Stow Away Troubles (Dante)

[Deleted]

The room was dark, cold, and made of metal? Her head was spinning, and it felt like the air had been knocked out of her body. Maria was clutching her stomach with one arm, already collapsed on her knees from her rough landing.

Vortex Manipulators..

Unless you have one in pristine condition, you really didn't know where you were going to end up. And most likely, you wouldn't know how long it was going to take for you to get back to where you were, or to get to where you were going.. The Phantom had managed to come across a V.M. which had it's fair share of bugs, and had cause her to get into the situation she was in now.

She hesitantly got to her feet, using the cold hard metal bars that stopped her from leaving the direct area. Which at the moment didn't seem that big of a deal, seeing as how she needed a little breather after her brief transport. Maria took this moment in time to observe the things she could make out in the dark room, so far it seemed to her that she had managed to teleport into a cell of sorts. Letting her hand feel it's way around the bars she felt the lock that kept her inside the cage itself. Well, surely that would be easy enough to get off, giving her a quick and simple escape.. Right?

It might have been if it hadn't been for the rather unsettling sounds that came from behind her. Something that was a mix between the Hyena's of Earth, and the Zaber of Seite. Both extremely unpleasant noises, from rather unpleasant creatures. And Maria didn't have to look behind her to know that she was in there with the unknown thing. Or maybe things?

Maria could feel her twin hearts pounding against her ribcage as she hurried to get her Laser screwdriver out of the denim Jacket's inner pocket. Her hand clutched around the small device, quickly pulling it out as she searched desperately for the lock again. Luckily it didn't take long for her to clutch onto it, pulling it as close to her as she possibly could. Then she placed her Screwdriver to the keyhole, blasting it apart and opening the way to her freedom.

She ran as fast as she could to.. what she considered a rather safe, if not convenient hiding spot behind a few strapped down crates and barrels.

[Deleted]

The Vanquisher for once seemed on its best behaviour, which was good considering exactly what they were transporting. Some rich toff, whose nickname had become much worse than that over the past few days, had asked them to transport his 'pets' to a certain suspicious location. The entire thing was very hush, hush, and it had fallen to Dante and the team to get the job done. The deep hold had been dusted off and the cage bars refitted to be stronger. They had seen first hand what those... creatures could do. Irwin had almost lost his hand during feeding time and that was just the start. Consequently, it seemed rather fitting that Dante would become attached to the bloodthirsty beasts enough to call them her 'pets'. They almost seemed to like her too, Irwin could almost see why.

Lunch that day had been a rather disappointing take-away since they couldn't afford to stop to stock up for long, especially with their... cargo. Dante had been lounging in the captains chair, feet up on the console and currently trying unsuccessfully to scavenge the last noodle from the bottom of the box with her third pair of chopsticks. Lars and Irwin had taken to the card table and Dax had gone down to the weapons room to give the guns some much needed TLC. Ood was with Lars and Irwin, who were still trying to teach him to play some variant of matchstick poker. 

All in all, it was mostly quiet. And as usual, that didn't last for long. She'd have to speak to someone about getting that re-router installed. 

A dozen alarm bells went off at once, the bridge was bathed in red and the quest for the last noodle was forgotten as the box fell to the floor. "Camera to screen one!" Dante yelled, as the rest of the crew charged to the weapons room to suit up. Lars brought back Dante's body armour and attachments and helped her into them as the ship showed the scene in the deep hold. The cage door holding back Dante's little 'pets' was swinging ominously open and the top of a woman's head could be seen cowering behind a stack of crates used as blocking. "Shit." Dante swore, rubbing the back of her head and whistling for the crew to come over. "Right, non-lethal only. The toff's little pets have gone walkies and its high time they came home. Get them back in asap, I'll deal with our guest." The crew nodded and parted ways to deal with the threat in the traditional pirate fashion.

Dante's concern, however, was for their guest. Intruders had become a regular irritant on her ship, to the point where she was just one more time away from contacting a mechanic to install a re-router with a little parting gift. Whilst the other rounded up her pets, Dante sought out the woman. Stopping just shy, the pirate cleared her throat nonchalantly, though one glance at her face would tell you all you needed to know. The woman was livid, really livid.

"You irresponsible bitch, do you know what you've done?" The pirate seethed, hissing the s's in irresponsible as static gunshots rang out around the ship, echoing off the walls. For pirates as efficient as Dante's crew, it didn't take long for all the creatures nearby to be contained. Lars and Irwin struggled past with an unconscious beast in tow, straining to pull the hulking figure along the floor. Just to humour them, Dax strode past easily carrying one in his bionic arms before dumping it unceremoniously in the cell. Dante shot him a look before dragging the woman out by the arm. "Got the bitch. Make sure our guest is shown the full extent of pirate hospitality will you Dax?" Dante said, eyes glinting with malevolence as she thrust the woman in his direction. "Let's clean up here, it wouldn't do to be delayed any longer. Vanq, put the rest of the ship in lockdown until we locate the others. They can't have gone far." Dante yelled at the ceiling, a few lights flashing and doors closing behind them. Their client wouldn't be best pleased with their upset, but then again... their client didn't have to know.

