Part 15,
This Chapter has a Crossover with one of Joss's other shows... Firefly... You can't stop the Signal... Long live the Spirit of Joss...
Beep... Beep... Beep... the heart monitor followed Dana's heartbeat... Beep... Beep... Beep... Faith was sitting by the Bedside...
"So how is she doing?" Buffy said looking down at the young Slayer...
"Well the medical staff says that it was close... it was as if someone was attempting to use a Slayer Dream to contact her telepathically. But she was awake so it kinda of knocked her brain for a turn." Faith said stroking the Slayer's hand.
"I've never seen you... well... this concerned before Faith." Buffy said to her fellow Slayer...
"Well Dana is kinda of like a sister to me... it like we came out of the same dark place..." Faith said as she looked at the mock barbed tattoo inked on Dana's arm. "She wants to be so much like me..."
"Right on down to the coma and the Tattoo." Buffy said as she patted Faith on the shoulder...
"Hey... at least it was for me the following: Tattoo, coma... going feral, swapping bodies, redemption, prison, breaking out of prison, fighting evil rock monster, evil vampire, then source of all freaking evil." Faith said looking at the girl.
"You left out sleeping with another Slayer's boyfriend, framing for murder, and going evil." Buffy said as there was a small giggle from Faith.
"Um..." a moan came from Dana...
"Dana..." Faith said moving to hug the young girl. "You awake?"
"Yes..." Dana said loosely... "My mouth tastes like sewage... and my head feels like someone used it as a dodge ball." Dana said as she tried to open her eyes..."Oh, Gods... You know about the sex..."
"Sex?" Faith looked mortified next to Buffy who looked just confused...
"Who had sex?" Andrew nearly yelped as he came in.
"She said you know about the sex." Buffy said as Andrew went white as a sheet along with Faith.
"Okay... did she say Sex with whom?" Andrew creaked out. Buffy was soon getting the feeling that there was something more going on here.
"Okay Spill!" Buffy demanded as she put her foot down.
"I'm pregnant with Wood's baby..."
"I slept with Dana in the Cerebro room..."
"Willow and Kennedy's magical love keeps making me horney." All three voices blurred together. However, it was Dana's last part that caught Buffy's full attention.
"What about being horney?" Buffy said as her eyes narrowed.
"Willow and Kennedy's lovemaking... I'm experiencing it every time they... you know..." Dana said as she averted her eyes away from Andrew and Faith...
"Wait you mean that you..." Buffy was attempting to grasp at what was going through her mind.
"Feel Willow's cold nose on my breasts..." Dana said as she blushed.
"Wait... Then... Cerebro was..." Andrew said as he got the feeling that the cat was out of the bag and that Dana was Bi.
"Hold on you had sex with Dana..." Faith said getting up and marching over towards Andrew who immediately hid behind Buffy.
"Well... she was the one on top..." Andrew said as Buffy Spun around and attempted to deck him.
"You mean..."
"Okay... I became Dana's sex toy when She felt Kennedy's hormones kick in..." Andrew was now hiding under Dana's bed now.
"You should have said now..." Buffy yelled at him.
"Hey... I did... but..." Andrew was cut off as Buffy yanked him out from under the bed.
"Buffy..." Dana said as she forced herself to sit up. "... Andrew didn't take advantage of me... I." Dana paused before continuing. "... I forced him to... It was the only way... I didn't want to hurt a stranger..." Dana was starting to cry now... "I like Andrew as a friend... he see's me as a friend... I did wrong... But... I needed it to stop..." Dana was crying now... "I like boys... I like boys." She sobbed out as Faith slowly moved over and placed a hand on Dana's shoulder... "Faith... I want control... I'm scared..." Dana just devolved into one big mess. Faith Moved and sat on the bed and just held the girl.
"It's okay... Dana... I'll tell Willow to stop using magic during sex... Okay." Faith said as she slowly stroked Dana's raven hair.
"You will..." Dana said as she started to hug Faith back. "You would do that for me." Dana said as she pulled back to look at Faith Directly.
"Um Hum..." Faith said as she nudged Dana on the jaw with her knuckle.
"So... you still upset about me walking in on you when you found out that you were going to be a mother..." Dana said, as it was now Faith's turn to be in the hot seat.
"You're pregnant." Buffy and Andrew said at the same time as their jaws hit the preferable floor.
"Okay... Faith you officially take the cake with the biggest secret in the room." Buffy said as she saw Faith in a new light.
"Yeah B." Faith said as she hugged Dana by the shoulder. "Between Wood being Okay with the entire Slayer thing... And Dana here... I feel like I am normal... I have family." Faith said as Dana started to grin at her.
"So... you see Dana as..." Buffy looking at the two raven haired Slayers.
"Sisters... Broken... healed... and close." Faith said as Dana started to Blush...
"So you are not upset with me Banging the Gong with Andrew..." Dana said sheepishly.
"Bang... Dana... Trust me... you haven't had sex until you have experienced the Cuddlely go Bear." Faith said as Buffy winced at the images coming to mind.
