trans_9 | Aim to Win [Closed, pre Beyond the Sea Plot]

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Aim to Win [Closed, pre Beyond the Sea Plot]

The excitement of the poddrop had died down after a few days and Lash found herself back to her usual routine on the ship. It was rather amazing how much she could manage to do each 'day', from working in the labs, to shop management to training in the sensoriums. Truthfully, everything served to keep her occupied, which was an excellent thing--if Lash ever got bored anywhere it was a sure setup for a disaster of terrible repercussions. Probably explosive ones. Speaking of which...

"Fire! Fire!"

One of the ship's sensoriums was now being taken by her as she played it wisely and used it to tested out various prototypes before building them. They'd come out with a lot of robot parts to build thanks to SHODAN's rampage, and she was going to make the most use of what she'd gotten. With a typical Lash twist and flare, of course.

The soldier obeyed and fired the first cannon with a button press, the cannonball flying out and landing far away. Lash kept tabs using a CO pad, analyzing how the prototype fared. Upon landing, the cannonball opened itself up amongst the surprised enemy soldiers and turned into a small robot with turrets built on each side.

"Tee hee! It works, it works! Now, if I adjust the energy here, I should be able to build a small army, and that would be useful to aid during away missions..."

As she was about to approve it, the robot exploded. Soldiers, trees, dirt and burnt robot pieces flew into the air, landing close by.

"Oh oops! Hmmm...better not put that much energy into that one. The crew could lose a few arms and legs like that!" She said it with such a calm voice too, even if she was speaking to no one but herself and the nearby soldiers. With a small flick, she brushed off a piece of cracked robot, and began another prototype test.

Just another typical day for a wunderkind.

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Holy shit. Holy SHIT THEY WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE.

She could see that immediately. The warning to keep out she took as a jab by the Overlord to make them try. And for Hit Girl, who had been spending the last few days baking and sort of moping, she couldn't have picked a better situation. The Overlord daring her to go farther, putting traps that made those stupid robots look lame in comparison, getting cut and bloodied and having her heart beat in her chest at the next dangerous thing?

WITH LASH'S PERSONAL TOUCH?

It was a dream come true (so it seemed). It was a direct challenge, and Hit Girl intended to meet it, pulling and pushing and maneuvering her body in ways even she would admire later. It was like the last few days had forced her to think on her feet, and the blood and the frustration and the near spills were godsend!

And then she realized it was meant to keep EVERYBODY out. It was just supposed to be those two, she knew exactly how this sort of thing was. So there was nothing, NOTHING to do but save face.

"That.." she said, tossing aside her thoroughly singed wig, "was one of the best things you guys have ever made. Seriously."

Ruffnut casually hauled her demon sheep steed off of Mindy and tossed it aside like it was a bag of laundry offering a hand to her partner to help her back to her feet.

"What's with all the noise? Did we win?" The viking obliviously stuck a pinky in her ear and wiggled it as if trying to clean out the excess noise admiring the sharks floating in the air threatening them.

"That's really cool." She had that masochistic crazy look in her eyes but a relaxed smile.

Wordlessly, Zetta rose from his throne-chair-thing, stalked to the edge of his ship, and vaulted over the railing. Into the water he plunged, sinking beneath the surface immediately.

That was anticlimactic...

Lash had no idea what she had expected the Overlord to do, but seeing him plunge into the water without so much as a word certainly was not in them. She was completely silent for a few seconds.

Then, in the middle of the flying sharks, a projection window with Lash's angry and annoyed face appeared looking like she wanted to murder them right now.

"Don't tell me neither of you can read," she began ominously her voice a low and angry. While she should be all rights be impressed by their bravado and ability to survive most of these traps, the sheer anger she felt about them being here at all overtook any other emotions she should be felling. Would she have done the same? Probably. Did she care right now? Hell no. The sheer sight of seeing Lash angry was probably something neither of them had seen quite like this before. It was especially strange when all they could see was her face and what looked like straps of a bikini on her shoulders, maybe. "YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE!"

