Futuristic Come on! Not agaain! -Sincerely, Adrian.

[chellemrys]

Cas always got a large adrenaline rush in moments like these; the thrill was overwhelming. The danger was like ecstasy, and he was addicted to it. Adventures like this was what he lived for, despite the unfortunate circumstances of coming into this mission. A very slight grin, which was obviously suppressed, came to his face as they began silently signaling the others, mapping out a quick new plan.


He held his gun with both hands, down at the side of his body, prepped for sharp snapping to come up and shoot any enemy who dared show their face to him. He tensed, like a runner before a track race, ready to dash out of the doors when Keve told the Uniri they were coming out back. He counted down in his mind, knowing the exact amount of time it would take for these ships doors to open; he had been on plenty, after all.


As soon as the doors opened, the Lieutenant pressed his body to the side of the wall, and pushed himself out the door, pointing his gun in one fluid motion, and shot two of the four Uniri standing at their entrance, and jumping out the side, running past the other two as the slower goons behind them shot them down. Cas ran into the wall on the outside, flicking on his flashlight on the gun's sights, and began rapid firing at any Uniri that popped around the corner, masterly dodging bullets and ducking behind the wings of the ship as warriors of the other side bobbed after their crew.


He found himself at the door within seconds, and noticed even with his long rest from missions, the rest of the gang was lagging slightly behind. He only paid attention to Keve, however, and not out of affection. He safety was required if Cas wanted to retrieve Adrian alive and well. From the door, he dispatched enemies advancing on Keve, shooting right past the other "ex"-agent, barely missing his head or shoulders with each bright blue bolt of plasma, that shot like a base ball out of a machine, slamming into walls or the faces of Uniri.

 

[Laine]

Keve continued running down the narrow wing, gritting his teeth hard as his comrade fired at him from the other side. Had he not been as experienced, his head might have bobbed and ducked out of the way of Cassidy’s plasma bullets – which would be a big mistake, as it would put him directly in the crossfire, and sent his brains scattering across the walls. Thankfully for both the Time Agents, he reached the door unscathed, and he ducked behind Cassidy as the other covered him. Zise and the other goons were trailing behind, having taken a longer, alternate route around the dark room, which caused them to dispatch the majority of the Uniri that were left in Cassidy’s wake.


As they waited for them, Keve pulled out a small metal box and fiddled with it, clicking his teeth together as it activated with a tiny blue light. The technology-delaying distress signal – which should’ve been familiar to the Lieutenant – was stuffed into a small opening at the side of the corridor, and made a satisfying clank as it landed several stories below. “Hopefully, that should…buy us a few minutes…” Keve panted, already out of breath from the strenuous activity. The wail of a security-breach alarm began just as he spoke, but it was almost immediately silenced by the distress signal’s electromagnetic pulse.


As Zise arrived, Keve pressed himself against the door at the end of the corridor, facing the Lieutenant as he continued to take hurried, laboured breaths. He nodded up to the ceiling, “You and I can take the air ducts, which will eventually lead to the Yusson…while Zise can locate the beaming device onboard…and the clones can try to get the ship out of dock and in orbit, so we can escape…Sound good?” He panted to the other. “I would offer to go by foot, but…” The Time-Agent gave a sheepish grin to the other, letting out another heavy pant just to make his point. Although he wasn’t strictly lazy, Keve knew that he would be wasting his energy by engaging the hostile Uniri at every point, whilst the air ducts were part of their original plan, and also more discreet. Splitting the group up would also decrease the chance of he or Cassidy getting injured – the Uniri would naturally focus on the biggest threat, the jet-black monster tearing through the hallways and ripping apart machinery.


The rumble of boots against the ground could be heard from a nearby corridor as the Uniri sent reinforcements, and Keve shot at a few nearing the corner as he waited for the Lieutenant’s reply.

 

[chellemrys]

Cassidy finished off the Uniri in the room, ducking at the occasional plasma bolt that came flying their way. He too had to catch his breath; being out of practice had caused just a bit of flab and laziness on Cas' part too, but not nearly as much as Keve's. The agent huffed out a final breath, before stabilizing his breathing once more, and putting his gun in preparation up to his ear, both hands tight on the weapon.


He recognized the device immediately, and a wave of bad memories smashed their way into his memory again, so he looked away quick and grimaced briefly. He agreed with Keve's relatively similar plan to the original, and he nodded, looking up at the ceiling above. "Hands out, gotta stand on them," He whispered, examining the air duct that was just out of reach, by less than a foot. He silently prayed Zise would get shot on the way back, after the job was done, because of his treatment towards Adrian.


Once he finally got Keve to open both hands, he stepped into his palms and was hoisted upwards, opening the duct and moving in. With ease he crawled into the tight space, before inching his way back around to reach down for the ex-agent, He hoisted Keve up, lacking the grace they used to have together, as a team. Once inside, Cas carefully shut the duct, and began frantically, but silently, crawling. "This is going well..." He whispered, sarcasm lacing his tone.

 

[Laine]

Keve bore a tiny grin as he crawled behind the other, “I don’t know why you’re complaining, I’ve got the best view in the house.” He chuckled at the Lieutenant, although there was a nervous tremor to his voice from the intensity of the mission. “Nice ass, Petar.” Below them they heard the light footsteps of Zise and the goons scooting off towards their relative stations.


