“I told them we should have gone with them,” Ryoko Asakura complained as they ran down the boarding tube. “But no, Miyu insisted she could keep an eye on him. Now there’s an idiot trying to kill the Professor.” Her worried expression briefly shifted, replaced by jealousy. “That’s my job!”
Behind her, Catty rolled her eyes. “Focus Ryoko. We need to get to the trams. They’re the fastest way to the Professor now. You can tell Miyu ‘I told you so’ later…” Emerging from the boarding tube, both women skidded to a halt. Waiting in front of the exit was a squad of Browncoat militiamen, several with their sidearms drawn, the rest carrying shotguns. All of them had their weapons aimed at the ground, but it still worked very well at getting their attention. “Um, okay. Is there a problem here officers?”
Stepping forward, the Sergeant gave them both a level look. “Ma’am, we’re going to need you to remain aboard your ship until further notice,” he said. “I apologise for the inconvenience, but-”
“Sergeant,” Ryoko interrupted, “please. Our creator and sister are under attack by some lunatic, probably trying to claim the bounty the French placed on him.” Her tone was polite, but she couldn’t quite keep her voice from wavering in concern. “We can’t just stay here while they’re in danger.”
Catty had lost track of how often Ryoko had done this. The woman had an almost magical talent at convincing people to help her out, or at least listen to reason. It had gotten them out of trouble, or at least helped calm the situation, countless times over the years.
This time however, it seemed to have almost no effect. In fact, the Sergeant actually scowled slightly as he considered Ryoko. “Miss Asakura, from what I’m hearing, your friends are the ones that shot first, after being stopped from experimenting on unwilling victims of the Professors inventions.” His expression darkened further as he glanced between the two of them, waiting for a reply.
“Never would have thought of the Friez as a River Tam,” one of the militiamen commented to another quietly, unaware the android women could hear him just fine.
“It makes sense the more you think about it,” the woman next to him replied under her breath. “Which is kind of scary actually.”
Paying little attention to his squad, the sergeant gave the Professors assistants an unamused look. “So no, you won’t be running off to help the Professor. Once Security gets to him, he’ll be escorted back to your ship, at which point you will all leave.” Ryoko tried to protest, but he cut her off with a sharp wave of his hand. “Not this time Miss Asakura. Turn around and get back on your boat. With any luck, you’ll be leaving soon, and maybe, just maybe, we won’t end up with a Convention over this go shi.” The two women stared at him, incredulous, and he chuckled bitterly, grip tightening on his pistol. “Go and check your ships radar. Take a look at everyone’s reaction to your being here. Based off your boss's behaviour in the past, they ain’t overreacting.”
Ryoko and Catty looked at each other nervously, then past the Sergeant and at his squad. They met the pairs gazes, several of them clearly nervous, but all of their weapons were steady. If the Professors Assistants wanted to try and force the issue, they’d have a fight on their hands.
Putting her hand on Ryokos shoulder, Catty shook her head slightly, before turning and heading back to the boarding tube. Her sister followed, clearly reluctant. “Are we just going to wait?” she whispered.
“First, I want to see what he meant about the radar,” Catty replied. “After that, we might just have to get creative.” She smirked slightly. “I should be able to punch my way into that docking bay from the outside.”
***
Ducking, Chris barely got out of the way of another lightning bolt, cursing under his breath as it reduced a shipping crate to shrapnel. “Stupid stupid stupid,” he muttered, grabbing another grenade from its hiding place and sending it bouncing into the middle of the room. “Yeah, get in a fight with the Professor, fucking genius…”
The ‘Disco Ball’ grenade sent a wave of light and noise racing outwards. It caught the Professor off-guard, the man stumbling back and covering his eyes, along with more than a few spectators, but Miyu charged right on through, gun-arm changing back to its sword form. Before Chris realised it, she’d jumped over his cover, twisted in mid-air, and landed lightly behind him.
Sparks flew off his repulsor gauntlets as he deflected the blade once, twice, a third time… then he gasped in pain as she got the blade in under his coat, the edge leaving a bloody trail along his side. He stumbled, then recovered, bringing a gauntlet up and blasting her in the stomach, throwing her back across the room. “Tee, you’re up,” he managed.
Rising to her feet, Miyu growled, arm switching back to gun mode. “You do realise those things are useless in the long run, don’t you?” she taunted.
Meeting her glare, Chris gave her a strained smile. “Yeah, you two are a bit more willing to go lethal force than I hoped,” he admitted. “Guess I should probably skip the dubstep gun.” The smile became a smirk. “You probably would have preferred that, to be honest."