In the back they could see past what little view her hair offered, the Prinnies backing away very slowly from her.

Edited 2012-01-25 22:25 (UTC)

That was bound to happen. In fact, she sort of expected it. Take into effect, though, that neither of the girls had gotten here easily, and they had the wounds to prove it. If the thanks of getting through all of that shit was to get really angry at them even though the only indication to NOT go was the "Stay Out" sign, Hit Girl was not going to take the brunt of the yelling.

"What the HELL is the big deal? If you wanted us to stay out, maybe adding LASH AND OVERLORD WILL FUCKING KILL YOU would be nice! Instead, its STAY OUT with a bunch of traps, shit that might as well have been inviting us in! And those weren't easy traps either, don't act like we just barged in here and were cackling at you guys! This is the first workout I had since the damn robots! If you want to be alone, just fucking mention it and we'll leave you alone!"

Granted, it actually DID bother her she made Lash that angry, and the Overlord was likely to kill them in a minute or two, but HELL. What was done was done.

Edited 2012-01-25 22:50 (UTC)

"I think I broke my arm again." Ruffnut added raising said arm for effect. It wasn't broken, but it didn't move exactly like an arm should and she probably shouldn't be moving it without seeing a doctor. But the pain to her was just another thrill. A sharp, mind numbing toe curling reminder that she was alive.

Still all joking aside even she was shrinking back abit from Lash's rage face.

As was almost certainly foreseen by all concerned, the ocean abruptly exploded upwards and outwards, some twenty feet from shore. A corona of purple light sheathed the Overlord as he stepped slowly up the beach, pulsing outwards as if constraining it took a force greater than any known power to keep it from annihilating everything nearby from sheer awesome power. Perhaps secondary to that, but more immediately threatening, was the sword Zetta now held -- about his height and half his width.

"You two," he said, with only a growl in the lowest tones of his voice betraying his anger, "just can't leave well enough alone. Everywhere I go, everything I do, somehow you two just show up to hang out. And you know what? That's fine. You're my disciples. I tolerate it. I expect it. But now? Now?!

"I'M ON A FREAKING DATE!" The Overlord hurled the sword up and behind him as he stepped out of the surf. It spun upwards, freezing in midair, pointed straight at them. "No training! No excitement! Nothing to learn! Just me trying to spend time with the woman I love, now that you guys and some freaking fairy queen of love decided to gang up on me and drag that particular emotional insight out into the open! And now after all that work HERE YOU ARE BUTTING IN!"

The sword grew to the size of a locomotive engine, a dozen or so copies of it shimmering into place -- then they shot forward, aiming for the two girls with all the strength and skill of the Overlord behind them.

..of course, it was all Sensorium constructions. He wasn't actually trying to hurt them seriously; if he was, he'd have just blasted them. But he WAS angry.

While it did involve her too and for all the anger she was feeling about the situation, even a Wunderkind who loved nothing more than a few good explosions knew that setting in at this point would just be overkill. Seeing Zetta this threatening was strangely awesome in Lash's eyes. Not that she didn't see him as such, but it was entirely different watching someone being angry and threatening compared to boastful talks about how great he was. But really, it was the words he said that struck her the most.

Hearing the Overlord say the word love again, not in her mind privately where even Stacy (at least she assumes) couldn't hear her was something, but hearing the out in the open had this strange calming effect on her. You know, the type where you're watching a guy being so angry at two people that he's aiming magical swords the size of trains at them.

There was only one, logical thing left to do.

"Tee hee hee! I guess you guys are gonna see what's it like to make us angry, huh?"

Enjoy the fireworks. Sorry girls.

OK. Despite them totally being dead, and Hit Girl more than a little fearful for his temper? Overlord Zetta outright admitting he loved Lash was pretty damn cool. What wasn't cool was that she already knew Ruffnut was injured, and no sheep or anything was going to save her. So this was going to be one of those moments where, despite understanding why she was in the wrong and knowing that in any other circumstances she'd let Ruffnut do this herself,, it was time for action.

