CHAPTER 21

Doublefang and Trip of Death

While all this was happening, Livio was battling through a state of chaos. He had fallen from the wall top and the fall had nearly knocked him out. It certainly knocked the air out of him. It had taken longer for him to cough and gasp and gain his air back and to clear his stunned head than it did for his body to heal from the wound Chronica had given him.

When Livio finally climbed to his feet, he was surrounded by four soldiers, all pointing guns at him.

"Uh... hi, guys!" Livio said.

Then he suddenly dropped, gave a wide sweeping kick to their legs, and toppled all of them. Then he bolted before they could recover.

Taking on several people at once wasn't a problem for someone from the Eye of Michael. It was taking on several people at once while killing as few people as possible that Livio often found difficult. At the moment, he was feeling that running away was a very good way of leaving people alive. In fact, he might be able to just run from place to place seeking the bomb and manage to get by with minimal conflict.

{Holy crap, that is a boring plan!} Razlo cried. {Just let me take over. We could search the place easy after I cream everyone in here.}

Not now, Razlo! Livio cried, pulling a duck and run while someone fired at him.

He reached one of the buildings and burst inside, holding up his double fangs. "Nobody move! Tell me where the bomb is!"

A few people deeper in the building came running to see what was happening. Which meant there were about five people all staring at him. Then they all pulled out guns.

"Why do people keep pointing guns at me when I point guns at them!" Livio lamented. "And why is everyone in this place armed to the teeth!"

One of the soldiers answered him. "Uh, this is a military fort. In case you hadn't noticed."

"Oh. Yeah."

Razlo cackled. {You're a loser.}

Shut up!

{Okay, seriously, though. I want to have some fun!}

Razlo wrenched control away from him. Breaking out into laughter that probably made the soldiers question his sanity, Razlo opened fire on the light fixtures overhead. The building dimmed and glass showered down on them, causing the soldiers to flinch. Then he fired on the soldiers while they were distracted.

Razlo! Livio cried, sounding slightly horrified.

{What!? I didn't kill them, okay!? I mean, I might have maimed one or two. That guy over there might lose the arm...}

RAZLO!

"Okay! Okay!" he answered aloud. "Here I go trying not to kill anyone, just for you, and this is the thanks I get!" Razlo ran further into the building and began kicking in doors. "Now what are we looking for again? A bomb?"

Yes.

"Can I blow it up when we find it?"

No!

"I don't think there's anything in here," Razlo said. "Just boring desks and stuff. Let's look somewhere else. Somewhere with more people I can fight."

How about you give me the body back, Livio insisted. I can do this just fine on my own.

"You know what would be freakin' awesome?" Razlo asked, stepping out of the building again.

If you gave me the body back?

"If the fort had some kinda super big strong guy, like some kinda secret weapon super soldier."

Why would that be cool? Livio asked. That sounded like a terrible thing to run into.

"Because then I'd get to fight him! Duh!" Razlo burst into another building. "Damn. This is just the barracks. That's boring."

Razlo! I! Am! Taking! Over!

There was a momentary struggle. With a great deal of effort and concentration, Livio wrestled control away from him. He then had to put up with Razlo swearing incessantly at him from the "passenger seat."

{I can do this better than you! Give it back!}

It was my body first!

{I'm the one always keeping us alive!}

I'm the one who does all the training!

{I'm the bigger bad-ass! That gives me privilages!}

You can have the body later! Livio ran out of the building again. Apparently, he had been seen going into it, because when he left, there was a dozen soldiers waiting for him. And a tank. Livio skidded to a halt, wide-eyed. You can have control! You can have control!

{Hell yeah, I can! I want that tank! That thing is sweet!}

Razlo, once again in control, dropped and opened fire on their legs. That took most of them out, but a few remaining opened fire. Razlo jumped back inside the building and slammed the door. He had been hit and grazed, but that only made him more excited, and he grinned as he leaned against the wall and listened to the bullets hit the door.

Then the size of bullets significantly increased, and the door was riddled with holes a moment before being knocked off it's hinges.

"Ho shit! That is awesome! Livio! Livio, let me keep the tank!"

No!

"But I want it!"

Uh, well, see, Livio hit on an idea and scrambled to give an excuse. You wouldn't really like it in the end, because it would make things too easy. You can just blast people away in a second, and you miss out on the real fight.

"Oh, man! You're right!" Razlo cried. "I mean, I'm already pretty invincible, but a tank would take away all the fun, wouldn't it!?"

Yes! Yes it would!

Razlo heaved a sigh. "Fine. I guess your right. It's gonna be fun to fight it, though, right!?" He gave a wicked grin.

Uh, yeah. Sure. Knock yourself out, Livio said.

