You know, for as long as I've been alive, organization has been the bane of my existence. I'm coming up with story ideas all over the place, and the list doesn't get smaller. But if you guys are interested in Breath of the Wild, or perhaps Sword and Shield, further down the line, I just might be able to hook you up. No promises, though. We know what happens when I make those.
Lunalove25: Yes! I have returned!
The next morning saw a new battle and a new arena configuration. This time, tall, wooden poles stuck out of a sandy ground like a bamboo forest. Scanning the terrain through the barred wall of the holding cell, Tala supposed it was a simulation of some sort of desert ecosystem. "The kloi tree sap is poisonous to carbon-based life," Celeste explained. "You'll need to tear out a stalk to use as weaponry. I can see no other blades or firearms this time."
Tala nodded absently. Her eyes were scanning the hollering crowds circling around their force field sky. Somewhere in those stands was her captain and her crew. MacBoom, Lady Gray; even her werewolf groupie, Wolfsbane. She hoped this would work.
XXXXX
Using a sniper scope as a makeshift spyglass, Alistair gave a low whistle as he surveyed the battleground from the VIP box in the top levels. "There she blows! Tala's team will be exiting the southern gates, Boss. Tell Lady Grey she'd better be ready."
Rika gave the man a crisp nod, and then Nikki a warm smile as she radioed the other team. "Roger. You hear that, Kate?"
XXXXX
Down in the concession stands, Kate wiped her brow. Mack and Tiffany were handling the customers, serving up steaming bowlfuls of some purple slop called 'klai-klai' that seemed to be hotter than hamburgers out in this star system.
"In a jiffy, Cap'n." She discreetly walked to the back of their stall and started fiddling with a hand-held remote. "Okay, ahm scannin' the frequencies Tal gave us. I should be able to intercept the collahs down in the arena."
Tiffany hissed. "Kate, it's starting!" A thunderous horn blast signaled the five minute warning, and the stampede of civilized aliens went in the other direction.
"Argh, no good," Kate swore. "Commander, ahm just not getting a strong enough signal! It must be that there force field over the battleground. Ah need ta get lower down!"
Tiffany pulled down her mouth guard as she surveyed Kate's heated conversation. Food-handling etiquette on this planet called for more than a simple hairnet - she, Mack and Kate were dressed in head to toe black, rubber onesies with hoods and face masks like they were working in a nuclear reactor. She'd caught the jist of Kate's problem - not close enough. She scanned - out front, the audience was focused on the death sport. Kate had her back turned, talking with Miss Boor, and she'd left the transmitter on the back counter.
Tiffany then looked to the two uniformed guards she'd just served, exiting the public space through a security door. The door hadn't closed completely...
Kate was still busy. Mack was scanning the crowds with his poor, left ear facing her. "I'll be back," she whispered to the half-deaf man. Hiding her face once more, Tiffany scooped up Kate's machine and bolted to the ajar door.
'I can do this,' she thought. 'I can do this for Tala...'
XXXXX
Tala had forgotten how much adrenaline made one ignore aches and pains.
When the Southern gate opened, she and her team charged forth, undaunted by the escapades of last night or the day before. But before the fight and instinct took over, Tala's mind reminded her of just how many things were on her plate. Activating a collar, staying alive, keeping Celeste and Amelie alive, knowing that their people were somewhere in those stands, and the thought that weighed most heavily on her at the moment, Feroza.
She wasn't just a prominent obstacle in her effort to escape, but the amazon desperately needed to talk to her. Convince her. Or cut the strings. If they were to part ways after all was said and done, it wouldn't sit well with her, knowing someone she respected was left behind to pay rent under the boot heel of someone like Rogan.
Like every other problem she faced, she was going to fix it.
But the time for thinking was over, and she narrowly ducked under a Kloi tree, thrown like a spear where her head was not a moment ago. Feroza and her team were up ahead. Zathra and Luna took to the top of this veritable bamboo forest like ninjas, headed straight for her, weapons in hand, as well-oiled as they ever were. Feroza must have sicced them on her. The thought of being avoided crossed Tala's mind as she hopped up and pulled down a Kloi tree, letting it fly into her first attacker which backed Zathra up for just a moment. As for Luna, Tala was already sprinting the other way with the smaller Norai in fast pursuit.
