trans_9 | Target Practice

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Target Practice

Since living in the new castle with Ruffnut, Mindy had done her best to maintain upkeep, even "borrowing" a few things from the wreckage of Grand Central to spruce up the place. It helped, especially since the events of the homecoming, to keep her head busy. On the one hand, yes, dad had appeared: he wasn't dead, he was proud to know they won, and for just a little bit? She got to be a little girl again, to crack wise with her dad, to show him how far she'd gotten.

But then he was gone again, and the new pod pop didn't bring him out. She shouldn't have hoped for it, but she had, a little. Once that was a no go though, she was either training or helping Ruffnut patch up some of the frayed tapestries or fix up carpeting or overall making sure there were no holes for them to fall through anywhere. It had been good, but even Ruffnut had sort of side stepped asking her about dad. It was something she appreciated: Mindy wasn't known for easily delving into her feelings.

This naturally led to another thing on her mind: what had happened on the mission, where the Castle gun shootout had almost taken her out- SHOULD have, if it was anyone else. She had severely underestimated what she could do: the way she;d moved, the accuracy in each shot, the sheer carnage: that was akin to a limit break.

And now, she wanted to control it.

She emptied herself of all thought: that was how a fight in the dark was, if you had no edge. There were only a few precious seconds to gather your mind, and then you opened your eyes and all hell broke loose. Your eyes and your hands had to work in tandem then, and you pulled back and took out people one by one until you got the job done or you were dead.

Like now: it was those gun slingers from the castle, and she started with ten at first, taking them out easily. The background was the saloon again, only she made it bigger to accomdate the increase in shooters.She cursed to herself (it was too quick!) then brought the number to fifteen, then twenty.

Each took less time, and Hit Girl nodded: she HAD gotten better. She wasn't even using Zetta's gun or her artifact, and she was still taking these bastards down.

"All right: switch it to forty, and place them all over the bar."

Ok. GO.

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"Yeah, he seem pretty emotionless, and if I had to face a guy like that in battle, it would unnerve me a little bit. And really, the way he acted, I guess I should have expected it from a guy who commanded all these armies. I dunno why, but I sort of expected him to be a little more like you, but he was all 'tell me this stuff cuz I said' and everything. But he could probably grow on me...you know, like a fungus."

He was at least fun to talk to: with the line face, who couldn't have fun with a guy like that?

"I saw him straight out of pod pop, to be honest," she said. "Told him where you'd be and everything. I guess I should have told you first, but I figured it would be better for you to see him with your own eyes and all. Pram probably knew too, but you know, she's a demon, and probably still pissed she has to take your orders."

And that story of Lash's would be something she wanted to hear about someday.

"Yeap that sounds like HAwke, intimidating. But that's nothing compared to what he can do. You know how having me around helps people get better movement? Just having Hawke around makes those around him more powerful. Your shots get better, your punches hit better. And that's nothing compared to when he releases his CO power, but you've already seen some of that."

And hey, Lash could totally see him as a fungus. A poisonous one that sucked the life right out of you, and not just metaphorically.

"Man what are the odds of him popping out the one time I decided not to come? Talk about making the situation all...weird. He came in just as Zetta and I were busy sword fighting." She groaned after she said that. "I need to punch Pram in the face. Didn't even warn us, just appeared right afterwards...granted I would have probably done the same...but that gives me an excuse to punch her!" But she did like having her pissed off. "And that's what she gets for erasing all those games Zetta and I worked to get the high score on anyway."

She just had to ask and Lash would tell all.

"Well, he has a mean face: I never said he was intimidating. But you're right, I can tell that he's probably pretty stacked up in strength. He's just hard to read, and he skrimps on words, you know? Its like he doesn't really want to talk to anyone. But I know he's probably really happy that you're here too."

She snickered. "Pram was just being a bitch, of course. You know she's not happy she has to do what you say. This was just her way of getting back at you a little bit. But look at it this way: now you don't have to feel all depressed that you'll never have someone from your world come here. Not only do you have that, you have Zetta and all of us. Oh, and you gotta tell me how jealous Zetta was when he saw Hawke. If I asked him about it he'll just say some bullshit like 'hayhaha Overlord's never get jealous' or whatever."

