"Oh man, Gaz, did you see this?! That group really goes all out on their gear."
Gaz mumbled a non-committal reply as Keef continued to geek out over the Irken Invader 'LARP' garb.
"It's awesome that Iggins was able to get everyone together this fast. Would have sucked to miss out on this epic senario!"
"Yeah."
From across the room, Iggins, a brawny teen with a nerd face, dressed from head to toe in Viking warrior leather armor, heard his name and laughed. "And miss out on Dark Empress Gaz's plea for assistance? Heck naw!" He turned to his 'army' of twenty or so slightly-more-physically-fit-than-usual nerds, "Am I right Men!? and lady." He added, nodding to Moofy, the youngest and most aggressive of the group. Moofy added her shrill battle cry to the rest.
Gaz fought not to roll her eyes. She settled for a small growl at the Dark Empress title. "Yeah well, Nick says they're almost here. Does everyone know the plan?"
Brian, standing with Chuck, pounded his sword to his chest and jabbed a thumb as Chuck. "Get the mages to the elemental source wells while the Empress and her Knight distract the enemy."
Iggins nodded and pounded his chest. "We of the Forgotten Slums Clan will not tolerate this invasion from barbarians of science! By night's fall I want to see all their heads mounted on my wall!" The war cries echoed in the small apartment lobby. "But seriously though," Iggens said dropping the act. " Boundary lines are 7th through 4th street. Warriors protect your mages. Mages don't lose those wrenches. My dad will ground me if I don't get them back. Get to the fire hydrants and turn them on just enough to soak the road. We don't want to cause a huge problem with the city's water pressure with this."
"What a stupid power balance though," Moofy laughed. "Op technology but afraid of water?"
"Well they're a weird group," Gaz shrugged.
Keef nodded, for some reason.
With one final battle cry, the group split to divide and conquer their enemies.
Agent Kelpie sighed when she saw the kids leaving the cafe. Their outfits were atrocious, playground make-believe armor. They looked like they were headed to comic con, not to an intergalactic battle. She zoomed the lense on her binoculars. The girl Gazalene, she looked around, before pulling up her hood and stuffing her hands into the pockets of her hoodie. Every corner, she'd look around again, as if watching for someone.
What on earth are these kids planning… She lived with the irken child for several days, perhaps she knows something we don't? "Damn, if only I'd brought a directional transceiver I might have heard what they were planning."
In her pocket her radio crackled. "All units reroute to the PEG facility! Seismographs picked up the reverb of an explosion, and Mothman isn't responding. Someone get me some intel now!"
Agent Kelpie ignored it and turned the volume down. No matter what Darkbootie said, her first priority was Mothman's sister. If she gets hurt after all of this, Bill will be the least of our worries.
She pulled out her binoculars again, spying movement at the end of the street. A teen, one from Gaz's group was approaching a fire hydrant. He looked around then held a wrench up, closing his eyes he opened his mouth as if he were chanting. When he was done with his act he tightened the wrench on the hydrant and turned it. The resulting water pressure blew a geyser up from the street.
The irkens were on the road within sight.
What the hell are they doing?
Kelpie pocketed her gear and rushed to the stairs. Were they actually planning to pick a fight? "All Units be aware!" she yelled into her radio. "Local inhabitants have engaged the landing party! We have engaged the Irkens! Weapons ready!"
"Damnit!" Darkbootie cursed.
Kelpie shoved her radio in her pocket again to free her hands to skip as many stairs as she could on her way down.
XXX
The irkens approached the spraying geysers. "What is this? The commander glared at the mess. A planet can't even keep their cities in order? You," he said barking at one of his soldiers, "Shut that water off."
"Sir!"
The soldier moved hurriedly towards the fountain of water, but the moment he got close enough for the spray to hit him, some of it got under his helmet and he screamed. The soldier fell backwards and scrambled away from the water.
Another soldier rushed forward to pull the man's hand from his face. Acid burns,
"Sir, they've poisoned their water supply with some sort of acid. We can't pass through here."
The commander looked at the still crying irken, strode forward and grabbed the wrist that the other soldier was restraining. He stared into the soldier's eyes. "Are you an irken?" he asked. His voice was cold and final. The soldier grit his teeth and nodded. Because the spray was such a fine mist from where he'd stood, his burns were only surface level, though they felt like fire.
He stood with no more sound and returned to his place in line. The other soldier who had gone to help, quickly followed.
Turning to the west the commander raised his arm. "We'll detour to the east, units spread out along the roadway and-"
A hiss and gush of water launched a new geyser from the next fire hydrant down a road to the east. Keef had done well not being seen.
