Hourly Challenge: Black

a/n: Alexa and Doug continue their mission with the prototype skell from the last story.

Dialogue and skell geekery. Written fast and edited barely, whooo!

All the good things (except Spidey) belong to Monolith Soft.

"Alexa, did you have to do that to me?" Doug complained hottly, once he'd finished beating off the enraged six-armed cave monster, plus its equally angry neighbor, plus the giant sharp-billed bird that had decided to swoop down to join the fun.

Alexa was ignoring him, as she'd ignored his calls for help earlier when the cantor had landed the first of four quick punches. She was currently planted on the ground, digging at a sensor with something that was too pointy to be a standard screwdriver. Small bits of the prototype skell surrounded her. Doug guessed that they were originally some of its feet. Alexa loved skells, worshiped them almost, but she was also enthusiastic about taking them apart when she had the chance.

"Stop messing about with Spidey the Skell," Doug said, wincing as he used her silly nickname for the mech. "We'll pack the junk in the trunk, strap it onto my skell, and you can fly home in the jump seat. You'll fit."

She looked up at him and gave a cheerful growl. "Grrrrrrr." Something clicked in her hands and she bent her head back. Her nose was sunk into the wiring and Doug knew that there wasn't any point nagging anymore. He wondered how soon he should call in to NLA to warn them that the mission was going long.

In the meantime, he looked around the cave. Trickles of sand sifted down from the ceiling, covering the floor with soft white ripples. Dull green crystals shot at awkward angles up toward the ceiling. taller than the skell and cantors combined. He could just make out the entrance, and the originally dim light was dwindling. They'd be lucky to get back by dinner.

"Now let's see if that's better," Alexa said to no one in particular, hopping up and brushing off the knees of her armor. She jammed the repaired foot back onto an upper limb of Spidey. The skell responded with a satisfying whoosh of intake air. Doug was going to begin his nagging but he was silenced by the speed that Alexa went about repairing all the other limbs. In less than five minutes, the ground was clear, Spidey was humming, and a newcomer would never have suspected the earlier scene of mechanical carnage.

"Can we go now?" he said glumly.

He was surprised by her response, which proved that she had heard him all along, just hadn't wanted to answer. "I would have helped out a bunch with that fight, Doug, but check it out!" Alexa waggled one of the skell's feet at Doug. "No weapons."

"Stupid move. More arms should mean more guns," he argued.

"Sure, flex for me, why don't ya?" Alexa laughed. "This thing is a lover, not a fighter. When that sensor slipped, Spidey was half way ready to follow. Some of this sand must have gotten jammed in the intake. I was doing my best to keep attached to the roof."

"You'd have been fine. The ceiling's not that high. Then maybe you could have jumped out and helped with some ground fire."

She waved at the crystals surrounding them. "I was more worried about getting impaled, Doug. These crystals are wicked sharp at the top."

Doug sighed. "Well, at least there aren't any more enemy for you to antagonize. Go finish the job."

Alexa was ignoring him again, swiping at her comm device. Then she looked up and smiled at him. "Nah, I got enough info, plus a full scan of the ceiling. Those scanners are pretty efficient. Look!" She waved the screen at him with glee. "The last data was registering as it was mid air!"

"So we can go home?" He knew her well enough not to assume that if they were done, yes, of course, they'd head home.

"Sure, I guess. Or..."

"Or..." he ground out.

"We could do one teeny little test more. Just a small one."

"Uh huh."

"Like, I was good climbing inside."

"Except for the falling."

"I didn't fall. Whole point. I dropped stuff, but I didn't fall."

"Great."

"So a little more climbing would round things out nicely."

"Where?"

"Down into the gap."

"Into the YAWNING GIANT?"

"You know another gap?"

Doug was speechless, although he ran through a series of gestures to express his dismay and horror. He leaned down at her, gripping for words that utterly failed him with both hands, bobbing his head in a vehement "NO!" Maybe H.B. could explain how very bad an idea this was. Alexa smiled brightly up at him. Doug finally pulled his hands through his buzz cut hair and took a deep breath. "That pit is a skell killer, Alexa. No bottom, and freak atmospherics that would keep me from following. There's a reason pilots aren't allowed to test the limits."

"I won't be flying. Climbing, Dougie, climbing!" She patted one of Spidey's many knees.

"Alexa, I know what's going to happen. I'll sit on the ledge with a cable, and you're going to slip past that limit, and at a certain point, I'm going to feel a snap in the cable and ..."

"Doug! Excellent imagination! Not going to happen. Promise."

Doug looked at the face of his teammate, and knew that nothing he could stay was going to prevent this. His face hardened. "Fine. One condition."

"Whatever."

"I pilot it."

a/n: Cliffhanger! I will cheese next week's prompt to write a follow-up.

...

Be grateful that I didn't go with my first idea (Lao's pants).
pleasesendhelp