Chapter 48

[Woo! Finally on to new chapters.]

Lilly grabbed a metal plate from the robot and held it like a shield. She had never held a shield before, and there weren't any handles or straps or anything, so it was an awkward grip, but she didn't need it to work for long.

And there was a metal bar, a small pole, under the plate. It was probably to attach the outside piece to the inside one. Lilly grabbed that with one hand. She grabbed the side of the plate with the other hand, ignoring the way it dug into her palm. Then she tiptoed back the way she'd come.

She opened the door to the controls a crack. Luckily, this nice fancy ship didn't creak. Then she flung the metal at Aqua's side. It was harder to do than to say. The metal was heavy. She'd needed two hands to carry it. And it didn't exactly have an easy way to be thrown. Lilly yelled from the effort.

Aqua turned around. Right in time for the plate to . . . miss her? Lilly wasn't entirely sure what happened, but she must have missed, because Aqua wasn't hurt, and the plate hit the controls behind her instead. It drove a huge wedge into them. The metal of the control panels ripped slightly, wires came out, and sparks flew.

"Oh," Aqua said, glancing briefly back at the damage. "I can't believe you've done this."

Neither could Lilly. Then something began to flicker inside the room, bits of images, until the Doctor and Pride were in the room, with the two people Pride had been with.

Pride himself was pale, and squatted closer to the ground, putting a hand on it.

"Pride?" the man with him questioned.

(Actually, as he a man? He looked a little young.)

"He doesn't teleport well," the Doctor said. She dropped down and seemed to be giving Pride instructions.

"Who are you?" the man asked.

"I'm the Doctor."

"No way." The Doctor looked at him. "Pride's been talking about you. He's very fond of you, you know? Name's Greed, by the way."

"Oh, you're one of the his siblings," the Doctor said.

"He has siblings?" Aqua asked, bringing attention to herself. She sounded less than happy. "Oh what a pleasure. Wonder if you're all like him."

"Hey don't lump me with him," Greed said. "I disowned myself."

"That's not how it works," Pride said, turning to glare at him.

Greed ignored him. "We've been getting along better now, but let's not over do it."

Pride meanwhile, had apparently made the mistake of turning too fast. He threw up.

"Oh," Greed said, the mess just missing his shoes.

"Ew, all over my spaceship," Aqua said.

"You deserve it," Pride gasped.

"Pride?" Greed asked.

"I'll be fine." Pride tried to wave him off. "Just, give me a moment."

Well, he wanted to be left alone, and it wasn't really something Lilly wanted to focus on. "Doctor, Aqua says she knows you."

"I know her too," the woman who'd come with Pride said. "I hired her to work on security. She created an electrical current that could kill the average member of our species if they touched the doorknobs."

Aqua shrugged. "You can't deny, it was secure."

"She took control of ice on a frozen planet and used it to kill a town to get back at her bad boss," the Doctor explained. "We were with the survivors trying to figure out what was going on."

"Yes, you seem terrible at stopping me." Aqua smiled and tilted her head. "Congratulations, the only person who won this game was Lilly, and she wasn't even playing."

"Game?" the Doctor said, trembling a little. Oh, she was mad.

Aqua was either intentionally ignoring it, or emotionally blind. Even Pride had noticed, and he was trying to catch his breath.

"Yes, a game," Aqua answered. "It's a maze, or didn't you notice?"

The Doctor grabbed something out of her fanny pack and flung it at Aqua. Once again, despite clearly being aimed at Aqua's head, it missed. And this time, Lilly was able to watch closely. She saw Aqua's image sort of ripple, like the Doctor had just thrown a stone into her reflection.

Aqua laughed. "You didn't think I was stupid enough to be here in person, did you? No, I'm controlling remotely. And that means, I can remotely control the self-destruct." There was the sound of an alarm blaring, a red light flashed in and out, and multiple parts of the ship trembled, flames coming out of the controls. "Good bye."

"But I won the game," Lilly tried desperately. Maybe she could get them out of this.

"Oh, you're right," Aqua said. "Better get you to the nearest safe location then."

Then Lilly was in a different ship, and none of the others were with her.

[This entire thing has been incredibly meme-able, so Aqua might as well quote a vine.]