The Rhapsody approached the space station Astracus and docked in one of the multi-level bays. It was met immediately with a troupe of waiting armed guards. The station’s traffic controller had alerted Boss Rancor nearly an hour ago when they first detected the unique signature of the Rhapsody on a course for Astracus. He had immediately sent out a stationwide message to all available personnel to gather in the docking area and prepare for the ship’s arrival.

The little mid-boss had tried contacting the Titans back on Planet Tuscan to see who was at the helm of the ship. After the Zenith officials had carted away their famed prisoner that he had helped to facilitate and paid him a handsome sum for his part in it, they failed to keep part of the original bargain, which would mean that the crime boss could keep the bounty hunter’s armor, but they had left his vehicle alone in one of his ports. Rancor swiftly found a buyer in his crime family and within hours he had sold the ship for more than he had received from Zenith for participating in the capture of the bounty hunter.

The Rhapsody was a Class 1 Personal cargo unit. Class 1 referred to its speed, which made it the fastest among non-commercial space faring vehicles. Normally, a luxury craft like that would run around five-hundred thousand credits, but due to the reputation of its former owner, the notorious bounty hunter Lupis, and some heavy modifications, he had managed to squeeze two million from his buyer. But he had no idea why it was now coming back and no one back in the town of Bruscetti back on Tuscan, where his buyer had been from, was now answering their comms.

As far fetched as it sounded, the only conclusion that the tiny mob boss could come to was that the bounty hunter had somehow managed to steal it back and was now on his way here. He knew how far-fetched that idea was, after all, it would meant that he would somehow have to defeat an entire team of Zenith battle drones and security experts, but would have to navigate back from beyond the void, which is where he was told they were going. It was unlikely sure, but the fearsome reputation of Lupis was great, and he was not in the mood to take any chances. If the bounty hunter had managed to free himself from captivity somehow and made his way back to the station for revenge, he would find Boss Rancor and his space station, ready for any armed action.

The tension in the hanger was oppressive as the ship docked and the main power shut down. Rancor had sent his entire security detail to greet their visitor, all but his most trusted Ursid bodyguards. They leveled their weapons and rushed to the hatch at the back of the ship, preparing to board. They weren’t sure exactly what to expect, but it did surprise them that they encounter no security locks on the doors. Instead, they opened directly for them, and the first team rushed inside.

Twitchy nerves held shaky E-rifles as they boarded and rushed inside the cargo hold. They were expecting resistance immediately and found nothing instead. The tension was so high that one of the first security members accidentally fired a shot into the bulkhead.

“Shit!” The security guard exclaimed, surprised by the sudden loud crack of his gun as his finger accidentally pulled the trigger back.

“You moron!” Another one reprimanded him immediately.

Just then they all noticed movement in the corridor leading from the cargo hold into the main ship interior. The lights inside the Rhapsody had turned off with the main power and only the eerie light from the running lights within illuminated the scene. What they saw standing before them like a guarding into the ship was unmistakable though, it was a large suit of power armor, menacing them with its presence.

The crowd of security experts all trained their weapons at once on the figure standing there. The lead security officer aimed a device at it and pushed a button, unleashing a mini-EMP that would briefly shut down even the most heavily protected power armors in the galaxy. He snickered and opened a link with his Net-Comm to the safely insulated Boss back inside his penthouse suite in the casino.

“We got him.” Then he turned to the rest of the security detail and signaled them to move in.

The power armor shut down visibly before their eyes and they rushed in to contain the Titan within, no doubt remained that it had to be in fact the bounty hunter behind the mirrored helmet.

Suddenly a burst of gunfire erupted from behind the security officers as a panel inside the ship flipped around revealing Lupis with a fully automatic E-rifle. On his way to the station, he had removed the exercise equipment that was normally housed within the hollowed panels on the cargo hold. Though he did not have the benefit of his armor’s targeting systems, the HUD within his Net-comm was more than enough to slaughter the crowd in a few moments. The E-rifle’s full auto stream cut the security guards down like a grass cutting drone sliced through a field of grass blades.

Just as the last body fell to the floor inside the cargo hold, Lupis worked his E-rifle’s display to reload. Inside the smart magazine, the lasers began measuring and cutting extra ammo in advance. He moved to the side of the door just in time for the second wave of security to come rushing in.

This second wave began opening fire on the power armor, undoubtedly assuming it to be the source of the gunfire. He allowed a few to come in before he pulled the trigger and mowing them down alongside the others. He knew they would be so focused on the power armor directly in front of them that they would not have the chance to look to their flank. Lupis capitalized on his tactical advantage and cut down the group, and the next two that came through the cargo hold.

Caution won out and they finally stopped coming into the slaughterhouse. He had no idea how many had fallen before they finally decided to think out another strategy besides “run in and die quickly”, but he could have easily counted well over thirty bodies lying scattered all around him.

