Team Work in Progress

Kento pushed a horrified Shun behind him. The Ronin's expression was hard while he prepared himself for the blade of the pilot. There was a muffled grunt of pain as metal encased itself in flesh followed shortly by a screech of metal on metal.

"What?" Kento spun around to catch Shun, who was clasping his wounded shoulder. Wufei brushed past hardrock, blocking a second attempted blow at the Ronin's back from an as yet indiscernible attacker. While the pilot struggled with the "security system" Andromeda remembered having being mentioned, both the Ronin and the Knight realized how they could help to beat it. It was invisible, except for Shun's blood on one of it's appendages.

However, it only took a moment for the pilot to hack the thing in several pieces, making any intervention from the others pointless. Therefore, since he was currently unneeded, Shun tore some of his green shirt to bandage his own wound, while Kento still stood mute and unmoving.

Once downed, what was left of the thing could be seen plainly. It was decidedly a robot of some sort, appearing somewhat like a spider with about eight steel "legs" attached to a black, rather spherical body. Well, they used to be attached, anyway.

Wufei's hiss of pain brought Hardrock back to reality in time to catch the pilot, who had been swatted away by a second robot. Shun took the offensive this time, ignoring his hurt shoulder and used one of the severed legs of the first creature to impale the second. Chang was already on his feet before the creature hit the ground, but now he was the one watching, mildly impressed.

"Well, you aren't completely useless. Come on, we best get moving." He called rather sourly, taking off down the hall. Kento rolled up his sleeve menacingly and was about to reply when another pair of steel spiders were heard behind him. Andromeda, taking this as a cue to leave, hauled the Ronin off as best he could without hurting himself further.

"Just move. The sooner we get there, the sooner it's over, the sooner we never have to see him again." The Knight reasoned in his friend's ear as he jogged the two of them down the corridor.

"He still. . ."

"Please, my shoulder hurts, my head hurts, that noise is irritating, his personality is irritating, and in short, I'm in a bad mood! I am very rarely in a bad mood! Do not make me take it out on a friend." Andromeda cut Kento's indignant rant off before it could even be fully formed in Hardrock's thick head.

"Yipe." Kento summed intelligently, allowing himself to be lead while wondering at the expression on his gentle friend's face. It was not unlike the one that Cye wore when mad. And when Torrent's bearer was angry, it was a very unsettling, and occasionally dangerous, thing indeed. He imagined it was no different with Andromeda, and therefore thought it wiser to leave that theory untested.

The three continued down the hall at a good clip, listening to the screeching that seemed to be steadily getting closer, though from precisely which direction could be a matter of some contention.

"Our former Queen Relena may not be my favorite person, but she is necessary." Wufei finally broke the relative silence they had fallen into, in a vain attempt to drown out the escalating racket. "From what I understand of the layout, we're going the right way for the terminal we need to use, though those things might be the least of our problems."

"Oh, and how do you figure that?" Kento asked rather testily. He was frustrated, and definitely didn't want to take it out on Shun, so Chang was making a lovely target of himself. However, Hardrock decided it best to retire his wit, even as lacking as it was, when he caught Andromeda's eye roll.

"We have to get through the maze of corridors that were built in to protect against attack. And, the structure itself has a few security measures, as well." He answered cryptically. "We have to travel the furthest from where we began, compared to the rest, so we'll be the last ones to get where we're going. That means, the place itself will be dead set against us." The pilot finished. Shun was studying him carefully, trying to decide how much was paranoia and how much was cause for legitimate concern. Kento caught the Knight's arm and shook his head. Shun's eyes widened, but he understood the silent message that Wufei was perfectly sane. Hardrock remembered too well Dais' illusion of living walls; he wouldn't be surprised if the technology that meddled in magic strong enough to create Megaera would be affected by the power it set loose.

"So, a space station we are currently on is out to get us, we have to cover more ground in less time if this is going to work, and we still don't know for sure what we're up against or what to do for a plan B if this doesn't work for any of the thousand and one ways that this half-baked idea could have gone wrong in the first place. How did I do for the summary of the situation?" Andromeda enunciated slowly, feeling out the words while they rolled off his tongue.

"That seems to cover everything. So what are we waiting for?" Kento replied, a hard edge creeping into his voice.

"Nothing. If you want to move faster, just remember you'll have that much less time to react to trouble." Chang answered without turning around, but increasing his pace slightly, nonetheless. His voice was even, but his dark eyes were preoccupied scanning the passage ahead. His right hand often rested on or near the hilt of his sword, the only thing that proved how unnerved he truly was. Shun noticed the anxious fingers caressing the scabbard and guard, and realized for the first time that the boy before him was just like his friends; lonely, brave, and with far too much responsibility. Kento noticed nothing, since he was too eager for a fight to work off his nerves.

"Well, then, what ARE we waiting for? The sooner we get there, the sooner we don't have to worry about it anymore. So I say we get there now!" Hardrock bellowed. Andromeda shook his head sadly, resisting the urge to plunge his face into his hand. Altron's pilot said nothing, but began to trot down the hall. Chang didn't know how fast the other two could move, and he wanted to pace himself. Not to mention, he was really uncomfortable with the idea of running headfirst into the clutches of whatever-it-was that could be lurking about, and he didn't know why. His own hesitation and care were starting to wear on his nerves. He was about ready to curse himself as a weakling or coward when his fears were confirmed and he was able to say nothing.

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I'm not officially back to work on this fic, yet. It's on my to-do list, it will be finished, just not anytime soon. Sorry. But, I thought I'd let you know I'm still alive. And kind of writing. I'm hoping the school load won't be too much to bear and I'll be able to get fun done as well as work. We shall see.