Jumping up, the amazon landed feet first into a visibly leaning Kloi, letting the base bend and snap under her weight and momentum before picking up the trunk, breaking it further with her knee until she had two batons. They were surprisingly dense for flora.
"Are you ready for our rematch, Tala Stone?" Luna spoke as Zathra arrived to back her up, grinning..
"Are you ready for your defeat?"
Tala just took a stance, measured and focused.
XXXXX
"You ever imagine you'd be watching a hot amazon and a sexy alien satyr fight to the death with bamboo sticks in a bloodsport?" Alistair wondered as he watched his favorite redhead and the alien babe she was facing open up their deadly exchange.
Rika leaned forward, cupping her chin. "Let's just hope today ends in another-" But the elder blond's sentiment was cut short as her phone blared to life in her pocket.
Sliding it out and answering, Kate was at the other end. "Cap'n! Emergency!"
"Kate! What's wrong?" Kate didn't sound panicked, but the alarm was definitely there.
"It's Tiff! I was talkin' to you a minute ago, an' she nabbed the transpondah an' took off! She musta' overheard my report! Can ya find 'er in the lowah levels? Ah think she snuck through the security, it's the only way in close!"
"Dammit..." the captain sighed to herself, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Kate, just hold tight. Don't draw attention. We'll look out for Tiffany; I'll tell you where she is." She then turned to Al, who was busy watching Tala knock her opponent off balance long enough to dish out a heel kick to the chest. "Wolfsbane, Tiffany went in without us. We need to find her and the transponder."
"Damn, really?" the wolf man snapped before shaking his head with a huff before shifting his assisted sights into the stands below. "I can already tell she has it harder than me for ol' Tal."
Nikki was a cross between worried and furious about her blond BFF. Of course she'd be worried about her friend's well-being, this is Tiffany we're talking about, but she's just going to go out on her own and play hero?! Putting the whole mission at stake?! "Anything you need me to do, captain?" she found herself saying. It rolled off the tongue oddly well for her to say 'captain'.
But Rika herself just took it in stride. "Nikki, just help Al look for Tiffany. Petite bodysuit, all black, carrying a machine. I need to head down and help Kate."
XXXXX
Beyond the doorway were stairs, lots of stairs. Tiffany took them two at a time, sprinting deeper into the labyrinth. She could tell she was getting closer to groundside because the cacophonous roar of the crowd was growing muffled, until she was mostly alone with her clanking footsteps.
Tiffany took deep breaths, trying to calm herself, but this wasn't like sneaking through the university dormitory past curfew. If the guards caught her here, there'd likely be fatal consequences. And just that thought made her heart beat in her throat. Arriving at a bottom hallway, Tiffany flattened herself against the wall and scanned.
Three doorways, three directions, but the directional signs were all in alien pictographs. No help there. Which door to choose?
A sudden trumpet blast made her jump. Something must have happened in the arena, because she could hear the angry 'boos' of the audience and bits of apology from the announcer. "... ten minute pause ... we deal with ... technical difficulties..."
The voice seemed loudest from the right-most door. Tiffany tested the handle and pulled it open freely. Apparently only the outer entryways were secured. Beyond, she found a room bisected by a barred, metal gate, beyond which harsh light from the arena filtered in. 'This must be where the guards receive the gladiators,' she reasoned. Boot steps and voices were stomping her way, and they were speaking English!
"Fine time for ze network cameras to malfunction. Zhat Feroza was looking to impale me!" The French accent she recognized as Amelie, and the technical voice that followed sounded like Celeste.
"We must avoid being dispersed when the round recommences. Alone, we will be easier prey for Feroza." She could just see their silhouettes against the hard sunlight, panting and bruised. The third to follow was -
"Tala!" Foolish as it was, Tiffany dashed towards the prison bars, desperate to see her.
"Tiffany?" Tala herself was there to meet her once she was able to digest the shock of hearing a familiar voice. "What are you doing here?!" she demanded, half from the shear shock that comes with the reunion, and half from the outrage of finding her in this hellhole. But nonetheless, once they met at the bars, Tala was eager to offer the teeny girl a reassuring hand, which she clung to for dear life.
