No Right Answers

[Acidic 40]

"Where do you think you're going, girlie?" The space port checkpoint guard's  words were almost lost in the clamor that surrounded him, "You actually need a pass and some ID, not glaring at me like some freak."

"I musta left them in my other pocket," Delaja couldn't help herself as she hissed the words out under her breath. She took a moment to let out a pent up breath and put on a fake smile, "Sorry about that, here you are."

She pressed her palm into the guard's hand and pushed her way through the security checkpoint. A small plastic bag filled with blue crystals was left in the man's possession rather than identification. He quickly hid the bag and grunted something at the next person in line.

Delaja's eyes rolled as she mouthed the guard's words while shaking her head. She broke down into a fit of curses before she headed to a bathroom on her path to the private terminals. The door opened itself for her and she made her way in, her fist action was to force the door back shut. If this was an Earth based space port there would be private miniature rooms to use. But this was Mars and it only had a row of open walled stalls with enough of a gap on the bottom to look for feet rather than big indicators to show if a stall is occupied. Just the sight of the gap on the top and bottom of the stalls was enough to make the girl gag. 

The girl stood there for a solid minute, Delaja made absolutely sure that she was the only one in the bathroom before she claimed the stall at the far end of the room. Before she even opened the door, the sight of water and paper pooling on the ground guided her hand to a stall two doors down. Once in the stall she sat on the water tank with her feet on the toilet seat, hunched over so that she couldn't be seen by anyone that preformed the same check she did moments before.

A small plastic bag full of tiny blue crystals, identical to the one she bribed the guard with, fell out of her sleeve and into her open palm. She carefully arranged a small line on the back of her arm before inhaling it through her nose in one quick motion that ended with her eyes clenched shut and an involuntary hiss. Delaja blinked a few times as she looked around the small stall. Her feet trembled as she tried to get off the toilet, little giggles and fits of laughter sounded out every time she pulled her feet back up. 

It took her several minutes to finally emerge from that stall and when she did she was grabbed by the checkpoint guard. The start of a scream sounded out from the girl before a hand clamped down on her lips. The next scream came from the guard as Delaja bit him as hard as she could. She bit hard enough to tear through his glove and tear open his skin. She'd have continued biting if he didn't throw her off. Delaja bounced off the bathroom stall doors and barely landed on her feet as she scrambled for the door. With a bleeding hand the guard reached for his gun, only to see it clasped in Delaja's hand as she slammed the open button for the door and leave him alone in the women's restroom.

Shouts chased after Delaja as she sprinted to her destination, gun in hand. A growing wave of guards formed a stampede as the girl fled for her life her path taking her to the last terminal in the space port, one connected to a ship with the one thing she hated most. But it was the only place she could go.

"Why does this shit always happen to me!" Screamed the girl as she dove into the open bridge to the ship. Delaja half rolled, half floated into the ship, her stolen gun smashing the close button, "Get me the fuck out of here!" 

 

[Roromi 417]

Jared tapped his fingers impatiently on his arms. He glared out at the hangar as the metal colossus was hoisted into an open mobile suit bay. He glared dangerously at each crewman who touched the weapon and barked out ominously, “careful! Careful… we must take great care with this catch boys and girls!” His tone shifted towards an almost melodic grin as he regarded his crew.

His visage was somewhat more dour than usual, the presence of a gundam was an omen of sorts. Good or bad, Jared couldn’t quite decide yet. The stories of demons shaping the world as it was today whirled in his head. Either way, right now he was in the presence of a demon and even the mercenary was feeling giddy at that prospect.

As his crew finished their task Jared called out enthusiastically, “once the gundam is secure let’s leave port!” One of his crewman, nodded and floated off to let the bridge know. Normally he would have handled the order himself but this was a triumphant moment and he wanted to bask in the glory of this war machine in front of him. In many regards the presence of the demon was humbling. Maybe he wouldn’t sell it after all. Sure there was a substantial bounty on the machine but a few tweaks and they could make it indecipherable from the original form.

A jerk of the ground told him that the Loose End had left port and the ever present grin on Jared’s face grew at the seamless escape thus far. “Shame we couldn’t find the girl too! She’s got quite the bounty on her as well…” Jared mused to no one in particular. His crew was used to his ramblings and could tell he was in a certain mood. “I wonder what will happen to you friend…” he offered to the Gundam as he floated in front of the machine, his posture stiff and arms crossed in serious contemplation

[Acidic 40]

The silver haired girl curled up into a ball and tapped the barrel of her new gun against her head as she took deep breaths. The ship was moving. She escaped. And the Asmodai was here. Her tattoo on her back stung from the thought of that thing. Every time she looked at it in her mind's eye the pain from that needle on her back returned for a moment. 

"The coin." She said the words as she grabbed at her neck, finding the chain and the golden disk that hung from it quickly. Her fingers fondled the engraving of the Asmodai on it, the feeling of the inverted head was comforting, the demon couldn't awaken without this coin. "Oh thank fuck."

