TAPSLAUGHT #6

"Tom -- that's the bartender -- said that he hasn't seen any Marauders drinking here everyday, finishing his beer and leering at the barmaid." Her face was carefully expressionless. "He also says that he hasn't seen a really pale guy talking to them, and definitely didn't notice Muses hanging around."

"Ah." The other two nodded understandingly. "How much didn't you have to bribe him?" asked Lyssie.

"Bribe? Nah. I didn't hold my gun to his jugular vein, oh no."

"Anyway, did you find anything?" Alan asked Lyssie.

"I found one of the Muses--" her eyes flicked towards him, and she adroitly navigated around the slight stumble, "and it's confirmed: Sinister's involved. From what he said, I think Apocalypse has a finger in the pie, too."

The Captain's eyes narrowed. "I'd wager that he has both his hands in the pie."

"What exactly did he say?" asked Alan.

"Red heard him say at one point something about 'survival of the fittest'," Lyssie quoted. "He said that he can get thirteen to help us stop the big T... and they'll be here in five hours."

"Five hours? Let's hope that Sinny and Poccy won't tumble on to our plans before then," the Captain said grimly. "Alan, do you think you can relay the information to the folks at the hospital."

"No problem." A moment later, he said, "Done."

"So... Alan, what did you find out?" asked Lyssie.

***

(M) "Eep!"

"Eep?" Azzy looked over with interest, drop kicking cabbages from the pile of fruits and veggies in the corner.

"Eep?" Fancy glanced over, still hopping on one foot. Any time now, they expected her ankle to give out.

"Sinny and Pocketlips are working with Tappy on some sort of "Survival of the Fittest" thingie and Mauraders are running around in the tavern."

"Tavern?"

Mitai looked up from the laptop in frustration, having been rudely interrupted from a game of WordBash to receive Alan's message. "Unless you want to decipher this?"

Fancy headed over, her ankle sighing with relief.

Mitai suddenly grinned hugely. "Yeah!!! I get to meet Sinny! I love Sinny! He's such a sweetie-pie!"

The other Writers began moving away from Mitai.

(Y) Yasmin raised an eyebrow at Mitai, glasses slipping down her nose as she did so. "You, my friend, are very strange woman."

"As opposed to having a fetish for white-haired men in spandex tights?"

"Oh, and I suppose a literally white-skinned man who's obsessed with the Summers family's mating rituals is a much better option?"

Fancy planted her foot firmly on the argument (and there was a squelch, true, but that was just Azzy accidentally drop-kicking a tomato at an unnamed Writer's face). "Ahem! We still have to figure out what to do with the information. Do we go ahead with the fruit basket or what?"

"I say we go for it," said Yasmin.

"Same here," agreed Mitai. "Let Alan and the Muses deal with Sinny and Poccy first. If they can't, we can always send reinforcements."

With a few quick taps, a huge basket was produced. It had a jolly-looking red bow on it, and a cutesy-pukey picture of a rabbit on one side.

"Ugh," said Fancy, echoing the collective sentiment.

"Well, if you were given a fruit basket like this, would you suspect that a laptop was hidden inside?" said Yasmin, a trifle defensively.

"Yeah, but I don't think Kielle and Co. will appreciate being messily regurgitated."

Yasmin shrugged, and typed at her laptop. The rabbit metamorphed into a more cartoony one, and now looked vaguely like a dumpling with grey spots and floppy ears. It carried a flick-knife between its front paws.

"What is that?" asked one of the Writers.

"Bun-bun. He's a character from Sluggy Freelance, and Tap's crazy about it. The real Tap, I mean. Not TAPSLAUGHT."

Mitai eyed the pile of fruits, noting that it had grown somewhat smaller, and that some of the Writers carried a look which said that they weren't sure that had done something wrong, but knew that they probably had. She idly picked up an apple, asking, "So which fruits are we giving her?"

"Nothing blue," said Yasmin quickly. "Apples and oranges, for sure."

"But wouldn't apples remind her of Penny?"

Azzy picked up a cantaloupe and placed it in the middle of the basket. "Bananas? Mangoes?"

"Not pineapples, though," added Fancy. "Plums and persimmons?"

"I love persimmons," said Yasmin wistfully. "How about guavas and pomegranates?"

"It's beginning to look like Fruit Basket International," commented Mitai, supervising the arrangement of the fruits. "Kiwi fruit?"