"Okay... too much information..." Buffy said as she tried to avoid looking at Andrew. Knowing full well if she did, she would have strangled him.
"B. It isn't kinky sex..." Faith said correcting Buffy. "... Its actually traditional lovemaking done real slow with Soul music playing in the background." Faith said grinning. "I like it better than the handcuffs and the tied up bed sheets... though... nostalgia does kick in from time to time... but that is another story all to together."
"Iria..." Dana said as her mind caught up to speed... "Wait... she... she ... whoa..." Dana put her hand on her head... "Talk about a headache..." Dana said as both Buffy and Faith looked at her. "One of the Slayer's Andrew found on the scanner... She had her first Slayer dream after I had sex with Andrew and went to sleep..." Dana said as Buffy got worried. "She was inexperienced... like she was seeing what powers she had... then while I was walking and found Dawn... she..." Dana stopped mid sentence.
"She what?" Faith said looking at her adopted baby sister.
"She... it was as if she was trying to do it again while I was awake..." Dana said getting worried. "Listen... she doesn't know how powerful she is... she might kill someone if she isn't careful." Dana said worried.
"Okay... listen can you work with Andrew and see if you can post to the network a bulletin to all Slayers if they have seen the same girl in their Slayer Dreams or if there have been any others that have wound up like you." Buffy said as Dana started to rub her arms to shake off the chill.
"Okay... She said in the dream that she was in what was left of Sunnydale." Dana said as she attempted to focus on the present as she thought about her new friend before realizing that she had to speak to Buffy. "Buffy... I'm sorry about what I did to Spike... I didn't know that he was trying to help me... If I had remembered the Chip then..." Dana realized that she was fessing up to some of the damage she had done.
"Chip? Spike?" Buffy Stammered out. "When did you run into Spike?" Dana just looked at Buffy for a long moment.
"You don't know... Spike was in L.A. I cut off his hands thinking that he was someone else. This was before I came here." Dana said worried.
"Oh... Noo..." with that Buffy ran to a phone and dialed Spike's phone number. The Rings on the phone felt like an eternity.
Spike was working on his next lines of poetry... Between discovering Romantic He was happy... eighty-nine hits on in the last day and a half...
"Take that you bastards..." Spike said to himself as he thumbed through a copy of the thesaurus he had near by. "You said my poetry sucked... but hey... at least with the information revolution I'm getting payback in spades..."
"Lets see... Amara... um..." Spike was thinking about thinking of words that would fit that name... that was when his train of thought was interrupted by his phone ringing...
"Bloody hell, what wank is calling me now..." Spike said as he tossed down his pencil. "If it is another telemarketer, I am going on the Do not call list on the Internet and making a few death threats." Spike said as he marched over to the phone and yanked it up.
"Fucking Sodd off you yank..." Spike said very annoyed.
"Spike..." Buffy's voice rang through the receiver.
"Buffy..." Spike said in shock... "Sorry love about the yelling... I have had it Bloody up to my eyeballs with the Bollocks trying to sell me a condo on the coast." Spike said as he moved and sat in a chair by the phone. "So you are calling to find out what I've been up to Slayer." Spike said over the phone.
"Well I wanted to check with you about something..." Buffy said with uncertainty in her voice.
"Let me guess... The Immortal has started to send you flowers by the floral shop full to apologize for what he did to Dawn." Spike said rolling his eyes.
"No actually... I think he has left me alone... I heard a rumor from the supernatural community that I had personally sent a Slayer to rip off his manhood in L.A. But I haven't seen any Slayers blue hair in my ranks." Buffy said as Spike started to chuckle at that last part. "What's so funny, Spike." Buffy said getting serious.
"Nothing... just that old Illyria was the one who did the squeezing of the family jewels on The Immortal, Slayer." Spike said grinning.
"Illyria, as in Illyria the demon who freaked around Dawn... and made Dana sane." Buffy said in shock.
"Same one Slayer... The Old Blue Ox did the squeezing on the 'mortals manhood right here in L.A. Luv... That was after the entire cart of luggage being dropped on him."
"She dropped an entire thing of luggage on him." Buffy said in shock.
"Yes... so I get the feeling Slayer that you haven't called to reminisce about the Shagging we did back in my old crypt." Spike said wondering why Buffy had called.
"Spike it is about Dana, she..." Buffy was cut off by Spike.
"Dana... as in the Crazed Slayer that cut of my bleedin hands... the one that doofus Andrew came to get... the one that took a complete commando squad of Slayers to take down... THAT DANA." Spike was screaming the last part over the phone.
"Um... Yeah... that Dana..." Buffy said as he realized that Dana had a reputation with Spike. "So...you are still a little upset about the entire..."
"Hand chopping... Slayer why don't you tell that bitch that if I ever see her again..." Spike said very upset over the phone.
"Spike... Dana is in the room with me." Buffy said as the mystical blood drained from his face.
"Bloody fucking shit Slayer... run. Buffy get the BLOODY HELL OUT OF THAT ROOM." Spike yelled into the phone.
"Oh... Crap... Crap... Crap..." a female voice in the background called out as a slow sobbing started to be heard.