Those outside had fallen quiet. Razlo swung around the door frame and fired on the tank. The bullets ricocheted off, seemingly harmless. The remaining soldiers were leaving things to the tank while helping their injured companions out of the way. The tank fired again, but Razlo was quick to duck inside again.

{Maybe I should climb on it. Maybe I can open it and throw the guy out. Or maybe...}

Razlo made a quick duck around the doorframe and back again, escaping another rain of ammo from the tank.

{Okay! Okay! Got it!}

Razlo rounded the door frame and fired. The joints on the tank at which the legs connected to the body were covered in some sort of fabric-like material to aid flexibility and to keep sand and dust from working it's way into the joint. Razlo aimed for that point and was rewarded by hearing a crunching noise on impact, followed by a hissing noise like a tire deflating. He dove and rolled across the doorway to the other side. Then he rounded the corner to aim for the other side of the tank.

Again he hit the joint. Alright, time to do something a little riskier. Which, by Razlo's way of thinking meant it was time to do something a little more fun.

He gave another dive and roll, this time leaving the doorway and heading toward the tank. He had to give a final leap to make it underneath the machine. From there he fired upward into another joint.

He didn't need to get much further. The tank attempted to move in order to gain sight of Razlo again and, with three out of six legs damaged, it wobbled and fell. Razlo had to dive out of the way and only just made it. For a moment, he began to laugh in triumph until he saw one of the guns on the tank swivel around to face him.

Again Razlo dove toward the tank, climbing up onto it. The guns tried to fire at him, but he was too close to hit. Finally, he scrambled onto the top and banged on the hatch.

"Knock knock! Guess who!"

The hatch opened. Before the soldier had time to do anything, Razlo's hand shot out and took a hold of him, then swung him clear out of the tank and through the air.

"Get outa the way, you!" Razlo stood then, and pointed the double fangs down through the hatch. He had a clear view of the control panels, and he fired on them. Another soldier inside cried out in shock. Smoke rose from the control panel.

"Ta-da!" Razlo cried. "That was too easy. The day I took out a tank! Man, this is goin' on my list of 'Bad-Ass Things I've Done in My Life.'"

Razlo jumped off the top of the tank, doing a flip as he did. Then he took off for the next building with shouts of protest from soldiers behind him.

When he reached it, he kicked the door in and leaped through, pointing his guns.

"Suck it, losers! I just took out one of your tanks! Now tell me where the bomb is!"

He was in some kind of small lobby. It was empty. Razlo slumped. "Aw, man! Nobody got to hear me brag!"

He shrugged it off. Heading deeper into the building, he found a blast door.

"Heeey! This looks promising! Let's see what's in here!"

There was a control box near the door, presumably to open and close it. Razlo thought about shooting it to make the door open. That would be the cool thing to do. But since he knew nothing about electronics and wasn't sure if shooting it would make the door open or ensure it stayed closed, he had a rare moment of common sense and decided to just push the buttons instead.

The door gave a loud thunk and then began to swing outward. Inside was a large room, at the back of which sat a very large, fat bomb. It caused a memory to flash briefly in Razlo's mind. During his fight with Elendira, there had been a bomb, although he had hardly noticed it. Was it the same one? Possibly. He didn't really care, though, because his attention was caught by what lay in-between himself and the bomb. There were a dozen men, in two rows, who had been stationed to guard the bomb, probably when the fort had first been attacked. They stood at the ready, guns already pointed at him as the door swung open.

Razlo gave a broad, wicked grin. "This is gonna be fun!"

In a matter of minutes, some of the soldiers were running for their lives.

Knives ran across the fort lawn. He saw the wreckage of the tank and thought simply, "Oh. Doublefang has been here." A presence tugged at his attention, and he looked up to see another of his sister's hovering over the fort.

Sister! Have you seen my companion?

Do you mean Friend Livio?

Yes!

He's gone into that building. She pointed.

Thank you!

The door was open and Knives ran in, holding his gun at the ready. Then he found a crowd in the hallway. Many were wounded, and they were all against the wall, some of them peering cautiously into a room. There was a blast door hanging open.

Knives only paused a moment. None of them seemed to have noticed him yet because they were too distracted by whatever was past the blast door. Then he decided to make a run for it.

"Doublefang! Don't shoot! I'm coming in!" And he ran right through the crowd and into the room. The soldiers were so startled that it took them a moment before they began shooting at him. Fortunately, by then Knives was diving behind the bomb. When the soldiers saw where he aimed to hide, they stopped short. No one was very keen to shoot at a bomb.

Doublefang was standing on the bomb, like a triumphant conqueror. He looked down at Knives crouched behind him and asked, "Hey, if they shoot the bomb, are we gonna get blown to kingdom come?"

"Not likely," Knives answered. "A nuclear bomb needs special conditions to detonate, and an impact from a bullet-"

"Yea, okay, cool!" he interrupted. "That means I get to keep standin' on it! Oh, it's not Doublefang, by the way. Trip of Death here."

