[2] Rescue Operation

[Piper Juunanagou]

As the minutes had piled up toward the hour marker, Piper had struggled to maintain her composure. It wasn’t an easy objective, seeing as Trisha’s music seemed to go on without end and her incessant shouting and squealing every four seconds was enough in and of itself to cause anyone to snap. Unfortunately for the incapacitated redhead, she could do little but lie on the floor of the SUV’s rear cargo.

From what Piper could tell, the truck had reached some rather tumultuous terrain. Every bump on the apparently uneven road caused the redhead’s numb body to hop up off the bed of the truck, only to land painfully a split-second later. By all means, it was a painful way to travel, but at least it was a sign that the sedatives streaming through her system were starting to dissipate.

“Where do you think she’s taking us?” Szar whispered, prompting Piper to turn her head to face him. It was the first thing the changeling security officer had said since their earlier conversation.

I don’t know. Piper replied as she narrowed her eyes and turned them upon Trisha. We need to do something, because I vote we don’t lie around to find out. She added as she turned back to Szar.

“Can you move?” He whispered as he tried to edge closer to his fellow prisoner.

A little. Piper spoke as she bit down on her lower lip and proceeded to try and move her shackled feet. Despite the strain evident on the woman’s pale, flushed features, she only managed to drag her incapacitated limbs across the uneven bed of the vehicle.

“Impressive,” Szar scoffed as he turned his attention to his backside. A smile spread across his face as his hooked tail slowly lifted up off the floor. “I suppose there’s an upside to being a changeling,” he said with what sounded like a faint chuckle.

I don’t get it. Piper shot back as the alien glanced over his shoulder and down toward his hands. With a faint grunt, he swung his tail up around to the pair of handcuffs, and although she couldn’t see what exactly he was doing, Piper had a pretty decent idea. After a rather tedious period of struggling behind his back, Szar let out a soft snicker and pulled his now unshackled hands around to show Piper.

I suppose there is an upside to being a changeling. The woman conveyed with a telepathic laugh as Szar let out a grunt and tried to push himself up to a kneeling position. Unfortunately for the alien, the sedatives were still impairing his muscles, and instead of defiantly rising from the brink of defeat, the vehicle hit a bump and he slammed painfully into the roof before collapsing back to the floor.

“What the hell was that?” From the front of the car, the music died down and Piper heard Trisha apologize to her friend as she turned her attention toward her two prisoners. The wife of Kai Demolic scowled heavily as she tilted her head to between the two back seats. What she saw was two seemingly unconscious ‘warriors’ lying face-down on the hard plastic bed of the trunk. “I think I’m starting to hear things,” she muttered angrily as she turned her attention back to the front of the vehicle.

I guess everything has its downsides, too. Piper said sarcastically as Szar clenched his teeth and struggled not to yell. After a few moments, the redhead glanced at the front of the SUV and let out a telepathic sigh of relief. Clear. Piper replied as Szar nodded his head and started to drag his still mildly unresponsive body toward the back seat. Using it as a prop, the changeling managed to pull himself up into a seated position.

“Get… ready,” he remarked as he used his hooked tail to quite literally stab his way through the chain links that connected the shackles around his ankles. Once he had managed to splinter enough of the metal, the alien used his tail as a hammer to smash the weakened metal.

That was far less impressive than I thought it’d be. Piper said with a telepathic chuckle as Szar shuffled forward and began to work on her cuffs.

“What?” The changeling inquired as he gingerly stabbed at the iron links. From the concentration on his countenance, it was evident that he was trying not to slip up and accidentally stab his newfound comrade. “Did you think I was using it as a lock pick?” He asked with a light chuckle as the chain that connected Piper’s handcuffs broke apart.

Maybe… The woman replied sheepishly as a faint shade of pink began to spread across her normally pallid cheeks. Szar simply laughed and shook his shoulders as he quickly began to pick apart Piper’s leg shackles. As he tinkered away with his own special form of precision, the redhead flexed her terribly numb arms in an attempt to get the blood circulating correctly.

“Done,” Szar said as his tail split apart the steel chain binding Piper’s ankles together. The woman smiled warmly as she propped herself up against the interior wall of the SUV. “What now?” The alien whispered as he crouched behind one of the back seats.

Get ready to jettison. Piper remarked as she reached between the backseats of the vehicle and grabbed a small roadside repair kit resting on the floor.

“What are you going to do with that?” Szar asked as the woman let out a faint groan and hoisted the small metallic box up into her lap. “You cooked up an escape plan with a bunch of flares and some shoddy tools?” He inquired as the redhead set her eyes on the still oblivious driver.

Nah. Piper shot back as she awkwardly hoisted the box up over her head. I'm going to take the Szar approach on this one. As Szar watched in mild horror, the woman sent the metal box hurling toward the front of the vehicle.

The effect was quite imminent.

Even with numb muscles and diminished motor skills, Piper managed to lob the small crate right at the driver. Although the box missed Trisha, it gave her enough of a scare that she let out a hoarse scream and swerved the car just a little too hard to the left.

In that moment of panic, the woman’s talent behind the wheel left her, and the SUV’s right wheels left the ground. Before Trisha could right the vehicle, it was already rolling across the dune-covered wastes of the Sandtrap.