"Um... Slayer..." Spike said standing up and looking at the door. "Is Dana..."
"Lucid... Tame... you could said that whatever your friend Illyria did for Dana worked." Buffy said as Spike started to worry. "Spike... she had a memory of mine about the Chip in your head... About Dawn... and she is in major guilt trip mode... that and she has had a few run-ins with her memories of what she had done when she escaped from..."
"The Bloody Looney Bin." Spike said as he finished her sentence.
"Yeah. Trust me Spike... I think she is three steps away from going cookie bake off mode... and making a bakery's worth of cookies."
"OH... GOD... Cookies... me and cookies... The last batch of cookies I made looked like a disaster... THEY WERE HOCKEY PUCKSSSSS..." The voice was now fully identified as being Dana's...
"Buffy..." Spike said as he sat down again and sensing a need to invest in the pharmaceutical company that made Pepto Bizmo... "Please... have someone teach her how to cook... I don't want to break the Geneva Convention with the Demon community out here with the gifts I might be receiving from our Mutual future gastro intestinal designer." Spike said as he looked towards the small bathroom in his basement apartment.
"I'll get Willow on the cooking lessons." Buffy said as Spike realized that she was sympathized with him.
"Will do Slayer... Um... How is Dawn doing?" Spike said, as he wanted to change the subject.
"Um... Dawn is doing fine... she is planning to start college soon... she has a full scholarship that and she is seeing one of the younger Watchers named Tobias... I don't fully agree with her choice... However, given that he is okay with her being a sister of a Slayer... well... Me and Willow gave him the shovel Speech... and he got the point..." Buffy said as she listened over the phone. Spike was breathing... something he didn't usually do, but when talking with Buffy he did it so that she wouldn't be creped out.
"That's good Slayer... listen... if you need someone to ensure the point is made..."
"I'll give you a call." Buffy said back before she changed the subject. "Hey Spike have you heard anything about Sunnydale recently." Her words hung in the air like a bug trapped in ice.
"Nothing much Buffy... However, Clem and a few others are rebuilding the town on the edge of the crater that we created. So there might be one around who didn't get the memo... Given that old Glory was called by the townsfolk as being a Slayer... But there might be one..." There was a beep on the phone as he noticed that someone was calling him on the other line. "Listen Slayer... I'll see what I can dig up on this end with Clem. Go take care of Dawn and tell Dana... to hold off on the cookies... I heard her." Spike said as the line beeped again.
"Talk with you soon Spike." Buffy said as the beep hit again.
"You too Slayer... Bye." Spike said as he hit the leaver on the phone. "Spike here..."
"Spike an exasperated voice said over the phone."
"Clem?" Spike said as he pulled the receiver away from his ear.
"Yeah Spike it is me... listen have you heard from Buffy?" The baggy demon said on his phone as static creaked through the line.
"Yeah I finished talking with her when you beeped in Clem. Why are you asking?" Spike said wondering if this had to do with anything Buffy had been talking about.
"We have a young Slayer down here... One of the local town folks found her buried and Gloria has been nursing her back to health." Clem said as Spike was forced to sit down again.
"Tell me what you know about her?" Spike said looking up at ceiling of his place. "I think Buffy has been looking for her."
Eli looked at the group of people before him. Between the two Asia-folk, there were a couple of Lotto, an old soldier but he seemed to be drawn towards the woman with the Taters. She seemed a little scared but something in his gut said it wasn't about what he had seen. It was something else.
"Here drink this." Eli said as he handed a bag full of blood to the full figured woman. There was a pause as if she was hesitant in taking it.
"It's blood." She said as if unsure... it was as if he knew a deep dark secret of her's and had poisoned her drink. However, there was something else scaring her.
"Listen you need to drink it. I know it seems disgusting but, right now you need the protein." Eli said as the woman took several deep breathes before tilting up the bag and sucking down the contents in a series of large gulps leaving the pouch dry by the time she finished.
"You must have been really hungry for you to only wince at drinking that stuff." Eli said as he looked at her.
"Yes... I... I ... I was..." The blond said. It had been awhile since he had seen a shapely figure such as her's. Nevertheless, she acted as if she was afraid of the group. That was when the group saw that her eyes had gone yellow in the irises.
"Listen... we know that you are Dhamphir... so if you want to have more blood... its okay... just don't do the forehead." Nancy said to Harmony.
"Dhamphir..." Harmony looked at Nancy in shock and fear before her brain started to kick in wondering what a Dhamphir was. "Wait.. What's a Dhamphir?"
"Yeah missy. What is what one of these Dhamp... whatever it is supposed to be?" Eli said to the group.
"Well think of a human and Vampire hybrid." Haviere said moving over to the woman. "It usually occurs when a Vampire bites a human with a strong Aspect of the Demon... the Vampire part of them isn't able to take hold so... in essence they become hybridized. Though they desire blood... they are mortal and have many advantages over the Vampire."
"Demons... Vamp... Vampires... listen old man... all I want to do is get out of here." Eli said as in a blink of an eye Haviere was from his corner of the room to Eli's face.
