Unfinished Business

((March third; closed to Experiment 627))


Mood swings.

At least, that was what Annette thought the correct term was. Her mind seemed to be flipping back and forth; one day, she would be determined, active, certain she was about to find her place here where she could bring this horrible war to an end. Hers, she'd decided ages ago, was the role of the peacekeeper; a more dangerous role than she'd perhaps anticipated, but nonetheless. She wasn't strictly a hero soldier, to her mind - although their camp was still her home out here - she was just trying to work negotiation out, bring the pointless bloodshed to an end.

Other days, she simply felt hopeless. She was just one dog, no-one of any importance would even listen to her - what could she achieve? She hated to mope, but all the same, it was hard not to when such feelings weighed upon her.

What was she even doing out here anymore?


She'd wandered out of the Pridelands, down towards the reputed 'crystal caves' in an attempt to think, to clear her head. It was dangerous, Annette knew; someone had ramped the war up a notch while she hadn't been paying attention, and in the darkness just about anything could be waiting to pounce on you once you set foot outside the camp. Still, she'd appropriated a flashlight from the army's equpiment, and had tucked it neatly into her collar to light the way ahead - and she wasn't going far from the Pridelands, anyway.

She wasn't in too much danger, Annette figured. If anything came at her, she'd just shine the light in their eyes and run.

She'd grown to like what she'd heard of the Crystal Caves. Annette had never been there herself, but she'd heard tales around camp of the massive, beautiful crystal formations. More than anything else it sounded, to the small spaniel, like an ideal place to just sit and think for a while. Privacy, most likely undisturbed by anyone who wasn't seeking the exact same thing. What more could she ask for?


And so she padded solftly into the caves. The old wound in her shoulder twinged, seeming with premenition of something bad to come; she ignored it. The torch beam danced across rock formations, fairly standard-looking - Annette supposed the crystals must be further in - as she ventured forward. Not looking for much, certainly not looking for confrontation.

Just finding a place to sit and think wasn't a lot to ask for, was it?

It would be far too much to ask for, because fate had other plans for this little spaniel.

The darkness hardly deterred 627, who had grown accustom to it and adapted as his kind was inclined to do, so he was able to navigate to the Crystal Caves without issue. Although his primary reason for being outside the Outlands had been to attempt some hunting, his paws had carried him toward the Crystal Caves. He didn't question it, though. If nothing else, he could potentially find that wimpy little Crystallene and pester her again. Maybe he'd even rough her up a bit. No one could tell him that he couldn't. She was weak, and that was no good for an Outlander. She needed to be pushed to be stronger... Or something along those lines. Really, 627 was just an ass and liked to mess with the weaker Experiment for the sheer fun of it. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't picking up any of her usual signs of being present. His single eye narrowed in annoyance at this. All this walking for nothing...

...Or was it? 627 had been prepared to growl in frustration and just go home, but something familiar hit his nose as he walked closer to the caverns. There was a scent he hadn't smelled in quite a long time. His one eye grew wide for a moment, almost in recognition, before devilish delight took hold of him. That was the scent of one of those puppies that had come to the Outlands before. He was sure of it.

The monstrous creature picked up his pace and entered the caverns, toward the light that he could see clearly now. That light was a dead giveaway to the fact that someone was there, and he used that to his advantage. There, shown clearly by the light, was a cocker spaniel he recognized. She was the one that had come to the Outlands long ago on some foolish errand, and 627 had tried to eat her. She had come back... What a mistake that was. 627 never was one to let prey get away from him, and int his case that was exactly what he saw Annette as. He remembered well enough what had happened the day she and those other dogs had come to the Outlands. He remembered how she and the others had escaped, seemingly doing so despite the odds telling them that they wouldn't make it. He remembered how they had gotten away from him.