Tiffany, in her foolhardy jubilation, only registered the shock. She bought the large hand up her cheek, holding it tight and close, almost not believing who's hand she now held. "Tala..." she choked, wiping away the fresh torrent of tears. The amazon just felt her heart melt.
However, as Amelie had a similar reaction, raising her hands over her heart, gasping at the heartfelt moment, Celeste administered the cold hard truth. "Tala, if she is a contact, then we must take the opportunity to send a more specific message to your captain." Morse code, however amazingly effective in a pinch, was tiresome for long, specific messages. And Tala knew that Celeste was trance-breakingly right.
Tiffany immediately beamed. "Right!" The young blonde skillfully reached behind her to unzip her outfit, pulling the black onesie down from her torso just enough to retrieve her hot-pink, flowery iphone and turn it on. "I uh, had to turn it off when we got to work," she explained with her adorable blush. Tala questioned whether from her team or the guards.
"I'm gonna scream at Rika for bringing you here."
Tala felt like she should have been even more shocked and surprised but then again, she already knew Rika and the crew were here somewhere. As much as she wanted to yell at Tiffany and Nikki to go back to Earth where it was safe, she knew for a fact that nobody was leaving without them. She looked into Tiffany's eyes, and saw enough determination to rival hers in a crisis, and here and now, they were in their biggest one yet.
"Tiffany, I can't be happier that you found us, but... I'm gonna flip shit if something happens to you here."
The younger girl was downcast somewhat, but she balled her fists tightly, holding them to her chest, eyes as wide and blue as they could get. "Oh I know, but I... I just wanted to see you again! It's my fault you're here!"
Tala sighed. Who could say no to that face? She'd have done the same a million times over.
But at the notion of fault, Tala shook her head. "It's my fault you're not on the other side of these bars. And that's a good thing. Better the three of us than anyone else." But she then eyed the device the half-unzipped blonde came in carrying. It looked like a dissected laptop with a satellite dish on it. "Is that the transponder?"
"Oh! Yeah, we weren't close enough to get a signal from the collars due to the forcefield, so I thought I'd sneak in while the door was cracked."
"Well, if it's on that side of the door, then the guards won't assume it's from us. Leave it and get back to Rika. No doubt she'll be fuming." But before Tiffany was sent off, Tala pulled her in and mashed their lips together in a passionate kiss. Though it was over it was quickly as it came, it made all the difference for Tiffany. Pouting in the most adorable look of determination she could muster, the young Maye gave her a resolute nod before sliding the phone in the larger hand and dashing back down the hall and around the corner.
Amelie raised a skeptical eye at Tala. "I thought you had your hands full avec vos quatre femmes?"
"Just ... excited to see a familiar face, is all," Tala mumbled, the colour in her cheeks having nothing to do with bruising.
"I was led to believe that Aiko, Audrey, and Nicole were your only other lovers," Celeste frowned, and Tala realized she'd be spending the night delivering many, many reassurances to her lesser female.
"Look, the important thing is that we've got an open channel to my friends," Tala explained, holding up Tiffany's painfully cute smart phone. "We just have to stay alive out there, and we're home free!"
Another horn blast summoned them into the arena. "Plus facilie a dire," Amelie shuddered. "Feroza iz waiting for us out there."
XXXXX
Someone was waiting for Tiffany when she dashed up the stairs.
"What're you doing here?!" snarled the Agorian guard as he snatched her by the collar. All she could do was to yelp and flail helplessly as he lifted her off her feet.
"Hey you!" Both parties looked to see Alistair striding up to them. "What, you lookin' for the washroom?! C'mon, we got food to sell!" Snatching Tiffany away from the flustered guard, the two made off on their way back to their kiosk. "You okay?"
"I-I think." Tiffany blushed until All let go of her. "Thanks."
The big guy just shrugged. "My first impulse was to bash his brains in. But that'd blow our cover. But uh, leave the ballsy moves to the wolves, kay? We ain't the type to send pups off to battle." He leveled her a Casanova grin. "Just leave yourself in my capable hands, little pup."
