“The hell you say!” Kaplan snapped, lashing out. She caught Smith with her long, sharp fingernails, raking them viciously across his face and drawing blood. Simultaneously, she kicked at Ashton with her good leg, missing his crotch with her foot only because Ashton, farther away than Smith, saw it coming and turned, catching the blow with the side of his hip.
But when she kept on trying to kick and scratch – missing both of them, because Ashton and Smith had both quickly gotten out of range – Ashton had had enough.
“OW! Damn! Back off, back off, John!” he ordered, then added, “TRANQ HER! And get that containment set, people!”
Two college students wandered past the far end of the alley and heard screams and shouts emerging from it, as well as the sounds of flesh hitting flesh.
“What the hell?!” one of them said. “Jaime, there’s a mugging going on in there!”
“Think we oughta go help, Manolo?” Jaime wondered.
“I dunno, I–”
“Everything is under control,” an Imperial City Police officer said, stepping out from the shadows of the building and barring their way. “I’d advise moving along.”
“But what’s going on?” Manolo wondered.
“Some of our investigators are apprehending a dangerous criminal,” the officer replied. “Involved in a murder. Unfortunately, the criminal is fighting back, so we’ve established a perimeter to ensure no civilians are injured.”
“Oh,” Jaime said then, uncertain. “Um, maybe we need to just leave, Manolo.”
“Uh…I think that sounds good, Jaime,” Manolo agreed with a shiver, as a banshee scream emerged from the alleyway.
“That is, indeed, a good plan, gentlemen,” the officer said.
They went.
“BASTARDS! You damn sons of bitches!” Kaplan snarled, twisting onto her right side and slashing her nails in Ashton’s direction again. “I’ll tear you apart before I ‘come with you’! You don’t get–”
The tranquilizer dart caught her in her other glute, and she screamed in a blend of pain, surprise, and rage, continuing to fight.
“SHIT!” she shouted. “THAT HURT, DAMMIT! Let me alone, you shithead assholes!”
When she couldn’t crawl because of her stunned leg, Kaplan pulled herself toward the investigators with her arms and remaining leg, trying to reach them with her clawed fingernails. But not being idiots, Smith and Ashton had immediately backed off, out of the way of the tranq dart, and remained out of her reach. The pair just kept backing away as she crawled, waiting for the tranquilizer drug to take effect.
“I ain’t done nothin’!” Kaplan continued to scream, kicking, punching, and scratching. “You don’t have a damn thing on me!”
“The hell you say,” Ashton said. “We have you dead to rights.”
“NO! I don’t – d-don’t…I don’t…you don’t have any… anyth-thing…” Abruptly her head wobbled badly, and her left leg went limp. “Oh d-damn…I don’ f-feel too go-good…” She tried to pull herself toward Ashton with her arms, but they were starting to get shaky, too. She fought the sensation with all her strength, but there was no overcoming the tranquilizer used in police dart guns. At last she slumped to the pavement and lay still.
“Whoo…” Smith sighed. “Finally.”
“No shit. Whole damn lotta that,” Ashton agreed. “Damn, I thought that tranq would never kick in! Johnny, are you okay, pal? She nailed your face but good, man.”
“Pun intended,” Smith said with a rueful chuckle, as he drew the back of his hand across his face. It came away covered in blood, as more blood dripped from his nose and chin onto his uniform tunic. “Ow. Shit, that stings! I hate head wounds. They bleed like crazy.” He paused, then looked up at Ashton. “She kicked you pretty good there, too. You okay?”
“Aw, I’m fine. I’ll have a bruise on my ass, but I’m okay – I’ve had worse from a fall down a flight of stairs. She’s not that big, an’ she didn’t have good leverage or angles anyway, on the ground like that.”
“That’s good. We need our leader to finish off his strategy and bring these turds in.”
“Yeah. But she’d shaped her nails into points, so she could carve people up, and I’m worried about that face of yours. Hey, any of you guys rated for first aid? Johnny needs some patching up, here, before he bleeds out or something.” Ashton went through his pockets, looking for anything that could be used to mop the blood that still dripped from Smith’s face.
“Yep,” Armbrand said through VR, as Ames released the jamming. “I see it.”
“Kinda hard to miss, what with all that blood,” Rassmussen commented, and everyone snorted to stifle laughter. It broke the tension nicely, and everyone relaxed a little.
“Shut up, you,” Armbrand said, his grin audible. “Lemme get the kit outta the transport and I’ll be right over to tend ‘im, Nick.”
“I’ll go with, and grab the stretcher for the perp,” Weyand noted. “Get the spitfire handcuffed, just in case, guys. Damn, but she was fightin’ the tranq. We do not need her throwing it off and waking up!”
“Good point. Nick?” Smith said, holding out the cuffs he’d tried to use earlier. “Can you get that? I got so much blood in my eyes, I can’t really see to do it.”
“She didn’t get an eye with those nails, did she?” Ashton worried, accepting the cuffs and restraining their perp.
“Nah. The brow bone deflected ‘er, but that’s the place that’s bleeding into my eyes. It’s just some nasty scratches. I’ve had worse from Colonel Peterson’s cat; it’s just, it’s my face, so it’s all bleeding like crazy. You know?”
“Yeah. Good. It doesn’t sound that serious, then. Keep it clean, close it up, and it prob’ly won’t even scar,” Ashton decided. “Somebody bring the car around, and we’ll deliver the damn she-cat to the Imperial Guard.”
Moments later, Kaplan was
