Saturday, November 8, 2003

   Cream Filling & Nougat: World's Finest (Chapter XV)
The refinery, despite already being abandoned and closed, was now in complete ruin. Evidence of the ten minute firefight was everyhwere: bullet casings, blood, and wrecked machinery and walls were strewn about. The remaining Pi's were being escorted into wagons outside while the wounded on both sides were taken to ambulances. And out from an office on the third level of the building came one free woman, one escorted woman, and two incredibly weary men.

They were met on the walkway on the third level by the commanding officer of the counter-terrorist teams, who was quick to offer his hand.
"Sir," Cream said as he shook the captain's hand, "you can't believe how grateful we are, you came at the best possible time." The captain smiled.
"I'm glad I could be of service," he said, "but you should really thank a certain trucker who radioed in your location." Nougat snapped out of his disorientation abruptly.
"You're kidding! It was him that got you guys here?!" The captain continued.
"Well, he radioed on an emergency frequency that there were two 'weirdoes' with guns here . . ." Cream lost his composure and laughed out loud; Nougat did the same until his head started hurting again. "Anyway, we got the locals to send a car by, and that's when they heard the fireworks . . . I take it we have you two to thank for that?"
"Guilty as charged," Cream stated plainly.
"You're welcome," Nougat offered.

Two of the counter-terrorists came up and took Karmel into custody, and the captain headed back down to take care of some other affairs. Cream, Nougat, and 'Mel stayed on the walkway and just looked around. The realisation that they were still alive continued to evade them.

The three of them - 'Mel flanked by the other two - leaned forward, resting their arms against one of the side railings.
"Guys," 'Mel said, still looking down at all the clean-up activity, "I knew I could count on ya. Thanks."
"Hey," Nougat started, "we're pros! We've been in way stickier places than this before!" Cream added,
"That's right . . . though, to be fair, this wasn't exactly a cakewalk either."
"Ah, cake is for suckers . . ." Nougat said quickly; Cream could only laugh. 'Mel looked back and forth at the two of them, grinned mischievously, and jumped up, wrapping an arm around each man's neck, jolting them towards her sharply.
"Well I'm glad to see at least that other problem's out of the way, th- . . . . ."

'Mel was cut off by two loud bursts of gunfire from the ground floor. The sound of metal impacting metal grabbed everyone's attention upwards, where a Pi who had managed to elude detection was now falling, crashing into machinery as he neared the ground. The split-second of relief ended when the Pi's motives came to be: he had thrown a device of sorts at the three people in the middle of the open area . . .

The device exploded dramatically as it neared one end of the bridge, severing it from the walkway on the far side of the building. Cream, Nougat and 'Mel all lurched and screamed as the walkway began to give and swing down, taking its passengers with it. Nougat managed to loop his foot around one of the side rails and catch 'Mel's arm; Cream in turn was able to catch the other arm.

The three were now suspended by Nougat's foot with 'Mel caught in the pull of two significantly larger men.
"This is what they mean by out of the frying pan, right?!" Nougat yelled as he strained to keep his hold of the swinging rail and his friends. 'Mel didn't comment, but the pain on her face was evident . . . and Cream couldn't stand looking up at it anymore.

"Noug'!" he shouted up, "hold on to 'Mel, I'm gonna drop off!"
"Whip'! Don't you do a damn thing!" 'Mel shouted down in return.
"Yeah Whip'!" Nougat said, "You're not the one who hurt his head-"
"No I'm not, but you are!" Cream looked down, gulped, and looked back up. "Look man, in your condition you can't hold us both, and 'Mel definitely can't handle this either!"

'Mel was about to protest again when the hanging walkway groaned and shifted again; Nougat almost lost his footing. Accepting reality along with the blood rushing to his head, he looked down to Cream.
"Just . . . land on your feet, okay?" 'Mel looked up at Nougat, shocked - Nougat could only shrug slightly as best he could. "See ya in the ambulance, Whip'." Cream nodded, looked to 'Mel one last time, and let go. She screamed, and he cursed as the ground neared him . . . . .


* * * * *


"So, that was really stupid, huh?" Nougat said to Cream as the ambulance raced through the dark streets. Cream scratched at his leg which was held fast in a plastic splint.
"Meh. Could've been worse . . . you could've been the only one to get the sympathy care from everybody . . ." Nougat laughed hard, tracing his fingers along the freshly added stitches along the top of his head.
"Fair enough . . ."

'Mel, who was sitting between the secured gurneys, spoke.
"You boys have to be the absolute most retarded pair I have ever met!" Cream and Nougat laughed and agreed. "Seriously! Where are your priorities?!" She looked at Cream. "You could have killed yourself dropping that distance!" Cream nodded - 'Mel turned to Nougat. "And you let him do it!" The painful laughter continued to fill the ambulance.
"Well," Nougat said, "he's a pretty light guy, and he owed me for my taking on most of the fight with that big guy, so . . ." Cream smirked.
"Yeah, and this poor nutty bastard just had to get his ass kicked, so I didn't have the heart to see him get wrecked any more." Nougat arched his eyebrow as he looked over.

"Call it even?" he asked.
"Surewhynot." Cream replied. 'Mel just leaned back, relieved and content, as the two men - still laughing somewhat hysterically no less - reached out and lightly hammered their fists together.


And I think I'm done here. I've now missed out on over two weeks of regular postings, so I'll have to catch up on that. Hope you all enjoyed this "little" tale, and I hope I answered all your questions and responses. And now, if you'll excuse me, I need to shower . . .
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