Tiffany immediately wanted to flip the breakers on this faulty connection. "Yeah, no thanks."
A shrug. "I dig it. You're the classy type; like playin' the long game." When Tiffany only continued to glower, Alistair sighed and radioed in. "Found our lost puppy, Cap. Orders?"
Rika's relieved sigh crackled over the comm. "Bring her back with you, Wolfsbane. That will be all." Killing the transmission, Rika returned her gaze to the arena battle, newly started after solving their technical issues. "Once they survive this round, we'll be in a perfect position to coordinate our efforts," she affirmed to Kate.
The resident hacker gave a skeptical glance at the warfare down below, and the brutal attacks of the silver-skinned fish woman. "If they survive," she corrected.
XXXXX
As much as Tala wanted to resolve her issue with Feroza, Celeste was right yet again.
There remained no doubt Feroza was now out for Tala's blood. The amazon herself figured that Team Stygia had their motivational talk during their break. That, or Luna ran and cried to Feroza, because the Silver Blade had her in her crosshairs. It took all of team Terra and handful of sand to get her off. But no sooner than they dusted themselves off was when the game alarm rang.
XXXXX
Nikki's eyes scanned the aena. "What's happening?"
"I'm guessing that the fighting is ending and the game is beginning. Look." Platforms on the North and South sides of the arena rose from the sand, a skip and a jump above the top of the Kloi trees. A third platform rose from the center at ground level, and from it, a metal sphere, sporting glowing ports on all sides shot skywards as the team platforms acquired their colors. Blue for the Terrans, and red for the Stygians.
Whereas Al was psyched for the beginning of the sport, Nikki was just happy that the killing was over. Hopefully. But she did feel her heart thunder and her breathing hitch at the edge of her seat as Celeste took to the tops of the Kloi and seized the ball before making a mad dash across the canopies like a trained ninja. The nerd girl reminded herself that Celeste was an evolved alien mountain goat, but then again, so were two of their opponents. And with the Norai being the only ones capable of reliably traversing the canopies, all Amelie and Tala could really do was keep Feroza off of Celeste's tail. If they could even keep up.
XXXXX
Nikki's relief over the completed 'fatality' round was not a universally-shared sentiment, however. In his private observation lounge, Rogan sat stiffly in his cushioned chair, a silent oddity among his rowdy guests and dignitaries, roaring and cheering at the Earthlings' coordinated nab for the spheroid. A slap on the shoulder made the crime lord wince.
"Na ha! Stellar find with that red-maned Terran, Rogy! Won me ten thousand credits the other day!"
Rogan smiled diplomatically at the enthusiasm and at his... nickname. "Glad to hear you're enjoying things, Deckart."
Slag it, he'd meant to humiliate and degrade that blasted Terran, not make a sport celebrity of her! What was Feroza doing down there? Yes, the Stygian had fury in spades, but now she was just angry and sloppy! He shook his head as his 'Silver Blade' missed an easy leap between platforms, slipping and barely catching herself from a nasty fall. Maybe removing some of her privileges would get the Stygian to take her duties seriously. Perhaps then, she'd train more and waste time throwing her weight around less.
His ruminating was interrupted by a cough from behind. Rogan whipped around, and the guard captain flinched before his intense glare. "Begging your pardon sir, there's been a... report."
Rogan quickly excused himself to privacy of the security office. He looked expectantly to his interrupting sentry. "One of the guards came across someone lurking within the lower corridors."
"Visuals?" Rogan snapped.
"We don't keep cameras in the stairwells," the captain apologized, "but we did notice this on the concession levels." A few finger taps on the console brought up a new feed - a security door being discreetly opened and two figures creeping out of the restricted area. A male in civilian clothes, short and filthy with hair. Rogan squinted at the black-clothed female who followed.
"Is that a ... klai-klai vendor?" Wait, that was a Greblin shop, these figures looked almost… "Terran," Rogan finished, curling his lip in an amused grin. This video was just a single piece in the puzzle, but he could immediately see the larger picture. "Scan all feeds - I want to see where those two came from, where they leave." A devious chuckle escaped his lips. "Now this should prove amusing, Miss Stone."
