Waking Sleeping Beauty

Posted on Thu Aug 2nd, 2012 @ 8:23pm by Jackson Banning V & Cassidy Wilde & Lieutenant Commander Michael Darwin & Lieutenant Natalia Bren M.D.

Mission: Sections of the Delta Quadrant
Location: Archadia III

Outside the room where Cassidy and Jackson were, things had been quiet for quite some time. Finally, a voice cut through the silence, followed by the scrape of a chair being pushed away from a table. The voice grew louder and was joined by a second: “Morning, y’self. I’ll bet you slept like a princess.”

“And I’ll guess that you’ve spent the night sitting up and diligently making certain our two guests are still where they should be,” the first voice, now detectably female, responded. Neither of the voices sounded particularly happy.

“Yeah. What am I doing with the chicky?”

“The woman?” There was a long pause. “Kill her; use an Archadian military weapon. And make sure she’s shot in the back. Open it up; let’s see if Jackson is awake.”

The owner of the second voice grumbled something under his breath as he fumbled with jangling keys and finally found the correct one. The key scraped against the pins of the lock and then second voice said, “Lady first”, as he gestured into the room.

A cross-looking Natalia stepped through the door and surveyed the room, wincing only slightly at the smell coming off of Chase’s body. “Wakey, wakey, you two. One of you is going to die today,” she chirped, almost merry.

Stepping from behind the door, Cassidy swung the broken off table leg with all her might, aiming for the man’s head. Too bad his noggin wasn’t a baseball or it would have been a homerun. At the last possible second, he turned his head and instead of sending his nose into his brain, she smashed the living daylights out of his cheekbone and the lower part of his orbital socket. He bounced off the door on his way down. Turning her attention to the woman, she practically snarled as she went after her. “You first.”

“No,” Natalia was awfully calm in the face of Cassidy’s attack. Perhaps it was because she knew something Cassidy didn’t: behind her, in the doorway, stood a large male with the business end of a disruptor aimed at Cassidy. He moved slightly, drawing attention to himself. Nat smiled sweetly, “It’d probably be best if you drop the club and go sit in the corner. I need to check out Jackson.”

“Afraid to come in here without your gun-toting’ goon?” Eyeing the man with the weapon, Cass debated her options. She basically had none. That didn’t mean she would quit though. Dropping the makeshift bat, it clattered on the bare floor loudly. She backed up slowly, but not into the corner. Carefully moving around him, she stopped and knelt down next to Jackson, hovering by him protectively. “You want to check on him, you do it with me watchin’ you.”

Smirking at Cassidy and wondering to herself why she didn’t just have Jacques (not his real name) shoot the blonde, Natalia squatted on the other side of Jackson. Deftly, she waved a medical scanner over him then checked the readings on him. After a moment, she pressed a hypospray to Jackson’s neck. “He’ll be fine. You,” she looked steadily at Cassidy, “...however, won’t be. Jacq, take her out, you heard the instructions earlier.”

The gunman moved into the room, ready to grab the blonde by an arm and haul her out of the room.

Dodging the henchman’s hand, Cass leaned down and pressed a kiss to Jackson’s lips before turning a death glare at the Trill woman. “Fuck you, you worm ridden bitch. I’ll be seeing you again.” Every word was laced with hate and if she had to haunt the woman from beyond the grave, she would make good on her vow. Before the gunman could reach for her again, she stood up and marched out under her own steam.

Unconcerned by Cassidy’s hatred or words, Natalia smiled slightly as the woman marched away. She looked back to Jackson, who was just stirring from the shot she’d given him. “Oh, too bad you’re so slow to wake up, J.”

Jackson groaned softly, and it took several seconds for his senses to begin to work. He could have sworn he heard Natalia saying something about waking up and it confused him. Was he still in her quarters and had the days and events since that night been a dream?

“Nat?” came his mumble, the words slurred.

“Good morning lover,” Nat cooed. Just then a loud, heavy thud and a grunt came from the other side of the wall; she smiled and added, “You’ve missed your chance to say goodbye to your little chippie.”

“Wha--?” He started to take a deep breath but the searing pain that ran through his chest stopped him and it came out more like a gurgle with some swear words attached. “Goodbye? Where are we Nat?”

“On Archadia, for your little ‘vacation’, remember?” She blinked at him and ignored the next sound from outside: a loud, long, blood curdling scream. “I suppose I could have given you some pain medication in that shot...,” she looked like she was deliberating about it, “But I didn’t. I figured this would be so much better if you were suffering.”

“So, like that...is it?” He coughed and it brought a groan of pain and he flinched at the scream. “What’s...this about?”

