Wrong Place, Right Time
Ch. 43
Crazy Train (Furry Fury)
Pov: Aaron
As Jo made it to the back car, the ride driven by the blue senator was speeding as fast as it could to the front.
I spoke to her amid the noise of the wind picked up by her speed,
"Can you move us above the windows?! We don't want them to see us!"
She didn't answer with words, and instead followed through with action. As we made it to the top I tried consolidating her with a thumbs up,
"Thanks!"
Still she said nothing, her attention was solely focused on the path ahead of us; Appearing high strung. So I brought my attention to the small machine,
"Stick close to me when we get in, Artoo."
He gave me a sharp chirp as confirmation.
With nothing else to say, I physically prepared myself to move in on the train as Rio flew side to side to avoid signs.
Also, I reminded myself of the warning Jo gave me about the drugs they had. Souped up painkillers with detrimental effects on the mind.
Simply put: Do not touch.
After a few shakes, Riyo made it in position. With no time to lose, I sucked in a gasp of air and jumped on the runaway train with the droid in tow. Metal clanged against metal, and I hunched over to lightly bare my shins from the small strain. The droid laned with no problem because of his rockets. After the initial shock, I turned to thank our driver with a wave. Again, she didn't return the motion. Keeping her hands on the wheel and pulled away into the sky… At that speed, I couldn't blame her.
Artoo, meanwhile, was already working on the hatch to get in with a little buzzsaw. If the situation wasn't so dire, I would have asked the little guy where he hid the little things like that.
After a few moments, the lock was off. I pushed the door open against the wind and held it for the little blue robot to pass through, followed by myself. The door was slammed shut, and I raised the blaster up down the long side of the car. Empty. No seats, just a few terminals and other equipment.
Anxiety set in and drew my attention to the controls, as to why the train obeyed the scumbags in the first place.
"Artoo? Can you rip that door?"
"?"
Ooops, wrong universe.
"I mean-, Can you get it open?"
A series of whistles later, he was working on a terminal. My attention was kept on the rest of the car, but I knocked a few times on the door.
"Anyone in there? Train- Pilot- Conductor?"
I never thought I would be in this situation, so I didn't know the name of a guy piloting a super metropolis monorail train. Either way, no response. And like before, the Droid was able to work its magic and open the door to reveal… A broken droid. The station was therefore unmanned, and I pulled the remains out of the seat.
"Ssshoot. Can you work this, buddy?"
Artoo stuck out his terminal connector to a port on the droid. After a few moments while keeping my eyes on the car, he started whistling as I tried to understand.
"This droid wasn't the driver? Then, what-?"
("I mean he was, but wasn't. He was remotely hacked and set to self-destruct when I regained control at the station.")
"... But that doesn't make sense! Does it?"
("Beats, me!")
I sighed, "Stay here then, and lock the door behind me. Stop them from trying to retake control of the systems."
("What about you?")
"I'm going in."
Checking my equipment once over, I left the cabin and the droid gave me a final whistle of good luck. The door sealed itself behind me and I made my way to the next car.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Making sure the coast was clear, I entered the passenger car lined with leather seats arranged like you would see on a plane.
I played it safe walking down, keeping my blaster up at the next door.
Sure enough the door slid open, and I took cover behind a seat. Waiting for the right moment to strike.
Feet rushed along the isle, and about halfway through, I stopped hiding and took aim down the car.
In front was a grunt…
In front "was" a grunt. The bolt of my blaster hit him square in the chest, followed by another behind that one getting his leg grazed. After that opening, shouting could be heard in their group. I made no room for them to think. Taking the center, I sprayed more blasts and sent the majority of them fleeing.
Contrary to their new fear, a voice could be heard behind them, "Out of my way, Filth!"
One of the criminals' bodies was grabbed as it was being shot by me. His face became lifeless and moved in on me fast. In a panic, I rolled out of the way into a row of seats before the corpse made impact. The body flung past to the end of the car. In the place I had stood was what could be described as a shortish wolfman with red dry eyes. A familiar one at that.
"You!"
"Mando!"
He doesn't recognize me?! That-! Might be a good thing.
I raised my blaster while the creature raised his claws and swiped the weapon from me. In that same momentum, he leaped at me; Making me dash under him to the other side of the row. Wolfman didn't stop. Like a wild raving animal, he kept on me.
