THE WAY I DO
Chapter 7: Fighting the Robots again.
A/N: Ok, I have a writer's block and I don't know what will turn out of these next chapters, because I have big plans for the future but not for now. D: I hope it'll still come out good.
Song Of The Chapter:
Be Strong - Delta Goodrem
'cause when you're in your darkest hour
And all of the light just fades away
and When you're like a single flower whose colours have turned to shades of gray
We'll hang on and be strong
Taz walked down the corridors of the new Starship. A week after the Luke accident she'd been assigned and as a first mission they were going to enter the base where the Robots kept their information.
She finally found an empty room and entered it. It had a big window that looked down at the Earth that they were leaving.
Taz fell in one of the seats and stared out of the window. She thought back to everything that had happened since her Quincea era. Up. Her mission back in Mexico. Up. The Academy. Up. The ceremony when she became an official Starship Ranger. Up. Calculus. Luke. Up.
Up seemed to appear a lot in her life lately. He'd been the only reason for which she had survived, for which she'd entered the Academy, for which she'd become a Starship Ranger. She owed everything to him, and she didn't know if she could ever pay him back.
He'd helped her a lot also during the exams. The first week she'd had her practical exams, so they'd tested her strenght, agility; they wanted to know perfectly well what were her techniques in a fight, her weak points, and her tricks. Finally she had to fight an old Lieutenant, but that had been pretty easy because he was strong but she was much faster. Well, he nearly broken her nose and her arm, but she'd managed to block him on the floor and would've punched him unconscious if Up (who'd been watching the exam) hadn't stopped her. Up had then been there to comfort her and reassure her that she would pass the all the exams, and before she knew it she was onto the written exams. Again, Up had been there before every exam to tell her it would be fine. Obviously, the last exam was Calculus. Taz didn't sleep that night, and the next morning she almost killed Up with her knife. Up tried to calm her but she was just going mad. Finally she entered the exam room, and that had given Up a bit of a break. When she came out two hours later she looked exhausted, but there was something in her eyes that told him she hadn't failed completely. She refused to talk about the exam until the results were out, and until then Up had been there comforting her.
Yes, he'd definitely been the only thing that had kept her alive. And now she'd been assigned to the Starship where he was Lieutenant.
On one hand she was glad, being next to him always gave her more strenght and will to fight, but on the other hand she didn't want to disappoint him, what would happen if they sent them on yet another mission in Mexico? She didn't think she would be able to take it.
Suddenly the door opened behind her. "Taz, what are you doing in here?" Up's voice. Speak of the devil. She turned, stared at him for five seconds and then went back to looking out of the window. "I just wanted to spend some time alone before going on another mission." Up walked towards her and sat in the seat next to her. "Can I stay here?" He asked, and she nodded. Before she could say something he spoke.
"Are you scared of going on missions?" He said, and she turned to look at him.
"Obviously not! I want to destroy and kill all de hijos de puta dat I can!" She said angrily. "So what's the problem?" He insisted. Damn him. Lying was useless with him.
"I'm not scared of going on a mission and fighting Robots, I'm afraid of not managing to kill Robots." She sighed. "What if I'm de only one who can save a young ensign but I don't get dere on time? And he dies because I wasn't fast enough? I want to fight and kill every damned Robot I can, I just don't think I'm able to!" "Listen to me, Taz." Up said and, putting his hands on her shoulders, turned her so she was facing him. "You are a great fighter and I'm sure you're going to kick the Robots' asses without problem, but in case you're in trouble: do you know the expression 'To laugh in the face of danger'? That is what you're supposed to do. When you're fighting you just can't think 'Damn, I'm about to die.' You have to keep fighting until the last moment, because if you've already decided to give up you will never win. So you've got to laugh in the face of danger, keep going until the end." Up explained, and she kept staring into his blue eyes.
"Jou think I can do dat?" She asked uncertainly.
"I'm absolutely sure you can do that." He said, and got up. "Come on, let's join the others, we have to go over the plan." He smiled at her and she smiled back, getting up. "Okay."She said, and walked out.
They'd been going over the plan for hours. Finally the planet where they were landing had come into sight and they were preparing to get off the Starship. Up was standing next to Taz as they kept their eyes on the screen from which they were observing the Robots. Taz was trembling slightly but had a fierce look in her eyes.
