"Well, this is a fine mess you've gotten us into."
Coco made a face that fell somewhere between annoyance and ambivalence at the unwanted remark, fixing it squarely on the at Nina who sat across from on the other side of bridge. The expression on the pallid girl's face told Coco Bandicoot that she likely felt much the same, although it came with no small amount of what she assumed to be indignation.
While Coco would have ordinarily felt compelled to reply with an insult or some other quip, probably regarding Nina's buck teeth, at the moment she decided it was more worth her time to ignore the comment, occupied as she was with fiddling with the innards of a recently malfunctioned control panel that spat out sparks whenever she attempted to coerce back into some semblance of functionality.
Nina was similarly tied up in her own activity. In that she was quite literally tied up with a length of chain Coco found lying around. Coco wished she would add being silent on top of that, but so far Nina had yet to comply on that front, and there was no duct tape around to remedy that problem. As such, Coco had to hear every insult and jibe thrown her way as acting captain of the wayward airship.
With a grumble, Coco went back to repairing the damaged panel, pulling herself into it up to her waist . To her increasing frustration, no thanks to Nina, the machine was just like most inventions by the Cortex family; needlessly complicated and liable to shock a careless Bandicoot, as the various scorch marks on Coco's furred hands could attest to.
Nina made a harrumph at being ignored, and Coco overheard the sound of whirring electronics, knowing it to be yet another attempt on Nina's part to free her mechanical gauntlets, each more than capable of tearing their way through most methods of confinement and subsequently throttling Coco. Thus, the chains. Nina was going nowhere anytime soon, and Coco took a perverse sense of satisfaction as she continued to work.
The moment did not last as her wrist brushed against something sensitive that took a severe dislike towards her meddling, more than likely a loose wire, an arc of electricity flared in front of her eyes. Were it not for the tinted goggles she had taken to wearing, Coco would have been blinded by the sudden flash. Her hand fared less well as the acrid smell of burnt fur permeated the cramped interior. Coco gripped her wrist, hissing through her teeth in pain. Seconds later it became the least of her worries as the scent of smoke followed, and she hurried to pull herself out.
"What are you doing you idiot?!" Nina shouted in alarm, once again going ignored as Coco rushed for a fire extinguisher. From there she doused the control panel in a thick layer of foam, sweeping back and forth until the flames were completely doused, and the control panel lay hidden somewhere beneath a blanket of white.
Once done, Coco breathed a sigh that was a combination of relief and exasperation.
"Nice going Wumpa Brain," Nina jeered. "Keep going and you might nreak the one thing able to get us home even more."
"Will you can it already!" Coco barked, already well past her limit in frustration. She did not need to be provoked.
Nina continued to press the issue however.
"Why should I? It's not I'm the one that sent us careening off course and away from my uncle's lab."
"I'm not the one who trashed the steering with her freaky metal mitts!" Coco retorted, gesturing with both arms towards the conspicuously large, roughly fist shaped set of dents hammered into various sections of the airships control mechanisms, many of which were still visible even after being covered in copious amounts of foam, all a consequence from Nina's attempts to beat Coco into the flooring just ten minutes ago. As if to accentuate her point, the controls fizzled pitifully.
Nina flicked her eyes to the ruined contraption. "Not my fault you dodged and put me in this mess. If you'd just bee a good little mutant and let me throttle you there would've been no issue."
Coco blinked, her brain performing the equivalent of a blue screen as it attempted to wrap around the insanely flawed logic it had been presented with. What made it even more vexing was that Coco knew beyond any doubt that Nina actually believed her own words.
Eventually Coco decided to preserve what sanity she had remaining and give up on trying to make her arch-nemeses see logic, throwing her hands in defeat as she stomped toward the viewport at the front of the bridge. Aside from the many cracks in the tempered glass, which were also a product of their battle, Coco held no fear that it would break as she leaned against it, peering as far to the left as possible.
