruin completely. If anyone could get them out of this, it was him.

And if he couldn't? In that moment, it hit her that she wasn't actually afraid to die. Not anymore. She'd tasted freedom, felt love, and found friendship. That was more than she'd ever dared hope for in her old life.

A sudden whoop from Hush made her jump. “Ah fuck, yeah! Look who decided to join the party.”

Her breath caught as a massive ship materialized from the inky void of space. Its hull was matte black and marred by scorch marks, dents, and patches, but the imperfections only added to the air of aggression and menace it gave off.

This wasn’t a pleasure cruiser—it was a weapon. Those scars were proof that it’d seen more than its share of battles and had always come out the victor.

Even without Hush’s excitement, she would’ve known this was the Vengeance.

Working together with the unseen pilot of that huge, intimidating ship, they took out the remaining fighters in no time.

“Suck on that, you fuckin’ murderers!” Hush crowed when the last shuttle exploded.

Ruin gave him a look. “You say that like we aren’t also murderers.”

Hush brushed that off with a flick of his tail. “Yeah, but we’re not assholes about it.”

Ruin paused, then nodded, as if that was a solid point.

“Woo! Let’s go home, kids.”