"I am one... Mr. Eli... and I would suggest that you let miss Harmony be." Haviere said as he eyes turned yellow in Eli's face.
"Wait... I was a..." Harmony looked up worried before she lowered her face into her hands... "Crap... Illyria is going to kill me any ways." As she started to cry.
"So who is this Illyria? Is she someone you owe money to or something..." Eli leaned over to comfort her.
"I sold her and her boyfriend out..." Harmony cried out.
"Okay... so what is the worse that she is going to do to you?" Nick said as Harmony looked up at him in fear.
"How about ripping my spinal column out of my freakin' back." Harmony yelled out.
"Oh..." Shendell said understanding.
"Why don't you let the world where we are at?" Nancy said as she moved over and put her foot down on the floor. Everyone in the room got very quiet.
"Listen why don't we put the snobbleing away for now and work on a plan to get out of here." Haviere said getting the room's attention. "Now I believe that Eli here has been doing the same thing we have been doing in searching a way out. Now Mr. Eli why don't you tell us about what you have seen and help us construct a floor plan to this place so that we can escape."
"Okay." Eli said as he moved over to an open spot on the floor. "Does any one have a pen on them?" With that, Shendell searched her pockets and pulled one out.
"Here..." she said as she handed it to him.
"Good..." Eli said as he moved over to Harmony and put a line from the pen right across her hairline before he stepped away.
"Why did you do that?" Harmony said feeling across her hairline.
"Just defending your honor... you seem a nice enough person, you just need to learn some self acceptance about yourself and not treat yourself so bad." Eli said as Harmony looked at him.
"Oh... so what was the mark for?" Harmony wondered.
"Oh... nothing someone had written the word Idiot near your hairline on your forehead. All I did was mark it out to protect your honor." Eli said as he moved over and grabbed a clipboard and flipped the pages over and started to draw on them. "Now... For the last few days I have gotten know the layout of this place and this place is huge..." He said as he marked out a large box and started to fill it in.
"How big is this place?" Aoki said wondering.
"Lets just say... it is a very large building that can hold a aircraft hangar." With that, he drew the layout of what he had seen.
Rose and Padme were running through the hills of their home world of Martinez Plaines. Rose loved the feel of the sun against her dark skin.
"Padme... hurry up." Rose yelled as the dyed pink locks in her hair blew in front of her face.
"I'm coming." Padme yelled out as her metallic prosthetic legs pounded against the ground. "Of all of the days I chose to wear a dress." She said under her breath.
"Hey... I'm not the one that has a crush on old Alphonse." Rose called out.
"Shut up Rose... we may by adopted... but I can still run like a cat." Padme called out as she reached to the top of the hill.
"Yeah... you can." Rose said as she watched the dot in the sky grow larger.
"Rose... can you see the type of ship it is?" Padme said as she looked up.
"Give me a sec..." With that, Rose pulled out of her tote back a pair of oculars that their adoptive father had made. Rose knew that their father had a past but no one knew where he had come from since that day eleven years ago. He hadn't arrived by ship, but he seemed to possess knowledge that would put any mechanic to shame. Nevertheless, it was Padme who he had connected to the most during those early days.
Weeks earlier prior to his arrival she had lost he entire family in a fire. Her dying father had pulled Padme from the fire but the support structure had fallen on her crushing both her legs and snapping her right arm clear off. The town doctor was able to save Padme's life, but she had lost her limbs... It wasn't until Rudy Welles a man who had appeared at the colony offered his services to save Padme's life. It was as if he knew more about cybernetics than any one else. Three weeks after he offered his services Padme, who had grown distraught at seeing other children playing in the fields outside, Rudy had taken her and talked the town doctor into attaching a series of metal pins to what was left to her legs and arms. Since Padme had to have, part of the bone amputated from her shoulder Rudy developed an external structure that hooked to what was left of her shoulder blade. Padme told her that she had screamed as the rods were inserted in. However, it wasn't until the limbs were attached and synced up to her nervous system that she actually had felt her feet.
It took a day or two for Padme to start moving and learning to walk again but it was on this hill that held the most significance to her, this was the place she felt like she could fly and despite all that happened in her short life she would never take anything for granted again.
Rose who had arrived a year later that at the colony. She was found half starved after someone she couldn't remember tossed her into a shipping box naked and just dumped it without any address onto a random transport ship to take to parts unknown. Rudy had taken her in as well after she nearly bit his hand off, but he had calmed her down by just hugging her. Between her dark skin, violet eyes and a pair of nanite colored purple locks, she had a rose tattoo on the base of her back. Rudy called her Rose and the name just stuck. Despite all of the inquiries with the shippers and the station the ship had come from there were no leads to her past nor how the box found itself on the transport it had come on.
After a month without any leads, Rudy formally adopted the two of them and they had called this world home since for the past ten years. Now watching the ship come in was one of the monthly events they liked to share together. Rose looking for her past to arrive from the sky and Padme to feel like she was flying.
"Rose..." Padme said as she pulled out the oculars and put them on her head to view the make of the ship coming in. "It looks like a..." Rose just stopped...