Not today. He was going to finish what he had started whether Annette liked it or not. So, he made no effort to hide his being there. A fiendish laugh rose in his throat and he rose up on his hind paws as he drew nearer to the spaniel. His single eye glinted in the light being bounced around the area, and he was poised to strike. Before he made the attempt, though, he had to let her know that she was there. If his long claws scrambling over the rocky ground and closer to her hadn't given him away, then this would be a dead giveaway. He hardly cared, though.

"EVIL!"

Now she undoubtedly knew he was there. In the caverns, positioned as she was, there was no way for Annette to escape. She'd have to be fast enough to get under him if she wanted to exit the way she had come, and 627 didn't see that happening. He was much larger than her, or at least felt like he was, and she probably would be too scared to think of that idea anyway. The only way to go, he knew, was forward.

Now was the time for him to finish what he had started so long ago.

"You-!"

It was less a word, more a yelp of terror. Annette had heard the sound of some being moving in the dark, but had managed to keep her head. Chances were, it was just some sort of creature that called the caves home, nothing too serious. The fact that it seemed to be approaching had been more worrisome, and the cocker had swung the flashlight beam around, hoping that the glow would be enough to deter any creature that was used to living in darkness.

And then she saw it.

The old wound in her shoulder seemed to burst into flame afresh at the sight of the one who had torn it in the first place. Annette cride out, stumbled backwards, shining the flashlight directly into 627's face as though that alone had the power to ward him off. It wasn't working, she knew that much; but if she could at least dazzle him...

There was nothing she could do, otherwise. She wasn't a fighter; her nails were clipped short like the pet she was, and her teeth... while she could use them in a pinch, she was woefully inexperienced. She had no chance of slipping past the monster, he'd catch her in a heartbeat, and she didn't, really didn't want to know what would come of that.

The only way to go was deeper into the caves.

She had her reservations about that, too. But better to get hopelessly lost down here - with the chance, no matter how slim, of making it out alive at the end of the day - than getting killed. All these thoughts flickered through her mind in an instant, leaving Annette with only one possible option.

She turned and ran.

Deeper into the cavern, through a narrow passageway in the rock that led her deeper still. She was sure 627 was right behind her, she knew she should turn the light off so it would stop giving away her position, but she couldn't stop-- And besides which, her night-vision was poor. She'd disadvantage herself more than him if she turned the thing off.

She just knew that she couldn't, she couldn't let him catch her. The last time, when he'd torn her shoulder to pieces, it had been agony; she didn't want to find out how much worse it could get.

The light shone in 627's face and made him squint just a little. It wasn't enough to deter him from the task at hand, though. At most, the light coming from her flashlight was a minor annoyance to him. He was going to finish what he had started. That much was something he had already decided, and nothing Annette did was going to change that much. Speaking of, the cry she had let out when she'd seen him was like music to his ears. A sick grin formed on his face and he laughed aloud at the fear he could practically smell coming from her.

Before 627 could do anything, he saw Annette turning and running deeper into the cavern. Was this canine that stupid? Going deeper into the cavern was only going to ensure that she wasn't going to make it out. Inside, he was going to be able to have all the more means of trying to end her. He didn't even really give her much of a head start. The one-eyed monster let his laughter end and started to run after her. As he did, he began to consider all of the possibilities for what he could do to her. He could crush her head, bite her neck, or maybe even have a repeat performance of what he had done to that spotted male he had killed back in the Pridelands... The one he had torn open and tried to eat the entrails of. 627 wanted to try and do that again, but he would take what he could get when it came to Annette.

Thanks to his being a superior species, it wasn't hard to keep up with the short-legged canine. She had grown since he'd last seen her, it was true, but she was still not really a full grown dog. Even if she were, she was a Cocker Spaniel. They weren't exactly known for being particularly strong in the leg department... At least not as far as length went. Her flashlight also was a dead giveaway for where she was, even without his night vision. Still, the thing was a minor annoyance to him. Maybe he could try to break it.

