A/N: Don't even start with how long this chapter took to post; We're really trying, but getting all the facts straight and details worked out can be quite time consuming.
The song of this chapter is "Cold - Jorge Méndez" if you want to pre-load it. It's not as important, so this is a 'meh' song.
Chapter Three: A Shot Of History
A drunk man's words are a sober man's thoughts.
In the process of my ring spooling in preparation to flatten the entire two story building, I noticed a poster on the wall with Dexios... well, the wolf Dexios holding a wallet in his mouth. Immediately, all the anger built up from our conversation was replaced with a boisterous chuckle. "You really suck at stealing stuff, Dude." I said while deactivating my ring and pulling the page off the wall.
"Wait what? You just said I should run, and now you're looking at a wanted poster and critiquing my skills? I did win, so who really sucks?" He asked with a confused stare.
"Well, I didn't actually steal anything, and I'm not a wanted Q.S.S, so I'd say... Heh-heh-heh, I'm sorry, this is just too funny." I said with a flick of the page. "You look like you're playing fetch." I added with another chuckle.
"So? Winning is winning; I don't really care what it looks like." He opposed.
"Maybe not in this instance, but believe me... it matters what victory looks like." I replied with rejuvenated annoyance. That was the way I thought for a long time, that it didn't matter what winning looked like as long as I won; Nevertheless, with enough time and loss of life he'll come around to what true victory is. "Anywho, I believe we were-" In an instant, my head felt like it was on fire, and it hurt so bad that I gripped the back of it while falling to a knee in a wince of pain. It took me a few seconds before I realized what the problem was, but once I knew, my mind was filled with worry.
"Hey, you okay?" Dexios inquired with a step closer, and an extended hand to help me up.
"Run system diagnostics." I winced in Greek while further clenching my head as the pain increased. After what seemed like hours, my vision was filled with lines of orange text as well as a loading bar that displayed 'rebooting'. By the time all of the orange text faded away from my vision, Dexios had leaned over to help me up.
"Are you sure you're human, and not some faulty robot? Normal humans don't go off in another language... Come on, let's go re-connect you to your mothership."
"There's no way he know's I need to be connected to the network, that has to be a guess." I thought with an uneasy dismissal of his derogatory comment. With my head no longer causing me pain, I simply relaxed and stood up. "I'm fine, just a migraine; And I don't have a mothership." I snipped as a drop of blood dribbled out of my nose, which I quickly wiped away.
"Sure." Dexios said with a studying gaze. "Let's get out of here then."
By the time we reached the bar across town, the only thing giving me light to see was a dim glow of amber street lights every so often, and even then, it wasn't exactly total illumination. The bar itself wasn't anything spectacular; Yellowish orange walls, a small parking lot with all of two cars and truck in it, and a single window next to a glass door that filtered a tinge of light onto the asphalt outside.
Through the window I espied a few people sitting together, and a few by themselves along with what appeared to be an ancient, Pre-war United States flag made of tin cans over the bartender. "After you, Kid; Or should I say 'Pup' now?" I asked with a gesture to the door. It seemed as though he was trying to come up with a witty remark, however, nothing came out in time to be considered a comeback.
Instead, Dexios simply smiled at me as he grabbed the door handle and opened it for me. "Please, after you." He beckoned kindly.
I looked at him with a quizzical stare. "You're actually going to let that go, interest-Aww shit." I blurted while attempting to duck out of the way of some guy's upchuck, only ending in it smacking me right in the face. After a few seconds of the yellow semisolid splattering on the ground, I voiced my thoughts. "Dexios." I stated with heavily suppressed anger as puke dripped from my face. "I very much dislike you right now."
Of course, Dexios struggled to contain his laughter while resting a hand on his chest. "Me? What did I do? I simply grabbed the door for you."
"*Grumble* If you will excuse me, I need to go do some 'robot shenanigans' as you would most likely put it. ANNNNND YOU!" I shouted at the guy looking at my with wide eyes. "Go home, get some rest." I said with a gentle slap to his cheek before wandering around the corner of the bar.
The instant I made it out of sight, I gagged, and almost threw up all over the place, however, I held it back while fiddling with the C.I.P.S module on my combined rings, eventually causing a blue field to cloud over my vision before it started oscillating at a very high frequency. This in turn, caused all the yellow liquid on my face and shirt to fall on the ground as if I was covered in hydrophobic material. "There, all better." I beamed with a deactivation of the module.