"What type of ship is it?" Rose said as she moved over to her sister as her feet worked overtime to bring her over the last few steps.
"Rose... the ship is a Firefly." Padme said as Rose started to shake some...
"Fire... Fly... as in the type of ship I was..." Rose clutched her hands in front of her face as if she was trying to brace herself for the name.
"Rose..." Padme turned around to look at Rose but got a zoom focus on the violet iris of Rose's eye. "Ach..." Padme said as she quickly removed the Oculars from her eyes. "Rose... I know that you are superstitious about that type of ship... But could you get over your fear of them... you are not about to be boxed up and shipped away again on one of those ships." Padme said as Rose snatched the Oculars out of Padme's natural hand.
"Hey..." Padme said as Rose donned the Oculars and looked skyward. "... You could have asked for them."
"Pad... I need to know..." Rose said as she looked up at the sky... "Serenity..." Rose said as she watched the ship come in for a landing before coming to relax as she let her legs give out from under her as she exhaled. "... It's okay ... "
"Rose..." Padme said as she rushed over to her sister and placed her hands on her. "Are you going to be okay?" A cybernetic knee scraping across the ground.
"Yeah... I'm going to be okay..." Rose said as she reached up to hug her sister. "I'm going to be okay." In the distance in the back of her mind, the image of a screaming half starved girl still clawed at the sides of a metal box wanting for mommy and daddy to come for her.
Malcolm Reynolds walked down the hatch of his ship. In all of his years, he had only done a few runs for Rudy Wells... A strange man but a decent person when it came down to it. He was a saint compared to his contact and contractor Badger. Rudy seemed to been much like him... sick and tired of war... Rudy didn't say on which side he had fought on during the Anglo-Sano Alliance and the Browncoats war, but he did help veterans when he had the chance. He had put on cybernetics and prosthetics on several of Malcolm's old war buddies that the strange shield Rudy used as his calling card had become known on the edge colonies as a sign of hope in a desperate world. That was when he saw the looming metal suit of armor coming towards him followed by a boy in his late teens.
"Hello Mr. Reynolds..." The suit of armor called out. Malcolm just grinned at this scene.
"Hi Alphonse..." Malcolm called out the armor slowed down and the young boy waved.
"Mr. Wells sent me to do an inventory of the stuff that you brought for him." The boy said as he and the armor spoke at the same times.
"So where is that old magician at?" Malcolm said the young boy stopped at the lowered cargo door.
"He is currently in a wrestling match with Mrs. Luango's hydroponics system... she has the best fruit around... But if he doesn't have his coffee beans and herbs... well you remember last time..." The boy shrugged as his white shirt and suspenders that held up the brown work paints that looked like they needed to have a better size for him. Too long in the leg and a little tight in the waist.
"Yeah... I never thought I see a man decide to shoot a turbine compressor with a wrist mounted laser pistol." Malcolm said looking at the boy.
"Well... do you have the inventory list that Mr. Wells gave you and I'll check it against the one I have." The boy said as the armor moved up into the ship.
"He hold it there..." Jayne called out seeing the large armor walk into the cargo area. "The last time I was here I got my pee goo (rear end) kicked when I decided to arm wrestle you." Jayne said looking at the armor's face even if he did have to stand on his toes to sneer at the person under the helmet. "Now... I won't hold anything against you but... I have to see your face." Jayne said waiting for his answer.
"Jayne... you better not... trust me..." Zoë said coming down from the bridge section, her red vest bearing the brunt of the warm air from outside.
"Zoë... this Liou coe shway duh biao-tze huh hoe-tze fuh ur-tze (son of a drooling whore and a monkey) beat me at arm wrestling." Jayne said aloud.
"Twelve times in a row, if I remember right." Mal said looking at his muscle bound crewman and the towering armored figure.
"Twelve times?" Jayne looked back at Mal in shock.
"Yeah... the first three... you were sober... after that and the rice wine you drank... Well... what is it with you and booze... instead of getting weaker you became harder to beat." The armor said back. With that, Jayne watched as the large armored figure twisted at a few bolts with his metallic gloved fingers and pick the helmet up. What Jayne saw had his jaw hitting the floor as a small marmalade kitten's head stuck it's way up to the surface and mewed.
"Okay it this has to be some sort of joke... you must have ducked in there." And with that Jayne reached into the armor and started to feel around for a head but only felt nothing... just empty air. With that, Jayne pulled his hand out and wondered why the armor had stopped moving. That was when he looked down at the cat.
"No... I was not beat by at little cat? Or..." Jayne looked as he pondered some very weird thoughts as he blinked at what was before him.
"Hey... Suit of armor without a head here..." The helmet said as Jayne went for his weapons unsure on how take down this... this... thing?
"I see Al that old Rudy is still the old heckler he still is." Mal said tapping Alfonse's shoulder.
"He still is..." An elder voice said from the loading hatch.
"Rudy... Long time no see." Mal said as he reached out to shake his friend's hand.
"Same here... So... still doing freelance cargo transport I see... you know... you are one of the few people that I will actually do business with." Rudy said as he ran his fingers through his graying hair. The mechanic Coveralls he wore looked like he had recently gotten finished with something. Heck, he hadn't taken off the work apron.
