Editing Episode 413: Frankie Goes To Pericles, Part Three


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[[Episode 413: Frankie Goes To Pericles| Part 1]]<br>
[[Episode 413: Frankie Goes To Pericles, Part Two | Part 2]]<br><br>

Nika and Kiera both get their shots off first and both their targets go down.  However, the rearmost gunman is still up and he fires off a shot at Nika. It misses.  Joshua manages to grapple with Rough Woman even as Rough Guy falls to the deck. <br><br> 

Rina makes it to the container and goes to the far corner, ducks her head around for a quick peek.  There are two stitches in the aisle formed by the rear of the containers and the station bulkhead. They are getting doctored by a doctorly type.  There’s no way they wouldn’t see her if she continued with her original plan.  Rina ducks back with none the wiser and starts climbing for the container’s roof.<br><br>

The guns fall silent. As Arden leans out from cover to see what’s going on, Nika shouts out in the pause between volleys.<br><br>

'''Nika:''' Doesn’t have to be a gun fight.<br><br>

The response is more gunfire.  Miraculously none of the flying lead hits Joshua and Rough Woman as they grapple for supremacy.  Joshua knows martial arts, Woman knows the quick and dirty.  They seem evenly matched and they continue their struggle.<br><br>

Arden eyes the struggle, then brings up his gun and takes careful aim past Joshua for the remaining shooter to the rear.  There’s too much interference from Joshua and the woman he’s struggling with.  Arden searches for another target.  Nika and Kiera reassess their targets and the bullets start flying again.  Rina takes a stray shot to the torso but is saved by her vest.  She climbs onward and gains the top of the container and goes belly down to make herself a smaller target.  Cautiously looking over the side, she sees the stitches ordered into the fray.  They snort, smelling battle, and advance down the length of the container corridor toward the fight. Arden has found another target, a man with his back to him.  Bang. The man drops to the deck, still alive, with a bullet hole in his back.<br><br>

Nika sees the stitches approaching and steps right up to Joshua and the Rough Woman, puts a gun to the woman’s head and says:<br><br>

'''Nika:''' Call them off.<br>
'''Rough Woman:''' (breathlessly) ''… Stop …!''<br><br>

Unfortunately the man who could call them off just got shot in the back by Arden. Is he in the mood to call the stitches off? <br><br> 

Nope.<br><br>

Rina aims from above on the advancing stitches and squeezes off a shot. She hits but it doesn’t even slow him down.  Crap.  Her shot also gives away her position to everyone else and one of the stitch handlers shoots at Rina.<br><br> 

'''Arden:''' Call them off! We don’t want to kill anyone else!<br><br>

Gunfire is the answer.<br><br>

'''Rough Woman:''' Calm down!<br><br>

''Bang!''<br><br>

'''Rough Woman:''' Calm down!  Everybody calm down!<br><br>

''Bang! Bang! Bang!''<br><br>

Despite the woman in charge’s obvious desire for a cease fire, nobody on her side seems interested in parlay.  The bullets continue to fly and our original plan to mount a rescue operation is thrown to a faretheewell.<br><br>

Arden lines up a head shot on a stitch, fires, and the lower half of the stitch’s ear turns into a red mess.  The stitch keeps coming, blood pouring down his neck and chest, but apparently unfazed by the injury he’s sustained. Nika goes a bit white-eyed at the sight.<br><br>

'''Nika:''' ''Ai ya! Cao ni mah!''<br><br>

Arden is too busy to say anything at that instant—he’s fending off the stitch he’s wounded.  He tries to dodge, but gets hit with a glancing bow.  He staggers but manages to stay on his feet.<br><br>

'''Nika:''' ''G’en ho tze bi dio se…!''<br><br>

Rina sees one of the stitches grab the ladder of her container and start his climb.  She aims for him and shoots.  The stitch takes the shot in the arm and keeps on going. He’ll be on top of the container in a minute.<br><br>

Nika aims around the grappling pair of Joshua and Rough Woman and fires at the stitch Arden’s shot. She gets a good solid hit as Kiera hollers and runs for the cover of Rina’s container.<br><br>