With myself restored to cleanliness, I padded into the bar, which immediately smelled like liquor and shame. Most of the tables were made of wooden barrels, but there were a few booths to the left and right along the far walls. In addition, there were several promotions for enlisting into their military glued to the walls, all of which had pictures of people smiling in uniform. Up by the actual bar, there was a Liquid crystal display playing some sort of game on it, and the group of people I saw through the window were intently watching what the people were doing on the TV.
Moving on, the bartender nodded at me just before I located Dexios over in a booth to the left, menu in hand. "Anything good on the menu?" I asked while seating myself across from him.
"The bacon cheese burger sounds good." He answered with a slide of the menu in my direction. "That was quick."
"I already ate, but thanks." I replied with a wave-off of the menu. "It wasn't really all that fast, but I'm still rather annoyed that you did that." I added as a waitress with brown hair, and a black and white striped jersey padded towards us with pen and paper in hand.
"Can I get you two any drinks? Or are you ready to order?"
Dexios was the first to order, evident by him clearing his throat. "I'll have a whisky and the Bacon cheese burger."
"How about you, Hun?" She asked me.
After an unnoticeable glance over at the bottles of liquor on the wall, I replied. "Two glasses of water for me, and a... bottle of two thousand and eight Didier Dagueneau Silex, thank you." I answered with gracious smile. In return, the waitress blankly stared at me.
"He'll have the water to start." Dexios blurted while glaring at me. "He needs to look at the drink menu again." Once the waitress left, the man in a leather jacket leaned in and started chewing me out. "Are you trying to alert them that we aren't from around here, just order something normal." He quietly scolded.
"What?" I replied with confusion. "It's on the menu... Little bit pricy, but I don't know drinks; I only started a week ago, and that's because I was certain I was going to die." I whispered in return.
After a few seconds of Dexios starting at me, he replied. "Yeah, just go for a shot; Whisky or Vodka."
"Hmm... Since you said you wanted the whisky, I guess I'll have that as well." I said before realizing something. "Disable Cardio-filters. Can't be having that bothering me." I added moments before the waitress returned with Dexios's amber liquid and my waters.
"Your burger will just be a moment." She informed as Dexios nodded. "And you're still okay?" She asked me.
"Actually, I'd like a bottle of what he's having as well." I answered with another smile. "OH!" I shouted, causing the departing waitress to whip around. "If I can thoroughly impress you, can I get him his burger for free?"
In return, the waitress in a referee's shirt put her hands on her hips."Like magic? Are you a magician?"
"Well, any civilization with sufficient technological advancement can appear to be magical." I replied with a silly smile.
"So what? It's a card trick?" She asked quizzically.
"Levitation, Madam. Pick anything in the room, and I'll make it hover off the ground."
Obviously, such a claim would be nigh impossible to someone of their technological prowess, and as such, she stared at me in disbelief before holding out her pen. "How about this?"
In a flash, I held my left palm below her hand as I activated an advanced photopheresis module embedded within the my rings laser diode, eventing in the pen levitating a few inches off her palm. I then pulled my hand back, dragging the pen with me; With a single flick of my ring finger, the pen began free spinning. "I would call this a magic trick, but no; This is child's play. How about I pick up that dude's bottle of whatever that is?" I said with a subtle point to a man sitting by himself with a large bottle across the room. Meanwhile, I continued to spin the pen above my hand.
"Can you?" She queried with a glance away.
"I can." I replied boastfully. Before the brown haired waitress had a chance to respond, I pointed my left fist in the general direction of the bottle, and my ring made an almost inaudible charging sound as it lit up ever so slightly. Thankfully, her vision was tunneled on the bottle, not my ring. A few moments after my ring charged, the bottle lifted off the table and the owner of said bottle started staring at it disconcertingly. Through all of our exchange, Dexios remained completely silent, as if he was either trying to figure out how my ring worked, or a more likely scenario; If it was my ring at all.
"I… How are you doing that?" She whispered while leaning closer to me as I started pulling the amber liquid from the bottle with another flick of my finger.
