Chapter 6 Going in Circles

Nos-4-a2, startled by the voice, nearly dropped the car battery he held. He fumbled slightly to keep his grip on it then turned his head toward the voice. A short, tanned skinned, blue haired girl in a blue shirt and green miniskirt stood a few feet away. Her violet eyes, set behind a pair of glasses, were focused solely on him and she held a blaster which she'd aimed in his direction. She looked like she would just love to shoot someone with it.

The energy vampire stared at her, too shocked to say or do anything. Who was this person and why were they aiming that thing at his face? Did he know them from somewhere?

No.. even from what little he could remember from those flashbacks he knew he'd never met this person, though a brief image of someone who looked a bit similar flashed through his mind. Maybe she was related to that kid.

"Hold it right there, Nos-4-a2!" she shouted in a very authoritarian voice. "I don't want any false moves! Just put down the battery and give yourself up!"

That did it. She obviously wasn't here for a chit chat. her orders and that gun told him enough. He did drop the battery but he didn't give himself up. Instead he activated his wings and shot into the air, leaving the girl behind.

Heather stared after the fleeing machine, ticked off that he hadn't obeyed her order. Had she really expected him to? None of the other targets she'd come across did, so why should this be any different?

Craters, she thought, grinding her teeth together in aggravation. Why did Zurg have to give him wings?

"You're not going to get away that easily!" she shouted after him.

But how was she going to prevent him from doing so? He could fly and she could not. One advantage after another.

Craters, she thought, looking around herself urgently. Where's an airbike when you need one?

Then, like it was sent from on high, she spotted an air bike parked a short distance away. She smiled. "Perfect."

Who was that? Nos-4-a2 asked himself as he flew over the city.

Once again his mind flashed a brief image of a blue haired girl with tanned skin toting a gun. But, just like before, this female looked much different. The one in his mind was short and much younger. Plus her eyes were brown not purple and she sure as heck didn't wear glasses like the female he'd encountered now.

So, they were two different people. They just looked alike in a few areas.

Before he could ponder if further the air around him seemed to explode. He let out a roar of surprise and instinctually moved away from the cause of the explosion. Something had blown out a transformer on a utility pole. The hotel across the street went dark. The tenants in that building won't be very happy, he found himself thinking. Especially if they were doing something important.

"You're not going anywhere, vampire!" a voice called out from behind him.

Instantly the troubles of the people in the hotel fled his mind. He stiffened then glanced over his shoulder. Not too far behind was the girl from earlier. She was now riding a hover bike, her tanned face full of determination and that gun still aimed in his direction.

So that was it. She really was there to get him after all. He didn't know why but he wasn't about to let her have her way. Nobody was going to cage him again.

Again? I've been caged before.

Yes, many times.

Nos-4-a2 didn't ponder that thought any longer. Turning away from the approaching girl, he threw his wings back and dived down toward the ground.

Buzz and XR had picked up Nos-4-a2's energy signature only a few minutes after Heather had. As they headed toward the spot where it was XR suddenly discovered that it was moving again. "Hey, Buzz," he said, poking Lightyear in the arm. "I think our target is on the move again."

Buzz frowned. 'Then we'd better get moving as well before he gets away." the human space ranger activated his wings and shot into the air. XR followed his lead, activating his own jet pack and flying after him.

They hadn't gotten very far when a black caped body sporting glowing amber wings shot past them. Even though the figure was going rather fast they recognized the energy vampire anyway by his large amber colored wings.

"There he is!" Buzz shouted. "Let's get him!"

But before either could move they had to back up to avoid colliding with an airbike that shot past them recklessly.

"Whoa!" Xr shouted, grabbing Buzz's arm and pulling him out of the way. As he did so he caught a glimpse of the driver's face. "Hey, don't we know that guy?"

Buzz recognized the rider of that bike easily. "Heather!" he exclaimed. "Craters, she found him first! Come on, XR we'd better make sure she doesn't get hurt!" then he shot after the energy vampire and his bounty hunting pursuer.

Heather chased Nos-4-a2 through the city, avoiding on coming vehicles and trying her best not to lose sight of him. It was getting difficult because he was constantly flying into heavy traffic and she kept on having to swerve to avoid it. Plus sometimes he seemed to go right through the cars though she knew that couldn't be possible since he wasn't a full blood or a half breed Tangean.

"Craters," she cursed when she once again had to pull the bike sharply to the left to avoid an oncoming airbus. "At this rate I'm going to be gray before I catch that blasted vampire." She growled and added more power to the bike, shooting forward before she lost sight of him when he ducked between two casinos. She pulled on the bikes handlebars sharply and made the turn, narrowly avoiding hitting the wall.

