Valia nodded and unlocked her neck clasp, then began to unscrew her helmet. She lifted it off her head and let it hang in the air, then she pressed a button on the back of her neck and her suit automatically unzipped. She pulled off the back-piece and rose out of the suit, dressed in her blue overalls. She grabbed the helmet from the air and screwed it back onto the suit, then locked the neck clasp.
Those fucker's will get to finish the job... Valia thought to herself.
Guilman checked the fusion pistol as Valia adjusted the suit so it was bending over, and rested her rubber shoe on its behind.
"I'm sure it'll fly majestically like an eagle." Said Jeremy.
"Ready for launch!" Said Valia, poised and ready.
Guilman looked out into the blue haze. The bridge was visible, a dark shadow in the mist. Its sleek frame stretched out across the open space like a dark bone. Guilman could see a hundred heads sticking out over the top. They had fallen silent. Watching. Waiting.
"Now!"
Valia kicked her suit, it flew out into the mist and became a dark shadow, tumbling over and over as it crossed the tunnel. The aliens rose and fired. Hundreds of green lasers flew around the suit, it began to smoke and tatter as it was hit. Guilman and Valia waited until it was reaching the other side of the tunnel.
"Go!" Guilman shouted to Valia. She bent down, spread out her arms and leaped off the edge like an Olympic diver. She flew down the sickening four hundred metre drop. Guilman waited until she was barely distinguishable in the haze, and then he fired at the aliens on the bridge.
BAM
BAM
BAM
BAM
Burning fireballs of green energy shot out to the bridge. The aliens began to fire back, a storm of lasers cracking and sparking around them.
"Uh, is there anything I can do sir?" Jeremy asked, flinching as orange sparks burst again from the wall opposite.
"Just count sheep in your head!" Guilman yelled over the lasers.
"I'll be your source of entertainment!" He yelled back. "So a man walks into a bar..."
"...and...yeah, that's it. He had a concussion and died."
"That was terrible." Valia chuckled as she flew down through the mist.
"I try my best." Jeremy's voice came back through her earpiece. "Here's another one. What's green and has wheels?"
"I dunno." Valia said as she hit the metal surface of the tunnel and slid her hands down it until she stopped. She looked around her. "What?"
"Grass, I lied about the wheels."
Darcy groaned. "My ears are bleeding..."
Valia saw something glint ahead of her, she pushed off of the metal and glided towards it. It was a grill. Valia grabbed it and pulled her self towards it, looking around again.
"Okay, why was six afraid of seven?"
"Because six seven ate?" Darcy replied.
"Nope, because seven was a registered six offender."
Valia snorted. She saw a small object in the haze and pushed towards it. A storm of green was beating above her.
Guilman fired again and again at the bridge, a laser shot just past his helmet. He pulled back, breathing heavily. He looked down at the pistol in his hands. The barrel was glowing hot. He looked out at the mist.
It was getting thinner.
"Valia, any luck?" He said through the radio.
"No luck so far." She reported back.
"Dammit."
"Ok, ok. So a blonde walks into the doctor's office with both of her ears burnt..."
Guilman gritted his teeth and began firing back at the bridge.
"The doctor asked her what happened. She says 'I was ironing my dress when the phone rang. I held the iron to my ear, thinking it was the phone!'. 'Okay.' The doctor says. 'That doesn't explain the other ear.' The blonde says..."
"...'The bastard called again.'"
Darcy snickered in front of the controls.
Valia grabbed one of the black ridges and looked around.
Come on, where are you...
She noticed the fog was moving past her like a wind. She began to feel something tugging at her. Her grip on the ridge began to loosen. Valia looked down and saw another ridge. She let go, something sucked her through the air, gathering speed as she went. She grabbed the other ridge, her grip almost slipping and held on. She looked down again. It was one of the gas vents.
Holy shit...
It was a hole the size of half a basketball court. Long metallic flaps extended across it, slowly turning as it sucked in the fog. In the centre was the toolbox.
You've got to be kidding me.
Valia's heart skipped a beat as the toolbox shifted and feel slightly into the hole. The metal flaps caught, and the vent began to rev and moan. Then, detecting the blockage, it began to pick up power.
