OIC (34)
MegaZone23
"What I am is what I am are you what you are or what?"
--Edie Brickell & New Bohemians
As the pair were about to dive around the corner a group
of terrorists opened fire on them from the rear.
"SHIT!" they cried in unison as they took cover.
"Kei, you go around the corner. I'll hold these guys
off."
"Right. Good luck." With that she dove around the
corner, and froze in her tracks.
Ben was in the hallway. Strewn about him were bodies of
the terrorists and several children. As she watched, a child
grabbed Ben's leg and clung to him. He leveled his gun on
the child's face, grinned evilly, and fired. He then began
putting several shots into the remaining children. Until he
was interrupted by Kei.
"BEN!" she screamed, it was all she could think to say.
Ben spun and fired on her, wounding her shoulder. As
Kei dove for cover Ben dove through a doorway. Kei was
shocked, and confused, she couldn't believe what she had just
seen. Her heart turned to stone and she lost all the love
she had every felt for anyone. How could he have done this?
How, goddammit?!?! She began to cry, for the betrayal, and
for the children.
Ben was racing towards the offices, he knew he was
behind schedule and he wanted to try to hold up his side of
the net. As he rounded the corner on the fly he ran into
Ben as he dove through a doorway. This shocked him somewhat,
as running into yourself tends to do.
"Huh-- What the-- Who the hell--" He false started
several times. Before he could untie his tongue Ben had
turned the corner and was gone. He gathered himself together
and stepped through the door, a confused look on his face.
That confused look quickly turned to horror as he took
in the field of bodies, most young children, which filled the
hallway.
The horror quickly turned to shock as Kei grabbed his
attention.
"You! How could you?! You motherfucking sonofabitch!
DIE!"
"Kei, what--" He was cut short as Kei put a neat
pattern of shots, sort of a 'therefore' symbol, from her
electromag into his chest. Even a Detian can only take so
much. The shots laid him out cold on the floor of the hall.
She had to struggle to restrain herself from blowing his head
off and killing him right there.
"Kei, I took care of those guys. Is everything ok in
here--" Yuri stopped mid-sentence as she rounded the corner
and took in the scene. The bodies everywhere, Kei sobbing on
the floor with a wounded shoulder, and Ben sprawled with
three shots through his chestplate. The shots were
definitely from an electromag, and the terrorists were using
lasers or projectiles. But that would mean... no, why would
she? Was she crying because she shot him?
"Kei, Kei, are you ok? Ben will be ok, he's a Detian
remember. Hey, friendly fire happens. It's not your
fault..."
"I did it on purpose," Kei mumbled.
"What?" Yuri asked, not sure she had heard her
correctly.
"I shot the bastard on purpose," Kei stated coldly.
"What? Why?" Yuri asked, really confused now.
"He did this," Kei said bitterly, indicating the carnage
with a wave of her hand.
Yuri just stood there for a few moments, dumbstruck by
the concept. "Ben? I really doubt he would have done this.
It must have been the terrorists. You just got confused in
the heat of battle. I mean..."
"I'M NOT FUCKING CONFUSED!" Kei screamed. "I SAW THE
BASTARD DO IT! HE SHOT THE KIDS RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME, THE
SADISTIC MOTHERFUCKER!" The calm which followed her scream
was unbearably quiet, and her whispered comment which
followed seemed almost a yell. "So I shot him."
"You're hit too. Did he..."
"Yes, he shot me. I'll be alright. Like you said,
Detians can take a lot."
"Are you sure? This must be hard for you..."
"I said I'm alright!" Kei snapped, obviously not, then
she calmed herself, "Let's get him back to the ship and
locked up." Before I kill him myself, she failed to add.
"And let's get some medics in here. Maybe some of these kids
can be saved."
Yuri activated her radio and called the Wayward Son for
a medical team and a transport shuttle. When she finished
that she checked in with the Triple-S. They were nearly done
with their clearing sweeps, and would be finished by the time
the shuttle got there. Lt. Miyu had an interesting bit of
news.
"I thought I saw Ben a few minutes ago heading outside."
"That can't be, he's in here with us," Yuri replied, she
didn't want to try and explain in what condition that was.
"Oh well, it was probably just a trooper scouting
around. Some of the regulars started securing the perimeter
after we started our final strike."
"Ok. Well, I'll see you when the shuttle gets here."