Cassandra: Bring out the big guns

Who: Cassandra
Where: Club Fister
When: Just after Eddie got slapped through the window
<snip_0>
Lucky for Cass the gown was quite thick. Most of the glass from the impact
bounced harmlessly from the material, only a few small shards hit her legs,
causing less than papercuts. A large piece of glass, however, hit Mr Butler in
the arm, sticking there like a pickaxe.
</snip_0>
Cass flinched when she saw the glass sticking out of Butlers arm
"You might want someone to have a look at that..." she started, but Butler just
grunted and pulled the shard of glass out, tossing it away with barely a second
glance
"Ew. That's not good!"
"Small entry wound. Bit of blood. Stings like a bitch, but didn't hit anything
major" the big man muttered impassively
"Hmf. Rather you than me"
"Indeed"
Cass glanced about, watching the punters begin crowding around the window to
watch the fire fight outside, before they scattered, screaming at the sight of
the huge alien spider cutting Harry and Eugene down outside
"Smeg..." she breathed, watching with sick fascination at the frightening ease
with which the two men died
Mercifully, the alien beast turned from the window and skittered away.
More gunfire sounded from across the promenade.
Cass clutched her gown about her and stepped forward, making her way uneasily
towards the clubs main entrance, her stupid, tarty high heels slipping across
the broken glass
"I'd advise against it" Butler growled, but Cass ignored him and stepped through
the door to watch the action
Outside on the promenade, a blonde woman that Cass hadn't met before was firing
wildly and running like hell from the critter; she tried escaping through a fire
exit, and then when that plan was dashed, made her way up onto the mezzanine,
shot a gas canister out and then swung on a light as the fire from the canister
took hold out on the promenade
Cass supposed she should do something, but what could she do, when doing
anything in this situation would only be inviting trouble by pissing the
rampaging spider off?
Casting her gaze around, she spied Harry's handgun laid in a pool of his blood
next to his tattered remains, and even better, Eddie's shotgun a little further
beyond
Gingerly, Cass clutched her gown around her and stepped forward to pick the
handgun up, grimacing somewhat at the cooling sticky blood covering one side of
it, before quickly stepping over Harry's body to retrieve the shotgun
The blonde woman was taking quite a beating out there, and had by now dropped
onto the spiders back, and had been pitched off against a the bulkhead viewport
not twenty meters away from where Cass stood
"Inside. Now." Butler growled, forcibly dragging Cass back into the club with a
vise-like grip on her arm
Cass turned just in time to register the woman's expression of horror when
nothing happened as she pulled the trigger of her shotgun, before she herself
was dragged back into the club
Once back in the club, Mr. Butler released her
"Keep safe" he growled "I'll be back..."
With that he turned and vanished into the clubs interior
<snip_1>
Her only chance, was to take cover in the nearest building, and with that, she
ran dived through the shattered window, of Club Fister...
</snip_1>
Jayne landed hard and quickly rolled upright, the splintered glass crunching
beneath her, but thankfully not penetrating her lightly armoured jacket
Breathing hard she turned to look back towards the window, where the Spidette
was looming large, its legs moving in slow hypnotic harmony as it approached,
the fire reflected in its multitudinous eyes
"You all need to get out of here now!" she shouted at the assembled wide eyed
punters, who were wisely beginning to back away from the window
"Wayhey! Another stripper! Get yer tits out" shouted a jovial drunkard with no
sense of propriety
"Gun!" Cass shouted, tossing Jayne the shotgun
Jayne caught the weapon, cocked it and pulled the trigger, but frustratingly,
nothing happened for the second time, the knock the weapon had endured as Eddie
was batted through the window possibly having jammed it
The giant arachnid hissed, and put first one leg into the club, and then another
Jayne tossed the gun, grabbed an upturned table and limped as fast as she could
towards the spider, hammering the piece of barroom furniture into the Spidettes
face, temporarily forcing it back out of the club
"Help me!" she shrieked at Cass
"Not a smegging chance!" Cass retorted backing away
One of the Spidettes legs thrashed wildly over the table top, nearly skewering
Jayne
"For the love of smeg..." the other woman groaned, heaving her weight behind the
table
Cass froze, thinking
The blonde woman was obviously from security, and could make her life a misery
if she somehow miraculously survived this episode without Cass' help,
furthermore: by not helping keep the critter out, Philippe would probably decide
Cass owed him another forty thousand if he even suffered her to live at all
after all this
What the hell, Cass reasoned – easier to die quickly here and now, than slowly
at Philippe's hands later on; and besides, the hand gun tucked into the gowns
pocket might come in useful yet
She tottered forward on her heels to lend her aid
"Thank smeg for that" Jayne grunted, gritting her teeth to push hard against the
upturned table "You took your time!"