"Just a question," interrupted Azzy. "Which of us is going to give her the basket? We can't all go -- jumping through the portal will take too long and I'm not about to have my behind fried and served with a wedge of lemon."

The other Writers gave her an odd look, but by a mutual unspoken consent decided not to ask.

"Umm... so who wants to go?"

(Ro) "I'll do it!" shouted the miraculously healed Rowan. "After all, I'm only a secondary character in this story, and should TAPSLAUGHT destroy me, it would only be a small loss."

(F) Fancy was idly adding more oranges to the fruit basket. Every orange in sight she grabbed and arranged haphazardardly on the fruit basket. After a few minutes the other writers noticed what she was doing and began silently watching her.

Finally Yasmin grabbed her arm. "Okay, you really need to stop doing that. It looks like a Picasso interpreation of a fruit basket now."

In truth, the fruit basket was leaning a little crazily and instead of a neatly shaped tower of fruit, the fruit basket was now lumpy and mishapen with oranges and other displaced fruits sticking out at random.

Mitai shook her head. "You really should get help for this orange thing of yours."

Fancy looked afronted. "I'm simply give away all the oranges since no one here will eat them."

The other writers shook their heads silently.

"Anyway, I had a thought," said Fancy.

"But you weren't hopping," said Azzy as she dropped kicked a cantelope into Rowan's head. "Ohh, that had to hurt. Sorry!"

Rowan swayed a little uncertainly but managed a smile and a small wave. "I'm fine. I'm ooookkkaaayyy."

"So what's your thought?" asked Yasmin.

"Well I think we all have to go together. I mean, won't Tapslaught be suspicious if only one or two of us show up and say we're giving up? I think it would be more believable if we all went. You know, she's so powerful and mighty that we realize we can't fight her and so we are giving in and here's a fruit basket. I think it diminishes it if, say, I go and say I'm whipped by her magnificence but that you guys aren't. It would seem like a trick, like you guys are hiding in the bushes nearby waiting to jump out when her guard is down. You see?"

The other writers exchanged looks.

"Awww, gee," sighed Mitai. "Why isn't any of this easy?"

"Well, together it is then," said Yasmin decisively. "Now how are we going to swing this?"

(M) Mitai watched Yasmin call the sitch. She really does make a pretty good leader, Mitai thought to herself. Hey, if TAPSLAUGHT eats her, maybe we need a Cable or Cyke fic to straighten out the mess.

Nah, that'd just turn into Heroes Reborn again. And Scott probably hates fruit baskets. He lives with enough of 'em.

She immediately started removing oranges from the basket and rearraging it back to its previous appearance. This, of course, met with loud, rather violent protest from the resident orange-despiser.

"Get those things back there! I don't want to see another stupid orange-"

"Frito, can you pop the trunk from in there?"

A muffled metallic *click* was the reply.

Mitai started gently tossing them into the trunk. She spoke in the simpering voice of a crazed psychiatrist calming a patient while hiding a syringe behind her back. "Look, the oranges are going in here now, okay?"

Fancy glared. "Mitai, you better be joking, and if you are, it isn't funny."

Mitai bowed. "Yeah, we need to lay off you about that. Just . . . ignore 'em. Yeah."

She added a mango to the top, and again regarded the bunny rabbit with the knife.

"You know, I liked clowns until I read "IT," and now I'm going to hate bunny rabbits, too."

Yasmin glanced over. "You kiddies through?"

She was answered with a collective nod.

"Then let's lock and load."

Everyone groaned.

"Heard it in the new ST movie preview."

"You watch WAY too much TV."

"What're we gonna do if TAPSLAUGHT decides to kill us anyway, to make an example of us?"

Yasmin blinked. Azzy cheerfully spoke up, saving the day, as always.

"Die."

Mitai favored her with a warped twisting of the face that distantly resembled the cousin of a smile.

"Gre-eat."

With that, they stepped into the portal, and vanished from sight.

Belatedly, Frito waved goodbye, still hidden in the sleeping bag, which, truth be known, was getting a wee bit TOO cozy.

***

TAPSLAUGHT raged as Dande and the elected kazoo-player reappeared in front of her.

"HOW MANY OF YOU ARE THERE?"

The Herald and the Kazoo of TAPSLAUGHT looked at each other with concerned eyes.

