Annie CIV: Cover Me

(Chronological index: New World Order #7.5...ish...)

Ray was reading a book about Magicke Inne The New Wyrlde. Actually, he was reading an online interpretation of a manuscript written in Elizabethan English purporting to translate a Spanish priest's report of the heathen practices of the Aztecs.

There was no obvious mention of how to restore his wife to normal size, but he was diligently pounding through the dense text.

He glanced up as the door opened. Ruth was visiting the Center, which meant he only saw Annie at meal times. Lucky for him, Annie had lots of meal times.

Right now, Ruth was carrying Annie in her pocket and Mia on her shoulder. The undine was in town to visit Annie, address Congress and visit Annie.

Ray was glad Buttercup was visiting, so Pet wasn't feeling put out by Annie's attention on her visitors.

He waved to the trio. The teen glanced over the book, the legal pad of notes and the laptop as she sat at the table. He leaned back and regarded his pet, his pet's sister, his pet's friend.

"What can I do for y'all?" he asked. Two of them pointed at the ringleader.

"She so commands," Ruth said.

"It was a SUGGESTION!" Annie said.

"Your verb tense was pretty imperative," Mia said. She pushed off the shoulder and slid down her mount's arm to stand on the table. She reached over to lift Annie down to the desk. Ray waited patiently.

"They have," Annie said in conspiratorial tones, "a laser tag arena in the Center, now."

"Good to know," Ray nodded. He noticed Mia's smirk and Ruth's failed attempt to hide a smile.

"I'm saying," Annie said, raising her voice a little, "that we could play there."

"By we, you mean everyone that fits into the arena, of course," he said.

"You could fit!" she replied.

"With nowhere to hide from armed sylphs," he mused. "No, it sounds like I'd be a target. If we're going to do that, I'd rather play paintball."

The non sequitur made Annie's brow furrowed. "What the hell difference would that make, Ray?"

He made a pistol shape of his hand and mimed a shot at her breadbasket. "Because if I shot you with a paintball, once you stopped rolling over the floor, you'd have a hard time saying you were never hit."

"I don't cheat!" she insisted. Ray raised his eyes to Ruth. Ruth lifted a hand and indicated that the sylph's hand behind her back had fingers crossed.

"That doesn't count as a lie!" she said swiftly, "Not since you weren't going to believe me anyway!"

"Close enough," he said. "Look, you can ask who wants to go, and I'll carry everyone but-"

"They also," Annie said, "have the remotes."

"Oh, really?" Ray asked, his gaze focusing in the distance.

"REALLY?" They turned to see Pet running from the door to the sylph apartment. "REALLY?" Buttercup and Denise followed her more slowly.

"Well," Ray said, "who all is going?"

--------

Ray was the last one to settle into a couch. There was an attendant, but he still felt like double checking everyone's readouts before laying down.

In a moment, he was standing up. Ruth was the Blue Teen figure beside him. Samantha was the Red Amazon across the way. Deliah had selected the Black Weightlifter. She strode confidently forward. "Hulk Smash Puny Sylphs!"

"When we dated, I thought you wanted to be smashed," Ray said. She playfully slapped the shoulder of his Green Artist figure, making him stagger.

"Enough," Sam said. "Let's go join the others!"

There was an express elevator to the waiting room for the arena. Annie was on a matchbox, arranging the teams.

"FINALLY!" she snarled as the remotes trooped in. "Okay, for the ease of our first time, I figure that living people are on one team, and remotes are on another. 'Kay?"

The sylphs nodded. Ray looked over the assembled crowd. Mia stood behind Annie, looming overhead despite the small stage. Denise and Pet were right in front of Annie. Pet waved at Ray.

Amelia, Butters and Pipkin stood together. Amelia nodded at her owner. Pipkin looked a little sheepish, probably not wanting to be on a different team from her owner/boss. Butters aimed an invisible rifle at his owner/boss and mimed a sniper shot at her head.

