TITLE: When Adventures Begin...
CHAPTER: Five
AUTHOR: The Chronicler
UNIVERSE: M7 Aurora Adventures
RATING: PG-13
ARCHIVE: Yes
FEEDBACK: Pretty Please!
EMAIL: chroniclerofknucklesyahoo.com
When Adventures Begin...
By The Chronicler
Chapter Five
A loud clang brought Buck out of the haze that his mind had been spending most of its time in of late. Forcing his eyes to focus, he peered through the shadows of his cell.
A small figure was crouched before the door, messing with the lock.
"Who..." Buck grumbled.
J.D.'s head snapped up, his bright eyes piercing through the shadows.
"Kid?" Buck shook his head. "You shouldn't be here. You'll get into..."
"Trouble?" With a final thrust, the boy somehow punched the innards of the lock out and the door swung open. "Little too late for that." He hurried into the cell, but stopped just out of reach of the prisoner. His bright eyes narrowed as he stared up at him.
"What are you doing?" Buck asked softly, confused.
"I need to ask you something." J.D. bit his lip.
"You can ask, son. It's alright." assured the prisoner.
J.D. hesitated, but, then, as if coming to a conclusion, nodded once. "How... how do I know you're the good guy?"
Buck's eyes narrowed. "What? Good guy?" He tried to shrug, but his restraints and wounds pulled, sending streaks of pain through his shoulders and chest. He dropped his face to hide his gasp.
"How do I know you're a good guy?" J.D. repeated. "I've been making a lot of mistakes lately. I don't want to make any more."
With a half smile, the best he could muster, Buck raised his eyes again to look at the boy. "I never said I was a good man, John. I drink far too much, play every chance I get, chase women like there's no tomorrow... But the people I work for, the United States, our President, the Secret Service... these are good people."
J.D. frowned. "All I have is your word. Coal told me he was a good man." He shook his head.
It was then Buck caught a glimpse of something. "Your face... Who hit you?" Ignoring his own pain, he jerked on his chains. "Who hit you? Was it that bitch? Did she find you?" he demanded.
The boy looked up at him again. "I can't let you go... not until I know... not until..."
Buck huffed. "Look at me, kid. I'm a man. All I can do is try to be the best that I can be... and hope that it is enough to be considered good."
J.D. stared at him for what seemed a long moment. Then he reached up with a long tube-like instrument and pressed it to the lock of his left manacle. Hitting the back of the tube sent a small sharp pole shooting through the lock, destroying it.
The sudden release of pressure was as painful as the pull. With a soft cry, Buck fell forward, hanging from his right arm.
J.D. started to move to the right shackled when he was suddenly grabbed and thrown back against the bars.
The tube shaped tool dropped at Buck's feet.
Margurita shook a finger at her prisoner. "Now, now. You stay right there. The little baby boy and I have business." Her last word was snarled as she slowly turned to her new victim.
Sliding his back up the bars, J.D. slowly stood. "Don't you ever knock?" he growled.
The woman laughed. "My, my, baby has a growl. Wonder if he has a bite to back it up."
"J.D., get out of here!" Buck yelled. "Run!"
"J.D.! Run!" she mimicked. She flashed a long dagger. "Run! Run!" Margurita laughed. Then suddenly lunged at the boy.
-----
Maude Standish felt her knees wobble. But when her son reached out to offer support, she ripped her arm out of his grasp. She didn't even waste the effort to glare at him.
Ezra barely hesitated. Wasn't like, after the last hour or so, he wasn't used to it. "Steady yourself, mother. Remember? Presence is everything." he reminded her of what she, herself, had often told him when going into a con.
Above them, casting a dark and forbidding shadow over the river boat casino, was the Prometheus. The air ship had anchored itself to either side of the river boat. The cannons that poked from the belly of the huge air beast swiveled about as if testing their movement, though they seemed to have an odd effect on those below, on the deck of the River Lady.
"Like eyes of a paintin' in an ol' haunted house on some grayin' ol' cemetery hill." one of Maude's ladies in waiting had described them in hush tones. "They always seems to be a followin' me 'bout." Within the next breath, she had begged her mistress to be excused for the day, claiming to have fallen ill.
"What are they doing?" Josiah asked in a hushed tone. He and Chris were standing just behind the mother and son on the deck to the bridge of the River Lady. They had taken the place of the Standishs' usual standing men.
"Making a presence." Maude answered in the same hushed tones. "Now, be silent and play your part. They come."
A port opened on the center of the belly of the beast and an 8' by 8' black steel basket started its decent.