[Deleted]

Maria had really hoped that she could have made herself smaller, and perhaps be able to sneak away unnoticed. But unfortunately… Her luck seemed to have other plans. Seeing as she was so rudely yanked up from her (not so) comfy hiding place, and then, after being called a rather silly name (considering she wasn’t a dog,) and finally pushed into the arms of a cyborg. And a large one at that, Maria stared up at him with a sheepish smile. Oh boy… How was she ever going to get out of this one?

It only took a moment for her to remember that she still had her laser screwdriver. And that she could use it to stun a couple of them, and then make her escape! Brilliant plan! Absolutely brilliant! Except… Where would she escape too? Maria’s eyes scanned the area she was in, looking for anything that could assist her retreat. That’s when her eyes caught the slight glint from what appeared to be a vent, and it looked like she could possibly squeeze through it. Perfect.

Knowing that she didn’t have much time to pull this off, she moved her free arm towards Dax, pressing the sliver button on her screwdriver. As she heard the shrill sound of the device going off, she took off running towards the visible vent on the floor. Maria let her body drop to the ground as she fired her laser again, this time at the vent. Now that the grill to the vent was taken care off, she quickly crawled her way into the ship’s systems.

[Deleted]

Dante nodded over at Dax, making a series of hand gestures which seemed to make sense to the rest of the crew. Irwin made his way over to a computer that slid out of the panels in the wall and Lars stood beside Dante's shoulder, glaring over at the intruder. The animosity in the room, as well as tensions, was running high and it would only take one spark to set it all off.

And that spark came in the form of a laser.

Dante's eyes registered what was happening before her brain did and she found her mouth forming into the beginning of a word. That word happened to be "NO!", yelled as the woman electrocuted Dax and escaped into the air vents. It took a while for her brain to catch up, and in that time the woman was already gone to the tune of a blast from her rifle that glinted off the corner of the vent. "Well shit." She commented irritably, holstering her pistol and looking down at crippled Dax down on the floor. 

"What're you doing down there you bloody great lump? Get up and find the bitch!" She seethed with a frown, rolling her eyes and giving him a nudge with her boot as she stepped over him and stormed off towards the sub-station in the deep hold. Now the ship was in lockdown, all Vanq had to do was to search for the signals that the two escaped predators were giving off and systematically unlock the rooms for them to be knocked out. Simple enough, right?

The woman had thrown that all off kilter. Dante had her hands on her hips, glaring up at the computer from under her fringe. "Locate the bitch's position and keep track of her. She's yours for now Vanq. And find out what that bloody device was!" Dax had hauled himself into a chair and was being tended to by Irwin, the scowl on the cyborgs face immeasurable as was his anger. Vanq flashed his agreement and the woman watched the small green blip appear on the map.

"Lars, Irwin, go and round up those two beasts and get them back here. Our client knows nothing of this, capiche? When he asks how the haul was we say it was peachy."

"But boss, what about Dax? The woman?"

"Leave her to me."

"Boss?"

"She's mine."

They went to protest again but they stopped in their tracks when they saw Dante's face. Gathering their rifles, they tracked off to find the creatures, the doors hissing shut behind them. "You're my second now Dax, see what you can do on the comms. Lead the team and try not to damage the cargo, I'd like to keep all my fingers." She said, smirking and beginning to walk off.

"What about you boss?"

To that, Dante just smiled knowingly, her eyes glinting with malice and reloaded the charge on her weapon.

"I've got bigger fish to fry."

--

Vanq by now had isolated the presence of the woman in his air ventilation shafts and was tracking her steady progress with mind-numbing detail. He was going to have fun with this one. Setting a few programs, the light strips on the side of the vents glowed with each word, bathing the ventilation route in a sickly green colour.

"The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout."

The singing voice was ghostly and spine-chilling, echoing through the ventilation systems and through the rest of the ship. Dax just cast what would be called a smirk (though you could hardly tell since all his expressions looked the same) at the screen and went on typing, fingers jabbing at the keys. Catching a creature and in the process of hauling one back to the cages, Lars and Irwin exchanged glances, used to Vanq's antics, and chuckled to themselves, straining under the dead weight of the beast.

But Vanq hadn't finished yet. A small whirring sound started up underneath the vents, gently vibrating the metal and a distant crashing sound could be heard getting nearer, the vent vibrating into a crescendo.