"I'll remember that," Sam whispered.

Still Cassie and Still Renee were adjusting each other's lazer sensors, glancing over at Ray now and then. He nodded.

"Nine to four," Ray said. "And just incidentally it's humans vs. sylphs. And by a crazy coincidence, the sylphs have an overwhelming advantage."

"Well," Pet said, "there's no fair way to divide thirteen people into two groups so there would have to be a bigger team on one side or the other, and Mia said she should count as two people because she's an undine but Annie pointed out she's a target twice as big so that counts against her as much as her size counts for her and when she said maybe they could be owners against property no one knew where Ruth would stand as she doesn't own a sylph and Deliah only owns sylphs administratively but after they discussed it for a while we decided if you didn't like it we'd all call you chickens."

At the word 'chicken,' nine voices rose in taunting clucks. Sam and Ruth took a step back. Deliah smiled and Ray shook his head.

"Okay," he finally said, glancing at his conspirators. "But if we're going to do that, we get a head start in the arena."

"More than fair," Denise said. "We'll give you... "

"Five minutes?" Ruth suggested.

"AW!" three sylphs protested.

"Oh, that's much too long for little sylphs to stand still," Sam said.

"Two minutes," Deliah said. "But that's as low as we go."

It was grumbled but agreed.

The four humans clopped to the door, waiting for the previous team to end their turn.

Ray called up a virtual remote. People watched curiously as he made some adjustments. It looked like he was playing an invisible TV remote, trying to get the door to change channels.

Then he put it away. The remotes stood silently.

"Okay," Ray's voice came into the operator's ears. "We're on a private radio frequency. They can't hear us."

"I didn't know remotes could do this," Sam said.

"Is this cheating?" Ruth asked.

"Annie's got us out numbered almost two to one," Deliah said. "Any advantage just evens the field."

"Right, so, we find places to sniper from," Ray said. "Lay low, cover your lazer sensors, make it hard for them to shoot us while we mow them down."

"Humans CRUSH puny sylphs!" Deliah shouted.

"DELIAH!" Ruth snapped. "Indoor voice!"

"Ugh," she replied.

The door opened and they rushed in. Ray's first impression was a laundry room/mud room. On human scale. To the right, a front-loading washer loomed next to a matching dryer.

Laundry baskets lined the wall beyond the washer, half-full of clothes, towels and rags.

To the left, a closet door was cracked open, revealing hanging coats and jackets. There was a long, low wooden bench. Boots were piled under it and lined up alongside it.

"Perfect," Ray said. He glanced at his team. "Ruth! See that rubber boot? The mouth is pointed right at the door. Run up the boot, crouch in the toe and shoot from there. You can shoot anyone in sight, they'll have to get very lucky shot to take you out."

The teen ran off, sketching an informal salute. He tapped Sam's shoulder and pointed at a laundry basket. "Climb into that, wrap yourself up in a rag and take out anyone you see."

"I thought the point of the game was ambushing each other and shooting madly?" Deliah asked.

"Yes, but if we lose," Sam said, "it could start the spark of the Sylph Rebellion." She ran towards the second basket along.

Ray pointed at the row of boots. "Once they figure out where we're shooting from, they're going to want to work their way up on Ruth's boot.

"You hide behind one of those, and ambush whoever comes near."

"Can I shoot madly?"

"You can," he said.

"You always did know how to treat a girl," she said. "Hulkiah SMASH puny countersniper team!"

Ray chuckled as she ran off, then rushed to the washing machine. "Okay," he said. "Each shot paralyzes them, but it'll wear off. Five shots kills them." He ran behind the cleaning machines. There was a narrow ravine between the building and the wall.

Whoever had designed the room had been a stickler for detail. The dryer had an exhaust running to the wall. Ray vaulted over it and leaned against the back.

"Everyone ready?"

"Ready."

"I'm glad I can't smell foot odor in this suit. I mean, ready."

"Smash!"

