[Mercy] Failure To Communicate

[John Doe]

"You couldn't get anything bigger?"

Doe sat cross-legged inside his small cage, his hands still bound behind his back with handcuffs. The container stood about 3 feet high, forcing the stowaway to sit in place. The cage had a solid iron plate on the top and bottom, held together by a row of grey bars that surrounded him on all sides. His personal prison was held inside the spaceport's basement. Despite being such a large spaceport, the basement was surprisingly small. A single bulb hung down and illuminated the dank room. The stairs leading up into the facility were rickety and made of rotting wood, which was strange in such a high tech day-in-age. Even under such short notice, Doe had to hand it to the militia; they certainly knew how to make somebody feel at home. "On some planets, this could be considered cruel and unusual punishment."

Doe looked up at his guard, the female militia who arrested him. She sat near Doe's cell on a small stool, her arm resting on her leg as it supported her chin. Her rifle was still strapped around her shoulder, but she was staring at the wall with a blank stare. She hadn't been on guard duty for more than an hour, but to her, it felt like days had gone by. She turned her head towards Doe and shrugged. "Having to watch you is truly cruel and unusual."

The prisoner leaned back against his iron bars and made a small smirk. "Ouch, your words really cut deep, you know?" The soldier sighed, and returned to staring at her wall. Doe took the chance to give himself a better look at her. The woman was definitely a shrimp, even by a woman's standards. While sitting on the stool, her legs were barely able to reach the ground. The uniform seemed a few sizes too big for her; her sleeves covered her hands and the hem of her pants were touching the floor. It was hard to tell what her body looked like underneath her outfit, but Doe figured she was at least a B, for sure. Doe could barely make out her name from where he was sitting, but it seemed to be "Mary Sue." She had a camouflaged cap on that tried to compress her hair into a ball, but Doe could see a few strands of her bright red hair trickling out of it. She kept her face in a pout, her youthful cheeks still resting on her palm. Definitely in her late teens, he thought. Doe shook his head in disappointment. "I bet you could be a real looker if you spruced yourself up some."

Right after his statement was complete, Mary threw her stool at Doe, who leapt backwards as far as his cell allowed him to. Her face went red and her cheeks puffed up in an instant, almost like she's heard that line one too many times. Doe looked straight back at her, and then erupted into a fit of laughter. "Didn't take you as the sensitive type, yahahaha!" He began to kick the iron bars as his jackal-like laughter continued. The guard took a deep breath before picking up her stool and returning to her position. As the suit wearing prisoner settled down, he leaned towards his captor and rested his head between the bars. "Oh come on, you can't stay like that forever you know. How else are we going to pass the time if we can't enjoy some friendly conversation?"

Mary sighed again and turned her back to the man. "To think, I could be out on the front lines right now..." she muttered under her breath.

"Oh." Doe remarked, sitting straight up. "Are you some sorta tomboy?"

"Will you shut up!?" She reached for her rifle to try an intimidate her prisoner. Doe grinned, but he remained silent. After a brief moment of silence, Mary calmed herself down and tried to explain her position. "I come from a big family, 6 brothers and 3 sisters. Our parents died when we were little, so we've been taking care of ourselves for our entire lives. When this war started, all my brothers volunteered to stop these invaders, leaving me and my two sisters alone on Earth." She paused for a moment and looked off into the distance, presumably towards Earth.

"We are a resourceful bunch and can get by without them around, but..." Doe leaned towards his guard, feigning interest. "I couldn't stand by and do nothing! I might be a girl, and a small one at that, but I can't leave the fate of the universe up to my brothers. I have to help, in any way I can."

Doe started to clap. "Bravo, great speech!" He put his hand up to his mouth in a vain attempt to whistle. "Encore!" Mary grunted and turned back towards the wall opposite Doe, regretting that she even tried to open herself up to her prisoner of all things. She didn't want to have to listen to him anymore...

...

...

"Wait..."

The realization came to her at that moment as he jumped out of her stool and turned around. As she feared, Doe was sitting in his cell, both hands in the air in front of him. Mary grabbed the rifle of her shoulder and took aim. "How'd you get free from your handcuffs!" she demanded, making sure that the safety was turned off.

"I learned a few tricks in my travels." He leaned forward as he clenched an iron bar in front of him. "Like this one." Right on cue, the grey bar started turning red. It began to glow as heat radiated from Doe's palm. Mary took a step backwards as the bar started to melt, forming a small puddle of hot metal on the ground below. In a few seconds, the bar was completely melted, and the prisoner stood up and crawled out of his cell. "How was that? Free at last, am I right?" He started to walk towards the guard as his grin expanded into a beaming smile.

Without pausing to ask any more questions, Mary pushed her finger against the trigger and fired a round straight into Doe's head. He fell backwards and fell to the ground, his black shades falling next to him. He creepy grin remained as blood oozed from his wound and onto the ground below. Mary gave a relieved sigh and she put her rifle back to her side and turned around to report this incident to her superiors. The stowaway was dead. As she walked towards the stairs, she turned around once more to be sure of his demise.

Doe was standing two feet away from her, blood still covering his face. Mary fell back onto the stairs from the shock as Doe began another, deeper laugh. The wound on his forehead began to close and he carefully placed his shades back on his head. "Did I forget to mention that I'm immortal?"