Monster Salvage Crew

Part One: A Bunch Of Eclectic Assholes In A Van

Sara took a deep breath and told herself everything was going to be fine. She checked her phone again to make sure she read the text message right. It’s time. Meet us at the parking lot of the ruined snackbar on baker street. We’ll be there in 45 minutes. She had gotten the message an hour ago. The parking lot around her was empty save for some rubble she was sitting on. It was a cold morning with the promise of unforgiving heat later in the day. She checked her phone. It still read out the same message.

“It’s going to be fine.” She told herself. “Fifteen minutes late is not that late. It’s going to be fine.” She wasn’t even sure if she wanted them to show up or not. Money would be tight, but she could make do until next week and she could get a fight in that time. The arena master didn’t like it when his fighters didn’t show up, but she was popular, -ish, and could get another fight, probably. It wouldn’t pay shit of course, but it would be something. She could smell the sweat and fear of the ring, hear the screams of the crowd, see a pool of blood lying on the ground and in the middle of that pool-

“It’s fine, you survived it all, you’re fine.” She rubbed her left hand, feeling the bones poking into her other hand. It felt fine, not good, or normal, but it was good enough. Holding her hands together, palms facing each other, she could tell that her hands weren’t symmetrical anymore, but it was close.

“This is the only way to tell. You have normal looking hands. Lots of people have hands that aren’t perfectly symmetrical, it’s not a big deal.” She said to herself. A passerby gave her a funny look and crossed to walk on the other side of the street.

“And if you’d just stop talking to yourself you wouldn’t look so crazy.” She mumbled. She got up from the debris of the nearby snackbar and paced back and forth. “This is drastic, but it’s the best of bad options.” Except, was it really?

“You don’t know any of these people, they could all be murderers, they could be crazy, they could be worse.” The arena master was a bastard, but at least she knew what he was like, didn’t she? At that moment a van came to a screeching halt in front of her. The door opened before it stopped fully and Maddox poked their head out.

“Sorry we’re late, but we couldn’t find parking.” They said with a grin that stretched ear to ear. “Let’s go!”

Sara nervously held the injector in her pocket, it didn’t have much of a dose in it, only enough for a minute or so. Hopefully she wouldn’t have to use it, but in the event-

“Are you coming or not? Asked Maddox, bringing her back to the present moment.

“Uhm,” she hesitated, she couldn’t go back to the arena, not after what happened. “Yes.” She climbed inside and let out a small yelp when Maddox slammed the sliding door shut behind her.

“Don’t worry everything is going to be fine. Here, put this on and I’ll introduce you to the gang.” Maddox said and handed her a bundle of clothes, on top of it were a pair of goggles and mask that covered the nose and mouth, all the while keeping that huge grin on their face.

“Mad Dogs!” A woman shouted from the front. Sara thought she was sitting in the passenger seat.

“That’s not what we're called!” Maddox shouted back.

“Yes it is! I put it to a vote”

“I don’t respect your elections and please don’t give the new kid the wrong idea.” Maddox replied and then turned their attention back to Sara. “That’s Adeline, she’s our oracle.”

“No, I’m not!”

“This is not an argument we’re going to have again and this isn’t a democracy either. Just come say hello!” Maddox shouted. “Please?” They added belatedly.

“Fine!” The woman in front, Adeline, said and turned around. “Hi, I’m Adeline, nice to meet you!” She had short dark hair and looked to be early twenties or late teens, a little younger than Sara. She was wearing a pair of goggles on her forehead just like the ones Sara had been handed moments earlier.

“Hi.” Sara replied while struggling to put on the overall she had been given in the confined space of the van. It was made of some kind of plastic material that felt like it was waterproof. Everyone else in the van was wearing something similar. Makeshift hazmat suits, she realized, they didn’t look like they would be very effective.

“This is Vincent, he's the newest member of the team, after you.” Said Maddox, pointing out the guy sitting next to her. She hadn’t noticed him before, but he was staring at her with a wide eyed expression.

“Hi, I’m Vincent, but you know that, because Maddox just said that.” He said, barely getting each word out before the next one fell from his mouth. “Hi.” He added after an awkward pause.

“Hey.” Sara said, unsure of what to make of his energy.

“This is Looks.” Maddox pointed out the man next to them. He was too tall for the van and looked a little silly sitting on the seat while nearly folded in half.

“Hello, nice to meet you.” Sara said and held out her hand. He didn’t say anything in reply and just looked her over. She recognised something in that look, it was the careful examination that a fighter gave you before a fight. It set her teeth on edge and she gave him a more thorough inspection as well. It was hard to tell with him sitting down, but she thought he must be very tall, two meters at least. His hands were callused, but showed no obvious signs of mutation. His face didn’t look like much either, unless. He was wearing his goggles over his eyes so it was hard to tell, but he had enlarged irises. They nearly covered the entirety of his eye that was visible, showing only a thin sliver of white around the edge, his pupils were nearly perfect circles. That wasn’t just any mutation, that was a very carefully sculpted body modification. This guy knew how to handle a dose. If it came to a fight, he would be the biggest threat by far. When she was sure that he was about to make a move he looked away, breaking the staredown.

“Okay, why don’t we try to keep things calm.” Said Maddox. The only response was the humming of the engine and tension that could be cut with a knife. “Great.” They said, still smiling. “Finally we have Penelope, she’s our driver. Can you give a friendly introduction?”

