Alrighty there, I'm sorry this took much longer than I anticipated to upload, but I had to deal with the sudden, but inevitable betrayal of Vanilla Instant Coffee and and learning how to be an adult (like seriously, the DMV is not something created by man nor any exsisting higher being.) Anyway, I have my laptop back now so I'll try to keep a faster update schedule, but soccer starts next week. And just as a quick warning, the next one will probably be short anf feature Mr. King throwing stuff at Raimund. And without further adieu, review response time!
Zgirl259: Yes. Yes it is. I do try sometimes. :^) Thank you so much for the review and I'm so glad you like this!
Spadefire: Thank you so much for the review! I tried so hard to keep everybody in character and It's sort of difficult with Omi and Clay as POV characters so I'm really happy you liked that!
Disclaimer: I'm a coolkid. I have coolkid swag. That swag does not happen to include a Xiaolin Showdown. Happy now?
Minerva Applies the Scientific Method
Even though she'd reached this conclusion a millennium and a half ago, she was still impressed with how often her hypothesis proved correct. In fact, if there was a journal that catered to such things, she'd have published a good length thesis on the relative idiocy of the Xiaolin Monks by now.
Even after fifteen hundred years after her first forays finished, evidence was still pouring in; and this latest conversation was a prime example.
"I say we stop running and fight back," Domingo said, supporting her point as apparently none of their solo training sessions had sunk in. She'd tried to teach him her signature move, run the other way until the other guy lost interest, but it hadn't yet sunk in.
"Yeah. We can't just sit back while those airships scour the earth," Layla said, pacing the clearing like a caged animal.
"Young monks," Master Fung started. "It would serve you well to remember that the warrior who…"
"Chooses his battles wisely lives to see another day," Jermaine finished. "With all due respect Master Fung, I don't see the point in running any more. They just keep finding us."
The old man let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose before continuing, "I was going to say that perhaps now it would be best if we chose to fight now. Master Monk Guan and I have been discussing this for the past couple days and we've reached a decision. Tomorrow morning, we will begin plans to destroy one of the Heylin's greatest weapons."
And thusly, the lunatics had taken over the asylum. Not that she was complaining. She'd both proven her hypothesis and played directly into her hands. Her main objective in this damnable backwater was to capture the monks alive. Their guardians made this a bit of a pain as Master Fung and Guan made taking them by force a bad idea and sleeping potions never had the intended effect on dragons. However, they had no chance of actually taking down an airship and if while attempting that they were mysteriously knocked out and tossed in the brig who was she to interfere?
Now, the best way to ensure that they were captured rather than killed was to direct them towards one of the smaller, weaker ships in the armada, the best candidate being the Hamish. That piece of shit was held together by Chase's pet mechanist's sheer stubborn force of will, they had the least chance of getting killed trying to take that one. At least, not by the guns or the crew, the ship itself was another story.
Steering them towards a clunker like that might prove a challenge though, they would want to target a bigger, more immediate threat. She would be forced to play the one card she thought she never would.
"Am I always going to have to be the voice of reason here?" She said, leaning back ad examining her nails in an over the top nonchalant manner. "Don't get me wrong, I'd love it if you horrible children got yourselves killed on a suicide mission, but I don't think they can kill me and I'm not really cut out for prison. Dojo, back me up on this."
In all her years with the Xiaolin monks, she'd consistently observed one thing. They cared a ridiculous amount about each other. If she could convince the Masters that beneath her prickly exterior she secretly didn't want to see them hurt she could get exactly what she wasnted from them. The kids were already sold on that in their wonderful naive bliss, but Master Fung didn't quite trust her and Guan had never liked her. She didn't want to play this card, if they actually succeeded she would have to deal with the consequences, but she'd observed that they tended to respond better to emotion than any well-reasoned argument. She had to make it subtle though or she ran the risk of giving the game away.
"I'm gonna side with them here Birdy. I'm tired of flying all over the world to get away from those mooks. We need to stand and fight," he said, coiling around Master Fung's head.
"Have you seen the lasers they've got on the new ones? Reports are in and apparently they've no problems with vaporizing an otherwise healthy adult elephant," she said. "And again, those prison cells. They're ten by ten and you're stuck with a cellmate. Somebody tell me that sounds pleasant? Mei, will you be my last bastion of sanity?"
The small girl jumped from her place at the campfire and almost started shaking with fear at the thought of giving an opinion. After a few moments of everybody staring, she spoke. "I…I don't mind what we do." A quick mind read said otherwise. She wanted to go on the raid. For all her shyness, she knew that her place was with the team. At the very least, she was the only one who could keep Layla out of trouble.
She gave a quick nervous glance around, careful to mask it just enough so that it didn't draw attention, but Master Fung and Guan still noticed. The slightly befuddled looks on their faces indicated that they were completely misinterpreting her motives. Perfect. She could move into the next phase.
"Fine. If I can't talk you out of it, just to let you know when I'm languishing in my ten by ten block with some unwashed heathen, I'm blaming you," she said, false irritation creeping into her voice just enough so as not to overplay her hand. "Dojo, where are we now?"