"You've got to be KIDDING ME!" Valia screamed as she hung onto the ridge, the wind gushing around her.
"What!? What happened!?" Darcy shouted through the radio in the white room.
"You need to turn off the gas vents, now! I'm going to be sucked into one of these things!"
"Oh, shit!"
"Don't let me become diced meat!"
"I'm on it!"
Darcy stood there, breathing heavily.
What did I use to reverse the air flow?
Darcy held his helmet in his hands, eyes squeezed shut.
Come on! THINK!
He heard something behind him.
Slowly, Darcy turned around.
An alien stood in the doorway. It was seven feet tall, its dark body contrasting greatly with the shining white room. It stared at him, with its unchanging face.
To Darcy, the room had fallen dead silent. There was only him, and the alien, separated by six metres of space.
The rifle was in the cold room. Darcy cursed himself in his head as he looked at the locked door.
The alien let a grey object slide down its palm to its fingertips. It flicked its wrist, and a long, silver blade fired out of it. Shining stripes of energy were pulsing down its length.
Darcy raised his fists.
He was no fighter, the most experience he had was slapping the school bully in third grade. The terse exchange had resulted in a wedgie. Darcy, however, knew that the gloves of his suit would certainly prove helpful. They were designed to withstand all the harsh conditions of space, and their surface was hard as rock. If he could deliver a decent punch, they would be the world's deadliest boxing gloves. If he could disarm him first.
Darcy knew what he had to do.
He braced himself, ready.
"COME ON MOTHERFUCKER!" He screamed.
Darcy bolted forward.
The alien bolted forward.
Darcy kicked a fridge open, the door swung outwards and slammed into the running alien. It slumped to the floor.
Darcy stood there, waving his fists in the air.
"COME ON, MAN TO MAN! Uh...I mean..."
Darcy waited. The alien didn't move.
Oh shit, did that just work?
Valia's grip slipped further, the wind was howling around her.
"DARCY!"
Darcy jumped from his shocked stupor, and ran to the control panel.
"Yeah, yeah! I'm working on it!"
He stared, dumbfounded for a few seconds.
"Uh.........yeah!"
He twisted the bony tap.
The wind began to die down. Valia half expected to fall to the floor but then remembered she was in zero gravity. She hung there, horizontal, gasping. Then she pushed off and floated across the gas vent, grabbing the toolbox as she went.
"Bingo!" She shouted, holding the toolbox above her like a trophy.
A bout of green lasers showered down around her. She gasped and tried to dodge them, letting go of the toolbox in her panic. It flew up through the crystal-clear tunnel.
"STAY OFF HER YOU PRICKS!" Guilman roared as he fired over and over at the bridge.
Jeremy screamed into his mic. "Are you okay Valia!?"
"Yes, I'm fine! I'm sheltering behind one of these ridges! I lost the toolbox, Jeremy!"
Jeremy saw the tiny white box flying up through the tunnel, glinting in the blue lights.
"No you haven't!"
He turned to Guilman.
"Give me the welder!"
"What?"
"Give me the fucking welder!"
Guilman un-clipped the handheld welder from his waist, and handed it to him.
"What are you- hey!"
Jeremy had leaped out into the tunnel.
"Oh for fuck's sake!" Guilman began firing as fast as he possibly could at the bridge.
The occasional green laser shot past him as he glided across the yawing gap. He began to slowly unscrew the bolt on the welder.
That's it, Cap, keep them occupied...
The tool box was flying up in front of him. Jeremy held out his right hand and grabbed it as he shot through the air. Valia whooped from below.
"Jeremy! Five star aviation pilot!" Valia cried as he flew above her.
"I know it's a lovely day." Jeremy said to her as he unscrewed the bolt on the welder and let it blast gas out in front of him. "But I don't think this is the best time to play baseball."
Valia laughed as Jeremy flew back across the gap, the welder blowing gas out in front of him. A laser hit the canister in his hand and it exploded, the fireball engulfing him.
"Ah, shit!" Jeremy flew out of the fireball, his glove was burning , but the rest of his suit was fine. He crashed into the floor in front of the tarnished silver door, grabbing one of its ridges and pulling himself in.
"Nice one." Said Guilman. "Time to get fixing."