-Jitos Syndicate Base, Saiccano 8:45 Turo Standard Time-
By the time Spon exited the elevator 626 and Leroy had already melded into a writhing, red-blue mass on the catwalk in front of him, and before he could take so much as five steps forwards a kick sent 626 flying back into the wall behind him, forcing Spon to duck out of the way. 626 collided with the wall and grunted from the pain before dropping to the floor and launching himself back into it, not even noticing his friend.
Spon gaped as he stared at the wall. There's a dent! A friggin' dent like a foot deep in the wall! Astonished, he looked back at the dueling experiments long enough to watch 626 tear a pipe out of the wall and swing it into Leroy like a bat. Leroy hopped to its feet upon landing, seemingly shrugging off a blow that would have shattered the ribs of any normal creature as though it was nothing but a slap, and charged back at its opponent. 626 promptly planted his feet onto the catwalk, flipped the pipe around in his paws, and when Leroy attempted another leap swung upwards with enough force to send Leroy in a graceful arc backwards.
Damn, they're strong. Spon realized. As things stood, there really wasn't any way he could intervene and help 626, at least not without getting torn apart himself. So, instead of trying, Spon took shelter behind a crate and began scanning the massive room. At least if someone comes in I can spot them and shout a warning or something. I won't be TOTALLY useless.
A flash of movement got his eye – up in the left corner of the room, Spon noticed a door opening as someone crept into the room. Spon squinted to get a better look, wondering if it was that Alci Spec criminal or some other Jitos thug, and upon taking a closer look he noticed that the mysterious intruder appeared to be wearing an Armada flight suit. Spon caught a brief glimpse of reddish-skins and a tail, and then the other person vanished completely from sight.
Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that he'd seen them somewhere before…
Jumba and Obrea continued to eye each other, neither moving their weapons and inch, but neither firing either. Everything, save for the sounds drifting down from the catwalk above and the occasional hiss of a pipe, was silent.
Jumba broke that silence. "Is poetic, in own way: you, me, and 626 back together." His grip tightened. "Just like when you were stopping me retrieving 626."
"He did that all on his own." Obrea smirked at the memory. "I was just there to make sure you went where you belong. Now I'm the one stopping you from getting your mitts on him." With a fractional tilt of his head Obrea nodded upwards as Leroy kicked 626 backwards. "One mad beast per idiot scientist, no?"
"You think I am wanting Leroy to be like that? Was all fault of Hämsterviel and his torture! Yes, I wanted to augment Leroy's destructive programming, yes, I wanted it to become the force for anarchy galaxy is needing, but not by like that."
Obrea had to resist the urge to spit. "Forgive me if I don't believe you. And besides, even if that's true, the end result would still have been the same: blood being shed across the entire galaxy and a creature forced to take a path in life laid out for it without ever having the chance to choose otherwise."
Jumba clicked his safety off. "You don't understand, do you? You damned Federation dogs never understand what the galaxy needs."
"I suppose not." Obrea raised his gun a fraction of an inch and fired, grazing Jumba's shoulder and making the Kweltikwan wince backwards, and as he did so Obrea dove behind a shipping container.
The Colonel took a deep breath. The time for talk had officially passed. Time to get serious.
A gunshot rang out from below them. 626's attention snapped away from Leroy as he looked to see what had happened, and to his relief he saw that it had been Obrea doing the shooting. 626 returned his attention to Leroy –
– just in time for the other experiment to yank the pipe out of his hand and throw it over the side of the catwalk. Snarling, Leroy advanced on the now-weaponless 626.
"You wanna do this again?" 626 growled. "Let's do it!" This time 626 was the one to make the first move, charging Leroy before diving and making a low sweep that through it off-balance long enough for 626 to tackle it to the floor. Leroy made to throw 626 off of it but he was ready, and so rather than crashing against the wall 626 let himself ricochet off it back onto Leory's stomach. The impact made the experiment gasp in pain, after which it shoved off the other experiment and retreated a few paces. Leroy spat out a bloody tooth, probed the whole with its tongue, and roared again.
That's it, buddy. Keep getting angrier. From their very first exchange 626 had realized that the other experiment was stronger than he was, moving and attacking with a wild, monstrous strength that seemed almost unnatural even by the standards of a pair of genetically-engineered bioweapons.
Therein lied the single greatest obstacle to 626's victory.
Therein also lied his single greatest advantage.
The thing about wild, monstrous strength: no finesse.
Boiled down to it, as devastatingly powerful as Leroy's attacks were, they consisted of little more than simple punches, kicks, charges, and the occasional bite. Each was more than powerful enough to eliminate the average opponent but as someone who was both well-versed in Federation combat training and almost as powerful, 626 faced odds that were a bit more even.
Not perfectly even, 626 reminded himself as Leroy's latest punch damn near wrenched his upper-right arm out of its socket, but certainly moreso than the average soldier.
626 responded to the punch by blocking the follow-up with one set of arms and using the other to twist Leroy's wrist as far as he could. Leroy shrieked in pain and jumped back off of him, allowing 626 the opportunity to get to his feet.
Both experiments eyed each other warily. That's right. Keep coming. To goad the other experiment into making another frenzied assault 626 forced a smile onto his face. Really? This is your best? The gerbil was harder to take down, and I don't even think Hämsterviel knew how to fight!"
