(Originally written Friday, November 7, 2003)
Chapter XIV:
Cream and Nougat continued crawling through the vent, crawling as quickly as they could on their elbows and knees. Cream looked over his shoulder to Nougat again.
"Hey," he said, "I can hear something."
"We're in an air duct, dude," Nougat said back, "you can hear everything."
"No, I mean voices... they're female." The two of them crawled quietly, blocking out the echoing gunshots bouncing through the vent.
"Karmel, what the hell is wrong with you?!" 'Mel's voice rang out clear to Cream's surprise.
"It's 'Mel!" he said excitedly.
Cream saw a grating up ahead and made his way to it. Behind him, Nougat followed as best he could.
"Oh crap," Cream said gravely, "'Mel's sister's armed..."
"Don't you get it, Cara'..."
"We gotta get out of here!" Cream said, crawling with renewed vigour past the grate, towards the farther end of the vent. He could only pray that a safe exit would show itself. "Noug', hurry up!" Cream couldn't hear Nougat following him, so he turned around again; Nougat was still at the grating, having ceased his crawl. "Yo! Noug'! Come on!"
"...goodbye, Caramel..."
Nougat uttered a low, guttural cry that escalated into one of fury as he kicked both feet at the bottom of the grate. He continued to kick hard, shouting with each thrust, praying that the grating would give in - the kicks had a slightly different effect.
The bands holding the vent to the ceiling began to creak and groan, rivets popping out and metal bending. Shortly thereafter, the section of vent gave way completely, and crashed to the floor - Nougat fell limply in tandem. 'Mel and Kar' both dove jumped away from the cloud of dust and sheet metal; Nougat composed himself as best he could and stood up, fighting back the urge to wince and clutch his side.
"Evenin', ladies," he said between heavy breaths, "don't mind me, I'm just passing through, dropping by, ya know." Kar' raised her pistol at Nougat. "Or you could do that..." Despite all the fighting already occurring throughout the building, 'Mel was still shocked at the turn of events.
"Nougat!" she cried.
"Well," Kar' said seriously, "I've already gotten this far... what's another person gonna be to me?" She pulled the hammer back.
"Alright, babe," Nougat said, putting his hands on his hips, "you've got two options. Either you blow away your sister and I and then get arrested or shot by the guys outside." Nougat was still bleeding from his cranium, and the blood was all collecting along the side of his eyes as he stood. "Or, you could drop the gun, come with me, and be out of jail in no time. I'm serious, the time just flies by, I'm told..."
"Kar', put down the gun, please!" 'Mel said - Kar' was quick to point the gun back at her elder sibling.
"Drop the gun, damnit!" Nougat shouted, getting the pistol trained back upon his body. Karmel remained grim in her resolve. Nougat looked around the office quickly; he looked at Kar', at 'Mel, and then to the door...
"Alright," he said, dropping his hands to his sides, "I'll give you a third option... Whip', if you will?"
Instantly, Cream grabbed Kar's gun arm and locked it behind her back, disarming her swiftly in the process. "Found your exit, I presume?"
"Something like that, yeah," Cream said as he tossed the gun to the other man. "You wouldn't believe what's out there! I swear, the entire city's worth of guys is here and they've just cleaned house... I could've walked in here singing if I wanted to." 'Mel was still frozen in disbelief. "Oh, hey 'Mel, ya miss us?"
'Mel smiled widely to follow suit with Cream. Nougat dropped the magazine out of the gun, unchambered the remaining round, and tossed it to the ground.
"I guess we win, huh?"