“Control, Jackie. It’s all about who controls the wormhole. And when your little blonde chippie is found dead, and you wounded, possibly dying, Section 31 will control access to this corner of the universe.” This time, when the sound of something slamming into the wall rang through the room, Natalia flinched.

“How you figure that one?” He looked up at her, wondering how in the world he’d been fooled, and thinking that you never really knew anybody. “Not like I’m anyone important.”

“The Archadian Military will be implicated in your death, which will discredit the Prime Minister, allowing Section 31 to oust her and put in a puppet Minister,” she smiled and patted his chest lightly. A satisfying and solid thud came from the outer warehouse, followed by what Natalia recognized as a death rattle. Her smile grew larger. “And that would be your friend, dying.”

“Cass??” He groaned aloud again, tried to move and realized it was futile. “So now, you plan to kill me too? Why not someone more..noticeable?”

Nat looked at him like he was stupid. “Noticeable? You think you’re not noticeable? Weren’t you the one, the first one, to visit our sick Chief of Security? Aren’t you the one who’s been checking up on her? Isn’t it her brother that your ward is screwing? Aren’t you also friends with Li Hawke? And through her the Chief of Ops? You’re noticeable in all the right ways, to all the right people, Jackson.” She jumped slightly when a disruptor blast sounded in the other room. Jacques was certainly being thorough with the blonde.

“Let her go, Nat. Please. You want me, you got me. She’s just a bystander.” Jackson’s voice was fading as he spoke.

“But that’s part of the fun, Jackson: she is a bystander! One you brought into this game. Oh! The guilt you’ll carry!” She seemed to be having fun with this, that much was certain. “Besides, it’s a little late to be begging for her life. You might want to start begging for your own. And here’s a hint: your pretty face alone isn’t going to help.”

The door opened and light spilled in from the other room, stretching the shadow on the floor as someone walked up behind Natalia. If the dubious doctor had been paying attention, she would have noticed the shadow was shaped wrong. Backlit from behind, Cassidy’s blonde hair glowed. She’d heard enough. Without warning, she lashed out with a well aimed round house kick to the side of the other woman’s head, connecting solidly and sending her flying.

“Bitch, I told you I’d be back.”

The physical blows rattled Natalia and her symbiot to the core; it rattled the pair so hard that Nat had a moment where she wondered just what the hell she was doing. Trying to kill Jackson? She loved him! And now the blonde chippie was defending him. “Bitch!” Scrambling up, she launched herself at Cassidy, knocking her to the floor, where Natalia started hitting her and pulling at her hair and clothing.

Jackson watched them, then took as deep a breath as he could and yelled out. “Enough!” The effort sent fire blazing through his chest and with the pain, black spots bloomed before his eyes. Moving was hell, so he stretched out a long leg as the two women wrestled, hooking it around Natalia’s ankle as Cass gave a shove.

Cassidy came down hard on the other woman, her hand wrist-deep in Nat’s abdomen and holding onto something vital with a death grip. Breathing hard, she squeezed. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t rip this outta your stinkin’ gut and end your miserable life right now?”

The pain was blinding. Nat screamed and clawed at the hand around her symbiot. Every Trill instinct kicked in, all focused on protecting the symbiot. She kept screaming and clawing and kicking.

“Give it up Nat,” Jackson rasped. “Did Harding put you up to this?”

Nat stopped screaming just long enough to shout, “Make her let go!”

Cassidy had ridden horses with more buck in them than the woman under her. She wasn’t budging from where she kept Nat pinned down...and she wasn’t letting go. “Answer him now or I’ll eviscerate this maggot inside you while it’s still plugged in and then, I’ll rip it out.” This woman had tried to have both her and Jackson killed. As far as Cass was concerned, the Trill’s life was already over, she just hadn’t stopped breathing yet.

“Heh... do that and he’ll never know the answer.” She glared at the blonde then drove her fist into Cass’s neck.

Dammit. She should have seen it coming. The hit knocked her loose, even as her nails scored the symbiot’s flesh. Falling sideways, Cassidy landed with a thud on the hard floor. The jolt, however, knocked something else loose. The taser she had lifted off of Chase’s corpse. It had been tucked into the lacy edge of her thong, but now it skittered across the floor towards Jackson as she gasped for air.

The soft thump got Jackson’s attention and as the taser skidded towards him, he reached out taking hold. As he watched the two women, he pressed the button to set the charge and waited for his chance.

Nat was up, off the floor, as quickly as she could gather herself, which, with her symbiot’s life on the line, was fairly quick. She headed for safety: the open door. To get there, she had to step over Jackson....

...and fortune smiled on the injured man. As Natalia stepped over, he raised the taser and pressed it against her leg, then pushed the button. And hoped.