"Himalayan foothills," he said as she pulled out her phone. "Why?"
"Great. Freezing cold and yaks, Just what we need right now," she said, pulling up a rebel website, . It was all for show of course, she knew exactly what was in the area, but they didn't need to know that. "We've got the Galaxy, Hamish, and English within range, with the Tennant due to arrive in two days." There was also the Dauntless, but the site in question wasn't exactly the most accurate thing on earth so she figured it would be best to keep that to herself. "I recommend the Hamish."
"Why would we want to do that?" Domingo spat, stretching his lanky limbs over the log he was using for a chair.
"Yeah, that ship's not worth anything," Layla said, pausing her pacing to stare dumbfounded at the woman she idolized for bravery for some reason.
"Precisely because of that," she said, pulling the inaccurate statistics of the Hamish up next to those of the English. "The rustbucket's perfect to practice on due to its reduced gun range and accuracy. Take for example the English, dual shot lasers and pinpoint accuracy. I'd rather go for the Hamish as a first time ship just based on that and I could go on for ages about this."
"I still don't get it. This is about making a statement and the Empire's not going to care about the Hamish," Jermaine said.
And now for the finishing touché. She would have to really wash her mouth after this. "Because if I can't talk you people out of this, I'd like you to please take the cautious route." She gave the old masters a barely perceptible concerned look to gage their belief. From the slight look of surprise on Guan's face, she could tell that the uncharacteristic please put her right where se wanted to be.
"I only hope you take my advisements into consideration," she said, standing and leaving the clearing, trying her best to look like someone who was trying not to look dejected.
"Now there's something you don't hear every day," Dojo said as soon as he thought she was out of earshot. She didn't even bother to bite back her smile. Game, set, and match.
As she walked, she took out her phone again and keyed in Chase's number. Just because she was peeved with him for unscheduled bombings didn't mean she wouldn't give him a fair warning just in case this fool's venture succeeded.
As per usual, he picked up on the first ring. "You always call at the worst times." She paused for a moment to hear the sounds of a council meeting in the background.
"Can't I tear you away from your concubines for just a minute?" she said,
"Just one," he replied. "Councilors, I'll be a moment. While I'm away, please review appendix H of subsection Q of your packets."
"Trying to implement th Darkhold plan?" she asked.
"Knight's Bridge. Darkhold didn't make sense economically." Under ordinary circumstances, she'd be thrilled. It was about time Chase learned the economics of running a global empire. However, being out of the loop was just a bit unnerving to her. She couldn't wait to get back to court. In the meantime, she would tell Viggo to replace her spies as these ones were obviously not doing their job properly.
"How are things in…Tibet?" he asked, even over the phone sensing her discomfort.
"I think it's northern India," she corrected. "Boring as ever and I don't have time for chit-chat because you would never guess what just happened."
"You frolicked in the snow."
"You're a genius," she said. "No really, not to scribble on your Mensa application, but I'm just giving you a warning; Master Fung and your old friend finally grew a pair and want to take out an airship. They're most likely targeting the Hamish."
He was silent for a moment, not a good sign, and then he gave an agitated sigh and continued, "Talk them out of it. Neither You, I, nor Wuya have time to deal with another wreck."
"Please. You give them too much credit. No, I was thinking more along the lines of live capture," she said, leaning back against a tree and giving her nails a proper going over.
"We can't afford to risk it," he said, the slight snarl in his voice betraying a desire beyond bureaucratic red tape to avoid the ship's destruction.
"Your pet will get over losing his favorite toy," she said.
"I'm not concerned with his idiocy. I'm grooming a cadet on that ship to be my future admiral and I can't risk ruining years of work," he said.
"You're still giving them too much credit. You wanted them captured and this is the best way. Besides, if one of them gets lucky you can always replace them. There's probably hundreds of cadets that would kill for a position like that," she said, rolling her eye.
"I don't care. You are permitted to target any ship save for that one," he said. Now he was just being an asshole. She wasn't going to change the target though. It was the best option for both sides and it wasn't worth the time and effort to undo her hard work, plus she needed to undermine his authority just a bit, just to make sure she still could.
"Hey, don't shoot the messenger. They don't trust me to put sugar in their tea. You think they let me in on the decision making process?" she shot back.
"Talk them out of it." His voice had taken on that no nonsense, cold steel tone that permitted no argument.
"I'll see what I can do, but I can't make any promises," she said.
"That's not good enough," he said.
"It'll have to be."
"Fine. If you can't fix this, at least keep the water boy from tagging along." That confused her just a bit, but she figured that he wanted to minimize damage and Jermaine actually thought things through. She'd figure it out later. Viggo would have decent spies in place after tomorrow anyway.
"I can't make promises." With that, she disconnected her call. She didn't feel like dealing with him being a primadonna after an unscheduled bombing.
Hey baby won't you look my way? I can be your new addiction. Hey baby what you gotta say? All I'm givin' you is fiction. I'm a sorry sucker and this happens all the time. I found out that everybody reviews, everybody reviews, everybody reviews not nearly often enough.