"Any civilization with sufficiently advanced technology can appear to be magical." I replied as my gaze shifted to Dexios, to whom I mouthed 'Bitch, I'm magical.' I stared at him in anticipation for a response, which came in the form of an eye roll , followed by him kicking me in the shin under the table.
My first thought was him just being obnoxious, however, his eyes were tracking something in the room; Something I least expected. There was a wolf wearing blue jeans and a gray hoodie walking up to the bartender, and it was a she; It took me a second of thinking, though I identified her to be a Red Wolf, and the evidence was from a copper and black face with white tufts of fur under the chin. "Huh?" I mumbled as my left hand went limp and I completely forgot about the bottle. This in turn caused the glass to break on the ground, and the owner of said bottle to sprint from the bar as if his life depended on it.
"Why did you drop it!?" The waitress hissed quietly.
"Her." I replied with a gesture to the wolf gazing at the mess across the room.
"Ugh, those animals have no right to be in our country; I think they should be forced out." She snipped.
"Hmm, I suppose an intellectually superior race wouldn't fly with Humans." I thought in response to her comment about the Raxxlan wolf, unless she was another one of Dexios's 'kind'.
"Uh-huh." I said with a neutral tone. "I think you still have to legally serve her."
"I know." The waitress grumbled before wandering towards the wolf.
"She another one of you things?" I asked Dexios, who was also staring directly at her alongside the entirety of the bar, most of which being hostile in demeanor.
"Huh? No, she's just a wolf." He answered after returning from his daze. "Didn't know they had them here..." Was added in a mumble before turning back to me. "What was that magic crap about? I thought we were going to lay low?"
"It's playing the part, I'm not stupid; In this universe I'm a scientist for the military. And what are you talking about with the Raxxlans being here; I thought you never went into space. Speaking of, when she leaves, we're following her; I need something she has." I said with the new found knowledge of her not being like Dexios.
"What?" He asked indignantly. "No, I never went to space, and what the hell is a Raxxlan? Wait..." He leaned in and dropped to a hushed whisper. "You aren't going to kidnap her, are you?" He asked with another sip of his drink.
"And if I was?" I calmly replied with a copying sip of my water.
Dexios took a deep breath. "I think I'll need more alcohol." He said upon finishing the drink; With the simple wave of his hand, the waitress brought over another glass."What does she have that you need?" He asked with reluctance for what I suggested. Of course, I couldn't tell him what I really wanted from the Raxxlan; That would give him far too much knowledge.
"It's... a secret. All it'll take is a few hours of information extraction and I'll be done." I replied casually.
"... Um, you know she might just tell me without having to kidnap her."
"HA, you think I'd fall for a ploy so transparent as that?" I internally mocked. "Unlikely, and don't think you can get past the fact I'd have to tell you what the secret is."
Before Dexios responded, the waitress showed up with my bottle of whisky and Dexios's glass of the same. "Sorry about the wait; Here's your drink, on the house for that specular performance." The waitress chirped before wandering away.
"Doesn't really inspire confidence." He said with a glance back at the Wolf. "Way I see it is you can spill the beans and I help you, or I help her just for the fun of it."
"Oh no-no-no, this just won't do." I thought. "Way I see it is I can just blow a hole in your chest, and leave; But in an effort to make more friends than enemies, she has a hyperspace capable ship; I want it. Do you even know what hyperspace is?" I asked with doubt as to the intelligence of the quantum superposition errand boy sitting in front of me.
"I see." He pondered. "What would you gain from her ship, if she even has one?"
"It's not an if, Kid; There's no way for her to be here unless she has one, and I'm not about to tell you my inner workings; After all, you lied about only being able to Superpose. Now, if you want to get more out of me, we're going to have to make an agreement on something." I said, fully expecting him to clam up about his life since I already found out something he definitely didn't want me to know.
"Okay, a game then; You dodge a question, drink. Answer vaguely, drink. But if you answer truthfully, you don't drink."
"Of course I'd get that one detail wrong… Oh why not, I can just kill him if he says anything to someone else. The rules apply to you as well?" I asked, receiving a nod in return. "Very well, I will answer all that I'm at liberty to discuss with you." I said while pouring myself a shot. "I know a bit about your gift, so you ask first."
"Alright, you aren't completely human; What exactly are you?"
