Chapter 163: Scavenging the Ship
Xavier stood alone near the command deck, staring at the wreckage—until footsteps echoed behind him.
He turned.
Reva and Lyra.
They weren’t smiling.
Reva stood there, glaring. Her hair was a mess, face bruised from the fight, eyes wild with fury. Lyra was right beside her, quiet, but the tension in her shoulders said everything. Neither of them looked happy to see him alive.
Xavier didn’t bother speaking first. He already knew what was coming.
"You drugged us," Reva snapped, walking up till she was right in front of him. "Don’t fucking lie. What did you put in our drinks?"
He exhaled through his nose. "Enough to knock you out. That’s all."
Lyra blinked. "You... did it on purpose?"
"Yeah," Xavier muttered. "I had to."
Reva’s hand moved before he could finish the sentence. The slap rang out across the metal corridor. She didn’t say another word. Just turned around and walked off, her shoulders stiff with anger.
Xavier didn’t react. He knew he deserved it. Maybe more.
He looked at Lyra. She stared at him for a few seconds. No anger in her face, no words. Just silence. Then she walked away too, following Reva.
Later, Xavier was leaning against the wall, trying to breathe without wincing too hard. Half his ribs were bruised or cracked, his arms still stung, and dried blood clung to his jaw.
Lyra came back. She didn’t speak. Just dropped a first-aid box beside him and crouched down. She started cleaning his wounds without meeting his eyes. No lectures, no accusations. Just cold, efficient movements.
She didn’t need to say anything. The silence between them said enough.
Once she finished wrapping his arm, she stood up and left without looking back.
Xavier waited a few minutes, then got up. His legs were stiff, but he could move. That was enough.
He made his way through the twisted corridors of the ship, past scorch marks, bullet holes, and bodies. The smell of blood and melted wires still hung in the air.
He found the place where he’d left the two mercs—Scarface and Tattoo. But the bastards were gone.
He crouched, and saw the trail. Blood. Drag marks. They were injured and hiding.
Good.
He followed the trail through a few more sections of the ship, until he heard movement behind one of the bulkhead storage doors. Quiet, but not quiet enough.
He kicked the door open.
They were both there. Scarface had a blaster pointed at him, but his hands were trembling. Tattoo was bleeding heavily, one leg useless.
Xavier didn’t speak. He just shot Scarface in the shoulder and dragged both of them out.
He brought them to the main docking bay, where Reva and Lyra were checking the ship’s control systems. He dropped the two injured mercs in front of them like trash.
"I told you I’d find them," he muttered.
Lyra stood up, stared at the two broken bastards, then looked at Xavier. "Kill them."
"We will," he said. "But not yet."
He walked over to one of the ship’s workstations. Pulled out a few tools. Opened a control panel. Nearby, there were cables. Turbine fans. Mechanical arms meant for heavy lifting.
He looked at the two mercs and smiled.
"Why end it quick when we can have some fun?"
He didn’t need their answers. He flipped the switch. The grinding sound of the gears echoed through the dock.
Scarface screamed first. Then Tattoo.
The machines weren’t made for mercy.
They were made for efficiency.
And right now, Xavier used them like a fucking artist.
Blood painted the floor. Bones cracked. Metal shredded flesh.
It wasn’t just revenge. It was a message.
No one fucks with Xavier and lives to talk about it.
Once the floor stopped humming with the sounds of meat being torn by machine, Xavier stepped back from the mess, wiping the sweat and blood off his cheek with the back of his hand. He turned toward the girls, his voice calm, casual, like what just happened was no different than a morning jog.
"Think you can find who hired these bastards?" he asked, kicking the minced remains of Tattoo’s leg out of his way. "The boss. The client. Whoever’s behind this shit."
Reva didn’t look at him. She was busy typing on a jury-rigged console she’d hacked into earlier. "I’m working on it."
Xavier gave a slow nod, but inside, his mind was ticking hard.
’First it was the Beast land. Then the village. Both hit with precision. Both attacked with force. Both places are clean, isolated, away from the world’s shit. Lands untouched.’
Someone was hunting peace.
And that made Xavier itch.
He moved through the corridors of the ship like a scavenger now, looking through opened compartments, sealed crates, destroyed armories. Most of the stuff was burned, but there was still tech. Weird gadgets. Weapons. Half-built tools that hummed with quiet power.
Some of it made no sense to him. It looked like trash. But he picked it up anyway, dragged it along, tossing it all into a makeshift corner in the hangar bay.
"Yo, Lyra!" he called out, holding up some glowing rod. "What the hell is this thing? Looks like a taser, but also a lightsaber?"
Lyra walked over, eyeing it like a tired mom being shown a weird rock by her kid.
"That’s a charge rod," she muttered. "Surge weapon. Don’t touch the end unless you wanna fry your bones."
Xavier grinned and tossed it into the pile. "Good to know."
He went back to digging. Looked through another crate, pulled out some tablet-like device with green flickering lights.
"Lyraaaaa..."
"It’s a tracker," she said without even turning around. "Probably bugged."
"Nice."
He was like a baby in a treasure room. Clueless but curious. And Lyra was stuck being the babysitter.
After a while, Reva finally stood up from the console. She stretched her arms, popped her neck, and walked over.
"I’ve got all the data from their systems," she said. "Their comm logs, orders, internal memos, even some voice notes. But it’s encrypted."
Xavier raised an eyebrow. "Tough encryption?"
"Military-grade," she muttered. "Can’t crack it here. We’ll need Angel."
Xavier scratched his chin. "Alright... then we bring Angel here. No way I’m dragging this ship to the village. Don’t know if the engines are rigged, or if there’s any self-destruct shit hidden in the systems. Not taking the risk."
Reva nodded once.
"Can you contact her through this thing?"
"Already did," Reva said without missing a beat. "She should be en route."
Xavier blinked, caught a little off guard. "...Thanks."
Reva glanced at him, her expression cold as steel. "I’m not doing this for you."
That hit hard.
"I’m doing this for the village. For the people there. The ones who fed me, gave me a roof. They treated me like I was one of them. Like I belonged there. Much better than my real family who don’t care about me and only think of what can benefit them."
"If I have to say.... You are just like them. Left me behind once you were done using me." Her voice cracked just slightly at the end, but she turned and walked off before Xavier could see her face.
He stood there in the mess of blood, tech, and metal, watching her go.
Yeah, she was still pissed.
And he didn’t blame her.