XXXXX
For Rogan, it all made sense as to why his veteran gladiator had been suffering a continuous losing streak: all of Feroza's matches against the Terrans, she threw. And the reasoning behind it all didn't take much to figure out. He knew Feroza and her habits well enough, but he had also gotten to know Tala as well. Two warriors meet under the right circumstances, they form a bond. Simple. But never to the point that one would give victory to their opponent time after time. Clearly, there was something more between them.
However, something certainly changed, following the Tower of Power. Tala was furious, and Feroza played with her food one too many times. It was her first true defeat, and it seemed she was not handling it well. Today's rematch proved a prime example: sloppy with rage, Feroza had taken beating after beating from the Terran. If the Stygian hadn't damaged one of the forcefield modules and forced his officials to suspend the fight, her life, not the match, would have likely ended.
Swiveling around in his chair, the Agorian turned to face his Stygian champion, a collar remote clutched in his claw. "I imagine you know why you're here, correct?"
Feroza stood across from his desk, glaring down at him with all the fiery orange in her eyes, trying not to bare her rows of razor sharp teeth. "If it's about the Terran, whatever logic you have is flawed."
Rogan raised the bony ridge above his eye. "Really? You mean to tell me that you're losing simply because Tala is better than you?" He felt the same grin from earlier resurfacing as Feroza' glare hardened. "If so, you're a worthless stabilizer. I ought to throw you and your Tendricide females in with the rest of the filth, let the Terran assume your responsibilities."
If there was one thing in the universe that Feroza hated, it was having her pride as a fighter mocked. But if there was one thing she had come to realize she hated even more, it was the redheaded Terran on her mind, and the effect Tala Stone was having on her. "She got lucky."
An answer formed from stubborn pride and troubling thoughts but Rogan wasn't impressed.
"For half a season? I find that hard to believe. She should have lost every encounter between you two, yet here you are, called forth to stabilize, but my flow of money is still unstable." He stood from his seat, casually inspecting the remote in his claw, tinkering with the knob that controlled the shock intensity. "What will I have to do to get you to be more... compliant?"
XXXXX
Tala had to leave the breakout planning to Celeste and Amelie.
Right as the after-match check-up was done, Feroza was called into Rogan's office, and Tala not long after. The amazon knew very well that they'd been found out, and before she departed, she told her friends to give their allies one more chance to drop out before going along with the plan, as their chances of escaping went from slim to none and Slim left. She didn't stick around for their answer, she just hugged Amelie, shared a parting kiss with Celeste and left their quarters like she was saying her final goodbyes. In her mind now, she probably was.
As she made her way down the long, windowed hallway that took her to Rogan's office, she felt tremors rack her body. Her passionate side told her to cling to the luck that got her this far in life, and to keep her head high, as they would somehow make it out of this. She and her allies always did. Her logical side, in this instance, had an equally loud voice, and it told her that her luck ran out, and many would die because of that. It wasn't just the battle between her two halves that made her insides feel like a storm, but also the very real realization that she hadn't been taking things as seriously as she should be. She'd been doing her job when she'd brought down that fight club, but Rogan abducted her, Amelie, and Celeste for round two, and she spent half that time boning her enemy.
The only comforting thoughts Tala could find were meager attempts to imagine what her girls would tell her in this instance, and the mesmerizing sight of the three local moons as they appeared together in the permanent night of space, illuminating the corridor all the way to Rogan's office door at the very end.
The doors slid open and Feroza stepped out.
The Stygian's face was worn and weary, like she'd aged a decade in a single meeting. She was standing upright on warrior's pride alone. Their eyes met for a moment, Feroza's rearing back in astonishment, but her scowl quickly regrouped. Tala was shoved into the wall as the Stygian rammed past her, snarling a final parting gift.
"You're a fool..."
Then a devilish voice beckoned her forward. "Tala! Come in, come in! Lots to discuss!" Rogan was slurping down a disgusting stew from take-out meal cartons as she sat. "Hungry? Plenty of klai-klai to go around. Local specialty but I think you'll find it has a distinctly ... Terran flavor."