"Hey, Boss, you feeling okay-"

"I AM TAPSLAUGHT. I FEEL ALL-POWERFUL."

"Uhm, yeah. Right, Boss. Anyway, next on our list-" Dande kicked an offending midget out of the way.

There was the pop of quickly expanding air, which collected into a glowing blue portal. The Rebel fleet then jumped out of hyperspace, to face the wrath of the Empire and the Death Star.

Mitai shook herself, fighting her imagination. Not Star Wars. Subreality.

Infinetly worse.

Rowan, true to honor, code, and oath, proffered their offering on bended knee, carefully concealing a wince.

"O Mighty TAPSLAUGHT, we come to surrender."

TAPSLAUGHT spoke her mind. "BULL."

Yasmin stepped up. "Look, we don't worship you, but dying quickly is a better alternative than being hunted down and tortured, so, we surrender. We've destroyed all the computers, and we offer this -" Here she gestured at the fruit basket, "- as a token to you. We're sorry for giving you a hard time. Now will you please not kill us?"

Mitai proferred gooey fudge brownies from nowhere, but they were inhaled without warning with the speed of sound by the midget army, who only seemed to grow more fevered and excited by the sugar intake.

"STRIKE! STIRKE! STRIKE!"

TAPSLAUGHT sighed with the patience of a small gnat.

"VERY WELL. I ACCEPT YOUR GIFT. PLEASE STAND TO THE SIDE, GIVE DANDE YOUR NAMES, AND WAIT TO BE DESTROYED. I WILL DO SO AS PAINLESSLY AS POSSIBLE, DESPITE . . . THIS AUTROCITY YOU'VE COMMITED." TAPSLAUGHT indicated the midgets.

The collective Writers sighed in feigned relief, then held their breaths as TAPSLAUGHT began charging the fruit, much like an overactive, irritated Gambit, and hurling the mortars at the midget army.

"Oooohh . . . crap," Mitai muttered, as a fraction of the corner of the laptop came into view.

(Y) Bugger! shrieked Yasmin's mind. Calm, calm... soothed another part of her mind. She paid the voices no heed, frantically trying to work up a solution.

Her hands automatically reached for her cardigan's pockets, not really expecting to find anything -- at least, not finding anything fast enough, they being dimensional pockets and all...

... and her fingers gripped a corner of Frito's notebook.

Yasmin's eyes widened. A second later her brain finally caught up, and her face returned to its usual placidity. She unobtrusively moved behind Mitai.

"Cover me."

"What are you doing?" Mitai asked, keeping her voice low and her eyes fixed on the midgets.

"Creating an invisible portal from the trunk to the basket." She quickly scribbled on the notebook, trying to keep her actions hidden.

"What?"

"Watch the basket."

Mitai turned her gaze to the fruit basket, saw what was happening, and tried not to smile. Or grimace in horror.

Oranges started to appear, one for every fruit that TAPSLAUGHT lobbed at the still-shouting midgets. After a while, the former Writer stopped and looked at the basket.

"STRANGE. I DO NOT REMEMBER THERE BEING SO MANY ORANGES." Thankfully, she sounded only curious, and not suspicious.

"The basket's bigger than it looks," Yasmin put in smoothly. "This is Subreality after all." She snapped her fingers, feigning inspiration. "Tell you what -- why don't we take care of the midgets for you while you eat the fruits? There're plenty of bricks lying around, and throwing them would be easy."

"AND WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS, PITIFUL WRITER? WHAT HAVE YOU TO GAIN BY HELPING I, TAPSLAUGHT?"

"Well... I don't know about you, but I'm terribly cowardly about pain," she confessed. "I'm sure than if you aren't angry while, um, destroying us, the whole thing would be a lot less painful."

TAPSLAUGHT seemed to think it over, and cold sweat began to form at the back of Yasmin's neck. The Writer could sense everyone's nervousness, and prayed that TAPSLAUGHT would not notice it.

"VERY WELL." The gigantic lips curved into a smile. "FOR THIS I WILL DESTROY YOU FIRST... AND LEAST PAINFULLY."

"T-thanks," she managed.

TAPSLAUGHT glanced at the fruit basket thoughtfully. "HMM..." She picked it up between two huge fingers, then looked at the Writers. "COMMENCE THROWING THE BRICKS," she said coldly.