"That'll be the greeters." Ezra explained softly, watching the cage. "The advance guard. Probably General Coal. Be careful. If anyone will see through you it will be the General."
Maude smiled. "And then you will be dead."
Ezra glanced at her sharply, but it was Chris's cold, hard voice that replied "You think your fate will be any different, lady? In case you hadn't noticed, I'm standin' behind you."
The woman raised her head a little higher and her back stiffened only slightly. She was too good at this to allow a cowboy' faze her.... much.
The basket settled on the deck only a few yards from the four. Two black clad men pushed open the steel gate so that a third could step out.
"General Coal, how lovely it is to see you again." Maude greeted, starting forward, her arms open in welcome.
The man's one eye scanned the woman with disinterest, then shifted to take in the three men with her. The gray eye narrowed as it took in Josiah and Chris. "Mrs. Standish." he finally spoke, his gaze returning to her. "I see that you were a success. That you have retrieved the Aurora."
She smiled her best. "Yes. It was my son's doing. He is master of his craft, indeed." She turned to smile her praise at the son she had been ignoring up to now.
"Indeed." The General was unimpressed. Again, he eyed the two strangers.
"Umm... General... " Maude called attention back to herself. "As lovely as it is to see you again... I was' expecting the Count...?"
"Our lord, the Count Gregory, has chosen to remain in his quarters aboard the Prometheus." The General continued to watch the strangers. His eyes narrowed. "Why is the Aurora still in the air?" he asked.
Ezra tilted his head just slightly. "I was sent to retrieve something called the Aurora. I was given no more and no less information than that." He smirked. "Perhaps you could of supplied instructions and manual assistance. It is amazing enough that I was able to decipher how to operate the dirigible enough to get it this far!"
Coal's gray eye shifted to take in the young gambler. "Indeed? And just how did you do that?" he wondered.
Ezra rubbed his chin with one elegant finger and thumb. "Talent." he admitted.
"Talent?" General Coal repeated. Again his eye shifted to take in the two silent men standing behind the mother and son. "Very well. I will send a crew over immediately to take the Aurora in hand." He noted the slightest of shift as the two newcomers almost glanced at one another. He almost smiled. "Come, I invite you to join myself and our lord, the Count Gregory, on the Prometheus to discus this further."
"Yes, of course." Maude Standish gathered her skirts and started for the waiting lift. She paused half way to cast a look back at the two agents. "Are you coming?" she demanded. "Or shall I get the door myself?!"
It took every ounce of strength Chris Larabee had not to blow his cover right then and there.
It was Ezra Standish who came to the rescue, stepping to his mother's side and saying "Do not worry yourself with the help, mother. He may be slow witted, but he knows his place. I will see to it that he is replaced upon our return with more... adequate assistance."
"Be sure and do that." Maude huffed. "Even if he was the best of men, I do not care much for the way that one looks." She turned to the General. "Wouldn't you say, General Coal, that that man has a shifty glint to his eyes?"
Coal cast a dark look at the men, before offering his arm to the woman and leading her to the lift basket. "I have no opinion to offer you at this time." was his not so simple answer. He held off adding that his opinion had long ago formed. He knew a fighter when he saw one. And fighters were not men in waiting.
Chris knew he was being scrutinized. Damn, he hated play acting. He wasn't any good at it. But, keeping in mind that, if Buck was alive, he was very possibly in the belly of that damn monster overhead, Chris did his very best to play the role. Dropping his eyes, he stepped pass the Standishs and Coal, opening the gate.
"Well." Maude threw him a glare at she stepped into the lift. "That is marginally better. Perhaps he can be taught... but not on my time." She took Coal's arm again as he stepped in beside her. "Really, for all the manners and skills we bestow on the lower class, you would think that they would pay us, rather than the other way around."
The General politely nodded, but he had stopped listening to the woman's drabble some time back Nothing she had to say was of any of his concern.
Particularly with Captain Chris Larabee stepping up onto his ship.
-----
J.D. rolled across the floor, just barely missing Margurita's spike heals as she kicked at him.
"Hold still, you little rodent. One good whack an' it'll be all over." she promised with a laugh. She leaped after him, slamming each heal down with such force sparks flew, leaving behind a white mark on the steel floor.
The young inventor slammed into the wall with a grunt.
Thinking he had no where to go, Margurita, giggling gleefully, started forward for one last strike.
With a grunt, Buck twisted about, watching the fight. Seeing the boy's predicament, he reached out, straining against the chain he still hung from by one arm. But, stretched as far as his banged up body could, he still fell short, his outstretched finger tips just barely grazing his tormentor's shoulder.