"Good to know," Knives responded.

A soldier risked rounding the corner enough to fire at them. Trip of Death ducked and fired back. "Hey, Knives, I got another question."

"Yes?" Knives was standing now and positioning himself to fire over the top of the bomb.

"Now what do we do?"

There was a pause.

"Well?"

"Shut up! I'm thinking!" Knives frowned a moment. Then he said, "Keep them distracted. Buy me some time. I need to talk to the sandworms." And tell my sisters to go home. I'll find them again later.

"You goin' outside to talk to the worms, or are you gonna do that psychic thing."

"Telepathy," Knives corrected him.

"Right," Trip of Death rounded his shoulders, grinning at the open blast door. "Hey, you sissies! We're holding the bomb hostage. So you go and get the biggest, strongest guy you got in this place. If he can beat me, we'll leave, and if I beat him, then we get to keep the bomb."

"What!?" Knives cried. "That is a terrible idea!"

"You sayin' I ain't gonna win!?" he demanded.

"No, I'm saying it's a big, messy hassle. Just keep them talking or something!"

"Fine! Damn, you guys are boring! Okay, you sissies! Forget about what I just said! Instead, uh... we wanna talk to who ever's in charge here, so go and get them, okay?"

They could hear a murmuring from the soldiers outside. Then there was the sound of someone running away.

For a moment, there was a long silence. Finally, Trip of Death spoke up.

"So... uh... while we're waitin'... anybody wanna arm wrestle me?"

Knives slapped a hand to his face.

There was the sound of a soldier running to join those outside the door. Knives could hear just enough of the conversation to know that he was giving the news that the sandworms were retreating. Someone else responded, giving an order to bring in the troops and tanks to surround the building.

There was another long pause. Then there was more running footsteps.

A hushed conversation ensued. Then a new voice said, "I am the commanding officer of this fort! This building is surrounded. You will surrender."

"No we won't!" Knives called. "We're taking this bomb."

"I won't let that bomb fall into the hands of a bunch of rebel civilians!"

Anger edged into Knives's voice. "Isn't that all you are? Isn't this whole secession really just a bunch of rebel civilians? Are you afraid we'll use it on innocents? Because that's what you'll be doing if we let you keep it!"

The officer replied testily, "To be blunt, I find it highly unlikely that you're concerned for the lives of innocents. You want that bomb for your own purposes."

"I want nothing of the sort!" Knives cried. "If you want a reason, I'll give you a reason! The reason is that Vash died for you worthless humans, and is this how you repay his sacrifice!? By taking the lives that he died to save!? Do you want to show your gratitude for the life you have by making his life one that was given in vain!?

"And you typical humans don't think that there might be other lives at stake! There's a plant dome in every major city! They have done nothing to you! They are the innocent bystanders, who have lived in slavery to you humans for a hundred and fifty years, and now that they finally get freedom, now that they finally have relief from the fear of having their own lives drained away from them, they risk getting blown to smithereens. Do you humans ever think about the lives of anyone but yourselves!?

"And even if you only cared about human lives, has it ever occurred to you, to any of you listening to me right now, that there might be humans worth saving!? That there might be humans who are resourceful, and who are brave, and who try to be understanding, and who care about people other than themselves!? That there might be other humans that you might care about yourselves if you actually tried to know them instead of trying to kill them!?"

He paused a moment. His face was flushed and his chest was heaving with anger. Something strange happened inside him at his last outburst, but he couldn't quite describe it. There was a sense that he had just spoken something very significant, something very powerful. But why it was powerful, he was too angry to think about at the moment.

"I'm tired of death!" he cried. "I don't care if I'm causing it or you're causing it or who's causing it! I'm sick of it! And I won't let you do something so sickeningly destructive as using this bomb!"

He fell silent. A long pause followed.

Finally, the officer said, "I have been given the authority to decide whether or not to use this bomb, and if I feel it is necessary to-"

"It is not necessary!" Knives screamed.

There was another pause.

Knives picked up a telepathic message from a sandworm outside. Calming somewhat, he said, "It doesn't matter. We're leaving now and taking the bomb with us."

The ground began rumbling. A startled murmur ran through those outside the door. Knives squatted to brace himself and took hold of one of the fins of the bomb, resting his foot on another. "Trip of Death, if you're going to keep standing on top of that thing, then you had better hang on!"

He grinned. "You got it!"

The ground burst, and a pale green head rose directly beneath the bomb. It took hold of it in it's mouth, barely getting a grip on the round, fat surface. Knives felt the giddy rush of suddenly rising into the air, and fought to keep his balance. Trip of Death squatted and took hold of one of the bomb's fins and rose with it. Then sandworm, bomb, and passengers all dropped into the tunnel and were gone.