Delaja uncurled from a ball and kicked off the door. She was used to space. Completely at ease in three dimensions. A jacket hanging from one of the bridge's chairs with the crew's emblem caught her eye. She looked about the bridge but everyone seemed to have left for a moment. Internally she thanked the coin, a cursed luck charm if she ever had one. The pirate princess quickly slipped the jacket on over her the hoodie she was already wearing. It took Delaja a moment to find the door into the maze of hallways that made up ships like these.

She managed to stumble into an empty room, a bed and belongings that litter it make Delaja to doubted it would be empty long enough to sleep. The girl popped the magazine out of her gun and groaned.

"Asshole only loaded three? What kind of regula-" She cut herself off and took a deep breath and only let it out after a pair of heartbeats, "You're high. You're angry. Shut up."

After a peak out of the room, Delaja started to creep through the hallways, following the plastered signs until she was in front of a door with 'HANGER' printed in bold letters above it. She checked her gun and turned the safety off before she jammed it in her pants so that the grip was hidden in the small of her back and more so by her equally stolen jacket. The girl's hand hovered over the door before she cursed one last time and opened the doors to the hanger.

"I made it!" She screamed as she pushed herself against the hanger railing, spitting the last few words out with a scowl, "Thanks for waiting for me!" 

[Roromi 417]

The young man seized up and gurgled out a cry for help that got drowned by the blood dribbling out from his nose. Jared frowned as he saw the response to the Alaya-Vijnana rejecting one of his comrades. “Dang!” Jared hissed as he turned to regard his tech, a girl by name of Betty. The blonde shrugged at her boss and tapped at her tablet vigorously. Shaking her head she finally announced, “sorry boss, there’s a lock on the operating system. We need a key of some sort to override it.”

Jared punched the metal of the cockpit in frustration. The price to gut the cockpit and operating system would be substantial and he now seriously had to contemplate giving this machine in for the bounty. He looked around the hangar while burying his face in the palm of his hand. The momentum of his mock punch on the frame flung him out in a soft revolution into the middle of the hangar; if he was discomforted by the motion he didn’t show it. His thoughts equally whirled around him and he almost missed the presence of a silver haired lass as she burst into the hangar.

“I made it! Thanks for waiting for me!”

The words made Jared furrow his brow and as he bounced gently into the ceiling, he steadied himself to study the girl closely. A smile now formed on his face. “Your majesty!” He cried out before pushing himself towards the girl. As he sailed he caught himself on the rail side opposite of her. He continue to flash her a toothy grin, “at last we meet princess!” He studied the girl for her reaction, the second thing he noticed was the size of her pupils (the first being the hair). “I’m so glad you could join us on this voyage of the Loose End. I’m her captain, Jared Axle at your service!” He gave her a mock salute, his voice booming loudly to get the attention of everyone on the hangar.

[Acidic 40]

The ASW-G-69 Gundam Asmodai. Painted the standard Gundam shade of white, it had its limbs painted with a mix of red and black. The pirates had decorated its clawed finger tips with gold stolen from their prey. Its weapons were stowed on its back, held by a pair of sub arms. The Asmodai's signature features were the mouth guard, it had been modified by the pirates to be a grinning mouth full of teeth where excess heat and flame from its other signature feature, the flame cannon on its left arm. 

Delaja gagged at the sight of it. 

"Happy now?" She hissed at the machine under her breath before something caught her attention.

“Your majesty!” Came a shout from one of the smugglers. The one she recognized, Jared,.

Those words made her skin crawl. 

"... Princess..." Was the only word that she reacted to, and she did so with a scowl.

"You're lucky you didn't try to pilot the Asmodai. It loves to kill loudmouths. Call me Delaja." She restrained herself from growling at the smuggler as she slipped the coin down her shirt as causally as she could, "Where are we headed anyway? I don't go planet side so if its Earth I get the master bathroom and whatever is attached to it."

[Roromi 417]

Jared kept his almost infectious grin painted on his face as the woman talked. He honestly listened to her banter and kept his silent analysis of her filter behind his eyes.

“Where are we headed anyway? I don't go planet side so if its Earth I get the master bathroom and whatever is attached to it."

He cleared his throat, “I can’t say that I have an interest in going to earth but your machine on the other hand, catches my eye…” he leaned in close, his expression growing slightly more serious. “You see I very much wish to obtain one of these demons for my startup organization. A mascot can be a powerful symbol in the mercenary business you know.” His eyes looked at her suggestively. “I reckon you know a thing or two about combat your majesty…” there was a glimmer in his eye at the suggestion of combat. As if the excitement of the word was enough for them to understand each other. “Tell me why is it you are running away? Why is the price so high for you?”

He took a moment to check a small tablet he kept with him and nodded at a message sent to him. His eyes shifted back up to the girl with the dangerous glimmer burning in his eyes. By this point several crew came floating within a respectful distance.