Instead of me charging, now I was the one on my toes; crawling on the ground. I moved down the length of the car the way I came and reached for the blaster I lost.
Before my fingers could touch it, I felt claws dig into the un armored part on my legs. The pain was unlike anything I had felt till that point! A yell left me as the nails touched my bones!
I'M PULLIN MY ACE!
With no other choice, I drew my colt and free aimed behind me! Whatever happened after I fired, the pain stopped long enough for me to get on my feet and take aim. A foot was flung into my wrists, making me drop my colt.
With no other choice, I had one weapon left. The blade! It wasn't like a lightsaber, but it would carry enough.
I drew myself into a stance and prepared for the next strike. To my surprise, it didn't happen…
Yet.
Before all that, the Wolfman paced back and forth; Blowing off his temper. His rage finally settled down, though visibly present.
"What do you think, Mando?"
?
"I'm sorry?"
He stopped walking, and looked flabbergasted,
"... You?"
"Me?"
"I recognized that apologetic dribble. You're that human at the track!"
My eyes narrowed at him underneath my visor,
"You're that murderer at the bar."
He ignored that comment, "You! A Mando! Of all people! Don't you have any pride in yourself as a warrior! I clearly challenged you then!"
I sighed as I reshuffle my footing.
"One. It was my day off, so I was trying to take things easy. Two. True strength is knowing when to hold back."
"And the credits?!"
Clearly he had some screw loose if his concern was money over his own teammate he killed. Still, it didn't hurt to play along,
"I won't bore you with details, but it's something about guilt."
This worked to only confuse him more, "Wha-? Whatever. You humans are just the same everywhere."
"What did humans do-?"
Faster than I could blink, the creature brought up a blade from the corpse and charged me! If I hadn't held my stance, he would have cut my head right there!
"Everything!"
His rage was stronger than anything I had seen in a person, beyond any petty reason.
"My family and I were ostracized by humans! Even more because of my condition!"
"It's alright Rando, you're our son. We love you as you are."
?
It wasn't his own outer voice.
He drew back for another blow; a diagonal swipe. My blade met his again, just as he started charging up strike after strike in any and all directions. The effort he gave pushed me back further from the center. He pressed some more as he spoke,
"Humans killed them! And they came for me! But I escaped! And when it was over for me!… He found me in the gutter! He spoke through a cleaning droid, and told me he could cure me…"
The strikes were slowing down, he started breathing heavily, and his eyes slowly became redder.
Backing up at a snail's pace, he reached for a little container and swallowed the contents. And just as quick. He sprayed his eyes with something, doing little to help visibly.
"Come on! Work blast it!"
Seeing a chink in his armor, I moved forward and asked to know more, "What condition?! And why him? Was it expensive?"
"It-! Yes! It was! Nobody understood!"
Nobody…
I knew that feeling too well… Enough to hear him out, despite his crimes. So I swallowed my pride a little more to listen to the thug,
"Tell me then! Maybe I will!"
Rando looked to be in pain, both physical and emotional. Eventually, he answered through strained breathing,
"...F-fine… I was born, … Wrong! Humans hated my parents because of me!"
"What was it? Disfigurement?"
He gave a heated tisk,
"In a way… My parents were Bothan… I was born human."
… Human?...
All of the gears in my brain stopped. Knowing what he said, but unable to grasp it…
Human…
Wolfman…
Human…
Wolfman…
Human…
… Doctor… The same who left the brai-.
Finally it clicked, and I failed to hide the disgust I felt in the revelation as to what was done to him. Rando saw this reaction and assumed the worst and cried out to me.
"See! You're the same! You think I should be killed because of it!"
"No! Listen-!"
He cut me off howling,
"You're all the same! It's why I needed to be cured! The Doctor gave me this body! He's the greatest!"
The furry thug began his fury of strikes, only now he threw in jabs with his claws! Proving to be very effective, as every time I blocked, he moved in to strike my openings. Even his feet had claws exposed through his shoes, slicing at my sides.
He somehow could keep up the assault while maintaining some time in the air! Acrobatics that I had no defense against!
In a short time, I was knocked to the ground and the beast struck his blade against mine! Turning our fight into a power struggle!
Through the abuse, I talked to him,
"Listen! I don't hate you! And I don't want to hurt you-!"
"Shut up!"
"But that doctor isn't great! He's only using you!"