"But down came the rain and washed the spider out."

The rushing sound careered around the corner in the form of gallons and gallons of water, the green lights tinting it an other-worldly green. The aim was to was the woman out of the vent and into one of the side-rooms, where Dante stood now waiting, casting a glance now and again at her watch.

Any second now...

[Deleted]

Phantom was panicking, she had managed to make her way through the ventilation shafts; which was great and all… but… it would've been better if she actually knew where she was going. Heck, it would have been fantastic if her vortex manipulator had charged up, or better yet, if it hadn't brought her here in the first place! That would have been the best luck ever!

“Good job Maria…” She muttered to herself, “You've managed to piss off a bunch of people off in less than a half hour, must be a new record for yourself!” She was being completely sarcastic as she continued crawling through the vents. “The only thing that could be wors-“ She was cut off from arguing with herself when someone with an intercom system started to sing an old children’s earth rhyme.

“The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout.”

This did not bode well for the Timelady, seeing as where she was at the moment. Phantom stopped moving, trying to focus on the sound that was coming towards her. It sounded like a strong swooshing was clashing against the vent from up ahead. On another note, the metal had started to vibrate… She couldn't help the feeling of dread that was currently occupying her. That dread only increased when the voice on the intercom continued with the next verse.

“But down came the rain and washed the spider out.”

Well, this surely was a predicament she had gotten herself into. Maria could only try and shift her body so she wouldn't be coming out on her back, and at least try to give herself a slight advantage. She held tightly onto her screwdriver, waiting for the inevitable.

Sure enough, she heard the sound of water nearly on top of her. She didn't even have a chance to take a quick breath, as the water suddenly rushed over her. No matter how hard she tried to get some sort of grip, there was none. It was almost like a water park ride, except when she gets to the end… she would most likely have someone not so friendly on the other side waiting for her.

Maria was semi-ready for the drop, or rather the exit… She might not have stuck the landing, but she did recover with a roll, standing on one knee as she held her screwdriver tightly with both hands. Ready to fire when the next move was made. Her dark wet bangs hiding her blue eyes that narrowed at the woman who stood in front of her. She shook her head quickly a few times as a way to get some of the water of her hair, before returning her gaze back at the woman.

“Hi…” Maria greeted, her voice indifferent, yet slightly amused by the situation.

[Deleted]

The pirate smirked and hummed along to the tune, leaning against the wall as the song echoed throughout the ship. "Not bad Vanq, not bad. I never pegged you as one havin a sense of humour." The temperature dropped a few, noticeable degrees. "Alright, alright! Point taken, check back with Dax and remove the logs. Those bastards slept like puppies the entire time, this never happened." The light flashed confirmation and the smirk returned to Dante's face.

The woman tumbled out of the vent exactly on time, the pirate smirking and tapping the watch triumphantly. "Hi to you too." Her voice sounded just as amused, but with a definite sarcastic undertone to it with just a dash of bloody minded menace. A smile was flashed towards the woman, showing rows of sharp teeth. "Well, isn't this grand?" She asked, sticking her thumbs through her belt loops and walking around the woman still crouching on the floor, inviting and daring her to reply.

"But where are my manners?" The woman's smile dropped in mock shock. "I'm Captain Wilder and this is my pirate ship The Vanquisher. Oh, sorry! But you already knew that didn't you?" The pirate taunted, exaggerating her facial expressions and her voice taking on a theatrical, snide tone. She lifted a hand and snapped her fingers. With a buzzing, sparking sound a green laser light cage descended from the ceiling to land over the woman, anchoring itself to the floor. Dante grinned gleefully and dragged a chair over to the edge of the cage, straddling it and leaning on the back. 

"Trespassing isn't something I take lightly here, I hope you understand. At least you won't run off and play hide and seek again, I very much hate losing." The pirate grimaced at losing, getting into the role. From the control room Dax, Irwin and Lars watched in on the interrogation and Irwin had even managed to find some quick-mix popcorn in the kitchen.

"Oh, don't worry about wasting my time. I've got all day and more. This cage is very cleverly designed, it blocks all signals and renders any technology useless. Very old school, but sometimes the old ways are the best." The woman chuckled. "Now, this could go one of two ways. One, you tell me who you are, why you're here and who you work for, we rough you up a bit and let you go as a courtesy for playing the game; or two, you refuse to co-operate and sadly we'll have to feed you to our guests. The heavier the ship is the more fuel it burns, we really can't afford to carry any more dead weight with the economy as it is if we wanna stay in business."

Dante smiled unnervingly, her eyes glinting with mischief.

"Tick-tock, time's up. What's it gonna be?"