"Okay. I can't see the door so tell me when-"

----------

"READY OR NOT, HUMANS, HERE COME THE SYLPHS!" Annie's voice came loud and clear. She must have found a megaphone.

"Hey!" Mia protested.

"Sylphs and a former sylph! THIS IS THE REBELLION!"

"Sam called it," Deliah whispered on the private circuit.

"Shhh!" Ruth hissed.

"Are we still on a private radio circuit?" Sam asked.

"Oh," Ruth said. "Wait! The door is opening."

Ray checked his gun. Which was silly, there was no ammo to check. There was no safety. It wasn't really a weapon, just a marking device.

Ruth was disappointed in the lack of noise from her weapon.

"Pitchoo! Pitchoo! Pitchoo! Pitchoo!" she called.

"I'm hit!" Mia shouted.

"Me, too!" Still Cassie added.

"Take cover!" Annie ordered.

"From where?" Pipkin cried. "Where's it coming from?"

"Scatter!" Butter's shouted. "Just scatter!"

"I'm hit!" Pet cried.

"Pet!" Denise screamed.

"She'll reset!" Annie yelled, "Come on!"

Feet pattered across the floor.

"Into my line of sight," Sam said. "Say hello to my little- EEK!"

"What's happening in the laundry basket?" Still Renee called out.

"The clothes are collapsing," Pipkin said.

"There's someone in there!" Butter's commanded. "Shoot them!"

There was silence for a moment.

"Status?" Ray asked.

"No one for Hulkiah to smash."

"No one in my line of sight."

"I've sank down into rags," Sam said. "I'm all twisted up. And upside down. I can't... I'm getting dizzy."

"Sam?" Ray said softly. "You're not really upside down. You're laying on the couch about four rooms away."

"Oh! Yeah! Okay! Getting loose."

"There she is!" Denise shouted.

"I'm hit!" Sam shouted. "I can't move!"

"You'll reset," Ray said. He eased down the back of the dryer and looked around the corner. There were shooters arrayed in a line, all aimed at Sam. They were waiting for her 'wound' to time out, to shoot her again.

Ray lifted his gun and fired at who he could see. Annie, Renee and Pipkin went down. Others scattered, out of his limited sight.

He went back to the exhaust.

------

For a long time, none of the sylphs knew where the human's shots were coming from. They had only identified Sam's location.

She recovered from paralysis every so often, but any attempt to right herself made the remote work further down into the laundry basket. Until someone noticed the movement and shot her again.

Butters grabbed Mia and Pipkin and tried to sweep the space under the bench for snipers. They passed Deliah's hiding place.

She stepped out, shot Butters in the back, ignored Pipkin and went full auto on the looming figure of Mia. The undine snapped off a shot, but it went wide, then she was paralyzed.

Little Pipkin saw both her teammates go down in the space of seconds and snapped like a twig.

"DIE HUMAN OPPRESSOR!" she shouted, clubbing Deliah's remote in the side of the head.

She kept on beating the butt of her rifle into head, chest, gut. The sensors were confused by the input being traumatized.

Combat stopped as sylphs gathered around the outrageous breakdown. Violence from Pipkin was like Winnie the Pooh calling Christopher Robbins' mother a bitch.

She finally paused for a breath. Annie leaned in, placed her weapon next to a sensor, and "Put the poor woman out of her misery, Pip."

"Oh. I, uh. I forgot," she said meekly.

Annie reversed Pipkin's weapon and left her in charge of the downed chef. Denise was up against the front of the dryer, covering Sam. All the other sentinels had been taken out until she lucked into that position.

Then they started searching for the remaining humans.

Mia, Cassie and Renee were patrolling the space behind the washing machine. They moved up to the exhaust. Mia leaned over the top. Ray shot her in the chest. She looked betrayed as she slumped down.

Cassie and Renee both decided to report the location of the human rather than engage him. They ran for the space between washer and dryer.

Ray grabbed Mia's harness and pulled himself up to shoot them both in the back.