A few minutes passed in silence as they shuffled along the air duct, the cold of the metal caused Keve to shiver and his breath partially came out in clouds of white condensation. The air duct suddenly shuddered with the sound of the security-breach alarm, however it was some distance behind them. Keve looked out of a brief opening in the duct, careful to stay away to prevent himself from being seen. He huffed in exasperation as he saw several Uniri dressed in plain clothing absentmindedly going about their business. “Petar.” He hissed, but didn’t quite catch Cassidy’s attention. He grunted, and reached forward, grabbing Cas by the leg and tugging it backwards. The Lieutenant instinctively kicked back, and the air duct clanged noisily as Keve hit his head on it. Several of the Uniri raised their heads at the sound, but shrugged it off as they continued their business.


Keve looked at Cas with severe eyes, gritting his teeth as he rubbed the sore spot on his forehead. “We’re in the residential sector.” He hissed angrily. “We’re going the wrong way.” The blond man slowly started crawling backwards, with no space to turn around, has hands beginning to numb from the lack of heat. Of course, he was accustomed to living on Vos, the hot, humid planet, and so being in a cold, airy vent was quite an adjustment to have to make.


He peered out of a vent and saw another air duct crossing the path of theirs, and he halted, “Here, Petar.” Keve whispered, carefully pulling the metal grates off and sliding across a gap and up into it. He held out his hand to help the Lieutenant slide across into it, but not before he looked down. Keve's breath caught in his throat as he saw an 18-story drop beneath him. He swallowed thickly as the open space seemed to swallow him, his hand slowly lowering as he briefly became consumed by his lifelong phobia - heights.

 

[chellemrys]

Cas rolled his eyes, not appreciating the innuendos anymore. Innuendos made up three quarters of his humor, but not with Keve anymore. He even joked around with his enemies, usually to get on their nerves, but Keve's reputation was a black pit in his mind, a never ending hole Keve could never dig himself out of. He stopped abruptly, and he felt Keve's face smack into said ass, and then continued on with a smug expression the other could not see.


Cas cursed in his mind as they clanged about, and he almost shouted 'fuck'! aloud, but caught himself, and swung his head around in the tight space to glare at Keve, ready to turn around and strange the other. "Idiot." He hissed, before also scooting backwards, and reversing their path. He was thankful when the air duct opened slightly, and he could turn into the next corridor of metal duct. He waited for his chance to slide across the gate, and grabbed Keve's arm, not even hesitating or looking down. He went to slide himself, but froze when the other did not move or pull, he too looking down.


The Lieutenant's eyes widened slightly when he saw what lay below, but he shoved the danger into the back of his mind, unpacking courage in its place. He hissed at Keve, "Keep moving!" His whisper echoed through the vents, and the Lieutenant closed his eyes, sighing silently. He slid with ease when Keve finally tugged at his arm, and they kept going, Keve now shakily, knowing that below there was such a large drop.

 

[Laine]

“Mm…hm?” Keve grunted as he snapped out of it, tugging Cassidy through into the next air vent. He crawled forward in the slightly narrower passage, leading the way for the other Time Agent. In the back of his mind, he felt sick that they were only being supported by a thin metal box around them, and he had to pause and take deep breaths several times as they continued on.


Eventually, the air duct tapered off and up, into a far smaller pipe, which supposedly led to a ventilation room. Keve sighed a breath of relief, knowing that they must be close to the heart of the ship, where all the major machinery was being kept. Just before he slid the vent off the duct in front of them, his hopper flashed with a red light, and Keve stopped to read it. “The triplets are successfully in orbit in another utility ship. We’ll have to keep that in mind when we’re beaming out.” He murmured, biting his lip as the message ended. “No word from Zise yet.”


With no time to wait, Keve pulled on the thin metal sheet at the bottom of the air duct, and poked his head through the hole to check for any danger. The plain-looking corridor was eerily empty, but Keve nevertheless lowered himself down into it, raising his head as he waited for the Lieutenant to slide out. He made his way, gun drawn, through the corridor until the path split off at four ways, a crossroads.


There were no other footsteps, no firing of guns, no security alarms, and the ex-Time Agent stepped cautiously out, peering at the signs written on the wall to get his bearings. “The Yusson should be somewhere near here.” He said as he scratched his head, unfamiliar with the language they had used to write in, “I’m guessing it’ll be…one of these ways…” He looked around him for inspiration – a travelling party of engineers, or someone holding a this way to the Yusson machine sign, perhaps – but found none, and instead he picked a random path, and began to walk down it hesitantly.

 

[chellemrys]

Cas followed the other, walking silently. He was shocked when they came to a four way path, hardly ever being faced with such a dilemma. And they all went in different directions. He tensed his hand on his gun, and cursed. The time agency always taught the agents the language of wherever they were going, and who they would be dealing with- to prevent things like the exact situation Keve and Cas found themselves in.