There sat North Sanity, largest of the many islands that made up the archipelago she and her brother called home, steadily receding farther and farther into the distance. Coco estimated they were only a kilometer or so away from the landmass, but that distance would only continue to increase the longer they went without repairing the steering.
Coco checked the rest of the bridge, noticing the radar scanner, one of the few devices left somewhat intact after their bout, and rushed over to check it, finding various points of green light highlighted on the screen, assuming them to indicate islands. One of them was highlighted in yellow however and lay roughly in the same path the airship was heading. Aside from a set of numbers there was no way to what the original destination was supposed to be.
Coco's brow furrowed as she considered her options. The traditional method of turning the airship around was out of the question with no way to repair, at least not anymore. That left doing it manually. While Coco was no stranger to dirty work, the fact remained it was still Neo Cortex's airship, meaning he likely had all sorts of countermeasures put in place to prevent interference from meddling Bandicoots, and she was none too confident after nearly electrocuting herself just moments ago.
Her third option was looking for a parachute and simply bailing from the airship altogether or, barring that, hoping she'd practiced her swan dive enough to avoid bellyflopping into the waves below. A quick glance downward confirmed that a not insignificant amount of distance lay between the ocean and the airship. Even if that was not an issue, that still left swimming all the way back to N. Sanity.
Coco spared a brief glance at her captive, still squirming in a vain attempt to undo her bindings.
Immediately Coco abandoned the idea of leaving the ship while it continued to drift, not while Nina was still on board. Swimming for her was an impossibility with those gauntlets of hers.
No, as much as Coco and Nina hated each other, to the point where one frequently made attempts to crush the other beneath the foot of a giant death robot, the Bandicoot could not bring herself to do anything like that. As Nina would say, no doubt in derogatory manner, Coco was too much of a goody-two-shoes. As such, she went about thinking up a different solution to their problem.
With her options dwindling, Coco was eventually forced to confront the fact she might need to accrue the assistance of Nina in order to get anything done. The only problem was that it was Nina. Coco might not be willing to leave Nina adrift in the open until she eventually crash landed somewhere, but there was a line to how far she was willing to go in that regard, and asking someone as pompously egotistical Nina drew very close to that line. That was of course assuming Nina agreed at all. If Coco knew Nina at all, she would more than likely get laughed at.
Once more Coco glanced out the window, seeing N. Sanity was now far enough away that could barely make out the ugly outline of Cortex's old fortress, now abandoned.
What other choice did she have?
"Hey Doofus," Nina called suddenly, her nasally voice an unwanted assault to Coco's ears. "You figure something out yet? Or did I mistakenly assume there was a brain somewhere under that pretty blonde head of yours?"
Coco breathed in deeply, fighting the steadily rising urge to knock Nina's buck teeth down her throat. Exhaling, she turned towards her captive.
"Listen here brat," she said in a tone that she hoped indicated she was losing her patience. In case you haven't noticed we're both adrift with no way to turn this hunk of junk around. At this point I care what you were doing around your stupid uncle's old place, or where you were going after. What I do care about is getting back home time to watch old B movies with Crash. So unless you got any useful ideas, I would appreciate it very much if you shut that ugly trap of yours."
Nina scowled, the lowercase n stamped on her forehead deforming slightly as her brow furrowed.
"Of course I have an idea. Unlike you I don't spend my spare time jumping on crates in the jungle letting my intellect dull."
Coco clenched her fists, saying through gritting teeth, "And that would be what, exactly?"
Nina considered the Bandicoot for a moment, then her turned her nose up. "I don't know," she said in that snobbish tone. "Considering how I've been mistreated, I'm not sure I'm all that willing to offer my services." A smirk spread across her face. "Of course, if you untied me and apologized me, I might be inclined to change my mind."
"Yeah, neither of those things are going to happen," Coco answered flatly, crossing her arms. "Plus, I don't believe you are any position to be making demands."
"Ooh, threatening," Nina mocked. "I'm so scared I'm shaking in my platform boots. What're you going to do to me "good guy"? Send me to bed without dinner? Truly diabolical of you."