(?)Re: Tapslaught #6

The Writers snapped into action, picking up loose bricks and throwing them without actually wandering away from the group. Or hitting any midgets, for that matter.

"Are you sure this is going to work?"" whispered Fancy.

"Do you have a better idea? Things were kinda desperate."

"I would say so," joined in Rowan.

From the corner of their eyes, the Writers watched as TAPSLAUGHT downed the fruits in one gulp.

"It's up to Kielle and Co. now," said Azzy.

Yasmin counted the seconds in her head. "Everyone, get ready to jump -- spread the word. Hold hands if possible, we don't want anyone getting left behind. Ready... five... four... three... two..."

A shimmering blue portal appeared.

(Re) "Ugh.." blearily, belatedly, a head of touseled hair looked up. A bloodshot eye peered around, and saw writers being treated by McCoys and Mactaggerts. Many of them were still very listless and just starting to become more responsive.

"What happened?" a hand reached up, and felt the remains of a bloody nose. Wonderful. Dried blood is such a pain to clean up.

Dr. Strange, still watching as the 'rebel' group prepared to jump through a glowing blue portal glanced over. "Ah, you awake."

Renn snorted. "Only because I need an aspirin. Or something for this headache."

One of the McCoy's peered over a chart, and kindly started explaining. "My esteemed collegues and I theorize that the portal jumping from the devestation as well as the multi-universe change and correction was a bit too much for your system, leading to.."

The blonde stared from doctor to doctor to doctor and groaned.

"I need a drink." She paused, staggered to her feet, and glanced at a glowing orb that flickered from one scene to the next. "I don't suppose you could get Pay Per View free with this, do you?" After a brief silence, she sighed and looked at one scene. "Hmmm..muses? Must be nice to have instead of demons."

A hand reached out from under the parked car, waving a sheet of paper.

~You have demons instead of muses?~

"Yeah. Well, I have a muse or three as well, but, " there was a pained grimace, whether from admitting to the oddities, or from the pain of trying to scrub off dried blood from her upper lip, not even the good [and many] doctors could tell. "I'm afraid I've got demons. Think gremlins, only much worse. Some of 'em look fairly cute and harmless." Renn snorted. "Those are some of the _worse_ of the lot."

Another sheet of paper was waved.

~Think they could take care of the midget invasion?~

Grey eyes blinked, and peered into the orb. "Midgets..? I've been out too long. Say, does thing have sound?"

The scene flickered into a darkness. A Mactaggert put a hand over her mouth, and muttered, "Tha' does it fer me and e'er eating haggis again." The contents of Tapslaught's stomach continued to roll into view.

End Part #6

And that's it folks. Take it away!

(?)Tapslaught

As Yasmin finished the countdown to the writers' jump through the portal a wind seemed to pick up. The portal began to hum and to pulse, it's blue light growing darker and darker as the vortex in the center began to churn wildly.

"Is it suppose to do that?" muttered Fancy.

"I think something is wrong!" shouted Mitai over the rising sound of the wind.

Just then, the portal gave off a blinding flash of light and then abruptly snapped shut with a hiss.

"I know it's not suppose to do that!" shouted Fancy in terror. "Azzy, where the hell is the pocket dimension, already?!?"

Above the howl of the fiercely whipping wind they heard a throaty chuckle behind them.

::TAPSLAUGHT KNOWS WHAT YOU WERE PLANNING. I AM NOT THAT STUPID, PUNY ONES. THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM THE HORROR THAT IS TAPSLAUGHT::

"There is no escape from the blah, blah, blahing that is Tapslaught," snapped Azzy irritably. "I can't believe she shut down my pocket dimension! Best idea I've had all year!"

Slowly the writers turned to face Tapslaught as a midget, hurled by the wildly raging wind, flew past their heads.

"Oh shit," said Yasmin.

::THE WRATH OF TAPSLAUGHT IS UPON YOU!:: snarled Tapslaught as her massive form towered over the writers, dwarfing them.

"That means it's time to die now," chimed in Dande who was standing off to one side. Pook Ming appeared to be playing on the kazoo but the sound couldn't be heard over the wind.

"What are we going to do?" asked Mitai, reaching for Yasmin's and Azzy's hands.

As Fancy clutched Azzy's and Rowan's hands in terror she said, "We could always run."