627 dashed forward and aimed a swipe of his claws both at Annette in general and the flashlight she carried. Whatever he hit, he was certain that he would do damage to something. Ideally, he'd break the flashlight and leave Annette technically blind while he had the clear advantage. Imagining that much made him all the more eager to go through with his plan of ending her.

Now he just had to hope that his claws, strong as they were, actually would do something.

Hopelessly lost.

She was hopelessly lost, and he was gaining on her all the time. She could hear the harsh rasp of his breath, even over the slap of her pawpads on cold stone and earth, even over the deafening pounding of her heart; a rasp that was getting louder and louder and LOUDER and seemed to be counting down the seconds she had left to live.

Fear, sheer abject terror for her life, surged through Annette's gut. Even with no idea how this was going to go down, she was certain, she knew that this was going to be where it ended for her. She might be smart, but she had next to nothing else on him. He would catch up to her; it wasn't pessimism but a statement of indisputable fact.

The narrow passageway abruptly gave way to a much larger cavern. The walls seemed to be formed of, or covered with luminescent crystals that, in any other circumstance, she would have found stunning; as it was, she barely took them in. Only aware of the light she carried reflecting back off them, dazzling her. Even then, Annette didn't slow; she blundered ahead, hoping there was another exit to the cavern--

And then, suddenly, he seemed to be flying straight at her. Leaving the cramped confines of the passage behind had given him the room to come at her, and so he did. Annette swung to face him, a yelp of terror on her lips--

The crunch of something breaking--

Instant darkness--

A stinging sensation about her muzzle--

And then she was being bowled over with a flaming pain in her side--

Head spinning, whimpering with fear as much as with pain, Annette was aware that she'd fetched up against one of the crystal formations. She'd lost the flashlight; one set of the monster's claws must have shattered it, shards of the bulb were what had stung her face, and she'd lost it's remains as she was knocked over. His other claws had caught her side; not vastly deep wounds, more like just long scratches across her skin as his angle of attack had shoved her over more than dug in.

Not that it would matter; she would bet anything he was already on his way in to finish the job.

She shook her head, lurched back to her feet, struggling to see anything in the blackness. Or no; not complete blackness, not really - the surrounding crystals threw off an eerie green glow. Her eyes watered as they struggled to adjust, but Annette forced them to focus as best they could. The glow made for poor lighting, but at least she wouldn't be totally blind.

She stumbled a couple more steps, hoping that her attacker wasn't going to swoop in on her before she could at least regain herself, and her strained gaze fell across something on the ground. A shard of crystal, big and sturdy-looking, that vaguely reminded her of the bats she had sometimes seen humans back home play ball games with. It only took another half-moment for the thought to occur to her.

If she could pick it up in her mouth and swing it like a club, she would at least stand a fighting chance.

Assuming she could even reach it before the alien attacked again.

Success! Not that 627 really needed to celebrate his successes, but he had success nonetheless as far as breaking Annette's flashlight went. Instantly, the light she had been carrying dimmed out and he felt his other set of claws strike against her side. He could feel that much as well as see it with his ever helpful night vision. Unfortunately, it looked like Annette was still capable of going in spite of the damage he had caused. 627 growled a bit when he realized this much. He wasn't about to let her get away without continuing to damage her. So, when he saw her stumbling a bit, 627 got into position to try and attack once more.

It was as he rushed forward to try and strike her with his claws again that he saw what she was doing. She was moving toward a large shard of crystal. Just what the smaller dog meant to do with it remained unseen, but 627 couldn't allow for that much to happen. He had to keep trying to fulfill his supposed mission for the moment. He had to finish what he had started.

"EVIL!"

627 lunged forward, aiming to strike Annette with his outstretched claws again, and allowed himself to be taken in by his desire once more. This was going to be a piece of cake, really. He could easily stop Annette from reaching her goal if he was fast enough. It was just a matter of striking her while he had the chance to. In theory, it should have worked just fine.