The commander cursed and turned to the west. Weapons ready, let's move!" He ran with his soldiers right on his tail. Are we under attack? They passed the next road and a new geyser cut off the path in front of them and to the north. They'd have to backtrack to the south. He turned and without missing a beat his soldiers followed.
"Go! Move!"
The pounding rhythm of their boots echoed off the tall buildings. Gaz watched them run past the alley where she hid. Hurry up, stupid brother. I'm not sure how long we can stall them for.
"Sir! Over there! An inhabitant!"
But it wasn't Gaz they were pointing at. One of Iggins' friends whose name she didn't remember, had gotten spotted. She couldn't let anyone be caught though so she kicked over the trash can beside her with all her might. The resulting -CLANG- was enough to distract the soldiers long enough for the kid to slip away.
"Another one! After it!"
Four soldiers sprang forward on PAK legs, unwilling to let this one escape. Gas turned on her tail and ran. The clank of mechanical claws on the brick walls was all the signal she needed. Out from her pocket, she pulled a tiny water gun and squeeze the tiny trigger for two small squirts. The irken bellowed in agony. She'd gotten him up and under his visor.
"MY EYES!" he screamed, dropping to the ground. The mechanical arms went limp, ripping a piece of the wall off as they fell.
Gaz wasted no time and continued to run. She turned down another back alley and dove into an open door. Iggens slammed the door shut. "Man, their acting is top-notch! Where did you find these guys?"
"Less talk more move. She said, hurrying to the front door." Iggins followed with a laugh. He hadn't pegged her for the type to take a LARP so seriously. "You know, you're kinda hot like this."
Gaz rolled her eyes and opened the door a crack to peek through. No irkens. She shoved the door out of her way and ran with Iggins on her heels. Down several more alleys, they finally reached the next major road. The timing was perfect as another of the kids turned on their assigned hydrant. It launched a spray down at the end of the street opposite to where the irken's many footfalls echoed from.
Gaz shoved Iggins towards the geyser. "Move it."
"Uhh.. my mom said not to get too soaked in my new shoes."
Gaz rolled her eyes and grabbed him by the shirt. "Come on."
She was a gamer, not an athlete. Sprinting down one street then the next burned her sides. The yells of the irken soldiers came from behind. "Halt!" one of them yelled in perfect english. Yeah right, she thought. What kind of an idiot would-
"We are not cowards! Bring forth your leader Irken Scum! I shall fight him!"
Gaz whipped back in time to see Iggins pointing his padded spear at the five irken soldiers. "You Dipshit! I told you their weapons are one-hit kill!"
"Fear not my queen of darkness. For their weapons shall never pass my shield"
"OPEN FIRE!"
An elbow hooked around Iggen's throat and threw him into an alley, Gaz dove in a second later. She grabbed him by the collar this time and said "Follow orders or you'll be kicked out!" She was still keeping up the act, but Iggins' eyes were wide and staring at the massive burn missing from her pant leg, and the blackened skin underneath.
"Oh what the hell…" was all he could manage to say. Even though there was nothing on the ground in front of him, his feet found something to trip over and in his shock, he couldn't catch himself in time and crumpled to the ground, bringing Gaz down with him. She had only barely kept herself from passing out but hitting the ground and scraping her fresh wound was all it took and she fell limp underneath his weight.
"Oh god! Gaz? What is…No No NO! This isn't real right? You're acting right?"
The soldiers turned the corner. "Do not move!"
"G...az..." His voice cracked as the situation started to sink in.
The soldiers walked carefully down the path. "Explain what you've done to your water!" Their guns were all held at the ready, aimed at the two teens. Iggins opened his mouth but couldn't find any words.
"GRAB GAZ!"
A voice yelled just before a smoke bomb exploded in the alley. Iggins didn't need to be told twice. He acted bravely in games but in reality, running was what he was best at. A hand pulled him down an alley and grabbed Gaz from him.
"Keep going! Don't stop!"
Again, Iggins did not need to be told twice. With his hands now free, he double-timed it away, outstripping even Agent Kelpie's long stride.
A/N: Hey all! Long time no see! Over the last year and a half, I've had so much going on that the most I could do was update my profile to say "I'm not dead!" No idea if anyone is still interested in this story or not but I really want to see it through to completion. Hopefully, it won't be too much longer. I really miss getting to write and be involved in the IZ fandom. It's been hard to find stuff since Deviantart got so convoluted. Let me know if you guys know of any chats that have an active IZ fandom base!