"Yeah... and several members of my old platoon are glad for your work." Mal said he leaned against a crate. Jayne turned to look at the mechanic.
"Same here... I needed to reconnect with society... and being former soldiers we know that we find our connection back to the world where we can find it." Rudy said as several patters down the stairs could be heard.
"Rudy..." Kaylee said as she ran as fast as she could and hugged the stuffing out of Rudy.
"Kaylee..." Rudy said looking down at the young Firefly mechanic. "I see that you have grown." He joked.
"Naww... Ah shucks... I was already full grown the last time I was here." Kaylee said looking up at her friend.
"Not if I remember right... you still had a little filling out to do. Is it just me or have your arms gotten stronger." Rudy joked as Kaylee blushed.
"Well you know me and adventure... Oh... River..." Kaylee said as she pulled back from Rudy to see the youngest of the Tam clan standing by Mal.
"You have secrets... Not from here... Fighter of the darkness... You lost her... she is still caring for you. The message from the Ripper is coming." River said as her large oval face looked and studied the scene before she disappeared.
"Whoa... that is strange." Kaylee said as Mal took notice of Rudy's face.
"A Seer... Ripper..." With that, Rudy's mood changed instantly.
"Mal... Do I have any mail that you picked up for me?" Rudy said concerned.
"Yeah. A few pieces... but one had that weird symbol that you use." Mal said as Rudy pulled away from Kaylee, whatever River had said had struck a nerve with him.
"Can I see it?" The way that Rudy spoke in those seconds was like it was the darkness of the night closing around him.
Sitting in the vent, Nancy watched the hangar bay below her. This place was a fucking aircraft carrier and then some in size. In a moment Eli's little distraction would occur.
Five...
Four...
Three...
Two...
One...
Zero...
BOOOOMMMMMMMMMM...
The explosion ripped through the air of the loading bay. Everything was on time.
"ALERT... ALERT... ALL FIRE SUPPORT TIMES REPORT TO LAUNCH BAY TWO NORTH... ALERT... ALERT... ALL FIRE SUPPORT TIMES REPORT TO LAUNCH BAY TWO NORTH." The computer chimed in repeatedly.
"That's my cue..." Nancy said as she phased through the vent and freefalled down to the floor. Wiping out two pistols she had taken off the guard she had killed, she waited for the next explosion to go off. "One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi,"
BOOOOOMMMMMMM...
The next explosion went off. Then the ammo started to go off.
"Okay Eli and I can open up fire now." With that, Nancy opened up fire with single shots taking out several of the ground personnel near the cargo aircraft they were going to take. She had been chosen to be the point shooter on this mission... Well since she could phase through objects and could selectively be able to move around without having her body perforated by bullets.
"Hey... there... you..." a voice called out as a person started running towards here with a gun. "Stop where you are at." Nancy waited until he was close enough to her that she could see the whites of his eyes before she shot him through his mouth keeping her weapon phased in her jacket clothing. With that, she proceeded to keep moving as the Alarms kept going off.
"Eli... you better be in that ship by now." Nancy said as she shot off another round into another guard and one of the fire control staff.
Eli loved the smell of adrenaline in the air. Not since he was a kid, had he felt this way... between stealing candy from this bunch of babies... he felt so alive...
"Haviere... get Shendell over here..." he called out as the old man took the young woman's arm and picked her up and ran towards where Eli was standing.
"Okay... it is time for us to catch a ride." With that, he looked at the selection of aircraft that he had Nancy check out from above earlier. Out of the twelve craft to choose from. Three of the fastest that he knew of were from his home planet. The Wenstor 44... with the number of people... it was too small... the second was the Locks F-95 it was still too small given it was a two seater... now... The Panda C3 would be great... plenty of cargo room and a fast enough engine... With luck, there wouldn't be any security lock on the ship.
"Next group." Eli called out as by twos the faster members ran with the slower members to get them to the staging area. Within the next minute... the commotion would die down and they would lose their chance.
"Okay people..." Eli said looking at Haviere we need to secure that transport out of here." Eli said pointing to the large aircraft. "Now I want those of you who are capable of fighting or at least have good fight skills. Now Nancy will be joining us in a bit after she sets off our next distraction... I want Shendell and Haviere here to be the first on the transport. After that the rest will be going in pairs..." Eli said, as Haviere understood that only working as a team could they all escape. "Two at a time... Until we are all on the transport... I want after Haviere on there... I need to get on and I want the wounded to follow with the last pair of fighters to follow our Asses in." Haviere looked over at Harmony and saw how worried she was... she was scared...
"Harmony... you will be in the middle... carrying Chou-Ann." Haviere said as Eli nodded...
"I agree with you old man... those two need to be in the middle... Harmony looks like she is about to get scared." Eli said looking at the Woman.
"Listen... I'm a bit scared about being with the Slayer... I mean couldn't somebody else carry her?" Harmony said with a pleading look in her eyes.