Of all the things to start off with, why did it have to be something like that. "I'm the Galactic Gene bearer for my universe; My title is the Galactic tracker. Now, I'll start off with something easy; What's your real name?" I asked, which earned a sigh from Dexios.
"Atticus O'Conner."
"That name is SO stupid!" I thought in response. "Wait… nah, doesn't mean anything secret to my knowledge."
"That headache you had back in the alley, what was it about?"
"Yeah, that's not happening." I smirked before downing the amber liquid, followed by choking as it burned my throat. "The fuck is this shit? And that's not my question." I coughed out as what felt like liquid fire went down my throat.
"It's the good stuff, now your question?"
"Good stuff? It better get me wasted for this taste." I said with a cringe. "Did you meet any doppelgangers since you arrived?"
"One so far." He answered. "How old are you? In my years, there's three hundred and sixty five days in a year."
"I suppose you're talking about the Earth's orbital speed?"
"Yes." Dexios replied.
"Well, I have three different sets of age, and no, I'm not being vague. My turn, Who's Luna?" I said with a sip of water to help my eviscerated throat.
"That was still pretty dodgy." Dexios said in reference to my answer. "As for Luna? She was once a werewolf, but upon her death she became something else."
"Oh, so I was right." I replied in a smirk. "That wolf is a messenger to the Guardians in his universe; Probably serving out her thousand year enlistment. Or maybe she's been recycled."
"Mhmm, is that so?" Dexios questioned with a glance around the bar. "So, got anyone back on your planet waiting for you?"
"... Yeah, I'm not dignifying that with a response." I thought while silently clenching my fists to the point where I thought I would shatter the shot glass in my hand.
"I see, in that case drink up." Dexios instructed, and without another word, I poured a shot and gulped it down as I stared at him with vexation.
"What are your other powers?" I asked coldly.
"Hmmm, like my increased speed, smell, sight, healing, and the obvious?" He asked.
"I knew it… agian! He does have more powers, but they aren't exactly good ones... so why have them at all?... That's all of it?" I asked skeptically.
"Oh, I had a vision once, of the future to come once... I think." He answered with uncertainty.
"That's more like a power that could actually be useful." I surmised while Dexios took yet another glance around the bar, however, this time he lingered on the wolf as she drank away at the actual bar.
"What's your home planet like?" He asked.
"Pretty normal for a terraformed planet, but I didn't get to spend much time there. Since you were so keen on asking it; Do you have anyone in your universe?" I asked as the effects of whatever this 'whisky' was, started taking hold on my body.
"No... Not anymore." He said with a voluntary swig. "You said you had three different sets of ages; Care to explain?"
"I don't think you can handle the truth." I replied honestly.
"Is that so? Try me?" He ignorantly challenged.
"I have Chronological, cellular, and Neurological ages, all of which differ exponentially." I deadpanned. "Well, I'm out of questions for now, so fire at will." I added after he didn't reply to the state of my age.
"Yeah, I got nothing." He said with a sip of the amber liquid in his glass.
The alcohol running through my bloodstream was starting to take more of an effect on me, and I believe that's why I decided to tell him of my past, and the consequences of going home. "Well... I guess I changed my mind about not answering one of those questions; I had a family in my universe. A wife, daughter, and a son on the way... then I was brought here, and now they've been dead for over three-thousand years. The worst part is I talked to my wife in that church, and had to watch her die." I mumbled before chugging almost a third of the bottle of whisky. "This crap better make me forget today." I grumbled in sadness.
"Damn… Can you get back to them?" He asked sympathetically.
"Not without help from the *hic* Guardians. But if I go back... ALLLL this is gone, and you're gone with it." I explained with another swig directly from the bottle. "My life was destined to be everyone's fall guy." One thing after another, no matter how hard I tried to save someone, they were always lost forever. What a great way to live.
"Who are the Guardians, and why would all this be gone?" Dexios asked as his whole demeanor changed to one of terribly suppressed panic.
In return, I began hysterically giggling at his statement. "DUH! I'm time traveling back three thousand years, Dipstick! This planet, and yours, will be building pyramids while I'm cruising at eight-thousand times the speed of light! L-listen, I have a Quirium Hyperspace gateway in my basement, so shut up." I murmured as my balance started fading away. By that time, I'd lost all sense of judgment, and all I saw was the objective in the room.