Nos-4-a2 looked back and spotted her. He'd hoped that flying into the small space between the buildings would be the perfect escape but he was proved wrong. He saw her readying her gun and he panicked, pinning his wings back and diving toward the surface.

Heather pulled on the bike trying to make it do the same. The front swerved to the right and she had to ghost through the whole thing to avoid an injury. By the time she came out of the wall the energy vampire was nowhere to be see. "Craters!" the girl cursed, slamming her fist into the bikes engine. "He got away! Blasted vampire!"

Just then she noticed two other flying figures coming toward her. She turned the bike around to face them. Once they were close enough to make out she cursed again. "My luck is just getting worse and worse."

A few moments later Buzz and XR pulled up in front of her. "Heather Gemini," Lightyear said sounding like he was about to lecture her.

"What do you want now, Lightyear?" she demanded.

"Move aside, Heather," Buzz ordered.

She was a stone. "What so you can capture the energy vampire yourself?" she asked. "I'm sorry, Lightyear but if you think I'm going to just stand by and let get your hands on him you've got another thing coming."

"This is not a request, Heather," he snapped using his more authoritive voice. "Move your vehicle or face arrest for hindering the apprehension of a wanted criminal."

"That might have worked on someone else but it's not going to work on me," she stated. "But since I'm in a hurry anyway-" suddenly she spun the bike around and took off in the direction she hoped Nos-4-a2 had gone.

For a moment Buzz and XR hovered in the air with no reaction then they both took off after her.

"Do you think she knows where he is going?" XR asked, looking over at Buzz.

The human space ranger shrugged. "I don't know," he replied. "If she does she must be able to read his mind since she wasted her time pausing to talk to us."

Nos-4-a2 didn't stop flying until he was sure he'd lost his pursuer. Once he was sure he had he stopped to rest, his wings flickering on and off. Suddenly they deactivated and he was send plummeting to the ground. The energy vampire tried to grab something to break his fall but with only one arm he couldn't get a firm grip on anything. He crashed into a dumpster, the lid slamming shut after him.

Instantly he shoved the lid open and pulled him out, spitting garbage from his mouth. "Oh ew, veggies," he moaned, flopping onto the ground and spitting out the greens. He heard a banging noise and went ridged, his optics focusing on a door in the wall of the building the dumpster was leaning against. A moment later the door opened a green skinned woman stepped outside, carrying a garbage bag.

She walked toward the dumpster but when she saw the robot kneeling beside it she froze, her eyes opening wide. He stared back at her. For a moment neither said anything.

"Umm," Nos-4-a2 began, trying to think of something to say. "Hi?"

The woman caught sight of his fangs and panicked. Screaming she threw the bag at him, hitting him in the chest and knock him back against the dumpster beside it. She then turned and dashed back into the building, closing and locking the door behind her.

Moaning, Nos-4-a2 pushed the bag away then rubbed the grime off his body.

You should have attacked her, that voice in his head growled. Silenced that filthy organic before she could scream her bloody head off.

I couldn't do that, he argued back, reaching up and grabbing the edge of the dumpster. He pulled himself up until he was hovering comfortably. Why would I want to? I figured she might be able to help-

Organics don't help monsters! the voice insisted. Especially you. You have to rely on yourself.

I just figured she might be able to hide me from that girl with the gun.

She would not have hidden you. She would have handed you right over.

Oh. He glanced toward the sky, his monocled optic scanning it for any sign of the girl with the gun. Why is she after me anyway? Does she know me?

Once again he had a flash of the other girl with the blue hair but aside from the hair and skin tone, neither looked remotely close to the other. So it's not her, whoever she is..

Why bother obsessing over it? It's not doing you any good. Even if you did know who she was it does not change the fact that she's out to get you. If I were you, I'd forget out figuring out who she is and focus on dealing with her before she does something to you.

The voice had a point. Nos-4-a2 didn't have time to ponder the girl's origins anyway, not while she was out to get him. He had to figure out a way to take care of her before she took care of him.

He glanced back at the sky. Still no sign of her, but that didn't mean she wouldn't be able to find him again. He activated his wings and took off into the sky. It would be best if he figured out a way to deal with her, especially if he wanted to live.

Heather Gemini set the bike in idle and checked her scanner, hoping to get a blip from a certain energy signature. Unfortunately for her the one she wanted did not show up again. "Craters," she cursed, pocketing the device. "This is all Lightyear's fault. If he hadn't distracted me this never would have happened."

She cast her eyes over the city, squinting them in the bright light in hopes of catching a glimpse of glowing amber wings. Even in a world full of machines those two pieces of flight sustainment stood out.

But she saw nothing except other air vehicles and bright lights.

The girl bounty hunter sighed and took off her glasses so she could rub her tired eyes. Instantly the entire view became a blurr. She closed her eyes and wiped at the lenses removing dust, then put them back on. Nothing had changed.