And that little rest? She savored it just enough to use her adrenaline to leap into action. She turned, right heel first, gathered Ruffnut in her arms, and made a beeline for the wall, one of the swords mere feet behind. She had to time this just right, and she had never NEVER done this carrying anyone.

Here goes.

She broke into a harder run, charged up the wall a few feet before leaping high enough to land on one of the swords, then using the few very precious seconds she had to leap to another. There was no room for mistakes, and she was not about to wipe out, not with the Overlord and Lash watching, with Ruffnut in her arms.

Virtually? She was leap frogging it with almost perfect balance. And luckily adrenaline was kicking in, because if not she would have been mindful of how this was REALLY HARD CARRYING SOMEONE. Once she found a spot where they could breathe, she;d take that moment to rest.

Looks like it was too late to say she was sorry.

"GAH!" Was all Ruffnut managed to yelp out when Mindy seized her and carried her away like an over-sized bundle of sticks. "We totally deserve this." She wheezed somehow just as winded as Mindy was despite the fact that Mindy was doing all the running. Her face was bright red from two parts.

1. Mindy had been carrying her and that was embarrassing as hell.

2. She'd never ever ever EVER confess this to anyone even if they were torturing her but the sort of cruel ruthless power Zetta was exhibiting was totally hot. It was confusing and left her with an aftertaste of guilt for interrupting private time.

You had your chance way back when Zetta was de-aged and totally hitting on you, Ruffnut.

The swords weren't the best place to jump, considering they were descending to the ground at incredible speeds -- and when they hit, they exploded violently. The Overlord, meanwhile, watched for just a second, then shot into the air to seize the hilt of the last sword as Hit Girl fled to it, then twisted it around to spill them off. He reared back with it, then swung it two-handed, full-strength, at them, paying every bit as much attention to the laws of physics and the sheer lack of leverage as anyone would expect.

It might console them to see the flat of that blade, rather than the edge, descending.

Was this about the time that Lash was thinking it was going a wee bit too far? Step in and perhaps distract the Overlord, mid-attack?

...naaaah. They were tough girls, they could take it, she figured. Besides, she still had a hint of anger left in her for them bursting in on their privacy, and if it got too dirty, Stacy would no doubt step in. But hey! At least they weren't getting horribly murdered like most certainly half of the crew would be right now if they had done this.

Granted Stacy would not have allowed that either but moot point, as far as she was concerned.

Edited 2012-01-27 00:59 (UTC)

Hit Girl would do a lot of things. Apologize to these guys for breaking in on their private time? Likely. Make amends with Ruffnut for carrying her like she was some guy in a shojo manga? Possible.

But LOSE on purpose, to the Overlord, without getting a fight? NOT FUCKING HAPPENING.

This was still the Sensorium, and Mindy had a split second before she imagined a sword of her own. Ruffnut was deposited on the ground and she swung back at him with a blade like Aqua's from the time they sparred. It was a temporary solution, and one that would likely end in her defeat, but this was Hit Girl who never said die, and clashed hard with the Overlord, tightening her grip and letting out a yell.

Ruffnut could only stare in awe up at the battle between student and teacher, unsure of just how seriously Zetta wanted to teach them a lesson about obedience and taking him seriously.

Because even now a part of her really couldn't believe he'd do anything he couldn't fix. She trusted him too much for that.

So she sat there where Mindy had dropped her watching the conflict.

Well, points for effort and guts, Mindy. Sometimes she reminded the Overlord exactly why he took her on in the first place... just as he was about to remind her why HE was the Overlord. Trying to parry Zetta's hit was like trying to stop a waterfall by throwing a teapot at it; Zetta's STR had about six digits on her DEF, and the sword just kept going like a giant metal flyswatter.