"YOU!" I yelled at the wolf sitting up by the bar, who had her head craned towards me. "You're coming with *hic* me." I ordered just before Dexios took my empty bottle of liquid fire away. Next thing I knew it, the wolf was leaving the bar. It wasn't like I was just going to let her get away, and I really needed her ship, so I pulled all the stops to catch her.
{ Cold - Jorge Méndez }
"Umm, how do you say that again?" I wondered to myself as I attempted to stand from the booth to chase after the wolf. "I know this! Activate the Cardio-filters and activate the battle awareness and amplification overlay!" I victoriously shouted into the air, just before Dexios left. "Heyyyyy, don't leave me." I whined, though he was already gone.
That was of my least concern, because I immediately realized the mistake I made; At first, my vision was filled with an overlay with the condition of my body along with a few other things, however, the system malfunctioned shortly after, and the burning sensation in my head returned, except this time it was much… much worse.
"AHHHH!" I screamed while collapsing on the ground in pain. My entire body felt like it was on fire, and the source was my head and spine. The sensation was indescribable, and it only became worse as the seconds passed. "SHUT IT OFF!" I screamed in pain, causing the overlay to instantly disappear. Though the pain was gone, my body was still in shock, so I laid on the ground in a ball for awhile. Eventually, I noticed my nose was bleeding profusely, and there was someone trying to help me up, but I couldn't understand what they were trying to say to me; It was just muffled noise. Nevertheless, the man continued to help me up, talking all the while.
"Leave me alone." I groggily demanded as I stood up with a heavy wobble and blood trickling out of my nose.
"Sir, you have to pay for your drinks."
"Do I?" I questioned as my ring spooled at his stomach.
"Whoa… Just-just get outta here." He warily said with a few back steps.
"No, I gotta pay, remember." I grumbled while fishing out a few hundreds.
"Not that much!" He squawked in response.
"I don't gi-give a shit." I replied while dropping the money as I stumbled outside.
I really had no clue where Dexios went, but I decided on taking a left in my search for him. The further I shuffled down the dimly lit, entirely empty streets, my haze of heavy blood alcohol content started lifting thanks to the Cardio-filters, which I didn't disable. "I can't believe I'd ever be stupid enough to activate that without being connected." I thought just before realizing my nose was still leaking all over the place.
"Not much I can do about that now." I said before looking up at the stars overhead. "Clara… Could you possibly come help me?" I asked into the moist air, feeling like a total idiot all the while. After waiting for a minute or two, I continued on down the road.
"Figures." I mumbled in disappointment.
After stumbling in a random direction for a while, I realized I'd really screwed up by turning on the implant. The entire front of my tan shirt was stained muddy red, and parts of my Olive green pants had streaks of blood on them as well. Nevertheless, I kept walking through the dimly lit night, and ended up stopping at a lamp post to lean up against. "Sorry, Clara. But imma die if you don't help me." I whispered as my eyes grew heavy under the amber light and my muscles weakened, forcing me to slump against the post.
"Alright Elliot, I'm here-WHAT DID YOU DO!?" Clara screeched from behind me.
"Not so loud." I whined as the Guardian laid me out on the pavement.
"What did you do to yourself?" She demanded as a few particles of dim light danced in and out of my vision, almost like tiny fireflies.
"I was stupid, but at least you can fix me." I said with a fatigued smile and a small cough.
"Elliot, I barely know how to use my A.C.R as it is." She admitted in worry.
"... Well crap." I whispered moments before I started choking on my own blood as it trickled back up my nose.
"No-no-no-no-no, we need you to help us. Um… ummmmm, You can fix yourself, just-just use my power! But you have to promise to give it back." Clara stammered.
"I'd ra-*choke* rather you do it. Just think of it as… a learning experience." I whispered as my eyes forced themselves shut. Slowly, her pleas for me to use her power turned into more muffled sobs, and eventually all that was left was an eerie feeling of cold emptiness. It didn't last though, and I found myself laying right where I was, except I was all better and a post-it note was attached to my forehead. Before reading it, I looked down at myself, and saw that all the blood stained into my clothes was dried and caked onto my skin.
"Next time you hurt yourself, call me instead of Claramond, Idiot. As for what caused your various types of bleeding, I still have no idea; I imagine you do, so let me know, and let me know how you're feeling, because though I may not show it, I do care if you die.
