"Ten hut!" Up called, and the five other rangers and robot around him stood to attention. It had been Bug who'd sacrificed his life to save the crew; he'd forced the giant scorpion out of the ship doors and into the airlock pod. The only thing was that to get rid of the scorpion they had to open the airlock...with Bug in it too. February and him had said their last goodbyes before she pressed the release button. Up had bend his head in respect but for once he didn't feel that automatic depression and the cold, rain-like tears that he'd been feeling ever since his injury. However he still had to give the poor boy a proper burial, even though he'd just admitted that he was actually a bug in a human body- the scorpion's doing apparently. So the crew had helped him to gather Bug's human remains and place them, as tactfully as possible, into a makeshift coffin that they were now standing before on the soft soil of Bug World.
"We are gathered here today...to pay our final respects to our honoured dead," Taz had heard Up give this speech many times before, but she hadn't felt so...full of emotion, whilst he gave it, until now. "Bug, who we lay to rest here in his native soil." Taz looked from side to side and saw that almost everyone, par her, Up and of course the Megagirl unit, had a tear in their eye. She tutted to herself: they obviously hadn't been prepared for missions with injury or death.
"So Bug...I know that your body exploded in space and that the few remaining bits of it that we managed to salvage are all lying in a pile in this box at my feet," the communal silence was broken by February's whimpering gasps, and the others cast a 'what the hell' glance at Up. Taz however, knew that Up couldn't stand the usual sentimental speeches of funerals, as it reminded him too much of his family, so she didn't bat an eyelash at the seemingly bizarre statement, "but I like to think that you're still out there, somewhere."
"Would you settle for somewhere right here?" a cheerful voice to their left interrupted the mood, and as they turned, Taz saw a bright orange bug walking towards them. And she had left her zapper on the ship. Mierda.
"It's a damn bug!" she shouted as most of the crew ran behind her. But where was Up? It took her a few seconds to realise that Up was standing in front of her with his arms outstretched: he was protecting her. However before Taz had time to marvel at how quick Up's transition back to his old self had been, the Bug started talking again.
"No guys it's me: Bug!" The last word was a name. Bug: the Bug whose body parts they'd just put into a coffin?
"Bug?" Up said questioningly, stepping forward but keeping his arms stretched defensively in front of her.
"Yeah," the giant orange ant replied, "I know I look a little different but...you see when my body died up there," he pointed one of his claws to the sky, "I woke up down here." The insect seemed to have gotten to the point, so she zoned out of his speech and looked up at Up. To anyone else he would look like he was still listening to Bug, but Taz could see the far-away look in his eyes.
He couldn't believe it. No, not that Bug was actually alive, but as a bug, but that he'd felt like he could protect Taz again. He hadn't felt that in ages, and he decided that he would promise her never to stop feeling that. He was about to do it, turn around and tell her everything, but that February girl's voice was so darn loud.
"Oh Bug," she gushed, practically skipping over to the orange insect with bulging eyes, "it's really you!"
"Well I'd understand if you still hate Bugs..." Bug replied sadly. Up shook his head, willing February to do something smart for once in her life and to love Bug despite him being different to how she thought he was before. He stopped himself:
Kinda like he was with Taz.
Dead-god, did she still like him? Up thought back to her words earlier- had she meant all of that? He felt his face contorting with worry as he realised that maybe...maybe she didn't love him anymore.
But he could live with that, right? He and Taz had been friends- best friends, for nearly six years before Up had finally had the guts to do it. They'd been through hell and back together, so surely their friendship was still intact...right?
Damn it, Up- be a man! Just go ahead and ask her, apologize for letting her down. Come on! You've fought over fifty killer robots single-handedly! Okay I'll do it-
"Well tarnation, y'all!" Oh dead-god. Yet another member of his crew had interrupted him. Up didn't let his frustration show though, as it was quite a happy moment for Tootsie, who'd just dragged the Megagirl unit forward by the hand.
"What d'you say we turn this here funeral into..." he knelt in front of the robot and Up looked down to see Taz's eyebrows raise a good inch up from their normal position, "a wedding." He pulled out of his pocked what looked like just a garishly-coloured plastic ring, but the Megagirl unit wasn't complaining. She picked up the ring and said something that he supposed passed as a yes. Looking round, Up found that everyone was looking at him, so he quickly gathered his thoughts and stood up straight as the excited couple stood either side of him.
"Gather round everybody," he cleared his throat and tried to remember what Hibbart had done when there was a proposal on a mission, "do you, Ultrabeam Megagirl," Up tried not to pay attention to Taz's smirk from behind that robot, "take this human, Tootsie Megagirl," Tootsie had told him about the name system on his planet, and it seemed right to honour the traditions of his native planet, "to be your lawfully wedded husband?" He looked, confidently for once, into the robot's ocular sensors and saw that they actually looked full of emotion.
"Confirmative," she-it...she...the Megagirl unit replied, and as Up asked Tootsie more or less the same question, he replied with the same answer. Well, not really the same- more of a 'Hell yeah!', but he got the message. As Up watched Tootsie take the Megagirl unit's face in his hands and kiss her tenderly, he felt his heart swirl up with emotion again as he remembered the last time he'd done something close to that.
And dead-god he wished he had the guts to do it again.
Well that was something Taz never thought she'd see. Probably the dumbest person in the crew, second only to February, had just gotten married to una robota. Just the thought of a human of normal intelligence having a relationship with something that, not two years ago, was trying to annihilate the human race, was loco to her. However, she still...loved Up, so each to their own.