Lash took this opportunity to finally arrive at the scene of the battle, standing hear Ruffnut still in her bikini. She had been about to kick the viking to show her that she wasn't safe from the onslaught either, but being a bit less angry than before and looking at her closely made Lash realize that her arm was twisted in a slightly odd way. That explained why Mindy had been carrying her around.

Without so much as saying a hi or a 'this will hurt', she took the girl's arm and popped it back into place with a crack as she had once done before during their misadventures on Galile.

"Get that checked," she muttered absentmindedly, more occupied watching Zetta (and Mindy she guessed) fighting. "And I hope there won't be a next time because I'll rip off your whole arm myself!" Maybe more of an empty blank thread, but she sure hoped the viking got the message. If she understood her half-muttering right now anyway, considering, too busy watching the battle, half in awe, half...analyzing it as she always did so one day she'd be able to parry that hit herself.

Ruffnut let out a kind of half yelp half moan at the sensation and shuddered falling onto her opposite side and laying there in the grass for a minute. She sat up again rubbing her shoulder to get the feeling back into it. "I'll just get a kick ass robot arm. Then you'll want to build like...drills and lasers and stuff in it." Ruffnut mused imagining that Lash would be unable to resist the urge to tinker with such a prosthetic.

There was no way that she thought it was going to be able to take on the Overlord when it came to melee fighting: he WAS the Overlord for a reason, after all. But as it turned out, the sword fighting was a ruse because she'd been going for one last trick up her sleeve, literally. Granted, she actually did want to continue the sword fight because she was curious at how long the Overlord was able to keep this up, but for right now she was going to have to settle for playing dirty.

In a moment that looked like her arm was weakening she actually pulled out a wand, and before she could give him a moment to realize what it was, gave a yell of "REFLEXIO," giving her a barrier that gave her just enough time to pull out a grenade and let it go before shooting at it and ducking quickly.

The grenade exploded... with so little effect that it didn't even merit a smoke cloud, which would gradually dissipate to reveal the unscathed Overlord. If she had a demon's sight, she could see the big old "0" that popped up for the damage number.

On the upside, the sword flat hit her barrier instead of her. On the downside, it still hit with a force that human scientists had to invent numbers they considered to be purely theoretical to describe.

Lash was about to talk about robot arms, but the fight went into final desperate overdrive and she couldn't stop staring.

"Ouch," she cleverly observed. Where was the bowl of popcorn?

Even someone like Hit Girl knew when she needed a smokescreen, and that was exactly what the grenade was. It did work, so when Hit Girl hit the ground, she was able to shift weapons to her guns: the one the Overlord gave her, and the other from Negi himself.

Yeah, she had just enough time to summon a Pactio before the smoke cleared. It was a good thing too because otherwise the hit from the blade would have sent Hit Girl flying, and the switch in weapons would have been for naught. It still staggered her though, and she did have to dig in her heels pretty hard.

Recovering from those blows was difficult, but never let it be said that Hit Girl ever gave an inch. She was at just enough close range to fir a few shots, and had one more trick up her sleeve.

"I'm conflicted about who to cheer for." Ruffnut confessed feeling the thrill of a good fight. "Is that wrong? I mean she is my girlfriend and all..."

Lash gave her a look that was half 'are you serious' and half 'are you really, seriously, serious'...before giving her a whack on the back of the head.

"That's also for coming in here without asking," she added.

0. 0. 0.

This wasn't a game, it wasn't even fun, and no hint of enjoyment showed on the Overlord's face. He dropped to the ground with enough force to displace a broad crater of sand outwards, but the moment he hit he exploded forwards with speed unlike anything before demonstrated, sword slashing at her --

And even before he reached her, another image of the Overlord appeared, just to the left, launching itself at her --

And then another, and another, as Zetta attacked again and again with speed so fast he could launch another three attacks before he'd even finished the first. This was not showing off, nor posturing, nor posing. This was sheer raw intent to put his disciple in her place with the power of the strongest Overlord in the whole freaking cosmos.

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