Author's Note: Grr...instead of finishing up the Generation Lexx segmentin three chapters like I intended, seems like I gotta do it in four. Oops!
With Stan being the worrisome person he was, he went straight for the hotel they were instructed to wait at, while Xev aimlessly wandered the streets, simply admiring her surroundings. Since growing up in a box meant completely missing out on any kind of childhood at all, she was highly intrigued by the concept of nothing but children and adolescents living in prosperity, but it didn't fail to give her bad vibes either.
She scoffed and frowned, as a group of male teenagers hollered and whistled at her, and purposely bumped into her in an attempt to grope her behind. Perhaps in the old days she may have flirted back, but now the action only insulted her, and her cluster lizard side made that evident as she screeched loud enough to send the entire group barreling down the sidewalk at high speed. Manners seemed to be optional on this planet, since even the store owners treated her better than Vlad did, and that certainly wasn't saying much, since Xev didn't think she and Vlad could possibly hate each other more. No one seemed to want her around, and she knew Stan's luck couldn't be any better, since he didn't even like kids.
The streets were as crowded as they could possibly be with children, but for some reason, they didn't seem as happy as they had when they had first arrived. In fact, she noticed that they all seemed to be maintaining an act. The children running and playing with balloons kept giving her furtive glances, and the store workers all seemed to be less than jovial in both expression and body language. They were completely different from the children aboard the Lexx, and no matter how much chocolate these planet inhabitants could eat, even the highest sugar rush couldn't hide the dark moods here.
She saw a little boy sitting on a stoop, with his head in his lap, and his hands covering his head. There was a torn up ragdoll next to him, and he seemed to be injured, since his knees were scraped and his right elbow seemed to be bloody. She slowly knelt down and said, "What happened?"
He looked up at her, and examined her face, through his own teary eyes. She smiled sympathetically and waited patiently for him to decide whether or not he wanted to talk to her. "You're really big for a girl," he said. "Do you live here?"
Xev laughed softly. "No, I'm not from here," she said. "I'm Xev. Are you...all right?"
"Have you seen my sister?" he asked, wiping his nose on his arm.
She ignored the slightly disgusting gesture, since he seemed to be barely seven years old. It wasn't that she didn't like their new friends on Lexx, but this child seemed better behaved than they did. "What does she look like?" Xev asked.
"She's got blue hair and eyes, and her name is Fala," he said, standing up, and picking up the doll. "This is hers,"
Xev looked around, to see that there were plenty of kids who fit his sister's description. "I don't know...there are a lot of people with blue hair," she said sadly.
"Please help me find her," he said, his bottom lip starting to tremble.
Xev couldn't understand why in the world Stan hated kids. She felt sorry for this boy, that was true, but she couldn't help thinking that he was adorable, with his odd combination of bright red hair, and blue eyes, probably just like his sister's. "Sure," she said, holding out her hand. "What's your name?"
He sniffed, and took her hand. "Raq," he said.
"Well, Raq," she said. "Let's get started,"
She began walking with him, and soon realized that she'd have to slow her pace, since his legs were so small. "Xev?" he asked. "Can I really trust you?"
This boy's obvious fear of something worried her. "Of course you can," she said.
"Good," said Raq. " 'Cause my sister's really gonna like you,"
Before Xev could actually pull her hand away, the boy had suddenly slipped a small metallic object out of his pocket, and jammed its sharp end into her wrist. It sent a buzzing sensation up her nerves, and in a few seconds, she collapsed onto the ground.
A faint buzzing noise annoyed Xev so badly that it awoke her , and she opened her eyes to discover that she was strapped to a table. Of all things, why was it that nine times out of ten that when she was rendered unconscious and captured, she always woke up on some sort of table, and then something bad always preceded it?
Melfus was leaning over her, and he gently placed his hand to her forehead. "Don't try to struggle," he said. "I don't believe that you could actually break your bonds, but even so, trying to escape will make me have to hurt you...I don't wanna do that,"
She immediately jerked her head away from his hand. Even though the thought that Kai was nowhere near in order to help her crossed her mind, she wasn't the least bit afraid. She'd taken out lots of slimy people like Melfus on her own, without Kai in the last three months (with Kai being dead and all, it pretty much meant fight or die), and knew that the second she got free, Melfus was going to learn very quickly what a cluster lizard was. "Sorry that we had to bring you here like this, but Raq's always been into his petty little gadgets. He just wanted to try out his latest one," said Melfus, pacing about the room.
"So his whole story about his sister was a setup," said Xev. "I should've guessed,"
"Oh no," said Melfus. "He was telling the truth. He does have a sister, but she's not missing. She's right here,"
A young girl, about sixteen years of age, stepped into the light next to Melfus, and fit the boy's description of her. She was beautiful, but like Melfus and past enemies, beautiful things were almost always evil. "Hi," she said. "I'm Fala. I'll be reversing you,"
"The only thing you're going to be reversing is your head on your shoulders, after I twist it around," Xev snapped, still trying to break free.
