Chapter Eighteen

Mayhem had been tracking them as they approached the Rexcelsior, and radioed them as they finally got close. "If Dangervest gets violent, let Bad Cop and King Bruce handle him. Our armor is designed to withstand Master Breaker punches," she instructed. "You don't want to know what it looks like to be on the receiving end of that unprotected."

"Got it," Benny responded, and carefully maneuvered his ship alongside the Rexcelsior, lining up with the docking bay door that Emmet pointed out. Bad Cop was the first to disembark, using the enhanced strength of his suit to force the door open. The others followed quickly after that.

"Benny, I want you to focus on reversing the Rexcelsior. Metalbeard, Unikitty, you two watch his back. There might still be some raptors on board."

"You got it."

"Lucy, Bad Cop, Bruce, I need you three to focus on Rex. I'll try to talk him down, but…"

Lucy took his hand, squeezing gently. "All you can do is try. It's up to him to listen."

"And up to us to knock his stubborn ass out if he doesn't," Bad Cop quipped. Emmet managed a smile.

"So where do you think we'll find him?"

"We should look on the bridge first," Emmet decided. "That's the most likely place he'll be."

Emmet led the way to the Rexcelsior's bridge, anxiety gnawing at his stomach. What if Rex was there? What if he wasn't? Much as he didn't want to search the entire ship for his counterpart, he wasn't certain he was ready for an immediate confrontation either.

As luck would have it, Rex was indeed waiting for them on the bridge, Ripley and Cobra at his sides. He didn't look the least bit surprised to see them. "Come to tell me 'I don't have to be the bad guy', I suppose?"

"Do you really think this will fix anything?" Emmet shot back. "Do you really think that hurting other people will make you feel better?"

"Do you really think I'm gonna fall for anything you have to say? I know you, kid. I was you once. I know all your tricks. And there's nothing you can say that'll convince me to stop."

Emmet wilted. "I hoped it wouldn't come to this."

Rex snorted. "What, you gonna fight me? That worked so well last time."

"I'm not going to fight you, Rex." That threw him for a moment. "They are."

Rex didn't even have to give the order- Cobra and Ripley hissed and snarled and lunged forward. Metalbeard was quick to punch Cobra into a wall, but the raptor recovered quickly and came back for more. Lucy grappled with Ripley, trying to avoid her deadly claws and teeth. Unikitty added her own claws and hooves to the fight. Bad Cop and Bruce went straight for Rex, tag-teaming the rogue. Taking advantage of the chaos, Benny made his way to the ship's controls and began pushing buttons and flipping switches.

Bruce let out a surprised shout as Rex managed to knock him to the floor and yanked his helmet off. The protective headgear was crushed under Rex's boot. He scrambled away before that foot could come down on his head next, and debated the intelligence of rejoining a fight with a Master Breaker with his head unprotected. The suit's functionality was also reduced without the helmet. "Shit," he swore. Looked like Bad Cop was on his own.

Rex dodged as one of Bad Cop's fists came flying at his face, only for the other to hit him square in the gut. He wheezed as the wind was nearly knocked out of him, but was able to block another blow. He'd thought it would be easier, with Bruce out of the picture. But the vigilante's style was showy, over the top, while Bad Cop's was… efficient. Ruthless. And with Bruce no longer in his way he could really go all out.

Or just use his pistol.

Rex blinked. He didn't even have a moment to react before the blast hit him, making everything feel numb. He dropped to one knee before he could make his limbs respond again. Bad Cop stepped closer, gun still in hand, and Rex roared, aiming a punch at the cop's chest, throwing all of his strength and rage into it, as Bad Cop brought the butt of the pistol down on his temple.

Rex collapsed, knocked out cold.

Bad Cop was thrown across the bridge, hitting the wall hard. The chestplate of his armor was damaged beyond repair.

"He actually did it…!" Metalbeard gaped. Ripley and Cobra both froze at the sight of their unconscious commander.

Bruce retrieved Bad Cop's pistol from where it had been dropped and pointed it at the raptors. "Claws up."

They surrendered.

"Bad Cop…?" Emmet ventured, staring at where the officer still sat slumped where he'd fallen, clawing weakly at his chest. Emmet hurried over, carefully removing Bad Cop's helmet. He paled in realization. "He can't breathe!" Rex's punch had knocked the wind out of him hard enough he couldn't force air back into his lungs.

Benny ran over to them. "Help me get the chestpiece off," he instructed, keeping his voice calm. Emmet nodded, hands shaking as he tried to hurry. They finally managed to get it unlatched and removed. "Is anything else hurting?" Bad Cop shook his head tersely. Benny nodded and moved him to lay down on the floor, pinched his nose shut and pressed his mouth over Bad Cop's, forcing air into his lungs. It took a few tries before Bad Cop was finally breathing on his own again. He grabbed onto Benny before the astronaut could pull away, shaking. "Hey. Hey, it's alright, you're alright…" Benny soothed.

"Thank you," he murmured.

Benny quirked a grin at him. "What are friends for?"

Beside them, Emmet slumped against the wall in relief. It had been a close one, but they'd all made it through okay. Lucy used the ship's radio to tell the rest of the raptors to stand down. Emmet turned his attention to where Rex was still lying unconscious on the floor.

He really hoped he was right about this working.

I don't know how many readers I have here, but it's not likely I'll be uploading any more chapters of anything to FFN. This site seems to be going the way of the dodo, there's so little activity here anymore, but if you enjoy my stories, you can also find me on AO3. I have many more fics there than what I've shared here, and it's also the first place I update so I have more finished fics there as well.