We have to guess... He thought, swallowing thickly, mind flying back to Adrian. It gave the Uniri too much time, if they came looking for them. Too much time to find them wandering the wrong corridor. He caught Keve by the shoulder, whispering, "Split up." He warned, "If we stay together, we will take the twice the time. Twice the chance of getting caught. And then shot." He was truly warning the other, and trying to make a wise decision. Although, he knew Keve would be vehemently opposed to the idea. "I've got no other good ideas."

 

[Laine]

Keve rolled his eyes, stopping down the path that he’d chosen as the Lieutenant grabbed his shoulder. “Split up?” He retorted, obviously against the idea. “That’s fucking ridiculous…I can’t trust you to go on your own whilst your cuff-” He blabbered, stopping himself short of outing his own plan’s weakness just in time. He shook his head vehemently, shrugging the hand off his shoulder and facing the Lieutenant, pointing in the opposite direction from where he was originally going. “I mean- how are we supposed to tell each other that we found it?!...That’s right, we can’t. We’re going this way, I’m leading this mission and I know that we’ll-”


A sudden bellow sounded out from behind the two, and Keve shook as a Uniri behind him screamed in panic. The door it had emerged from was no less than 5ft behind Keve, and seemed to blend into the wall until it was opened – a maintenance outlet, of sorts. The creature dressed in overalls bolted in their opposite direction, shouting something in the native Uniri language at the tops of it’s lungs down the empty corridor. Biting his lip as yet another blip in his plan showed up, Keve chased over to it, and with some struggling managed to pin it down and drag it back into the way it had come, beckoning Cassidy into the tight, dimly lit airspace within the ship’s walls.


The Uniri continued to scream and wail, banging it’s limbs against the door and walls, until Keve hit it hard in the head and pointed his gun at it’s throat. His eyes were bloodshot with desperation as he growled to it in universal tongue. “You shut up or I’ll blow your damn trachea out, you understand?!” The creature stopped struggling, but continued to whimper in terror as it’s eyes flicked between the two Time Agents. Shoving the Uniri engineer over to Cassidy to hold, Keve pulled out a knife-like weapon from his boot and pressed it against the Uniri’s stomach, intending to kill it quickly and silently to avoid setting off any alarms.

 

[chellemrys]

Cas caught the word 'cuff', and his eyes widened a tiny bit, in the way of being curious and realizing something. He held himself from stealing a glance at it, or his hopper, so Keve did not think he had given away anything. In fact, he had not really explicitly given away his apparent secret, but all it took to ignite Cas' profound suspicion was the mention of the cuff.


Seemingly, he did not catch it. He sighed, "You did not bring any type of communicator?" The Lieutenant went on, shaking his head in mock disbelief, "You always should bring those; those are a necessity..." His head snapped to the direction of the scream, and he swung around, and found a Uniri standing less than a car-length away. The agent let Keve chase it down, and came to their side, crouching down to examine the creature.


He quickly pinned the engineer's shoulders, and held him down, in replace of Keve. He jolted and smacked the knife away from the stomach, angrily scolding Keve immediately, "You don't kill opportunities!" He hissed, taking his own gun and pressing it to the side of the Uniri's head as he hauled it to it's feet, whispering in its ear threats, "Now, listen here. Don't you dare pretend you can't speak my language; everything speaks this language. Take us to the Yusson machine, or next time I will let my idiot friend here carve your guts out."


The Uniri squealed, and flailed for a brief second, an initial response of terror, but calmed himself went the gun double tapped his head as a reminder, and he obediently pointed the right direction, and shuffled forward as Cas dragged him towards it. "I'll know if this is a trap; you better hope you are not lying."

 

[Laine]

Keve bit his lip as the Lieutenant and the Uniri led the way. “I was just about to do that.” He lied, in a low growl. The ex-Time Agent dutifully surveyed the environment around him, incase of any Uniri he’d missed. There seemed to be none, and as they continued into the heart of the ship Keve grew more and more uneasy. “Where the fuck is everyone?” He whispered, half to himself and half to the other two prisoners he had in tow. The Uniri, unsure if it was a question, or merely a statement, mumbled timidly, knowing he’d get smacked if he spoke too loudly. “The…the ship is on high alert. Everyone is confined to their quarters, except for…military staff.” He sensed the sudden tenseness between the two Time Agents, and, anticipating the next question, he breathed, “I stayed to finish some panelling. I thought it was just a drill.” He repeated the last part to himself in his own language, recoiling as he felt the blunt metal against his neck again.


They continued in silence for some time. To Keve’s relief (and perhaps Cassidy’s dismay), Zise was alive, and had found the beaming room. He had left the room unlocked and in plain sight, hiding in a cupboard with several already dispatched Uniri bodies. As he whispered the details to Cassidy, Keve noticed the Uniri’s ears prick, and the Time Agent smiled. “Big mistake, buddy. I’ll make sure to rip your tongue out so you don’t squeal while we’re making our getaway.” He snarled. The thing shook and wailed miserably, his slitted eyes flicking in all directions to search for help.