The taser had been used at least once without being recharged; even so, it still had enough kick to lay Natalia out flat, twitching as the current ran its course through her.

Jackson laid back flat and closed his eyes. “Good mornin’ to you too, Nat. Call....someone, Cass. Gotta get...outta here.”

Scrambling up, she moved to the open doorway and reached around the frame to pick up the disruptor she had leaned against the wall. Walking back, she shoved her foot under the unconscious Trill and kicked her over onto her back. No commbadge. Grabbing Nat, she dragged her away from Jackson, then returned to kneel by his side.

“I told ya I’d get ya outta here.” Her voice was rough still, from the punch to her throat. “I just need ya to hang on a little longer for me, okay, Jackson?”

Noises came from the outer room - the opening of a door, then uncertain steps and low voices. Moments ticked by and the door to the room finally swung inward, revealing a tall, dark-haired male figure clad in the reassuring gold uniform of Starfleet Security. His phaser came up, but he didn’t fire.

Cassidy saw the uniform, but the momentary relief fled in an instant as she remembered that Zachary Chase had been station security. She held the large disruptor steady and aimed squarely on the man in the doorway. Blonde hair in wild disarray and her dress bloodied and torn in places that exposed more of her than it covered practically, she placed herself in front of Jackson.

“You have zero seconds to identify yourself before I blast ya to kingdom come.”

Darwin spread his hands wide, the one hand as wide as he could without releasing his phaser. He squinted at Cassidy then hazarded a guess, “Ms. Wilde? It’s Lieutenant Darwin. We met when Iggy was having one of her cussin’ lessons with you and Jackson.”

Cass didn’t move and the weapon didn’t lower any. “Darwin? You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t fall over in relief at the sight of Starfleet Security, considerin’ it was one of y’all that got us in this clusterfuck to begin with.”

“One of us?” Darwin’s brows drew together in puzzlement. “What...?” He hadn’t failed to notice the stench in the room and now he saw the cause: Zachary Chase. “Are you saying Chase got you here?” He also eyed the prone body of Doctor Bren, the wound in her belly and the blood on Cassidy’s hands. Perhaps he shouldn’t have been so quick to lower his weapon.

Seeing the direction of his gaze, her chin went up. “Secure that...that...woman,” she ordered imperiously. There was a ring of authority in her voice that she rarely used, but most didn’t dare to question it. “She was behind all of this. Chase kidnapped us, but she was going to have both of us killed.” Wincing from the pain in her throat, Cass took a moment to gather her breath. “Please...you have to get medical help for Jackson. Now.”

Darwin had been taking in the situation while she spoke. Her ‘command’ got just a raised eyebrow from him; the wild-haired blonde might, in other circumstances, have looked sexy. In these circumstances? She looked a touch crazy and guilty. She was, he reminded himself, the newest person to SB900 in the room and she was the one still standing, with a weapon. Her last plea, though, caught his attention for more reasons than one. “We will, but you’re going to have to put the weapon down, Ms. Wilde. Soon as you do that, we can get every one beamed back to the Station, where Medical will take care of y’all.” He’d just used an Oz word: ‘y’all’.

“So, c’mon, put the weapon down,” he urged her.

“It’s the truth Dar....and Cass, put it down...runnin’ outta time here...” Now that the room was quiet, Jack’s faint words could be heard.

She’d been reading Darwin’s emotions and didn’t sense anything that made her think he wanted to hurt her or Jackson. Only concern...and...great...he thought she was nuts. Wonderful. As soon as Jackson spoke though, she tossed the disruptor away and spun, dropping to her knees next to him and taking his hand, her eyes locked on him. “It’s down dammit. Please hurry, Darwin!”

The situation was disarmed so suddenly, Darwin had a split second’s hesitation before securing the weapon and calling out, “Lieutenant Aliso! In here!” It was unnecessary: the Lieutenant was there, right behind him, having come up while he and Cassidy were standing off.

Darwin jumped slightly, then both he and Aliso began issuing orders through their commbadges to the station. In a matter of moments, the six on the floor were beamed to various locations: Doctor Bren and Jackson to Piper Medical under Security lockdown; Chase and the two unknown fellows to the morgue; and Cassidy to the Brig, where a Brig doctor would look her over.

“The Brig? Really?”

Darwin nodded at Aliso, “No telling what really happened here. What if she’s as nutty as a peanut sundae?”


___________________
Jackson Banning V
Owner & Casualty

Cassidy Wilde
Hostess & Seriously Done F’ing Around

Natalia Bren
Clearly Disturbed

Lt. Michael Darwin
Clearly Confused