Leroy, if it was possible, got even angrier. "Yuuga. No. Insult. Master." It growled.
626 blinked. Was that basic? I thought Leroy couldn't speak it? When did he learn how to –
Ah.
It was learning. And if it could learn that, maybe it could also learn…
Oh, blitznak.
Leroy reached to its side and broke off a piece of the catwalk railing. Wielding it like a stave it advanced again, slowly this time, until suddenly it broke into a run and slammed its weapon into 626's head, sending the other experiment down.
Eyes swimming as he looked up at Leroy, 626's head felt like it was on fire. Leroy made for another swing but before it could 626 ripped off his own piece of the railway and held it up to block.
The impact sent shock waves down 626's arms, but he managed to hold firm and parry before slamming the rail into Leroy's chest.
Both experiments disengaged and withdrew a few paces, watching the other's weapon.
626 shook his head to clear it and tried to ignore the throbbing sensation from between his antennae. Okay. Now he's a stave-fighter. Great.
Jumba massaged the burn mark; it wasn't deep, thankfully, but the blast had still hurt. He looked forwards to paying back the Federation dog in kind, but maybe with an extra shot or two to the head.
First thing was first, though, and Jumba had to find him. He peeked out from his makeshift hiding place behind a bunch of crates and was greeted by an empty room. Where did he go?
Jumba sighed irritably. Of all the places to start playing hide-and-seek in, they just had to be in a storage room. Well, silver lining – if I am not seeing him anywhere, he is not seeing me. Still, best to rectify things before the Federation dog rectified them for him. Jumba hazarded another glance out and found the spot that they had originally stood around. Alrighty then. Now that I know where we WERE, where did he GO? Jumba had lost sight of him practically the moment the shot had landed, which implied that wherever the Federation dog was hiding had to be nearby that point.
He scanned the room again. There was a medium-sized container about ten feet or so away from their original location. Perfect. I have found you. Slowly, quietly and with his gun at the ready, Jumba crept out from his hiding place. Reaching the container he flattened himself against the side of it and prepared to attack.
Apparently the Federation Dog had had a similar idea, as just before Jumba could whirl around the corner the Raptrian hurled himself out from his own side. The two stared at each other in shock and Obrea tried to bring up his weapon mid-leap, but his aim was off and the shot glanced off the side of the container.
Jumba, who was similarly off-put by this sudden development, was only slightly more accurate and landed his shot on his opponent's tail. The man audibly and visibly winced from the impact but recovered quickly from his less-than-graceful plummet to the floor and dove back behind cover. Jumba did the same, and the two began to exchange volleys of plasma.
It was a stalemate, Jumba realized: both knew exactly where the other was, and from their current position neither of them could move without giving the other a free shot. Damn it, damn it, damn it! What do I do now? Think, Jumba, THINK! There has to be a way…
Before Jumba could start planning his escape he was distracted by a door opening above him. It was hard to see, but he saw what looked like a little brown person in a red dress duck into the room. Before he could take a second look they were gone, and Jumba turned his attention back to the matter at hand.
It wasn't like whoever it was really mattered in the grand scheme of things, like as not.
The two experiments kept swinging at each other, and this time it was Leroy that had the upper hand. 626 wanted to kick himself: why, in the three years he'd been either in training or in the Armada, did he never learn basic stave-fighting?
He grunted with exertion as he pushed Leroy's stave out of the way. Well, no time for that now. All he knew was that he had to end things fast: his arms already felt like they were made of jelly, and if their dance continued much longer things would only get very bad.
A glancing thrust got Leroy to step far enough aside that he could dive past him and take a few moments to rest. I need to end this now. If he wanted to emerge from this alive, Leroy would need to be taken out as soon as possible.
He lowered the stave and gripped it with all the strength left in his right arms, took as solid a stance as he could, and waited.
Leroy grinned, flushed with his imagined victory and the praise master would heap on him, and lunged towards 626 to finish him off, stave raised high above his head.
626 ducked, took a deep breath, and readied himself for what was next.
The seconds seemed to slow down to an eternity and Leroy's advance seemed like it lasted an hour. Finally, at the last moment, 626 moved.
He rolled forwards and dropped to one knee. Leroy was right on top of him. 626 jabbed upwards before it could react with all his strength.
The stave went upwards, weaker and slower than 626 would have liked, and had Leroy been able to bring his own stave to bear 626's last attack would have been batted away like nothing.
It was not able to before the stave thrust upwards and pierced its left eye.
626 had intended to drive the stave all the way through and out the back, delivering what would hopefully be a fatal strike, but he had to admit: this did the job almost as well. Leroy yelled out in pain like a wounded animal as it ripped 626's weapon out and threw it down to the floor below, damaged eye socket bleeding profusely as it clamped a paw over it.
Panting from exhaustion, 626 struggled to his feet while Leroy used its free paws to grab its stave and ready for another lunge.
"STOP!" A tiny voice cried out.
Leroy immediately froze and 626 whirled around to face the newcomer. 626's eyes widened. No. Why? Why are YOU here?
Lilo stood in the middle of the catwalk, Spon gaping at her slack-jawed as she walked towards the two experiments.
Astonishingly, she was smiling. "It's okay. You don't have to fight anymore."