He stopped in front of a door, breathing heavily, with tears forming in his eyes. Keve reached in front of Cassidy impatiently, and shoved it’s head hard in the door. “Open it. Now.” The Uniri gasped and held his nose, which started gushing blood of an opaque yellow colour. “I…I don’t have the authority to do that!” He lied, turning around to face the two Agents. By now he had filled in the pieces and realised their plan for the ship, which would leave them hurtling towards a black hole. Keve’s eyes narrowed in disbelief, and the Uniri stuttered under his aggressors’ gaze. “P-please, if you open the door, they will know where you are…If you get to the beaming room now, you could leave without being detected.”

 

[chellemrys]

Cas huffed, suppressing a chuckle at the other's retort. Okay, yeah right. You're too excited to kill to think of that. Cas was watching the uniri carefully, from the corner of his eye- in case the thing bolted for a secret door, or tried to attack them. It seemed the alien was really just a custodian of some sort, not military staff. He was too terrified to do anything, let alone get the chance to run by overpower them. He was too weak, that was clear...


Cas snapped his glare threateningly when Keve promised to cut the uniri's tongue out, right towards the uniri. "I'll double that promise." He said, a flatline smile spreading across his lips. Upon reaching the door, Cas held his ear to it. Complete silence, from the other side. No shifting of weapons or anything. He turned to the uniri, who was protesting so uselessly. "Don't think you are going to save your own skin, buddy. You are on this ship, and are thus involved with a criminal offense. What your ship is planning is omnicide." The darker agent hissed, leaning in close to glare at the uniri, and intimidate him. "You open this door, or I kill you. If we leave, you'll be facing a tribunal, and sentenced to death within months. But we aren't about to leave and let you kill an entire planet. So you might as well open this door. Have a little good in you, before you meet whatever end you face. Whether it's by me, in about three minutes. Or by him-" He pointed to Keve, "-Slowly. Or by a tribunal, by firing squad. You might as well save some ten billion lifeforms."


The Lieutenant's gaze was centered on the uniri's sweating, panicky face. Cas classically was known to be merciful, to people who were probably just victims of circumstance- like this custodian. But he was not going to lose ten billion lives, so this one uniri could save his own ass.

 

[Laine]

Keve stood back, smirking sharply at the Lieutenant’s intimidations. You want to save ten billion lifeforms? Or just the pale, red-haired one, perhaps…?


The Uniri’s face crumpled as he thought over his options, shivering at his aggressors. “P-please, I will open the door – if you promise to take me with you.” He finally decided, biting his lip as he made the gutsy demand. “I don’t want to be dragged into that black hole-” He yelped as Keve responded with a violent smack to the face. The Time Agent hissed in his ear, pressing the Uniri’s head against the door , “You will open the door. And by the time I’m done with you, you’ll be begging me to leave you behind…” The flushed skin of the Uniri slid across the door until it found a sleek panel, which reacted to his touch to produce an alien voice from the loudspeaker in the ceiling. Keve’s eyes snapped upwards, and a hand tightened around the Uniri’s throat. The creature replied in a series of frightened gasps, and the door abruptly opened in front of them. Checking around them cautiously, Keve dug out his knife again and held it to the neck of the Uniri as they slowly slipped into the room, Cassidy following them behind. There was no distress signal, but Keve didn’t doubt for a second that the Uniri had explained the situation to the one on the loudspeaker, and was sending reinforcements.


The room was dark and poorly lit, and their prisoner quickly indicated a door to the side which they needed to go through. As they approached it, it slid open easily, and the creature stuck out a hand and gestured down the corridor. “Th-there it is. It’s just down there. You can’t miss it.” He whispered, his shivering violent as his back was pressed against Keve’s chest like a living shield. “Good.” Keve growled in response. Something – be it stress, relief, or both – in his mind made his hand move before he could think, and the knife suddenly span around and plunged into the creatures’ jugular, and Keve tugged up until it left through the flesh in his top jaw. It made an inhuman, gurgling squeal as Keve released it and dropped the body heavily to the ground. The ex-Time Agent shook his head, stepping over the flailing Uniri and heading down the corridor, “Come on, Petar.” He hissed, flattening any hint of guilt in his voice “It said we’re almost there.”

 

[chellemrys]

Cassidy knew they were not taking the uniri with them. He had lied, of course, countless times on missions, in order to save people or accomplish tasks like this. He nodded, promising the creature with a lock of eyes and a tiny smile, "That's more like it." Cas stiffened along with the rest of the crowd, at the voice, once the door opened. With a glare at the creature, he slid into the next room also.


The automatic door slid shut behind them, clicking softly as the soft lights in the new corridor were turned up, brightening the next room they entered. Cas turned his head abruptly when the sharp squeak left the uniri, and he found the slippery body passing through the air inches away, spurting a yellow goop for blood. It sprayed across his chin, causing the Lieutenant to close his eyes in disgust. "Thanks." He hissed, wiping the goo roughly away.


Despite a sharp pang og guilt, the Lieutenant did not look twice at the body, and just stepped over the squirming creature, following his captor as the urgent gurgles from the floor faded fast. Ten billion lives were more important than this one, criminal, uniri. Especially one live. He was close now, to being finished with this. He was close to being in that safe place again, with someone important to him. That's all that matters. Finish the job.