Your's truly, Rachel."
"How did she not see the implant?" I wondered as I crumpled up the note and ate it while staring into the partly cloudy, star lit sky. "Welp, this night officially sucks." I grumbled while picking bits of dried blood off my face.
My first attempt to stand up ended in one of the worst headaches I've felt in a while, so I opted to lay on the cold asphalt and watch the moon rise while picking the rest of the blood off. "I wonder if there's really something in there on his planet." I absentmindedly murmured. It would be quite the strange thing to have an outpost within the moon, though, that could always be the facility in which his Guardians draw power from earth.
My only hope for this universe was that maybe the Guardians weren't total pricks, and maybe they were actually looking out for the world. "Ha, as if that would ever happen." I smirked before noticing the graphite sections of my ring were pulsing red, and indicative warning that the ring needed to discharge its heat buildup.
"Oh yeah, I don't have the entangled heat sync anymore." I realized while sitting upright at tortoise levels of speed so I didn't make the waning headache any worse. "Well, let's go find you a lake to vaporize." I said to the ring. "Wow, I'm talking to inanimate objects… and myself. Ehh, what's the worst that could come from it? I mean, at least I'm not a drunk idiot anymore." I added while inching myself upright.
"I guess I should keep looking for Atticus… aww shit, the bartender." I hissed upon remembering I threatened him with a laser. "Too late now." I determined as I started shuffling down an alley to get onto the next road over. I then made a left and started circling back towards the bar, that is if I was remembering correctly. What I didn't remember was why he left, or why I chased after him. "There must've been a good reason."
I shuffled down the amber lit streets for a while, and eventually a light fog rolled in. It reduced visibility ever so slightly, although, by that point in the night I wasn't exactly able to see all that well to begin with. Being in a town that was literally empty at night was rather strange to me, not that I found it creepy… well, as long as the voices stayed away. It was quiet, calm, and the sounds of various types of bugs was relieving compared to the sounds of gunfire and screaming.
"Hey, You. Gimme your cash or I'll put a cap in ur' ass." Someone ordered from the shadows, prompting me to quietly raise my left hand and charge my ring for a linear focused, medium pulse of energy.
"That was a mistake." I replied before pulling the proverbial trigger on my weapon, which in turn sent a screech of orange particles into the stranger. I then flicked my wrist a few times, effectively cutting him into at least five pieces, not that I bothered to count after the fact.
"What an idiot." I said under my breath before shuffling on down the street. Eventually, I reached the end of the paved road, and shortly after that, the end of the buildings. I decided I'd go down one more street in my slow search for dexios.
As I trailed down the dirt path, I came upon a sign off the road with a big, golden star that said 'Sheriff' on it, and up ahead there was a large cabin with green sheet metal roofing and and a grass lawn.
"The hell… Is that a stockade?" I queried with a squint through the darkness. Being the impatient person that I can sometimes be, I lifted my left hand, and adjusted the ring to a wide focus, miniscule power setting. When I squeezed my fist to 'fire', the ring revolted with several bright red flashes of light.
"Crap." I grumbled before taking the ring off, then throwing it down the road with a slow heat discharge. About halfway through the airborne trajectory, all facets of the ring illuminated either Red or blue, which eventually blended into a vibrant purple color. From afar, it looked like someone threw a very large chemical light-stick on the ground, however, as I grew nearer and nearer, the surrounding air became much warmer, warm enough to make me hot as I stood over the ring.
"Halt thermal discharge." I commanded to the ring, which instantly stopped glowing. I then picked up the torus and threw it down the road again. The process was repeated about three times before I made it to what was thought to be a stockade.
"It is a stockade. A tiny, child sized stockade." I observed through the darkness before turning the orange 'flashlight' on the object of interest, which immediately made me jump in surprise, followed by falling on my ass from lack of balance and blood.
"What are you doing here?" I asked incredulously as an albino bobcat awoke from what looked like a rather uncomfortable slumber. The moment it realized I was sitting there, I was met with so many words.
"Please don't hurt me, I didn't do anything. I-I-I just came here to see the scenic side of this country, and then the police planted-"
"SHUT… UP." I interrupted in Raxxlan as the sensation of a migraine pelted me like hail. Before long, I was laying on my back while massaging my temples in an attempt to make the ache stop.