Sensing more than feeling his touch, Margurita spun about to face him. For a breath she just gazed down at the fingers. Then she blew gently on his fingers. "Just a hair's breath from your revenge... yet never so far away. Must be simple agony for you." she observed. Just for fun, she kicked back, delighting almost as much in the painful grunt as the back of her boot sunk into her newest victim's belly as in the rage filled look of the man before her. She should of thought of torturing the boy earlier. Would of been so much fun...
The normally gentle man snarled through clenched teeth "Get the hell away from him!" His soft blue eyes had turned hard with cold, steely rage. He stretched even further, gritting his teeth as he felt his shoulder slowly pull apart, ignoring the tickle of blood running down his wrist from under the bracelet cutting into his skin.
She leaned back just enough that, again, his fingers just grazed her skin. "Oooooh." she cooed. "You have such a wonderful natural big brother instinct that is just so adorable. I just can't wait to see your expression when I'm scraping his brain guck from the sole of my boot." she admitted, before turning to find her victim again.
But J.D. was no longer laying on the floor, helpless.
He was standing, back braced against the wall, foot coming up to settle against her flat stomach.
Surprised by this aggressive change, Margurita paused, her eyes widening slightly.
Her lack of response was just long enough.
J.D. kicked out, pushing her back and away from him.
With a startled cry, she stumbled back. Though off balance, her need to kill him doubled, and she swung her knife wielding hand about wildly, slashing at J.D.'s throat.
"Ah!" J.d. cried, his hands instantly coming up to clutch the cut across the very tip of his chin.
"That ain't nothin', boy!" Margurita promised. Taking a good grip on the knife, she lunged for him.
But her head was yanked back, jerking her off her feet.
"I said!" Buck snarled again, his free hand securely wrapped around a hand full of red hair. "Get! The! Hell! Away! From! Him!"
The knife swung up and back, toward the trapped man.
"No!" J.D. cried, He jumped forward, landing on top of the woman, and grabbing at her wrist.
"You stupid little pup." the woman growled, jerking her surprisingly strong body about. Though she couldn't get a good swing with the little brat attached to her wrist and the ass yanking on her hair, she did have other tricks.
Viciously, she slammed her knee up, smashing against J.D.'s crotch.
With a gasping cry, J.D. doubled up and rolled off.
Once again her knife wielding hand was free. Thinking the boy was out of the picture for a moment, Margurita turned her attention to her hated Buck.
Buck cried out as the knife sunk hilt deep into his thigh. But his fingers tightened around her hair. Nearly blinded by pain and exhaustion, he knew only one thing: if he let go, she would kill the boy... and he'd be damn if he was gonna let that happen.
With a sick sound relished only by the rancid mind of the lady, the knife was yanked free.
"Let go, damn you!" Margurita growled.
This time the knife cut into Buck's arm. But she was the one who cried out as his reaction was to yank even harder on her hair.
With an inhuman snarl, she whipped the knife about and, using the sharp blade on herself, she cut through her own hair.
Dropping to the floor, she quickly rolled about, then flipped forward and onto her feet. Spinning about, she glared at her captive. "You son of a bitch. You look what you did to my hair!" she roared, running her free hand through her chopped hair. "I'm gonna skin you alive. Oh, yea, you'll be alive the whole time. I want you to know what the boy's goin' through as I give him the same treatment right where you can get a good look." she promised. She took a step toward him.
J.D. suddenly rose up in front of her. He pressed a tube to her chest and hit the back of it.
Lady Margurita stopped cold. For a breath, she looked at him as if confused and seeing him for the first time. Then her eyes widened in shock. Licking her lips, she smiled at the boy. "I'll be damned..." she whispered in admiration.
"I don't doubt it." J.D. whispered back.
The knife fell from numb fingers and she reached up to run a finger around the end of the small, steel bolt perturding from her heart. "Now that has potential." she admitted, before falling to the floor.
J.D. watched as her bright, cruel eyes blinked once, then never moved again. For a long moment he stared at those eyes, afraid to move, afraid not to move, afraid that he was wrong and that she was still alive... afraid that she couldn't be killed.
Then a hand dropped onto his shoulder.
With a startled cry, J.D. spun about and jumped back. Stumbling over the woman's body, he fell back, falling to the floor. With wide, frighten eyes, he stared up at the captive.
Buck smiled weekly. "So... we were talkin' 'bout good guys an' bad guys..."