Now he just had to actually see if his superior speed would continue to work in his favor.

It might have, indeed--

Had Annette not tripped. Still half-blind, she could make out distinct shapes, but not a lot of the subtlties of everything she was seeing. Certainly not all the details of the uneven floor beneath her. Staggering drunkenly as she was, certain that she was about to feel his claws re-opening the old scars on her back but refusing to tear her eyes from the shard of crystal that was her goal, she completely missed the dip in the cavern floor.

A bare moment before 627 would have hit her, the spaniel's forepaws went out from under her. Flailing helplessly, she pitched forward; sprawling herself across the floor in a most undignified manner that, in any other circumstances, would have had her in a fit - and was aware, in that moment, of two things. The first, the movement of air as 627 shot over her head with barely an inch to spare--

The second, that she'd landed near her impromptu club.

Annette couldn't see where 627 had gone; and for a moment, she didn't care. Leaping forward, she siezed the roughly baseball-bat-shaped shard of crystal in her mouth, hefted it awkwardly. It was heavy, and she wouldn't be able to keep it aloft for long, Annette was sure; but adrenaline was fuelling her muscles, and somehow she managed to lift the thing.

Tense, she glanced around, her eyes straining in the dim glow to find some sign of her attacker. The first movement she saw - no matter how small - Annette promised herself she would strike. She was no fighter, it was true; but she had a big club, and even she had to get lucky enough to land a hit at some point.


((ooc: Of course I'll let 627 strike her soon, we both know how this is going to go - but I wanted to at least give her a small fighting chance XD))

627 lacked any real grace in the moment he flew over Annette. The monstrous creature landed with a thud on the cavern floor, but soon was on his feet and shaking his head back and forth vigorously. He was pissed, simply put. Now, anyone might have factored in luck to the equation that allowed Annette to escape him. Not 627, though. He was purely intent on thinking the dog had somehow managed to plan that. He had no idea how, but that was the conclusion he'd jumped to. Well, now he was just even more motivated to finish what he had started so long ago. If it was the last thing 627, he was going to rip Annette apart. It was just a matter of actually doing that much.

A loud roar escaped him and he started to run toward her again. Blinded by the fury he felt, he didn't see that Annette had managed to grab the crystal club. He hardly would have cared even if he had realized she'd done that much, though. 627 was fully intent on swiping his claws at this dog and shedding blood. He'd stain the floor of the cavern as many times as he could.

Who cared that Leroy and 323 were buried in these very caverns? They were nowhere near the resting spot of his two friends. He was safe in shedding blood here.

It briefly occurred to him that he could use any number of his other powers against Annette. For the time being, though, 627 wasn't going to. He just wanted to cut something. Of course, he didn't realize he might very well have been about to get a face full of crystal. Not that it would have done all that much damage to him, but maybe if Annette was lucky then she would manage something.

She'd expected--

Annette wasn't sure why, but she'd expected the monster to have at least some grasp of what she was doing. She'd got the distinct impression that he was smarter than his one-word vocabulary let on; on a subconscious level, she'd half expected him to throw a rock or something so that she'd react to it and leave herself wide open to his actual attack. It would have been a sound tactic, particularly with as spooked as she already felt in the not-quite complete dark--

And so when she registered him charging straight for her out of the darkness, Annette hesitated for a crucial second before realising that no, this wasn't a decoy or a trick - he was going to slice her to ribbons unless she did something fast.

The crystal club was heavy and awkward to use; the small spaniel didn't so much swing it at her opponent as simply shove it's heavy end in his general direction and hope for the best. Not the best strategy, by anyone's account, but she was simply desperate - and at the speed he was bearing down on her, there had been no time for much else, anyway.

At any rate, the impromptu weapon had been shoved in the rough direction of her enemy's face. With a little luck, it would at least bop him on the nose hard enough to make him think twice about his strategy; with a little more, she might even manage to score one of his teeth with the clumsy blow. That was about the best she could hope for, Annette figured.

