The room they marched Damon to didn’t contain much. A chain dangling from the ceiling. A stain on the floor.

This is gonna hurt.

Yet, what else could he do? He knew those soldiers were looking for a woman. His woman.

He’d sacrificed himself to save her, but that didn’t mean he was going to accept the torture easily. And yes, he assumed torture because they hadn’t killed him the moment they managed to deactivate his body shield.

Despite his manacled hands, Damon caused some trouble—head butting a guard, lashing out with his feet—but they overcame him by sheer number, tackling him to the floor then dragging him upright to chain him.

He dangled, arms pulled taut, his toes barely scraping the floor. It put him in a rather precarious predicament when Fizz, that tentacled bastard, made an appearance. Given he was planet-side, the giant octopus male wore a hoverharness, allowing his body to float above the ground.

He also held a whip.

Gushing sewage through a grate. *Mangy human. How dare you think to steal what was promised me?

Since cockiness couldn’t make things much worse, Damon retorted, “Not my fault she chose the better man.”

Slap. The slimy tentacle whipped across his face, leaving a trail of slime behind.

*You stole her.

“She chose me. We’re married, slimeball. Get over it. Find yourself a new woman.”

*It’s not over. And she won’t be married to you for long. Fizz gestured, and someone approached, a short roach-like creature, his orange carapace bright, his many eyes unblinking. He held some kind of device.

“Open your mouth.” The stilted words were robotic sounding as the roach thing spoke.

“The orphanage taught me not to listen to strangers.”

“I am Doctor Pinceaux. Open.”

“Why?”

“The word is you want a divorce. We’re here to grant it.”

A divorce?

*Hurry up. Fizz jiggled with impatience.

“This is a delicate procedure,” the doctor advised. “Hold him still. And open his mouth.” The guards approached, and Damon twisted in his chains, only to freeze as a commotion outside the room drew everyone’s attention.

The door slid open, and Fizz burbled, *What is it? Why do you disturb me?

Someone was thrust into the space, and Damon could have groaned when he saw Michonne suddenly appear.

The Kanishqui commander jiggled with giddiness, a swirling soup of sloshing excitement. *Excellent. This will make things even easier.

Easier to do what? Damon didn’t think he’d like the answer.

“I thought you escaped?” he hissed as Michonne flew to his side and surveyed him, her lower lip caught between her teeth.

“I did. But the ship was going to leave without you.”

“And you should have gone with it. Why the hell didn’t you go?”

She shrugged. “You’re my husband.”

*Not for long.

The doctor approached. “Hold him still while I remove the mark.”

“Remove?” Michonne whirled. “You can’t remove it. It will kill him.”

“An unfortunate side effect.”

*Fear not, you won’t be widowed long. The doctor has found a way to transfer the mark without a reset or waiting period.

“You can’t do that.” Michonne tried to shield Damon with her body, but it took only a single Kanishqui guard to hold her out of the way.

The approaching roach raised his device, and no matter how Damon squirmed, he couldn’t escape the guards holding his mouth open.

Just as the whirring device got close, the door blasted open. He blinked at the dust and then grinned as the chain overhead suddenly let loose.

He immediately brought his hands forward, still tethered, and clubbed the nearest guard. Who dropped his weapon.

“Grab it,” Damon shouted to Michonne, who stared wide-eyed at the chaos.

Captain Jameson had arrived, wielding a huge gun—the kind that left big holes—and he was shooting anything that moved. Which worked great on the guards, but Fizz wasn’t going down.

“Fucker stole my body shield.” What Fizz didn’t know was it had a limited battery life.

Damon held up his tethered hands and shouted, “Twelve o’clock.”

It was Ivan, with a wide grin, who raised a gun and fired. Damon’s hands split apart, still wearing bracelets, but at least now he could join the fight.

Michonne had grabbed a weapon and backed herself against the wall. Probably the best spot for her since more bodies floated into the room, the Kanishqui crew coming to help their commander.

Damon dove at a waving tentacle and wrestled away a gun. He joined the captain, Ivan, and the ensigns who were laying down weapon fire.

But everyone froze when they heard the big splash.

*Stop or I kill the heiress.

Fizz had managed to capture Michonne and held her against him. She looked more pissed than scared. However, Damon was scared enough for the two of them given Fizz held a knife to her throat.

“He won’t kill me,” she stated. “He wants my fortune.”

Gurgling, laughing brook. *If I can’t have your fortune, then I will settle for a boon from your sibling.

“Lunilla won’t reward you for killing me.”

*Your sister harbors great hatred for you.

Speaking of whom, Lunilla strode into the room and replied, “I hate her yes, but I would never reward anyone for killing my baby sister. And how dare you even assume that.” Lunilla raised her gun. Fizz managed to have his tentacles look smug, and then he was sushi as her shot blew off the top of his head.

The battery on his shield had run out.

And so had their invitation to the planet.