Disclaimer: I do not own Starship, Starkid Productions does. Though I do own Ensigns Dancing-Tacos, Anthony, Kent and Drew. Please respect that, especially Dancing-Tacos, I'm quite fond of him.
Sorry for the loooong wait! but I had a 4 day weekend plus a snowday today so I had time to finally type this up and post. As always, thanks to my lovely readers and to whoever has reviewed so far. 3 Enjoy!
Chapter five: Piñata
Taz was first aware of a dull throbbing in the back of her head. Where was she?
Her eyes flew open as something bashed into her stomach and sent Taz spinning wildly through the air. Like a human piñata she was gagged and bound, hanging from the tallest banana tree in the village grove.
"OH PUNY HUMAN HAS REGAINED CONSCIOUSNESS." Taz spun around and the emotionless face of a robot stared right at her. "HIT THE FLESH-BAG AGAIN." The flesh-bag they were speaking of glared furiously at her assailants before she was hit again with- Nooooo...was that really her own zapper? She swung backwards violently and hit a tree; the gag in her mouth loosening and falling to the ground. A group of robots stood in a half circle waiting patiently for their turn to hit the human.
Taz growled, and struggled to break out of the ropes used to bind her."Usted robots estúpidos! Que va a sufrir por lo que está haciendo!" She was hit again, even harder then the first two blows. Blood dripped down into her left eye messing with her vision. Her entire body felt like pulp.
Or, she supposed, if you wanted to go into detail...a well pounded steak.
"You metal bastards! Leave that girl alone!" A gruff voice came from within the grove of banana trees. Taz- swinging in the air like a punching bag, couldn't locate where. The shots of a zapper rang out and she saw out of the corner of her right eye a robot falling to the ground. "Hah! Take that you estupido toasters!" She cried out, and was subsequently whacked again.
Taz blacked out for a moment,and when the world came back into being the robot that had just swung at her crashed into the dirt below, motionless. A round plasma hole was steaming right through its chest. She slowly swung to a stop, her hair dragging in the dirt and watched the action unfold upside-down. Three rangers (Three! Taz thought they all would've been dead by now!) by the names of Anthony, Drew, and Dancing-Tacos were kicking metal butt, taking down robots left and right.
She suddenly felt a jerking on the rope that was holding her suspended. What the-?
It started to jiggle back and forth like it was being sawed at and she could feel the fibers of the rope start to snap. Oh gosh. She tried to look up to see what the heck as going on, but she couldn't see over the poof of her dress.
"Taz." A familiar gruff voice came from behind her. "This might hurt a bit." The rope snapped free, and she went tumbling into the arms of one of the rangers, their foreheads colliding as she did so. "Cuidadoso!"
"Ow." He winced, tightening his grip on the small, bloody girl in his arms. She brought a palm to her head woozily, and blinked slowly."Sorry..." he chuckled.
Taz had to wait a moment and let her eyes adjust after the head klonking. The man holding her slowly swam back into view, as he shifted her into bridal position. "Up! You're alive!"
His big blue eyes stared down at her concerned even though he had just been chuckling. She fought the overbearing urge to hug the newbie that had just saved her. Taz normally wasn't the hugging type. If any of the hombres here knew what she had just wanted to do, she'd be teased mercilessly for a week!
"I'm more surprised that you're alive. You look like a brutally attacked pinata."
"I was a brutally attacked pinata."
"Fair point."
Up ducked suddenly, jostling Taz in his arms. "Ow!" The fifteen year old hissed. Now she had bruises on top of her bruises.
"Sorry." Up said, half concentrating. He whipped his pistol out of its holster and shot a robot three times in the forehead. An ensign named Kent jumped out of the tree Taz had previously been tied to and rolled along the ground, scooping up Taz's old zapper. He used it to bash down the robot Up had just shot, effectively decommissioning it.
"Gracias Kent."
"All in a days work Taz." Everyone stood in the banana grove, all the robots broken and lifeless on the ground. The sudden cease in action seemed to surprise the rangers. Ensign Anthony slowly broke out of a crouched position and walked over to Ensign Drew to help him get off the dirt.
"Thanks, man."
Up, deeming it safe, set Taz down on the ground gently, shifting his weight to accommodate. The sight below him was pretty terrible. She was black and blue, and her beautiful green dress was practically torn to shreds. Blood, Up wasn't quite sure if it was her own, was splattered in almost abstract patterns on the fabric.
" Is anything broken?"
She gestured limply to her ankle. "I think it's twisted. But other than that, I'm fine. Stop fussing."
There was a gash above her left eye, her upper lip was swollen, and her eyes were unnaturally dilated. Probably a mild concussion.
"Taz, you are most definitely not fine. We need to get you some medical help." She rolled her eyes and smacked his hand away.
"Loco! We need to get back out to the village and fight! Those robots are killing all my familia! All my amigos! I don't matter. What matters is to kill those estupido robots." Her selflessness surprised the lieutenant. " Come on! Rapido!"
Up glanced around at his surviving men. She didn't know yet, did she.
"Um,Taz?" Dancing-Tacos stepped over one of the robots and made his way over to her. He slung his zapper over his arm and placed a hand on her shoulder." Your the last person we've found so far... alive I mean."
Confusion and fear clouded her features."Que? no, certainly there are more people..." She grabbed her zapper and used it as a crutch to pick herself off of the ground. "You can't mean that..."
Up stood there solemnly, not knowing exactly what to do. How did you break it to someone that their entire world was just... gone?