Heather sighed once more and pulled her bike into gear, shooting out of the idle spot and riding through air traffic, her senses on full alert and her purple colored eyes scanning every available space. "Maybe if I put some distance between me and the pedestrians," she said to herself, tipping the bike and shooting upward.

The moment she was out of traffic she felt a little better. It was so much easier to looked around from higher up. She smiled to herself. "Good, let's keep looking."

She'd only gone a few feet when something slammed into her bike, almost knocking her out of the driver's seat. The girl let out a yelp and gripped the handlebars tightly so she wouldn't fall. At that moment she caught a glimpse of amber wings and a triangular face that looked back at her in terror.

"You!" she shouted, trying to pull herself back into the seat.

The energy vampire seemed to recognize her too. He let out a roar and shot a blot of plasma at the bike. The blast caused the engine to explode. The anti gravity hardware deactivated and before she knew what was happening, the bike and the bounty hunter were both sent plummeting to the ground.

Nos-4-a2 paused in mid-air and watched the blue haired female and her ride fall crashing to the ground below. Part of him was enjoying this but another part was feeling guilty.

It looks like you didn't have to do much to deal with that pest, that annoying voice stated triumphantly. One less organic in the world.

"But I didn't mean to kill her!"

"Don't tell me you feel bad about this! She was going to do who knows what to you! It's best this way."

But the other part of him wasn't sure. He still didn't move and just watched that bike getting smaller and small, feeling indecisive. He could still help her if he really wanted to. But as it turned out he didn't have to make that choice. It was decided for him.

Suddenly two bolts of purple plasma energy came flying up at him. Before he knew what they were or could move out of the way one hit him in the chest and another hit him in the wings, deactivating them. Roaring with pain his anti-gravity hardware blinked out and he found himself falling with no way of stopping himself.

BAM!

Nos-4-a2 slammed into something hard then fell off, landing heavily on the ground. Moaning he pushed himself into a sitting position, leaning forward to rest his head in his hands. Static passed through his vision as well as a few strange images but it passed quickly and his vision returned to normal, though his head still hurt.

"Ow.."

The sound of a voice made him turn his head. A short distance away sat the girl by her ruined bike, clutching her left wrist in an iron grip. "Craters," she cursed. "Craters and black holes!"

Suddenly she looked over at him. Their eyes met. The energy vampire panicked, pushing himself backward and trying to reactivate his wings but they refused to come on. He was stuck.

The girl watched him for a moment then seemed to draw some kind of conclusion. Wincing, she got to her feet, her hand still clasping her injured wrist. "Don't even try escaping," she ordered. "You won't get far."

He roared at her, hoping the sound would drive her away. She didn't even flinch, her tanned face hard as stone. "Oh shut up," she snapped.

She fumbled with her gun but the weapon fell out of her hand and hit the pavement. Nos-4-a2 dived at it, grabbing the weapon before she could do anything about it. He rolled away from her and aimed the weapon at her face. She froze, her eyes widening in surprise.

The energy vampire aimed the gun at her with his good hand. "Get away from me" he ordered. "Get away or I will blow your head off!"

"Now let's not do anything foolish," the girl said, trying to keep her voice steady. Maybe she could convince the vampire to give her back her gun. If not she could still keep herself from getting hurt anyway. But he didn't know that and she didn't want him to, not if she could help it. "Just set the gun down."
Nos-4-a2 didn't comply. He kept the gun raised and aimed at her face.

What are you doing? Shoot her!

I can't.

Why can't you? You have the gun and therefore you have the advantage. Just blow her head off! She's trying to do the same thing to you!

But he couldn't seem to fire and the girl seemed to be slowly realizing this fact. She started walking toward him, not one trace of fear in her purple eyes. "Give me back my gun," she said, putting out her hand as if expecting him to comply.

"You want your gun back?' he asked her. When she nodded he did something she wasn't expecting. He put the weapon into his mouth and bit down, draining it of all it's power. Once it was totally useless he took it back out and threw it at her. "Go ahead and take it."

She stared at the useless gun then back at him for a moment. Suddenly she seemed to lose all self control. Screaming in rage the girl lunged at him.

Buzz and XR finally picked up Nos-4-a2's energy signature once more. They started toward its location. They had nearly reached it when they heard a loud scream.

"What in the nebula was that?' XR asked, blinking his optics.

"That's what we're looking for," Buzz replied. "Come on!"

A/N

I apologize for now updating this in such a long time. I kind of lack motivation and nobody really seems that interested anyway. I'll keep trying to update it as much as I can but it might take awhile. I do intend to finish it because I don't like leaving a story unfinished and this one is far from being done. I guess that's about it for now.