What's The Plan?

“Is nobody gonna say it?” Yoko asked the group, now surrounded by soldiers in armor as white as a moon’s glow, with metallic guns pointed directly at their heads.

Ren shuffled his feet beneath him, shifting the massive pack he now slung on his shoulders. This movement caused a couple soldiers to shift their guns towards him and he quickly raised his hands into the air, letting them know he had nothing worth aiming at.

That was a lie, however. He had the stolen book in that backpack on his shoulders, and he’d rather be shot and emptied into space than let these people have it. 

Yoko decided to finish her thought, “Josephe screwed up the plan.” 

Josephe spun from where he stood and, while keeping his hands in the air, glared at Yoko with fiery eyes. “I screwed up nothing,” He growled, “your plan simply didn’t account for the damn private guard that the wealthiest man on this plate would most definitely have.” 

His rage caused a couple guards to shift their aim his way now, in which Noemi responded with a hand on his shoulder, turning him to face front again.

“Calm down dear,” She said, “We’ve got bigger things to worry about right now, like how to get back to the ship. Otto’s waiting.”

Josephe simply grumbled to himself and eyed the guards. “You got any plan to get us out of here?” He asked sarcastically in a way that was clearly meant for Yoko.

“Actually,” She began, “I do.”

The guards, who had never left earshot and could hear the groups entire exchange, began to look at each other confused. This was the group of people who managed to break into our lord's mansion and steal the book? They seemed to ask themselves, confused at how they could have ever possibly accomplished this. 

Yoko used the distractions her friends gave to swiftly drop her right arm and aim the metal bracer towards an opening in the wall where a control panel was placed. On this panel was a button that would give a surprise good enough to lead them to safety.

In only a second after she aimed, Yoko’s bracer unlatched and shot out a hook attached to metal wire that allowed her to pull herself to wherever it caught on to, and was also heavy enough to cause enough pressure so that a button could detect it.

This hook passed through empty space between guards necks and skulls to perfectly hit the control panel, causing a shreking alarm to sound. 

Metal doors hidden by the uniformity of the corridor they were trapped in opened up, revealing a gaping hole in the floor that everyone dropped into.

Josephe used the opportunity to grab a guard and smash his helmet, causing the obsidian glass to crack. The guard let go of his gun, allowing Josephe to obtain a weapon good for fending off people who were falling down a large hole with him.

Yoko did the same, also retracting the grappling hook back into the metal bracer on her arm. “How’s that for a plan?” She shouted towards Josephe, her smile completely noticeable in her voice despite the darkness of the descent. 

He began blasting guards away as they quickly reclaimed their own guns and attempted to fire on the crew. “Was getting cornered there a part of your plan?” He shouted back in between blaster shots.

“Yup! This isn’t my first time robbing a rich man after all.” Yoko said, clearly proud of herself.

Noemi whooped and thrusted her fists into the air as she fell. “That’s my girl!”

Yoko winked in her direction as she shot another guard, the blue blast illuminating the gesture. 

With the pack falling just a couple inches above him, Ren grabbed it and slung it over his shoulder again, screaming as blaster shots narrowly missed his body and head. 

“Why,” Ren began to ask Yoko as he continued to dodge blast after blast, “Would you not tell us about this part?” 

Josephe let out another blast, purposefully missing the helmet of the guard he shot. “Our scholar once again asks you an excellent question, Yoko.” He shouted in agreement with Ren.

She smiled as she returned their question with an answer she was clearly excited about giving. “Because,” she began, “You guys have weak stomachs!”

“Oh shit.” Josephe said, wide-eyed and now realizing where they were heading. 

Noemi giggled as she grabbed the dead guards bodies in mid air. “You’re gonna need these, I think.” She said, removing helmets off of the corpses of guards and tossing them to each member.

“Right on, Noemi!” Yoko said, grabbing her helmet and putting it on, giving the rest of the group a thumbs up. “Prepare for exit!”

Ren held his breath and put on his helmet, and the rest followed suit.

A couple seconds after Yoko finished speaking, another set of metal doors opened, this time leading into the vacuum of space. The four of them, a couple of guards who still remained alive, and the corpses of their comrades, all began to float out into what was clearly a place for dumping the trash that was produced by the residents of the city above the plate.

“This thing on?” Joseph asked, fiddling with the comms on his helmet in an attempt to contact his friends.

The screams of the remaining guards, now panicking, erupted through the speakers as they were thrown through the vastness of space and human waste. 