At this point in his career, Cas occasionally felt tired. Like a senior citizen, looking forward to retirement. He, of course, was no where near a retiring age. And he often still craved adventure. But he loathed this particular mission, and longed instead for the safety and comfort of a home. His new home, on Earth- with his silly Scottish doctor damsel. A soft smile slid onto his hardened lips at the thought of just sleeping in soon, with said person, in said home. Just snuggled underneath some warm blankets. It was his perilous life that often made him appreciate necessities and common simple elements of life, like the warmth of a blanket, or bowl of soup. Or a cool glass of water, or even the softness of fabric.


Cas lost himself for a few moments, blindly following Keve as he daydreamed about what he believed soon to come. They reached the room the uniri told them about. Cas stood to one side of it, regaining his ready demeanor, and standing in a defense stance, waiting for Keve's order.

 

[Laine]

Keve pressed his face to the door to listen for any sign of movement – the Uniri would’ve worked out by now what they were up to, surely. However, the unlocked door slid open just as easily as the last, revealing a dimly-lit room with an underwhelming device set into the far wall. The Yusson was the size of a storage-container at least – but the majority of it’s planet-pushing-power was kept on the outside of the ship, facing it’s victim. What they saw in front of them was merely circuitry and main controls, which would take minutes to hack and reverse the orders to send Vos into a black hole.


Keve wordlessly dug into the the small pack strapped to Cassidy, grinning at he pulled out a freshly-soldered piece of circuit board with wires attached to it. Once he had recovered and been ‘persuaded’, Olmos had provided them with the necessary equipment to complete the task-although Keve had to be the one to solder it together. He handed it to Cas, giving him a hope this works kind of look. The hammering of hard boots on metal floors stirred Keve into action, and he shoved Cas hard against the desk the Yusson control device was set in. “Get on with it, Petar!” He suddenly growled, the stress clear in his voice.


The blond-haired agent fiddled with the door controls for a few seconds, but failing that, pushed a solid metal table from the corner of the room to where Cas was crouched, covering him from the imminent gunfire. Sweat dripped from his brow as he cocked his gun and shakily aimed over the side of the table, eyes flicking from the door to the dark-haired one behind him as he worked.

 

[chellemrys]

Cas nabbed the device, stumbling into the wall with the hard shove, nearly tripping over the table foot. He ran across the room to the machine, looking back every few seconds to ensure he was covered by the ex-agent. Sliding onto his knees, he tugged at wires, reconnecting them to the hacking device, and began frantically clacking in numbers. He had to pause and think, or let the device load information at times, causing him to pause every few moments, looking around. Sweat, too, was dripping down his skin, and off his pointy nose.


His body jolted at the sound of gunfire, hitting the table that shielded him. He ducked down further, as a plasma ball slung past him and into the wall near his face. Cas' hands shook in tremors; hastily he wired the last bits of the device in, and pushed in coordinates. Minutes had passed, and behind him Keve was crouched over, popping up every few seconds to fire at an advancing crowd of uniri. With quick care, he took the machine and slammed the back into a metal corner of the Yusson Machine, smashing the left half of the device. An efficient way of jamming the device, ensuring no uniri would be changing the orders in time.


The Lieutenant abruptly swung round, his anxious attitude now dissipated. Instead, a grin had found its way onto his dark face, and he pumped his fist in the air in triumph as he drew his gun one-handedly, "Rock and roll, bab-" Cas' vision splattered crimson, and his eyes flew open into shock, as his comrade slid with a belated screech, convulsing, to the floor directly in front of him. He ducked instantly down, peaking over the edge and beginning to shoot at the remaining enemies. After nearly a minute, Cas downed the uniri who had discovered them.


"K-Keve?" He called, wiping said fellow's blood from his brow, dropping low to the other's chest to examine him.

 

[Laine]

The Yusson machine made a warning noise as the Lieutenant finalised his preparations, and the attacking Uniri began to get more and more restless, more and more bold as they realised their fate. Keve’s job suddenly became easier as the creatures bolted into the room left and right, making them large and easy targets to take down. It wasn’t until Cas shouted triumphantly that he made the mistake of turning towards him, giving the Uniri mere feet away a free shot.


The force of the blast blew him literally off his feet, and minutes later he blinked up at Cassidy in confusion, his vision a hazy, bloody mess. “I’m fine.” He growled automatically as he gritted his teeth, using an arm to push the Lieutenant off him. Even after the years he’d spent away, the TA attitude of getting up and carrying on preceded him, and the words came out of his mouth without even a second thought. He struggled stiffly to push off the ground, adrenaline masking the pain and true extent of the wound to Keve, whose only focus was dispatching the rest of the Uniri in the room. To his surprise, he couldn’t get up. He flailed this way and that as he attempted to move, not realising he was merely pushing more blood and torn muscle towards the open wound in his chest. A choke caught in his breath as he finally looked down, gasping as he let out a strained, “Oh, fuck.”


He struggled harder to get up, his hand pressing on the side of the table and clawing at the metal unsuccessfully. He span his head around, looking for the rest of the Uniri reinforcements, which Cas had already shot down, panicked gasps filling the small room as alarm bells started ringing. “Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.” Keve cried out as the pain suddenly caught up with him, and he clutched as the wound. Another round of expletives rang out as the Lieutenant tried to peel his hand away from his chest, his fist bundled with torn bloody clothes rags. “Get off me, Petar!” He yelled desperately, kicking his legs as once again he tried to get up.