'''Kiera:''' I thought we were trying to ''save'' them, not ''kill'' them!<br><br>

Bullets whine over the top of the container and Rina manages to avoid them. Down on the deck, Joshua attempts a sleeper hold on the woman he’s grappling.  He gets his arm around her throat, applies the pressure, and she’s out like a light.  He puts her gently on the deck and looks up to assess the situation. <br><br>

The situation looks bad.  There’s a stitch on top of the container with Rina.  There’s a stitch in front of Arden.  And there is a third stitch approaching Joshua and Nika.<br><br>

Arden steps back, avoiding bumping into Joshua, and shoots at the stitch coming for him. This only serves to enrage the stitch further—naturally—and the stitch bulls on for Arden. Nika steps aside to give Joshua room to escape … and also to set up her shot at her advancing stitch.  Joshua steps clear of the unconscious woman he’s subdued and looks around for the next immediate threat.  The stitch advancing on Arden looks pretty damned immediate to him. Mind, the one on Arden is bleeding from a shot to the head and a shot to the body, but it hardly slows him down. Joshua moves to assist Arden. Nika sees him from the corner of her eye.<br><br>

'''Nika:''' (growling) That’s '''not''' why I stepped sideways.<br><br>
'''Joshua:''' Yeah, I know. Sorry.<br><br>

Joshua executes an Aikido move and throws the stitch down on the deck.  Nika’s stitch throws a wild haymaker for her head but her lightning reflexes save her handily and the stitch’s fist hits nothing but air. On the container, Rina backpedals and aims for the stitch scrambling for her.  He’s huge, she’s small, but she’s determined and her shot hits him square.  Of course, putting a single bullet in a stitch is like wounding a grizzly bear—it only serves to make him madder and more dangerous.  And this particular bear is already wounded. There’s not a lot of room between them and his rage makes him quicker than her dodge.  A fist to the gut sends the air out of her and her ass to the container roof.  Rina claws to her feet and brings her gun up again.  Despite his wounds, there’s some fight left in the stitch, but there’s fight left in the Russian engineer as well and they square off for another round.<br><br>

Rina eyes the distance from the container edge and gambles on an all-out charge to push the stitch over it.  If nothing else, the fall to the deck might stun him long enough for her or the others to press their advantage.  She barrels forward, hits him like a linebacker and sends him right the hell over.  Down he goes with a thud, narrowly missing flattening Kiera below.  She whirls in her tracks at the resounding thud, brings her shotgun around and pumps a round into him before she can even take aim.<br><br>

'''BLAM!'''<br><br>

'''Score:''' Salsanator: 1; Stitch: 0<br><br>

Rina peers over the edge and sees the red mess below and catches Kiera’s attention.<br><br>

'''Rina:''' (Sorry … ) Saved you one.<br>
'''Kiera:''' (WTF!?) We were supposed to be ''saving'' them, dammit, Rina! Not ''killin’'' ’em.<br><br>


The stitch on the deck scrambles for Arden, connects and stuns him.  Arden staggers.  Joshua grapples the stitch and attempts to sleeper-hold him.  Nika’s stitch tries for her again and Arden shakes off his stun to assist his Captain.  He brings his gun up and hesitates—Nika is too close to the stitch and he doesn’t want to risk putting a bullet into her. Nika sees Arden and dodges and shouts.<br><br>

''Nika:'' Take the shot! It’s okay!<br><br>

Arden aims for mass and shoots and hits.<br><br>

Joshua gets his move in, has the stitch in a sleeper hold.  The stitch pulls Joshua off his feet as they grapple and in a flash they’re nothing but a rolling thrash of limbs on the deck as the stitch tries to dislodge Joshua from his back and breathe.  Joshua hangs on like a tick and puts the squeeze on.<br><br>

