When the ocean meets fire

~~~~~~~~~~~~Annoyance~~~~~~~~~~~~

What the hell was all that crap that just came out of his mouth? Up felt like clawing at the right side of his body as he thought over what had just happened. Taz and he had seen each other for the first time in a year and he hadn't even so much as hugged her. Up was growing more annoyed by the second, but yet again, his body didn’t let him show it. Instead he was trapped in a weak, crying, sniffling, pathetic ghost of the man that Taz had once looked up to.

Taz

Up was devastated at the disgusted looks she gave him as the useless words came out of his mouth. He’d wanted it to be just like the old days: terrifying the rangers into fighting well with Taz by his side, throwing death-glares at every single one of them. But on this mission it had been him Taz’s glares had been directed at, and she had good reason to glare at him too. She left him as the war hero who was making the best recovery anyone with his type of near-death injury could make; the one who she’d told she loved him; the one who’d strode across the room and kissed her with no fear at all; the one who’d been strong enough to put her on a mission without him because she would’ve gone mad if she hadn’t. But now Up doubted that Taz could even recognise him.

They’d just been about to head down to the drop-pod when Junior had walked in and introduced himself. Up had been briefly introduced to him as part of the commander’s preparation for the mission, which there actually seemed to be less of this time. Apparently he was the G.L.E.E head’s son, and had been sent as the Galactic League ambassador on the ship. Up had always thought that the head of the Galactic League was non-existent; they hadn’t heard of him for years and whenever ambassadors gave orders from higher authority, they always referred to it as ‘the Galactic League’ as if they’d been involved in it personally. But anyway, Junior had warbled on about Galactic League standards and how he’d hand-picked each and every one of them, and Up had only really paid attention when Junior had put his arm around Taz. Inside his blood boiled but on the outside he was smiling at the boy.

“...most advanced piece of technology that the Galactic League has to offer.” So it was a new kind of weapon? Up hadn’t heard of this before, but he thought Taz might be interested in it. He turned around looking for a smile, or a smirk at least, but all Taz’s face showed was the same hard glare she gave everything else.

“Allow me to introduce you to the final member of your team...” Technology? A ranger? What?

“Megagirl!”

No.

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NO!

What de hell was dat bastardo Junior thinking? New technology? A crew member? That only meant one thing.

“Please state a command for me to service you.” Came the monotone, computer-generated voice she’d been praying to dead-god not to hear. She immediately raised her zapper as the polished white chrome figure that was meant to somewhat resemble a human woman ‘walked’ forward with mathematically calculated steps. If dat puta comes anywhere near Up, I swear...

“It’s a- it’s a... A ROBOT!!!” She would’ve felt embarrassed to have Up scream like a girl and hide from an enemy, but the damn robota made her blood boil so much that it blocked out all other emotions.

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Up felt a cold shiver of dark memories flood through his blood that he thought even his old self would've struggled to bear. He was suddenly so overcome with fear that he just grabbed Taz and attempted to hide behind her. Up wondered what Taz must think of him now; he was whimpering and being a coward while she aimed her zapper at the Megagirl unit, but was distracted by just how close she was. Before Up knew what he was doing, he put his hands on her waist and just kissed her there on her back.

Did she even notice?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------“Are jou loco, ese? What were jou thinking bringing a robot on board?” She glared at Junior as he strode around Megagirl with arrogant ease, but kept her zapper pointed at the Megagirl unit. Suddenly she felt Up’s hands on her waist and a warm feeling in her stomach as Up...wait, did he just kiss her back? Well, maybe not all other emotions. Okay Taz, relax- he just kissed jour back. HE JUST KISSED JOUR BACK! Okay, ¡CÁLLATE!

“Now, I know the robot wars have left us all a little bit touchy, okay?” Junior was just an estupida kid, he didn’t understand the robot wars one bit, “But I believe that considering the billions of people that died to regain control of the robots-” Yeah, and Up was almost one of them jou idiota! “well it’s an insult to their memory not to use them as our unwilling slaves.”

“Robots can’t be trusted man! Do jou know what de first thing a robot ever did? Kill its creator,” Up’s hands are on jour waist... “and then he made more evil robots!” 

“All hail Astroboy!” The Megagirl unit raised her fist. The robots definitely couldn’t be trusted. Both her and Up leant back in apprehension; they’d heard that chant too many times. She saw hundreds of Autobots marching towards her and Up on Qu’Onos, before she caught what Junior was saying.

“Megagirl, can you kill humans?”

“No,” came the emotionless reply, “but I’d like to.” I’ll kill jou first jou hijo de puta robota. She cried out in disgust and UP gripped her shoulders.

“See, nothing to worry about!” Junior exclaimed. He knew nothing about the robots; of course there was something to worry about: that there was a dead-god damn robota on the ship. “Unlike the robots we fought in the war, Megagirl comes equipped with an inhibitor chip!” We? Jou were probably being spoilt by jour rich father jou hijo de- “Her behavioural programs make it physically impossible for her to harm or kill humans.” Physically impossible- Pah! Up had taught her years ago that he’d smashed what the G.L.E.E called ‘physically impossible’ to pieces many times. Mierda- she shouldn’t have been thinking of Up, even though he was incredibly close to her. She had to get away from him before she embarrassed herself. Taaz shook Up’s hands off her shoulders and walked towards Junior, her glare never leaving her face.

“Jou know- in my life, I’ve done some things I said I’d never do,” like leaving Up, like letting herself love him, like crying... “But one thing I said I’d NEVER do... is work... WITH A ROBOT!” She pointed violently at the Megagirl unit, but its face remained neutral. However Taz knew that deep in the circuitry of that robota there was still the pure evil that her and... uh, the G.L.E.E had fought in the robot wars.

“Never... they killed billions. They ruled Earth with a fist made of iron, for a hundred years,” it was true- there had been random robot attacks many years before the humans had decided to go to war with them, “And then Up...” She gestured over to the man she thought had loved her, who was beginning to whimper in the corner. Her mind screamed pathetic, but her heartstrings pulled painfully at the sight of him in pain from the memories.

“Oh... oh no I completely forgot!” Yeah firetrucking right jou forgot. “Commander Up- his famous injury. It was because of a robot wasn’t it.” Junior seemed to be explaining this to the Megagirl unit for some reason. It knew perfectly well about... uh, the injuries the robots gave. “Well I- uh, colour me embarrassed but-”

“Junior,” Taz interrupted him, “jou can pack her up, ‘cause she’s not a part of this rescue mission.”

***

The estupida molesto Megagirl unit was going on the mission. Why? Because the inexperienced kid Junior was a higher-ranking ranger. Taz was fuming. She’d even had a death-glare stand-off with the Megagirl unit, which was actually Taz giving the robota a death-glare and it staring back blankly. How dare Junior allow the very thing which almost took Up away from her? And on his first mission since Qu’Onos! Damn it- Taz was thinking about him again. She just...she couldn’t stop caring about him, even if...even if he didn’t care about her anymore. She shook the thought which would’ve turned a chica pequeña to tears. Where was Up anyway? She looked back from the rest of the crew who were heading down to the drop-pod, and her eyes finally rested on him.

And he was heading in the other direction.