He dropped back down, pat Mia gently on the cheek, and started moving around to the edge of the dryer.

Sylph forces were moving through the boots. People who'd been shot one or two times led the way, trying to draw fire so 'wounded' sylphs had a chance to help finish off the foe.

Ray saw Annie leading the way towards Ruth's hiding place. He prepared to fire, to distract them from her as long as possible.

He took another step to ensure his range.

"Eep!" He spun, weapon ready, to see Denise a few feet away. Or, you know, inches away. She had just fired on Sam for the fifth and final time and lowered her weapon.

He fired and she sank down. She smiled and made a death rattle. "Tell Carla I'm the one that... That... Achchchch...."

"DENNY!" Pet's screech got everyone's attention. She raised her gun one-handed and fired. The shots went wide. Ray raised his weapon and fired.

At the last second, Annie threw herself in front of Pet and took the shot. Ray turned and ran to the wall.

Pet looked from the paralyzed form of her sister-wife to the sprawled body of her bestest friend, the new sylph she was supposed to protect.

"Aye," she growled. "Fight and you may die. Run, and you'll live... at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our owners that they may cage our lives, but they'll never cage... OUR HEARTS!

"I'LL SEE YOU TO HELL, RAY FOSTER!" she screamed and started running.

Every sylph capable of movement fell into place behind her.

Ruth watched the horde scream after her team mate...and quietly scooted deeper into the boot's toe.

------------

The after party took place in Portion Control. The best PC had to offer was laid on the table for the warriors.

Deliah went for the softer foods. "I know it wasn't real, but I still feel that gunstock to the jaw you laid on me," she said to the sylph sitting by her plate.

"I am so, so, so, so sorry," Pipkin said again.

"And we," Butters said, gently socking her on the shoulder, "are so, so, so, so impressed."

"I never got to shoot anyone," Sam whined.

"Next time, just rush out and start shooting," Amelia told her.

"Oh, no," Ruth said. "I saw what happened to Deliah."

"It was worth it," Deliah said. Then paused to rub her jaw. "Ah thin' so, anyway."

"I am so, so, so, so sorry."

"Pet? You're not eating your ice cream," Mia pointed out.

"I'm not hungry," Pet replied.

"Not possible," Annie said. "You're a sylph and you've been exercising."

"I think she's full," Ray said.

Twelve pairs of eyes rotated to stare at the human. "Of what?" Still Renee asked.

"Well, she did chew a big bite outta my ass," he said with a deadpan expression.

Several laughed. Pet blushed. Ray reached out to pick her up. "And that was a wonderful Braveheart speech, Pet."

"I said you were going to aitch ee double toothpicks," she said softly.

"Ten years living with Annie, and you suddenly balk at saying Hell?" He shook his head. "You saw me kill your favorite sylphs in the whole world. I'm just glad you were only able to kill my remote."

"He got up to lock the door of the couch room while he was paralyzed," Ruth said.

"Didn't matter," Sam said. "The vultures were circling the body in the arena."

Ray leaned back, stroking Pet's hair and back. She was near tears. "Look, the whole thing was to have fun. Did you have fun?"

"Um...."

"Before you answer," Still Cassie said, "witnesses were there when you were laughing maniacally with a foot on the chest of your downed prey."

"Um..."

"And," Mia said, "when you shot him with his own gun, and laughed until you couldn't breathe."

"Um...."

"Would it help you decide, Pet," Ruth asked, "if we said that no one's mad at you for your Battle of Stirling speech?"

"Um..."

"Hands up, if you weren't offended!" Ruth called. All the humans raised a hand. Ray raised the one holding Pet. She looked at the table.

Even the sylphs had their hands up. "Okay," she said. "I... I had fun." Ray lowered her to his face for a hug against his cheek. "But wait!"

She twisted in his grip to look down at Annie. "It was your idea, Annie. Did you have fun?"

"Of course," the other sylph said. "We won."





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