“Please don’t ask me to talk while driving.” Said Penelope.

“I don’t know why I expect the impossible from you people.” Said Maddox, while never letting the smile leave their face.

“It’s nice to meet all of you.” Said Sara unsteadily and afraid that she had already forgotten several names.

“Don’t worry, we do this all the time. It’s just a simple salvage job.” Said Maddox.

“Take a right up ahead and then we’ve got the checkpoint.” Said the woman in the passenger seat. Sara thought that her name might have been Adeline.

“Alright, do you have the paperwork?” Asked Maddox.

“Yeah, I’ve got plenty.”

Sara didn’t get a good look at the checkpoint from her position in the back. Only getting a glimpse of a massive line of cars trying to go the other way and some people in military equipment.

“Wait, Maddox, you said that we wouldn’t have to deal with the Reclamation Office.” She said after seeing bright red letters on someone's back that read K.R.O.

“Once we get past the quarantine checkpoint the crows aren’t going to be a bother for us anymore. The place we’re going to isn’t going to fall under their direct notice for a couple of hours at least, maybe a full day.” Explained Maddox.

“What, which is it? A few hours or a full day.” Said Sara, alarmed by the casual disregard that Maddox showed to the Kaiju Reclamation Office.

“It’s gonna be plenty of time.” Vincent chimed in. “I’m gonna be on lookout and I’ll spot them way before they get to us. I was really nervous the first time I came along as well, but they, we know what we’re doing.”

“Exactly, it’s gonna be fine. Honestly? It’s going to be easy.” Said Maddox.

Looks made brief eye contact with her, but instead of another stare down he gave her a slight smile and a nod of agreement.

Sara was going to ask why they wanted an arena fighter like herself to come along if it was going to be easy when there was a knock on the window.

“Excuse me, who are you? Do you have registration to be here?” Said one of the officers. Sara could feel her heartbeat on the inside of her sternum like a hammer. She grabbed her left arm and squeezed it tightly, she could feel bones and muscle, nothing unusual.

“Certainly officer, I've got the paperwork right here.” Said Adeline with a smile and handed the man a stack of money. Vincent reached over to hold her hand, it made her feel slightly better.

“What is this?” The officer asked and Sara’s stomach dropped. “I’m going to need to see more paperwork than this.”

“Of course sir,” Said Adeline and reached to the back where Maddox wordlessly gave her some more money. She handed it to the man and continued with an edge to her voice. “That will be all.”

“Uhm,” the man said and was quiet for a second, “alright, you can pass. Open the way! Let them through!” He shouted this last part at someone Sara couldn’t see, but she breathed a huge sigh of relief. To her surprise Vincent also let out a sigh, maybe he hadn’t just held her hand for her benefit.

“Excuse me! What the fuck?” A woman’s voice shouted. “Did you just accept a goddamned bribe in front of me? Stop them!”

Sara exchanged a worried look with Vincent.

“Gun it!” Said Maddox.

“Hold on to something!” Said Penelope. The engines of the van screamed like they had been disemboweled. Sara was thrown onto Vincent and they both went down to the floor. After that everything was a blur. Somehow she and Vincent made it back to their seats, she thought Looks might have hauled them up. She could only think about the rough cargo netting behind her that she was gripping, while holding on for dear life to Vincent with her other hand. Voices came to her from the front of the car, they felt like they might as well have been from another universe.

“Whooooooo!” Shouted someone. Did she sound excited?

“Up ahead take a left and then straight away take a right.”

“I’ve never done anything straight in my life!”

With dawning horror she realised something. “Are they having fun?” She asked no one in particular. She had never felt so powerless in her life. The van lurched, for a moment Sara was floating in the air. The wall hit her in the back, she lost all the air in her lungs.

“Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck.” Whispered Vincent beside her. They were in the van until the streaks of sweat down her back felt like ice water, until her body felt like it had been chewed up by an angry god and until her jaw ached from clenching her teeth.

“Well, that was exciting!” Said Adeline after what felt like an eternity. Sara hadn’t even noticed when the van stopped.

“Maybe in front, but back here it was nauseating.” Said Maddox, who was somehow still smiling.

Looks had his eyes closed and was taking slow breaths, almost like he was sleeping.

“Are you two okay?” Asked Maddox of Sara and Vincent.

“Yeah, I’m good.” He said shakily.

“And you?” Maddox asked Sara after she didn’t say anything.

Sara looked Maddox in their eyes and opened her mouth to say that she was doing okay. “FUUUCK!” She screamed instead.

“Hey, it’s okay, you’re okay now.” They said and put a hand on her shoulder. “Take some deep breaths with me.”

Sara tried, but she realised she was crying.

“Come on, in through the nose and out through the mouth. Breathe with your stomach, not your chest.” They kept saying in a soothing voice. After a while it worked and she gained back some control of her breathing.

“Sheesh, embarrassing.” Said Adeline. “We had everything under control the entire time.”

“Adeline-” Maddox began, but Looks held up a hand and they went quiet. He gave Adeline a disapproving stare.

“Okay, I’m sorry Clay.” She said after a while.

Looks tilted his head.

“I’m sorry Sara.” She said begrudgingly.

“Everything is going to be fine.” Maddox said reassuringly.