Fall or Fly
By Shaine and Shatterclaw. Individual rating: PG-13 for
language, violence.
The small tunnel led upward, to the roof of the Raven's Wing. Shaine could see a flash of light as Crimson opened the hatch, and then he was pulled out of the tunnel. Shaine pulled herself up and found another malformed Doberman lunging at Crimson.
Unnerved, she started shooting. It was still covered in milky white human skin which was contracting around its body. One arm held Crimson by the neck, and the other was straining against the fleshy casing holding it down next to its body.
Shaine circled around the Boomer as it held Crimson up. Her metal boots clanged against the Wing, but it didn't seem to notice. It was too busy with Crimson.
She came up behind it and started slashing at its arm. Its eyes glowed red as it turned toward her. The arm broke free - and Crimson with it.
"Oh, shit!"
The Boomer tried to rake her with the claws on its remaining arm. Shaine hurriedly brought her laser sword up again as she watched Crimson slide over the side of the plane.
"CRIM!"
///
Erik Kohl watched the activity on the Raven's Wing with great interest. The transmissions from the Boomers were still being jammed, so it was impossible to get too detailed of an idea about what was happening, but what he saw he liked.
"Mmmm...look at that little one up there. She's still going after it even though it got her partner."
"What makes you say it's a woman? It could just be a small boy." Carter leaned up against him in a disturbing manner. "Do you like boys? Tell me!" she whispered in his ear.
Erik stepped forward, forcing Carter to let go. Exquisite, he murmured confidently. He began to fantasize about what she looked like. Tiny and delicate, certainly, like Kathy had been. In fact, possibly a bit smaller.
His heart leapt into his throat as he imagined Shaine in a hardsuit. No. That's perverse. Get that thought out of your mind...
"I'm impressed. She fights rather well."
"Well, then, if we can capture her alive I will leave her to you." Carter's tone was acerbic, but Erik immediately decided to hold her to her word.
///
The Boomer's remaining arm dug into Shaine's sword. She yanked it free, causing a gasoline-like spray to issue from the now-severed arm. "Crimsoooooon!" She quickly edged over to the spot where she'd last seen him.
At the edge of the plane was a small dagger, with a thin cable attached to it. "Help! Crimson went over the side!"
"We'll send someone up," Hugo called.
"Hurry!" She turned back toward the Boomer. Fluid spurted from the stumps of its arms as it ran toward her. Standing her ground, she used her rail gun and waited for it to come within striking distance of her sword again.
The shots hit, and it slipped. Shaine sidestepped the Boomer as it came crashing toward her. She got in one last slash as it passed, and it fell over the wing with one less leg. Just like the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail...
But there was no time for humor. "Where's Crimson?" Belladonna called.
"He fell off! He's hanging on my some sort of cable!"
Bell walked over to Shaine and said, "I told him they were a good idea! Okay, grab on and we'll try to pull him up." As she reached for the line, a blast of energy hit the Wing. In the distance, Belladonna could see four dark shapes. The shapes flashed with light... "Damn! Mom, get up here!"
She turned to Shaine. "Come on. They're going to chew him apart..."
The pair began to lift Crimson up again. Shaine thought she could see him dangling on the end of the cable, but then Belladonna slipped and skidded to the edge.
"Hang on, Bell!" Shaine pulled harder and managed to drag the girl up again. Not too long after, they were within feet of Crimson.
"Watch out; more Dobermans are on their way..."
A blast hit the side of the plane.
Belladonna held out another cable. Wrap this around your waist and see if you can grab him. The other end of the cable ran to her the arm of her hardsuit.
Shaine tied the cable around herself and walked to the edge. Crimson was trying to reach for the plane. She bend down and reached for him...
Their hands connected and she pulled him back up onto the Wing. Just then two Dobermans - flying Dobermans - landed on the wing.
"Thanks, Shaine."
Another blast hit the wing and a Doberman flew headlong into Shaine. She skidded, then landed on top of Belladonna and Crimson.
"Ow, ow, ow..." Bell whined.
"Sorry."
"I'd ask the Boomer to apologize..." It was towering over her. The Doberman opened its mouth just as Shaine thrust her sword toward it, and the Boomer's head exploded, taking the top half of the sword with it.
The body thrashed around on the Wing, heading for the jet fans. It held up an arm and fired. "Oh, shit..." Shaine whispered as the fans began to smoke.
Crimson and Belladonna got back up. "Bell, right, Shaine, left. Hit them with the daggers. We'll pull him back. Now!" Crimson shouted, then threw his own daggers. The jet fan exploded, incinerating one of the Dobermans.
The Wing tilted to one side, beginning to bank, and veered off towards the woods below.
"Cut the lines and grab on; we're going to crash!"
Shaine managed to find a handhold on a plate as the Wing fell. It hit hard, knocking over trees and kicking up dirt, roots, rocks...anything in its path.
She blacked out.
///
"Crim, you all right?"
His hands went to one leg, and he winced. "Think I have a broken bone. I'll survive. Check on the others."
Shaine quickly found Belladonna lying outside the plane, shaken but with nothing worse than bruises. She then went back into the Wing. Compartments were broken open, equipment was tossed everywhere...
"Are you all right?"
Hugo grinned sheepishly. "Sorry about the ride, Shaine."
She laughed. It wasn't a normal laugh, Hugo thought. Odd. A low heh, heh, heh that seemed to be just air chuffing its way out of a throat that no longer knew how to speak. "It's what we get for choosing Genom Airlines."
"Remind me to fire my travel agent..."
"No kidding."
"Did you save the boss?"
"Yeah. Looks like he's got a broken leg, but he'll be okay."
