Typical Commander, Waxer thinks. Fucker fought so damn hard they had to tie him up and throw him in the closet. The way the shinies tell it, he’d managed to keep the Seppies so entirely occupied they couldn’t lay a hand on anyone else.
Then, of course, they’d separated him from the herd.
Both of Wooley’s orbital bones are shattered. They don’t think Comstock will ever walk right again. In here, Cody must have been able to hear them, even if he couldn’t see.
He’s trussed up like a Nubian pig, wrists tied to his ankles and shackled to the wall. It’s a short chain, and Cody’s pressed himself in the corner to keep it from pulling. In the light from his helmet, Waxer can see he’s every bit as grime-coated as the room itself. Cody squints against the brightness. There’s no source of light in the room, save the door Waxer’s just broken down.
“Sir,” Waxer murmurs, going to his knees in front of Cody. Cody, of course, doesn’t answer. They’ve gagged him with what looks like a ripped shirt, and the fabric’s soaked with blood from his nose. “Can I…?” He reaches for the gag.
Cody’s eyes aren’t really focused, and when he nods it’s limp and listless. Waxer makes short work of the gag with a vibroblade, balling it up and tossing it behind him. Getting the wad of fabric out of Cody’s mouth is a little harder, and he hopes he’s not further straining Cody’s jaw as he eases it out.
The Commander’s a proud bastard, and there’s no way he’s happy about sitting in front of Waxer drooling spit and blood. Quickly, Waxer frees his hands and feet and digs a rag out of one of his pouches. Cody snatches it and sets to scrubbing his face while Waxer calls for an extract.
“Medical’ll be here in five, sir,” he says when he hangs up.
Cody spits into the rag and throws it to the side with the remnants of the gag. “Can you get me out of this thing?” he rasps, gesturing to the chain at his chest. It’s not a band, Waxer realizes, but rather a sort of metal harness fitted over his kit. “They thought I would try and kill myself with anything else,” Cody explains as Waxer runs his hands over it. “Should be able to cut it with a plasmablade.”
“Sure, Commander.”