"And you wouldn't?!"
My arms struggled to gather the strength to push against him,
"He'll toss you aside! You aren't his first experiment! The man you killed! Cal Bodan?! This doctor took his only son's body! And that 'Weeqay' has it!"
"It changes nothing! I'm sure he owed the Doctor something! The only downside is that I have to work with that Freak!"
His blade inched closer to me, moving further down to the crossguard. He was about to move his blade around mine before I stunned him by a last show of strength by pressing mine forward. It was enough to make him jump back and get myself to my feet.
I took a moment's pause to catch my breath,
Rando…
"You need to see what you did is wrong. You stole the body of another and disgraced yourself! Your doctor is playing a game he doesn't understand, and knows no boundaries!"
"Don't give me that talk of the 'Sanctity of Life!' It's mine! My choice!"
The lunatic moved in for another attack until he flinched and grabbed his head. Rando's eyes grewing worse, and water leaked from them.
"...My head…"
He reached into his pocket for another dose, struggling to handle the lid, his hand shaking.
Again I spoke to him,
"You're right. It's your choice… But that doesn't make it the right one."
"Stop it."
"It's never just one thing, you know? One thing leads to another. Never a single evil action. Not only… Did you betray yourself… You betrayed your parents…"
He was fumbling worse with the medication he had, and was almost crying as he spoke,
"Stop it!"
"Your parents loved you for who you were, dead or alive! The human you! You can come back from this, Rando!"
"St-!..."
He dropped the contents of his container and the pills spilled over the floor.
"...What did you say?"
Rando was unconcerned by the medication everywhere, and crushed some under his feet as he walked forward. This tone shift somewhat confused me,
"What? That you can cha-?"
"No! My name! I never told you!"
…Oh.
"Uhhh…"
"Don't lie!... You've been in my head, haven't you! What are you!"
"No! I wasn't! I haven't been in your head-! uh per say! Look, I've only learned about this power a couple weeks ago! I can only read surface thoughts!"
"Lies! Not once have I thought of my name in front of you!"
"W-well, maybe you don't know yourself! It sounded like your parents!"
…That came out wrong.
The mention of his guardians rolled Rando over the edge. He went on all fours with his blade still in hand, appearing nearly blind by the red that encased his irises. The mad beast resumed his push against me with varied results.
Rando's attacks missed now and then, and my blade could block the strength he wasted away. It seemed the drugs had a worse effect than what was on the bottle.
"Why?! Won't?! You die?! Mando?!"
I blocked a strike to lock him in place and yelled to him,
"Because you need help!"
He scoffed,
"Help?! You're going to need it when I'm through with you!"
"And not just you, clearly you all need it!"
Rando stopped and stumbled back, only to grab his head in pain.
Still I kept at it,
"I see that now… I was angry at you and your pals. After what you did to the people at the diner. You're suffering… That doctor of yours is no help.
"You're just a pawn… But… That doesn't short justice!"
My blade was drawn forward into the air, and had both hands on the hilt,
"I can help you! I want to! But you need to accept the consequences that will come! Maybe they can rehabilitate you! You need to believe it!"
He was moving to his knees, losing strength,
"What are you?! A Jedi?! …Huh?"
Blindly, his hands had landed his palms over a small grouping of the pills; and a wicked smile came across his face,
"Finally! Just watch Mando! See what the body the Doctor gave me can do!"
No way.
"No! Wait!"
"Too late!"
Rando took the handfuls of pills in one swallow, followed by a deep chuckle.
There was no way.
"I… Am… A Bothan!"
"No…"
There was no way the pills were going to work, but there he was! Standing on his own two feet again, blade in hand!
Taking one step towards me!... Dropping his blade. His hands reached towards his head and his jaw opened wide! The blood came out of his eyes and smeared into his fur; While more came out from the sides of his head.
The "Bothan's" scream was silent on the outside. But unfortunately, his cry was heard well and loud in my mind.
"MY HEAD!"
It hurt in a way… Being right there, and still too far to reach… Watching the fall.
Under the metal helmet, I felt water reach down my face as I heard the cries of a lost one. Cries of sorrow.
"Mom… Dad… Help…"
The experimented soul was no more, and its stolen body fell to the ground, lifeless.
I looked at the empty bloodied husk for a full minute, nearly forgetting why I was there in the first place…
End Chapter