Coco growled, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You know? I don't need this." With that she stomped towards the iron door at the rear of the bridge, kicking it open with a clang. Pausing in the threshold, she turned and pointed at Nina, wanting nothing more than to tell her off. Seeing Nina's smug and all too punchable grin, she stammered and was left shaking her fist.
"Need something? Or am I just that pretty you have no words?" She teased.
Coco had no words, but not for that. Absolutely not for that.
A steady heat rose in her cheeks.
Unable to bear Nina's stupid face any longer, Coco stormed off into the depths of the airship, searching for somewhere private to cool off more than a solution to their problem. Somewhere in the back of her mind she felt it was probably unwise of her to leave her arch-nemesis unsupervised for any length of time. She'd been thorough in applying the chains though, and was confident Nina would still be there once she returned. Probably. Until then, Coco knew she was on her own in coming up with a way to get back home before dark.
Strolling through the main corridor, Coco absently wondered if she might find something useful aboard that prove helpful. Whatever that happened to be, it would certainly prove more useful than Nina.
Nina watched as Coco stormed away, feeling entirely pleased that her comments had underneath the Bandicoots fur so effectively. As smart as Coco was, and even Nina would be remiss to not admit that much given the wonders she could work with a standard laptop, the mutant was far too easily riled up, to the point where it almost took the fun out of their little get togethers. This time her remark regarding Nina's aesthetic appearance, or lack thereof, seemed to be quite effective.
Nina's analytical mind found that tidbit particularly curious, filing away the interaction for later review and possible exploitation. For now, Nina got what she wanted out of the exchange, and wasted no more time as she set about freeing herself.
Regardless of how well Coco applied the chains to her captive, Nina might as well have been held in check by a length of string for all the good it did. As much of a slum Evil Public School may have, especially compared to Madame Amberley's, Nina had to admit she picked up at least a few new tricks. Escaping in the event of being captured by a do-gooder just happened to be one of those lessons, and soon enough she was enjoying the sweet taste of freedom as the chains were melted away by the miniature laser cutter Nina had installed in her gauntlets. Her uncle may have taken issue with such an augmentation to his creation, being the one who installed them on her in the first place, but what did he know?
Once the chains were gone, Nina stretched her limbs, feeling somewhat stiff. "Ah, that's better," she muttered in satisfaction as she worked out the kinks in her joints, her tailbone in particular feeling rather sore after sitting on the cold metal floor for so long. Her retribution for the discomfort Coco put her through be swift and merciless indeed.
Briefly Nina considered taking a look at the trashed mechanics of her uncle's airship and see if she could fix. Of course, she could fix them, no doubt succeeding where Coco had so hilariously failed. After a moment of thought she decided to put it off until later. For now there was a Bandicoot running around need of a lesson in the form of a well deserved thrashing. Besides, Nina didn't want her interfering with the equipment she'd picked up.
Giggling like the maniacal school girls she was, Nina merrily skipped her way through the door the rotten Bandicoot had exited through just moments before. She failed to notice however a series of objects outside of the viewport, rendered mere pinpricks against the horizon, steadily approaching the airship headon.
"Whatcha thinkin' Boss?" Big Tony asked dumbly, turning in a seat that was far too small for him. Above him his superior loomed, a lean figure dressed in a red pinstriped suit that cut a sharp silhouette against the extravagant backdrop of the airborne casino's main floor main. Behind the figure was a wide assortment of pool tables, most stacked high with tommy guns and round bombs. The rest were taken up by cronies of all sorts idling away their time by playing cards. "Think it might be Cortex?"
His superior eyes darted towards him, unamused, and Big Tony could help but squirm. Although smaller and leaner, Pinstripe Potoroo was not a being anyone wanted to be on the wrong side of.
"Don't be stupid," Pinstripe said, his heavily accented tone level yet carrying a hint of venom. Aside from Big Tony, Pinstripe's other underlings, a gaggle of mutants and evolved animals all dressed in Homburg hats and overcoats, paused what they were doing and visibly shuddered at hearing their boss speak. Pinstripe was legendary among Cortex's minions for having a razor thin temper, and that reputation had carried him far in his career as head his little gang.