"It'll be okay." He whispered in her ear. She nodded. Up was worried for her. If she lost concentration because of her fear of messing up she would be in grave danger. He had to keep an eye on her, he couldn't afford to lose her. With a jolt, he realised they'd landed. He watched as Taz pulled the zapper off her shoulder and he pulled his from the belt. "Ok everyone." Commander Rivera said. Like Taz, she was Mexican, and that was probably why she wanted Taz in her team.
"You know what to do. Lieutenant Up will take his squad into the Robot base, while my squad will distract the Robots from the outside, so when they come out we will be on all sides and it will be easier to take them down. Go!" She concluded, and everyone sped off in different groups. Up turned to check his squad. Taz was right behind him. "Come on." He told her, and guided the squad to the entrance of a dark tunnel. "Alright guys. You know what we'll do. Taz, me, James, Alice, Nick and Rachel will go first. We'll reach the West side of the base and Nick and Alice will deactivate the computers. You'll come in as soon as we're in and create a diversion on the East side. Then we'll meet in the Center and drive the Robots forward with the explosions. Go! Good luck everyone!" Up finished, and sped off with Taz and the others. They reached the West side quickly, Unfortunately, there were fifteen Robots guarding the room where the computers were. "Okay team." Up said. "We need to get in there quickly. Let's wait for the explosion on the other side..." He stopped. The other squad was being pulled forward from some Robots.
"We fo-und the-se pu-ny hu-mans sne-aking on the o-ther si-de of the ba-se." The metallic voice of a Robot reached them. "Kill them." Another voice said, and a secret door opened and the squad was pulled inside. "Kill them." Up repeated, and his squad sprang to life and ran to the Robots, shooting and shouting. Up obviously killed most of the Robots, but Taz and the other Rangers were still very good. Taz was furious, she was probably remembering all that the Robots had put her through and wanted to destroy every single one she could. Up felt a pang in his chest. At the beginning he didn't realise what it was, then while he was killing one of the last Robots he understood. As he watched Taz shoot another one he realised he kind of felt hurt when Taz thought of her past with the Robots because without them he wouldn't have ever met her. When he understood this he stopped, and a Robot shot him. Everything became a blur. Then Taz's voice. It sounded like she was hurt.
"What de hell was dat all about, jou idiota?" She said, and he got up. Somehow he'd fallen to the ground. Alice shot the last Robot.
Taz was on the ground, clutching her leg with a bleeding hand. He was by her side in two seconds, together with all the Rangers as soon as they saw Taz.
"Taz!" He said, and she glared at him. "Why de hell didn't jou shoot dat Robot? Why did jou stop?" She said. He shook his head.
"Deja v or something..." He whispered, knowing fully well he sounded lame and she didn't believe him.
"Why did you save me?" He asked.
"Jou saved my life more dan once, I had to do it." She replied. Up then checked her wound. "Luckily they didn't it you very hard, we'll take you to the medical bay and..." He was about to finish but Taz interrupted him.
"No! Not again!" She protested, and tried to get up. "Alice, Nick. Get in there and destroy the damned computers." The Rangers got up and saluted, opening the door and entering. "Rachel, James. Find a way of getting in there, we need to save the guys." Suddenly a defeaning scream came from the other side of the wall. Taz looked at Up. "Up, jou need me in dere." She said, and he shook his head, but didn't feel convinced. He definitely couldn't leave her out here by herself.
"Taz..." "Give me jour damn medical kit and help dem get in dere." Up looked uncertain but he knew she was right. He opened the small pocket in his belt and passed the medical kit. He then glanced at Taz again and got up.
Then Rachel gasped. "Here, Lieutenant, here!" She said. Up walked towards her and stared at the wall. There stood a small handle perfectly covered in rocks. He noticed Taz was next to him. "On the count of three." Up whispered. They had to go all together, they didn't know how the room on the other side looked like so they couldn't sneak in one at a time. "One... Two... Three." They opened the door and everything turned to hell.