"Hawke never does want to talk with anyone," Lash added with a sage nod. "Always felt that he had the perfect poker face. Not that he'd play poker, but you get the idea. No one could ever read him, not even Sturm."

"I'll still get her back anyway, one way or another. Or maybe beat her up a second time, tee hee hee! But yeah, the only problem with Hawke here is that it makes everything complicated. How do I even show him the whole Ranger stuff? Hey birdy guess what, I'm not only part of a team, but I wear yellow like Kanbei's been plastering gold all over me."

Very, very awkward. She did grin when they got into the whole first magic moments of meeting, however.

"Well the minute he got closer when I introduced him to Hawke, I swear he totally increased the glow of his mana flow and his hair on fire. That counts, right?"

Hit Girl shook her head. "That guy has a look that would sour milk, seriously. I tried to get him to lighten up, but he seemed to be bothered by me for some reason. Who was Sturm again?"

She grinned. "Well, if you're gonna do that, might wanna make sure she'd not getting any help. She did make the message pretty wide: I dunno who else she might be taking to. But what's the big deal about being a ranger? You think he'd be happy. You get all these new cool powers."

Hit Girl laughed. "Oh yeah, I bet Zetta LOVED Hawke popping up and interrupting you guys while you were playing pirate. I'm not sure how close the two of you are, but if you were dating, I'll bet anything Zetta was totally being the jealous boyfriend!"

"Sturm was uh...hold on..." she showed her a projection of him. "That's him. Big, huge guy that towered above everyone else."

She thought about this. "Eh it doesn't matter who she brings along, I'm pretty sure I can take them on too." BRING ON THE BODY COUNT SHE WAS READY FOR IT...before slopping a bit again at the mention of her Commander's name. "Well it's just that...Ranger stuff is more good guy stuff, you know? Not to mention once I get in the suit there's just this urge to pose and say puns and yeah..."

As said before, very, very awkward.

"Well we aren't dating," she added, really fast. Reputations to uphold and all that. "We go on dates to have fun but that's it!"

"Whoa," Mindy said, staring at Sturm. "That guy looks scary. I think I might wanna dress like him for Halloween. Would you be pissed if I did? Because he looks really imposing, even more than Hawke."

She grinned. "I don't mind her too much, but it'd be awesome if she DID go and bring some minions of her own. That way, we could have an all out brawl! We haven't been able to do something fun like that in awhile, not since we crashed that prom! Think about it: a showdown of overlord versus overlord, with the minions doing all of the fighting!"

She would SO be in on that!

"Oh come on, you guys are SO dating," Hit Girl said, shaking her head. "You're just keeping a low profile about it. I can respect that too: who needs people butting in on your business? But come on Lash: you were, like, three steps from unconsciousness and you went after Zetta anyway, and he bitched you out. You guys couldn't be more obvious. But I think you do it in a cool way, for what its worth. If I ever date anyone, I want just like that."

"What's Halloween? And I think if you dressed up as him, Hawke would try to kill you. So probably a bad idea, honestly. "She wasn't able to summon minions like Zetta did when we fought and seemed angry about it too. Maybe she's had some sort of power down? Probably why she's so cranky." She did grin at the scenario tho.

"Hey sending minions out to do things is one of my favorite skills as a CO!"

At least she was grinning until Mindy mentioned the next part and she looked somber or at least annoyed (somberly annoyed?) again.

"If you or Ruffnut had fount out he was out there floating in space first and you were half-hurt, you'd still go out and get him right? And he'd scream at the both of you as well. I don't see the big difference!" Or refused to admit it, anyway. "We just go out on dates. Because it's fun."

"I'm not going to get killed by that guy," Hit Girl said matter of factually. "Besides murder not being allowed on the ship, I'd rather have a way more awesome death! And Halloween is when you go dressed up as monsters and ghosts and other people. Really cool holiday, look it up."

Here, she rolled her eyes.