Pinstripe continued, strolling casually to peer at the viewing monitor over Big Tony's shoulder, the orange outline of Cortex's dirigible flashing intermittently. "Cortex ain't come this way in years, an' if he did, he wouldn't be flyin' in that piece of garbage. Thing's so outdated you couldn't pawn it off to a caveman."
"Sorry boss," Big Tony apologized. Tentatively he asked, hoping doing so wouldn't get him ejected for some perceived transgression, "So what're we gonna do about? If it ain't Cortex, then who could it be?"
Pinstripe pondered the question, going through the list of possible explanations for this odd wrench in his plans. He stuck by what he already said earlier in eliminating Neo Cortex from that list. If Cortex was flying his way towards Pinstripe's operation, then word would have almost certainly reached his ears. He eliminated as well as N. Gin who almost never did anything without his masters say in the matter. N. Brio maybe? The aberrant alchemist was always in opposition to Cortex's plans, but he was always careful about it. Acquiring one of Cortex's decommissioned airships was not like him at all, leading Pinstripe to discount him as well.
After a moment of consideration, Pinstripe eventually decided the matter simply wasn't worth fussing about. "If it ain't Cortex," he began, "Then it ain't somebody to feel sorry for." He flicked his eyes to Big Tony. "If youse get my meaning."
Big Tony, ever the slow lump of brainless muscle he was, screwed his face in confusion at his boss's hinting. "Uhhh."
Pinstripe sighed, shaking his head. One of these days he was going to have to commission Cortex for better underlings. These ones had clearly not spent enough time in the evolve-ray.
"We're gonna shoot 'em down you maroon!" Pinstripe clarified. "Can't have any rats poking their noses in our business."
"Ohhh! I get it!" Big Tony exclaimed as the blessing of intelligence finally revealed some small part of itself to his small mind. "I'll tell da boys to get da birds ready."
"Try to find some brain cell along the way," Pinstripe muttered, strolling back towards the ornate pool table that occupied the center of the cabin, a completely unnecessary addition to the airship and prone to skewed matches given the turbulence that came with most flying aircraft.
"Right away boss!" Big Tony said with a salute before tromping away. presumably to the deck below them. Pinstripe sighed again, attempting to wipe away his frustration by finishing his game.
He was about to win.
"Stupid Nina with her stupid teeth and her stupid hair and stupid hands," Coco muttered heatedly under her breath, trying to vent her frustration as she trudged further into the airships interior, having not calmed down the slightest since leaving Nina on the bridge, stopping occasionally to inspect on of the dozens of rooms along her route by way of kicking the door down. It was an act she begrudgingly had much practice in, gained through years of both herself and Crash spent foiling Cortex's evil plans. The recent machinations of his niece did little to ease up on that routine, and Coco found it incredibly disappointing that their perpetual conflict would remain as such for the foreseeable future.
If only Nina wasn't such a spoiled brat about it, Coco might have least found thing to be a somewhat bearable part of her schedule. As it was, Coco found herself questioning the wisdom of not simply throwing Nina overboard and just figuring out to turn the airship around herself. Nina was nothing if not resourceful, not to mention sturdy, and Coco did not have the slightest doubt that her arch-nemesis would eventually find her way back to upending their peaceful island life in whatever overly complicated scheme the brat dreamed up next. At least that way, the Bandicoot siblings would have only one evil genius (genius being a loose descriptor) to worry about, at least for a while.
Besides, it's not as if Nina would have any qualms about leaving her behind. She was evil for crying out loud! She'd proudly admitted as much herself on multiple occasions, to the point of gloating about attending an institution dedicated solely to the pursuit of being evil, as little sense as that made to Coco. Just last month Nina had tried to vaporize their house with a blimp mounted heat ray, and not a week later had attempted the same but with a tank mounted heat ray.