In any other situation, she would have laughed, since she was trying to think of what Vlad might say in such a situation. Unlike her, Vlad had the ability to frighten off the bravest person with just her icy glare and her murderous comments (then again, the bloodied knife and the fresh blood spatter on her complexion and clothing seemed to help things along). Then again, who was up on the Lexx with Kai (Xev was still having doubts as to what sort of woman Kai might prefer if he were to actually drop the dead act), and who was yet again the damsel in distress? Xev didn't think it was possible for Vlad to ever even be a damsel in distress; this was just another slap in the face for her. Vlad was a warrior, and Xev that she wasn't. She'd tried so hard, but all poor Xev ever managed to do was cause trouble for herself and her friends. She was a love slave.
Fala and Melfus were laughing. "That's no way for a little girl to talk," said Fala, hooking Xev's temples into some sort of machine that Xev couldn't see. "Sugar and spice, remember?"
"No, I don't remember!" said Xev.
"Too bad," said Melfus. "You're gonna be tough to train,"
The love slave didn't have a chance to answer, as greenish electricity surged through her body. Through all the pain of it, only one thought was present in her mind, "Well, I guess this means I can hurt them when this is over,"
In the meantime, Stan sat outside the grubby little hotel, as several little Fire-spawn raced past him, doing their very best to kick him in the rear end or spill something on him, or just plain ridicule him for being older than the planet elders. "Stupid kids!" he shouted back.
Grumbling felt good. "Stupid kids, stupid Xev and her maternal instincts, stupid Kai and his being whipped, stupid pressure suit, stupid Vlad and her not being around when I actually want her to be!"
It was entirely true. His pressure suit was beginning to chafe every sensitive area on his body (and much to his dismay, all he could think of was how the shower and the nozzle must be feeling), and in all his boredom, he was actually beginning to feel that a rousing argument with Vlad about his incompetence would occupy him. Of course, thinking of Vlad inevitably made him think of the damaged shower, and knowing that if she knew he was thinking about her (which she probably did, since he had no clue as to how far away she could hear thoughts from), his fate might be even worse than that of the shower. He fidgeted in his discomfort, and stood up, pacing impatiently. "Where is she!" he asked himself. "Stupid cluster lizard!"
"Hey! Who's a stupid cluster lizard!"
A little girl had popped up next to him all of a sudden, and had screamed in his ear (after all the screaming in his ear lately, he swore he was going to be deaf on one side). After having regained himself, he looked closer at her, and had to keep himself from fainting, as the resemblance was unmistakable. Her long blonde hair slid off her shoulders as she put her hands on her hips, and tilted her head to look at him incredulously, and her tiny pressure suit mirrored his exactly. "Oh boy..." he said. "Xev!"
"Hi Stan," the little girl said timidly. "I uh...guess we have a problem, don't we?"
Meanwhile, Kai woke up on the floor of the galley. Of all the bad times that this could have happened to him, it had to be a time when he was yet again in unfriendly territory. His dizzy spells were becoming more frequent, and this was twice as far as passing out went. The kids were gone. As he painfully righted himself, he wiped the Lexx food off the side of his face, and shook his head to get his eyes to focus properly, because now the pain that came along with it was starting to last longer each time as well. All he could do to keep from letting the pain get to him at the moment was to find the children, no matter how irksome they were; preferably without Vlad's knife embedded in any of them.
. Thankfully, the Lexx had a good echo, and he could hear at least two different voices on the bridge laughing and playing.
He unsteadily made it to the bridge and saw the two girls sitting on Quet, who was zipped up in a clear, plastic sleeping bag. "Where are the twins?" he asked hoarsely, not at all very concerned that Quet was being beat up on.
"I don't know," said Gilly, in her misleading sweet voice. "They went off to explore. Said something about looking for a lady. We would have told you, but you were sleeping,"
"What lady?" said Kai.
"A lady with pointy hair and a long buckly kinda dress. They said they saw her in one of the passageways," said Stormy, twisting Quet's hair until his forehead turned pink. "They like to make up stories. They'll be okay...can't say lots about the ship's well-being, though,"
Something along the lines of "You have to be kidding me," passed throughKai's brain, along with several curse words that he hadn't remembered until that moment. He turned and headed back down the passageway, priming his brace. "I trust you will keep track of Quet and Gilly until I return, Stormy," he said. "Should you see such a lady, I urge you all to run and find me immediately,"
"Hey, wait!" said Gilly.
"Yes?" Kai asked, turning back out of the passageway.
"Were you having a bad dream?" she asked. "You were screaming really loud. So loud we had to leave the galley 'cause you wouldn't shut up,"
Kai looked at the child blankly, and then resumed his mission to keep a few "innocents" from being flayed alive. "Perhaps I was," he said.
