Finally Beaten ~Taz x Up~

Chapter 9

Taz crept silently down the corridor, the diary tucked firmly in the pocket of her camo trousers. Luckily, the coast was clear as she got to the end of the corridor. She turned on the Spectrometer and saw that she had to take a turn to the right. Taz looked down the corridor which she was about to walk down, and to her dismay, there were robots marching up and down the corridor. She checked the corridor to the left on the Spectrometer. It also eventually lead to the room Up was in, but it was more than twice as long as the corridor to the right, plus, what if Junior happened to be down that corridor? Taz weighed it out in her head. She remembered something that the Commander has told her when she was still training to be a Ranger.

Taz threw a punch at the Commander, which he easily blocked. She panted with effort as she dodged a kick, then a shove, then a punch from Up. They continued like this for some time, when Up finally got Taz down by delivering a painful blow to her chest. She collapsed, but, unlike the many times she had been struck down, she stayed spread-eagled on the floor. Up gently nudged her on her ribs.

"Hey Taz, get back up." he chided softly. She groaned, and flopped on her back.

"Uggggg, I can't! What if you beat me again?" she muttered. Up chuckled.

"You know, Taz, if there's one thing I learnt while being with you, is that no matter how hard you fall, you gotta get back up. Besides, you need to train more if you want to become a Starship Ranger and fight all of the bad guys." Up replied.

"But if I can't beat even you, how can I beat all the 'bad guys'? Anyway, it's dangerous out there, Commander Hazel told me." whined Taz. Up sighed and grabbed the young cadet by her upper arms, and pulled her up.

She's so small, Up thought. The 15 year-old had her head bowed, but Up cupped her cheeks with his hands and brought up her head so they were facing each other.

"Commander Hazel also happened to tell me that sometimes, it is necessary to laugh in the face of danger." Up said, smiling. Taz smiled shyly back and it seemed like she was going to shrug Up's hands off and turn away, but instead she caught him unawares, slapping him on the face. He reeled backwards with the force of it, and when he got back up again, Taz was roaring with laughter.

"You've also got to be alert." she choked, in between laughs.

Sometimes it's necessary to laugh in the face of danger, Taz repeated in her head, Up's Western voice deep and comforting familiar. She took a deep breath and leapt out of safety of her corridor and into the robot-infested one.

"Come and get me, you idiotas!" Taz screamed at the top of her voice. The robots all turned their metal heads simultaneously, and shot lasers at her. She pulled out the zapper Up had lent her and shot down the corridor, taking numerous robots down with her zapper at the same time. She could feel the diary bumping up and down against her leg in her pocket as she ran. Taz successfully made it to the end of the corridor without being injured. Feeling triumphant, she grinned mischievously and stuck her middle finger up at the robots before dashing down the next corridor, which was, according to the Spectrometer, very close to the room Up was stuck in. Then suddenly, a blaring sound forced her to cover her ears with her hands. One of the robots had pressed the red alarm button and the corridors were bathed in a red glow as the sirens blared loudly. Taz hastily picked her zapper up and pelted down the corridor as fast as her legs would carry her. She was about to skid round a corner when someone put a hand firmly on her chest. Before she could react, she was pinned against the wall behind her and something cold and hard was put against the side of her forehead. A zapper. Taz held her breath, closing her eyes. Junior's voice sounded out of the blackness.

"What. Are. You. Doing. In. Here?" Junior said in a forced voice. Taz struggled against Junior's firm grip but he just dug the zapper further into her head.

"I wanted to get the Commander's diary back." Taz muttered, scowling. Junior's hand stiffened.

"Did you get it?" Junior said. Taz could sense the tension in his voice. She took a deep breath.

"No." she lied. "I couldn't find it." She looked round at Junior. "Now let go of me, you bastardo!" Junior tucked his zapper into his belt and put his other arm firmly on Taz's arm. A smirk was plastered right across his face.

"I don't think so." Junior said. He pulled Taz forward off the wall and brought her all the way down to the room where she was originally kept for a week by Junior. Robots were already outside the door, and they took the zapper out of her belt and handed it to Junior, and then they stuffed a ball of cloth in her mouth and secured another strip of cloth on top of it. Junior tied her hands together with rope and pushed her into the room. He then locked the door. Taz walked over to the bed and sat down, wondering why this had all gone so terribly wrong. She was just about to give up hope when she heard the familiar Western drawl from outside the door.

"What have you done with my best friend?"