"How do you even get a job being evil? It's not like it's an actual vocation," Coco wondered aloud, shoving her hands into the pockets of her dungarees, suddenly feeling a slight chill in the air. The overhead lights flickered briefly as Coco continued to follow them, only vaguely recalling the original reason for coming down here, trying not admit it was mainly to put some much needed distance between her and Nina.
Soon Coco came across a large gear shaped door at the end of corridor. A green sensor shone at the which turned a stark shade of red as she approached. It looked to be automatic, and would so easily yield to a forced entry judging by the reinforced plating and hazard lines surrounding it. "Main Hangar" a sign read, underneath which was placed a sticky note with a crude drawing of a bandicoot with a red X scrawled across it.
Never one to abide rules, especially made by Cortex, Coco ignored the sticky note and looked around for an access panel. Finding one, she pulled away the cover and began fiddling with the mess of wiring contained within. Hotwiring it proved a far easier endeavor than her failed attempt at the controls, and Coco was rewarded by the light turning a green and the whirring of unseen mechanisms as the door slid open.
Just beyond, Coco found the door leading downward along a thin catwalk into the spacious interior of the main hangar, and summarily stopped to take in the scene before.
In total, she estimated the hangar to be about a hundred or so meters in length, and held ample room for the various machines and contraptions Cortex concocted in his fervent attempts at world domination.
What Coco found was not a horde of mutated minions or death robot, not even a hastily gathered collection of power crystals. Instead, she saw stacks upon stacks upon stacks of crates. Red crates. Red crates with "TNT" labels, loaded and ready to be moved on pallets. Next to them was what seemed an entire crews' worth of construction vehicles and drones and various other equipment as well as raw materials, all taking up every inch of hangar that could be spared.
"What the?" Coco questioned aloud, shuffling forward onto the catwalk. Just what was Nina up to with all of this stuff. Was this what she was doing at Cortex's old castle? That was the only possible reason she could think of as to why she suddenly arrived in Cortex's airship over the island, which in turn had prompted Coco to investigate.
Whatever Nina was up to, Coco knew that if it involved metric tons of highly explosive TNT crates, then it could not possibly be anything good.
Looking out over the hangar, Coco spotted something else, and her dread was momentarily abated to find what could only be one of Cortex's hovercrafts sitting near the main hangar door, held in place by a loading crane and seemingly ready for use. Finding a way down, Coco ran over to inspect the craft. Like most of Cortex's transports the hovercraft was built roughly in the shape of a flat disc, not unlike a UFO from the old science fiction movies she watched with Crash and Aku Aku, albeit with a large Capital N stamped on the front. Cortex was nothing if not consistent in his own self-aggrandizing.
It was also a two-seater.
Whether Coco considered that to be fortuitous, she had yet to decide, although the thought of strapping Nina to the outside of the craft where she wouldn't have to hear her complaining was an appealing one. Now to see if there happened to be a set of keys.
Coco's ears twitched as a sound of whirring cables, the only warning she would ever get as she dove to the floor, narrowly avoiding the mechanical gauntlet as it flew past her head, impacting on the hovercraft and leaving a considerable dent in its exterior as metal warped and twisted around the hand.
"Hey there doofus," Nina greeted with a smirk, the cable connecting her wrist to the gantlet retracting until her hand reattached with a firm click. "Miss me?"
"Like I miss a headache," Coco shot back as she stood, squaring up for a fight she knew she couldn't talk her way out of. Instead she settled on questioning Nina's intentions, hoping to at least get the girl to monologue a little. "Found your little side project. What do you plan to do with it? Did your uncle turn you into a little errand girl after the last time I kicked you butt?" she said teasingly.
"As if I'd ever tell you," Nina said, not taking the bait. "But you can rest easy knowing my Uncle's got nothing to do with this. This here's an independent operation," she said, cracking her steel knuckles. "Sorry to say you won't get to see the end result."
With that, Nina launched another strike.