"You speak my-"
"Did I say to start talking?" I interrupted again.
"... Why are you covered in blood?" She asked warily, not that I'd blame her for being worried about a stranger covered in blood.
"Obviously you're not going to shut up; It's my blood, and I almost bled out, and now you gave me a migraine… Will you shut up now?" I asked with exasperation.
"Oh… Are you going to be okay?" She asked with curiosity.
"Are you going to shut up?" I mocked.
"You're annoying, ya-know that." She said with a pull at the stockade. "I can't believe this actually happened to me." Was hopelessly mumbled shortly after.
"Join the club. But I still think I have it worse than you." I replied at the thought of our respective problems, which was responded with her spitting on me. Her attempt at disrespectfulness only impacted the C.I.P.S and created a small, blue ripple over my face. "That's not very nice of you; We're just having conversation." I responded as the shield oscillated to remove her spit.
"Yeah, sure you're in more trouble than me." She countered before returning to getting one of her limbs free.
"Never judge a book by it's cover; You might realize there's more to a story than what initially meets the eye."
"*Pff* whatever." She dismissed.
"Tell me your name and why you're here, and I might just let you go." I said with the interest as to why an advanced civilization would be here, and how she managed to be captured. Hopefully this would also spark a real, lengthy conversation.
"I already told you guys; My name is Ania Felid, and I'm here on vacation. I just wanted to see what this country was like; I'm not a terrorist, or a spy, or anything. I work RETAIL at a little corner shop, okay!" The albino bobcat shouted with aggrievance.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." I replied while sitting up, which almost brought me to her rather small stature. "If you work retail, how could you afford a ship to get over here?" I questioned, fully expecting her to lie about the cost of a hyperspace capable ship. Even in my world, such a ship to make the transit would cost tens of millions of credits.
"Are you kidding me, I can't afford a ship that could make that journey, I bought a ticket."
"Say WHAAAAAAT? She bought a ticket to a planet forty five thousand light years away?... So, if I were to help you escape, would you possibly lead me back to this ship you rented the ticket on."
"Listen, If you help me escape, I'd… I'd totally take you to the boat!" Ania replied as if she initially planned on saying something else; Perhaps it was all a ruse, and she would betray me. "Ehh, I can kill her if she tries to escape."
"Deal." I affirmed before putting my ring up to the padlock on the stockade. "Close your eyes." I said moments before firing the weapon into the lock, heating it up to the point of orange slag. Before I had a chance to pull the board off the small cat, some old, scraggly dude with a pistol came out of the sheriff's station.
"Freeze!" He shouted just before my ring lit up bright red, followed by flashing several times.
"Uh-oh." I absentmindedly mumbled while pulling the latter off as fast as possible, followed by throwing it at the man.
"What kinda chuckwagon ring is that?" The deputy questioned as the ring harmlessly bounced off his archaic body armor. In an instant, the entire spot where the man stood was enveloped in blinding white light, and the heat it gave off was instantly as hot as an oven. A side effect of the rapidly heating atmosphere unfortunately meant rapid atmosphere expansion, which resulted in a defining boom of thunder that rang throughout the entire valley.
"Run!" I shouted to the white bobcat while lifting the board holding her down. Of course, this 'Ania' needed no incentive to run, and she was soon out of my view. On the other hand, I was far too weak to run, and I was forced hobble away or face falling.
On one hand, if I fell, it would take me at least ten more seconds to get back up, but if I only walked, I would become a living bacon strip. By the time I made it up a small grass hill where the cat ran off to, my clothing was completely charred, either off my body or into my skin, along with my back feeling numb in some areas and extremely painful in others.
Instead of attempting to make it somewhere I wouldn't be seen, I simply face planted into the grass from a mixture of exhaustion and pain. "Ahhh-ha-ha-haaa… Worst… Déjà vu… Ever." I winced as my eyes closed in preparation to be captured by whomever was growing nearer and nearer.
A/N: Remember to check out Dexios's version, it's full of drunken character thought process too.
Don't forget to like comment and subscribe... wait... wrong website.
But seriously, reviews are appreciated, In particular; Do you like me putting the song at the top of the page to pre-load?