As expected, Spaz had retreated to a corner of the cryochamber, crying and trembling, as Vlad had her knife raised at Len. He was laughing hysterically at her, not at all seeing the danger in the present situation, as he threw what seemed to be pieces of candy at her. He darted around the controls to the cryopods and the dream box, as Vlad pursued him around the room. She must have also been the victim of one of Len's paint bombs, since there was blue paint running down the front of her dress, and small spatters were visible on her pale face.
Kai grabbed her wrist before she could bury the knife in the child's neck, and twisted the weapon out of her clenched fingers. "I will be taking that," he said, tucking her knife into his belt. "I will return it to you when there is nothing for you to destroy,"
"Remove your hand from me before I remove your hand from the wrist, assassin!" said Vlad, trying to wrench herself free from his grip, practically foaming at the mouth. "I must slaughter it!"
"No matter how worthy he may be of your various torture methods, I cannot allow you to bestow them upon him," said Kai, releasing her a bit roughly in irritation (of course he was oblivious to the irritation, just like everything else).
She glared at him through her dark eye makeup, and then looked to the child. Len just grinned and kicked her in the back of the leg. She nearly fell from the pain, and said "You disgusting mortal imperfection on the epidermis of the universe! If I cannot lacerate you, I will strangle you!"
She suddenly lunged for the child's throat, but Kai fired his brace and caught her throat in its claws, as Len ducked behind a cryopod. "Vlad," Kai said firmly, as she clutched at the weapon as to avoid having her throat slit.
Vlad remained silent and still, even though she looked livid, knowing that he had caught her in a vulnerable position. "I will release you on the condition that you go to the galley, where you will not injure the remaining nozzles. You will wait for Stanley there, or until I come for you," he said. "If you do not agree to those terms...I will find and kill you, Vlad,"
She shot him another stony glance at him, and finally begrudgingly nodded, and Kai retracted his brace. Vlad slowly backed away, not breaking her eye contact with him. She then turned to the corridor, and slowly disappeared down it saying, "I only respond to such an order because it is not my intention to die before I kill you, assassin,"
As Vlad's footsteps faded, Kai felt the slightest bit of satisfaction deep in the back his subconscious, knowing that the recovering nozzle was about to repay Vlad for her actions against it. Len gasped as Kai turned his attention to him. Kai simply stared coldly at him, and pushed his weapon back into place on his wrist, knowing what had to be done next.
"You bet we have a problem!" said Stan, pacing around the little girl. "How'd this happen to you!"
Xev could freak him out normally when she started acting more reptilian than human, but this was absolutely ridiculous. She was now a perfect imitation of herself, except she was tiny, fidgeting where she stood, and seemed to be enjoying the experience. "I dunno," she said. "Should I?"
"Uh, Xev...look at yourself," said Stan, shaking his head in his hand.
"Yeah, I know," she said. "You wouldn't...have any candy on you, would you?"
"No!" said Stan, kneeling down. "Look, Xev, focus. Think really hard, you have to know who did this to you!"
"I still want some candy," said Xev.
Stan stood up and threw up his hands in aggravation. Here he was, without Kai, and Xev was suddenly five years old, jonesing for sugar. He sighed, and took the squawker off his belt, grabbing Xev as she tried to skip off in the direction of a balloon vendor. "Kai?" he asked shortly, speaking into the squawker. "Are you there? Come in!"
His message had been intercepted, however Kai wasn't the person on the other end. "You are still alive. It disappoints me,"
Stan sighed, wondering how in the world she even got a squawker of her own, since she wasn't even technically part of the crew. "Vlad," said Stan. "Where did ya get the squawker from?"
"The assassin has stolen something from me, and in turn I have stolen something from him. I have found it on the floor of your galley. I have no intention of returning it until he has returned to me what he has taken," said Vlad.
"Okay, whatever," said Stan, shaking his head as Xev cluster-lizard rolled back and forth on the sidewalk, obviously delighted. "Vlad, I need ya to go get Kai now. I really need to talk to him,"
Stan could practically hear the indifferent facial expression in her voice. "I know...I should do as you ask. However...I have no intention of helping you. I am not your friend, and I am not your crewmember. Farewell,"
The dead air on the other end of the squawker pretty much signified that getting ahold of Kai anytime soon was out of the question. He clicked the machine off sharply, as he shouted, "Stupid Vlad took the stupid squawker! Now what are we supposed ta do!"
Xev stopped playing her imaginary little games and looked up at him. "We'll get through it, Stan!" she said.
Stan rolled his eyes. "Come on, let's go find that Melfus guy!" he said, grabbing Xev's hand, dragging her off in the direction of the city entrance.
"But I don't wanna!" said Xev. "I wanna go play some more!"
"Too bad!" said Stan. "I dunno what it was, but this can't stick!"
"No!" said Xev.
She dug her heel into the back of his leg, making him release his grip from her, and cluster-lizard rolled down the street in the opposite direction of where he intended to go. "Great," he said, rubbing the sore spot her foot had left. " Just perfect,"