Diving behind cover again, Chris winced as lightning blasted past. “That should have hit,” he grumbled to himself. “Deflecting bullets. Fantastic.” Closing his eyes for a moment, he caught his breath and braced himself. Guns seemed to be out for the moment, which meant getting in close. Taking a telescoping baton out of a pocket, he snapped it open and prepared to charge. Before he could though, the sound of Kitbashes ringtone caught his attention. “Now? Seriously?” he muttered, putting the gun aside and digging the phone out of another pocket.
Back in the center of the room, the Professor smirked and adjusted his aim. “Come on out already, Luddite,” he growled. “Experience the power of Science and Innovat-” His boasting was interrupted mid-word by a series of odd and unexpected noises above him. Rattling pipes, squeaking valves, water flowing… His eyes widened in understanding, right before the fire sprinklers over his head blew open, dousing him.
Leaning out of cover, Chris raised an eyebrow as the Professor stumbled back, covered in filthy water. The Lightning Gun began throwing off sparks and arcs of electricity in unexpected directions, forcing the man to drop it and get even further back. “Okay, was that you?” he asked.
“Sorta kinda had help,” Kitbash replied. “Anyway, Nene figures that lightning gun was deflecting the bullets, so you can probably shoot him now, but she had an idea that won’t get you arrested for murder even if the jerk is asking for it!” she continued, voice still panicky.
Considering that, Chris retrieved his revolver and fired a shot at the Professors abandoned weapon. The bullet didn’t quite hit where he had aimed, but it did manage to hit the weapon, converting the damaged, sparking device into a expanding pile of debris. “I’m listening,” he said, turning his attention to the Professor, who now dived behind a crate as well as he realized the situation.
“Nene thinks the Professor might be as aggressive as he is right now because he’s in a weird lack-of-sleep mad science kinda thing. Like, he’s been awake for weeks sort of thing. She thinks that if you can stun him, even for a little bit, his body will do the rest.”
Breathing out, Chris nodded. “Hell, I’ll try it. Better than shooting him, right?”
“The shelf ten meters to your right-”
“I know. Thanks kiddo.” Ending the call, he retrieved the baton, risked another look out into the room, then rose to his feet and ran like hell. The Professor didn’t emerge from his own cover, likely working on something Chris really didn’t want to think about. Dodging around one of the spectators who seemed to be really lacking in common sense, he tore a tarpaulin sheet off the stack of shelves on the wall, revealing what he’d hidden underneath earlier.
Pulling the pin on the grenade, he threw it across the room towards where the Professor was hiding. Like the earlier grenades, this was a ‘wave weapon, but it still forced the other man to abandon his cover and try to fall back, his hands full of what looked like random Gearhead parts.
Snatching up the pump-action shotgun, Chris aimed and fired, not at the Professor, but at the crates ahead of him. The rubber buckshot made quite a show in front of him, making him stumble back in surprise and expected pain, some of the ricochets glancing off his hand and making him drop his equipment. He tried to run back the way he came, but his opponent fired again, ripping apart a cardboard box in his path.
Panicking, the Professor spun to face Chris, who had used the distraction to close in. “Go ahead, kill me,” he gasped. “Strike me down, embrace your fear of the unknown! Just know that-”
“No one’s dying today,” Chris interrupted him, releasing his grip on the forend to take the stunner from his pocket. “Not even you,” he added with a wry smile.
***
Still pinned under the astromech droid, Miyu watched in terror as the lunatic pinned her Professor in. Instead of ending this, the man seemed to be drawing it out, like he was trying to make the other man suffer.
She’d been waiting, hoping for an opening to try and throw the droid off her without risking getting shot in the process. Now though, her left hand shot up, grabbing the droids head and twisting it to the side. The droids reflexes were just as fast as hers, and Captain Wood hadn’t been lying about his willingness to pull the trigger. His gun fired once, the bullet tearing a chunk of her face away, but then it was pointing away from Miyu, her own strength fighting against the servo motors in the droids neck. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she brought her swordarm up, driving it into the joint that connected one of the droids legs to his main body. The smaller machine squealed in pain, a long, high-pitched noise that echoed across the room, and then her sword was through, taking the leg clean off.
Throwing the droids injured, flailing form off her, Miyu scrambled to her feet, looking up to see her remaining opponent, eyes widening in horror and rage as he dropped one weapon (A knife of some sort?) and swung his shotgun around.
By the time he fired, she was already moving, his first shot going wide. His second shot clipped her arm as she closed in, and then she was in close. The shotgun was in two pieces before the human had time to even realize it, and then, screaming in pain and fury, promptly ran him through.