"I have an aversion to dying" Cass groaned, pushing hard against the bucking
table as the Spidette fought against them
"I'm Cassandra, by the way"
"Jayne" the other woman grunted "Delighted to make your acquaintance. Now push!"
<snip_2>
The table shattered, and Spidette pushed her way through the entrance and into
the club. Cassandra and Jayne backed away, looking around for anything they
could use for a weapon.
Rosette looked certain she was about to lunge, when a small blue shimmer in
front of her caught her attention. Directly in front of them appeared a small
baby through a wormhole.
"That's Seymour's baby. Why's she here!" Jayne shouted.
"Aww, look she's got a cute little bunny's tail!" Said Cassandra
</snip_2>
<snip_3>
Alota looked up at the giant spider, which cocked its head as it looked at her.
Alota almost looked like she was going to cry until she stared back up into the
eyes of the beast and smiled.
"Excrement!" she said, and wormholed to behind the two women.
Spidette moved towards the pair, the bugs animal instincts said the baby should
be an easy target, and a semi tasty snack. Soon though, the smell of poo wafted
over them all.
Harris' security team began to surround the club, each of them aiming a
bazookoid into the club. While Spidette's thick exoskeleton could withstand
quite a punishment, nothing could survive that many bazookoid blasts without
losing at least one limb, if not a head.
Spidette charged quickly to the edge of the club, where the large air
conditioning system pumped warm air into the club. One of the many tricks used
to give the dancers that authentic 'sparkle' and make all of the guests thirsty
enough to pay the extortionate prices.
</snip_3>
"Aw, shit" Cass moaned as she backed away
"Shit!" Came a little voice from behind them, accompanied by the sound of chubby
clapping hands "Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit"
Cass looked guiltily at Jayne
"If anyone asks – it wasn't me who said that, ok?"
The Spidette hissed, rearing up onto its back four legs, its forelegs twitching,
ready for the kill strike
"DOWN!" a voice to their right roared
Startled, Cass glanced away from her impending death to see three men swathed in
bandoliers of ammunition advancing from different corners of the club, toting
Gauss Mini-Guns
Cass recognised them as a few of the group that were playing cards upstairs
during her brief visit to Philippe's inner sanctum
"Smegging hell!" she shrieked diving out of the way as the weapons powered up
with their distinctive high pitched whine
She hit the deck, dimly aware of Jayne doing the same nearby, and covered her
head with her arms as the lead man slashed his weapon down, firing a buzzing
half second burst; hypersonic projectiles screaming overhead to cut a swathe of
forty, ten centimetre sized chunks out of the floor between the Spidette and
Jayne, Cass and Alota
The Spidette reared back with a hiss as chunks of masonry pinged of its carapace
"Warning shot" the mercenary snarled "Wanna see how you fare against a thousand
Hi-Ex, A.P. flechette rounds? It'll only take the three of us a mere four
seconds for you to find out..."
Whimpering quietly, pelted by lumps of falling masonry, Cass wormed her way
gingerly across the shattered glass covering the floor, trying to get out of the
direct line of fire
Where the hell had these weapons come from, she wondered? – Even the ammunition
was banned under more interstellar conventions than she could recall
The Spidette just hissed in response, and took a step backwards, assessing its
options; even if she somehow managed to kill the lead mercenary in her weakened
state, she'd have no chance against his tactically positioned compatriots, who
would have no compunction about blowing hundreds of watermelon sized holes in
her, or for that matter, anyone else that got in the way
Retreating back outside again didn't seem like much of an option either, as a
cursory glance at the assembled ranks of bazookoid toting security guards
confirmed
Uncertain, the Spidette backed up another step
Cass carried on crawling.
Something smelled real bad around here
"Shit" burbled Alota toddling over towards her, grinning broadly, the girl's
full nappy swinging so low and heavy that her little white tail peeked out from
above the waistline at the back
Oh.
Alota leaned down and poked Cassandra on the forehead with a sticky, chubby
finger
"Excrement"
Cass looked up at the little girl, feeling like crying
"Yeah" she managed weakly "You got that right"
Alota thumped down onto her backside with a soft squelch, and started to suck
her thumb
"Shit" the little girl managed once more, before both she and Cass vanished
<tag>
Rosette, Jayne, and Seymour – what happens next?
</tag>
<ooc>
Phew - Glad I got that out before I got tagged again and something else changed
:)
There were a few inconsistencies between the various posts, but I hope I've
managed to steer a happy middle course through them – apologies if I've missed
anything and caused problems
</ooc>