“Nope not that one,” He muttered to himself, “Alright let’s try this one.”

“Hello?” Noemi’s voice came through the speaker once Josephe pressed a button, switching channels. 

“Hey beautiful,” Joseph said with an obvious grin, even if it was hidden behind the black glass the helmet shielded them with, “The others okay?”

Noemi waved off his remark on her appearance, even if she secretly enjoyed her husband's comments. 

“I’m here,” Yoko’s voice finally came through, “Anyone hear from Ren?”

The three of them looked around, spotting each other, but not Ren. Yoko shifted her body, using her weight to control the way she drifted.

Eventually, she found Ren’s flailing body, his leather trench coat and suit beneath it rippling just a tiny bit as his body whipped and spun around. And as he drifted through the green horizon of space, Yoko swam up to grab him.

Yoko caught his body holding him still, and wondering why he wasn’t speaking, realized he was still holding his breath. “Uh, Ren, you can breathe now you know,” She told him.

He vigorously shook his head and Yoko giggled at the display. “Suit yourself,” She said and then hauled him away from the trash and to where Josephe and Noemi were drifting. 

Once they regrouped, Josephe asked, “What now? Do we just wait for Otto?”

“Yup,” Yoko replied, “He should be here any second hopefully.”

She began to look around for their pilot, and spotted a couple of the remaining guards, who have now regrouped, moving towards where they now floated.

Josephe must have spotted them too, as he readied his blaster and aimed it at the group of guards. “Let’s hope that second comes soon then,” he said, moving his eye to the sight of the gun. 

The guards' uniforms were equipped with boosters on the bottom of their feet for situations seemingly exactly like this, propelling their way through space towards their unfortunate target.

Ren grabbed onto the pack and held it tightly, staring the guards down. They weren’t getting him. They weren’t getting any of them.

And Ren’s thought process was right, as a Demon descended from the depths of space and gulped down the entire remaining crew of guards in one swift motion.

“Oh shit,” Josephe said, momentarily lowering his gun in awe and in fear of what might happen next.

This Demon of Space had a long body colored in purple and gray with a mouth big enough to eat a ship in a bite and a half. Its body curved and swung in the emptiness of space like a flailing wire, and it seemed to stretch for miles. 

Luckily, it did not seem to pay them any attention, as it just kept moving towards the green horizon.

Ren watched as it moved away in astonishment, wondering how this creature could have ever earned the name “Demon.” Sure it sometimes ate people, but so did the children in the slums of certain cities. They weren’t demons, simply unfortunate. Ren wondered if these creatures might be the same. 

The roar of Otto’s ship sounded from behind the group, and Yoko swiftly turned around and shouted for everyone to hold tight to her. She aimed her right arm once again as the others latched on, and she fired the grappling hook onto the ship, catching its decorative sail and causing them to be pulled onto its deck. 

“Told you that sail would be useful!” Otto exclaimed, coming out onto the deck with a helmet of his own to help the rest of the group.

The ship was a bulky piece of metal that could hardly be called state of the art. But it got them to and from, which was enough for a ship to earn its keep, as Otoo loved to remind them when they complained about any number of mishaps caused by the ship's age. 

And the piece of cloth that Otto called a “sail” did nothing but make them stand out more. But even Yoko was able to admit that this time, it actually came in handy. 

Otto lead the group back inside and they all removed their helmets, in which Ren let out a deep breath and wiped his brow. He set his helmet down and moved to a desk on the first deck in order to unpack the stolen item. 

Joseph patted Otto on the shoulder and told him, clearly worn out, “Took you long enough, old man.” 

“Seems I was just in time for y’all to grab a show!” He replied, with a gapped tooth smile, “Now, let’s go see if it all was really worth it.”

The crew followed Ren down to the desk where the bag was now discarded on the floor beside where Ren sat in a wooden chair, flipping through pages and laughing to himself.

“Well,” Yoko placed a hand on his shoulder and asked, “Was it worth it?”

Ren excitedly stood up and grabbed the book by its leather covers and showed them its contents.

“Look,” He exclaimed, “It’s all blank! Just like we were promised!”

They all leaned in, engrossed by the pristine nature of a blank page encased in that brown leather cover. 

“Been a long time since I’ve seen one of these,” Otto said.

“And now,” Ren flipped the book back to him and eagerly viewed the empty nature of the object, “we’re bringing it back.”