----------
CHAPTER: Five
AUTHOR: The Chronicler
UNIVERSE: M7 Aurora Adventures
RATING: PG-13
ARCHIVE: Yes
FEEDBACK: Pretty Please!
EMAIL: chroniclerofknucklesyahoo.com
When Adventures Begin...
By The Chronicler
Chapter Five
A loud clang brought Buck out of the haze that his mind had been spending most of its time in of late. Forcing his eyes to focus, he peered through the shadows of his cell.
A small figure was crouched before the door, messing with the lock.
"Who..." Buck grumbled.
J.D.'s head snapped up, his bright eyes piercing through the shadows.
"Kid?" Buck shook his head. "You shouldn't be here. You'll get into..."
"Trouble?" With a final thrust, the boy somehow punched the innards of the lock out and the door swung open. "Little too late for that." He hurried into the cell, but stopped just out of reach of the prisoner. His bright eyes narrowed as he stared up at him.
"What are you doing?" Buck asked softly, confused.
"I need to ask you something." J.D. bit his lip.
"You can ask, son. It's alright." assured the prisoner.
J.D. hesitated, but, then, as if coming to a conclusion, nodded once. "How... how do I know you're the good guy?"
Buck's eyes narrowed. "What? Good guy?" He tried to shrug, but his restraints and wounds pulled, sending streaks of pain through his shoulders and chest. He dropped his face to hide his gasp.
"How do I know you're a good guy?" J.D. repeated. "I've been making a lot of mistakes lately. I don't want to make any more."
With a half smile, the best he could muster, Buck raised his eyes again to look at the boy. "I never said I was a good man, John. I drink far too much, play every chance I get, chase women like there's no tomorrow... But the people I work for, the United States, our President, the Secret Service... these are good people."
J.D. frowned. "All I have is your word. Coal told me he was a good man." He shook his head.
It was then Buck caught a glimpse of something. "Your face... Who hit you?" Ignoring his own pain, he jerked on his chains. "Who hit you? Was it that bitch? Did she find you?" he demanded.
The boy looked up at him again. "I can't let you go... not until I know... not until..."
Buck huffed. "Look at me, kid. I'm a man. All I can do is try to be the best that I can be... and hope that it is enough to be considered good."
J.D. stared at him for what seemed a long moment. Then he reached up with a long tube-like instrument and pressed it to the lock of his left manacle. Hitting the back of the tube sent a small sharp pole shooting through the lock, destroying it.
The sudden release of pressure was as painful as the pull. With a soft cry, Buck fell forward, hanging from his right arm.
J.D. started to move to the right shackled when he was suddenly grabbed and thrown back against the bars.
The tube shaped tool dropped at Buck's feet.
Margurita shook a finger at her prisoner. "Now, now. You stay right there. The little baby boy and I have business." Her last word was snarled as she slowly turned to her new victim.
Sliding his back up the bars, J.D. slowly stood. "Don't you ever knock?" he growled.
The woman laughed. "My, my, baby has a growl. Wonder if he has a bite to back it up."
"J.D., get out of here!" Buck yelled. "Run!"
"J.D.! Run!" she mimicked. She flashed a long dagger. "Run! Run!" Margurita laughed. Then suddenly lunged at the boy.
-----
Maude Standish felt her knees wobble. But when her son reached out to offer support, she ripped her arm out of his grasp. She didn't even waste the effort to glare at him.
Ezra barely hesitated. Wasn't like, after the last hour or so, he wasn't used to it. "Steady yourself, mother. Remember? Presence is everything." he reminded her of what she, herself, had often told him when going into a con.
Above them, casting a dark and forbidding shadow over the river boat casino, was the Prometheus. The air ship had anchored itself to either side of the river boat. The cannons that poked from the belly of the huge air beast swiveled about as if testing their movement, though they seemed to have an odd effect on those below, on the deck of the River Lady.
"Like eyes of a paintin' in an ol' haunted house on some grayin' ol' cemetery hill." one of Maude's ladies in waiting had described them in hush tones. "They always seems to be a followin' me 'bout." Within the next breath, she had begged her mistress to be excused for the day, claiming to have fallen ill.
"What are they doing?" Josiah asked in a hushed tone. He and Chris were standing just behind the mother and son on the deck to the bridge of the River Lady. They had taken the place of the Standishs' usual standing men.
"Making a presence." Maude answered in the same hushed tones. "Now, be silent and play your part. They come."
A port opened on the center of the belly of the beast and an 8' by 8' black steel basket started its decent.