Eyes narrowing, Miyu crouched to leap at him again, before her attention was grabbed by what sounded like a rocket launch. Spinning, she had just enough time to see an odd, Warsie-style astromech droid flying towards her on a collection of booster rockets, before he slammed into her chest. Unlike the pure ‘wavetech repulsor gauntlets, this hit her with the full force of fifty kilograms of metal and alloy at high speed, and she made a pained gasp as the air was knocked out of her lungs and she was sent crashing to the deck, the droid perched on her chest. When the world stopped spinning, she tried to force him off, only to freeze as a panel in the droids head opened, revealing the barrel of a handgun aimed directly at her head.
the droid beeped.
Wincing as he touched his injured side, Chris grinned slightly. “He’s not kidding. A few Boskonians tried calling that bluff back in the day,” he warned. “Stay down Miss Glear. There’s no need for you to get hurt any more than you already are.” She glared at him in fury, but he paid little attention to it, already turning back to the Professor.
At which point he realized he’d made the rookie mistake of turning his back on the biggest threat in the fight. The noise and light of the Disco Ball grenade had only distracted him for a moment, and used the fight focusing on Miyu to retrieve several items from the inside of his lab coat and make some modifications. As Chris turned, he jammed his thumb down on the large red button on the device in his left hand waited a second for it to make a confirmation beep, and threw.
Expecting some sort of explosion, Chris brought his hands up, shielding his face. Instead, it bounced off the decking and rolled to a stop near his feet. It beeped a second time, the air seemed to ripple, and his gauntlets simply fell apart, screws, armor and wiring coming undone. Baffled, the Captain looked down at the mess, then back up at the Professor, who smiled viciously. “Toys soaked in Handwavium,” he taunted. “No innovation, no true understanding. You expected such tricks to succeed against a champion of SCIENCE?!” Finishing the sentence with an angry roar, the Professor raised the lightning gun again, blasting at his enemy.
Leaping to the side, Chris snarled in pain, both at the bolt clipping his leg and his existing injuries, rolling clumsily behind an overturned cart. “Had to play hero,” he scolded himself, gasping for breath. “Idiot. Idealistic… idiot!” Reaching into the cardboard box next to him, he retrieved the revolver he’d stashed there earlier, flinched as another lightning burst tore at his cover and sprayed him with metal splinters, then emerged around the side of the cart and took aim.
Behind her, Catty rolled her eyes. “Focus Ryoko. We need to get to the trams. They’re the fastest way to the Professor now. You can tell Miyu ‘I told you so’ later…” Emerging from the boarding tube, both women skidded to a halt. Waiting in front of the exit was a squad of Browncoat militiamen, several with their sidearms drawn, the rest carrying shotguns. All of them had their weapons aimed at the ground, but it still worked very well at getting their attention. “Um, okay. Is there a problem here officers?”
Stepping forward, the Sergeant gave them both a level look. “Ma’am, we’re going to need you to remain aboard your ship until further notice,” he said. “I apologise for the inconvenience, but-”
“Sergeant,” Ryoko interrupted, “please. Our creator and sister are under attack by some lunatic, probably trying to claim the bounty the French placed on him.” Her tone was polite, but she couldn’t quite keep her voice from wavering in concern. “We can’t just stay here while they’re in danger.”
Catty had lost track of how often Ryoko had done this. The woman had an almost magical talent at convincing people to help her out, or at least listen to reason. It had gotten them out of trouble, or at least helped calm the situation, countless times over the years.
This time however, it seemed to have almost no effect. In fact, the Sergeant actually scowled slightly as he considered Ryoko. “Miss Asakura, from what I’m hearing, your friends are the ones that shot first, after being stopped from experimenting on unwilling victims of the Professors inventions.” His expression darkened further as he glanced between the two of them, waiting for a reply.
“Never would have thought of the Friez as a River Tam,” one of the militiamen commented to another quietly, unaware the android women could hear him just fine.
“It makes sense the more you think about it,” the woman next to him replied under her breath. “Which is kind of scary actually.”
Paying little attention to his squad, the sergeant gave the Professors assistants an unamused look. “So no, you won’t be running off to help the Professor. Once Security gets to him, he’ll be escorted back to your ship, at which point you will all leave.” Ryoko tried to protest, but he cut her off with a sharp wave of his hand. “Not this time Miss Asakura. Turn around and get back on your boat. With any luck, you’ll be leaving soon, and maybe, just maybe, we won’t end up with a Convention over this go shi.” The two women stared at him, incredulous, and he chuckled bitterly, grip tightening on his pistol. “Go and check your ships radar. Take a look at everyone’s reaction to your being here. Based off your boss's behaviour in the past, they ain’t overreacting.”