"Taz, your village has been destroyed. We got here too late. I...I'm sorry."
She froze, and turned slowly to him.
"I'm sorry? I'M SORRY?" Taz threw her hands into the air. "What kind of pathetic excuse is that? Sorry won't bring back everyone!" Cold fury washed over her and the only thing that kept her from hobbling over to the Lieutenant and slapping him was the fact she could see the pain already in his features. Her mouth formed a perfect O as reason took over her was suffering too, she realized. On the inside. But why? None of his amigos were 'd only been here for two days... She on the other hand, had nothing left.
" Lo siento. I...I'm just a bit upset. I, ah... let's go back to the village; what's left of it anyway."
Up tried to grasp the sudden change of emotions that had just visibly swept through Taz. She went from wanting to kill him with that zapper of hers, to apologizing? For being angry over the death of her familia to withdrawing into herself? So quickly? What just happened?
"You sure you're ready Taz?" Dancing-Tacos asked.
" Si. I can't avoid it, no?" She took a deep, rattling breath. " Might as well get the pain out of the way." See if anyone survived. See if I can survive this. Taz glanced up at the Lieutenant, with a mask over his emotions. He had survived through this stuff before, right? They all had now.
All the rangers nodded,glad to have avoided the latinas' wrath and started to trump back to town. Up offered to carry Taz, but being the headstrong girl she was, declined. Up shook his head in exasperation. She had a busted ankle and couldn't walk straight. Everyone she knew was dead or probably missing. Who knew what was going through her head right now?
Pain, misery and an overwhelming sense of wrongness. That's what Taz was feeling as she and the men tromped through the banana trees. The air was thick with the smell of burning, and ash fell softly like the snow Taz had read about in her school books. What scared her though was the silence. No Quetzals flew through the air, no animals scurried through the underbrush. Not even a robots gears could be heard.
Only the sound of the rangers heavy breathing and her dancing heartbeat broke the emptiness.
It seemed as if the world had been put on pause, scared into stillness by the havoc that had been brought upon the little Guatemalan village. It was freaking Taz out.
Ensign Anthony held out two fingers, signaling everyone to halt and shut up.
'Robot.' He mouthed back to the ragtag team. Everybody crouched down and Ensign Anthony quickly took out the patrolling robot with a quick shot of plasma from his zapper. 'All clear.' They broke out of the cover of the banana grove and stepped onto the dirt of the road leading into the village around the bend. Taz could see smoke rising from their destination. She choked back a sob. It was true then. Her childhood home had been destroyed by los robots bastardos.
Lieutenant Up made everyone stop at the remains of the G.L.E.E. base. "We need to contact headquarters immediately." he had said. "We need a transport pod with a medical bay." His men had nodded in agreement, Taz strangely silent. This was it then, she supposed. They would go off back to their starships, and she would be stuck here in the remains of her village, left to die or find some sort of shelter.
"You guys go call your headquarters then." Taz said from the back of their pack, everyone spinning around to see her. "I'm going back home. Gracias for saving me." Maybe someone had survived, and was waiting for her to show up. Maybe, just maybe Mama was still alive, hiding in a shed or something.
Up, with his hand on the bases front door's hand scanner broke away and walked up to his new little friend. "You're severely injured Taz. You probably won't be able to walk back to the village anyway." She heard the unspoken truth. You won't want to go back to your village.
She jutted her lower lip out in defiance. " I made it here fine, so I can make it back to what's left of my home fine too. I'm going, no importa qué."
Ensign Drew ran a hand over his short blonde buzzcut." It's pretty terrifying out there Taz. you sure-"
"I was fighting in it before you hombres showed up. Took down a good many too. I can guess what it looks like." I can guess who died too.
"All the same, don't you think you should go with somebody? In case, you know..." He looked to the Lieutenant, "There's still some robots left?" He turned to Taz. "You're the only survivor we know of... we don't want to lose you."
"Si... but I need to find my Mama. Alive," a tear leaked out of her eye which she hastily wiped away, "o meurtos." Up understood. But it was a bloody massacre; no girl should ever have to see that. He hated to say it, but her mama probably didn't live past the first wave of robots.
"Alright. You can go back to town. But," He held up one gloved finger, "I'm going to go with you while these men contact headquarters. No excuses, alright?"
She turned without acknowledging his last statement and started to hobble up the road. Up faced Dancing-Tacos, Anthony, Drew and Kent. "You guys know what to do. Once you get contact with headquarters, come get us. Who knows how long we have to wait for a drop pod."
"We're taking Taz with us, right?"
"Of course." Up rolled his eyes. "I'm not leaving her here. Would you?"
A moment later his men disappeared into the empty G.L.E.E base, the door sliding shut behind them. Up pivoted on his heels, shook his head, and stalked after the teenage girl hobbling up the road.
Translations:
-"Usted robots estúpidos! Que va a sufrir por lo que está haciendo!": "You stupid robots! You are going to suffer for what you are doing!"
-"Cuidadoso!": Careful!
-hombres: men
- gracias: thanks
-Que? : what?
-lo siento: I'm sorry...
-no importa qué: no matter what
-o muertos: or dead
(note, I left out some words I feel like i've used enough in the previous chapters for you to get their gist.)
I hope this chapter lived up to expectations! If there's any inaccuracies, tell me. Also I'm in the mood for writing one shots. Have a Tup or other Starship prompt that would suit your fancy? Let me know! (I won't be doing slash, or Up/pincer... sorry.) Until next time fellow rangers!
~Em.