"Listen... Harmony... we all need to pull our weight... Now... if you don't carry Chou-Ann... I will kill you." Eli said coldly and Harmony gulped. "Got the point..." All Harmony did was nod yes to him. "Now... After me and Haviere get to the transport... I want your asses following us two seconds after us." Harmony understood. "Now everybody start going now." With that, Eli and Haviere left and the rest of the group followed from behind.
Nancy had cleared enough of the stragglers out to see that Eli, Haviere and the rest of the group were filling out. Things were on schedule... Now with everyone in the transport, it was time for her to exit stage right.
Quickly running Nancy phased through any obstacles in her path. She her way to the transport... Who in God's name created this thing... It looked like a reject from a Star Wars movie. That was when she saw Shendelll fall to the ground as she was running with Nick.
"Nick... go on without me... Get on the Transport." Shendelll yelled out. As Nick Paused to start to run back towards her. That was when several shots rang out hitting the ground in his path forcing him to back off. With that, Nancy started to run faster towards her friend.
"Shen... Nick... Lay low..." With that, Nancy leveled her guns and started firing at some of the personnel that had shot at her friends. One by one, the armed individuals fell to the ground. Nancy proceeded to move forward keeping up fire even at one point were another member of the staff got in the way she phased her gun into his head and proceeded to pull the trigger. Bone and gray matter exploded from his head as the bullet proceeded to travel and hit into another guy who was leveling his weapon at Nick right at the base of his skull.
"Now you two get your Asses moving I'll be right behind." Nancy said as Nick rushed back over and picked up Shendell and started to run with her towards the mode of escape.
Nick had grown up in the old neighborhood. Between dealing with Vamp gangs and Zombie cops, he had seen his share of weird stuff. However, seeing what Nancy did now made him think of how much he had changed. Whatever these bastards had done to him and the other had turned them from be Joe blow guy on the street to being like a cross between Peter Parker, Matt Murdock, John Stewart, and a half a dozen other comic book characters he couldn't begin to name. Nevertheless, given that Nancy was the Shadowcat of the group, she had the best odds of creating the distractions while they got away. This woman was definitely mean when she had a gun in hand.
"Hey Eli..." Nick called out as Eli was sitting behind the controls. "... You better get this thing started because... well I am going to quote Han Solo here... LUKE... WE ARE GOING TO HAVE COMPANY!" He yelled out at the top of his lungs as Nancy was moving ass as fast as she could even phasing through several of her would be capturers.
"Now... give me a moment son..." Eli called out. "Starting a ship like this isn't as simple as hitting a button and we are off... it is a series of knobs and buttons to... Ah Hell..." then there was a loud thud as something was hit with a fist as the engines roared to life.
"If all else fails hit the thing..." Eli yelled out, as the ship started moving.
"Okay... one hotwired Millennium Falcon cued up to fly." Nick said as he noticed that they were moving. Quickly he turned to see Nancy running like mad. Bullets were phasing through her body as she ran. With each step, she was making good headway as she raced towards the hatch.
"Nick... close the hatch." Nancy Screamed as she raced along side.
"But you won't be able to get in." Nick called out.
"Just close the fucking hatch Nick. I'll get in my own way." With that, Nick noticed the look in Nancy's eyes. Then he realized what she was going to do. She was going to phase into the ship. Quickly Nick yanked at the controls and forced the door to close. Harmony who was watching all of this was getting scared. For a woman who had some serious cleavage that would have made her the proud model for a Frank Frazetta drawing, she was quaking where she stood. Suddenly there was a thud against the hull as sounds of weapons fire tinged and pattered echoed into the cabin. Suddenly there was a hand started to melt through the wall. Then an arm, followed by a Head.
"Harmony... Nick... Pull me the rest of the way through." Nancy said as she struggled.
"Coming..." Nick said as he grabbed a scared Harmony and pulled her up. As Soon as Nick got there, he noticed that Nancy was slipping back through the hull.
"Quick... get me in. I feel like I'm going to be sucked out." Nancy said getting scared.
"I've got you." Nick said as he started to get a hold on Nancy's arm as he started to pull her in. Then there was a sudden hitch as Nancy started to move slower through the wall. "Um... Nancy." Nick said as Harmony and him were struggling to get her through.
"Yeah..." Nancy said as she looked like she was struggling against something unseen on the outside.
"You could stand to lose some weight." Harmony said tugging as hard as she could.
"Give me a sec... I have two hundred pounds attached to my leg I'm trying to kick off." Nancy said as she shifted back and forth as if she was trying to kick something off. "Hey... you in the pilot's seat... I need to scrape off a large shit bag so can you give me some turbulence to get some leverage over my excess baggage." With that, a voice boomed from the cockpit.
"How much turbulence do you need? Break your back or need to lose a head of cattle or two?" Eli's humor came through.
"Lose a freaking head of cattle... Hell... lose the fucking ranch if you have too... I'm losing feeling in my foot and I just felt a hand squeeze my ass..." Nancy said angrily as she gritted her teeth.
