literature

Doris, the first encounter

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When Doris announced to her siblings she was to join the explorer’s guild there was a noticeable feeling of concern expressed towards her. “The surface world was a dangerous place for Maren people, full of strife, conflict and all manner of vile things” she was told by her many brothers and sisters. The Progeny she was part of seemed like it would almost forbid her from taking part in such a dangerous activity, but they relented, Maren society being one of unity but also respecting the rights of the individual. Upon Doris’ departure for her training at the guild she was given great encouragement by her peers, plenty of well-wishes and a great deal of support. Doris had a good feeling about her future with the guild and with the backing of her brothers, sisters and friends she knew she was going to make a difference to Maren society’s view of the surface world.

Doris was right about one thing – she was going to make a difference, just not in the way she had planned.

It took 3 years for Doris to graduate from her training within the guild, learning all manner of self-defence and stealth techniques, survival skills, as well as several languages – English, French, German, Spanish, Russian and even Chinese. Doris was said to be a fast learner, but even her Tutors were impressed with how swiftly she’d taken her teachings to heart. There were some minor rumblings from the Guild about whether someone so young should be allowed to venture to the surface, but their worries were quashed and Doris was granted the resources she required for her year-long expedition.

Almost 6 months into her journey Doris had taken some time to reflect on her adventure so far. She sat atop a forested mountain, the position granting her ample ability to observe a nearby town and, to a more limited extent, the city nearby. As Doris peered through her telescope at the town she recollected the near-misses she had in the past; she had encountered all manner of surface dwellers accidentally, always managing to evade questioning and disappear before anyone realised what she was, but every time she had been reckless – attempting to take newspapers to see events and on one occasion being so brash as to walk into a small store to purchase magazines and DVDs, to attempt to take in some of the popular culture and to provide samples for study back home. Doris had finally decided in the last few weeks to stop taking risks and begin observations from afar. She had been given more than adequate equipment to make observations and recordings from great distances by the guild before her departure, so the last 6 months of her trip would be more isolated and relaxed.

Unfortunately for Doris, her rash actions in the past had garnered the attention of one particular individual. A bounty hunter who went only by the name ‘Giga’ had been stalking her for the past few weeks, learning the Maren’s routine day and night, waiting for an opportunity to strike. See, Maren were a very rare species to see on the surface, there were plenty of aquatic species that spent life away from water, but Maren were the opposite – you’d usually only hear about a sighting of a Maren every few years or so. If it wasn’t for public knowledge not to explore near where Maren cities were thought to be located in the oceans most people wouldn’t believe that they were more than myths. The species’ relative secrecy made them very valuable to bounty hunters and slave traders, and Giga had been desperate for a big score for a few months now, living almost solely on rations and dollar-store repair tools for his cybernetics. Doris was his big score.

Giga spent the better part of 3 hours slowly making his way to Doris’ encampment, knowing that by the time he got to her she would be sleeping in her tent. Giga hadn’t seen her set up any kind of perimeter warnings or alarms, assuming she was relying solely on the lighting around her tent to keep any curious wildlife away. As Giga drew closer he unsheathed a small blade, and placed it in his mouth, holding the blade with his teeth to keep his hands free. He had planned to cut through the wall of her tent and chloroform her before she could fully realise what was happening, dodging any kind of physical confrontation. Reaching her tent Giga carefully took his knife from his jaws and began slowly cutting through the wall of the tent, the fabric giving way to the blade with little effort. Something wasn’t quite right though, Giga couldn’t hear any motion coming from within the tent, no breathing or sounds of life. He stopped for a second, focusing and using his electrolocation to detect Doris’ heartbeat. Giga swiftly stopped and rolled aside, moments before a large club-like stick struck the ground where his head had been. Rolling to his feet he got a good look at the Maren, her stance suggesting she had had at least some training. Giga assumed a combat stance of his own, holding his blade in his off-hand the pair were poised to strike each other.

Doris made the first move, rushing towards Giga, swinging the club at chest height. Giga managed to jump backwards out of the way and immediately countered, charging at Doris. Doris ducked down and kicked out towards Giga, landing a solid hit on his chest and staggering the Shark, who was quickly becoming more and more agitated. Giga saw an opening and launched his blade towards Doris, who had just enough time to dodge out of its way, but not enough time to dodge Giga himself, who closed the distance between them and grappled her, his mechanical arm locking into place around her neck. Doris flailed wildly, kicking against her aggressor futilely, her blows landing on his mechanical leg and doing little damage. Giga slowly pulled out a rag and dampened it with a small vial of liquid, before pushing it over Doris’ face, forcing her to breathe through the rag. The sweet scent of the chloroform quickly went to work on the Maren, slowing her movements and eventually knocking her unconscious. Giga held the rag to her face for a few seconds after her struggles ceased to ensure she wasn’t faking it before unlocking his arm and placing her on the ground.