More prepared this time, Coco leapt over the incoming projectile, the fist sending sparks flying as it carved a little gouge in the floor. Not allowing Nina to retrieve the gauntlet, Coco deftly onto the cable with both feet, the sudden motion pulling Nina off balance enough for Coco to grab the cable and put all of her weight into a swing that sent the girl careening into a stack of wooden crates. It was actually the same maneuver she'd used to best Nina on the bridge.
"Again? Really?" Coco taunted. How many times are we going to do this until you get it through your head that you're not going to win?"
Stunned from the impact, Nina shook it off with a growl, leveling a vicious sneer at the Bandicoot. The sneer morphed into a grin as something clicked behind Coco. Expecting to feel a gauntlet club her in the back of her head, Coco turned to deflect the incoming projectile. It never came. Instead she saw Nina had latched onto the hovercraft, metal deforming in its crushing grip. Too late did Coco realize the deception as Nina collided with her at high speed.
What ensued was a great amount of thrashing, kicking, biting, and an even greater amount of name calling.
"Cruddy mutant!"
"Spoiled brat!"
"Glorified rat!"
"Beaver face!"
Just as Coco put Nina into a headlock, both she and Nina immediately ceased all attempts at caving the others face in as they felt the ship suddenly lurch. They froze. Made eye contact. An alarm blared somewhere.
"What was that?" Coco asked hesitantly, Nina still locked in her arms.
The airship shuddered once more, this time accompanied by the distinct rumble of what sounded like the engines failing. Lights flickered, and the airship began to tilt.
"That's not good," Nina muttered, what little color there was in her face draining away. Coco offered no protest as Nina struggled free of her grip, rushing toward a set of levers. Pulling one, the loading ramp and the rear of the hangar rumbled open, and the rush of wind that followed was almost deafening to Coco's ears as she joined Nina, more out curiosity.
"What the hell?!" Nina shouted in alarm and fury, and when Coco looked it immediately became clear what the source of her aggravation was one of the giant propeller engines was on fire for some inexplicable reason, a cloud of black smoke streaming in its wake. Over the din of flames and the wind Coco overheard the faint buzz of a different engine. Turning her head this way and that, she soon spotted the source.
"Found your culprit," she mentioned, indicated the trio of biplanes, each looking more like an ostentatiously decorated streetcar with wings than actual planes, looping around to perform another strafing run on the airship. When she looked at the expression that adorned Nina's face when the girl spotted them, one of insane rage, she suddenly felt glad to not be the subject of it for once. Never-the-less she shuffled a few away a few steps, if only to make it so she wasn't immediately available in case Nina wanted to break something.
Her gauntlets creaking from how hard she was clenching her fists, Nina growled under her breath, "Pinstripe, you lousy two-timing piece of filth!"
"Pinstripe?!" Coco questioned, and she looked closer, and indeed could see the insignia of Pinstripe Potoroo engraved on the sides of the craft as they drew closer. She then saw the flash of their guns, aiming for the other engine as bullets punched holes into the vulnerable airship. It didn't explode like the other, but still let out a rather worrying wine as it began to fail. "Why is Pinstripe attacking us?"
Still seething, Nina barely bothered to answer. "Doesn't matter why," she growled, stomping over the boxes Coco had smashed her into just moments before, rummaging through the debris. Coco paled when she saw Nina heft a massive rocket launcher, already loaded and ready to fire what looked like Nitro rod hammered vaguely into the form of a missile. "What does matter is making him pay for it," Nina added, stomping back to the loading ramp. Glancing back and forth between Nina and the planes, which were looping around once more to finish them off, Coco said worryingly while glancing around at the rapidly degrading airship around them, "Uh, Nina? M-maybe we should think about this? I mean I really don't-"
Nina shut her up with a look that promised all sorts of retribution should she ever finish the sentence, held her gaze for a moment until she was certain Coco would remain quiet, and took aim for no more than a few seconds before getting a lock on the lead biplane, opening fire immediately afterward.
Now, Nina's hands were brute tools, mechanical replacements meant to withstand almost any amount of punishment and dish out just as much, as Coco had learned many times before. The rest of her body was not as well suited towards the sudden and violent recoil that a nitro fueled missile could dish out. As such, Nina was sent flying backwards with a yelp.