"One Losing the Ranch coming right up. Ya'll better hold on back there." Eli said as in a few seconds they were in the middle of a barrel roll. Harmony and Nick leaned their weight in against the wall not knowing if they were going to fall up, down, left, right, or somewhere in-between as they heaved on Nancy's arms and torso. Harmony was working so hard that she went all bumpy on her forehead when grabbed she grabbed a large chunk of Nancy's ample bosom. Nancy looked like she was going to kill Harm for it but she put it aside as Harmony heaved Nancy's body just a little bit more through the fuselage of the craft's body. Soon Nick noticed that as they started their second barrel roll he got a grasp of her inner leg as he slid his hand between her legs so he could start prying her body on through.
"Guys... I'm only tolerating you placing your hands where they are at because it is helping get me in." Nancy said harshly as she hugged onto Harmony.
Suddenly a hand came through with her phased leg.
"Um... Nancy..." Nick said as he saw the fingers. "How big is this guy?" Nancy squirmed as she looked down.
"Nick... hit his fingers..." Nancy screamed... "Hit his fingers..." Nick looking at the hand realized that it wasn't human. Quickly Nick started to pound on the fingers of the hand like mad. He could hear Nancy scream in pain as he did so. Suddenly he grabbed a finger of the hand that was firmly latched onto her thigh and started with all of his might to bring it back to break it so they could lose this excess baggage. With a sickening snap, the finger let go. Quickly he proceeded to the next finger and the next as he continued to break the grip of this hand off of Nancy. Each finger looked like it was tipped in a metal thimble attached by metal cords that ran over, through and in the flesh. As he got to the last one, and it looked like it had dug right into her flesh. Around this time, Harmony had pulled hard enough that Nancy had been able to phase her free leg through the wall that she was able to brace herself and attempt to pull herself up. However, the rest of the leg that had this appendage dug into she couldn't get out.
"Um... Nick..." Nancy grunted as Harmony was forcing with all of the muscles in her body to hold on to the phased woman. "Could you work a little faster?"
Nick looking at his options peeled the last finger back. He could feel blood pumping and practically squirting from the wound. Taking both of his hands Nick was able to sever the finger's connection to her leg and putting all of weight behind it, he broke the limb and Nancy was able to continue phasing the rest of her leg free of the wall. With the sudden shift in weight, they all fell to the floor with a loud thud. As Soon as they realized that Nancy was free, they felt the floor shifting underneath them as Eli put the craft into another barrel roll.
"Eli..." they all called out at the top of their lungs... "Nancy is free... you can stop spinning the craft around."
"Sorry Ya'll but I am taking some enemy fire." Eli said as they got flung back against the wall that Nancy had come through. Nick looked up to see the still twitching hand attempt to latch onto something suddenly Nancy grabbed the limb and shoved it back through the hull with her fingers then suddenly the craft started to seem a little lighter as they knew they were less some extra baggage.
Eli was flying the craft like mad. The controls looked like it had been retrofitted so that they were simpler, but who in the Great Shepard's name had decided to put all the lettering to the controls in some weird language. It wasn't written in Sono nor was it written in Anglo dialects. However, everything else read like normal. Whoever was flying this thing before they took it defiantly had a good sense of navigation. This thing flew like you could stop it on a single cred. Suddenly he had to swing the craft so that he could avoid the enemy fire he was taking. That was when Eli saw a rolling sphere of light where a ship was entering into at normal speed. Given how the ship was flying it looked like as if it was an airlock to a mother ship. That was when he aimed his craft towards. "Hang on everyone I think I found a way out of this place." Eli said as he aimed the controls to the portal.
Inside of an office, a figure sat behind his desk as he looked at several monitors.
"Sir... we are unable to take this craft down in flight. They are booking towards one of the gateway points." A panicked male voice said over a speaker.
"Lock computer gunnery controls to my command private!" The figure said as he touched several controls on his desk.
"Sir... that isn't wise... It will take..." the private sounded off, but he was stopped in his tracks by his leaders next words.
"Several moments, now if you treasure your life... do it." The shadowed figure said as the displays around him shifted then on each of the screens the computers showed a targeted crosshair on the ship. "Father... set off constant fire within a thirty percent margin of error." The figure's voice said as the computer readjusted its range. "Aim around the vessel so no shots hit it." He concluded as the computer changed it's targeting location. "Proceed firing." With that computer opened fire around the vessel forcing it into a tight flight path.
"Father... adjust gun fire to portal twenty-three alpha and set transmit coordinates to alpha one-nine-nine-four." The figure said as the craft was driven towards the portal. "Launch a heat-seeker towards engine two when vessel is five hundred meters from event horizon." He finished as he leaned back to watch the lightshow happen.
"Everything is going according to plan."
"Folks... we are taking enemy fire... ya'll better strap yourselves in because we are about to hit some..." There was an explosion as Eli's words were stopped in his throat. "Okay folks... wherever we are going we are going to be out of here, also we are going to be doing a uncontrolled landing." With that, the portal seemed to get smaller. Suddenly behind him was Nick.
"Dude... we must go faster... because I am not going to be stuck here." Nick said as Eli punched the engine or what was left of it to it's fullest speed and they went through the portal.
TBC
Part 16,