Once again, the familiar thought flittered through her mind; I'm no fighter.

But even so-- Even knowing she could do precious little here, even sure as she was that her death was a certainly--

Even in spite of it all, Annette knew that she wanted to live. And so, as clumsy and ungraceful as her attempts were, she still fought with every ounce of determination she could muster. Admittedly, when 627 had mangled her shoulder the time before, she'd passed out at the pain and at the sight of the wound; but this time Annette promised herself--

If she was doomed to never grow to see adulthood, to never have a male to love, to never have pups of her own, to never do any of the things she'd always secretly longed for but never told anyone about-- If she was doomed to have it all snatched away from her, then at the very least, she wouldn't let death take her easily. Even if it wasn't in her nature any more than rolling in a mud puddle was, she would FIGHT as hard as she could and she would resist dying with every last precious breath left to her.

And, acting less on the assumption that her blow had made some impact on 627 than being driven by that simple desparation to do all she could to stave off the inevitable, she took another swipe at him with the crystal club for good measure. This one, driving with more force behind it as she swung it around towards the alien monster's head.

Well, she wasn't wrong. 627 was a lot more clever than his limited vocabulary would have given him credit for. That didn't at all come into play when he was focused on a goal such as this. He was completely focused on finishing what he had started so long ago. Maybe he should have been thinking, or at least doing something more like what Leroy would have done, but where would the fun in that be? 627 didn't care to think right then. He just wanted to finish the job as he intended. One thing he had going for him, he realized, was that the club Annette had made use of was a bit awkward for a dog her size to use. Perfect. Maybe if he could snatch that away from her when he got the chance, he'd have even more of an opportunity to do some damage. Maybe. It all depended on whether or not he was inhibited from doing so by whatever she was doing.

As he drew nearer, Annette made her attempt at swinging at him. This time, though, 627 seemed to snap out of his one track mind for a moment and had the foresight to grab the club in mid air with one of his paws. Not this time, he told himself. A sly grin formed on his face and his eyes glinted in the darkness. If Annette thought it was going to be that easy to deal with him, then she had another thing coming. Now that he had snapped out of his mindset to just charge forth, he could use his strength to his advantage. 627 surrendered to a low hiss and started to lift Annette up by the club. It was a bit ridiculous to look at, anyone would have agreed, but when had 627 ever cared about something like that?

A low laugh was what followed next. 627 had a new idea. He wanted to see if he would be able to launch Annette into one of the walls near them. All he'd have to do would be swing her around with the club and see if his strength did the job. So, he started to do just that. He started to shake the crystal club in his grasp and continued to do so until he got a good feel for it. Annette was light enough to be flung, he was sure. Now he would see if this actually went over like he was envisioning it.

If not, then he could always resort to using some of his powers beyond strength. That would always be fun. No one could convince him of anything other than that.

As soon as 627 got the feel for it, he gave a hard swing and attempted to make Annette go flying toward the nearest wall. Maybe all the jostling he'd done would have loosened her grip on the club. Maybe it wouldn't have. Either way, he was having fun with this.

"Ammmphh!"

At least, that was the closest thing to an exclamation she could manage with her jaws locked around the crystal club. Annette was just suddenly, horrifyingly, aware of her paws leaving the ground. The monsterous creature had the other end of the impromptu weapon grasped in his clawed hands - how had he somehow managed to catch her blow so easily?! - and lifted her up by it as though it weighed nothing at all. And while Annette wasn't exactly a large canine, in any dimension, she still took after her mother's build and had enough substance to her that this shouldn't have been half as easy for him as he was making out.

And what should she do? If she let go of the club, she'd lose her weapon; but right now, she was in an awful position, and he was clearly stronger than her - so there was no way to pry it from his grasp, either. It was a lose-lose situation.