(Ana)Tapslaught: MuseQuest: Phase two

Lyssie stood over Alan, her back to Captain's. The Marauders surrounded them, waiting.

The attack had come unexpectedly, as Alan had opened his mouth to speak, something had slammed into the back of his head. Lyss and Captain had immediately pulled their weapons. Ten ninja swordspeople stood there.

~Bloody crukking hell..~ Lyss swung her sword up, countering a strike by one, and ducked under another. She glanced at Alan's body and hoped he'd be all right before turning back to the hack and slash mayhem.

The ninjas were good, very good. Luckily, Captain and Lyssie had help. Lyss yelped and dodged another slice that would have taken her head off. Unfortunately, it put her into the path of another blade. This one was stopped abruptly. She turned to find Methos next to her, slinging away.

"Danke."

He nodded and skewered one of the swordsmen.

Firing her gun at an opponent, Captain glared over at the Tom, vowing revenge if this was his fault.

~Five down, five to go.~ Lyss chopped into a ninja, whirled and slashed another. Neither were fatal wounds. She pulled out her Browning, took aim and fired. The ninja's sword turned into a bunch of daisies.

Following through, she plunged her sword through his heart. He fell with a gurgle.

The fight ended as abruptly as it had begun. Lyss panted slightly and looked around, taking stock of the situation. Alan lay on the floor nearby, unmoving, Captain stood on his other side and Methos stood next to Lyss, herself.

Captain dropped to her knees next to Alan and checked for a pulse. "He's alive."

"Good."

Methos resheathed his sword, "As always, Lyss, it was a pleasure."

"Yeah. Whatever. Thank you, though."

He smiled and reached out for her hand. "Urk." His eyes widened and he dropped to his knees. She stared in horror at the blade sticking out of his chest. It shimmered. Methos let out a scream and slumped to the floor.

Captain was on her feet, standing over Alan. Lyss moved next to her, then stood at her back.

The Marauders were ranged about them, smiling unpleasantly.

--- Meta: Gotta run to class. Besides, I can't recall anything about the Marauders at the mo.. :)

Hugs, Ana/Lyssie

(?)Re: Tapslaught: MuseQuest: Phase two

"Shite."

Captain racked her brains, trying to recall what little she knew about the Marauders. Silently, she cursed her Writer, who never saw fit to write about the mutants now surrounding them.

Comparing a Muse's mind to a mortal is akin to comparing a galaxy to a star system. A Muse, though not entirely immortal, can expect to go through hundreds of writers in his or her lifetime. And they never, ever forget what they learn.

Professional pride counts for a lot among the Muses.

Right now, Captain sifted through the never-ending archive that was her memory, and hit gold. Information scrolled in her mind...

Arclight - Superhuman strength and the ability to create a bright flash of light when striking her fists against an object.

Blockbuster - Superhuman strength.

Harpoon - Ability to imbue any longitudinal object with an unknown form of energy, thus increasing its destructive potential.

Malice - Exists in the form of pure consciousness and can take mental possession of other beings.

Prism - Can reflect various forms of energy back towards their sources. Can also give off blinding light.

Riptide - Ability to spin about at superhuman speeds.

Sabretooth - Fast healing ability, large animal-like canine teeth, and claws on his hands and feet. Possibly admantium claws.

Scalphunter - Assassin and master of firearms, unknown, if any, mutant powers.

Scrambler - Can disrupt the function of any system with his touch.

Vertigo - Ability to upset other persons' sense of balance, inducing vertigo and possibly unconsciousness.

She glanced at Lyssie, who subtly nodded. {{Got it,}} said her sister Muse telepathically.

Whirling suddenly, Captain whipped out her Sig Sauer and shot--

"Alan?!" shouted Lyssie, shocked beyond words.

{{I've put a mental shield on Alan,}} said Captain. {{I don't want him to--}}

The Marauders, taking advantage of the momentary confusion, charged.

{{Take out Scrambler first!}} Lyssie mentally shouted. {{I'll take care of Vertigo.}}

Captain's shot rang out over the noise of the panicked patrons and overturned furniture, neatly nailing Scrambler -- who turned into a potted fern. She faced off against Prism, grabbing a pair of sunglasses off a Gambit as she unsheated her sword.

Energy weapons won't work against this one, she thought. And the sunglasses will protect me from her light.