Despite the seemingly 'happy-ending-type' situation, Taz was stressed-out. Bug had invited some of his friends (annoyingly also insects) and though they seemed friendly enough, the constant buzzing was irritating her even further. Just then, she felt a warm hand on her back, and, realising that no one else could send shivers down her spine like that, she concluded that it was Up's. The shivers stopped short though, when she realised something.
Or rather, someone.
Ok Up, you've felt confident enough to put your hand on her back, though it could've been her shoulder seeing how high up it was. But never mind- you can talk to her now, everyone else is talking- even Krayonder's had the guts to put his arm around Specs. Do it! Now!
"Uhh..." Well that was terrific. Taz looked up at him and he bit his lip, contemplating what to say next.
"Were jou gonna say something?" She asked. Why did her eyes have to look so big and captivating in this light? Up could feel his mouth going dry immediately as the strength of her eyes burned into his.
"Uh, I guess everyone's back to training then!" Coward. Up cursed himself repeatedly, but he still wore the same cheerful grin. That was when he saw Taz's eyes drop to the floor.
"Oh yeah," she huffed, shrugging away from him and looking mad enough to spit, "back to training." She spat the word out, and suddenly she was walking away from him.
"Taz, wait!" he jogged to catch up with her, and she stopped, but didn't look him in the eye. "Where're you going?" Up had a feeling that they'd had this conversation before.
"It's nothing, I-" he saw her hesitating; "I just have something to do." She marched off again, and although Up ran after her onto the drop-pod, the rest of the crew piled in with him and he was distracted with Bug asking him questions about the Galactic League, Tootsie jabbering on about Farm Planet, and by Krayonder's general loudness.
When the pod docked back on the starship, all he could see was a flash of black and red as Taz ran off to a room he realised he didn't know the number of. Before he could ask which room was hers though, Tootsie insisted on dragging him into a brief 'shindig' for the wedding, and he was left to wonder what Taz had needed to do.
¡Maldito idiota! Taz threw her fist forward yet again into the grey walls of her room on the starship, not caring that it was bleeding and scarlet liquid was making its way down her arm in thick rivers. She was furious at herself: how could she forget that Up was 'a couple' now with his trainer? She spat on the floor at the thought of it. Sitting down on the unwelcoming bed, she couldn't help letting Peter's words enter her head, which swirled up even more fury in the pit of her stomach. She stood up, and threw her chair across the room. The others were having a party. They wouldn't be able to hear her. Up was didn't know where her room was. He wouldn't be able to find her.
Finding Taz's room was easier than getting Tootsie to talk about his home planet. If the dents in the keypad outside weren't enough, the almighty crash from inside confirmed his suspicions. He punched in what had always been her combination, and let the door swing open in front of him before entering with caution.
His eyes immediately focused on his tiny Lieutenant, and then on the sizeable hole in the wall next to her, and then finally on her right forearm, which was practically covered in blood.
"Taz!" he cried, rushing forward and taking her wrist in his hands carefully, "What have you done to yourself?" She wrenched her arm away from him and strode over to the opposite wall, stepping over the chair which had obviously been thrown there in the process.
"Shouldn't jou be at de party?" She asked cattily, not holding his gaze.
"Shouldn't you be giving me an answer?" He asked, making her roll her eyes and finally look at him properly.
"I punched de wall." She said matter-of-factly, and Up didn't hide his snigger.
"Well thank you for telling me that, I wouldn't have guessed." He snorted, but then stepped closer to her, softening his tone a fraction, "What's wrong, Taz?" She shuffled uncomfortably on the spot, but didn't break eye contact.
"I know."
"Know what, Taz?" Jou know damn well what!
"Peter told me." She retorted, aware of how close he was to her. Up's brow furrowed and his eyebrows knitted together.
"What did he tell you?" He finished almost with a laugh, and it threw even more wood into her fire of fury.
"Everything, Up!" She shouted, pushing away from the wall and away from him, "All about jou, and how jou're all 'loved-up' with jour trainer!" She felt sick just saying it, "And I'm fine with it- it's just..." She swallowed; she'd never really had to backtrack like this, "jou could have told me, Up." She finished quietly, sitting down on the bed, not caring that her arm was now dripping blood onto the floor.
What? Peter had told Taz that he...and Chloe were together? That bastard. He walked over to the bed and sat down next to Taz, who immediately shuffled away from him, and he had to suppress a smirk at how childish it was.
"Peter told you that I'm with Chloe?" He asked, leaning forward to concentrate on her facial expressions.
"Oh: it's 'Chloe' is it? She must be really great." Taz said, not hiding her sarcasm at all. She was obviously not fine with it.
"Taz." He started, not getting her attention one bit. Slowly, hesitantly, he reached out and out his hand on her shoulder. She shook it off violently. "TAZ WILL YOU JUST LOOK AT ME?" His voice thundered through the room, making even her jump slightly. She exhaled roughly, and fixed him with the hardest glare he'd ever seen her give him.
"¿Qué?" She asked him, not as loud but with as much power.
"I-" was never in love with Chloe, I was always thinking about you, I should've never put you on that ship, I've been in love with you for nearly four years, I only want you, "I'm not with Chloe." He sighed with relief as she looked up at him properly and the hatred in her eyes died down. He couldn't do it; he couldn't tell her all that stuff now, while she was on the edge of killing something, so he settled for telling her about who Chloe really was.
"So I couldn't come to see you off the ship, because Chloe had practically trapped me in the gym. Plus, all my confidence had been drained by working with her for all this time." Maldita perra. She looked at Up, who had his head hanging low as he finished his story, and she felt the raw fury bubbling up again. She was fuming. She clenched her fists, stood up, and the world turned deep scarlet.