Tala's throat went dry. The company logo on the meal boxes was the same one stenciled on Tiffany's uniform...
"What do you want?"
"Ah, straight to business. I appreciate that. You've been enjoying a hot streak in the tournament - something of a fan-favorite - so I thought I'd float some ideas past you, get a groundling's view of some new programming."
Rogan's arms framed an invisible marque as he raved. "Picture this - "Prison Escape" - a hidden camera show where we follow the exploits of combat slaves as they attempt to escape their gladiator confinements!"
"Sounds like an interesting underdog story," Tala murmured through chapped lips.
"Oh, but my dear, it's going to be a comedy! You see, the escapists don't know that their collar frequencies will be altered at the last minute! When they rush past the perimeters... boom!"
In the time it took for Tala to shoot to her feet, Rogan's thumb was hovering over the big red button on the remote, quickly forcing the amazon to rethink her next course of action. But it was all for naught as the Agorian crime lord grinned, showing off his mouthful of pearly black teeth before he moved his thumb over the big blue button and mashed it down hard.
White-hot electrical pain enveloped every cell in Tala's body. Her legs buckled and she collapsed to the ground, writhing in agony as her entire system coursed with enough energy to start a car.
She couldn't even gather the breath to scream. It already took every ounce of her dwindling focus to reach for the collar itself, only to receive a particularly intense shock to her hands.
When the zapping stopped, the room was then filled with the loud guffaws of Rogan, resting against his desk, clutching his sides.
"A final..." Tala hacked, pushing herself to her knees. "Fuck you, eh? Not if I can help it."
Rogan bared his teeth again in his salacious grin. "Stunning! Even after all the anguish and the pain, you're still intent on saving the day! My my, if only you were Agorian... Caring, honest, selfless... I might not even be a crime lord!"
"Leave them ... out of this. I'm the, the one-"
"You, you, you. Of course it's about you! I've watched your every fight, seen all the blows you take without a shrug. But when your allies get beaten... oh, the look in your eyes is priceless."
Tala tried a different approach. "We'll find a way."
"I'd sincerely like to see that! Nothing like a ticking timer to make things interesting."
Tala struggled to decipher his meaning, while Rogan called for security to drag away her stunned body. Before the door shut, he called after her. "By the way, I'm ordering more take-out for dinner! Thought I'd send a security squad, maybe a few attack drones to pick up everything."
Tala's eyes went cold.
XXXXX
Kate frowned at the incoming transmission from the arena prison. "No... time ... proceed ... now? Cap'n, ah think Tala wants t'move up the operation! She says - hang on... collars ... that Rogan bugger, he's changed the collar settings. There's no way they can get out of the restricted areas!"
"We'll have to devise some sort of manual override," Rika surmised. "Anything more from Miss Stone?"
Lady Gray consulted her communicator, and when the final briefing came in, she gave a slow swallow. "Yeah. Looks like we can expect some company fer dinner..."
"Then we're going to help." the captain stated, lugging her rifle over her shoulder and looking to her crew. "Sergeant Mackenzie, you're with me. We're gonna bust through this place inch by inch until we find their main power. You know what I'm getting at, right?"
"Yes ma'am."
The captain's focus then shifted to Al and Kate. "Wolfsbane and O'Connor? I want you two to find out anything you can about deactivating those collars. Get a controller from a guard, a chop shop, the back of a cereal box, I don't care. If those collars are active again, then nobody's going anywhere."
"Yes, Cap'n!"
"You got it!"
"Tiffany and Nikki? Our allies are just out of range of this station's defenses. I'll give you the green light when the power's down, and it'll be up to the both of you to destroy the defenses so our friends can come in rescue their loved ones. The gladiators will be fighting their way here to the docking bays, so you'll also be tasked with close air support for when the reinforcements drop in-" Rika had barely finished her briefing before their ship violently lurched from an external explosion. "Too late! Everyone break!" she barked before turning back to the girls. "You two! Keep this ship space-worthy!"
"Yes ma'am!" they chorused as if they were part of the crew.
Without another word, the ground teams piled out of the ship, which took off immediately after.