From the outside of the ship, the Titans remaining scrambled to try to find some direction. They stood with their rifles aimed at the open hatch, into which nearly half of their numbers disappeared into and never came back out. Some were beginning to think that the stories were true, and that they were not up against any normal Titan, but some supernatural menace. None of them knew quite what to do, and most were awaiting for orders whether to send more in or turn in flee, when the decision was eventually made for them.

With the EMP protection the Phantasm model employed, it took about five minutes for the suit to come back online. Gunfire once again broke out from all around the hanger as the armored figure came out of the hatch guns blazing. The guards fired back, most of the bullets were harmlessly deflected from the hull of the suit. But while their collective attention was solely on the walking implement of destruction walking out towards them, none noticed that it was being remotely controlled and that the Titan himself leaned out from the ship’s hatch and lobbed several explosive grenades into the crowd.

After a number of fiery explosions, in which more security agents were blasted apart, the bounty hunter leaned out with his E-rifle and began picking off the survivors that remained. In a few minutes, the entire room was still, aside from a few flames and smoke clinging to the floor. The power armor dropped and opened, as it had been programmed to do previously, only when there were no more remaining life signatures in the immediate area.

Lupis wasted no time climbing back in. The Phantasm closed around him with its familiar embrace. He took a moment to look around the hanger until he found a camera. He looked up into the camera with the mirrored helmet pointedly before engaging the cloaking ability and disappearing from sight.

* * * *

Boss Rancor screamed at his monitor. For a full two minutes, he screamed at the top of his lungs at his incompetent security, who were all dead now. Nearly a hundred Titans. Wiped from existence by a single Titan. He eventually stopped screaming, and with a horse voice, turned to the remaining security detail that consisted of two Ursids and two Canids. They were eagerly clutching their guns, awaiting the inevitable fight.

“Open the door.” Rancor instructed.

“What? But boss…” One of the Canids replied cluelessly.

“Just do it. If a hundred Titans downstairs couldn’t stop him, the four of you and a door isn’t gonna stop him either. We might as well roll out the welcome wagon.”

Boss Rancor watched his monitors and didn’t see anything out of place for a long time. It figured, the Phantasm armor had the cloaking ability turned on which made it difficult to see with the naked eye, nearly impossible to record with any security devices. Just outside of the casino entrance, he saw the two bouncers that allowed people onto the main floor lift off the ground. One of their eyes began bleeding as he screamed out for pain, the other one was flung against a wall before flopping several times by an unseen killer. Rancor figured the invisible Titan was kicking him to death.

“Shit man, he’s killing all my employees, not just security guards.” Boss Rancor shook his head sadly at the monitors.

Eventually he got an alert that the elevator was in motion, and he continued to wait patiently. Eventually it made it to his top floor suite and the doors opened. Just when the anticipation was mounting to a painful level, the bounty hunter appeared standing in the doorway.

“And here you are.” Rancor lit up one of his odious cigars and smiled a greasy smile at Lupis.

The power armor said nothing in return. Underneath the armor, every muscle in Lupis’ body was twitching with murderous intent. He visualized killing the little Rodentia in front of him many times, but now the fantasy was crossing over into reality. Every fiber of muscle in his body was alive with excitement, begging him to leap across the room and crush the mobster with his bare hands. He forced himself to wait, savoring the moment.

“Look, no harm done right? It was only business.” Boss Rancor said, a slight waiver behind his normally casual voice. The fact that the mercenary did not cross the room and immediately kill him caused more tension than if he had. “We can talk business, right? You’re a reasonable Titan. Tell me, what do you want?”

The leg compartment on his power armor shot open, and the Roland pistol was instantly in his hand and aimed at the small crime boss. For the first time, the Rodentia’s face lost its composure and Lupis saw terror written inside of his eyes.

The Phantasm armor began walking closer and his finger pulled the trigger. The pistol dry-fired with a loud click. He had run out of bullets downstairs killing all of his guards. He stepped forward and pulled the trigger again, and again, each time the mob boss’ head exploded and brains splattered the back wall in his mind.

Lupis reached the desk and dry fired the gun one last time, directly in the Boss’ face. The two gigantic Ursids stepped forward, and with lightning reflexes, the empty magazine fell from the pistol and he shoved a new one into the mag well. He whirled around and fired two three round bursts into the advancing Ursids, who died instantly.

“Now wait a minute! Let’s make a deal here. Look pal, y-you don’t really want to kill me huh? Just tell me what you want, I-I’ll give you anything!” Rancor pleaded frantically.

Lupis whirled back around. This time when he squeezed back the trigger, the loathsome mob boss’ death wasn’t just a visualization within his mind.