 

[chellemrys]

Cas licked his lips, mouth dry and hanging open as his hands worked automatically- this was just a repeat of what had happened already, so many times before. "Stay with me, Keve." The Lieutenant's sounded robotic, despite the sharp lurch of his stomach when he drew his sticky hands away to find his palms completely soaked in the ruby fluid.


Cassidy's eyes fluttered shut, the macabre scene was typical in his career. Despite his dark complexion, he now bore an alabaster tone. His lips screwed up, his eyes tightened, and he ran his hands through his hair, lacing the dark locks with the shine of blood as he began thinking. While doing so, he shakily tore off the bottom of his shirt, before bundling the strips up and pressing them to the wound, ignoring Keve's guttural screech of agony. He also ignored Keve's protests, when he stood, eyes cold and hard while he snatched up his comrade's shoulders, tugging Keve round the table and towards the door, "We have to go. The Yusson machine, Keve." He warned, then falling into silence as the other fell into delirium.


Helmi, always. You always lose someone. Cas' eyes were wide and dark, like dull coal, as he pulled the ex-agent down the hall. Don't tell yourself you have lost someone, right now, Cas. You lost him a long time ago. He was lost to you the moment he turned on you. Cas could not help but feel empathy, and sorrow, for Keve as he huffed, and struggled with consciousness. He after all had once been a close comrade. There are more important things. There is Adrian. He had to stop himself from freezing, but instead he glared down at Keve, who was too busy going into shock to notice his scowl. Kill him. Leave him. Do whatever. Cas shook his head. No, the cuff. You need him still. He can't die, or Ade will die. He cannot die.





The Lieutenant picked up the pace, looking left and right, up and down the long hall. He could hear the metallic clacking of boots, rushing down other nearby corridors. All he could see, however, was a giant trail leading the uniri to their location, and to the Yusson machine. A trail of Keve's blood, spread neatly in an endless line to the room at the end of the hall, like someone pulled a large paint brush down the hall, in a straight, gruesome, line. I won't make it with him.

 

[Laine]

The half-conscious agent hung heavily from the Lieutenant’s arms, still mumbling that he was fine as the other dragged him out. The wound was barely patched and oozing blood, forming a trail down his leg and creating a line from the end of his boot. During his struggle he had also hit his mouth against the metal table, and a thin mixture of saliva and blood dripped from his mouth as they slowly moved through the bowels of the ship. Keve closed his eyes and panted heavily, moaning and growling as he fell in and out of wakeness. Fuzzy coloured lights appeared in front of his eyes as he re-opened them.


As they neared another corner, he suddenly straightened up, and began exaggeratedly smacking at the device strapped to his wrist. Keve, lost in some kind of daze, randomly slammed at the buttons until the hopper screen was smeared with blood and beeped quietly as it connected with another communication device. “Zise. Zise.” He growled, “Zise, we did it. We-we’re coming back now, have everything ready as I order-” He paused as he heaved suddenly. A confused reply came from the other end – not Zise’s voice, but the crackled signal of a subordinate, back on planet Vos. “Keve…sir? You’re nearly back you say…?” Keve stared dumbfounded into the device, “What did you want us to do with the hostage?” The voice came.


The ex-agent continued to slam the device in protest, frustrated that he couldn’t get through to Zise. “N-not you, you idiots!” He yelled into the device loud and aggressively, as if they weren’t being pursued by a deadly squad of beasts. The blood-loss-induced delirium was beginning to get to him, and for a second he forgot about the other dragging him down the hallway, “And I told you, Petar can’t be trusted, even with his cuff deactivated. He got me shot and now he’s -“ Keve jumped and scowled furiously at the Lieutenant as he clamped a hand over his mouth. Keve finally managed to end the call as he bit down on the other’s hand, snarling fiercely.


“A-And as for you, Petar…get the fuck off me!” He screeched. He flailed weakly at the Lieutenant, jamming his finger on the shock button on his hopper. He sniggered madly to himself as the dark-skinned other jolted in front of his vision and cried out in agony – or, at least, that’s what he expected to happen. To both of their surprise, nothing happened, and Keve once again stared confused at the device, jamming his finger against the screen again and again. Realising what was wrong, he shot a suspicious look at the Lieutenant, his fingers still sliding over the screen to reactivate the cuff. "I-I said i'm - I'm fucking fine-"

 

[chellemrys]

Cassidy kept tugging the other, despite his conclusion that he would never make it, hauling Keve along like this. But, you need him- to save Adrian. He trudged on, feeling the hopelessness of his situation beginning to press down on his tired shoulders. This feeling, however, melted at the words Keve accidentally yelled in frustration.


The Lieutenant froze, and dropped the other in that instant, eyes and wrist snapping into a perfect line, so Cas could stare at his hopper. He pressed a few buttons, and it cheerily beeped back at him, the text running as usual across it, waiting for commands. The agent growled low, and jumped down, clamping his hands in fury over Keve's lips, ceasing his words and force-ending the call. He dug his nails into the flesh surrounding the mouth, jumping back when the teeth tore into his palm.