Kiera returns to the fray and skirts the body of the stitch she’s shot.  She sees Joshua rolling around on the deck with the stitch and she can see whatever Joshua’s doing isn’t too terribly effective.  The stitch is tossing and rolling and Joshua’s getting flung around like a pit bull attached to a bull’s nose.<br><br>

Nika’s stitch gets in a blow just as she squeezes of a shot.  They both backpedal from the hits and manage to stay on their feet.  Arden squeezes off a shot at the stitch on Nika and misses.  The bullet whines past Nika, missing her as well.<br><br>  

Joshua’s still rolling on the floor with his stitch, getting battered in the process.  He hangs on, knowing that letting go now would allow the stitch to rip him to pieces as opposed to simply bludgeoning him with the deck.  It’s a race against time and stamina—will the sleeper hold win out before Joshua blacks out?<br><br>

Arden puts away his gun and starts going through his supplies for a tranq patch. Meanwhile, Nika fires at her stitch again, the shot sinks in, and he misses his grapple attempt.<br><br>

The remaining few handlers working for Sing take one look at the situation—one stitch dead, one stitch down on the deck, and one wavering on his feet—and decide making themselves disappear is the better option.  We don’t give chase or shoot them but let them go. We have more immediate concerns demanding our attention.<br><br>  

On the deck, Joshua’s stitch gets the upper hand, eluding his Aikido hold.  The stitch sinks his teeth into Joshua’s shoulder for the win. On top of the container, Rina sees and yelps something unintelligible.  Nika’s more articulate.<br><br>

'''Nika:''' Oh my god…<br><br>

And Kiera’s more vitriolic.  She starts cussing in Chinese and turning the air blue as she runs up with the Salsanator.  The stitch just bites right through Joshua’s shoulder and Joshua passes out.  A mercy.  As Joshua goes limp, the stitch tries to stand up, shoving Joshua aside.<br><br>

The second Joshua falls clear, Nika opens fire on the stitch. He staggers but he’s still on his feet, dripping blood and gore on Joshua and the deck. Arden runs up to drag Joshua away and the stitch grabs him instead.<br><br> 

'''Arden:''' Shoot him!<br>
'''Rina:''' Where?<br>
'''Arden:''' Anywhere!<br><br>

Nika lines up her next shot, squeezes it off, and the stitch’s head explodes in a cloud of red.  The stitch falls away and Arden staggers up and rushes to Joshua, pulling his bag around to the fore.  Kiera is right there next to him and the two doctors scramble to save Joshua.  They get down to meatball surgery right there on the deck. Nika is absolutely livid.<br><br>

'''Nika:''' The next time we say we’re saving—!?<br><br>

And her speech devolves into a torrent of cursing. Rina gets down from the container and stalks over. We’re all stunned and all but Kiera are wounded in some fashion or another but Joshua is our first priority.<br><br>  

'''Kiera:''' (snarling to Rina) Did I or did I not tell you to leash him?  The next time we go out, we’re—<br><br>

And the rest of her comment is lost as she moves quick to tie off a bleeder. The next little while drags long as Arden and Kiera work on Joshua, leaving Nika and Rina nothing to do but to stand and guard their backs and wait.  The two doctors manage to stabilize Joshua and knowing his chances are better in our girl’s medbay, we scrape Joshua off the deck and we beat a retreat out of there.<br><br>

And it’s a retreat in the face of a Pyrrhic victory: we managed to save the stitches in Sing’s stable, but only by killing them.  We won the battle but risk losing Joshua to devastating injury and the possibility of Prion contamination.  Members of our party are covered in blood and gore and one of us looks more dead than alive.  In such a state, traveling through the station to our ship is courting arrest by the authorities.  Even so, we make the attempt and manage to get back to our ship uncontested.<br><br> 





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[[Episode 413: Frankie Goes To Pericles| Part 1]]<br>
[[Episode 413: Frankie Goes To Pericles, Part Two | Part 2]]<br><br>

Go back to: '''''[[Episode 412: Borrow and Steal | Borrow and Steal ]]''''' | Go forward to: '''''[[Episode 414: Insomnia | Insomnia]]'''''<br>
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