And when it came down to it, she'd rather lose her makeshift weapon than her life. If he was expecting her to hold on, then just maybe she could surprise...

She didn't get chance to act on the thought, however, as he began to shake the club - and, by extension, her. Annette couldn't help a yelp of terror, and she grasped even more tightly to the club. She was sure she felt one of her teeth crack as she bit down so hard on what was, essentially, an oversized lump of stone - at least, she felt pain shoot through her mouth - but wouldn't be deterred; wrapping her paws around the club too, she clung on for dear life.

If 627 was trying to shake her off, then she would do everything she could to resist that.

And then, and then--

He swung it violently. By this point, the small spaniel had practically tied herself in a knot around the club as tightly as she possibly could; and though she remained clutching the thing with all she possessed, her head spun, and her stomach gave a mighty lurch at the unexpected motion. A whimper, a pitiful sound, slipped out of her maw as Annette could do little more than clench herself even more tightly around the shard of crystal; no longer certain at all if it was the best option or not, she could only grip on and hope with all her might that he wasn't going to swing it again.

And, also, that he didn't have anything even worse in mind for her.

Well, 627 would give this earth creature credit for one thing. She was bound and determined to hold on to that crystal club of hers. But 627 himself was bound and determined to keep her from doing that. The brutal creature snorted in annoyance and tried to swing the club again. He wasn't going to give up on this that easily. Technically, he could have just attacked her right then and there and made her let go by using one of his clawed paws. But the satisfaction would have been lost to a degree. Then again... If she wasn't going to let go then he might not get that satisfaction anyway. Well, he was already dead set on trying to send her crashing into that wall and making her let go of the club. So that was what he would make an attempt at again.

He'd already made an effort at swinging the club again, but it certainly didn't hurt to try one more time. Maybe with the additional swing he had thrown in moments later, Annette would have no choice but to eventually let go. It wasn't as though she was a superior creature or anything. All she was was a dog. Dogs were pretty weak in the grand scheme of things, or so they seemed. He wasn't about to let himself lose here.

"Evil! Evil!" 627 spat. He probably could have come up with a much more coherent statement if he really wanted to, but everything was easier when he reverted back to the state Jumba had programmed him to. That was one good thing. It was kind of a comfort zone to him, although no one would ever know that much.

Now he just had to see what would happen with all of this. He was sure that Annette would give up sooner or later.

The second swing, when it came, was too much for her.

The Annette's stomach gave another almighty heave as she was snapped forward so abruptly; and then she was no longer holding onto the club, no longer holding onto anything, but was soaring gracelessly through the air. Under any other circumstances, she might have at least tried for a halfway-dignified landing; but at present she was too consumed with fear, and with the struggle to keep her last meal down, than with anything of the sort.

Besides, she couldn't even see, in the darkness, just how quickly the ground was rushing back towards her.

The small spaniel hit the ground hard. Her shoulder took the brunt of the impact, jarring badly - a detached part of her brain registered that she might have dislocated it - and sending her rolling across the dirty floor. Head spinning, shoulder smarting and stomach still threatening to reacquaint her with everything she'd eaten so far today, Annette could only lie where she'd come to rest, lie there for a few very long moments while she hoped against hope that this wasn't going to get any worse.

It was a hope in vain, and she knew it.

Right now, Annette didn't think she could even dare to hope for survival, much less anything else. Still, something kept her going, made her force herself back to her feet, although she staggered dizzily. She was in no shape to run, much less to fight; but she knew for certain that she wasn't going to be given a choice in the matter. And she would not, would NOT lie down and accept death.

A thought flashed dimly through her mind; I swear if I get out of this alive, I'll believe in whatever deity is responsible for it.

For now, she could only stumble towards the nearest passage out of the cavern. She doubted, truly, that she'd even get that far - but she stood mildly more chance of getting out with her life if she tried to escape than if she tangled with the red brute again.