Without thought, Cas knew what had to be done. He sunk to his knees, a solemn expression weaving its way through the fury somehow. His hands found Keve's, and he forced the weak hands away before he got the chance to deactivate his hopper again. Briefly, the dark agent froze midair, holding his old comrade's trembling hands. Keve was too weak to fight back, at this point- too much blood loss. From the short minute they were stopped in that spot, a large blood pool already had formed below the two.


Mechanically, Cas flattened Keve's arms to the ground, and he slowly put his knees atop each hand, effectively pinning Keve down. It did not take much, at the rate his blood was flowing away. His hands reached up, and blindly found the source of the desperately pleading voice- Keve's quivering throat- and choked it off, holding the old comrade down as his struggles increased with a decrease of air intake.


The act took nearly a minute. During it, Cas remained silent and cold appearing. But his distant eyes were the result of dread and sorrow, rather than icy revenge. He slid off the agent, gathered up his communicator, hopper, and gun, and silently trudged down the hallway, away from a lifeless ex-friend.

 

[Laine]

The ex-agent felt his blood-stained hands tear away from his hopper, and his eyes widened in fury as he feebly tried to fight back. “N-no-no.” The chattering of his teeth made his voice come out in frightened chunters. He strained to reach his hopper, his fingers twitching as if he was pressing the shock button again and again. Take that, Petar.


He stirred into consciousness as he felt the Lieutenants knees against his forearms, recognising the move they’d been taught as mere recruits. Keve struggled painfully against them, the warmth of the blood beneath him reaching the small of his back as he panted heavily. “W-w-wait, c-c-comrade, Cassidy-” He gasped, whispering the Lieutenant’s first name with nostalgic affection. He stared up into the dark, sorrowful eyes with pleading blue ones as the hands moved towards his jugular, “We ha-ave to, f-finish the missio-”


------


Things are too quiet. Zise thought to himself, shuffling awkwardly in the metal closet at the side of the beaming room. No more Uniri had showed up for at least 15 minutes, and he had heard nothing of Keve since speaking to him in the air shaft. Pressed up against four or five lifeless Uniri, the sweat was beginning to drip down his neck as he felt the tension beginning to build. The communicator vibrated angrily on his arm, and a red light filled the darkness of the closet as Zise lowered his eyes to inspect it.


‘HOPPER: KEVE, NO PULSE DETECTED WITHIN LAST FIVE MINUTES. NO HORMONES DETECTED WITHIN LAST FIVE MINUTES. HOPPER DISCONNECTED FROM SKIN…’


The creature frowned at the string of messages – it was unlikely that Keve would take his only means of communication off by choice. It was possible that they had been captured, but a far more likely explanation dawned on him quickly, and Zise’s irises turned into thin slits as he stared out of the crack in the door. The beaming machine hummed quietly to itself as it waited for a final input command of co-ordinates, and Zise swiftly cocked his gun, pressing it against the closet door as he awaited the Lieutenant’s arrival.

 

[chellemrys]

Cas wandered the halls, easily downing every panicked uniri he found. The custodian uniri were scrambling for the escape pods, and were in no state to retaliate when he rounded a corner, gun prepped and ready. Apparently chaos broke out, because they heard of the ship's fate.


You had to do it. That thought was in the front of Cas' mind as he went, killing coldly and automatically. But he was your friend. He had to keep subduing that thought. No, he was not anyway, idiot. He battled himself in his mind, expecting to have an attack before he got back. But instead, he just felt numb and cold to life. The killing was unreal, now. Like a video game. "What do we do with the hostage?" He repeated, disgusted, reminding himself of the hint of betrayal. There had been a certain eagerness behind those words he recognized, the eagerness to harm his love. Those goons should have known what to do- to keep him safe. Why, they were awaiting for orders otherwise.


Eventually, he reached the beaming room. He found the label, and slowly slipped inside, gun at the ready. He lowered his brows in confusion, upon finding no one in waiting. His eyes scanned the room, gun at the ready, and pointed in the wrong direction.


Chink. His eyes flew to a spot to the left of him, and found a closet door swinging rapidly open. He spun to the side, dodging a well aimed plasma bolt- which instead splattered into the metal wall.

 

[Laine]

Zise struggled to keep the bestial growl restrained as the Lieutenant entered the room, waiting until he was fully inside, and was sure Keve wasn’t waiting behind him. But by the blood staining his clothes – which was crimson, human blood, and not yellow Uniri’s – his suspicions were confirmed. He fired a shot to startle the Lieutenant, catching him off guard as he launched himself from the closet. He fired three more shots at Cassidy as he approached, forcing him to swiftly dodge plasma bolts instead of firing his own.


Zise fired another bullet at the panel on the wall – the door snapped shut and locked tightly, preventing anyone else from entering. Yellow slitted eyes locked with the dark ones as he steamrolled towards him, taking the Lieutenant by the neck and slamming him hard against the beaming console. A dark chuckle rumbled in his throat as he heard the gun in Cas’ hand fire three times at his stomach, and with Zise’s free hand he snatched away the weapon coldly. “Shock-absorbing vest.” Zise growled simply, looking down at the holes in his shirt with a grin. “A gift. An expensive gift from Keve – he thought you would try to shoot me.”