Chris didn’t scream or yell. All he could manage was a brief, cut off gasp, the two pieces of the shotgun slipping from suddenly weak hands. Meeting Miyus furious gaze for a moment, he tried to speak, but nothing came out before she pulled the blade back out and he fell to the deck at her feet.
“My word…” the Professor said, taking in the sight. “Miyu my dear, your face,” he continued, stepping towards her in concern.
She waved him off, swordarm returning to its normal form. “I’ll be fine for the moment,” she assured him, anger fading. “We should do what you came here for,” she reminded him, trying not to reach up to touch her face.
Blinking in confusion, the Professor thought for a moment. As he remembered, he cheered up instantly, pulling the tricorder back out of his pocket. “Aha!” he declared in triumph. “They’re still there on the other side of that door! Come my dear, let us collect the experiment and be off!” Humming cheerfully to himself, he walked towards the locked docking bay entrance, stopping to retrieve several of the items he’d dropped and begin fitting them together in a pattern only he understood.
Watching him go, Miyu sighed to herself, looking down at the bleeding figure on the floor. “I don’t like killing,” she said quietly, “even if that is my function. But you shouldn’t have tried to kill my Professor.”
“Pay attention to what I was doing,” Captain Wood whispered, showing his teeth in a blood-stained grin. “You two were the only ones trying for murder today. Well done Miss Glear…” Closing his eyes, his head slumped back against the deck, settling in the blood.
Eyes widening, Miyu looked around, catching sight of the weapon the man had dropped after she’d disabled the droid. What she’d assumed to be a knife was an electric stunner. From there, she began making other connections. Her arm wasn’t even bruised where he’d shot her, which suggested the shotgun had been loaded with non-lethal rounds of some sort, useless against her and only somewhat dangerous to a human. The repulsors, the droid pinning her…
Backing away from her opponent, Miyu looked around the room with growing unease. The crowd of spectators that had followed them all had their phones out and were clearly filming them. While none of them seemed willing to fight, the expressions on their faces, aimed at her and her Professor, were hardly reassuring.
“Catty,” she whispered under her breath as she turned to follow the Professor. “Where are you?”
“On the Sol Bianca, watching the news,” came the response over her internal comm system. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Things got a bit… complicated?” she offered.
“Yes. We noticed,” Catty growled. “Word is spreading. Fast. I’m pretty sure all of Fenspace is going to know about this by the end of the day.”
“Would you just get over here?” Miyu shot back. “I’m not going to be able to get the Professor back through the station now without a lot of trouble.” She got an irritated cough in reply. “Catty.”
“Fine, we’re coming. But you’d better be ready.”
***
Back in the center of the room, the Professor smirked and adjusted his aim. “Come on out already, Luddite,” he growled. “Experience the power of Science and Innovat-” His boasting was interrupted mid-word by a series of odd and unexpected noises above him. Rattling pipes, squeaking valves, water flowing… His eyes widened in understanding, right before the fire sprinklers over his head blew open, dousing him.
Leaning out of cover, Chris raised an eyebrow as the Professor stumbled back, covered in filthy water. The Lightning Gun began throwing off sparks and arcs of electricity in unexpected directions, forcing the man to drop it and get even further back. “Okay, was that you?” he asked.
“Sorta kinda had help,” Kitbash replied. “Anyway, Nene figures that lightning gun was deflecting the bullets, so you can probably shoot him now, but she had an idea that won’t get you arrested for murder even if the jerk is asking for it!” she continued, voice still panicky.
Considering that, Chris retrieved his revolver and fired a shot at the Professors abandoned weapon. The bullet didn’t quite hit where he had aimed, but it did manage to hit the weapon, converting the damaged, sparking device into a expanding pile of debris. “I’m listening,” he said, turning his attention to the Professor, who now dived behind a crate as well as he realized the situation.
“Nene thinks the Professor might be as aggressive as he is right now because he’s in a weird lack-of-sleep mad science kinda thing. Like, he’s been awake for weeks sort of thing. She thinks that if you can stun him, even for a little bit, his body will do the rest.”
Breathing out, Chris nodded. “Hell, I’ll try it. Better than shooting him, right?”
“The shelf ten meters to your right-”
“I know. Thanks kiddo.” Ending the call, he retrieved the baton, risked another look out into the room, then rose to his feet and ran like hell. The Professor didn’t emerge from his own cover, likely working on something Chris really didn’t want to think about. Dodging around one of the spectators who seemed to be really lacking in common sense, he tore a tarpaulin sheet off the stack of shelves on the wall, revealing what he’d hidden underneath earlier.