Elsewhere, Lyssie finally and messily disposed of Vertigo, turning the mutant into a pan of lasagna with her Browning. It had been hard work trying to keep out of range of the balance-disrupting power. Harpoon nearly skewered her, but she fended him off with her sword.

The rest of the Marauders were not idle. Some of the tavern's more chivalrous residents have joined the Muses, slashing and clubbing (and in one heroic but pathetic attempt, dribbling) away at the attackers.

This, thought Lyssie, would be a very good time for the Tapcoterie to show up. She took a look at the still unconscious Alan. Or for him to wake up.

(Ro)Tapslaught

"YOU FOOL!!!" Rowan yelled in an effort to distract TAPSLAUGHT so his friends could get away. "What have you done? What have you done?"

"She's shut down Azzy's pocket dimension and got you cornered," a Dande replied.

"You don't get it, do you?" Rowan asked. "The pocket dimension was the only way we had to get rid of the army of midgets. Without it, we don't have any other way to get rid of them. What did you think the pocket dimension was for anyway?"

Dandes and Pook Mings looked slightly embarrassed.

"You know, since I have only a few minutes left to live, may I make a last request?" Rowan asked.

"SINCE IT'S IN THE RULES, YOU MAY," TAPSLAUGHT bellowed.

"Very well then. My last request is to play all the lullabies I know on my flute," Rowan said as he took out his instrument.

"YOU MAY PROCEED," TAPSLAUGHT declared.

Rowan began to play.

3 hours later:

"ARE YOU ALMOST DONE?" a sleepy TAPSLAUGHT asked. "Yes I am. Oh, I forgot to mention this, but while I was luring you and your heralds to sleep, my compatriots managed to escape," Rowan answered.

"WHAT?!!!" bellowed an angry TAPSLAUGHT, waking up all the sleeping midgets and heralds in the process. "FOR THIS YOU SHALL PAY DEARLY."

"Blah, blah, blah," Rowan responded. "I've heard it all before."

TAPSLAUGHT then smacked Rowan into the sky(again) . Rowan thought himself lucky that he hadn't been killed immediately until he realized that he was going to land smack in the middle of the Uncreated Cafe.

"Oh no, not again!" one could hear him say before he crashed into the roof.

_________________________________________________

(Mi)Re: Tapslaught

The running Writers took a breather behind a knarled, withered, leafless tree that bent every which way and could only truly exist in a place like Subreality. The plain before them was desolate, as was behind them. Mitai leaned against the tree with her arms above her head, trying to catch her breath.

"Y'know . . . *gasp* . . . I feel sorry . . . *gasp* . . . fer leavin' . . . *choke* . . . Rowan behind . . . *gulp*."

"Don't," Yasmin said mysteriously, if a bit sadly.

Mitai blinked at her, too out of breath for more words. Of course they should feel bad. SHE was the music major, gosh darn it! SHE should have been the one to do that, not poor Rowan, who already had gotten beaten up once in this sitch. Never let one character take all the beating unless they have the coolest armor. Everybody knew that. And Rowan didn't have any armor at all! Well, denim didn't count.

While Mitai couldn't even breathe, let alone speak, Fancy had time to open her mouth before they heard it.

Much like in Hollywood movies, when the heroes are alerted to the incoming cannonball by a shrill whistling, so were they alerted to the incoming Rowan by a loud "NNNNOOOOOOOOTTTTTTT AAAAAGGGGGGAAAAAAAIIIIIINNNNNNN!!!" and a resounding crash.

"Yikes," Azzy commented, and was silent.

The Writers exchanged looks, then took off for the Uncreated Cafe. Or rather, what had made a large, ridiculously human-shaped hole on the northern side of its roof.

"What about that pocket dimension? Did TAPSLAUGHT kill it gone kaput goodbye sinonara off singing with the choir invisible, or is it just temporarily fried?"

"Uhhhhhh . . ."

"Uh what?"

"TAPSLAUGHT may have booby-trapped it, if it still works. You know, we use it, thinking it'll work, and bam! we end up at TAPPY's feet."

Mitai nodded understandingly. "Yeah, and with feet that big, imagine the toe jam. I gotcha there."

They stopped running and stared at her. Mitai frowned and shook her head. "ToeJam and Earl? Never mind . . ."

They continued toward the Uncreated Cafe, not liking the site of large, black birds circling lazy on updrafts.

End part 6