"That'll be the greeters." Ezra explained softly, watching the cage. "The advance guard. Probably General Coal. Be careful. If anyone will see through you it will be the General."
Maude smiled. "And then you will be dead."
Ezra glanced at her sharply, but it was Chris's cold, hard voice that replied "You think your fate will be any different, lady? In case you hadn't noticed, I'm standin' behind you."
The woman raised her head a little higher and her back stiffened only slightly. She was too good at this to allow a cowboy' faze her.... much.
The basket settled on the deck only a few yards from the four. Two black clad men pushed open the steel gate so that a third could step out.
"General Coal, how lovely it is to see you again." Maude greeted, starting forward, her arms open in welcome.
The man's one eye scanned the woman with disinterest, then shifted to take in the three men with her. The gray eye narrowed as it took in Josiah and Chris. "Mrs. Standish." he finally spoke, his gaze returning to her. "I see that you were a success. That you have retrieved the Aurora."
She smiled her best. "Yes. It was my son's doing. He is master of his craft, indeed." She turned to smile her praise at the son she had been ignoring up to now.
"Indeed." The General was unimpressed. Again, he eyed the two strangers.
"Umm... General... " Maude called attention back to herself. "As lovely as it is to see you again... I was' expecting the Count...?"
"Our lord, the Count Gregory, has chosen to remain in his quarters aboard the Prometheus." The General continued to watch the strangers. His eyes narrowed. "Why is the Aurora still in the air?" he asked.
Ezra tilted his head just slightly. "I was sent to retrieve something called the Aurora. I was given no more and no less information than that." He smirked. "Perhaps you could of supplied instructions and manual assistance. It is amazing enough that I was able to decipher how to operate the dirigible enough to get it this far!"
Coal's gray eye shifted to take in the young gambler. "Indeed? And just how did you do that?" he wondered.
Ezra rubbed his chin with one elegant finger and thumb. "Talent." he admitted.
"Talent?" General Coal repeated. Again his eye shifted to take in the two silent men standing behind the mother and son. "Very well. I will send a crew over immediately to take the Aurora in hand." He noted the slightest of shift as the two newcomers almost glanced at one another. He almost smiled. "Come, I invite you to join myself and our lord, the Count Gregory, on the Prometheus to discus this further."
"Yes, of course." Maude Standish gathered her skirts and started for the waiting lift. She paused half way to cast a look back at the two agents. "Are you coming?" she demanded. "Or shall I get the door myself?!"
It took every ounce of strength Chris Larabee had not to blow his cover right then and there.
It was Ezra Standish who came to the rescue, stepping to his mother's side and saying "Do not worry yourself with the help, mother. He may be slow witted, but he knows his place. I will see to it that he is replaced upon our return with more... adequate assistance."
"Be sure and do that." Maude huffed. "Even if he was the best of men, I do not care much for the way that one looks." She turned to the General. "Wouldn't you say, General Coal, that that man has a shifty glint to his eyes?"
Coal cast a dark look at the men, before offering his arm to the woman and leading her to the lift basket. "I have no opinion to offer you at this time." was his not so simple answer. He held off adding that his opinion had long ago formed. He knew a fighter when he saw one. And fighters were not men in waiting.
Chris knew he was being scrutinized. Damn, he hated play acting. He wasn't any good at it. But, keeping in mind that, if Buck was alive, he was very possibly in the belly of that damn monster overhead, Chris did his very best to play the role. Dropping his eyes, he stepped pass the Standishs and Coal, opening the gate.
"Well." Maude threw him a glare at she stepped into the lift. "That is marginally better. Perhaps he can be taught... but not on my time." She took Coal's arm again as he stepped in beside her. "Really, for all the manners and skills we bestow on the lower class, you would think that they would pay us, rather than the other way around."
The General politely nodded, but he had stopped listening to the woman's drabble some time back Nothing she had to say was of any of his concern.
Particularly with Captain Chris Larabee stepping up onto his ship.
-----
J.D. rolled across the floor, just barely missing Margurita's spike heals as she kicked at him.
"Hold still, you little rodent. One good whack an' it'll be all over." she promised with a laugh. She leaped after him, slamming each heal down with such force sparks flew, leaving behind a white mark on the steel floor.
The young inventor slammed into the wall with a grunt.
Thinking he had no where to go, Margurita, giggling gleefully, started forward for one last strike.
With a grunt, Buck twisted about, watching the fight. Seeing the boy's predicament, he reached out, straining against the chain he still hung from by one arm. But, stretched as far as his banged up body could, he still fell short, his outstretched finger tips just barely grazing his tormentor's shoulder.