As soon as Taz entered the room the Robots started shooting at them crazily. She ducked and fell to the ground, pulling herself forward until she reached the wall where another new Ensign, Susan, was tied. Taz looked at her. There was blood coming out of a cut on her temple and her arms and legs were scratched, her clothes all torn. She heard Up's voice ordering the other Rangers forward, and hell moved to the center of the room. Taz cut the ropes binding Susan's arms and legs and helped her get up. "Are you okay?" Susan shook her head and fell to the ground again. Taz catched her just in time, and put her gently on the ground. "Just stay here, I'm going to help the others." She checked her own wound before getting up and starting shooting. "Taz!" Up's shout shook her out of the universe of anger she went in when fighting Robots. She spun around to find him. He and the rest of their squad was cornered and the Robots were raising their guns. Taz managed to recover from her state of shock pretty quickly, only to go back there when she noticed that Up was standing in front of the other Rangers defending them, ready to sacrifice himself. Their eyes met.
She realised she didn't have one second to wait. She had to save him. She didn't know what was happening inside her but she had to save Up. She started shooting madly at the Robots, not even asking for help from the Rangers from the other team that were starting to get up and find their zappers. The Robots all turned towards her dangerously. 'You've got to laugh in the face of danger...' Up's voice came back to her suddenly. She started laughing, thinking she'd finally lost her reason. "Come on, hijos de puta! Come and get me!" The Robots raised their guns. This was it. This was the end. She didn't know what to do, so she started laughing again, but there was an edge of nervousness in her laugh now.
"Try and touch her and I swear I'll kill you all." Up. He was there for her again.
The Robots this time didn't turn all together. Five remained facing Taz and the other five turned to Up. Taz kept her gun raised, and looked at Up. He grinned at her and nodded.
She noticed a few other Rangers had come to her side, so the Robots were trapped. "Now." Up's voice was hardly more than a whisper. Taz grinned and started shooting.
Up was carrying Taz bridal-style back to the Starship. One of the last shots of the Robots had hit her on the leg again, and she'd collapsed to the ground, not managing to move anymore.
"You did great." Up told her, and she smiled. "Thank jou. I was just listening to what jou told me." He kissed her forehead. Then grinned.
"I know, but it looked like you'd lost your mind when you started laughing in there." She smiled.
"I knew I had lost my mind dere." They were back at the Starship.
"What happened to her?" Commander Rivera asked, as soon as she saw Up carrying Taz, and rushed towards them.
"She fought really well. But they shot her twice in the same leg." The Commander seemed exahusted. What had happened to her team? Taz saw some Rangers here and there, but they didn't seem enough. Up anticipated her question.
"What happened here?" He asked, concerned, and the Commander sighed. "You didn't push the Robots out, so we had to get in. They set us a trap. They knew we were here because of you, but after the Robots you killed there they didn't send anymore to the Computer Room because they were all fighting us. We were a big team, we even called reinforcements, but we didn't manage it. As soon as we saw your team come out from the back we retreated, but most of my Rangers were dead." She said, and her voice broke.
"I'm so sorry." Up said, and they heard someone sob. Up turned and the ten Rangers that remained from the squad that would've had to create the diversion were all crying or looking ashamed. Commander Rivera looked up at them. "It's not your fault, ensigns." She said, trying to comfort them. "Yes, it is." Susan said flatly. "If we'd managed to create the diversion Lieutenant Up and his squad wouldn't have had to come and save us, and everything would've gone following the plan. "You were trapped by the Robots, there was no way you could've made it out." The Commander said and turned, walking back to the Starship. "Come on, Rangers." Up said, and they followed the Commander. As soon as they were back on the Starship Up carried Taz to the medical bay and set her on a bed. Doctors were all around her in a matter of seconds, checking the wound and fetching everything they needed. She looked at Up, and he stared back. "Don't go." She said, feeling weak but knowing she couldn't make it on her own.
"I'm not going anywhere." He said, and sat on the chair beside her bed, holding her hand.
A/N: Was that good enough? I hope so.
On another note, I had an idea yesterday night. I wanted to put together my favourite couple (Taz and Up) with one of my favourite books (The Hunger Games) having the two of them enter the Arena and be the star-crossed lovers. Is it something I should publish or is it just too stupid? Please let me know.
Until next time. :)