Despite the mishap, the missile flew onward, streaking through the sky like an angry green comet before impacting on the tail of one of the aggressors, erupting in an emerald cloud and sending the biplane spiraling downward.
"Hah! Take that you vermin!" Nina cackled triumphantly as she hobbled back over to see the results of her retaliation, seemingly unharmed from being flung backward. Coco merely rolled her eyes and shook her head. She took notice of something that made all the blood drain from her face, and she tugged on Nina's sleeve.
"What?! Can't you see I'm-" Nina began, only to cut herself when Coco pointed behind them, indicating the utter mess the hangar had been reduced from the recent turbulence. Stacks of TNT crates were now sliding around, having come loose of the straps holding them in place. Severed cables sparked with electricity. Missile heads were rolling this way and that. In essence, it was veritable catastrophe just seconds away from being ignited.
Coco and Nina shared a look.
"Should we. . . ?" Coco said, gesturing toward the hovercraft.
"That would a be prudent, yes," Nina answered with a curt nod, acting as though they were not about erupt in a fiery explosion and subsequently be rendered unrecognizable piles of burnt ash. Not a moment later they scrambled for the hovercraft as Coco all but leapt into the drivers' seat, frantically searching for switch or set of keys, anything to get the contraption started, Nina trailing close behind. Nina hopped in alongside her, and a glass canopy closed overhead.
"Hey! Do you mind?!" Coco exclaimed as she was shoved to the side.
"Me?!" Nina shouted back, looking just as aghast at having to share such a cramped space with her arch-nemesis. "You're the one who needs to shove off! This is my hovercraft." A pause, after which quietly admitted with a finger to her chin, "Actually it's my uncle's I guess."
Just then both girls felt a disconcerting sense of weightlessness, the kind that usually came with falling from great heights. It seemed that whatever had been keeping the airship afloat had finally given out, as they were now plummeting out of the sky at increasing speed, debris and wreckage and high explosives floating around.
"Not the time Nina!" Coco stated, spotting a lever that seemed to be a starting mechanism, giving it a hard tug.
Nothing happened.
She pulled it a second time.
Still nothing.
"Uh. . ."
"What? What'd you do?" Nina questioned accusingly, while Coco sheepishly met looked at her.
"It's, uh. . . it's not turning on," she muttered, hesitant to say it aloud. Scowling, Nina leaned over to inspect the multiple dials and switches on the dashboard, putting her far too close for Coco's liking in the already tight confines space they were in.
"Ooh. Uh oh," she muttered simply.
""Uh oh"?" Coco repeated. "What does "uh oh" mean?"
"Uncle Neo forgot to refill the gas tank," Nina explained, pointing a metal finger at a gauge Coco had previously missed. Now that it was pointed out to her, the large red E indicated by an inert yellow needle sat there mockingly.
"Oh," Coco said, her tone mirroring Nina's.
Outside, something exploded, and arcs of electricity danced around. TNT crates everywhere began to flash as they were activated. Outside the hangar bay, the crashing waves of the ocean could be seen as the horizon rose up to meet them.
Coco and Nina shared a look.
Nina blinked.
Coco did likewise.
Finally the tense calm that had settled between them shattered like glass as they both started screaming their heads off, frantically looking around for anything to hold on to, eventually settling for each other.
Unable to endure the strain of being tossed around, the crane holding them in place finally gave as cables snapped and steel bent in odd angles. No longer secure, the hovercraft was flung to and fro as the world spun around them.
"I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die!" Nina screamed into Coco's ear. "I'm gonna throw up! And then I'm gonna die!"
"No no no don't do that!" Coco screamed back, suddenly finding Nina's greenish suddenly greenish complexion more worrying than they were now only a hundred or so meters from impacting into the ocean. Her search for an emergency doggy bag was cut short as a massive ball of blindingly bright red and green fire enveloped the craft, and just as quickly went dark.