Sensing more than feeling his touch, Margurita spun about to face him. For a breath she just gazed down at the fingers. Then she blew gently on his fingers. "Just a hair's breath from your revenge... yet never so far away. Must be simple agony for you." she observed. Just for fun, she kicked back, delighting almost as much in the painful grunt as the back of her boot sunk into her newest victim's belly as in the rage filled look of the man before her. She should of thought of torturing the boy earlier. Would of been so much fun...
The normally gentle man snarled through clenched teeth "Get the hell away from him!" His soft blue eyes had turned hard with cold, steely rage. He stretched even further, gritting his teeth as he felt his shoulder slowly pull apart, ignoring the tickle of blood running down his wrist from under the bracelet cutting into his skin.
She leaned back just enough that, again, his fingers just grazed her skin. "Oooooh." she cooed. "You have such a wonderful natural big brother instinct that is just so adorable. I just can't wait to see your expression when I'm scraping his brain guck from the sole of my boot." she admitted, before turning to find her victim again.
But J.D. was no longer laying on the floor, helpless.
He was standing, back braced against the wall, foot coming up to settle against her flat stomach.
Surprised by this aggressive change, Margurita paused, her eyes widening slightly.
Her lack of response was just long enough.
J.D. kicked out, pushing her back and away from him.
With a startled cry, she stumbled back. Though off balance, her need to kill him doubled, and she swung her knife wielding hand about wildly, slashing at J.D.'s throat.
"Ah!" J.d. cried, his hands instantly coming up to clutch the cut across the very tip of his chin.
"That ain't nothin', boy!" Margurita promised. Taking a good grip on the knife, she lunged for him.
But her head was yanked back, jerking her off her feet.
"I said!" Buck snarled again, his free hand securely wrapped around a hand full of red hair. "Get! The! Hell! Away! From! Him!"
The knife swung up and back, toward the trapped man.
"No!" J.D. cried, He jumped forward, landing on top of the woman, and grabbing at her wrist.
"You stupid little pup." the woman growled, jerking her surprisingly strong body about. Though she couldn't get a good swing with the little brat attached to her wrist and the ass yanking on her hair, she did have other tricks.
Viciously, she slammed her knee up, smashing against J.D.'s crotch.
With a gasping cry, J.D. doubled up and rolled off.
Once again her knife wielding hand was free. Thinking the boy was out of the picture for a moment, Margurita turned her attention to her hated Buck.
Buck cried out as the knife sunk hilt deep into his thigh. But his fingers tightened around her hair. Nearly blinded by pain and exhaustion, he knew only one thing: if he let go, she would kill the boy... and he'd be damn if he was gonna let that happen.
With a sick sound relished only by the rancid mind of the lady, the knife was yanked free.
"Let go, damn you!" Margurita growled.
This time the knife cut into Buck's arm. But she was the one who cried out as his reaction was to yank even harder on her hair.
With an inhuman snarl, she whipped the knife about and, using the sharp blade on herself, she cut through her own hair.
Dropping to the floor, she quickly rolled about, then flipped forward and onto her feet. Spinning about, she glared at her captive. "You son of a bitch. You look what you did to my hair!" she roared, running her free hand through her chopped hair. "I'm gonna skin you alive. Oh, yea, you'll be alive the whole time. I want you to know what the boy's goin' through as I give him the same treatment right where you can get a good look." she promised. She took a step toward him.
J.D. suddenly rose up in front of her. He pressed a tube to her chest and hit the back of it.
Lady Margurita stopped cold. For a breath, she looked at him as if confused and seeing him for the first time. Then her eyes widened in shock. Licking her lips, she smiled at the boy. "I'll be damned..." she whispered in admiration.
"I don't doubt it." J.D. whispered back.
The knife fell from numb fingers and she reached up to run a finger around the end of the small, steel bolt perturding from her heart. "Now that has potential." she admitted, before falling to the floor.
J.D. watched as her bright, cruel eyes blinked once, then never moved again. For a long moment he stared at those eyes, afraid to move, afraid not to move, afraid that he was wrong and that she was still alive... afraid that she couldn't be killed.
Then a hand dropped onto his shoulder.
With a startled cry, J.D. spun about and jumped back. Stumbling over the woman's body, he fell back, falling to the floor. With wide, frighten eyes, he stared up at the captive.
Buck smiled weekly. "So... we were talkin' 'bout good guys an' bad guys..."
----------