"Half hurt? Yeah. About to fall unconscious? Not so much. Zetta is a strong guy, and I won't underestimate his ass. You wanted to go, and you're just enough awesome that I would go and help you get my trainer back. But come on with the 'we're just friends' shit. Zetta might have screamed like that, but he screamed at EVERYONE who let you go save him. It's obvious."

"Don't underestimate Hawke," Lash warned. There was a surprising amount of respect coming when she said it. "you have a lot of skills, but Hawke is birdy. He'd find a way to do it." She was more interested in this Hallo-ween thing. "Oh so a bit like that costumed ball a long time ago?" Wait, had Mindy even been there when it happened. "I remember lots of weird people there!"

And surprisingly, (not that she would ever know) the first time she had met Zetta.

She threw her arms in the air in frustration. "Argh! Nothing I tell you will convince you otherwise will it?!"

"Sounds dangerous," Hit Girl said. "And if you actually think that, then I guess I better train even harder. I'm not the kind of person who wants to be taken out by a guy like him: I have a rep to uphold too, you know."

She nodded. "Yeah, and also, you go door to door and say 'Trick or Treat' and people give you candy for being in costume. You don't get a more awesome holiday then that. And there would be plenty of other weird people there too."

Hit Girl shook her head. "Hey, I'm good at detecting bullshit (and making it up). Besides, its not a horrible thing. I'm not going to go report it to a billion people. I know how to keep a secret."

"Nah don't think it's because I don't think can take him, but Hawke's full of surprises. With any luck you'll see him be part of a big battle and see what he can do. I told you how Black Hole was feared in all the lands and the threat we carried, it's not just something I say lightly." Even if she was bragging.

"So you dress up and you get free food. Sounds like something Orange Star would do, tee hee hee!" But then, again, Lash fell silently for a few seconds at her words.

It was the notion that She! Wunderkind of Black Hole Forces, feared in all of Wars World was dating anyone! It seemed so...absurd. And yet...she crossed her arms and groaned.

"Whatever, just think what you want."

Hit Girl had planted an idea into her much more strongly than she'd ever know.

"Let's just talk more about this holiday. What can you get away with if they say Trick?"

"Then I'll look forward to it," Hit Girl said, winking. She didn't dislike Hawke: point in fact, there was really very little she knew about him because he seemed such a stick in the mud. That, however, was exactly what made her so compelled to needle him: it totally played to something he would hate.

"Yeah, exactly! Also, it was supposed to be the one night of the year it was ok to get scared, because supposedly it was the thinnest veil of the living and the dead. Granted, we've seen stuff on this ship to give a kid nightmares until he died, but still: its fun!"

She shrugged. "Well, at worse I'll mess with you about it, I guess. The best part about having friends on the ship is that you get to do stuff like that. And if it pisses you off really bad, its not like we can't settle our differences in the Sensoriums or something, right?"

Or possibly do the same when the shoe was on the other foot, but that was neither here nor there.

"Oh, tricks! Well, if there was no treat, there was stuff like toilet papering the house, the paperbag of flaming dogshit, egging the house, stuff like that. But I'll bet you can get away with better trick than that if you really thought about it."

"Yeah I---"

"Throwing bags of flaming dogshit?"

...she did have a dog.

That expression was priceless. This was exactly why Hit girl liked hanging out with Lash. She never knew what the hell the girl was going to get into, and that made her fun!

"Sure, but we'd need a good candidate."

"Now who do we know that would be worth flinging flaming poo on..." Damn it, with Zedd back in the pods it was hard to find something amusing enough to do this.

Hit Girl thought a moment, and then a slow grin came on her face.

"That depends: how ballsy are we? Because I'm thinking we could even prank the Captain. Wouldn't that be something?"

"If he finds out I'm involved, I'm gonna get demoted, no doubt."

"Aw come on, its flaming dog poop. Who gets demoted over a prank that isn't hurting anyone? Its not like you're siccing a zombie horde on him or something like that! It could be fun!"

"Can we try it on a target that wouldn't demote me first? If we get caught, no bigger. If we don't then we can move on to the bigger prizes..."

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Target Practice

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