Giga knew he only had a few minutes before the Maren would begin the awaken again, so went to work quickly, binding the Maren’s ankles with a roll of electrical tape, then tying her wrists together behind her back. Once those two were secured he took his time binding her above and below her knees, her thighs and her chest, above and below the breasts to ensure she wasn’t going to struggle out of the Shark’s reach easily. Lastly he took out another pair of cloths, bunching one up and pushing it into her mouth, before placing a few strips of tape over her lips to keep the wad in. He then took the other cloth, tying it over her mouth and knotting behind her head to ensure she wouldn’t be making much noise. Giga slung the bound Maren over his shoulder and begun trekking back towards his vehicle, parked at the foot of the mountain. Thankfully it wasn’t a particularly large distance he needed to cover but he knew his captive would begin to wake before he got there.

Doris began to wake up a few minutes later, groggily trying to remember what had happened, but her mind was in a complete daze. She became aware that she was moving, and tried to stretch her arms and legs to try and get some feeling into them but realised she was unable to. The sudden revelation snapped her wake as she began to wriggle about, struggling in her bonds. She looked down to see a shark’s tail, augmented with large mechanical parts, she also noticed one of the shark’s legs was mechanical too, and could feel the cold press of metal on her arms and back, so assumed the right arm was metallic too. She remembered the fight, and falling unconscious and began to struggle even harder, bucking and kicking against her captor’s grip, shouting as loud as she could underneath her gag but failing to do more than amuse her captor.

“I wouldn’t worry ‘bout struggling too much dear, you’re only gonna do yourself a mischief. Just calm down and I won’t have to knock you out again.” Her captor chuckled, quite pleased with his catch.

“Hmmph! Grrmp hmmm Mnnph!” Doris retorted, but ceased her struggling; she knew she wasn’t going to be freeing herself like this, so she decided to conserve her energy.

“Good lass, you keep that attitude up and I’m sure whoever buys ya will treat you well” Giga snickered, nearing his vehicle.

Giga’s smile turned sour as he rounded the last corner before he got to his truck, noticing another shark leaning against it. He continued towards the vehicle though now much more apprehensively.

“Tori, what the hell are you doing here?” He asked, getting ready to defend himself.

“I’m here to stop you causing a goddamn war you idiot, you got any idea how protective Maren are about their own people? They’d invade the damned USA just to get that little one back safely” Tori sneered, slowly walking towards Giga with one hand on her holstered pistol, the other holding a large bag. “I’m here to offer you a job Giga, the little Maren too.” She tossed the bag towards Giga, it landing at his feet. “At the very least I’m also here to pay for her release, give you a chance to get those damned augments sorted out. This doesn’t have to get unpleasant.”

“And what If I refuse? You know that bag couldn’t possibly hold as much as what this girl is worth right? You going to stop me?” Giga snarled back at her, but slowly released his grip on his captive, placing her on the floor so he could look through the bag. “So what’s this job you’re offering?”

“You know who I work for Giga, they’re looking for people to work global security like I do, I’ve convinced them to give you a chance.” Tori replied, walking round to make sure Doris was still okay, she could see the bound Maren struggling about, trying to loosen her bonds but to no avail. “Was it really necessary to bind her that tightly?”

“You know what I’m like, better safe than sorry” Giga chuckled, fingering through the stacks of currency inside the bag. “This’ll keep me going for a while, why should I bother with your job offer? They pay this well monthly?”

“Yes” Tori bent down, and begun cutting through Doris’ restraints. “You can leave here, I’ll find you if you’re interested” she said, as Giga grumbled and walked off climbing into his truck. She waved towards him as he sped off. “Ugh, siblings are a pain in the ass. Though I imagine you’d know all about that, what with having a few hundred of them” Tori laughed as she finished cutting the last of Doris’ restraints, and removed her gag.

“Who- how dare you! This is far from a laughing matter!” Doris stood up, a mixture of fear and anger on her face.

“Easy there hun” Tori tried to calm her “I’m a friend. My brother? He’s just an ass. We’ve both been following you for the last few months, though I’ve not been planning to kidnap you, quite the opposite in fact.”

“What?” Doris was visibly confused, still debating just making a run for it into the forest, she was fairly sure she could outrun the shark, but had no idea if she could hide from her “Then why have you been tracking me?”

“Simple” Tori quipped “I’m here to offer you a job, a big one.”

I suck at titles.

Anyway, this is a non-canon story entry for :iconlurking-shambler: 's contest "Doris: Year One" the idea was to try and put together what Doris may have been up to in her first year of exploring the surface. 

As usual I'm trying to put together a sort of over-arching narrative with my writing, this one is following up from my previous story entry, but occurs before Tori's encounter with Dagger and Dakota. When I finally get struck by the motivation bug again I'll likely be featuring Doris again in some future works, though I should add what I write featuring Doris isn't exactly going to be canon as far as she's concerned - It's up to shambler what happens to her!

Figured I'd feature Giga in this one too, as I want to write him into my works as a kind of anti-hero neutral bugger. Because he's like that XD

Doris belongs to :iconlurking-shambler:
Giga belongs to :icongigabitswitch:
Tori belongs to meeee
© 2014 - 2024 DrPossibly
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DingoPatagonico's avatar
great history!! google translator helped me to can read it easier XD