Pulling the pin on the grenade, he threw it across the room towards where the Professor was hiding. Like the earlier grenades, this was a ‘wave weapon, but it still forced the other man to abandon his cover and try to fall back, his hands full of what looked like random Gearhead parts.
Snatching up the pump-action shotgun, Chris aimed and fired, not at the Professor, but at the crates ahead of him. The rubber buckshot made quite a show in front of him, making him stumble back in surprise and expected pain, some of the ricochets glancing off his hand and making him drop his equipment. He tried to run back the way he came, but his opponent fired again, ripping apart a cardboard box in his path.
Panicking, the Professor spun to face Chris, who had used the distraction to close in. “Go ahead, kill me,” he gasped. “Strike me down, embrace your fear of the unknown! Just know that-”
“No one’s dying today,” Chris interrupted him, releasing his grip on the forend to take the stunner from his pocket. “Not even you,” he added with a wry smile.
***
Still pinned under the astromech droid, Miyu watched in terror as the lunatic pinned her Professor in. Instead of ending this, the man seemed to be drawing it out, like he was trying to make the other man suffer.
She’d been waiting, hoping for an opening to try and throw the droid off her without risking getting shot in the process. Now though, her left hand shot up, grabbing the droids head and twisting it to the side. The droids reflexes were just as fast as hers, and Captain Wood hadn’t been lying about his willingness to pull the trigger. His gun fired once, the bullet tearing a chunk of her face away, but then it was pointing away from Miyu, her own strength fighting against the servo motors in the droids neck. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she brought her swordarm up, driving it into the joint that connected one of the droids legs to his main body. The smaller machine squealed in pain, a long, high-pitched noise that echoed across the room, and then her sword was through, taking the leg clean off.
Throwing the droids injured, flailing form off her, Miyu scrambled to her feet, looking up to see her remaining opponent, eyes widening in horror and rage as he dropped one weapon (A knife of some sort?) and swung his shotgun around.
By the time he fired, she was already moving, his first shot going wide. His second shot clipped her arm as she closed in, and then she was in close. The shotgun was in two pieces before the human had time to even realize it, and then, screaming in pain and fury, promptly ran him through.
Chris didn’t scream or yell. All he could manage was a brief, cut off gasp, the two pieces of the shotgun slipping from suddenly weak hands. Meeting Miyus furious gaze for a moment, he tried to speak, but nothing came out before she pulled the blade back out and he fell to the deck at her feet.
“My word…” the Professor said, taking in the sight. “Miyu my dear, your face,” he continued, stepping towards her in concern.
She waved him off, swordarm returning to its normal form. “I’ll be fine for the moment,” she assured him, anger fading. “We should do what you came here for,” she reminded him, trying not to reach up to touch her face.
Blinking in confusion, the Professor thought for a moment. As he remembered, he cheered up instantly, pulling the tricorder back out of his pocket. “Aha!” he declared in triumph. “They’re still there on the other side of that door! Come my dear, let us collect the experiment and be off!” Humming cheerfully to himself, he walked towards the locked docking bay entrance, stopping to retrieve several of the items he’d dropped and begin fitting them together in a pattern only he understood.
Watching him go, Miyu sighed to herself, looking down at the bleeding figure on the floor. “I don’t like killing,” she said quietly, “even if that is my function. But you shouldn’t have tried to kill my Professor.”
“Pay attention to what I was doing,” Captain Wood whispered, showing his teeth in a blood-stained grin. “You two were the only ones trying for murder today. Well done Miss Glear…” Closing his eyes, his head slumped back against the deck, settling in the blood.
Eyes widening, Miyu looked around, catching sight of the weapon the man had dropped after she’d disabled the droid. What she’d assumed to be a knife was an electric stunner. From there, she began making other connections. Her arm wasn’t even bruised where he’d shot her, which suggested the shotgun had been loaded with non-lethal rounds of some sort, useless against her and only somewhat dangerous to a human. The repulsors, the droid pinning her…
Backing away from her opponent, Miyu looked around the room with growing unease. The crowd of spectators that had followed them all had their phones out and were clearly filming them. While none of them seemed willing to fight, the expressions on their faces, aimed at her and her Professor, were hardly reassuring.
“Catty,” she whispered under her breath as she turned to follow the Professor. “Where are you?”
“On the Sol Bianca, watching the news,” came the response over her internal comm system. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Things got a bit… complicated?” she offered.
“Yes. We noticed,” Catty growled. “Word is spreading. Fast. I’m pretty sure all of Fenspace is going to know about this by the end of the day.”
“Would you just get over here?” Miyu shot back. “I’m not going to be able to get the Professor back through the station now without a lot of trouble.” She got an irritated cough in reply. “Catty.”
“Fine, we’re coming. But you’d better be ready.”
***