"Bummer. Now I got to carry him"
"Better you than me, Hugo!" Shaine called as she walked over to the three unconscious figures still strapped into their seats.
"Oh, you'll get your turn..." Hugo threatened.
"Hey, lazy! Wake up!" Shaine shook Jinks's shoulder.
Jinks opened her eyes. "I want coffee...aspirin..." she whispered, "And then his pilot's license."
"I'll see what I can do." Shaine walked over to the others, who quickly responded. Saki gasped for breath, pale and sweaty, as she pulled off her helmet.
"Hook up to their suits and see how badly they're hurt. I'll break out the Motoslaves."
They were battered, but fine. Saki's heart was racing but there was nothing else wrong with her. Vicki had a mild concussion.
"Hey, I think I see the others!" Belladonna called from the roof. Shaine climbed up with her and Bell pointed. "See? Over there, about a mile and a half. Just above the trees. Ten bucks says that's one of ours."
"And another ten says Genom's already on their way..."
"Yeah, we better get moving." Bell hopped down off of the wing.
Hugo was just bringing out the first of the Motoslaves. "Have you ever ridden one of these?"
"No."
"Ever ridden a motorcycle?"
"No. Too 'undignified.' " She wrinkled up her nose.
"You'll have to double up with me, then."
"All right. Let me go get Crim."
///
Shaine held on tight as the Motoslave sped through the woods. Suddenly, an explosion behind her rocked the ground.
"Shaine, check to see if anyone is talking about us yet."
"I'm getting a scrambled signal, plus police and ATC. ATC reports two downed craft, unknown military."
"Can you unscramble the signal?"
"Maybe...give me a minute." She frowned. "Private signal...says 'we have them.' Helicopters less than forty-five minutes away."
Quincy wants them alive...
She froze. It was Erik's voice. "Someone named Quincy wants us alive."
"How long to the Wing?"
"Less than five minutes," Hugo said. "Hopefully we can get it to fly, or at least salvage the Motoslaves. In which case, we can hold off anything they throw at us."
"Shaine, did they say what kind of force we're up against?"
"Shaine, you okay?" Bell seemed worried.
"I... Yeah, I'm fine." Her voice was stiff and distant.
"Cool. Carter is pissed!" Bell giggled.
Just then they came to the wreck of the second Raven's Wing. It had been torn in two.
"Hope no one minds walking," Hugo muttered.
Shaine walked up to the hatch. "Hand over whatever Galaxy you may be carrying, step away from your busted-ass spaceship and put your hands on her head!" she called. Moments later, Jinks helped Rai out of the ship, the two of them carrying a Motoslave.
"He's fine, but can't get his suit servos to work right, she explained." Rai grinned at Shaine.
"Okay. Mount up, everyone. We're going to have to travel as fast as we can. The city is about 27 miles away, Genom and a few others will be looking for us...so we're going to have to be careful."
"Man, this sucks. Belladonna said. I bet the bad guys have a nice, warm car to ride in..."
Shaine stiffened up.
"Heyyyyy, wait! They got choppers! Why don't we wait and ambush one of their choppers? You know, like hide in the trees. Like in the movie with that Schwarzenegger dude? You know, the one with the ugly monster in the jungle!"
"Yes, Bell. Let's hide in the trees and wait for my uncle to come."
"Huh?"
"He's with them," Shaine whispered. "I heard him."
"Oh. We're not going to be able to ask for a ride, then, huh?"
"Too bad. It's a nice car."
"Man, this suuuuucks..."
The others finished rigging a bomb to the jet, and the Ravens took off toward the highway with their cloaks on.
///
Shaine held her breath as she slipped past the blockade. Erik was there...
"How could you mess up a simple delivery?" Carter screeched.
"It's not my fault that your men were late. If they'd simply followed orders and been on time, we could have had the Ravens and that woud have more than made up for the inconvenience."
"Our men weren't late. The timetable for the plane was pushed up."
"Also not my fault."
Carter began to wonder if he hadn't planned it...lured the Ravens there intentionally... "Those new Boomers were to have been field tested first."
"We can always get more. How often does a chance come up to capture or destroy the Steel Ravens?"
Her cell phone began to ring. "If that was the Ravens. Reports of new groups are popping up all over. Seems like no matter where we step, there's another bug beneath our feet... Hello? Yes...yes, sir...no, we had some trouble."
"You know," Erik whispered, just outside of the phone's pickup range, "Vicky...one of these days you are going to open up your myopic little eyes and see what's really going on in this city. And on that day...maybe I'll be grateful that you just barely edged me out...after Sansweet was forced to resign."
She cast him a cold stare. "No, sir. We have two of their planes down and we hope to have them rounded up by morning."
Erik laughed.
"Yes, sir." Carter smiled slowly. "Yes, I'll put my top man on it. I'm sure he'll be able to find them. He has been known to get things done..."
"I'm flattered, Carter."
"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir." She snapped the phone shut and turned to Erik.
"Let me guess. It's my mess now."
"No, dear, it was always your mess. I just made it look a lot cleaner than it really was."
"Hah."
"Well, if your mind was on what you were doing instead of chasing after your family, you might have had the Ravens captured already. Twenty-four hours, Erik. And darling...if you do capture them, don't try to rape any of them before you hand them over to Quincy, hmmm?"
The first sentence struck him so powerfully that he didn't hear the rest of it at all. "Don't. Ever. Talk. To. Me. Like. That. About. Her. Again."
Carter simply laughed and walked away.
A voice came over the radio: "We found one of the planes, sir...they were rigged with some kind of explosive. We lost almost the whole team. ...Sir?"
"Shut up."
Erik walked away.