Ryoko and Catty looked at each other nervously, then past the Sergeant and at his squad. They met the pairs gazes, several of them clearly nervous, but all of their weapons were steady. If the Professors Assistants wanted to try and force the issue, they’d have a fight on their hands.
Putting her hand on Ryokos shoulder, Catty shook her head slightly, before turning and heading back to the boarding tube. Her sister followed, clearly reluctant. “Are we just going to wait?” she whispered.
“First, I want to see what he meant about the radar,” Catty replied. “After that, we might just have to get creative.” She smirked slightly. “I should be able to punch my way into that docking bay from the outside.”
***
Ducking, Chris barely got out of the way of another lightning bolt, cursing under his breath as it reduced a shipping crate to shrapnel. “Stupid stupid stupid,” he muttered, grabbing another grenade from its hiding place and sending it bouncing into the middle of the room. “Yeah, get in a fight with the Professor, fucking genius…”
The ‘Disco Ball’ grenade sent a wave of light and noise racing outwards. It caught the Professor off-guard, the man stumbling back and covering his eyes, along with more than a few spectators, but Miyu charged right on through, gun-arm changing back to its sword form. Before Chris realised it, she’d jumped over his cover, twisted in mid-air, and landed lightly behind him.
Sparks flew off his repulsor gauntlets as he deflected the blade once, twice, a third time… then he gasped in pain as she got the blade in under his coat, the edge leaving a bloody trail along his side. He stumbled, then recovered, bringing a gauntlet up and blasting her in the stomach, throwing her back across the room. “Tee, you’re up,” he managed.
Rising to her feet, Miyu growled, arm switching back to gun mode. “You do realise those things are useless in the long run, don’t you?” she taunted.
Meeting her glare, Chris gave her a strained smile. “Yeah, you two are a bit more willing to go lethal force than I hoped,” he admitted. “Guess I should probably skip the dubstep gun.” The smile became a smirk. “You probably would have preferred that, to be honest."
Eyes narrowing, Miyu crouched to leap at him again, before her attention was grabbed by what sounded like a rocket launch. Spinning, she had just enough time to see an odd, Warsie-style astromech droid flying towards her on a collection of booster rockets, before he slammed into her chest. Unlike the pure ‘wavetech repulsor gauntlets, this hit her with the full force of fifty kilograms of metal and alloy at high speed, and she made a pained gasp as the air was knocked out of her lungs and she was sent crashing to the deck, the droid perched on her chest. When the world stopped spinning, she tried to force him off, only to freeze as a panel in the droids head opened, revealing the barrel of a handgun aimed directly at her head.
the droid beeped.
Wincing as he touched his injured side, Chris grinned slightly. “He’s not kidding. A few Boskonians tried calling that bluff back in the day,” he warned. “Stay down Miss Glear. There’s no need for you to get hurt any more than you already are.” She glared at him in fury, but he paid little attention to it, already turning back to the Professor.
At which point he realized he’d made the rookie mistake of turning his back on the biggest threat in the fight. The noise and light of the Disco Ball grenade had only distracted him for a moment, and used the fight focusing on Miyu to retrieve several items from the inside of his lab coat and make some modifications. As Chris turned, he jammed his thumb down on the large red button on the device in his left hand waited a second for it to make a confirmation beep, and threw.
Expecting some sort of explosion, Chris brought his hands up, shielding his face. Instead, it bounced off the decking and rolled to a stop near his feet. It beeped a second time, the air seemed to ripple, and his gauntlets simply fell apart, screws, armor and wiring coming undone. Baffled, the Captain looked down at the mess, then back up at the Professor, who smiled viciously. “Toys soaked in Handwavium,” he taunted. “No innovation, no true understanding. You expected such tricks to succeed against a champion of SCIENCE?!” Finishing the sentence with an angry roar, the Professor raised the lightning gun again, blasting at his enemy.
Leaping to the side, Chris snarled in pain, both at the bolt clipping his leg and his existing injuries, rolling clumsily behind an overturned cart. “Had to play hero,” he scolded himself, gasping for breath. “Idiot. Idealistic… idiot!” Reaching into the cardboard box next to him, he retrieved the revolver he’d stashed there earlier, flinched as another lightning burst tore at his cover and sprayed him with metal splinters, then emerged around the side of the cart and took aim.