Zise was closer to Ade in height that Cas was, and his body rippled with powerful muscles that twitched under the strain of pinning the equally strong Lieutenant down. He grabbed Cassidy’s right arm and twisted it violently behind him. “I should be thanking you, Pee-tar.” Zise growled, inching his face closer to the Lieutenant’s, “As Keve’s next in command, I get to decide your lover’s fate. And I must say, after Keve killed you, I was considering keeping Adrian around for a while. He was giving me the eye, if you know what I mean.” The creature laughed cruelly, and leaned in even closer. “I wonder if the rest of him tastes as good as his ear did…”

 

[chellemrys]

The Lieutenant was not expecting the expensive armor, not one bit. He had expected to easily down Zise, and continue on his way. However, within moments he found himself pressed against the cool metal of the beaming port, arm twisted into a position that was bending his bone backwards towards his neck.


Cas struggled uselessly, trying to free his arm without breaking it. Zise's strength at least matched his, however, and he found this impossible to do. What he knew, though, was Zise never would expect Cassidy to sacrifice his arm to free himself. Summoning bravery, and bracing himself, he clenched his jaw and let out a loud power-screech, pushing backwards into Zise and slamming his boot into his shin, dragging the rock-hard heel down to smash the black creature's toes in one large motion. Through all this, a loud SNAP was audible.


The effort was effective, since the shin is one of the most sensitive areas of the body if hit correctly, with enough force. It sent Zise backwards, releasing Cas' arm with a sharp yowl of shock. Cas' arm fell limp beside his body, causing the Lieutenant's narrowed eyes to widen in shock and agony. He stifled a yowl of his own, and squeezed his eyes shut briefly, locking the pain away in a cage of adrenaline, and running forward to snatch the gun that Zise dropped.


Swiftly, he picked it up and aimed with expertise, firing five times into Zise's terrified face. Within seconds it was all over, and Zise fell to the floor in a heavy heap, purple blood begin to ooze from what used to be his face, now a mushy pile of burnt dark blue flesh.


Cas stepped over the body, apathetic to the dying twitches of the creature, and stepped into the device. He took Keve's hopper, and yelled in a mock panic into it, "Keve is hurt, hurry! Beam us up! He needs help! Quick! Oh Helmi!" And then he simply waiting with a content smile. In mere seconds, the three idiotic goons beamed a deadly agent into the get-away ship, in fear of the wrath of their leader, Keve.


************

 

[Laine]

Ade shivered. The tiny room was stuffy, almost unbearably so, but the fear combined with a slight fever (which Ade blamed on the Vosnian atmosphere) caused him to tremble uncontrollably as he lay on the cot, facing the wall. His bare back was turned towards the reptile, sulking on the chair with a heavy sigh in his voice. Anshik had tried to speak to Ade on several occasions – to apologise, to confront him, to confess his attraction towards his prisoner – whatever he had to say, Ade didn’t want to hear it.


The more he thought about the prior meeting with his partner, the more upset he felt. He had no idea when he would next see Cassidy again, and wasting their mere seven minutes together on a stupid argument about Anshik – who wasn’t even human – seemed so ridiculous. His stomach growled angrily, and he felt the reptile’s pitying eyes burn holes in his back. “You’re a pervert and a coward, scaled freak.” Adrian suddenly spat, breaking the silence. Were he not shaking from the trembling, he would’ve sounded livid. “Thanks to you I might never see Cassidy again.”

 

[chellemrys]

Anshik stiffened at the sudden attack, and turned to gaze over at Adrian's back. He was shocked, and hurt, mainly. A pang in his chest made his stomach and mind lurch, causing the alien's eyes to water. But mere moments, later, his eyes narrowed indignantly, and he stood abruptly, "After what I have done for you?" He whispered, tone marked by disbelief, as he raised his voice, "I could be like them, you ssslimy pale skinned human. Humanss alwayss think they are ssuperior to smaller races." He growled, before stomping over to Adrian, "Fucking-!" He spat, unable to find words. Ade's new found blame for him stung, and he wrinkled his scaled face up in disgust for his attitude, stepping over the other, face turning hot.


Anshik froze at the sound of a large commotion upstairs, and a screech of surprise. His rage disappeared, and sunk slowly into dread. Backing away from Adrian, and away from the door, to a corner of the room. Heavy boots were racing down the stairs, a familiar voice beginning to ring through the stairwell, down to their prison cell.


Lieutenant Petar burst into the room, already yelling commands into his hopper. His right arm was limp, swinging uselessly at his side as he ran in, but his left arm held the plasma gun up, and bore his hopper. Above, there was shifting and screaming, and boots were heard once more descending. "Ade, to me! Now!" He yelled, firing two shots at point blank range at the reptile, face devoid of any empathy, like Anshik's terrified screeches were bouncing off his ears, rather than filling them.


The reptile was clipped in the shoulder by the first, winning that scream of agony and shock, and the second connected with his stomach- sending the creature to the ground, yowling. "Now!" He yelled again at the shocked Adrian, who was beginning to scramble towards Cas as the blue light filled the room, and the boots on the stairs were heard now loud and clear, as they reached the bottom.