trans_9 | The Day That Physics Mattered

The last time Allenby had been snatched up by GLaDOS, she had quickly abandoned the AI's preferred agenda in favor of seeking her out to deliver a righteous beatdown. The second time, Allenby hadn't changed anything except to get started on that before hearing GLaDOS' instructions. She hopped walls and dodged flame-shooting floor panels in her quest to get to the computer and put a fist in her processors--her soul was attached to her just fine--and just as suddenly as before, she was in mid-air. Unlike before, she was in the Hangar and surrounded by hostile robots.

"Whoa!" Instinctively, she punched the first one in its banana-shaped head, wincing at the unexpected pain. The hell--bam! Whack! She grabbed another one and hurled it at some of its comrades, which were taking aim at her. It didn't go as far as she'd hoped... ducking and dodging between them and some nastier-looking big guys, she spotted what she was looking for. "Nobel Gundam! Let's go!" she yelled, and launched herself up towards the cockpit.

It became apparent about halfway up that, well, halfway was all the way this time. That made it certain. Something was wrong with her. Had GLaDOS done this? And what the hell were all these robots trying to kill her, anyway?!

It would be a lie to say that Allenby wasn't afraid as she started to drop. But she was too pissed off now to think about being scared. With a bloodcurdling roar, she slammed herself into a clump of battle-bots and went right back to work, trying to ignore the question of how long she'd be able to keep it up.

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"Not quite," he admitted. "I'm not as strong or fast now as I was. But even weakened, I'm not going to just sit back and be a burden."

He balanced expertly on the Gundam's shoulder as Allenby attacked the droids, following up her assault with a blast from his coil rifle. "Same with the regeneration. I guess I'll just have to be... careful." As weird as that was. When was he ever careful?

"Guess I'll have to be careful too. Hah, we'll both have to learn real quick!" If Zouichi did get hurt, though, she'd grab him and get him into the cockpit and... somehow figure out a way to get them to Medical while in a Gundam.

Well, she'd just do her best to make sure he didn't need to go. "So where'd all these guys come from? They don't look like somethin' the Ohm would sic on us."

"The story is when the ship took down GLaDOS for a little educational reprogramming, another AI took its place: SHODAN. That's when all this started. Apparently, it's going to 'teach us a lesson'." Zouichi's face pretty much conveyed what he thought of that.

"Apparently that consists of taking our abilities away and trying to kill us."

"A lesson?!" Allenby thought about that--around the same time that she decided that if the Hangar floor was going to be blasted to hell it ought to be with Gundam fire than evil robot fire and opened up with her vulcan guns again--and reached a quick conclusion. "I think SHODAN is the one who needs to be taught a thing or two!"

She glanced at Zouchi quickly to make sure he was okay and kicked away some more droidekas. "Lesson 1: YOU SHOULDA LOCKED DOWN THE GUNDAMS!"

Zouichi was still perched on the Gundam, though he was careful not to get in the way of Allenby's caring ministrations to the droids. "My thoughts exactly. Of course -- "

He paused, shooting another of the robots and knocking it back into the others. "Gundams can't fit everywhere on the ship. But it was a glaring error on her part to forget about all the heavy weaponry here." His expression darkened slightly. "And the minute we find out how she's dampening everyone's powers..."

"Oh yeah. Then? She's toast." Allenby caught herself in time to not slam her fist into her hand as punctuation, for fear of unbalancing Zouichi. "Now if we had idea of what these dampeners looked like, we could strike 'em. I wonder if there are any in the Hangar that we could deal with--wanna have a look around?"

Zouichi smiled. "Sure. But first, how about a ride to my VF?"

It was double giant robot fighting time.

"You got it!" Allenby gave Zouichi a thumbs-up with her other hand and started off in the appropriate direction. She considered just jetting over there with the leg thrusters, but that was too much of a risk with someone exposed on her shoulder and besides...

It was kinda fun to stomp on the robots like bugs. Allenby grinned a vindictively happy grin as she crunched her way across the floor towards the VF.

"Ow!" came the cry from one of the smashed Droidekas. "That hurt."

Apparently whoever had programmed these guys had had a questionable sense of humor.

In any case, once they were close enough, Zouichi launched himself off of the Gundam's shoulder and into the Variable Fighter's cockpit, closing the canopy behind him. Instantly, he was in Battroid mode, towering over the attacking robots and drawing its anti-tank knife. "Thanks. I owe you one."

"Yeah? Well there's plenty more where that came from!" Allenby snapped, glaring at the miserable pests. Now that Zouichi was safely in his VF, she wound up and gave the nearest cluster a good kick. Most of them scattered, but she still sent a few of them flying across the Hangar with a tinny AAAAaaaaaaa.

She stretched her arms out in front of her and cracked her knuckles as Zouichi switched to the Battroid mode. "Don't mention it. Wanna have a little contest? Let's see just which one of our machines is better for pest control."

That tinny little screech. So satisfying.

"Surrender Dorothy!" added another one of the robots as Zouichi used the giant blade to puncture its chassis. Who had programmed these guys?

He smiled from his spot in the cockpit. "You're on. Loser buys dinner on the next shore leave planet." Of course, Zouichi, unlike Allenby, didn't really eat all that much. But he seemed to be in the habit of making bets like that.

Edited 2011-12-31 22:15 (UTC)

"Sounds fair!" Allenby would just make up the difference for whatever Zouichi wasn't hungry for. "Ohhh... hey, looks like we've got some new guys," she added, pointing to a squad of little guys rolling on treads. SAINTs, unbeknownst to her.

Well, they didn't look like much. She stomped over and lifted her foot in preparation to take them out, but a concentrated blast of incredible heat to her other foot made her reconsider. "Ow. OW! You little--" What the hell, her foot was glowing red! That was Gundarium! "Hey, these guys sting--watch out!"

~~The Gundam's foot was burning red!~~

Zouichi's missile pods snapped open in response to the sudden attack; a split second later, the air was filled with countless mini-missiles, each streaking toward one of the robot targets. The explosions tossed additional robots aside, knocking them off balance.

Restraint? What was that? P.S. He now needed more missiles.

"You all right?" Zouichi thought he remembered her limping a little the last time her Gundam's foot was injured.

The Day That Physics Mattered

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